"I think it's because I have good people watching over me." People who were sometimes willing to be less kind. It makes him a little sad honestly. "I just feel like I should have grown up."
"Being kind does not make you childish, Max." To hell with it. She slips out of her chair and curls up against him, arm looped loosely around his waist, cheek on top of his head. "It makes you kind. We need more of that under the dome."
He looks surprised when she climbs onto the bed next to him, but it makes it easier for him to relax, curled close against her. It's comforting. "I don't want to get anyone hurt because I was too naive to see the truth."
"The only person you've gotten hurt is you. And so long as I find you a proper guard, that won't be a problem." She'll find him the best. The quickest, the cleverest, the strongest. Her fingers smooth through his hair in soft, soothing passes. "I'll take care of it, max. Don't I always?"
"I have done that pretty spectacularly," he replies with a wry smile. It feels nice when she does that. A warm and friendly gesture. Nothing manipulative of expectant about it. "You do," he says, and maybe he's too trusting, but he's not been given any reason not to trust her. "You always take care of me."
"You're too pretty for me to ignore." The usual excuse and at one point? That had been all it was. But he's clever, is Max. Clever and kind and there's far, far too few people like that in her life. He grounds her. Reminds her that all the remaining world isn't like Monet. She sighs and tangles their legs, glad for the contact. For him. "I do not have so many friends that I would lose you gladly. I'm selfish that way."
Max snickers at that. He doesn't feel pretty right now, but it's a salve to his ego to hear it. "I am. I am absolutely the prettiest Onekid." Even with the bruises and cracked ribs.
He tilts his head, looks over at her. "That's not selfish, Adele. That's just being human. We need friends. We cling to them because they make us real."
"Shh." It hits a little too close to home, that. Enough to have her murmuring soft, sweet nothings as she strokes his cheek. "Rest. Mm? I'll be here when you wake up."
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Re: Day 204, Action, Evening
Day 204, Action, Evening
Day 204, Action, Evening
Day 204, Action, Evening
Re: Day 204, Action, Evening
Day 204, Action, Evening
Day 204, Action, Evening
Day 204, Action, Evening
Day 204, Action, Evening
He tilts his head, looks over at her. "That's not selfish, Adele. That's just being human. We need friends. We cling to them because they make us real."
Day 204, Action, Evening
Day 204, Action, Evening
Hs up against her, closing his eyes.