Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was that time of year again. Where everything was frozen over and it was just never a pleasant time to be out and about. Be that as Dresda, or his current self. So instead, he was curled on the couch with a couple of books. However instead of reading, his mind wandered as he stared out the frosted window. Juniper shivered, tugging the massive brown blanket around him tighter as the wind howled, dragging some flurries past the window.

A knock at the door startled him from his thoughts. Who could it have been in the middle of all this? He thought. His sister was off with some friends of hers for the holiday season and he certainly hadn't been expecting anyone. The young man stood, dragging the blanket with him as he opened the door.

Juniper stared stupidly at the person before him. He hadn't expected Nelson to be there. Granted, there was always a part of him that had hoped the other would return but, still. Juni moved forward, enveloping the taller man in both a hug, and the blanket. "...I missed you too..." He said softly.

Juniper had understood the reasons for the others.... disappearance of sorts. He'd come to terms with it a long time ago. It sucked, and Juniper had missed him terribly, but he understood. And never once held that against Nelson.

"How are you? How are..." Things? Everything? Juni wasn't entirely sure what to say. "..Thorn isn't here. It's just me." He mumbled against Nelson. "Come in? Please?" Juni asked, finally looking up at the other man. He hoped Nelson wouldn't make him beg.

Juniper sat next to him, watching. "... It's... okay if you don't know what came of it." All things considered, were the rolls reversed, Juni didn't think he'd want to know what had come of it either.

Tugging at the blanket, he wrapped an end around the other. "I missed you too." He said again. Juniper couldn't blame Nelson for his actions. Sure, it hurt, but to go through what he had? Juniper couldn't begin to imagine Nelson's pain.

"Hey." Juniper said, trying to snag the taller man's attention. "It's okay. I promise. I've told you, I'm in your corner. I'll do what I can to help you through this. Take the time whatever time you need. It's okay to not know what to do or feel. You can hide out here for a bit if you want? Just hide from the world and everything else." Juniper wouldn't let anything get to Nelson while he was hear.

Juniper wrapped his arms around Nelson, careful not to make the other feel smothered. "Of course. I wasn't... Did you think I would just... leave you to deal with all that by yourself? Just cause we haven't seen each other in a bit, doesn't mean I wasn't going to be there when you needed me." Gently, Juniper combed his fingers through Nelson's hair.

"We can go together if you want? It doesn't have to be long. Just around the block once or twice. Just so you can say you did it." Juniper pulled the blanket around them more, as if hiding Nelson away for himself and himself alone. "I can always do the energy gathering if need be? That's easy enough to handle that you don't have to worry about over exerting yourself in the process." As for the other collectable... Well. They'd cross that bridge when they got to it.

"Shhh.. Just focus on me. I'm here with you. You're safe here." Juniper whispered softly. "I can always help with her too? I don't know if I can take on subordinate's just yet but I can always accompany her on a few things if needed? Or we can always see if Wave or someone else can take her for now."

Juniper nodded. "I can ask her. I will help you in any way I can, you know that right? I don't mind it."

Juni hugged Nelson close, space be damned. "No... No. Honey, listen to me. You're not useless, nor are you a monster. You taught me things, and I turned out just fine didn't I? I'm still here with you, for you. That hasn't changed, and I promise you that it won't. Sure, you may be too sweet for the Negaverse, but that doesn't mean you need to die. The situation sucked, yes, but... I don't hold any of this against you. You.... You did what you had to."

He brushed Nelson's hair out of his eyes, tucking it behind his ears. "I don't want to see you die. I want a lot of things for you, a lot of good things. But dying? Never."

"I know Nels... I know." Juniper nodded with a small sigh. "I will talk to Wave in the next few days to see what we can work out." Right now though, Nelson was his focus and had all of his attention.

"You can stay here as long as you want to. Do you want me to get you a spare key made up?" Juniper tilted his head. "You can come over when anything gets to be too overwhelming and just curl up in my room? Even if I'm not here. Lord knows I have enough blankets and things for you to bundle up in." They'd figure something out.

"Do you want to stay here on the couch, or do you wanna go lay in bed? We can watch baking shows in either spot if you want, or we can just lay there." Juniper felt bad, bombarding Nelson with questions, but he didn't want to just take over and make Nelson feel like he had even less control of what was going on.

He was quiet for a minute before he sighed, wrapping Nelson in another hug, burying his face in the other's shoulder. "I love you, okay? I still do. You taking the time to process what happened, didn't change that. I don't think there's anything you could do to change that... Despite what you're brain might be telling you right now. I am here for you, and will do whatever I can to help you."