I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

“So great,” Coeur says. “Drugs are so great.”
“Are they?”
“So great. But don’t try them, they’re bad for you.”
“If you insist.”
Coeur continues smiling, his eyes closing for a few seconds, then
opening again, his head lolling to the side, then back.
“You said you’d steal me a heart, you remember that? Was this you?
Did you get it for me?” Coeur asks in a whisper, his pupils expanding
the longer they remain on Neo.
Neo’s lips thin, his eyes glossing as he remembers the slip of paper.
The promise.
For Coeur,
I’ll give you a heart.
That piece of paper is still wedged in the Hit List like a bookmark.
Coeur wanted to keep it somewhere they wouldn’t lose it.
“No, I didn’t,” Neo says, dragging his thumb back and forth over
Coeur’s knuckles. “But you know you’ve always had mine.”
Coeur cannot sanely take in the words, but he can see the sentiment
on Neo’s face. He looks at him as long as he can with a certain kind
of joy only simple pleasures arise. Holding his hand. Hearing him.
Seeing him. Being with him.
“Neo, Neo, Neo,” Coeur whispers, as if to himself.
“Yes, Coeur.”
“I love your name so much. It’s my favorite name,” Coeur says.