（ he watches the kid get up, and walk away. grief sloughs off of him in waves the way burnt skin skids and slips away after a fire, and cy just — watches, and hurts, and hopes. because it's the one thing he's never been able to let go of.
in a way, he would've preferred the suspicion continue. it's harder coming up against empathy. it crawls into him the way water swallows stone, and he is looking at his beer when stiles finally comes back having torn his gaze away from the pacing after just a few seconds. he doesn't seem tired, or resigned, or upset, just — present in a way that's ages old and eons deep. he wears the millennia well, but they are worn.
people always react to it. one way or another.
stiles gets a crooked little smile when he pulls that hoodie up, and after a moment cy reaches out to him. if stiles lets him, cy will press his fingers in against the boy's wrist in a brief, quiet comfort. ）
Hey, I said I'd be honest. I know it was the kindness that set you off, so I'll pre-empt that suspicion. No, I wasn't always kind. It was something I had to learn. Something I had to fight to be and to give to others. It is not always easy, and I'm not always good at it. But it's not about you — I'm too fucking old to care about manipulating people any kind of way. It's because it's who I want to be, and because it's in defiance of what I was made. If that's not good enough for you, then I've got nothing else to say to you.
no subject
in a way, he would've preferred the suspicion continue. it's harder coming up against empathy. it crawls into him the way water swallows stone, and he is looking at his beer when stiles finally comes back having torn his gaze away from the pacing after just a few seconds. he doesn't seem tired, or resigned, or upset, just — present in a way that's ages old and eons deep. he wears the millennia well, but they are worn.
people always react to it. one way or another.
stiles gets a crooked little smile when he pulls that hoodie up, and after a moment cy reaches out to him. if stiles lets him, cy will press his fingers in against the boy's wrist in a brief, quiet comfort. ）
Hey, I said I'd be honest. I know it was the kindness that set you off, so I'll pre-empt that suspicion. No, I wasn't always kind. It was something I had to learn. Something I had to fight to be and to give to others. It is not always easy, and I'm not always good at it. But it's not about you — I'm too fucking old to care about manipulating people any kind of way. It's because it's who I want to be, and because it's in defiance of what I was made. If that's not good enough for you, then I've got nothing else to say to you.