The Right Answer 2: Commitments
Mar. 2nd, 2025 12:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerMain Points:
Crusade (The Right Answer)
Chapter Summary: Galen has a question of his own, with an unexpected answer.
Word Count: 420
Rating: Teen
He’s not going to undersell this. Their relationships make them both who they are now, and he wouldn’t change that, because their paths led them here. “Elizabeth is a great woman. It’s just that our career paths weren’t aligned, and I respect that.”
The answer doesn’t make Galen relax. “And what about me? Our interests have conflicted more than once.”
It probably isn’t helping Galen’s insecurities—and that’s a sentence Matthew never thought would enter his head—that he’s giving this the proper thought it deserves, but that’s the whole point of this exercise, wasn’t it? To make sure he could trust Galen again? Sure, in general, his trust, once lost, was never regained, but in this case, for him, he’d wanted and cared enough to try. “Your commitment to the mission, I’m still not sure about. Your commitment to me…” He reaches out and touches Galen’s hand. The technomage sometimes is touch-averse, so Matthew doesn’t want to push things, but he at least wants to make the gesture to reach out again. It takes Galen a moment, before he turns his hand to allow the Captain to lace their fingers together. “You’ve made it pretty clear where you stand.”
“Some would call your belief in me foolish, Matthew.” From the tone, that ‘some’ includes himself, though he’s not wanting to say it. It’s not the first time he’s said something like that.
Gideon smiles wryly. Why not just come out and say it? Galen had practically already done it once out loud and about half a dozen times through gesture and deed. “Yeah, well, I’m a man in love. They can cut me some slack.”
For once, when he’s not trying to use silence to be mysterious or make a dramatic entrance or exit, Galen’s silent. Matthew sneaks a glance to find the tips of Galen’s ears blushing. But for once...he stays, and that little gesture means everything.
Crusade (The Right Answer)
Chapter Summary: Galen has a question of his own, with an unexpected answer.
Word Count: 420
Rating: Teen
“Do you love her?” This time, it’s Galen asking the question, quiet as they watch the stars. That’s rare, that he actually takes the initiative to ask a question of his own. Early on, Gideon would have thought, partially due to the Box, that it’s because Galen’s surveillance told him everything he needed to know. Now, he’s got the feeling that along with the warning he’d given at the beginning, maybe he hadn’t asked because he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. It takes Gideon a moment to realize what he’s talking about, another to understand—wait, he’s jealous.
He’s not going to undersell this. Their relationships make them both who they are now, and he wouldn’t change that, because their paths led them here. “Elizabeth is a great woman. It’s just that our career paths weren’t aligned, and I respect that.”
The answer doesn’t make Galen relax. “And what about me? Our interests have conflicted more than once.”
It probably isn’t helping Galen’s insecurities—and that’s a sentence Matthew never thought would enter his head—that he’s giving this the proper thought it deserves, but that’s the whole point of this exercise, wasn’t it? To make sure he could trust Galen again? Sure, in general, his trust, once lost, was never regained, but in this case, for him, he’d wanted and cared enough to try. “Your commitment to the mission, I’m still not sure about. Your commitment to me…” He reaches out and touches Galen’s hand. The technomage sometimes is touch-averse, so Matthew doesn’t want to push things, but he at least wants to make the gesture to reach out again. It takes Galen a moment, before he turns his hand to allow the Captain to lace their fingers together. “You’ve made it pretty clear where you stand.”
“Some would call your belief in me foolish, Matthew.” From the tone, that ‘some’ includes himself, though he’s not wanting to say it. It’s not the first time he’s said something like that.
Gideon smiles wryly. Why not just come out and say it? Galen had practically already done it once out loud and about half a dozen times through gesture and deed. “Yeah, well, I’m a man in love. They can cut me some slack.”
For once, when he’s not trying to use silence to be mysterious or make a dramatic entrance or exit, Galen’s silent. Matthew sneaks a glance to find the tips of Galen’s ears blushing. But for once...he stays, and that little gesture means everything.
