[The explanation hits him like a punch in his gut and he stills, one hand still wrapped around Jack's, holding it still, the other clutching its cloth stopping just millimetres away from the broken skin of Jack's knuckles. He shouldn't have asked, doesn't know why he did, he already knows that answer, he feels it in his soul - but he has no reply, nothing he can say, not out loud.
Nothing that won't shatter the fragility of this moment, that won't ruin... won't ruin what? It's a long enough time since they've gone to one another that you couldn't say there was anything between them, anymore, not really. Only it still hovered there, making Spot's chest ache in ways he refused to acknowledge. There's nothing to ruin but his own reputation, and Spot clings to that like a shield, even if he did trust that Jack would never repeat anything Spot said to him in private.
So he finishes cleaning up Jack's knuckles and drops the soiled cloth aside, reaching for the bandages. When he finally does speak, he doesn't acknowledge Jack's words]
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branchandroot
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Date: 2020-05-03 08:02 am (UTC)[The explanation hits him like a punch in his gut and he stills, one hand still wrapped around Jack's, holding it still, the other clutching its cloth stopping just millimetres away from the broken skin of Jack's knuckles. He shouldn't have asked, doesn't know why he did, he already knows that answer, he feels it in his soul - but he has no reply, nothing he can say, not out loud.
Nothing that won't shatter the fragility of this moment, that won't ruin... won't ruin what? It's a long enough time since they've gone to one another that you couldn't say there was anything between them, anymore, not really. Only it still hovered there, making Spot's chest ache in ways he refused to acknowledge. There's nothing to ruin but his own reputation, and Spot clings to that like a shield, even if he did trust that Jack would never repeat anything Spot said to him in private.
So he finishes cleaning up Jack's knuckles and drops the soiled cloth aside, reaching for the bandages. When he finally does speak, he doesn't acknowledge Jack's words]
I gotta wrap your ribs up now.