Without hesitation, Eiffel rounds on Jedao, throwing both arms over his shoulders and pulling him into a hug like he's being slammed into a foam brick wall, all but cradling Jedao's head against his neck.
Jedao shudders from head to toe, eyelashes hot and wet against Eiffel's neck, and makes a deep, wrenching sound, less a heartbroken wail than an animal in pain, a twisted yowl.
And he just holds on tighter as Jedao howls against him, unflinching against the devastating noise against his ear.
"I want to be your friend," he repeats, quietly firm, the same steel that let him survive hundreds of days in cryostasis, that let him talk down Minkowski from blowing everyone up with napalm, that let him throw himself over the red line and into the star itself. "And- I'm not gonna tell anyone that. Ever."
He knows how important infosec is to Jedao, above everything else. Sometimes above reason itself. So he knows, knows with the intimate familiarity of his best friend's habits how important this is. "And... thanks. For telling me. So I can make an informed decision." And quieter, with a softer, warmer edge. "You're not getting rid of me that easy."
"I don't hate you," he says, immediate and sincere. "I'm..."
How much disclosure is too much?
"Sometimes, it... it can be a bit scary," he admits gently. "How much more- powerful you and Hakkai are than me." And he squeezes tighter, so Jedao can't back away from that, so he can continue, "But at the same time, I always feel safe with you, more than anyone else on the Barge. 'cos I know you're never gonna use that to hurt me. And there's nothing about you that's gonna make me change my mind."
"I don't want to hurt you," Jedao promises, voice hitching, instead of saying all the stupid self-hating things that would just make Eiffel argue with him.
"And I don't wanna hurt you, either," he echoes readily. "But if it happens in the future, we have to talk about it. No matter how scary it is. Okay? Otherwise we're just gonna do the same things over again and keep hurting each other."
"You're also not supposed to clean a wound until you've staunched the bleeding," Jedao counters, quietly, the silent not-sobs subsiding into little shuddering sporadic gasps.
And effort, and focus, and safety, and not being torn up again, and not twisting himself into knots trying not to shock or scare or scream at anyone while his hands are still too slick with blood to get a grip
"If... I wanna help you try and stop it faster." Sort of a question, sort of not. He does want to. "Are you gonna let me? Even just... being there, when you're having a bad time."
"Okay." With another soft squeeze, an unconscious reward for the difficult admission. "So... when being seen... helps. Call me? Aaaand, when it doesn't... I'll leave you alone. Until you tell me to."
He lifts his hand from its slow trail down Jedao's back and uses it to hold his head in another gentle hug. "Okay?"
"It's okay to ask," Jedao says softly. "As long as...I don't have to worry I'll hurt you, if the answer is no. And. You believe me, that I'm saying it because. I've been here before. And I've climbed out before, and I know the way."
New Year's was only the third worst day of his life. Maybe second.
"I'm not just wallowing or - whatever people assume I'm doing."
"I didn't think you were wallowing," he says, and maybe there's some playful offense there but it's entirely aimed at the concept of people seeing Jedao go to ground and think it was because he was being angsty. "I mean, it's not like I didn't know you were avoiding me. I thought you were scared."
Jedao feels like are you letting it keep bleeding or do you not know how to stop is a question that presumes a little bit of wallowing; he scowls momentarily into Eiffel's neck, but lets it go.
"What did you think I was scared of?" Jedao asks, instead of I'm not scared.
"That maybe I wouldn't want to be your friend anymore after all of that? Or that I'd like someone else more? That I would be scared or mad at you and just not telling you?"
"You don't lie well enough to not tell me," Jedao murmurs, which is not the same as not being afraid Eiffel might try.
"I was afraid of some of those things. More that you'd...hurt, seeing me, and try to hide it. But that's not why I was...I just needed some time to. To just - be as broken as I felt, and not - risk biting your hand off like a wounded animal, or have to keep pretending not to be one."
He pulls back a little from the hug, just so he can lean against the console with an arm still around Jedao's waist to look at him properly. Still plenty there if Jedao wants to continue it.
"Do we need, like. A safe word for that?" It's half a joke, but- "When you need to tell me to back off and it's serious?"
"I...I wouldn't ask you to back off if it wasn't serious. I wouldn't want you to back off if it wasn't serious. I don't...maybe I do get hung up on stupid things, sometimes. But I know they're flimsy, compared to - how good you are, for me. Maybe the safeword's to remind us both of that."
