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luxaofhesperides · 11 months ago

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Final hour Ghostlights request! Soulmate AU where when your soul mate dies your soul mark expands. Duke was really heartbroken at first but now his soul mark makes it really difficult to keep his secret identity hidden because he is covered in a map of the cosmos. He has to use his shadow powers almost constantly to keep all the stars hidden! And and maybe they light up like actual stars when he uses his light powers.

He meets Danny at orientation or something at GU and they brush against each other and he just lights up like a supernova, all his stars literally blazing and he's just like "YOU!" Both excited and also OH MY GOD YOU ASSHOLE.

....I rambled a bit here I'm so sorry.

The thing about soulmates is that you don’t really know who they are until they die. And even then, most people never know who their soulmate was, only that they outlived them.

Duke became one of those people when he was thirteen.

He didn’t even notice until he went to change and saw the watercolor swirl of nebula spill out from over his heart.

One moment, he was tired and angry, ready to sneak out of his latest foster home to search for his parents and do all the things adults have failed to do. The next, he’s collapsed on his knees, shaking, unable to breathe as he tries to rip his soulmark off of his skin. He couldn’t think past the shock and horror of realizing that his soulmate is dead and Duke didn’t even know until that moment.

They’ll never get to meet.

Duke had never felt so alone before.

He spent the next few days in shock, his mind a mess of static, unable to focus. He hid away in his room, buried under the covers, and his foster parents were understanding when he whispered my soulmate’s dead. They called him out of school and brought him food and water throughout the day, gentle encouraging him to eat something every few hours.

But disaster waits for no one, and Batman was gone, so Duke pulled himself out of his misery and hit the streets again.

So his soulmate’s dead. So his parents are gone. So Gotham’s falling apart.

No one’s doing anything about it, so it’s up to Duke to start fixing things. It’s not like he had much to lose.

Soulmates become a bit of a taboo topic to him, after that. He speaks of them to no one, avoids all conversation about them, refuses to stay when people talk about soulmarks. He tries not to look at his soulmark at all.

And then he takes a hit to the chest and patches himself up with shaking hands. For the first time in months he looks at his soulmark again and…

Did it… grow?

Duke prods it gently, letting out a hiss when his bruised ribs protest at the movement. He remembers the mark being right over his heart.

But looking at it now, it branches out, swirls of galaxy and constellations reaching out along his ribcage.

Panicked, Duke grabs for his computer and looks up soulmark growth and webmd soulmark abnormalities.

Neither give him any answers, though WebMD helpfully suggests skin cancer.

“I’m gonna ignore this,” Duke decides, and pulls on a shirt and goes to sleep. The less he thinks about his dead soulmate, the better.

Time passes and Duke goes from being a Robin to being the Signal, a legitimate vigilante working with Batman. It’s nice to see Gotham start to settle, things falling into place. For once, nothing is awful; Duke’s found his parents and doctors are looking for a cure for long-term exposure to Joker Gas, Batman’s taking care of Gotham with a number of other Bats, Duke is getting used to his powers and slowly making a good name for himself out on the streets.

He keeps his focus on protecting people and getting stronger, helping solve cases with the other Bats. No one mentions soulmates, so he keeps his ever expanding soulmark a secret.

The only problem is that it keeps growing and Duke is concerned that it’ll move to a place he can’t easily hide under his clothes.

And he does need to hide them. The more his soulmark has grown, the more obvious it is, especially when he uses his powers and the stars on his skin light up like the Fourth of July. He knows it’s abnormal, but it’s also his soulmark and he doesn’t want anyone, least of all Bruce, poking around trying to study it.

The grief still lingers when he looks at it, but Duke has long since grown used to it. If anything, these days he’s quietly annoyed by how far the galaxies on his skin spread out, forcing him to take tank tops and shorts out of his wardrobe.

There’s also the tentative hope that maybe his soulmate is immortal and keeps coming back to life after they die. And they must also have terrible luck, because they just keep on dying.

Case in point: his soulmark flares and spills out onto his shoulder and wraps around his bicep. It’s not the first time he’s seen it move, but it still startles him.

“Are you serious,” Duke mutters to himself, pulling at his sleeve to adjust it and hopefully hide his soulmark. The starts are bright against his skin, and while sometimes he likes to trace them with his finger, now is not one of those times.

