Baralai shivered a little in the cool wind and found himself moving closer to Gippal. He looked up at him, noting the changes, and what hadn't changed. His face was perhaps a little more closed up, his expression less bright, less open.
He still made Baralai's heart leap inside his chest, though.
And Baralai wasn't afraid of that anymore. "I missed you, too," he admitted, looking up into Gippal's one eye for a sight of what he thought of that. He might as well have been looking into a stone.
And then Gippal relaxed a little, his face breaking into a smile, his eyes warming up all of a sudden. "That mean we can be something again? For keeps, this time. I don't do flings any more, and anyway..."
Baralai watched him run out of words, waited a few heartbeats, just to see the vulnerability in Gippal, then nodded slightly. "We can be something again. For keeps, if that's how you want to put it." He took a deep breath, and the words were still hard to say, but he said them anyway, "Yevon doesn't mean anything to me any more. And I don't care what people think of me."
Actually, he did care. But he'd try not to.
"For keeps, then," Gippal said, softly, taking a step closer.
"For keeps," Baralai confirmed, feeling an urge to throw himself at Gippal, into his arms, but checking the impulse. He leaned into Gippal when the Al Bhed's strong arms wrapped around him.
"I love you," Gippal said, quietly, and Baralai leaned against him, pressed closer.
"Love you too," he breathed.