#ѕυƖƖєη вσвcαт (penelope)

[minifrenchfry-kabbit]

"Teachers, movies, books, they always say home is where the heart is, but then they show it by the hero... I don't know, going back to their hometown, ditching all the friends they made to live with family they hardly even know or some bitch with no personality beyond wife as a happily ever after. It's never felt right. Home isn't a place to me. Never has been. It's... with you two. It's always been you."

Pale eyes meet Benji's gaze defiantly, even as her face erupts with a brilliant purple flush. "And I will literally kill you if you ever repeat that outside of this fucking room."

He froze mid-flip of the sizzling meat in the pan, likely leaving one side to sear a little bit too long while his mind figuratively crashed and struggled to reboot, split-hued eyes wide and staring blankly at the wall, the involuntary twitching of his nose all but halted.

Finally, the light of cognition returned to his glassy gaze, quickly taking the opportunity to flip the meat over at last, as the last of the shocked paralysis released its hold over him, waiting until he felt he could trust himself to speak without his gruff voice breaking.

“..Does this confession have anything to do with the fact that I’m cooking you steak right now?”

He turned his head just enough to grin at her over his shoulder, hoping the tease would be enough to distract her away from noticing that his eyes were suspiciously wet, though he knew she wouldn’t call attention to it, so long as he didn’t comment on her own reflex.

She honestly looked just as shocked as he felt, neither of them prepared for such a heartfelt bombshell, or deal with the heavy emotions that followed, though her threat coaxed a chuckle out of him, that kind of reaction certainly more of what he expected from the prickly teenager.

“I don’t doubt that, Lopey. No one else will hear it from me, you know I keep my word. But.. I will say that it would mean the world to our absent party member, to hear that from you, too. We both know how much he second-guesses himself.. when it comes to making a home for you.”

Ears lying flat toward his back, he lowered his gaze back to the steak sizzling in the skillet, turning it over again to further brown it, though he knew to keep her preference toward making more rare than overdone.

“We just want better for you than what we had. Even though that’s.. gotta be the most cliché thing I could possibly say as a guardian.. it’s the truth. Means a lot that you feel safe enough to be so vulnerable.. I know from experience how.. hard that is, when you’ve been let down so many times.”

“..Thank you for trusting me, kid.”