[@mr-nutcase] --- Seth barked out a laugh. "Are you kiddin'? I've been keeping so much shit to myself just for you all the same. Rob, you're far beyond perfect, lemme tell you that. The only thing that would hurt me is you leaving cause you don't wanna hurt me. Just 'cause you fucked up in your past doesn't make you forever a bad person. Hey, look at me now," he held Robert's face, "You look at me and tell me you haven't improved. 'Cause I've fuckin' watched you improve."
Seth was not the kind of man that Robert expected any sort of kindness or gentleness or intimacy from. The guy was tough, hard as nails and with a darker sense of humor than Robert himself. He laughed in the face of horror movies and criticized crime shows for their lack of realism. He hardly bat an eyelash at an angry drunk or stubborn rich customer.
So, this ease that he treated Robert’s sorrowful admission hadn’t failed to almost shock him. Sometimes, it was hard to remember that even the roughest sort could be the gentlest ones.
Robert sucked in a shaky breath, fighting the touch for a moment so he wouldn’t have to look at his friend - his best friend - and he wouldn’t have to see the sheer regret in his chocolatey eyes. Even when he gave up the fight, he squeezed his eyes shut and bit the inside of his cheek to will away emotional tears. Fucking pathetic.
But Seth didn’t seem to think so. He spoke to Robert like nothing had changed, feeding him beautiful words and almost making Robert feel like what he said was genuinely something that wouldn’t drive him away. Good, Rob thought selfishly; he didn’t think that he could stand his life without Seth in it.
And that was what drove him to act next, his arms wrapping firmly around the smaller man as he released a tiny, broken sob, and no amount of shoving his face into Seth’s neck could smother it.