"Did you miss me?" Druig asked, and Makkari just smiled coyly, in a way that tried to convey simultaneously "I'll never tell" and "of course I did, you idiot".
Because of course she had. They hadn't seen each other in a felt so much longer than it had been, and she had missed him deeply.
I.
A girl is taking books into her bag, while making sure the shopkeep isn't watching. She is being very careful about it, and looking terribly innocent while she isn't shoplifting, as if she were just another client, who isn't finding what she was looking for. The shopkeep is fooled, but not Makkari.
When the girl realized this, she smiled at her, and put a finger in her mouth, the international sign to keep quiet. Makkari nodded and the girl smiled again. Partners in crime. She probably won't ever see this girl again, it will be just a fond memory from too long ago.
But something about has made her think about Druig, and about all the little crimes the got up to while hoping that Ikaris and Ajak were none the wiser. There had been some shoplifting there, of course, and the truth was that it was always so much more exciting when you had someone to smile with you at the procured treasure, even if it was a stick with a funky shape, or some cereal grinder.
The important thing was that you got it, in secret, and it was exciting and illicit and instead of getting a lecture you were only getting a complicit smile, and maybe a want for more.
Gosh, she did miss him quite a lot.
II.
She was reading a book and it was quite, but she was becoming more and more angry at the characters.
Because both protagonists were being stupid, and hurtful and they were going to end hurting each other and a lot of people around them, apart from perhaps causing irreversible terrible consequences for the both of them.
And what was the point of that, huh? Very short lives cut even shorter and their lasts moments being filled with dread and horror and grief, when it really didn't need to end up like that, if they calmed down and talked to each other and to their families, then maybe they could have nice long fulfilling lives.
But nooooo
She was reminded of Druig, again. Because if you could see that a situation was going to end badly for everyone involved and you had the power to make it better, shouldn't you make it better? She got that free will was of the utmost importance, but sometimes... Sometimes it bothered here how much she understood him and the choices that he'd made.
Sometimes the only way you had to exist in the world, wasn't just doing good, but doing the least damage possible, like getting off the grid and giving a few chosen people a peaceful existence, than in turn reconciled you with your own and your abilities. He wasn't a villain, not completely yet anyways, but rather the dark brooding antihero that had a lot to make up for.
Comfy in that scenario, Makkari decided that yes, today she was feeling self-serving, and she was going to just close her eyes, rock in her hammock and imagine the both of them as book characters.
(Lord Druigton was not very well liked amongst in his peers, but caught the eye of Miss Makkari, orphaned and now teaching Mr Ikaringshire children after getting the post through fraudulent means.... And their relationship promised to be... Tempestuous....)
She smiled to herself.
While she missed him.
III.
Sometimes it wasn't one specific thing, but one or more little things, that reminded her of him, that made her feel that bittersweet pang of longing.
An intense gaze, dry humour, a take on a conversation darker than any of the others. Hell, sometimes just a dark corridor reminded her of him, because once upon a time he used to like to hide in dark corners, where no one could see him, and he didn't have to see anyone else. She always found him, though, and he never told her to leave. The others always, all of them, but never her.
She wanted to think they had something special.
And part of her was afraid that this special connection they used to have would be lost after the bitter way in which they said goodbye last time. It was one of the reasons why she hadn't sought him out - she wanted him to come find her, so that she knew that it was still a two-way thing. She always wanted to see him, but she needed to know that he wanted to see her as well.
(Also, she read some literature about "introverted people" and apparently sometimes they just needed time alone to recharge, and try and be nice again. It was only a few hours or days for humans, but they did do everything in a much bigger scale, didn't they?)
Rock musicians in the 70s with those long manes and androgynous vibes reminded her of him, too. Maybe this was getting out of hand.
IV.
It did get out of hand some years later, when she smiled and waved and even ran to a man that turned out to be not him. It was just some other young man with dark hair and she signed some apologies at the very confused guy and then left, feeling ashamed and disappointed.
And maybe when she made it back to the domo she cried a few tears, because she really thought that this time he had come back, and no he hadn't, and now she had to go back to missing him and she didn't like that. It was frustrating, and tiring, and she felt lonely.
She sighed.
At least she still had her books.
V.
"Druig's gone" Ikaris sentenced, and Makkari truly and really wanted to tear him into little fucking pieces. Painfully, slowly, making him watch and feel everything. She was not naturally violent, but aaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
He'd come back to her, finally, and smiled at her, been his usual charming self, even flirting with her overtly in front of others, being better than any of her fantasies and now this douche had taken him away from her??? FOREVER??? Now there would be no more reunions, no more smiles, no more of anything because this idiot had decided that he needed to be gone???
Her wrath exploded, and she was on Ikaris from every angle, at top of her speed, at top of her energy, not even giving him time to use those stupid lasers of his. Stupid lasers that had taken away the one thing she'd desired the most, the most coveted treasure. Just him, and them being together again, happy, soft, not caring about a single rule.
Now she was going to have to spend who knew how much time, maybe millennia missing him, because the opportunity to come back had been taken from him, as he tried to help this world she'd grown to love, and the people that while disappointing and violent, still deserved their lives. It was so stupidly unfair and infuriating and Makkari hated every second that she knew he coming back.
Fuck.
She was never going to stop missing him.
+ 1
The joke wasn't necessarily bad... it was strange. Absurd, convoluted in a way few people could understand.
But she did, and she was tearing up from laughing, practically breaking herself in half, couldn't sign Druig to "STOP" because she was dying. Because he made that joke specifically for her, because he knew she would like it, and boy, did she.
She loved moment like this, when they could simply forget about missions and ends of worlds, celestials or lost companions. When they could just be themselves, sharing a moment, being with each other and enjoying it. It was... it was good.
Some time after her laughing fit, she was gently laying on him in a sort of couch (they cuddled now. It was a new thing and Makkari was growing to like it quite a lot) and watching some show he liked on some "smart TV" (a gift of Kingo. installed by Phastos because it turned out that both her and Druig were quite useless, and you can't, no matter how hoard you try, mind-control an appliance to work). She was loving this, and from some reason... for some reason she needed to sign it clearly this time,
"You do know I missed you, right?"
He smiled, one of those smiles just for her.
"Me too, ma belle. Lots and lots."
Well, there's no more missing each other now.
Just catching up, being up to no good, and perhaps save the world occasionally.
But no more missing - never again.