[Silence fills the hangar, oppressive and heavy on his shoulders, filling Keith with melancholy from the inside out. He wants to turn and leave, go be alone so he can compress this into irrelevance to make himself functional by tomorrow, but he knows now that there's no way he can possibly be the one to leave first.
For once, that's not out of some stubborn defiance. It's coming from a different place entirely -- some vulnerable place he doesn't like to leave exposed for James to look at. He focuses on keeping his breathing even as he stares at the floor by the other boy's feet.
Finally, when James does speak... Keith doesn't know how he's supposed to answer that. It hurts in a way to hear that he can't express, in a way that reminds him so much of all that they used to be years ago, back when he was grieving without allowing himself to grieve, and hurting James because they were starting to get too close and Keith didn't want to burn himself on the sun.]
If that's your way of asking me to stay away from you, I can't do that until after this fight is over.
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For once, that's not out of some stubborn defiance. It's coming from a different place entirely -- some vulnerable place he doesn't like to leave exposed for James to look at. He focuses on keeping his breathing even as he stares at the floor by the other boy's feet.
Finally, when James does speak... Keith doesn't know how he's supposed to answer that. It hurts in a way to hear that he can't express, in a way that reminds him so much of all that they used to be years ago, back when he was grieving without allowing himself to grieve, and hurting James because they were starting to get too close and Keith didn't want to burn himself on the sun.]
If that's your way of asking me to stay away from you, I can't do that until after this fight is over.