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rover holds his hand out, watching as the sun gleams off of jiyan’s knuckle armor as he carefully places the seed in his palm. the graze of the armor’s claw through his thin glove sends a shiver down rover’s spine.
the seed is small, yet it feels as if he holds the heaviest thing he’s known in his brief time of being awake. the farewell hopes and wishes of not just jinzhou, but of its general lay simply within his hand.
“help me plant it?” he asks, carefully cradling it. jiyan nods and sets off to find the small gardening tools he stores at the memorial.
rover lowers himself to the ground, taking in the swaying of the emortia in the gentle breeze and how they seem to glow under the gaze of the sun. he looks back at the seed that he holds and smiles.
“i’m not sure of how much of a green thumb i was, or am. so don’t fail me now, okay? grow big and strong like your other comrades,” he murmurs.
he startles as he hears jiyan’s low chuckle behind him.
“a nice beginning for a rallying speech.” he comes around to his front and kneels, a small shovel in his grasp.
rover flushes and scratches his cheek.
“ah, thank you, general?”
jiyan cracks a small smile in return before getting to work on digging a small hole in the field. rover tries to intervene and say he can do it, but jiyan just waves it away and continues.
after a few minutes, the hole is finally complete. jiyan sets the shovel aside and dusts whatever dirt he can off his hands.
“anything else you wish to say to encourage the seed?” jiyan asks, a teasing lilt to his words; his face is tender as he looks at him though.
“no,” rover chuckles. he stretches forward to set the seed in the ground then halts. he pushes through the slight embarrassment he feels at the thought but goes through with the action anyway, bringing his hand to his face and gently kissing the seed. he avoids looking at jiyan as he hurriedly sets the seed into the dirt and starts to cover it up.
jiyan’s hands come into view as he grabs rover’s, stopping his nervous ministrations. rover chances a glance up at his face, met with a look of adoration on jiyan’s face.
“thank you.”
rover angles his hands in jiyan’s grip to be able to squeeze them. he darts in and quickly presses a kiss to the corner of jiyan’s mouth, hopefully conveying what he can’t through words.
he pulls back and sees a blush spread on jiyan’s face, slack with shock.
he lets out a small laugh at reaction.
“one for you as well, general.”