Human Being

by Michelle

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With a smile, Devin and Catherine slowly descended the spiral staircase towards Vincent and Charles. The young man held out his hand towards Charles.

“I know of a wonderful place, where we can watch the moon in peace, without anyone around us for miles…. Would you like to go there with me, Charles? Just you and me, as good friends do. I would like some company.”

Charles looked in wonder at the outstretched hand and then back to Devin’s face. His deformed lips stretched into a heartfelt smile, as he accepted his friend’s hand gratefully. They had just started ascending the stairs, passing by the visibly moved and smiling Catherine, when Charles halted suddenly. He turned around to Vincent, who stood leaning against the wall watching them.

“Vincent… is… my good friend… too.”
Vincent smiled and spoke softly. “Always.”

Charles smiled widely again, his cruelly deformed face radiating with joy. Then he continued walking up with Devin, who gave a warm smile and a nod to his younger brother first.

Catherine walked down the remaining few steps towards Vincent and eagerly accepted his offered hand. For a moment, she was just gazing at him, smiling with so much admiration and love in her eyes that he felt slightly dizzy. She was looking for the right words to express her feelings about what she had witnessed only a little while ago. The interaction between Vincent and Charles touched her so deeply, that everything crossing her mind seemed to lack its true value.

After a moment, Catherine said, moved. “The way you have with people… is truly remarkable…”
Vincent lowered his head almost shyly for a moment. Then he looked up at her again.
“I could feel his pain, Catherine. All his life, he has faced the same rejection as I have so many times with people who were afraid of my face… “
Catherine’s heart was aching for them both. She felt a stab of sharp pain in her heart, remembering Vincent’s story about the girl behind the car window, told just a few moments ago.

“I know what it feels like to long for fitting in… for sharing dreams and lives with others… for being able to walk freely without people’s judgement…” He paused and sighed, suddenly unable to look into her eyes. “I know what it feels like when you long to be loved and don’t feel worthy of it…”

Her eyes filled with tears. Her hand slowly reached up to his stubbly cheek, cupped it and caressed it gently with her thumb. With a sigh, he closed his eyes briefly and opened them only once her hand slowly left his cheek again. It rested over his heart, where he gently covered it with his own hand.
“Vincent, have I ever told you….” she paused for a moment, her emerald eyes piercing his deep blue ones.  “… that you are the most human human being I have ever known?”

Vincent felt the squeeze of her other hand around his and swallowed, touched deeply by her words.
A human being...

He regained his composure and smiled before his soft deep gravelly voice replied to her.
“Yes, Catherine. With every word… every look… every smile…” Their faces were merely inches away. “Every touch…”

He smiled again, and the shade of his eyes seemed darker.
Catherine sighed with a smile, and a tear ran down her cheek. Without warning, her arms flew around Vincent’s neck, embracing him fiercely, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
“I love you…,” she whispered into his golden hair.

Vincent’s arms enclosed her even tighter, and he kissed the top of her head for a bit longer than he usually would allow himself.

Catherine smiled and felt her body trembling under his arms and the warmth of his kiss in her hair. Then, she pulled back ever so slightly to see his eyes again and took his face gently into her hands to bring it down a bit, putting a lingering kiss on his forehead. She was badly tempted to kiss him on his unusual but so inviting lips, but she didn’t want to take advantage of his vulnerability at that moment. However, she needed to make him aware of how much a man he was to her, so anything would do.

Vincent shivered under her kiss, an electric impulse ran like a shock through his whole body. Yet, he never wanted it to stop and let out a quiet sigh.

When their eyes met again, Catherine was still holding his face in her hands, and her fingers were softly trailing the outlines of his magnetic leonine features. Her eyes were following her fingers as if she wanted to remember every single line of the face that was her dearest of anyone else’s. They had never ventured into such an intimate gesture before, but they couldn’t help but relish in the moment. Catherine was too filled with longing for a deeper way of showing him the enormous power of her love; Vincent was overwhelmed by his ever-growing love and desire for the woman in front of him.
“So beautiful…,” she whispered, wonder and endless love mirrored in her eyes.

When Catherine stopped her gentle exploration, she let her hands slide down slowly, stopping them on his shoulders. Then she placed another tender kiss, this time on his cheek and embraced him with a sigh, laying her cheek against his chest, listening to his elevated heartbeat with a smile.

Vincent’s arms pulled her close, totally engrossed in the feel and love of her.
Dear God, when you decide to take me to you one day, please, let me die in her  arms...

Catherine smiled into his chest, feeling his heartbeat gradually slowing down into a regular calming rhythm. She knew what effect her nearness had on him. Although she never wanted to make him uncomfortable, she couldn’t help but enjoy the way his body reacted every time they held each other close, pressing against each other.

And it was getting harder for Vincent to suppress his natural reaction to the body of the woman he loved most in the world. When she touched his face, her fingers felt the heat rising in his skin, saw him holding his breath and those eyes… Oh God… those eyes would set a forest on fire….
I love you, so much...

When they both calmed down, Vincent spoke softly into her hair.
“We should get going to catch up with them, Catherine…" 
She just mumbled “Mmhm…,” still in a daze and reluctant to let go of his warmth and distinctive scent she loved so much.

Vincent’s heart leapt and he smiled, amused, not letting go of her either.
“Catherine… if we don’t go now, Father will surely send a search party for us.”
That returned her back to reality, and she sighed when slowly pulling back from his embrace.
“We definitely don’t want that.”

Their eyes met again and the way his blue eyes pierced hers made her swallow hard.
How on Earth does he do that? Every time he looks at me like that, I forget to breathe...

Vincent could read everything in her eyes and through their bond and chuckled, taking her hand in his, ready to start walking up the staircase. She followed him without a word, yet couldn’t wipe a smile and a dreamy look from her face. Vincent knew that look and even after almost two years, it felt like a miracle to him - it was the look of a woman in deep and devoted love. 

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