still, the stubborn parts of her mind are battling her heart, desperately wanting to tell him to stop ——- not because she wants him to, but because she feels like she has to. she has to be cold, she has to fight him, she has to keep a distance. but why can’t she let down her walls, just this once? just for him? she fears that if she does, she may never stop —— that if she gives in to the comfort of his arms, then she’ll never stop pouring herself out for him, and then what happens when there’s nothing left of her? what happens when she loses him, too? noticeably, shoulders fall as his hand moves away. the absence of his touch makes her feel all too empty —— it’s painful, she didn’t realize how starved for this affection she was until now. but she can’t ask for it; she won’t. it would only hurt her pride, and she can’t give that up now —— not when it already feels like she has nothing left.
she peeks up at him, expression not changing despite her heart beating faster. the compliment is one she so desperately needed without realizing, because she doesn’t believe it herself. any mirrors in her home, she avoids —— she can’t even muster the courage to tell herself that she is strong. ❝ that’s how we all hav’ta be. don’t have a choice, ❞ she mumbles. because that’s what she has to tell herself, that she can do this, that she has to do this, that there’s no choice but to endure. ❝ you’re strong. don’t have another way to be, ❞ she points out —— because it’s something she has to remind herself too. spencer knows loss. he knows it firsthand. grief is no competition, not when they’re all experiencing it seemingly all the time. but they all deal with it differently —— and maybe spencer’s way is more healthy than hers. it doesn’t mean it will change her mind. it only GROUNDS her for a moment. she gulps, eyes on his for a brief moment before she offers a small nod. ❝ have to be, don’t i? ❞ for abraham. because, despite not knowing him long, so much of who she is is because of him.
his next words make lips purse together tightly, her eyes averting again. ❝ ain’t any different, ❞ she mutters. she is —— physically, mentally, emotionally. this has hardened her, more than she already had been. it makes her whole body feel hollow with nothing but rage inside to keep fueling her. and it’s a dangerous route she’s on, one that if she’s not more careful, she may end up just like them soon enough. she is different, and if anyone should know, it’s him. it’s not because he knows her better than the others she has been with longer —— he doesn’t, not entirely, but he knows her in a way they don’t. he has witnessed a raw version of her, one that has been vulnerable and weak and OPEN. he has seen her entirely exposed, both physically and emotionally, and maybe that’s why she has such a hard time letting her MASK falter. he has already seen her weakened before; it’s as if she has something to prove now, to show him that she’s strong ( even if he already believes it, she can’t stop fighting for it. )
❝ y’don’t need to look out for me. i know that’s what you’re trying to do. ❞ because he is GOOD. more than that, he’s a good influence. that’s part of why she’s so afraid of being with him. because he WILL ground her, he will help her relax, and she doesn’t know how to get there right now. she doesn’t know how to accept that she may actually deserve that. ❝ i’m fine. can handle it myself. ❞ too much of her life has been spent relying on the help of others, relying on them to take the reigns for her so that nothing would ever be her fault, that she would always be taken care of ——- but all of this has taught her that she has to have her own back. relying on others is dangerous. and it’s a crushing feeling, even more so the way her heart still beats so fast just being this close to him ( she wants to give in. she wants to bask in the comfort she knows he’s willing to give her. can’t she let herself have it just this once? ) she gulps, a glare remaining on her features that contradicts her next words. ❝ y’don’t have to leave. ❞ stay, stay, stay. that’s what she wants to say, but the alternative feels easier. it feels like less pressure, less vulnerability. ❝ just sayin’, no babysitting. i don’t need it. ❞
the last monroe... spencer overheard his newly acquired coinage in passing, one of the more gossipy alexandrians procured it for what spencer deemed a poetic purpose. but life wasn’t a poem, spencer no longer had a soul to connect with & his neighbours wanted to don him a thespian tragedy? ---- it sickened him. thus, with naivety accompanied an altered state of mind, & perhaps all the meaningless thoughts & prayers & baking fucking casseroles was their unique way of surviving a travesty ---- but spencer’s family were dead, and everything is just... so much worse now.
if anyone knew loss it was her, she hadn’t the choice ---- sure, alexandria was a sanctum but it did not ensure an indefinite guard. there were monsters, with sentience & thought alike, that dwelled inside & out. it was the ones with determinate faces, that wielded gun & weapon, that didn’t gabble & salivate over promises of flesh... they were the ones to be feared. spencer knew that now. for rosita, he’d hang onto every word she uttered, her complexion perturbed yet saccharine, a battle between silk & steel lived there, in the empty spaces of her skin.
lips part in implored desire to contest her damnations, but only the looming overture that they all communicate with temporary sentience, borrowed from the reaper’s clock itself, causes him to withdraw. spencer could remind her that relying on others was not necessarily a death sentence. he could inform her that humanity was doomed to demise without intimacy ( if only procured in a form of companionship ). in fact, there’s many a word he could say to respond to her gloom... but he doesn’t. the words die before the match of his tongue could strike a flame. instead, he audibly suspires, the sigh extravagant like yielding to her plea ruptured pain within ---- there’s so much unsaid, it surrenders no satisfaction. ominous orbs survey the room with uncertainty, before finding her [ he’d always find her. ] & the bronze-like bloom of her cheek, the auburn circle of her iris, the rose-petals that shaped her lips... spencer knows the right answer, conceding her quarrel that way he always did. ---- his fragility was preserved by rosita espinosa, and the things she faulted humanity for donned him a hypocrite. she was his weakness, after all.
❛ no babysitting. ---- no bullshit. ❜ buoyancy altered a chime, accompaniment to the forefinger that brushed from own rib to breastbone, procuring an indiscernible cross over the residing tenor beneath his skin. cross my heart, hope to die.