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[abrightboy]

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[empathicfault]

After a particular network conversation, Malcolm will come back from his counseling shift to find Will curled up on his couch. He's got a blanket over his shoulders, Buster in his lap, and a hand petting Winston. The dogs both wag their tails and jump off the couch, and Will looks back towards the front door.

"Hi," is Will's full greeting at first, marked with a tired smile. "I was thinking of cooking something, but then I...didn't." Oops. He stands and shrugs off the blanket, then stretches out his arms. "Uh, welcome home?"

[abrightboy]

Oh no. Something bad happened and even though he doesn’t know Will kept having that conversation, something in him still wants to punch Strange in the dick when he sees the scene.

He rushes right into those arms, though, and holds him tight for a long moment before he even murmurs “that’s okay; I don’t eat much. What happened?” while still holding on.

[empathicfault]

Ah, good. Will wanted a hug, and was going to ask for one, but it's less awkward just to have one. He lets out a breath and relaxes into Malcolm's arms.

Of course, Malcolm's worried. They're both adept at reading in between the lines, after all, and Will's appearance here is slightly unusual. "Nothing bad, I think. I'm just...ruminating. I took that conversation with Strange private, and it turned more serious. He apparently spent some time grieving his wife, then found out that she wasn't dead, she was...elsewhere."

[abrightboy]

His grip doesn’t loosen, but he stills slightly.

“…Did he talk you into going back to your wife after graduation?” he asks, trying to make it sound just idly curious and failing.

[empathicfault]

It is not hard to feel Malcolm's budding panic here. "Just to say goodbye. Give her some closure. I thought maybe I could offer to...relocate her, somewhere the wolves wouldn't be at her door constantly."

Will hugs Malcolm a little tighter (any tighter from here and they'll be cracking backs) and kisses the side of his head. "I can't be the...normal-but-quirky good guy that she needs. That she deserves. We never fit together, entirely, and I just tried to...kill off the parts of me that didn't slide neatly into place. I'm sure she'd be willing to try, but...she was scared of me, Malcolm. Scared of my life, my choices, how they'd hurt her son. There's no coming back from that."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm presses his temple against Will’s cheek.

“I tried to be normal once by having a normal relationship. Like I could just… act like a normal person into a normal life. It… only lasted most of one date, though,” he admits. “Do… you think that closure will help you, too? To carry less guilt over her?”

[empathicfault]

Will has some feelings about the 'fake it till you make it' attitude, but ultimately he ended up falling into it, too. "I do," he admits. "It feels...loose. And I tried to fix that by attempting to erase her from my mind. But- even if the rest of the world is better off forgotten, she's not. Wally's not. She- you know she tried to accommodate me all the time? The second person who actually got my condition and knew how to work with it. Taught me how to parent- or step-parent, really. How to be enough but not too much."

He's not sure how much that really stuck. He sighs a bit, thinking about the end result. "I don't think I can fix what I've done to her, because...I don't regret it, exactly. I wanted to make sure they survived, and I did. But if we're traveling anyway, I can give her an explanation. I should. I don't think she'll like it, but...I also don't think she'd want to mourn a lie."

[abrightboy]

He doesn’t want to fake it anymore. It was a failed experiment and being accepted has made him feel… like maybe ‘normal’ is overrated. But when you don’t fit anywhere, it’s so tempting. And then Will explains.

“She understood?” he breathes. Oh, that is so much more than ducking into normalcy. How did he even find that? “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

[empathicfault]

"She understood a lot," Will agrees, nodding and then pulling back to look at Malcolm. "She knew when I needed to get out of a crowd, and when someone's drama was getting to me. She knew sometimes before I did, when I was being affected by something." And yeah, that's very unusual. "You can see why I feel ungrateful, bringing darkness into her life. She brought a lot of light to mine, and I thought- maybe that could be enough, for both of us."