As pretty as it is, his soulmark is also very obvious and will cause people to realize his identity if they ever catch a glimpse of it while he’s out as Signal.

He sighs. There’s no choice but to live out the rest of his life in hoodies and sweatshirts.

As if to spite him, his soulmark grows once more.

Did his soulmate just die twice in the span of five minutes? That’s concerning.

He wishes he could meet them just so he can shake some sense into them. Maybe tell them to stop dying since it’s stressing him out so much. Maybe stick by their side to make sure they never have to die again. He’s honestly not sure what he’d do if he ever meets his soulmate, but he has to do something. This has gotten out of hand.

At least seeing his soulmark grow doesn’t hurt as much as it did a few years ago.

Lazily, he pulls at the light around him to hide the new portions of the soulmark on his arm from sight. It takes some focus, but he can hold it up long enough for him to grab a snack from the kitchen and retreat up to his room without being questioned by anyone. He could probably even keep this shirt on for the college orientation he needs to attend later in the day if the light works well enough to keep his secrets hidden.

He’s expecting Alfred in the kitchen when he arrives, but is greeted by Dick clapping a hand on his shoulder, right where his soulmark has claimed space. Duke falters and works to keep the light from fracturing as he returns Dick’s grin.

“Hey man,” he says, “What are you doing here? I thought you were out until Friday.”

“And miss a chance to hang out with you? No way. Besides, I wanted to give you a ride to your orientation.”

“You don’t have to,” Duke starts, only for Dick to cut him off.

“I’m going to,” he says, as if it’s a threat. “It’s been too long since we get to spend time together without a mask on. Are you really going to deprive me of this?”

Duke shakes off Dick’s hand from his shoulder, walking towards the pantry to find a small snack. “I guess not. It’s going to be pretty boring for you, though. I’m just going to listen to people talk about what college is like for a few hours.”

“We could always just walk around campus afterwards. I haven’t seen it since it was rebuilt after the last time Freeze attacked it.”

“Sure, that sounds fun. Thanks for offering to drive me.” Duke pulls out a box of Poptarts hidden behind stacks of pasta boxes and pulls out a pack for himself. He opens it and isn’t at all surprised when Dick steals one right out of his hands.

“Meet me out front in an hour then.”

And with that, Dick leaves, his stolen Poptart in hand, and Duke is left to shake his head and shove the Poptart box back into its hiding place. He heads off to eat his own snack, making sure no one is in the hallway as he lets go of his hold on the light. Already he can feel a migraine building with the immense focus he had to use to make sure nothing looked out of place.

At least Dick didn’t notice anything was off. If he can fool Dick, he can fool anyone.

Still, just to be safe, Duke changes into something with longer sleeves before he leaves and hops into the car with Dick.

The drive goes quickly to the tunes of ABBA, both of them singing along as they head for the GCU campus. Parking is a bit tricky, but they manage to find a spot a street away and walk towards the student union, where tables are laid out for incoming freshmen to sign in and grab a folder filled with papers meant to help them.

He waves to Dick and heads in once he gets his folder, and grabs a seat in the auditorium that’s close to a fire exit.

It takes another twenty minutes for the presentations to start. The lights dim and Duke panics for a brief moment before drawing the shadows over himself lightly to hide the soft glow of the star etched onto his skin.

They start with introductions, bringing in advisors, professors, and student ambassadors. Most of it is basic information that Duke already knows, so he zones out and plays with some shadows at his feet, where no one can see the way he twists shadows together like some dark magic form of finger knitting.

For the next hour, Duke halfheartedly listens to people talk about preparing for classes and keeping on top of schoolwork and learning how to ask for help. He’s saved enough college students that he knows the gist of things, and the orientation really doesn’t give him anything helpful.

He probably could have skipped, but he wanted a normal college experience.

He should have known that normal means boring as hell.

As soon as the presentation ends, an advisor encourages everyone to follow the schedule tucked into their folder to give them a half day modeled after a typical student’s schedule. Of course, all the classes are nonsense just to fill up their time, made to help freshmen coming into the college by covering topics such as how to write an email and an introduction to majors and minors.

Duke already declared himself as a Human Services major, his first step into becoming a social worker like his mom was.

Also he totally knows how to write an email, what are these advisors on about? Do they really think people his age can’t write emails?

