[The air feels heavy around him. The activity around them -- the murmur of conversation, the rumble of motorcars, the steady dripping of "rainwater" from the eaves, the emergency crew carrying a constant stream of the imprisoned staff outside... it narrows down to just this: Tama shaking like a leaf beside him, and his words echoing in the air.]
[The fight at their apartment filters into his mind: Tamamori leveraging his own safety to convince him to escape the military's attention, once their contracts were over and they were back in the capital. He'd hoped it was just a threat made in duress, because... because the alternative was this.]
[He pulls Tama into a hug without even thinking about it, face buried in his shoulder. Forget his aches and pains, or the people around them, or some of Tama's hairclips poking into his own scalp.]
You can't. [His voice is almost muffled, and not just because he's talking into Tama's shirt collar.] If you did-- only-- only one of us would come back-- if we did at all. [He knew that in his bones. He'd thought of that fact enough over the previous year, after all.] You won't have to.
if so i'm Sorry Again But More
[The fight at their apartment filters into his mind: Tamamori leveraging his own safety to convince him to escape the military's attention, once their contracts were over and they were back in the capital. He'd hoped it was just a threat made in duress, because... because the alternative was this.]
[He pulls Tama into a hug without even thinking about it, face buried in his shoulder. Forget his aches and pains, or the people around them, or some of Tama's hairclips poking into his own scalp.]
You can't. [His voice is almost muffled, and not just because he's talking into Tama's shirt collar.] If you did-- only-- only one of us would come back-- if we did at all. [He knew that in his bones. He'd thought of that fact enough over the previous year, after all.] You won't have to.