He liked this, it made him feel really safe. He relaxed against Mia, letting his body take its time to calm down the rest of the way. He felt like a bit of an ass for kicking Astral but then again, didn’t the god deserve that and a lot more for what he’d done? Thinking about Astral sent a small shiver down his spine, making him feel disgusting in his own body all over again. So he just tried to focus on Mia’s arms around him…and after a moment, found himself crying silently again. It had been…so long since he’d known a genuinely gentle touch, one with no ulterior motives behind it. Really the only one who’d ever taken good care of him like this was Evan. None of his other boyfriends had. None of his friends that really couldn’t care less about him. And definitely not any of the many foster parents over the years. So…basically no one but Evan and now Mia in his whole 22 years of being alive.
Mia reached up one hand to rest on Simon's head when she realizes he was crying, holding him a bit closer. She knew, to some degree, that Simon had lived a horrible life, and it seemed he would continue to for… Forever. Still, she wanted to do everything she could go make it that much better, to give him some hope.
Simon tightened his hold around Mia slightly, afraid that she’d disappear somehow. At this point, something happening to Mia would probably be too much for him to take. He sniffled softly. “Thank you..” he whispered.
"You're welcome…" Mia reached her hand from the back of Simon's head to wipe away the tears.
"I'm going to make sure I stay with you through this, kay? There's no way in hell Astral is going to get me away from you again, I'll bite his fingers off."
He nodded, smiling softly at her. “That’d be interesting to see.” He laughed hoarsely. “You’re the best friend ever, you know that?”
Mia giggled some, glad to see Simon laughing some.
"Well, you deserve someone like that in your life. I'm just happy it's me."
“I’m happy it’s you too. And I won’t let us get separated either. Astral’s fucked with my life too much, I won’t let him fuck up any more of it.” He smiled reassuringly, still hugging her. He just hoped he’d be able to keep up the promise of his bold words. He knew Astral was perfectly capable of destroying him if the god wanted to.
((Hi welcome back to Max’s random thoughts, because do they have anything better to do? No. This one’s been chillin in my head for awhile, so here ya go….))
((there’s literally a possibility where Astral could’ve adopted Simon when he was a child, dude’s been in the system literally his whole life 0-0))
((Idk just something weird and random that I thought of))
(is it weird to say he probably would've ended up with a pretty good life? Astral's, like, genuinely nice to kids from the start, especially if he's already adopted them)
Mia nodded firmly in conviction.
"I was honestly surprised he felt when you kicked him," she noted. "We might actually have a chance to stand up for ourselves." She squeezed Simon lightly, resting her head on him.
((yeah true but that’s just weird for my brain to think about))
“I’m surprised he didn’t hurt me because of that…” he muttered. It was a lot different from any other experience he’d had in fighting back. “Maybe we do have a chance.” He smiled softly.
"A chance is more than I thought we had before; I'll take it." Mia smiled in turn, looking around once.
"And the first thing we should do is find another bedroom."
He nodded. “Y-yeah.” This room did make him very uncomfortable now, and if he ever wanted a chance of getting a good night’s rest, he needed to be somewhere else. “Should we do that now?”
"Yes, I think so. Astral locked himself in his workroom, so as long as we start away from there he shouldn't be able to tell we're in another part of the palace." Mia stood, helping Simon up.
Simon nodded, staying close to Mia’s side as they left the room. He let her lead, not knowing his way around super well. He hoped Astral wouldn’t catch them and get upset. That could…potentially cause some problems.
Mia walked through the halls in light feet, making sure to avoid any creeking floorboards and warning Simon of them. It was obvious she had done these things before…
She brought him to a room finally, opening the door. Astral was no where to be seen or heard, thankfully, and he'd never look for them here. He knew the pain Mia would feel at the memories- it was where he'd taken her lover away from her, after all, and Astral had tried to have a child…
No reason to tell Simon this, of course. It was a plain room, more situated for a human, a layer of dust over everything.
Simon sneezed, laughing softly in surprise. “This’ll do, we’ll just need to clean it up a bit.” He said. He of course had no idea of what had happened here. But for him, this was a much safer space, at least for the moment. Astral hadn’t done anything to him in this room just yet.
Mia nodded. This room was still full of memories for her, but this was about Simon now. She searched around some, coming up with a cloth. It had initials on it, a handkerchief, but the letters were hard to make out.
"Here, there are a couple more of these, we can use them for the dust."
He nodded, not questioning how she knew this. If it was something she thought he should know, she would’ve told him. He took the cloth from her, beginning to wipe off some of the surrounding surfaces.
Mia picked up another from the pile, helping Simon. She hummed softly, keeping her voice quiet. The room didn't have much in it, so there wasn't much to clean.
"Thankfully, I spotted another kitchen on the way here, say we don't have to go back in the main area," she explained.
“That’s good..” he replied, not looking up from his work. Even if it was closer and Astral wouldn’t be there, he still most likely wouldn’t be eating much. He might start eating healthily again over time, but considering how traumatic this all was for him, it could take years for him to recover.
Glancing over, Mia held back a comment she had been about to say. She really wasn't sure how good she would be at helping him through this, but she'd do everything she could to make sure he was okay in the end. She moved over to clean up the bed, pausing a moment before continuing.
Simon noticed the way she paused but once again didn’t ask. He knew something terrible had probably happened in every room in this place. So it’d probably be better if he just didn’t even ask. After a few more minutes, Simon glanced over at Mia, thinking they’d just about finished cleaning up. Even doing something as small as this was enough to tire him out.
((I swear…at this point Simon should just be Astral’s therapist. Like there’s no other options XD))
((the big sad has arrived once again so I’m once again bumping this :/ ))
(I'm so sorry it took me so long to respond! school and life are horrible)
Mia sat down on the bed when they seemed to be done, letting out a breath.
"How are you feeling right now?" She asked, patting the bed next to her so they could talk together.
