[ There's more he could have added - probably not to Hilda's surprise whatsoever - but it felt like he'd talked for too long as it is. Even if it's an explanation, even if it's important, the longer he'd talked the more Claude had to wonder what the expression on Hilda's face means as it dawns and then blooms into something - else.
Something she thinks she has to hide with her hands pressed to her face to shut it out, and it's that action which makes confusion and a bit of that trepidation return. It was a lot, that much Claude's well aware of considering it felt like a lot to say despite there being so much more ground for either one of them to cover, and now it all hangs in the balance even more than before.
Sitting here he is also feels too much though he wills himself to stay right there. Right up until Hilda finally speaks, because at that point his resolve disintegrates and he pushes off the tub's edge. ]
Hey, wait a minute.
[ That prefaces it though he's careful to make a point of not moving through the water silently to telegraph exactly what it is he's doing. It's not a long distance even despite the oversized tub they're in for that supposed couples' experience but it feels like crossing a canyon as he reaches out to hook fingertips around her hands to gently tug them away from her face to be able to see again. Or in hopes of that, since if she doesn't resist he'll sit with her hands held in his between them in what's not enough touch for what he wants, but that's another line he won't cross without permission first when it's not something he'll take for granted. ]
I wasn't asking for a speech, though if that's you asking for one I can come up with a better one if you give me a minute. [ That's teasing, if only to lighten the mood with something they both know would be a real possibility if she asked for it to be while he searches her face with a tentative smile. ] A long time still more than counts, especially when we said the same thing in different ways. I don't think that's insincere at all.
[ And it is the same thing to him since it still points to the same feeling - and that's something. As much as he wants to let that spark of hope turn into an ember that can become a proper flame, there's something else that has to come before it. ]
What is it that you want, Hilda?
[ From this moment, from all of this - anything and everything in between. His answer to that should she ask it back to him has never once wavered, but that doesn't mean it's the same for Hilda. ]
no subject
Something she thinks she has to hide with her hands pressed to her face to shut it out, and it's that action which makes confusion and a bit of that trepidation return. It was a lot, that much Claude's well aware of considering it felt like a lot to say despite there being so much more ground for either one of them to cover, and now it all hangs in the balance even more than before.
Sitting here he is also feels too much though he wills himself to stay right there. Right up until Hilda finally speaks, because at that point his resolve disintegrates and he pushes off the tub's edge. ]
Hey, wait a minute.
[ That prefaces it though he's careful to make a point of not moving through the water silently to telegraph exactly what it is he's doing. It's not a long distance even despite the oversized tub they're in for that supposed couples' experience but it feels like crossing a canyon as he reaches out to hook fingertips around her hands to gently tug them away from her face to be able to see again. Or in hopes of that, since if she doesn't resist he'll sit with her hands held in his between them in what's not enough touch for what he wants, but that's another line he won't cross without permission first when it's not something he'll take for granted. ]
I wasn't asking for a speech, though if that's you asking for one I can come up with a better one if you give me a minute. [ That's teasing, if only to lighten the mood with something they both know would be a real possibility if she asked for it to be while he searches her face with a tentative smile. ] A long time still more than counts, especially when we said the same thing in different ways. I don't think that's insincere at all.
[ And it is the same thing to him since it still points to the same feeling - and that's something. As much as he wants to let that spark of hope turn into an ember that can become a proper flame, there's something else that has to come before it. ]
What is it that you want, Hilda?
[ From this moment, from all of this - anything and everything in between. His answer to that should she ask it back to him has never once wavered, but that doesn't mean it's the same for Hilda. ]