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[ It relieves pressure on his own heart to see Aranea get through to him as well, to see her not accept his self-loathing and insecurities but instead force him to confront them, to address them in the open. If she hadn't come to him this night, he...has no idea what he would have done. He certainly wouldn't have gone soul searching the next day, wouldn't have come to the conclusions that he did. He wouldn't have found his worth in being there for his friends, in supporting his king and remaining at his side. Even if his role in this world is not the same as it was back home, he still carries that same identity in his heart. It has only...transformed into something new, something just as solid and unmovable.

A pleasant chill runs over him when she touches his wrist as it always does, a tense sigh slipping out of him. The weight of reliving this scene still presses down on his shoulders, his heart, but at least he experienced this with her, the one who knows him completely, the one he trusts implicitly, the one he knows will not judge him for what she has seen.

He turns his face down against her neck, burrowing against her skin until he can't see the glow of the fire beneath his eyelids anymore. ]

Believe me, I won't. Hurt like a bitch, anyways.

[ But that is far from the only reason he will not. ]

Who knows? Maybe someday I'll ditch hiding it altogether.

[ Maybe someday. ]