[SE] Bad or worse news first?

Koa

There's going to come a day when you feel better
You'll rise up free and easy on that day

"Not yours, either," Koa's quick to combat, because he can feel the guilt and self-deprecation radiating off Zavien, knows dark thoughts his friend must be having as clearly as if they were his own.

Because in many ways, they are.

I asked her to leave with me. "Leave?!" Koa blurts before he can stop it, nails biting into wood. He's leaving? But then again, how can Koa blame him - how can he begrudge him anything, given she just died? He forces himself to sit back, raising a hand to wave off any explanation. "No, sorry, keep going." This is Zavien's time for expression; he can deal with his own abandonment issues on his own time.

(Little does Koa know but by the time this conversation finishes he'll be packing his bags as well.)

I told her I love her. Koa's eyes widen, the beginning of a smile quickly dying on his lips as Zavien's expression twists and contorts. Oh... oh no. Been there, done that. Sympathy runs hot through the cracks of heartbreak still lingering after his own rejection. "Oh, fuck." Without fully standing he scoots his chair closer, until he can reach out and grab Zavien's shoulder. "Fuck, man, I'm so sorry." To have died, resurrected, and been rejected? A sympathetic wince cuts his mouth.

"What did she say?" he asks, slightly hopeful, because maybe it wasn't a straight-out rejection. He needs their relationship to work out, damnit. After all, he's personally responsible for them being together at least in his head.

And float from branch to branch, lighter than the air
Just when that day is coming, who can say?