I think I can manage being collateral damage
Ever nodded again, his throat bobbing in a way that suggested it wasn’t just exertion making it hard to swallow. "That sounds manageable," he murmured, his voice low and even, but slightly thinner than before. He stayed in step with Mateo, gaze pinned ahead like he was afraid to look anywhere else and come apart.
At the reminder that this was for him, Ever’s mouth twitched—not a smile, exactly, more like a small fault line opening across something long-pressured. "Alright," he said after a beat, voice steady only because he was working very hard to keep it that way. "I just... it's hard not to think of myself as a problem someone wants to solve."
His hands flexed once, curling against the fabric of his shorts before releasing. "I know you're doing this for me," he said, quieter still, as if the words themselves were something sharp he was picking up carefully. "And I'm grateful. Even if it doesn't look like it. Even if I don't know how to make it... land right." His breath hitched, barely audible. "I just wanted you to know."
He didn’t slow, didn’t stop—but there was something raw flickering just beneath his skin now, something more fragile than the careful steadiness he wore like armour.
At the reminder that this was for him, Ever’s mouth twitched—not a smile, exactly, more like a small fault line opening across something long-pressured. "Alright," he said after a beat, voice steady only because he was working very hard to keep it that way. "I just... it's hard not to think of myself as a problem someone wants to solve."
His hands flexed once, curling against the fabric of his shorts before releasing. "I know you're doing this for me," he said, quieter still, as if the words themselves were something sharp he was picking up carefully. "And I'm grateful. Even if it doesn't look like it. Even if I don't know how to make it... land right." His breath hitched, barely audible. "I just wanted you to know."
He didn’t slow, didn’t stop—but there was something raw flickering just beneath his skin now, something more fragile than the careful steadiness he wore like armour.
Even if I had to lose you to know you I'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
