A warm meal and a quiet night

KIADA we are all just fighting to survive a world, where 'i miss you' doesn't mean I'm coming back. She immediately averts her gaze when her question is aired – feeling undeserving of even the little bit of attention she receives – and again, it’s because he doesn’t know her deep down. But it’s not something she can rectify now, and if he’s happy enough with how things have turned out so far, who is she to say anything else to that? Maybe she shouldn’t tear herself up over and over again for her past mistakes when she’s atoned so much for them already in the mental scars, in the physical scars, in everything. How bad would it be to let someone in, as possessive as she can be when it comes to being absolutely terrified they might leave? Be torn from her again? When this world inevitably breaks and she’s thrown from it once more, leaving everything and all she knows behind? His tone is serious when he calls her that nickname, and her mouth is half full as she focuses on him again, her own iceberg gaze a bit surprised at the tone – though never in a bad way – and when he reaches for her hand and she opens hers up for him, running calloused fingertips along the inside of his hand should he let her before he’s squeezing her hand. “Alright.” She agrees softly, offering him a small smile for that but finding it hard to believe. What if one day he grew tired of her? What if she wasn’t enough? What then? She tries her hardest to drown those thoughts where they stand, offering him a slightly brighter smile with it as the shadows begin to pass from her vibrant gaze as she meets his again. “I never thanked you for the jacket in the aftermath.” She says instead, an almost sheepish smile crossing over her face with it. She wants to tell him that it meant the world for her, that she had been too furious to realize the danger she was in until he was there wrapping and bundling her up. And so she sends that feeling of thankfulness and relief for him down the bond, because perhaps it’s something he might understand better than her simply spouting the words for it (what words were even good enough for that?) and 'I love you' doesn't mean I'll stay...