Ty's comment about moving away from Hogsmeade made Ford's stomach lurch, though it was illogical. It didn't ultimately matter much where Tycho was if Ford continued on trying to avoid him wherever possible — still, his first instinctive but entirely irrational thought was don't leave me. If they weren't visiting each other anyway then the distance shouldn't have mattered; Tycho could be across the street or in Italy or on another planet... yet Ford had the sense that somehow he would feel the distance, even if they weren't in contact. But Tycho leaving would mean they were less likely to stumble upon each other accidentally, which was something Ford had been thinking about a lot since his wedding — thinking about and diligently trying to avoid, probably taking twice as many precautions as were reasonable, because he knew that seeing Tycho would leave him hurting. Maybe it would be worth the dull ache of added distance to have a significantly lower risk of sudden, acute pain?

There were no good outcomes either way, and it was difficult to evaluate the lesser of two evils based only on hypotheticals. So he had no response to Tycho — at least, not to his words. Ty had reached out to let his hand hover just off Ford's cheek, and although Ford knew Ty wasn't touching him he felt as though there was an electrical charge between them that he could feel, a crackling magnetism. Without giving himself time to second-guess the action Ford leaned into Tycho's hand, bringing his own up to rest against the back of Ty's knuckles. He inhaled and took half a second to let the intensity of it sweep through him. On the exhale he met Tycho's eyes, with all the things he wanted to do and say heavy in his gaze.

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