Love was a strange concept. Not one he was particularly familiar with, either. As a child, familial love had been a foreign thing- parents competent enough, but hardly the openly loving sort. They'd seen him to adulthood and then Aden had set out on his own- away from the Ascendancy to be someone who was of use, and he had been alone.
Humans, he found, were worse than he could ever have imagined. They said Chiss eyes were eerie, cold, but nothing came close to the hatred he saw in those humans he easily ran circles around. As time passed, he became closed off- he began to put his own needs first, became individualistic, and the notion of love got put in a box and kicked into the back of the closet to gather dust. The closest he'd come were his affairs, but they were always just physical. A comfort, more than anything else.
The person he'd been when he first met Vector was so much more cynical than the person he was now.
Back then Aden had found the other man to be somewhat of a curiosity- not so much what he was as how he was. Charming and charismatic- perfect for a diplomat, but beneath that he was truly kind. It had been the first time in a long time that Aden had looked up to another person in more than just a physical sense. Kindness was something Aden had come to see as a weakness, despite being capable of it, but Vector... Vector was good at making it seem like a strength.
Vector had become a friend before he knew it, a form of love. Then Aden had started feeling something more- attraction had always been present, Aden wasn't blind, but... The nature of the love he felt had changed. He'd thought he couldn't have it, and had buried himself in work and distracted himself with affairs and at points, the frustration he'd felt had made him want to scream as love decided to stick around, grow stronger, rather than diminish over time.
And now here he was. In the arms of the man he loved so much he could scream declarations of it from the tallest building in Kaas City.
Sappy. Better to keep that particular fact under wraps. He still had somewhat of an image to maintain, best to not let Vector know that he was, in fact, an idiot.
As for Vector's question..., "I... Have I ever given you any indication that I mind?"
He didn't think he had. Their relationship had been friendly rather than romantic, but still.
"I love you, Vector. I have for some time now. So yes, I would have you, knowing what you are, knowing you're tied to something larger than yourself. If you thought I'd come into this with a list of terms and conditions, then I might start to wonder if you've taken relationship advice from Kaliyo."
Despite the jovial nature of his statement, he was serious- he loved him. All of him, as he was.
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Humans, he found, were worse than he could ever have imagined. They said Chiss eyes were eerie, cold, but nothing came close to the hatred he saw in those humans he easily ran circles around. As time passed, he became closed off- he began to put his own needs first, became individualistic, and the notion of love got put in a box and kicked into the back of the closet to gather dust. The closest he'd come were his affairs, but they were always just physical. A comfort, more than anything else.
The person he'd been when he first met Vector was so much more cynical than the person he was now.
Back then Aden had found the other man to be somewhat of a curiosity- not so much what he was as how he was. Charming and charismatic- perfect for a diplomat, but beneath that he was truly kind. It had been the first time in a long time that Aden had looked up to another person in more than just a physical sense. Kindness was something Aden had come to see as a weakness, despite being capable of it, but Vector... Vector was good at making it seem like a strength.
Vector had become a friend before he knew it, a form of love. Then Aden had started feeling something more- attraction had always been present, Aden wasn't blind, but... The nature of the love he felt had changed. He'd thought he couldn't have it, and had buried himself in work and distracted himself with affairs and at points, the frustration he'd felt had made him want to scream as love decided to stick around, grow stronger, rather than diminish over time.
And now here he was. In the arms of the man he loved so much he could scream declarations of it from the tallest building in Kaas City.
Sappy. Better to keep that particular fact under wraps. He still had somewhat of an image to maintain, best to not let Vector know that he was, in fact, an idiot.
As for Vector's question..., "I... Have I ever given you any indication that I mind?"
He didn't think he had. Their relationship had been friendly rather than romantic, but still.
"I love you, Vector. I have for some time now. So yes, I would have you, knowing what you are, knowing you're tied to something larger than yourself. If you thought I'd come into this with a list of terms and conditions, then I might start to wonder if you've taken relationship advice from Kaliyo."
Despite the jovial nature of his statement, he was serious- he loved him. All of him, as he was.