As excited as he had been to hear from Faust that he was ready for an upgrade and as cool as his new, spiky transformation pen was, Colin didn’t actually use it for two days as he was too busy with work to actually try it out. The life of a professional ballet dancer was not only hectic but also extremely time consuming and long ago Colin had made the difficult decision to put his career over pretty much everything else in his life - including love and being Aegir.
Had he not left Destiny City - and Björn - for a year just to further that purpose?
Hadn’t that been the beginning of the end for them?
And wasn’t that part of the reason he was now avoiding hurting someone else with his inability to give them a ‘proper’ relationship?
So he worked harder and waited for his next day off - Sunday - to power up as Super Sailor Aegir and was more than pleasantly surprised to find that his costume now came with shorts!. And he had some very nice stockings that helped to breach the swath of bare skin that would have been left showing from thigh to foot. Very nice, this time I’ve got actual coverage - what luck! He wanted to find one of his friends, show his upgrade off to Thraen, to Methone. To Camlann and Monty. To Van. To Björn.
Knowing that staying powered up was akin to waving around a lamp in a darkened room, the Senshi of Silence tried out his new powers, testing the limits of speed and strength by climbing a water tower - the same one he’d come to once before, to meet Castor - and then powered down so he could enjoy the view without being disturbed by any denizens of Chaos.
Wind ruffled his too-long hair and tugged at his clothes, pulling the thin material of his tee shirt up and exposing his lower back. His leggings, comfortable for practice or just hanging out around the house, did very little to block the breeze, but he didn’t mind; even the chill of cold metal under his butt wasn’t too bad once he’d adjusted a bit, and he could lean back on arms locked for support and stargaze.
It was beautiful. The sky. The city. Especially when the latter was being viewed at night from 150 feet in the air.
So much has happened since I ended up at Hillworth’s. Meeting Derpraline, becoming a senshi...meeting Björn. Had he fallen for him from the start? Colin couldn’t remember, only that he’d pretty immediately liked him...and that his new roommate had seemed utterly huge to him. They had roomed well together, both considerate and well raised, and Björn had put up very good-naturedly with being used as a barre from time to time...and for helping him strength train as Aegir.
All the small things, the little things that had given them away. The closeness. Thinking back, Colin was amazed they’d never gotten into trouble while dating, since it had been against the rules. Then again, we did have a registered sex offender and prostitute. Thinking about Paris was hard - the boy he’d known back then, the woman he knew now - she’d been so miserable, lashing out any way possible. He could only imagine it was to relieve some of the internal pressures she’d felt, trying to fit what society said she should be. His mother had tsked a bit and suggested that Paris needed proper counselling, but had never judged the other dancer any more than she’d judged her own son and his proclivities.
Then there had been graduation and the chance of a lifetime. Of course he’d taken it! It would have been madness not to use the year-long intensive at RAD to improve his skills and help him further his career - or would it? How much would be different now if he’d stayed? Would they still be together, would he still get to curl up with a separate part of his heart at night? Would Björn still smile at him in the mornings while coffee brewed and his stiff, rubbery limbs refused to do what he wanted them to? Would they have been engaged, instead of separated? These things haunted him, kept him pushing and pushing and pushing until he collapsed.
But just then, sitting atop the water tower with twinkling stars above and twinkling lights below, Colin’s mind was fairly calm. He could step outside himself to just appreciate his surroundings...and the fact that he could now, finally, do more to help keep his family and loved ones safe. To keep his life as Colin Hargrove safe.
Colin remained where he was for some time before powering back up so he could get back to home and bed more easily; home where comfort lay even alone and where he could have at least one more night of deep and dreamless sleep.
829 Words
This round of circle-jerk thinking and solos that go nowhere is brought to you by Syrie never doing his s**t on time~
