“you’re different than i remember.” lily’s sitting on his lap, fast asleep after a night of coloring theo and eric more decorative pictures for their front desk. he’s doing his best to clean up her treasured broken crayons and pictures without waking her in the process; he keeps his voice low as the other man sits across from them. “we are too… didn’t expect coraline to come waltzing into your world. certainly not with me and lily,” he looks down at where lily’s started to drool, only smiling fondly at her. he and coraline have taken care of her for over a year now; they’ve become parents to her whether they liked to or not.
“i appreciate you saving me. for her,” he looks down at lily again. “for coraline.” he sighs now. “i know it wasn’t easy for you. you, coraline, aar –,” the words die in his throat and he finds himself avoiding the gaze of the other man intentionally. coraline didn’t tell him much of why eric left while they were on the road, only telling bits and pieces as allowed but he knows her family - at least, her old ones - aren’t the best to breach. “none of you were exactly warm to me. except – look, my point is, i’ve changed. i was only with those people to stay alive.” he shifts as lily starts to stir, rubbing her back in attempts lull her back to sleep. she’s been awake for longer than she’s used to; her exhaustion is getting the best of her. “i’d do anything for them. for lily. and your daughter. i need you to know that.”
DIFFERENT . that was one way to put it . as eric sat across from the man who could have ( wouldhave / shouldhave ) been considered his son-in-law , he couldn’t help but to think that d i f f e r e n t only told half of the story . true , he wasn’t the same , but it was all for the better . his different came in the form of having SMARTENED UP . his was a good different , though he couldn’t say the same for theirs at least not yet .
with little to say , eric began helping with the task at hand , crayons placed side by side from red to purple , shades lined up lightest to darkest . there weren’t enough to make it look as tidy as eric would have liked , but a little tidiness was better than none at all , && it was a nice way to only half listen to alden something he was EXCRUCIATINGLYTHANKFUL FOR as the other man slipped up .
alden was appreciative . alden was still stupid enough to think that the saviors were somehow worse than RICK && CO . alden would take care of coraline && the girl . these facts were taken in , filed away some place where they could be thought back on at some point but for the time being , eric could only focus on what was ALMOST said .
eric knew how STUPID it was , years later , for something as little as a name to get such a s t r o n g reaction from him . it should have meant nothing . alden shouldn’t even have felt the need to stop himself . but the years meant so very little when no healing had taken place . wall upon wall had been build to STOP him from feeling anything at all , so any small mention of what was lurking underneath was far from welcome .
as calm as ever , eric placed yet another crayon down , focus shifting to straightening up paper as he spoke . ❝ alden if you mention him again it needs to be on your way out . ❞ && that was that . it need not be brought up again .
