Each encircled by the other's arms, they were safe to let go - for each to see the other's tears, to understand them, and to soothe them at long last. Adrien closed his eyes. For so long he'd thought his suffering was his and his alone - never looking outside of himself, never realizing that the person that stood in front of him guarded a love of his own; for so long he'd walled words within, repeated them in his labyrinth of mirrors, and failed to understand that the words he thought his own had been trapped within Val's throat, too. He thought that a demon could not, would not wish for love - as if only humans had hearts that could ache and burn; but all that is alive wants and needs and knows pain. And as much as each had been trying to hide, all had come to spill at long last. In spite of it all, Val's love hadn't been a tightly guarded secret: it had always been in plain sight, woven into the kindness of his words and the brightness of his smiles. It had already found its way through; now it was spreading its wings and clothing itself with a new name. And neither could yet understand what was that hid into this word, the nature of its mystery held within its fragile veils - but each now lived to uncover its meaning.