Yeah, he’s ditching. The main presentation is really the only part that matters in the orientation. He’s not walking out on anything he needs.

Duke files out after the rest of the crowd, carefully letting the shadows slip off of him once he’s outside again. Instead of finding the first ‘class’ he’s supposed to go to in the Modern Languages building, he wanders off to find a quiet place he can sit down and wait until Dick finds him.

Tucked away towards the back half of the campus is a small nook full of trees, bushes, and benches. Judging by the amount of cigarette butts left in the single trash can there, it’s a popular smoking spot.

No one’s there, so the air is clean and free of smoke, so Duke heads in, hoping to sit down.

Someone else apparently has the same idea. He hops down from one of the concrete planters that’s keeping a bush contained and nearly falls on Duke.

They both shout in surprise, then Duke is moving without thinking, reaching out to steady the startled looking guy who accidentally jumped down in front of him.

Duke only has time to take note of how blue his eyes are before his hands wrap around the guy’s wrist and Duke feels his soulmark flare with warmth.

In the shade of the trees, the glow of each star on his skin is obvious. It’s visible even through the fabric of his shirt. His soulmark, at this point in his life, stretches across his chest, his ribs, his back, and now his shoulders and upper arms. All the stars in that watercolor galaxy are shining brightly as if the night sky has been draped across his body.

Soulmarks only react like that for one reason.

“You!” Duke shouts at his soulmate, both elated to see that he’s alive and annoyed that he made Duke’s soulmark so large. “Stop dying! Do you have any idea how much stress you’ve caused me?!”

“Oh my god,” the guy says faintly, eyes fixed on Duke’s chest where his soulmark originally rested, shining brighter and bigger than any other star, as if he’s tucked a sun into his heart. “Oh my god,” he says again, with more feeling.

“I’m so happy you’re alive, but please stop dying. It’s bad for my health.”

“I think I need to sit down?”

He does look very pale and faint. Duke tightens his grip on his soulmate’s arms and guides him to a bench, gently sitting him down.

“You’re not about to die, right?” Duke asks. “I don’t think my heart could take it if meeting me killed you somehow.”

“No, no,” his soulmate manages to say, “I’m not going to die. Um. Wow. I didn’t know my soulmark would do that? Sorry.”

“Well, it’s not like you had any way of knowing. It’s all good, man. Just please stop dying.”

His soulmate winces. “Yeah, that’s not gonna be possible. Sorry. Again.”

What does that mean, though? What does it all mean?

“Can I maybe get an explanation as to why you have to die again.”

“Mmmmm no. We just met and it’s kinda personal so. No.”

“Dude.”

Duke’s soulmate shrugs helplessly. “It really is personal! I know your my soulmate and all, so I’ll probably tell you one day, but right now I don’t even know your name.”

Oh shit. He’s right. Introductions completely slipped his mind, too busy reeling over the fact that his soulmate is here and alive. Which, honestly, would be enough to throw anyone off balance.

“Shoot,” Duke says. “Sorry. You just really caught me off guard. Hi, I’m Duke, I promise I’m more put together than that.”

“Hi Duke, I’m Danny, and I’ve apparently been traumatizing you for the past few years by making you think I keep dying.”

“Well. At least we’re thrown head first into the crazy. Best way to know if we’re be a good match.”

“You sure you can handle this? You seemed pretty frazzled a second ago.”

Duke flusters and lightly whacks Danny’s shoulder. “That’s normal! Anyone would do the same when meeting their soulmate for the first time!”

“Fair enough,” Danny laughs. “This is a totally weird request and you can absolutely say no, but… can I see?” He presses a hand against one of the glowing stars beneath this collar bone, looking up at Duke with wide, hopeful blue eyes, and Duke finds it so cute that he’s willing to do anything Danny wants.

“Here,” he says as an answer, pulling the collar of his shirt down a bit to reveal the nebula spilling onto his shoulder.

“Oh,” Danny breathes, tracing a light finger against it. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m guessing you like space?”

“Love it. I wanted to be an astronaut, but uh…. It’s never going to happen. Health problems, you know?”

“Well, I know it’s not the same, but I hope the stars you put on my body will be a good enough replacement.”

Danny cheeks turn red and he turns away, flustered. “Don’t smooth talk me right now, I’m not ready for it,” he mutters, bringing up a hand to try to hide his expression.

