No, not like this. Scuffles as a teenager had never done so much damage.

"They wouldn't. They- they wouldn't try to kill me." Right? They wouldn't go that far, would they? Then again, he hadn't thought that they'd do this to him either. He'd blithely continued like he was untouchable. It had been stupid of him.


He winces, just a little, when her fingers tighten in his hair, and then it's gone and he looks up at her. "I just... don't want to make things more difficult than they are right now."