[He nods where he's pressed against her. He manages a meek, sobbed:]
I know.
[And it takes him time to get anything else out past that, so he settle for a moment while she runs her hand along his back and presses into the unruly hair on his head, letting himself come down from what he thinks is a dam very quietly breaking, months in the making. He swallows and manages to speak hoarsely again.]
Love you, too.
[He was brought up to always return an 'I love you' from family, from people in your life that mean the most to you. There were plenty of times where he'd angrily hung up the phone on his dad or uncle, especially in the throes of puberty, but he always called back to tack on those words. It felt almost dangerous not to.
And hey, if this does kill him, he wouldn't want it left unsaid.
The small emotional outpouring suddenly leaves him feeling exhausted, though. Maybe because he's still not feeling all that well from what had happened in that hallway. As the shivering stops and his body stills, his pinched eyelids relax and his breathing evens. The monitor's readings steady into the numbers of a man who has drifted into a quiet and even sleep.
no subject
I know.
[And it takes him time to get anything else out past that, so he settle for a moment while she runs her hand along his back and presses into the unruly hair on his head, letting himself come down from what he thinks is a dam very quietly breaking, months in the making. He swallows and manages to speak hoarsely again.]
Love you, too.
[He was brought up to always return an 'I love you' from family, from people in your life that mean the most to you. There were plenty of times where he'd angrily hung up the phone on his dad or uncle, especially in the throes of puberty, but he always called back to tack on those words. It felt almost dangerous not to.
And hey, if this does kill him, he wouldn't want it left unsaid.
The small emotional outpouring suddenly leaves him feeling exhausted, though. Maybe because he's still not feeling all that well from what had happened in that hallway. As the shivering stops and his body stills, his pinched eyelids relax and his breathing evens. The monitor's readings steady into the numbers of a man who has drifted into a quiet and even sleep.
No nightmares this time.]