“Sorry, sorry,” Duke laughs, “I’ll try to keep the flirting down to a minimum. It’s just really great to finally meet you. And I’ve been wondering, what’s your soulmark look like?”

“Oh, well…” Danny fiddles with the long sleeve of his shirt. “I had a pretty bad accident years ago that kinda affected how my soulmark looks. So if it looks weird, that’s why, okay?” He takes a deep breath, then pushes up his sleeve, holding his wrist out to Duke.

The first thing Duke notices is the soft yellow glow, Signal yellow to be precise, running down his arm as if sunlight fills his veins. Then he sees Danny’s soulmark, a sun with rays that wrap around his wrist. And running through his soulmark are Lichtenberg scars, glowing yellow as if stealing the color from his soulmark.

“Guess we both got super obvious soulmarks, huh? At least we kinda match, that way.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Danny agrees.

“Man, what a day.”

Danny looks more relaxed with him now. It’s much better than the startled, tense version of him that first sat down on the bench. Duke hopes he chooses to stay with him; he doesn’t admit this often, willingly, or to other people, but he’s a romantic at heart and has always wanted to live a happy life with his soulmate. It’s still far off in the future, but he hopes Danny feels the same way.

“So, are you ditching the orientation classes to?” Danny asks.

“Yeah, there’s no way I’m going. I mean, a class on how to send emails? They can’t be serious.”

“I know, right?! I saw that and thought I was being pranked. I mean, we’re going into college. We better know how to send an email by now.”

“Since we’re both free for now, wanna grab lunch with me? It can be our first date, if you want.”

“I’d love to! And you can show me around Gotham a bit. I’m coming here for college, but I haven’t really seen the city yet. It’d be nice to explore it with someone who knows where things are.”

“Are you free for the rest of the day? ‘Cause I wouldn’t mind showing you around, if you want.”

Danny smiles, radiant. “I am. I’m in your hands for the rest of the day.”

“Cool,” Duke says, trying not to think too much on that wording. It’s very suggestive, very flirtatious, and he’s looking forward to getting to know Danny more so he can start properly flirting. “Lemme just let my brother know to not wait up for me.”

He pulls out his phone and sends Dick a text that just reads: met my soulmate. going on a date now. i’ll see u back at the manor!

Then he puts his phone on silent and tucks it back into his pocket. He’ll tell Dick all about this later; for now, all his attention is on Danny.

Soulmates get priority, even stressful ones that give him the largest soulmark he’s ever seen.

And right now, he’s on a mission to find the best lunch spot to take his soulmate to for their first date. Everything else can come later; for now, he’s going to enjoy the time he gets to spend with Danny.

He hopes they’ve got a future together as bright as the stars in his soulmark.

Despite it all, Duke is sure they’re going to be alright.

#ghostlights #dc x dp #dp x dc #dcxdp #dpxdc #prompt fill #my writing #dannys obv not going to be able to keep his identity as phantom hidden for long in gotham #esp since he wants to protect people and transforms to do that #and one of those times will be in front of duke to protect him from some goons trying to kidnap duke for his connections to the wayne famil #duke ends up using his powers as well leading to an identity reveal on both ends #and then the dots connect and duke yells THIS IS WHY U KEEP DYING and danny has to sheepishly apologize for how large dukes soulmark is #he does kiss all the new stars that show up on dukes skin tho so hes forgiven very quickly #(not that duke was ever mad. he's just worried)#thanks for the prompt!!

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justpeaxchy · 28 days ago

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hi !so I love your hiccup x reader work, and I love the way you write . I was wondering if you could write one where the reader is a bit unsure /insecure when Hiccup confesses his feelings towards her . When you are not so busy, of course!

thank you ❤️

'I'll Be Yours In A Landslide.'

A/n: Hii! Thank you SOO much 🥹🫶🏼! I loved doing this one because, y'know ✨feelings✨ are so interesting to write. Also, I am also SO sorry this took a long time for me to publish! Been a little busy lately and experienced a bit of a writer's slump, but I'm coming back around!

Warnings: angst time!! Brief argument and descriptions of a (sort of?) panic attack [struggle to breathe, overwhelming emotions and such] (Also, denial, if that's one..)

Hiccup x !Fem! Reader

How could someone like him possibly return your feelings? No, it was impossible...right?

