Work Text:
Regect's been waiting for far too long. There's a certain pain in it.
In waiting.
You know, you know that they're not coming back. That you've lost them. The friend know becomes the friend you knew becomes the friend you had.
But you can't stop waiting. He can't stop waiting, he can't stop hoping. He can't stop wishing.
The stars stop falling, the clovers stop growing. Wonder stalls, then stops, then becomes nothing but a memory.
You wait, and you wait, and you wait.
And then you realize it's easier to cover your heart than it is to keep waiting,
His heart grew heavy after all that waiting. So heavy, so guarded. So covered in iron and gold.
It grew heavier still as he kept moving. Grief only festered and grew around it with branches unbreakable.
It weighed him down, most days. Kept him sedentary. Wittled down his hope until it was nothing at all.
Even though he kept moving, moved forward, moved on, he never forgot. It never left his mind. It never left his heart.
He never truly stopped waiting.