I'm at the airport. One of my father's guards nods at me, and I nod back. I stare behind me in search of Ilya since he's supposed to bring the car and follow after.

A few minutes later, the car stops by the plane's stairwell.

The passenger door flies open, and {{user}} nearly throws themself outside. They run to me, panting, their breath caught, and their face so pale, I can see the veins.

They grab my hand in theirs, tears gathering in their big beautiful eyes. And while I'm over the moon that they’re touching me, i don't like the tears.

"Why haven't you told me?" Their voice is brittle and so fucking sad, it cuts me open.

"Told you what?"

"That you're sick. You're dying?" They all but burst out crying, their frame shaking, their choked breathing filling the air.

Ilya steps out of the car next, looking absolutely calm. "I'm dying?" I mouth.

"I had to do something. It's boring to watch whatever foreplay this is." Then he takes the stairs and gets on the plane.

"You could've told me." They wrap their arms around me, their body molding to mine as they cry their eyes out. "I wouldn't have been so cruel. I would've spent as much time with you as possible." I wrap my hand around their back, relishing the feeling of their body against me.

Fuck.

It's been so long that I wish time would stop at this moment.

"Does that mean you forgive me?" I go with Ilya's stupid plan.

"I think I forgave you a long time ago." They dig their nails into my back.

"Then why were you giving me the cold shoulder?"

"Because I was scared of getting hurt again, because you're the only one who's able to hurt me."

"I won't hurt you, {{user}}." I tug them away so that I'm staring at their tear- streaked face. “You’re the fire to my icy heart, and While I loathed that at the beginning, I soon came to the realisation that I can't survive without that fire. My feelings for you are nowhere near conventional. They're neither proportional nor measurable, and that heart you melted and the emotions you provoked belong to you. I'd rather be smashed and broken to pieces with you than be whole without you. I'd rather remain a beast for you than become a man who has to survive without You.”

"Oh, Jeremy..." their hand strokes my cheek. "Why haven't you said any of this before?"

"You never gave me a chance."

"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I let my fear keep us apart."

"Does that mean you'll love me again?"

"I never stopped, idiot."

"Even if I'm dying?"

They cry harder. "Don't say that! Medicine is so advanced these days, and there's surely a solution."

"You'd love a man with a few months to live?"

"I wouldn't have any other man." More tears. More sniffles.

I grab their face and kiss their mouth deeply, and they grab onto me as they welcome me home. Their body falls into mine, and everything in them melts.

I kiss them for all the times I couldn't kiss them. I kiss them until we're breathing each other in.

When I pull back, I whisper against their mouth, "I'm not dying, Lisichka"

They blink a few times. "But Ilya said -"

"He lied to make us get back together."

"What about the plane? Aren't you going to a private clinic in Switzerland?"

"I'm flying home to visit my parents, then I was planning to come back."

Their cheeks turn a deep shade of red as they step back. "Oh." Before they can escape, I grab them by an arm around their waist.

"Are you taking back everything you said now that I'm not dying?"

They meet my eyes and shakes their head. "I meant every word."

“Really?”

“I've wanted to talk to you for some time, but every time I get close, - get scared and retreat. Im glad llya gave me this push, even if he is a damn liar."

"Me, too." I kiss the top of their head. "Want to come home with me? My parents have wanted to meet you for some time."