I'll need all the help I can get! These noodly arms of mine aren't doing the heavy lifting anytime soon!
[His words come with a playful laugh. While it's true that Dimitri's strength far outweighs his, it's not like Claude is really weak either. He's definitely been building up muscle and getting more toned since he started taking his archery more seriously. He was definitely a bit more scrawny in high school, and even at the start of moving into the dorms, he hadn't grown all that much. But Claude is, in fact, a growing boy who takes his fitness seriously enough!
Not hockey player, intense athlete serious, but enough so that he still wants to excel with the sport he's chosen. Still, he knows there are few better candidates to help him move furniture. Raphael would willingly help, and if he had to, he could ask Balthus or even Holst for help. But he'd really rather avoid that, because he really doesn't need to discover new ways that either of them can find to embarrass him in public. Besides, he really does want every chance he can possibly get to spend time with Dimitri. After all, he has no idea how long this will really last.
Which just makes him more prone to settling in against Dimitri, ready to wholly embrace the closeness and the way Dimitri too, seems to want to stay this way. Every time they address their status as a couple, it seems like the heat rises to both their cheeks. It's young love to be sure, but Claude has never really felt this way about anyone he's dated or slept with. He's never felt so content to stay so close, never felt like he just fit with another person in quite this way.
And maybe that's what makes that warmth bloom in his chest when Dimitri finally says that he likes being a couple. Dimitri may worry that he's overreacting, but hearing it this way is like having his own feelings mirrored. It gives him a sense of warmth and acceptance and that reminder that Dimitri really does feel the same way he does about this.]
I like it, too. Even more than I would've ever thought. [Even leaving aside how nice it is to stop dancing around the formalities and trying to figure out where to draw the line—it goes beyond that.
It's the fact that he's always eager to see Dimitri. That he looks forward to when they meet up, and always feels disappointed when they have to part. It's the way his heart races when Dimitri can smile at him so brightly. It's the way when Dimitri seems stressed or upset, he just wants to drop everything he's doing to help.
That's never happened to him before. Dates felt like obligation after a while, he felt stressed trying to provide comfort or consolation to someone who needed his to be emotionally open. If things started feeling too serious, he'd feel the need to back away and distance himself. Ultimately, he was beginning to feel like he simply wasn't suited to relationships and was better off with casual flings to meet his needs. So now, having this? It feels like a whole new world is opening up in front of him that he didn't even think was possible for him.] I'm sure not every challenge will be fun, but... I think if I'm tackling it with you, things will work out.
[Somehow, with Dimitri... Everything always just feels right. He's never been one to believe in fate or anything like that, and yet, it just seems they slot together so naturally that they can make anything work if they're together.]
no subject
[His words come with a playful laugh. While it's true that Dimitri's strength far outweighs his, it's not like Claude is really weak either. He's definitely been building up muscle and getting more toned since he started taking his archery more seriously. He was definitely a bit more scrawny in high school, and even at the start of moving into the dorms, he hadn't grown all that much. But Claude is, in fact, a growing boy who takes his fitness seriously enough!
Not hockey player, intense athlete serious, but enough so that he still wants to excel with the sport he's chosen. Still, he knows there are few better candidates to help him move furniture. Raphael would willingly help, and if he had to, he could ask Balthus or even Holst for help. But he'd really rather avoid that, because he really doesn't need to discover new ways that either of them can find to embarrass him in public. Besides, he really does want every chance he can possibly get to spend time with Dimitri. After all, he has no idea how long this will really last.
Which just makes him more prone to settling in against Dimitri, ready to wholly embrace the closeness and the way Dimitri too, seems to want to stay this way. Every time they address their status as a couple, it seems like the heat rises to both their cheeks. It's young love to be sure, but Claude has never really felt this way about anyone he's dated or slept with. He's never felt so content to stay so close, never felt like he just fit with another person in quite this way.
And maybe that's what makes that warmth bloom in his chest when Dimitri finally says that he likes being a couple. Dimitri may worry that he's overreacting, but hearing it this way is like having his own feelings mirrored. It gives him a sense of warmth and acceptance and that reminder that Dimitri really does feel the same way he does about this.]
I like it, too. Even more than I would've ever thought. [Even leaving aside how nice it is to stop dancing around the formalities and trying to figure out where to draw the line—it goes beyond that.
It's the fact that he's always eager to see Dimitri. That he looks forward to when they meet up, and always feels disappointed when they have to part. It's the way his heart races when Dimitri can smile at him so brightly. It's the way when Dimitri seems stressed or upset, he just wants to drop everything he's doing to help.
That's never happened to him before. Dates felt like obligation after a while, he felt stressed trying to provide comfort or consolation to someone who needed his to be emotionally open. If things started feeling too serious, he'd feel the need to back away and distance himself. Ultimately, he was beginning to feel like he simply wasn't suited to relationships and was better off with casual flings to meet his needs. So now, having this? It feels like a whole new world is opening up in front of him that he didn't even think was possible for him.] I'm sure not every challenge will be fun, but... I think if I'm tackling it with you, things will work out.
[Somehow, with Dimitri... Everything always just feels right. He's never been one to believe in fate or anything like that, and yet, it just seems they slot together so naturally that they can make anything work if they're together.]