He frowns a bit and shakes his head. "But that's not...who I am. I think maybe we both realized it at the same time. Maybe I didn't have to be a murderer, but I'd...always be drawn back to blood and danger. I was capable of the same things as that man who invaded our house."

[abrightboy]

"...Do you think you still would have gone back to all that if Jack didn't... show up to persuade you?" Malcolm asks.

[empathicfault]

"I don't know," Will says honestly, frowning in thought. "I still had dreams. Sometimes my brain would turn the mundane sinister. I had more intrusive thoughts, but. Maybe it would've faded, over time."

He shrugs, looking...well, not unbothered, but all right with the question of it. "It doesn't really matter, because Jack did show up. I can't pretend to be that person anymore. I wouldn't want to." He smiles just a little at Malcolm.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm fidgets, smiling back almost shyly.

"Really?" he confirms, his fingers finding a seam to bother at Will's shoulder. Because he does like this person a whole awful lot, so he's relieved if Will doesn't regret being him. "You're still..." His eyes wander from the seam at his shoulder up to his face. "You still want the things we talked about?"

[empathicfault]

Will stares at Malcolm for a moment, his smile threatening to turn into a grin as he wonders how he got this lucky, to find this man. "I still want them. I still want all of them," he says, his voice quiet but near-shaking with weight. "You're the only one who's treasured who I am, Malcolm. Not only a part of me, not who I could become."

He laces their fingers together and rubs a finger over Malcolm's ring. "I'm never letting you go, not after this...miracle of a place brought us together."

[abrightboy]

His whole face lights up. His whole being. He does treasure this man; that's true. He smiles crookedly, then gives him a gentle, tender kiss before looking up into his face again.

"If we're going to your world to talk to Molly, can we tell off Jack while we're there?" He would have told off Strange some more if Will hadn't stopped him.

[empathicfault]

Will can't hold his grin back anymore, not with Malcolm looking so happy. He's still smiling as they kiss, and he laughs at the question before he can even consider it properly.

"If I even see Jack again, I'll probably punch him in the face. -which is not to say that we shouldn't go..."

[abrightboy]

"I feel like I should discourage that, but I'm just not feeling it," Malcolm agrees.

Without letting go of him, Malcolm starts to turn then so he can back them towards the record player. "Dance with me," he says, like they're not two-thirds already doing that.

[empathicfault]

Will's happiness bubbles up in a giggle as Malcolm fails to discourage the punching. Hey, it's better than what Will originally had in mind for the man, but- with everything they've just talked about, he can't bring the wrathful vengeance to its full flame for Jack right now. He wouldn't be here, needing redemption, if it wasn't for Jack.

He'd still like to punch him.

Will sways with Malcolm and easily gets pulled along towards the record player. "Of course I will," he replies. In fact, he's feeling so good he swings Malcolm around with him as they cross the room towards the player. "You are amazing," he declares, in slight surprise himself, as Malcolm sets up the player. "I didn't think I'd want to get up off the couch today, much less..." He shakes his head. Dancing wasn't an expected activity.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm turns on the player with one hand, barely glancing at it. They’re getting… whatever was going to play next. He grins up at Will. “It’s your fault, actually. I’ve never been this happy before. The outcome is unpredictable,” he teases. “Spontaneous cases of dancing could break out. Who knows what else it could lead to.” He slips that arm up around Will’s neck. “I’m open to exploring it.”

[empathicfault]

Will chuckles as something jazzy, from the beginning of the 20th century (or someone's 20th century), starts to play. Not quite a waltz or a ballroom dance, so they'll have to wing it.

"Are you?" Will grins back. "I do love exploring with you."

Will takes the lead on the dancing this time, just sort of feeling out the music. But it also means that he has less idea of what he's doing. They still seem to move in-sync with each other, even when it means they almost run into the couch. Will laughs and skirts them away from it. "We always forget to move things when this breaks out."

[abrightboy]

"That just means, on our ship, we need a dedicated room for dancing. No furniture, just a killer stereo system," he jokes. "And maybe a disco ball," he teases for good measure.