birchpembrooke:
Birch gripped the hot chocolate in his hand, not really feeling the scalding hot of the just-made drink. It’s like his body was trying to match the mood he had right now - numb. He knew that Allegra had to be feeling at least a fraction of what he was feeling and that was still a lot for her to be handling.
He sat beside her, the television still playing the dumb soap opera. Birch didn’t expect a hug. But, it was definitely something he needed. He set his hot chocolate on his bedside table from between the blanket and moved so that his one arm wrapped around Allegra. “You only get a half hug today, the other half is on the table.” It was the closest thing he had said to a joke in the past twenty-four hours.
“Are you doing okay?” he asked, not wanting to particularly talk about himself at the moment.
she settled back on her spot on the bed, returning her hands to their work in keeping the blanket around her. she was quiet for a moment as she looked at him, waiting for him to say something. if she could hear, it wouldn’t have been as awkward, but she had to look at his face in order to make sure she didn’t miss something.
he looked tired, she felt tired, and she wished she knew what to say. she was grateful when he broke the silence (for him, that is, she was always in silence).
she smiled. “your half hugs are far superior to many other’s whole hugs, you have a gift,” was her response, and with those words, she let out the smallest amount of laughter.
“i don’t know, i don’t think so, are you?”