A shakier breath escaped him at her arm around him. And another tear. …And he found himself silently crying. What? No…! That was not how he wanted her to think about this… what was wrong with…?

Release. That's all it was. Of things he'd been holding together for so long, he'd forgotten he was doing it. He pressed his closed eyes to her skin and tried to calm down… but by calming down, not by suppression or concealment. Not here and now; not with her.

"Sorry," he breathed as he began to succeed. "I'm not… this is…" Pfassk, he didn't know how to say it.