Dream
Somewhere between Saint Petersburg and Novgorod, Victor woke him. Elias gasped into consciousness, alarmed.
He looked around, but nothing in particular was happening. He put a hand to his face and was surprised to find tears.
Victor was sending vibrations along the thread that matched his and it felt so strange. He sent a burst of confusion.
Victor received it, then it overwhelmed him.
Elias didn’t know the thread could be used for this.
A warmth filled him that exceeded what the train provided, and he felt plushness around him like he was being held.
Elias didn’t know what to do, what to say.
He sat in that feeling for a long while until the vibration slowed and it faded.
Then there was silence.
Elias could tell Victor was listening. He sent Victor a ripple of curiosity.
It was quiet then, for long enough for Elias to think perhaps Victor had fallen asleep. But then he got more strangeness. Victor pushed him longing and impatience.
Elias reared back. He didn’t know what to make of that.
After all this time, Victor longed for him?
For him? He sent Victor anger, irritation, as many of the things he felt about that idea that he could, then ended with confusion and sadness.
He didn’t understand why Victor was trying to hurt his feelings again.
Victor paused. Then Elias heard a note played back, one of his own. A lick of desire, followed by the melody of Victor’s uncertainty about it.
Elias could not help the embarrassment that slammed into him. It jangled loud, discordant, but Victor soothed the sound back to harmony.
Victor understood it had been a mistake. Then a light noise. Oh, and Victor was amused?
Elias laughed out loud from pure hysteria. There was no one in his train booth, so close to the wastes. And then he could feel softness as Victor explored the feeling of Elias’s joy. Elias’s heart grew light.
He caressed the thread to hear more and learned that Victor was tired, about to fall asleep.
They were both on trains to Russia, then.
On the same track, as always, but separated by snow and miles.