Fic: Cold [fndm]
He likes to be cold; has liked it for quite some time now. The gentle ache of his feet when all the doors are thrust open as though eagerly expecting some long-awaited visitor; the gentlest, icy ghost of a touch on his chest as dark night winds blow through his bedroom; the dull numbness of his skin that allows injury with only the barest afterthought of pain: this is he prefers it to be.
Cold.
He doesn't feel quite like himself unless there's a chill under his skin. It was who he's become and it's now who he is.
Cold.
He likes it when it hurts, enjoys it when it aches. He welcomes the discomfort with open arms when he's awake and pleads for it with mumbled whispers when he sleeps. It eases, it soothes, it calms, it consoles. Because when the cold becomes too much and the pain becomes too familiar, he can pull a blanket 'round his body, its warmth like love's most tender touch: the touch of a long-ago lover who first left him.
Cold.
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If you read this and had a specific person or character in mind, please comment and let me know. It'd be interesting for me to see whose voice you thought this could be. Thanks!