[Magnus stops, hearing the sob. takes him to the side of the street, away from foot traffic, away from street lights, towards a small area with benches and topiary overlooking the ocean. he directly faces Noah, tugs him in matter of fact, for him to hide wherever he wants, against Magnus]
[quietly]
Can you really say they were like Ronan is, to you?
[Magnus -- decidedly sets his feelings about Adam aside, for the moment. he shakes his head]
It's not a contest, or a game about who loves who least. There's no such thing as happy endings, there's just -- what people, decide, to do. How they make the best of the shitty fate that got dumped on them.
[he squeezes Noah, the wetness at his neck making his chest ache emptily]
You gotta simplify. You wanna rest. Ronan wants to rest, if you do. If you don't, he still might die another way. You still might -- lose, more parts, of you. You don't have time for fighting about it.
[Magnus feels too old, in this moment; tired of the grief and suffering and expiration dates]
Choose what you want, while you're alive enough to want it. Find the life even if there's death everywhere, Noah. If you choose to rest, stand by it, with everything in you.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[quietly]
Can you really say they were like Ronan is, to you?
no subject
N-no.
[His face presses against Magnus' shoulder, small and quivering.]
no subject
[he breathes calm, again, not magic; just the rise and fall of his chest, intentionally slow, as Noah shivers against him. he doesn't let him go]
no subject
[He tilts his head, as if to look up at Magnus, but instead his nose just presses into the boy's neck, crooked and damp with tears.]
He's not supposed to pick me over them. He's with Adam back home, that's his happy ending.
no subject
It's not a contest, or a game about who loves who least. There's no such thing as happy endings, there's just -- what people, decide, to do. How they make the best of the shitty fate that got dumped on them.
[he squeezes Noah, the wetness at his neck making his chest ache emptily]
You gotta simplify. You wanna rest. Ronan wants to rest, if you do. If you don't, he still might die another way. You still might -- lose, more parts, of you. You don't have time for fighting about it.
[Magnus feels too old, in this moment; tired of the grief and suffering and expiration dates]
Choose what you want, while you're alive enough to want it. Find the life even if there's death everywhere, Noah. If you choose to rest, stand by it, with everything in you.