(SE) need some room to breathe

Some people crash two or three times and then learn from their mistakes
We are the ones who don't slow down at all

His worry is like a blade between the ribs, and yet she doesn't let herself react to it. He cares, she knows he does, but it doesn't change anything. It never will. There is a certain peace to the numb acceptance that washes over her as she watches him descend to shift mid-air and land with catlike grace. It's as close to closure as she's likely to get. If it can ever be considered closure when she still loves him and Nate as much as she did the night before everything went to hell.

There is only the barest glimpse of that deep, bottomless well of emotion before she too is finding limbs and legs anew. Effectively silencing the bond entirely, unable to tap into it as a human for now. Expression calm and betraying nothing, far more controlled than her fledgling grasp over the Attuned bond. A quirk of a smile pulls at one corner of her mouth at his compliment. "It pays to have a good teacher." Shrugging out of his jacket, she extends it across the distance, and makes no move to close it. Ru's not sure either of them is strong enough for that yet. "I owe you. Thank you." Debt had never been a facet of their relationship before, but Hotaru isn't naive enough to believe that will remain. Sunjata is too good a man, she's sure he will wave it away, but Hotaru's pride will not allow her to keep mum in the first place.

And there's nobody there to catch us when we fall

HOTARU