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Soren woke up in a daze. He'd never felt better. He'd never felt more… alive… more loved, than he did in that moment as he rose from sleep. The feeling of Ike's arm tightly holding his middle even as he slept soundly beside him enveloped him to his core. Is this truly not a dream?
It was overwhelming. It was unimaginable until now. Soren isn't dense, but he had never experienced what "normal" is. He knew that Ike cared for him in ways no one else ever had. But to experience, feel, and see that love for himself left his mind spinning and his heart racing just thinking about it. Ike loved him. Ike wanted him. The proof lay in their first pressing of lips, holding each other all night, and the fact that Ike still was beside him.
Soren had always known what it meant to desire from the very first time he had met Ike. Ike gave him so many desires. The desire for the first time in his life to live . More than just surviving. The desire to love and be loved. Both of which he had gone his whole life without. To grow as a person and give himself completely, in all ways, to one person.
Like Ike, Soren wasn’t a materialistic person. He did not desire money or power. For Soren, there was only ever one thing that mattered from that fateful day that had saved his life, changing his world forever. Ike. He could lose everything, but not Ike. To be by Ike’s side was all that mattered. No matter what.
But, of course, within time, just a mere friendship or companionship with Ike wasn’t all he had wanted and thought of… He couldn't help the way he felt. Ike was the most amazing person he’d ever met. Ike was everything to him. Those feelings of love and desire that Ike had awoken within him burned fiercely. They made him feel alive. And knowing now that Ike reciprocated those feelings made Soren amazed and content. It scared him to think of what he’d become without it. Soren was patient. But how long would he have been able to go without Ike’s love before he would have broken. He needed it. And Ike had told him that he deserved it.
Nothing had changed, yet everything had changed. Life took on a new meaning. Soren was also not one for regrets. The war had taken much from him as well, countless hours of hard work, blood, sweat and tears. But none of that mattered to him. They had gotten through it. Together. Ike saved the world. Soren would stop at nothing to make sure Ike got what he deserved. He deserved peace. Soren would fight for that no matter how many times he needed. And Ike deserved Soren’s everything . But that much was easy. His love, devotion, and desire to help Ike came naturally to him. Like breathing.
Soren’s everything… Even his own life. He was willing to give and sacrifice it for Ike.
But from this moment, wrapped in Ike’s embrace, he truly and finally knew. He understood.
That’s not what Ike wanted. Ike wouldn't be happy with that. He never would have. Ike was always telling him how important and needed Soren was. It would break him the same way it’d break Soren if Ike had sacrificed himself instead. He had to live. Ike had given him purpose. He would live. For Ike, he would make sure they could be together, always. A happy ending together is what they both deserved.
Once Ike awakens, they lay in bed gently caressing one another. Each other's presence makes the other feel safe and warm. Ike stops moving to stare at Soren, and Soren feels like he can hear the thoughts turning around in Ike's head. He gives Ike a look that says it all and starts to tell Ike what's on his mind.
"Every time I see your face, my heart races. It is the greatest reminder that I am still alive. That you saved me, Ike, that I am here with you now feels like a dream..."
"I want to be with you. I want it so much that it hurts. Of course I do, Soren. Please, never doubt that."
"I know this sounds impossible, maybe you'll even think I'm crazy. But, sometimes I think to myself how it feels like we were made for each other. Like, no matter what world or reality we are living in, we'll find each other, you know?" Ike says to Soren, who stares at him in awe. Soren had always felt that way too. What he hadn't expected was Ike to feel the same, and even less, that Ike would say it out loud first.
"I feel like I was born to meet you, to serve you, to protect you. My purpose in life is you, it always has been since the day we met."
"Soren... you need to give yourself more credit than that, you’re so much more than someone who's ‘useful’ to me."
"I knew you'd say that, it's part of what I love so much about you,'' Soren says with a soft look, "but it doesn't bother me, to feel that way. To feel needed... I... admit, it is something very important to me. If I was made for you- if that's the only reason I was born into this world, then I'd be happy."
Soren realizes that sounds grim and even a bit ‘wrong’, but he doesn't care. What do other people know? What do their opinions matter to him? All that matters to him is Ike, he doesn't care if that's ‘unhealthy’ or not. Everyone has a purpose in life. What's wrong with his purpose being the person who saved him? The only person who has proven to be worthy of his undying trust, devotion and love time and time again.
"My body, my soul, my entire being is yours." Soren whispers to Ike as he closes his eyes.
Coming from anyone else Ike would reject that notion. And he knows that Soren doesn't "belong to him" in the literal sense. But because it is Soren, it doesn't bother him. It just feels right. He feels the same way.
"Likewise," Ike replies. And that's enough.
Some moments Soren will shy away at the fact that Ike loves him so dearly back but sometimes he'll flaunt that Ike is his and his alone, smugly, even. Ike finds it so very endearing. With their resolve unshakable and unwavering they vow to hold onto each other and never let go.