08-22-2019, 12:54 AM
Whatever impulse rises in him, he swallows.
Buries it, if only because he does not understand it.
He is neither comforting nor sympathic. Such softnessis beyond him. So rarely is he moved to tenderness that he rages against it in the fleeting moments where it consumes him. He gnashes his teeth against it. Fights it tooth and nail. He is not built for it and yet -
And yet, something shifts in him when the tears gather in her eyes and then cut rivers down her dark cheeks. The sigh that comes in the wake of her word she is not exasperation but defeat. Because this is a fight he cannot win. Because it does not matter what he says, she will undoubtedly find some way to twist it until it is something cruel, something vicious, something with teeth.
Congratulations, she says and the tenuous grip he has kept on his patience snaps. It does not snap in spectacular fashion. There is no explosion, merely a faint simmering beneath the surface. His expression darkens, muddied by the frown that furrows his brow as he considers her.
“What have I won?” he asks. “I didn’t want you to say anything. I didn’t ask anything of you.” His nostrils flare as he drags in a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry that you think so little of me that you would think I could be so casually cruel.”
Buries it, if only because he does not understand it.
He is neither comforting nor sympathic. Such softnessis beyond him. So rarely is he moved to tenderness that he rages against it in the fleeting moments where it consumes him. He gnashes his teeth against it. Fights it tooth and nail. He is not built for it and yet -
And yet, something shifts in him when the tears gather in her eyes and then cut rivers down her dark cheeks. The sigh that comes in the wake of her word she is not exasperation but defeat. Because this is a fight he cannot win. Because it does not matter what he says, she will undoubtedly find some way to twist it until it is something cruel, something vicious, something with teeth.
Congratulations, she says and the tenuous grip he has kept on his patience snaps. It does not snap in spectacular fashion. There is no explosion, merely a faint simmering beneath the surface. His expression darkens, muddied by the frown that furrows his brow as he considers her.
“What have I won?” he asks. “I didn’t want you to say anything. I didn’t ask anything of you.” His nostrils flare as he drags in a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry that you think so little of me that you would think I could be so casually cruel.”