Those things they say: you lie in the bed you've made, you sleep in the grave you've dug. None of it means a thing when you outlive almost everybody, and not just because of warped genetics — because you're cruel and callous and selfish. Natasha recognizes that same, humming live-wire, and they've never talked about it (after a while, it's better to talk around some things than address them) but Natasha knows. Kindness means sentiment. Kindness means carving room in the cavity of your chest, just enough for another person to fit. Kindness means that bone-deep exhaustion that's hard to shake.
(Natasha would hit him, if he ever voiced it. Wouldn't stop until there was red between the dips of her knuckles. It's easy enough to read on set of his face but so much different when it's said in the air, given breath and awarded life. She'd sooner hurt him than let him wither and die but the fact is, she'd likely put in the bullet herself.) ]
You look terrible, [ she says mildly, a pair of knock-off sunglasses from a gas station a while back perched on her nose. She's healed enough that the attendant hadn't given her too long a look. ] I have a hotel room until tomorrow evening. You can stay there.
[ It's not an invitation so much it is an announcement. ]
no subject
Sooner or later, it catches up with you.
Those things they say: you lie in the bed you've made, you sleep in the grave you've dug. None of it means a thing when you outlive almost everybody, and not just because of warped genetics — because you're cruel and callous and selfish. Natasha recognizes that same, humming live-wire, and they've never talked about it (after a while, it's better to talk around some things than address them) but Natasha knows. Kindness means sentiment. Kindness means carving room in the cavity of your chest, just enough for another person to fit. Kindness means that bone-deep exhaustion that's hard to shake.
(Natasha would hit him, if he ever voiced it. Wouldn't stop until there was red between the dips of her knuckles. It's easy enough to read on set of his face but so much different when it's said in the air, given breath and awarded life. She'd sooner hurt him than let him wither and die but the fact is, she'd likely put in the bullet herself.) ]
You look terrible, [ she says mildly, a pair of knock-off sunglasses from a gas station a while back perched on her nose. She's healed enough that the attendant hadn't given her too long a look. ] I have a hotel room until tomorrow evening. You can stay there.
[ It's not an invitation so much it is an announcement. ]