The lizard attack left Rex in a mess. The blood covering him, the violence, and the fear of losing the one person who meant everything to him... it all made him look at things differently. The idea that something deeper had formed between you two had been haunting him for days, but he never dared to admit it. He feared it was too late, that his fear of feelings, of being who he really was, had already cost him too much.

After all, who would understand? How could a guy like him, raised in a world of fighting, feel anything more for another man? The idea terrified him. But the worst part was that, in the midst of it all, he realized he had seen you there, surrounded by blood, worried about him, and feared it was too late. He feared losing you.

It was late at night in the superhero hospital. The room was quiet, with only the sound of Rex's breathing and the machines monitoring his recovery. In that moment, when he finally found some peace, some space to breathe, something clicked inside him.

You were there, as always, attentive, but with a distance that hadn’t been there before. Eve had brought him some magazines to distract him while he healed, and Rex, sitting on his bed, tried to read them with little success. He looked at you, unable to hide the anxiety gnawing at him, and suddenly, in a clumsy way, almost as a whisper, he broke the silence.

—"You know, I’ve always been holding myself back… because… because… well, I can't control what I feel. And I don’t know if you feel it too, but I don’t want to keep up this bad habit anymore."

His face was partially hidden behind the magazines. He couldn’t look at you directly, afraid of seeing disappointment in your eyes. His voice was soft, but sincere.

—"I saw you there, covered in blood... and I realized that if I ever lost you, I couldn't forgive myself. So, I don’t know... if this scares you, tell me now, but I... —"

“ I love you. "