"You're allowed to have stuff that's such a bitch to deal with that you don't wanna make anyone else deal with it too," he says, giving Jedao's waist a soft squeeze. "And if you know it's stupid, and you just- I dunno, maybe want to get pushed a little to see if it's the kind of thing company helps, then I'm here. And if it's not, then-" He pauses, and thinks for a moment. "I dunno, we probably need a better codeword than 'swordfish' or something."
He breathes soft and slow for an awkwardly long silence, closing his eyes, holding himself still, neither leaning into Eiffel nor pulling away.
"With you -"
He stops. Starts again.
"The man who didn't love me. He -" He begged. Let me be something to you - "I was so lonely, when he came to me. I let him talk me into it. And now. I know you're you, and I know I don't ever have to feel greedy for wanting you. But I am so fucking terrified of being greedy. And the terror is all bright and new again. So - it's just hard, right now. Getting what I want."
That's a lot, and it's still confusing, but one thing still feels clear.
"Okay." His thumb rubs gently against Jedao's side. "So we take it slow. And I won't ask, for that. But I'll be here when you wanna be greedy again, cos- I like it, you know? Makes me feel kinda special. So just... hit me up. When you're feeling better. 'kay?"
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"I want to be your friend," he repeats, quietly firm, the same steel that let him survive hundreds of days in cryostasis, that let him talk down Minkowski from blowing everyone up with napalm, that let him throw himself over the red line and into the star itself. "And- I'm not gonna tell anyone that. Ever."
He knows how important infosec is to Jedao, above everything else. Sometimes above reason itself. So he knows, knows with the intimate familiarity of his best friend's habits how important this is. "And... thanks. For telling me. So I can make an informed decision." And quieter, with a softer, warmer edge. "You're not getting rid of me that easy."
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"He hated me, underneath," Jedao whispers, crying steadily and silently now, throat aching. "He killed himself about it."
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How much disclosure is too much?
"Sometimes, it... it can be a bit scary," he admits gently. "How much more- powerful you and Hakkai are than me." And he squeezes tighter, so Jedao can't back away from that, so he can continue, "But at the same time, I always feel safe with you, more than anyone else on the Barge. 'cos I know you're never gonna use that to hurt me. And there's nothing about you that's gonna make me change my mind."
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"Sometimes talking does hurt, though."
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"Does that mean you're letting them keep bleeding, or you don't know how to stop it?"
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And effort, and focus, and safety, and not being torn up again, and not twisting himself into knots trying not to shock or scare or scream at anyone while his hands are still too slick with blood to get a grip
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He swallows and swallows again, like he could gulp down the truth of it and make it disappear. He doesn't know how to say this that won't hurt.
"Sometimes. Being seen is. Not help."
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He lifts his hand from its slow trail down Jedao's back and uses it to hold his head in another gentle hug. "Okay?"
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New Year's was only the third worst day of his life. Maybe second.
"I'm not just wallowing or - whatever people assume I'm doing."
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"What did you think I was scared of?" Jedao asks, instead of I'm not scared.
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"That maybe I wouldn't want to be your friend anymore after all of that? Or that I'd like someone else more? That I would be scared or mad at you and just not telling you?"
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"I was afraid of some of those things. More that you'd...hurt, seeing me, and try to hide it. But that's not why I was...I just needed some time to. To just - be as broken as I felt, and not - risk biting your hand off like a wounded animal, or have to keep pretending not to be one."
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"Do we need, like. A safe word for that?" It's half a joke, but- "When you need to tell me to back off and it's serious?"
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"I...I wouldn't ask you to back off if it wasn't serious. I wouldn't want you to back off if it wasn't serious. I don't...maybe I do get hung up on stupid things, sometimes. But I know they're flimsy, compared to - how good you are, for me. Maybe the safeword's to remind us both of that."
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He breathes soft and slow for an awkwardly long silence, closing his eyes, holding himself still, neither leaning into Eiffel nor pulling away.
"With you -"
He stops. Starts again.
"The man who didn't love me. He -" He begged. Let me be something to you - "I was so lonely, when he came to me. I let him talk me into it. And now. I know you're you, and I know I don't ever have to feel greedy for wanting you. But I am so fucking terrified of being greedy. And the terror is all bright and new again. So - it's just hard, right now. Getting what I want."
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"Okay." His thumb rubs gently against Jedao's side. "So we take it slow. And I won't ask, for that. But I'll be here when you wanna be greedy again, cos- I like it, you know? Makes me feel kinda special. So just... hit me up. When you're feeling better. 'kay?"
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