"Go home, Theo."

Theo kicks the words around in his mind, mulling over the simple command from the soft voice. His usual favorite sound in the world. But right now, in this moment, all it causes is grief. Instincts tell him to listen. To leave. To take this as a loss and go home with his dignity still intact. After all, the figure in front of him is not and never has been his. His favorite person belongs to someone else entirely. A marriage sewn so tightly in political agendas that he could only ever dream of unthreading it.

But something about the melancholic look in the eyes in front of him, and the way those lips curl into a frown when they always should be smiling, makes Theo's rationale fade into the ether.

"I won't go home without you."