When Lilo didn’t try to scoot farther away from him after he took a seat besides her, Miguel decided to take that as a sign that he was allowed to stay there. In fact, all she did was turn to stare at him. Silently. He was tempted to do the same to her, but figured that it was best to keep his own gaze focused on the bedroom before them. He didn’t want to make Lilo feel anymore worse than she already was, nor did he want to make this anymore awkward between them either. Besides, if he were in Lilo’s position Miguel knew for a fact that he wouldn’t want her staring at him if he looked the way she did so now. Not that there was anything wrong with the way she looked at the moment. He was not here to judge her and gosh darn it was he not about to start doing so now. And so he made sure to keep his gaze straight. “That may be so.” He remarked, not a bit surprised by her response. Of course she would think that; who wouldn’t? No one in their right mind would dream of wanting to burden another with their own personal issues — be it a family member that they didn’t want to bring this up to or a friend who they fear would think of them differently if they did — and so it always seemed like the best possible action was to keep these feelings to yourself and yourself alone. Now that was something that Miguel could completely understand. He couldn’t understand it for the exact reasons that Lilo was doing it, but he would be fooling himself if he didn’t admit that there were things he could never tell his own familia about in fear of what they would think or how they’ll react to it. There were even some things that Coco didn’t know about. Some that Ella didn’t know, and Miguel would normally tell just about anything to her. He got it. He really did. And yet despite understanding that, he still stand by what he just said. “It doesn’t make you feel any more happier, though, does it?” Miguel’s brown hues moved away from before him and shifted so that he could now see through the corner of his eyes. She was staring back onto her lap again. His gaze dropped. Miguel wasn’t saying this to force Lilo into opening up to him. If she didn’t want to do so, it’s fine, but she should try and confined in someone about this. Nani? Stitch? Anyone! It would help her in the long run, really, it would. “De nada.” He replied, barely hearing her when she had thanked him but was able to grasp it faintly. He didn’t say anything else after that, leaving the ball within her court for whatever else Lilo wanted to say, if she wanted to say anything else. Seemed like she did. The curve of his mouth twitched when she corrected herself from apologizing but Miguel help himself from reacting in any other way until she finished what she had to say. And when she did, he only shook his head. “If this is your way of telling me to leave, just say it and I’ll be out the door. Pero if you’re thinking that I want to leave? Lo siento pero no lo siento, Lilo — I’m not going anywhere.” He took the chance to reach over and place a comforting hand against her shoulder. “Even if you scream at me again, I’m still gonna stay.”
She nodded, no words coming out. It may be. It was hard to know. She did realize that holding everything in was what caused her to erupt. Emotions worked scarily similar to volcanoes in her experience, and if she never stopped letting them simmer, they would never stop overflowing with force at once. Discussing them in moments that were right to do so could make life a little bit easier. But realizing that and making an effort to change it were two different things, and at the moment she wasn’t concerned with it, she was only concerned with potentially losing another person, this time completely her own doing. She focused on her fingernails, picking at her thumb while she waited for him to respond, afraid of what he might say. As soon as he spoke, her eyes shot to him, shaking her head. “I don’t want you to leave,” she said quickly, afraid she’d given the wrong impression. It seemed like the best idea at first, it seemed like the safest option, but she didn’t want to be alone --- more than that, she didn’t want to mess up a chance to spend time with him over something that had just gotten blown out of proportion. Now it seemed silly. She’d calmed down enough to realize that nothing had happened, her picture was still okay, it was just a picture, an inanimate object, and she wasn’t a freak for missing the people that had passed away years ago. She couldn’t shake the sadness, but Lilo was no longer in danger of bursting into tears, at least. Calm was an overstatement. But she was calmer. When he touched her shoulder, she relaxed a little more, releasing a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Pulled back to present time and reality, her fears and insecurities no longer the driving force in her mind. She’d known Miguel long enough to know he wouldn’t give up on her after one outburst. She should’ve remembered that. Under the unusual circumstances that had led them to being friends, and him sticking around this long, she should’ve trusted his intentions were good. He wasn’t going to bail after one incident. Real friends didn’t do that. She locked his gaze, a smile tugging at her lips. It was a tiny one. But it was still a smile. “You can scream back,” she offered, brushing a few stray tears with the back of her hand. “With me and Stitch living here, the neighbors are probably used to the noise.”