Merlin, it was like she’d seen a ghost. Maybe he should have come sooner.
Only, here he was now and he still didn’t know what to say to her. Tybalt followed her, trying to look outwardly casual to the world, like he’d just asked for a librarian’s assistance and that was all, but he was clutching at the book under his arm so hard he wouldn’t be surprised if he left it with a dented cover.
The shelves she’d taken him to were deserted - probably filled of some topic too dull for anyone with a life to care about - but she was still at work and there was still a chance that they would be seen or overheard, so they were still bound by the rules. (The same rules that had bound them up into knots, knots like this one, knots that - now had to be undone and re-tied, differently.)
“Hi,” Tybalt settled for saying, first, with a tight-lipped, sorry smile. He stepped closer, close enough to reach out and squeeze her hand - briefly and subtly, but. Still. “I - had to see you,” he breathed, surveying her as if that would be enough to learn everything he’d missed of the aftermath and the last month. “I would’ve come earlier, but... I didn’t want to - to -” he trailed off with a shrug. Get her into more trouble? Fumble over his words, before he’d thought through everything her cousin had said? And yet here he was, damn it, still fumbling.
Only, here he was now and he still didn’t know what to say to her. Tybalt followed her, trying to look outwardly casual to the world, like he’d just asked for a librarian’s assistance and that was all, but he was clutching at the book under his arm so hard he wouldn’t be surprised if he left it with a dented cover.
The shelves she’d taken him to were deserted - probably filled of some topic too dull for anyone with a life to care about - but she was still at work and there was still a chance that they would be seen or overheard, so they were still bound by the rules. (The same rules that had bound them up into knots, knots like this one, knots that - now had to be undone and re-tied, differently.)
“Hi,” Tybalt settled for saying, first, with a tight-lipped, sorry smile. He stepped closer, close enough to reach out and squeeze her hand - briefly and subtly, but. Still. “I - had to see you,” he breathed, surveying her as if that would be enough to learn everything he’d missed of the aftermath and the last month. “I would’ve come earlier, but... I didn’t want to - to -” he trailed off with a shrug. Get her into more trouble? Fumble over his words, before he’d thought through everything her cousin had said? And yet here he was, damn it, still fumbling.
