[ He can tell the moment when Hilda focuses to see something besides what she'd dreamed, recognizes him even if she still can't quite get an inhale in as she reaches towards him. As he takes in her expression - and then what she says - twists something deep within him more painfully than any blade could manage to do. Something stricken instantly flits over his face before he can fully hide it away because he's no stranger to how a subconscious can take something and warp it into terror from suggestion alone. Claude lifts his now free hand to wipe away some of her tears as best as he can with great care behind it as he searches her face. ]
No, you didn't. You're always stuck with me, remember? [ A faint smile just for show, even if it's one he and can't bring himself to properly feign - not when her voice shattered over those words with the reality of the last few weeks weighing them down. That's what it must be. What else could it be? ] I wasn't just saying so to annoy you all those times.
[ Mostly; some part of Claude had done it because that same part of him lived for the reactions he might get from her, for when she'd sigh dramatically or bemoan her fate and he'd just grin like it was all he was ever looking for. Saying so was never close enough to whatever was going unsaid by him beneath, what with it far easier to package up to where it could be shrugged off if she didn't return it. And if Hilda didn't want to return it, then in some terrible logic on his end that proved it was never meant to be.
None of that matters here where he's dropped his hand to cradle her cheek with his thumb tracing over it lightly while he continues to study her. What he's said - it's not enough. There's no humor in his voice but it still veers too close to all their flippancy. Pushing it there again could bring her some normalcy, but to do so now feels cheap. Claude just needs a second to think. ]
You could never lose me, [ is what he settles on with it said quietly, as clear as glass on the surface but simultaneously as opaque as ever. Even if he can't make himself say the full meaning, he doesn't mean it - all of it - any less. ]
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No, you didn't. You're always stuck with me, remember? [ A faint smile just for show, even if it's one he and can't bring himself to properly feign - not when her voice shattered over those words with the reality of the last few weeks weighing them down. That's what it must be. What else could it be? ] I wasn't just saying so to annoy you all those times.
[ Mostly; some part of Claude had done it because that same part of him lived for the reactions he might get from her, for when she'd sigh dramatically or bemoan her fate and he'd just grin like it was all he was ever looking for. Saying so was never close enough to whatever was going unsaid by him beneath, what with it far easier to package up to where it could be shrugged off if she didn't return it. And if Hilda didn't want to return it, then in some terrible logic on his end that proved it was never meant to be.
None of that matters here where he's dropped his hand to cradle her cheek with his thumb tracing over it lightly while he continues to study her. What he's said - it's not enough. There's no humor in his voice but it still veers too close to all their flippancy. Pushing it there again could bring her some normalcy, but to do so now feels cheap. Claude just needs a second to think. ]
You could never lose me, [ is what he settles on with it said quietly, as clear as glass on the surface but simultaneously as opaque as ever. Even if he can't make himself say the full meaning, he doesn't mean it - all of it - any less. ]