[ An admission that's almost a plea, so quiet it's barely there, so loud it cuts right into him, casts around, buries deep. He wants to fix it. He wants to fix this, undo it, make it better, make it right. But he can't spare him from it, can he? Can't even save him from again. Won't. Will not change while there's imminent need of him, doesn't know how to compromise, never learned how to shift weight to better share it. Has never had to grapple with the possibility of burying someone else under it all when he falls.
So he'll hurt him. He will hurt him. He already has.
Silence greets him for a while. Silence and clutching, the hand not cradling his head moving to grip Takeshi by the elbow, hold them locked together even as Stephen grapples with himself, with what is owed now, what is kind.
He doesn't know what's kind. And he doesn't want to leave him alone out here, with thoughts of two women he will never see again, one dead by his hand and one out of his reach. Thoughts of a man who has before and will again throw himself into fire in a bid to save eight billion strangers worlds and worlds away. ]
( I'm sorry. ) [ His mind offers, unbidden. He opens his mouth almost just to drown it out. ] Let me take you home.
no subject
So he'll hurt him. He will hurt him. He already has.
Silence greets him for a while. Silence and clutching, the hand not cradling his head moving to grip Takeshi by the elbow, hold them locked together even as Stephen grapples with himself, with what is owed now, what is kind.
He doesn't know what's kind. And he doesn't want to leave him alone out here, with thoughts of two women he will never see again, one dead by his hand and one out of his reach. Thoughts of a man who has before and will again throw himself into fire in a bid to save eight billion strangers worlds and worlds away. ]
( I'm sorry. ) [ His mind offers, unbidden. He opens his mouth almost just to drown it out. ] Let me take you home.