’ If you want to leave, you can. I’ll remember you, though. I remember everyone that leaves. '
lilo & stitch meme / NOT ACCEPTING / @radicahl.
There’s silence that follows her words. Spike stares, surprise flickering in his eyes because that wasn’t the response he was expecting. It’s not said in a way that sounds… sad. The words are, at least, but her tone of voice is the same as usual… maybe a little more subdued, but…
He doesn’t know how to respond. Spike is used to leaving people, Ed is used to people leaving her.
The fact he cares for this damn kid pisses him off. Not that he’s mad at her, but mad at himself. Spike knows that caring can get you hurt, that’s why even then he keeps everyone at an arm’s length. They don’t get to see what’s inside, they don’t get to know how he truly feels about them covered up by layers upon layers upon layers impossible to tear down.
Ed’s just a kid. Spike doesn’t like kids, not usually. Especially ones that are loud, clingy, way too excitable. He likes her, even if he doesn’t say it. But not even for her, not even for her can he fully open up. He can’t make promises, he can’t say he won’t ever leave. It’s not like she’d be alone if he did. She has Jet, Faye, Ein. Spike drifts in and out of people’s lives with ease, rarely staying long enough to get attached. It’s different here.
This time he’s not running, not chasing a woman now six-feet-under, not fighting to the death with a man that wanted nothing more than to see him burn.
So why does he want to leave? He already left once, then he came back. If he left again, they would be even angrier. But he knows they’d welcome him back even then.
“Sorry.” He doesn’t know how to respond. The apology feels clumsy, insincere. “I’m not leaving.” Not yet.