[ Ai's so tensed up, so sick with the anticipation of it that even though his touch doesn't hurt at all, for a split second after his hands lay on her, she half-convinces herself she feels some sort of pain. She's stiff as a board in her arms, shock and alarm and fear and all manner of other things - but then the moment stills and Ai stills with it.
The thick fur of the stole is soft and heavy, beaded through with rainwater and the itch of the fabric against her skin is oddly grounding. It's enough that she can remember how to breathe. The hand in her hair, the one anchoring her against him... it's rough and indelicate like everything else about him, but that isn't the same thing as hurting her.
Oh. She realizes, perhaps pathetically late, that this is a hug.
Gradually, the tension holding her so stiff comes unwind and she doesn't so much as relax as she does entirely sag against him. Even if it's coming from someone who doesn't have any choice but being here with her, when was the last time anyone had held her like this?
She catches the sleeve of his shirt just barely between her thumb and her finger. It's all she trusts herself to do. ]
... you're just as bad.
[ Like before, her voice is catching as if on the brink of tears. ]
When you say things like that then you come and protect me... what am I supposed to do?
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The thick fur of the stole is soft and heavy, beaded through with rainwater and the itch of the fabric against her skin is oddly grounding. It's enough that she can remember how to breathe. The hand in her hair, the one anchoring her against him... it's rough and indelicate like everything else about him, but that isn't the same thing as hurting her.
Oh. She realizes, perhaps pathetically late, that this is a hug.
Gradually, the tension holding her so stiff comes unwind and she doesn't so much as relax as she does entirely sag against him. Even if it's coming from someone who doesn't have any choice but being here with her, when was the last time anyone had held her like this?
She catches the sleeve of his shirt just barely between her thumb and her finger. It's all she trusts herself to do. ]
... you're just as bad.
[ Like before, her voice is catching as if on the brink of tears. ]
When you say things like that then you come and protect me... what am I supposed to do?