if you must die sweetheart, die knowing your life was my life’s best part
“Ah. I’m sorry, it appears I’ve lost my train of thought....” A merciful lie choked from between lips that desperately swallow back every tidal wave of anxieties ( though it’s so hard to swallow with his throat so tight ) - the invisible hand of grief wound tight around his neck like a rope, relentless and unmerciful. But he has no right to grieve, there’s no place for grief - not when Tachibana is right there beside him, patiently awaiting for Gentaro to continue onto the next sentence. How abruptly his words had trailed off, Gentaro suddenly still for a few heartbeats of silence. How unlike him to have a moment of weakness, he wills himself to regain composure - but today was one of the harder days, it was one of the days where the realization that this shared moment of content was so utterly fragile - just like this precious friend of his sitting beside him. With each passing heartbeat, time continued to slip further and further through his fingertips - it’s nauseating to know their time together is on a timer bound to click to a stop any second. His grip tightens on the book, and he wills himself to concentrate - read the words, speak them aloud but he can only concentrate on his heartbeat so painful within his breast, so loud within his ears - each steady drum that asserts, “Don’t go, don’t go.”
Oh, but he’s a liar and a coward: and he cannot will himself to say those words aloud either.
closed starter / for @jasminesaura