AN: Sully/Kael for y’all. Further signs of the revival ;) A snippet that is slightly AU, set a year or so after the end of Flawless. Hope you enjoy it :) (I know I kind of like it. I missed them :P)

Some days were more difficult to handle than others.

Some days, he wanted to go up to the older boy, and push him, and demand that he say the three words that he needed to hear- was desperate to recieve from him. Sometimes, he wanted a bigger confirmation that 'I like you', wanted a more honest description of the feeling that he knew Sully felt.

It was all very well to say that he knew Sully's emotions, that he understood what the other boy meant, and why he couldn't say the words out loud, but still.

It hurt when he couldn't say them.

Not very much, because he alwasy seemed to know and soothed the pinprick with a kiss, or a cuddle, or a murmured term of affection that was almost the same as the actual words...

But Kael thought his heart was rather resembling a pincushion, a mass poked through with holes and dented hollows that only got smoothed over whenever Sully tried to say the words and they got blocked in his throat, low enough down that Kael fancied he could see the lump of the sounds and nuances of the phrase swell larger and larger in Sully's chest until he was forced to tell the older boy that it didn't matter, not to mind, lest the lump suffocate his boyfriend.

And he had to admit to himself, it helped a little to see how bad Sully felt, not being able to say the words.

They had officially been together for exactly one year, 4 months, and twenty six days, perhaps twenty seven, and Kael was having one of the more difficult days.

Sully was busy painting the view from his bedroom window again, a scene that had caused him trouble in the past, and Kael was lying on his bed and watching him, idly enjoying the way the sun hit Sully's hair to turn it into a gleaming colour that Kael, for all his knowledge, didn't have the vocabulary to describe.

He had laid down the back painting, the rust red was vastly different from the greens and blues Kael could see from where he was, but h eunderstood that Sully had a certain magic way of understanding what colours would be needed in any given painting.

It was what made him the best.

Kael sighed and rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling, pondering his life, and how it fit with Sully's, and why Sully couldn't say the words he most wanted to hear-

And he didn't notice Sullivan standing over him until it was too late to lighten his features, turning his expression into one less hungry and unsatisfied.

Sully stared down at him silently for a second, his eyes slate gray and searching, and then he sighed, dropping to his knees next to his bed so he could rest his cheek on Kael's shoulder, staring down the younger boy's body.

"Sully," Kael started apologetically, not wanting to make Sully unhappy. Making him feel guilty about it was the last thing he wanted.

"There is nothing," Sully told him quietly, his tone quietening Kael's words before he could even get further than the name. "Kael, know this. There is nothing in the world more precious to me than you. I cherish you."

And the sheer love in Sully's voice filled Kael with a warm, glowy feeling.

Sometimes, there were difficult days, when it was harder than usual to accept.

But the rest of the time, the days were sunny, and Kael knew Sully loved him, and he was happy- and content.