Work Text:
When I walk up to you, you are holding something in your hand
I look closer and I can see it’s a turtle.
It’s tiny and fragile and at first, I think it is dead
But then I see it moving, slowly, slowly, crawling up your wrist.
I call it Maturin, you say.
He is the universe. The end and the beginning. He carries the world on his shell.
But he is so small, I say.
The world doesn’t have to be big, you answer.
Maturin is small, but I love him a lot. The world can be like that.
I look at you and suddenly I feel warm.
You are still staring at the turtle,
That is now at the tip of your fingers.
You carefully take him and put him back in your palm,
Before he can fall off.
He turns around and starts crawling again,
And slowly, slowly, he reaches the wrist again.
And I love you, I find myself saying. And you are also small.
You look up, surprised, and at this moment I feel everything falling into place.
I don’t know what to say so I stay silent.
But you smile and you understand.
Words can never be enough, for how big this feels.
You step closer and I reach for your hand.
You are warm and soft and I am desperate to be even closer.
I wish I could crawl inside you and curl up, feeling like this forever.
I whisper your name and you close your eyes, leaning up.
Don’t call me that, you whisper back before you close the last distance.
And at this moment nothing is wrong.
The whole town fades away and nobody is there,
To yell or call us names.
When I bring you home that evening
I look at you like it is the first time
And I feel like this is what I was made for
And loving you is so simple
That it can’t be the first time and it won’t be the last
And I make a promise to myself,
That I will find you
In every life and every universe
As we might be small
But you are my world and I am yours.