It took a while to accept it, to accept the faint flutter of your heart whenever his name was mentioned. Soon enough, that abstruse feeling wasn't so recondite anymore; you understood what it was.

You almost immediately scolded yourself for such a thing, for allowing yourself to fall in such a predicament. How could you? You were only a friend, one that didn't deserve the title of anything more than that.

And you were okay with it.

You told yourself to be okay with the fact that he would end up with someone else by his side, to watch as he fell in love with another, while still remaining as a close friend. That's how it was supposed to be. That's what you'd been planning inside of your wretched, fragile heart. For the longest time, it was a defensive wall you had built up against those feelings that were already locked inside that very same barrier, unbeknownst to you.

You tried, you really did.

You tried to fight against the continuous way in which your heart pined after him, even when he would simply talk on the recent ideas he had in mind. It was always in the simplest of things that seemed to catch your attention; he could be working on his map and you'd be enthralled to be there alongside him and merely observe him as he did so.

You were realizing it was starting to become a lot harder to contain these feelings to yourself.

It began to show when he eventually asked you if you were alright, having noticed your gloomy mood for the past couple of days, and you didn't know how to respond.

So, instead, you fled off to someplace else, avoiding the confrontation. Truthfully, it shouldn't have been labeled as such in your mind, but what were you to do when suddenly asked about your emotional well-being on a subject he could know nothing about? Run, obviously.

As always, though, he caught up to you. This time, however, it was much to your dismay.

"Hiccup, can't you just leave me alone for a couple of minutes? I already told you, I'm fine."

The Chief's son dismounted Toothless, watching you with tentative green eyes as he held out one of his hands, as if you were a dragon of some sorts. "No, I can't believe that when you've been acting like this for the past week. Will you please tell me--"

"No, I can't! You don't have to know everything I'm going through, Hiccup! End of story." You stomped off, desperately trying to make the sound of his footsteps mingled in alongside his prosthetic to fade away as he hurriedly walked after you.

Abruptly stopping in your tracks, you turned to face him, throwing out your arms in exasperation. "Will you quit following me!?"

"No, I don't think so." He firmly stated, standing in front of you as he tightly clenched his jaw. "You can't expect me to act as though everything's all fine and dandy when we both know you aren't." Softening his tone, he reached out for your hand, "Please, what's wrong..?"

You shook your head and stepped back, forcing yourself not to break in his presence. "I can't tell you. It'd be a waste of time."

Hiccup winced slightly at your claim, understanding you probably didn't want him to get closer. "You..can't tell me? Why is that?" He observed you from the short amount of distance put between you both, a remorseful tug snatching the reigns of his heart as you took another step away.

"See, you're doing it again.." Your voice came out as a grumble, dry with resentment like he did something wrong. It simultaneously stung the both of you, not that you would say it, of course.

"What? What am I doing..?" He muttered, his brows furrowing as he tried to make sense of everything that occurred so far.

You raised both of your hands towards him, gesturing at him in a manner that would've made him appear to be the one at fault. "You don't even know what you're doing..! Thor, Hiccup, you just—"

Your quiet groan interrupted your jumbled flow of words, rubbing your forehead in distress. This was not what you wanted. "Just go. You don't need to concern yourself with everything in my life. You're not my dad."

That comment, however, looked as though it sparked something in him that showed he didn't enjoy hearing the comparison you placed up on him. Hiccup nodded rigidly, glancing off elsewhere as he kept his tone low. "Right. I get that. But, apparently, a friend can't worry about you?"

Your stern gaze met his, hands balling into fists at your sides. "If it becomes too much, yeah." You waited, his reaction not what you were originally expecting. He partly sighed, keeping his demeanour together for both of your sakes.

"This isn't going to get any better if you keep these things to yourself. Let me help you." He subtly stepped forward, carefully observing your face for any signs on what else you may be feeling. He'd been with you enough to assign what emotion might be bothering you, something he took pride in since he was the only one who could do so.

Your eyes frantically scanned your surroundings, searching for an excuse in distraught. You needed to get away from him. Fast. "Hiccup, it's late. Just go home, you won't have to worry about me anymore." At least that in itself was true; the sun had already began to set, tinting the sky in mixing colors of orange and pink, obliquely telling you the day was near its end.

For once, when it came to the two of you, that didn't seem to matter to him.

