Touch Me

Severance

"Hardly."

"Oh, really? 'My love, I long for your gentle touch each night as I lay in my bed, hungry for your embrace.. I crave the feeling of your hot breath on my neck, your fingers laced in my hair. I ache at the thought of you and the ecstasy of your body. As I write this letter, I pray that God will send me home to you, as no temple or prayer can match the holiness I have found in you. I have found heaven in your body.' ..that doesn't sound at all suggestive?"

"..How did you remember all that?"

"I would read it every night! It was all I had!"

"Okay, maybe I was a little bit flirtatious"

"Maybe a little" I chuckled, pulling a blanket over him, when I realized he had goosebumps.

His body still weak, he leaned over against me, nuzzling his forehead against my shoulder, wearing the blanket around and over his shoulders to keep himself warm. 

We kept silent for a good five minutes, just sitting there together, Kevin's tie still untied, dangling around his neck, before a quiet "baby?" Broke the silence.

"Yes?" I turned to him,  smiling softly

"Thank you.."

"There's nothing to thank me for"

"There's a lot to thank you for."

"There isn't."

"There is. You didn't hate me for leaving you for two years.. you didn't take another lover while I was gone. You continued to love me after not seeing me for all that time. you still love me. And.. you take care of me when I need you. You're a good man."

"Why on earth would I ever want to take another lover? I'm lucky you're mine. I didn't lose a bit of my love for you while you were gone.. how could I?"

"I'm so lucky you still love me after all that time... I thought of you every day. I used to cry at night cause I missed you so much..."

"Me too..."

"I'm sorry I made you cry.."

"It's not your fault. I just missed my boyfriend.."

"..all the other Elders would ask me what was wrong, but it's not like I could tell them I had a boyfriend back home.. I remember, they would sing me hymns until I felt better." He chuckled softly, his head still pressed to my shoulder "Perhaps I should have stayed. And spent more time with you. We only have so much time left..."

"We have plenty of time left... We have our whole lives ahead of us. Two years spent serving the lord was good for you. And for me. It taught me more independence."

"You had to live on your own and try to pay your father's bills when you were seventeen. You were already plenty independent."

"But then I was given a place to live. And people to rely on. I feel like I've been slacking ever since the... the attack."

"You aren't slacking. You went through some serious trauma. And you needed people to give you support. That doesn't make you a slacker."