There was a pregnant pause as he sat up on his elbows, his brows furrowing in concern as he reached out and took her hand, his long fingers lacing with hers. "You're going to burn out," he said gently, sitting up fully and enclosing her small, delicate hands in both of his. She would feel callouses on his fingertips, ones that matched her own from years of working with gears in dark workshops. The callouses were physical representations of her efforts, of her studies, and she might notice that although his weren't as severe as hers were, they still brushed against every surface he touched. Currently, those callouses were tracing her knuckles. He studied her hand as if she were one of his machines, inspecting every bone and tendon underneath her skin as if she were an enigma he was trying to fix. "Stay here," he said after a moment, looking up at her earnestly, his brown eyes soft and warm as he considered her. "Stay with me."
She squeezed his hand gently before sitting on the edge of the bed with a sigh. "If I don't work we'll have a worse chance of getting back.."
He shrugged, the motion fluid and easy, almost catlike in its simplicity. One of his hands pulled away from hers and rested on the small of her back, his fingers tracing her spine gently, tracing small circles around tense muscles as he considered her thoughtfully. "You did work," he replied, tilting his head in confusion as he watched her. "You worked yesterday..." He nodded as if verifying the truth of his statement. "You worked yesterday, and all of last night, and this morning..." He shook his head disapprovingly. "You need to sleep. You need to take care of yourself if you want to fix this."
He blinked in surprise, looking down at her before embracing her in response, his fingers coming up to brush through her dark hair. "I love you too," he replied in confusion, adjusting her gently so that he could lean back against the pillows, pulling her to his body. He smelled vaguely of the woods they had met in. "Will you stay with me?"
He kissed the top of her head, still wide awake, but holding her close to his chest, his brows furrowed.
