I’ve missed you. Buoyed as he was to hear the feeling still went both ways, Tyb wasn’t fool enough to think the sheer ache of that separation was what had propelled her here tonight. He might’ve dreamt of it once or twice, Elsie arriving out of the blue and deciding she didn’t have the patience for this distance any more - but it was a fanciful one, and he well knew it. She hadn’t come in secret to indulge either of them, to pass some time together, to spend the night; she hadn’t come to run away from the world once and for all. No, the world was something one couldn’t run away from, and so this... this must be a problem that couldn’t wait.
But until she spelled it out, Tybalt would do his best to pretend that she had yearned to see him and nothing more, and held her tightly to convince himself of it. He let his arms loosen as she looked up at him. How’re you, she asked, and he didn’t want to talk about himself, would rather do anything else than talk about himself, but she had asked. “Oh, you know,” he said with a shrug and a small grin. “Getting by. Haven’t set any more desks on fire, so -” He added brightly, and then smiled at her more gently. “Better now I’m seeing you,” Tyb admitted, lifting a hand to unconsciously play with a loose strand of hair at her ear, maybe just to be sure she was really here. His eyes drifted across her face, trying to decipher her expression, trying to steel himself for the worst, feeling somehow like they had been transported back to their conversation in the library last year all over again. “...And you?”
But until she spelled it out, Tybalt would do his best to pretend that she had yearned to see him and nothing more, and held her tightly to convince himself of it. He let his arms loosen as she looked up at him. How’re you, she asked, and he didn’t want to talk about himself, would rather do anything else than talk about himself, but she had asked. “Oh, you know,” he said with a shrug and a small grin. “Getting by. Haven’t set any more desks on fire, so -” He added brightly, and then smiled at her more gently. “Better now I’m seeing you,” Tyb admitted, lifting a hand to unconsciously play with a loose strand of hair at her ear, maybe just to be sure she was really here. His eyes drifted across her face, trying to decipher her expression, trying to steel himself for the worst, feeling somehow like they had been transported back to their conversation in the library last year all over again. “...And you?”
