[ Now it feels final. And really, he knows how lucky he is to be alive, injuries or not. He'd bet all of their friends would rather have a debilitating injury than be dead. He feels ungrateful even thinking about it. And yet, it had always been an immovable aspect of his place in the Survey Corps; him being the strongest, the fastest, the combatant, the superweapon who could do the impossible. It had been who he was. ]
[ Now he's just some guy with a limp and scars and a mangled hand and probably-soon-to-be-graying-hair. He briefly wonders what Erwin would think of them -- of him if he saw him now, if he'd still trust him or maybe feel pity for him instead. ]
[ No, he'd probably be proud, that goddamn closet-sap. ]
...I already did that.
[ His voice sounds odd to his ears, almost as if it's coming from somewhere else, and he stands again, taking an uncertain step toward Hange, and it takes all of his self-control not to grip their sleeve to physically stop them in a gesture that's both uncharacteristically desperate and perfectly genuine. ]
Stay.
[ He doesn't want to be alone, not just yet. Maybe not ever. ]
[ It's... probably fine if they leave the bathroom, though. ]
no subject
[ Now he's just some guy with a limp and scars and a mangled hand and probably-soon-to-be-graying-hair. He briefly wonders what Erwin would think of them -- of him if he saw him now, if he'd still trust him or maybe feel pity for him instead. ]
[ No, he'd probably be proud, that goddamn closet-sap. ]
...I already did that.
[ His voice sounds odd to his ears, almost as if it's coming from somewhere else, and he stands again, taking an uncertain step toward Hange, and it takes all of his self-control not to grip their sleeve to physically stop them in a gesture that's both uncharacteristically desperate and perfectly genuine. ]
Stay.
[ He doesn't want to be alone, not just yet. Maybe not ever. ]
[ It's... probably fine if they leave the bathroom, though. ]