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Cale tentatively reached a hand out. He expected healthy skin but instead, his fingers touched the fabric of a certain silky-smooth shirt. It took him back to a long time ago, longer than it must have been because time tended to drift and drag a lot slower when you're not able to take in the world around you, but it took him back to that odd day a few months before the world was no more.
He had stood in front of his wardrobe, squinting and wondering where one of his clothes had gone. After a few moments he had decided it mattered not, because Cale was a wealthy man and it had only been just one measly shirt.
Cale huffed a chuckle, running his fingers upwards until he reached the collar.
"You stole my shirt."
A chuckle in turn, young and yet older than Cale could have possibly imagined despite constantly hearing it. "It was a good shirt, human. Besides, didn't I learn from the best?"
"You simply could have asked."
"Will you scold me now because I didn't?"
(Cale knew exactly why Raon didn't.)
He clicked his tongue without any real heat. "Stop talking nonsense."
A giggle, this time, of soft notes in tenor. He then felt a strong hand wrap around his wrist, bringing it higher than Cale had to reach for last time, until Cale finally found what he was initially looking for. He traced the edges of a sharp jawline.
"Hm. Taller, too."
"Hehe. Your weak arms are going to get tired faster now."
It was true. Cale wouldn't let go, though. Not even if they shook.
Cale slid his palm until it rested on a warm cheek. Like he expected, healthy skin it was, just as he thought children should have. His other hand rose to the opposite cheek and without warning, he pinched and pulled.
It drew a long, whiny "Human—!" from his unfortunate victim. Cale refrained from smiling. It was always a funny thing to him, how Raon could change so much yet so little.
(It used to hurt him. Sometimes—those moments came rarer now—but sometimes, it still does.)
He felt Raon's cheeks puff up under his touch and taking pity on him, Cale relented. Back to his actual business, Cale slowly mapped the rest of his features with gentle fingers: soft lips he made sure to gloss over quickly to avoid receiving a playful bite, a shapely nose with a firm bridge that curved nicely, the lack of eye bags that had Cale humming in approval, closed eyelids that trembled as he hovered over them yet instantly relaxed once he lightly stroked them with his thumbs.
"How brazen," Cale said as his hands returned to Raon's cheeks. "You're stealing more of my face as well."
"I'm taking after you, human, get it right!" came the response, proud and after all these years, still a little embarrassed.
Cale couldn't help the fond sigh that escaped from him.
"But... mm... human?"
Raon sounded hesitant, so Cale couldn't help the way his eyebrows slightly furrowed either. But it was only a twitch that lasted an instant, because Cale knew Raon's voice like every record he kept, and right now it seemed like Raon needed him. "Yes?"
Cale patiently waited, but nothing else came. Nothing but the opening and closing of Raon's mouth struggling to voice out what he wanted to say and the telltale sensation of his jaws tensing. Soon Cale felt the wobbling of his lower lip, then Raon bowed his head.
(Raon never turned away from Cale.)
Something wet slipped into Cale's palms. The moment it did, Cale's expression softened in ache, tilting Raon's face back up and carefully wiping the tears away where he can. "Oh, Raon."
"Sorry, human, I just—sorry," Raon's own hands came up, bumping against Cale's as he scrubbed at his eyes forcefully.
Cale gently swatted them away, "Don't do that. Don't say that, either. Come here."
And that's how Cale had his arms full of his child who had grown up. Raon no longer fit entirely in them, which was a concept Cale had once feared, but in the here and now it was something he embraced with every living cell of his body.
Raon no longer fit in his arms, unlike the day Raon couldn't bring himself to show Cale his human form in time before Cale would go blind. He had broken down in tears then, and Cale had hugged him until his shirt was drenched in tears, until long after.
Raon no longer fit in his arms, but it didn't stop Raon from shoving his face into Cale's neck just like how he shoved his face into Cale's chest that day.
Raon no longer fit in his arms, but it didn't stop either of them from thinking that it felt just as right as before.