Invisible String [t. s]

...What Are We?

"I don't want to fight, trust me. But all my life I've been looking for this. This feeling of comfort, of being...loved...again. I've been alone most of my existence until I wasn't, and then...I was left alone again. And I hate it. You have no idea how hard it was and has been for me."

"I do have an idea."

"Not in the way I mean it, though. You and Leta never got to live together. Alexandre and I did. When he was gone, I'd walk back to a house, not a home, all alone 'cause nobody's there. And it was cold, and...at some point I was fine with that cold, until I found you again. You brought warmth back into my life. And when you're not around, I can't stand the cold. But I cannot go on like this any longer." He frowned. "Theseus, we've been living together, we've been parters on the field, you've saved my life and I've saved yours, you cooked for me when I was sick and I helped you with your nightmares. Coming home with you and to you changed everything." She breathed in and out. "I believe this is more than just...sex. But if you only reduce this to that then, it's meaningless and I don't want to go on." A beat. "I don't want to go on and believe that we're just a love affair because I love you, you idiot." He remained silent. Silence pitched through their ears again, they felt themselves shaking and hazy. She felt a lump in her throat and tears being formed in the back of her eyes. "This is the part where you say something."

"I..." He didn't know what to do. He did love her, like he always has. But, for some reason, he couldn't say anything. Even if he wanted to shout it, he couldn't. "I don't know what you want me to say." He saw a breath leaving her body, her shoulders going down in defeat.

"I want you to tell me that you love me, because you do, do you not?"

"I do. Of course I do."

"Then say it." Silence drained the oxygen from her lungs and the air in his chest felt like iron, too heavy. "Please, Theseus, please just say it." He felt his tongue dry, his throat sore. Amelie sighed as she looked out the window that's right behind Theseus, her eyes not being able to meet his. "So...we're back to the point-break of us." He shook his head.

"No. No, Élie. I refuse to go back to that." A silence fell upon them again.

"Then...tell me. Please, tell me." She begged.

"I..." I love you. I love you. I LOVE YOU. His mind yelled, but the words were trapped deep in his throat. He frowned and felt like crying as he couldn't say the words that would keep her with him. "I..." I love you, goddamn it! Nothing came out of his mouth. The tears in Amélie's eyes fell and both hearts broke again. "I can't." He finally said with a shaky breath escaping his lips.

"I'm sorry." He looked up.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I am sorry." She shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"Le problème est que je t'aime mais que tu ne m'aimes pas. Pas comme je pensais que tu le ferais." He frowned. He recalls that exact same phrase. "The problem is that I love you but you don't love me. Not like I thought you would."

"You-"

"Now you know what I told you that night." His heart sank to his feet.

"I do!"

"Then why can't you just say it?" He remained silent. He couldn't tell her. He hates being vulnerable, even before her. She scoffed, a bitter smile on her lips. "You know? It seems fitting and it's real funny how things go to hell now that I've found it. The thing that I've always been looking for." His own tears fell because he felt the exact same way. Her smile went from bitter to sad in the blink of an eye. She breathed in and out. "I think...I think I should go."