“And then he gives me a smile that just seems so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness that unexpected warmth rushes through me.” - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games
Laying in his hospital bed, Will tries to sort out his feelings. He'd sort of thought his heart had died, but apparently it'd just been sleeping because it was racing now and the muddled mess of emotions in his head right now made him feel like he was back to being seventeen, no less an idiot now than he was then (perhaps even more so). He'd given up on Robbie long ago, knowing that what he'd done didn't deserve the forgiveness Robbie had offered, and coupled with the situation that had resulted...well, Robbie deserved better than him anyway, and he deserved to be miserable forever, so everything had worked out as it should.
And then, after taking one too many stupid risks in the field, he'd wound up here in serious condition. It'd been an opportunity for him and Robbie to talk where he couldn't run away, and it had been agonizing, but also...cathartic, in a sense. They had been best friends for years before they were ever together, and Robbie knew Will better than Will did sometimes. Even Will knew he needed to be shouted at after what had happened, and fortunately for him, Robbie was one of the few people left that he might actually listen to.
He doesn't know what's going to happen now--between them, or at all, but there's a tenuous something there. It's enough for a bit of his school-days charm to rise to the surface, still functioning of a bit rusty with disuse. When Robbie comes into his room, Will throws his arm over his eyes and begins to moan overdramatically about the substandard quality of the hospital shampoo. He and Robbie both know what this is really about, and when Will moves his hand to laugh, he catches a smile on Robbie's face, a real one, brief but definitely there.
His breath catches in his throat and he completely loses the thread of what he was going to say. He feels a bit like he's been hit by a cheering charm.
Because he has nothing left to lose at this point, he tells Robbie this, honestly and simply, dramatics forgotten. Robbie busies himself with Will's chart and there's something guarded about his expression that Will wants to do away with as soon as possible, but he can't quite fight down that familiar blush in his cheeks, and Will feels triumphant despite everything.