"I can see that, but I'm not going to leave because of it." He became closer, cautiously examining as you appeared to give up for an instant.

"Why can't you leave..?" Your voice was fragile, earnestly trying to keep itself together as it shook underneath the weight of your emotions, crying out for relief from the overwhelming pressure of containing what you sincerely felt. It was torture. And he wasn't making it any better.

Hiccup gazed at you in complete solicitude, emerald eyes softened over in a gentleness that couldn't be found anywhere else – according to your standards. "You know why.." At last, he was in front of you again, carefully reaching for your hand as you weakly shook your head.

"No, I don't." You lifted your focus back onto his face, on the edge of tears as you faltered: "Why won't you leave? I need to understand now, Hiccup."

He appeared to hesitate, his expression vaguely showing the internal debate he had within himself about something – as if deciding to carry out an action he wasn't entirely brave enough to do. "..I've been unsure of whether or not I should've told you this sooner, but..." Pausing, he made it a point to keep the tenuous eye contact between you both, his words coated in a mellowness that quickly brought your guard down. "I can't let you do this to yourself again. I won't..sit back and watch it all happen... Not this time."

The future Chief delicately grasped your hand in his, enfolding them together in what could've only be described as an affectionate touch. "I can't stand by and see you suffer without anyone to be there for you." He exhaled, breath slightly trembling as he did so. "I can't let you go on like this when...when I love you too much to leave you alone in this condition."

Your whole body froze, everything around you becoming disoriented as breathing was now suddenly a struggle. "Wait...what?" You managed to mutter, your words barely escaping your lips as you felt as if the trees were closing in on you. Was your vision becoming hazy? Was it blurry from the inundation of tears that strained to pour out? Your heart pounded, feet making a quivering step back as you stared at him, shocked.

He couldn't be serious. He couldn't be.

No, it had to have been a joke to enlighten your mood, perhaps help you feel comforted, but that certainly wasn't happening to you. Hiccup was caring towards the ones around him, you already seized onto that knowledge when you both started to develop your friendship, but he shouldn't have chosen to be this kind in the moment when you were nearly about to break over the very thing he said.

"Now isn't the time, Hiccup... I get that you're trying to be nice and all, but—"

"It's so much more than me trying to be nice." His brows furrowed, worry evident on his face as he kept himself by your side, hand still holding your shuddering one. "I meant what I said."

Your breath came as a short, rigid wheeze, hopelessly attempting to deny his confession. "No, no, no. You can't be serious. Please, don't do this to me..!" Looking at the ground, you didn't register him standing exiguous inches from you, his other hand slowly reaching up. "If you want to help me, then stop joking! I-I can't—"

And then, Hiccup met your cheek with the palm of his hand, caressing your skin as though you were glass on the brink of shattering. He quietly spoke your name to bring you back to the present before continuing, "Hey, hey, hey...just breathe for me, okay? I'm not joking in any way...and I'm not leaving you, I'm here with you..and that's where I plan to stay."

He steadily inhaled, beckoning for you to copy his actions until it was followed by an exhale. You mirrored what he did, to the best of your abilities, the ringing in your ears not yet coming to a full halt. Thankfully, your lungs grabbed a hold of the air you needed, attention locked onto the tranquil hues of his eyes – the thing that constantly brought you solace.

After a few minutes of gathering yourself together, you came to terms with how short of a distance there was in-between you both, causing a dim pigmentation of scarlet to fill your complexion. "Hiccup, I—" You sighed, glancing away. "You can't be serious... You're so much better than I am, a-and you, you are such a great person, while I'm just...me."

Silence lingered in the air, leaving you to assume he probably agreed and had his senses revived to regret ever saying anything to you. That is, until he moved his hand underneath your chin, lifting it in a feather-like motion, allowing him to completely view your face. "That's exactly why. I love you because you're...you. The real you. And I wouldn't change one thing about you if it were up to me.."

Your eyes finally found relief as they poured out the gust of tears you'd been suppressing, sniffling as you tried to keep your posture. When Hiccup pulled you in for a warm embrace, you didn't resist him. You didn't resist his soothing words while he comfortingly rubbed your back. You didn't resist the need to cry,

And you didn't resist the love you buried deep inside of your heart for him.

"I love you too."

And then, the ringing in your ears diminished.

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