funny how true colours shine in darkness and secrecy

Koa

Don't you just wanna wake up dark as a lake
Smelling like a bonfire, lost in a haze?

They were something before she ever found out. Koa's jaw clenches; he rubs his thumb on the hem of his jeans, eyes flicking between Flora's face and her hands as they shift and fidget and move. He's steadying a little, the beat of his heart and tap of his foot subdued to a less borderline manic pace. It's as though the jagged laugh and fraying edges of Flora's composure have an almost inverse effect on Koa, who has always been able to stabilize when others fall apart.

So he lets her talk and makes himself listen, her face reflected in his attentive copper gaze, his own as calm as he can possibly manage with the way his emotions roil. But his heart aches and his anger flares as she spins the story of (as Koa sees it) manipulation and lies. "Flora," Koa murmurs, fingers twitching as he considers reaching for her and ultimately only shakes his head. "Fuck, that's... that's a lot."

But she isn't done, and if he hadn't hated Jack already he certainly would now. Because while Flora is strong and bright as the sun, she is also fragile, that brilliance a mask for the insecurity beneath. Koa knows this, always has, even if he's lacked the emotional intelligence to let that understanding coalesce completely in his mind. But Jack- Jack would have seen it all, known it all, and still he'd made her fight and act and prove herself to him.

It makes Koa sick.

"You are not stupid." This time he doesn't hold himself back; he's off the root and kneeling before her, reaching for the hand that clings to clover and taking it between both of his. "Fuck, I can't even begin to imagine what you went through, how that felt, but Flora- fuck that guy." There's nothing but guileless earnestness as he searches for her eyes, warm and ardent and stubbornly convinced of his own correctness and her need to see it, too. "You should never have to feel like you need to be better, or prettier, or whatever else. You are so fucking incredible exactly as you are, and anyone who doesn't see that is a godsdamned idiot."

If you're drunk on life, babe, I think it's great
But while in this world I think I'll take my whiskey neat