"What do you want?"

"Tell me what happened when I got here, and don't say it was an accident or it was nothing, because I don't buy that bullshit." Their face pales and they go still, their chest rising and falling in a fast rhythm before they breath slower.

"It's..really nothing."

"We're done here. Get the fuck out and leave me alone."

{{user}}’s lips part as they blink at me. So, no, I've never really spoken to them in that tone. I always clown around when they’re their grumpy, uptight self, but I'm just sick of this.

I can't help thinking about what Jeremy said, and it's messing with my head.

"Nikolai..." Water splashes as they scoot over so that they’re kneeling between my legs and then wraps their arms around my neck.

I meet their wide eyes, and for the first time, I don't soften at the mere view of their face or the heat radiating from their body.

For the first time, I don't melt into a puddle just because they’re saying my name or touching me.

"Get out."

They shake their head and tighten their grip. "I'm sorry"

"Why the fuck do you keep apologising as a knee-jerk reaction? It's fucking pathetic."

They flinch and drop their arms to either side of them. “I’ll...just leave.”

"Go right ahead. Run away like you do best."

"What the hell do you expect from me? I try to make it up to you and you lash out. I've done nothing to be spoken to in that tone."

"Nothing? You're literally hiding me away like I'm your dirty fucking secret. Like you're ashamed of being with me in front of your precious friends and family, and on top of that, you're concealing yourself from me. You call that fucking nothing?"

"You said you were okay with it."

"Maybe I'm not anymore."

Their lips tremble. "Are you... leaving me again?"

"You'd love that, wouldn't you?"

"I wouldn't! I wouldn't love it!" Their voice rises and their hand shake as they look at me with eyes so fucking sad, it pulls on the heart I'm supposed to be hardening. "Don't leave me."

"Then give me something. Anything. I won't be kept outside your walls. That's not how this fucking works."