( Continuation of this )
"Do you trust me?”
Once those words clumsily spilled from the Raven’s lips, an instant knot twisted and sank into his stomach. A snarled mess of regret, yes, most certainly, but at the same time, his attention clung to Break’s next words in painful anxiousness.
Something like trust in another... Gilbert knew all too well just how powerful yet overwhelmingly fragile such a thing could be. A single act can shatter it completely. He knew that.
Yet he still, somewhere in the depths of his clouded mind, where memories like knives and regrets like poison thrived... he still held onto the naivety of his childhood. The naive thought that, maybe, just maybe... there was some sort of trust between him and Break by now. Any sort of connection besides the one built on that stormy, raining day.
But there the Hatter was. A crescent smile curling onto his thin lips, the gaze of his single red eye forcibly piercing to Gilbert’s very core. Never sympathetic, no. He was mocking Gilbert. Mocking him for being far too foolish, naive, and so, so very wrong.
But really... should Gilbert had expected any different?
Gilbert broke eye contact, eyes glaring down to the floor in front of his feet. His cheeks flushed a violent shade of red. Teeth gritting painfully together, an ugly scowl pulled onto his face. How he loathed himself even further for the heat immediately rising to his face. It made him feel even more idiotic.
His nails dug sharply into the flesh of his palm. Knuckles were surely turning white as his arms shook unrelentingly at his sides.
Gilbert couldn’t even bring himself to throw any angry words back. No retort, no retaliation, nothing. He was far too terrified of humiliating himself further. He hated it. He hated how much Break’s words, that were so easily spewed by the other, shook him.
He could only forcefully spit out a single sharp, pained word. “... Fine.”
With that, Gilbert stormed off.
