💬 [ @literare ] ❝  we're working to stop the monsters and to stop people from turning into monsters. ❞

❝ i heard my son mumblin' for 'uncle joel' the other night, ❞ he tells @pro26ctor with an amused grin, and it comes with pride, because he's grateful for the friends he's made, a community filled with love and hope that's exactly what he hopes his son will grow up with, the way he never got to himself. ❝  s'pose that means you can go ahead and brag to ellie about how you're a hit with the toddlers, huh? and i better step my game up, if you're gonna keep showin' me up. ❞

@sinamor said, "you’re too smart to need anyone. it’s the smart ones who always survive."

he appreciates the sentiment,  especially from someone like her,  who he would easily deem one of the smartest people he’s come across over the years,  but he’s been there before.  he’s been on his own,  trying to make it,  trying to do what he can to survive both physically and mentally,  and it didn’t work for him.  he wasn’t built for that,  and he knew that back then —- that’s why it was so easy for him to fall into the wrong crowd,  because it was something.  it was a roof over his head,  and he thought it was a community,  but it was the farthest thing from it.  the loneliest,  too —-  because when you’re stuck in a place that claims it’s your home,  where you have no identity,  name stripped of you and a number in its place instead,  forced to serve someone you don’t believe in,  that’s not a community at all.

this is,  and over the years he’s spent here,   he’s come to understand that having a home and a community full of love who lifts each other up,  takes care of each other,  becomes family — that’s where he’s always belonged.  

❝  well,  i appreciate ya sayin’ that,  but the truth is,  i don’t think i’m meant to make it out on my own.  ❞    and it’s not about his own skill of survival — that,  he can manage,  he’s sure,  but everything else?  he’s not mentally strong enough to be on his own,  and he doesn’t want to be,  not now that he knows what it’s like to have a family.  ❝  i s’pose i’m the kinda guy who needs to be around people.  a family.  tried bein’ out on my own once,  and,  well, i don't think i can go back to that. smart people can still make a lotta dumb decisions when they're alone, ❞ he reminds, offering a small smile. ❝  but i don't think that's a bad thing, needin' people. i think that's what's keepin' me alive, givin' me something to live for. don't you? ❞

❝ you know me a little too well. ❞  ↳  @surviveds.

a smile begins to tug at his lips as his hand moves to lightly rest on their arm,  fingertips just barely brushing up it until he reaches his cheek.  he cups jay’s face,  looking up at them with a fondness in his eyes reserved solely for him.  ❝  well,  i don’t think that’s true.  ain’t no such thing as too well.  ‘cause i was thinkin’--- ❞  he trails off,  leaning in a bit closer,  raising his brow as he pretends to study his partner.  ❝  i’ve still got plenty to learn.  y’know i’ll never get tired of hearin’ you talk.   y’could tell me any story ya want,  and i’m all ears,  baby. ❞

@acipaer​,  ❛ you look awful. ❜ 

he hasn't slept all night,  but it wasn't something he was really aware of until now that the sun had come up and the day began.  it was for adam;  the first time he had really been sick, and there was nothing that was going to turn him away from his son when he needed him.  there are bags under his eyes,  his hair's a mess,  and he hasn't put much thought into his appearance until she makes note of it.  though he doesn't get upset,  he only offers a small smile and playfully rolls his eyes.  ❝  good mornin' to you too,  beautiful.  ❞   the compliment is genuine as he steps aside and lets her in.   

he brings his hands to his shirt and brushes it down,  despite the wrinkles remaining.   ❝  little fella kept me up,  i s'pose.  wasn't feelin' too good last night, but --- i managed to get 'em to sleep,  ❞   he says, nodding across the room at him resting peacefully in the crib he built him before turning his attention back to her.   ❝  is it really that bad, huh? ❞

' i just wanted to be with them at the end. '  ↳ @w4rdened​

alden wishes he had a chance to get to know elijah’s friends better before they lost so many, but he knows enough to know that they were good people,  and they deserved to make it.  more than that —- they would have been welcomed with open arms to hilltop, and he would have been proud to have them all around.  he might not have known them for long, but these people were his friends, and if that means stepping up to take care of elijah in ways that they might have themselves, alden can do that.  he can do it for them, he can do it for maggie, and he can do it for his own family he couldn’t be with at the end.

❝  and they wanted to know that you were safe.  that you were okay, ❞   he points out.  he remembers what judith told him about earl’s last moments —- how he said it was okay that he was dying,  because alden was still here,  he was safe,  and he’d take care of their son.  he thinks  that’s what elijah’s friends must’ve thought in their final moments —- at least elijah is out there somewhere,  okay,  safe.   ❝  just before you all showed up,  i lost my father.  not the one i grew up with,  but—- ❞  he thinks of the way he sees maggie and elijah look at each other, and he knows he doesn’t have to explain.  ❝  i think i know a little bit about that. ❞

he brings a hand to elijah’s shoulder, resting it there gently.  ❝  ya don’t have to be alone in this,  y’know?  ya got me.  and —-  if you’re ever up for it,  well,  i’d really like to know ‘em all better,  if ya ever wanna tell me about ‘em.  only if you want to, ❞   he clarifies, not ever wanting to push him, but wanting to offer him a place to let it all out in if he needs.