[ He stills at her words, because for a moment… he doesn’t know how to answer that. Which just makes him feel guilty.
He’s never had a friendship like Claude and Hilda’s. Despite the fact that they’ve recently had so many hardships, there’s a depth to their bond, their trust, what they share with each other, that he has no idea how to forge on his own.
Not that he wouldn’t say his friendships with Felix and Dimitri and Ingrid had been shallow - they hadn’t been, and his loyalty to each of them, should they need him, would be unwavering until he took his last breath. But it wasn’t like what he saw flow so simply and genuinely between Claude and Hilda. Or even so many others.
Support… that wasn’t something he ever expected to come from anyone. Even the concept of it was completely foreign. Needing that kind of thing, letting yourself be that vulnerable to someone else… he’s pretty sure his father had done everything he could to grind that kind of weakness out of his heir at every possible turn.
Maybe that’s why he has such a hard time understanding her words so often. He’s got no frame of reference here for what she’s talking about.
Which just has him sighing and lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck, feeling uncomfortable as he stares down at the floor. ]
I’ll try. For you. But I’m really not any good at this whole ‘caring’ thing.
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He’s never had a friendship like Claude and Hilda’s. Despite the fact that they’ve recently had so many hardships, there’s a depth to their bond, their trust, what they share with each other, that he has no idea how to forge on his own.
Not that he wouldn’t say his friendships with Felix and Dimitri and Ingrid had been shallow - they hadn’t been, and his loyalty to each of them, should they need him, would be unwavering until he took his last breath. But it wasn’t like what he saw flow so simply and genuinely between Claude and Hilda. Or even so many others.
Support… that wasn’t something he ever expected to come from anyone. Even the concept of it was completely foreign. Needing that kind of thing, letting yourself be that vulnerable to someone else… he’s pretty sure his father had done everything he could to grind that kind of weakness out of his heir at every possible turn.
Maybe that’s why he has such a hard time understanding her words so often. He’s got no frame of reference here for what she’s talking about.
Which just has him sighing and lifting a hand to rub at the back of his neck, feeling uncomfortable as he stares down at the floor. ]
I’ll try. For you. But I’m really not any good at this whole ‘caring’ thing.