[True enough that Octavian has never been a hugger. In life he wasn't much one for any kind of touch, only comfortable with it when it came from family— but then he died and suddenly to feel the physical anchor of himself in the world became the most important thing. It's why he spends so much time now touching all the tools in the lab, touching every table, fascinated by the cats at the cafe; the lack of one's whole self is a terrible part of this process, dying and coming back.
And so he understands that much wordlessly when Viktor wraps around him, all of it layered into the grief and the worry that he might not have returned. Octavian wraps his arms around Viktor in turn, tight and definite; he's here, they both are. He presses his cheek into Viktor's hair and simply appreciates the weight and the warmth of him, returned and alive.
(A thought occurs to him then, that he left Viktor to die and then didn't seek him out, and isn't that what was done to him? Guilt twists in his gut, but surely not, no, this was entirely different— he won't unpack this now, in any case.)
Viktor. Nothing else matters besides Viktor's return. Octavian doesn't know how long they stand there like this, minutes? An hour? But when he feels like Viktor is at least not going to collapse around him, he says,] Welcome back.
[—which is I missed you and it must have been hard and a handful of other things at once, but Viktor will know. He'll know.]
no subject
And so he understands that much wordlessly when Viktor wraps around him, all of it layered into the grief and the worry that he might not have returned. Octavian wraps his arms around Viktor in turn, tight and definite; he's here, they both are. He presses his cheek into Viktor's hair and simply appreciates the weight and the warmth of him, returned and alive.
(A thought occurs to him then, that he left Viktor to die and then didn't seek him out, and isn't that what was done to him? Guilt twists in his gut, but surely not, no, this was entirely different— he won't unpack this now, in any case.)
Viktor. Nothing else matters besides Viktor's return. Octavian doesn't know how long they stand there like this, minutes? An hour? But when he feels like Viktor is at least not going to collapse around him, he says,] Welcome back.
[—which is I missed you and it must have been hard and a handful of other things at once, but Viktor will know. He'll know.]