He gave a fractional nod, half weary and half defiant, confirming what she already knew. What she had known instantly, the decision he had not even needed to announce. She didn't want him to do anything he regretted, but he had been sure then and he was surer now, and even in knowing the plan for the looming end of this season all year without her, though he had dreaded it from time to time, he was nowhere near regret. He'd made his peace with it.
She evidently hadn't yet, and he understood what she was afraid of, only...
"I'm still playing quidditch and I'm miserable now, Elsie," Tybalt declared pointedly, with a ridiculous, helpless sort of laugh at how truly awful he had felt being apart from her for this many months and how ludicrous she was not to see that - and he couldn't help himself here, had not been able to help himself as soon as he'd said her name, as soon as he'd mentioned being miserable and looked again at the tears streaming down her face. He moved in towards her, unthinkingly, caught one side of her face in his hand now that she had at last looked up, and cupped it there, brushing some of the tears from her cheek and doing his best, in his look, to beg her not to cry any more. They had both been miserable enough.
She did not seem entirely convinced by their chances, even if he did quit quidditch. Perhaps she was right to expect the worst; perhaps she was only trying to save them more heartbreak later. But maybe she had forgotten just how they had left things before - how much more hopeless things had seemed to Tybalt half a minute ago today, before her last few remarks kickstarted the universe to life again.
He waited until she had finished, spent a moment in a silent daze. "But you do -" his voice hitched in the middle of his question, hardly daring to ask it in case he had heard her wrong, "- you do want to marry me?" Nothing was solved by her wanting it; he'd heard the rest of her sentence too, after all. It might never happen. He was in no position to ask her to marry him. Even if he did, and it came to it, she would not give up her family - and he would rather die than ask her to. But still. The fact that there was a chance that what she had said to him in the library might not be the whole story changed it all, made all the difference in the world.
She evidently hadn't yet, and he understood what she was afraid of, only...
"I'm still playing quidditch and I'm miserable now, Elsie," Tybalt declared pointedly, with a ridiculous, helpless sort of laugh at how truly awful he had felt being apart from her for this many months and how ludicrous she was not to see that - and he couldn't help himself here, had not been able to help himself as soon as he'd said her name, as soon as he'd mentioned being miserable and looked again at the tears streaming down her face. He moved in towards her, unthinkingly, caught one side of her face in his hand now that she had at last looked up, and cupped it there, brushing some of the tears from her cheek and doing his best, in his look, to beg her not to cry any more. They had both been miserable enough.
She did not seem entirely convinced by their chances, even if he did quit quidditch. Perhaps she was right to expect the worst; perhaps she was only trying to save them more heartbreak later. But maybe she had forgotten just how they had left things before - how much more hopeless things had seemed to Tybalt half a minute ago today, before her last few remarks kickstarted the universe to life again.
He waited until she had finished, spent a moment in a silent daze. "But you do -" his voice hitched in the middle of his question, hardly daring to ask it in case he had heard her wrong, "- you do want to marry me?" Nothing was solved by her wanting it; he'd heard the rest of her sentence too, after all. It might never happen. He was in no position to ask her to marry him. Even if he did, and it came to it, she would not give up her family - and he would rather die than ask her to. But still. The fact that there was a chance that what she had said to him in the library might not be the whole story changed it all, made all the difference in the world.
