("I think we have conclusively established that he does not.")

...he hates esper senses so much.

"A-anyway, I'm bad at this, so—yeah, I think it'd help."

"Okay. ... But you are absolutely autistic though." Forehead kiss. "I am too! Probably! Anyway, uh."

("I have to say thinking he's not displays sort of astonishing amounts of unselfawareness.")

Fuuuuck yooooooou.

...he likes the forehead kiss though, he'll keep that.

"Go away we're having feelings~!" calls Hye-jin in a playful singsong, before she lowers her voice to something only Tae-gun can hear.

"My emotional state... it's... ... I don't know how to explain it, like, um. Thinking something would be easier to handle than it actually turned out to be, or that - thinking this shit wouldn't affect my life as much as it does, but. It did. It. Just. Turned out to affect basically every single facet of my life, was sitting in the back of my mind every single moment, and, I. I was the only one coming up with ideas." Shrug. "And turns out I wasn't enough, see: how I got shot in the head. So. Current emotional state is 'all of the suffering I did amounted to absolutely nothing, and now I'm being asked to do it some more and I'm trying but I really can't.'"

...okay he's gonna have to put his bingsu down so he can properly hug her again.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't come up with ideas. I'm—sorry you felt like you couldn't count on me. ...I'm sorry that you actually couldn't."

Leaaan.

"I mean, I also - didn't come to you about anything downstream of the problem, either. Because that felt too close to the thing that was shutting you down and causing you such pain. So. My housing woes and - everything else -" she shrugs again.

"I—would—it's—Woo-young called me a walking minefield of triggers and he's—not wrong—but—the only way to make a minefield safer again is to explode the mines. You know? And I'd—rather not be treated like I'm—breakable. Even though—I am—I think I can deal—mostly—I don't know. Hell iPhone is saying that I'm pathetic and weak and made of fine china and I don't—want to be. I don't want to be a burden. I want to—at worst—be absent. But I don't want to be that, either, anymore.

"And it's—I'd rather you not hurt yourself to avoid hurting me."

"... I... I'll try, but. I don't think I'm going to be very good at purposefully and actively - setting off mines. When they hurt you."

"You don't need to. Just—I guess—I—" He stops and tries to think about it. "If... I were better at... No, I think I can. Um. I think I can set—boundaries—and figure out when I'm actually hurting—and otherwise I—you remember Ms. Daly?"

????

"The nurse yesterday. I guess you spent less time around her than I did..." He shakes his head and pulls away a bit from the hug again because he does not want his bingsu to melt. ...he's fucking stupid. He takes hold of the ice in the bingsu and now it won't melt. Snuggling Hye-jin here is more than enough to still make this backlash-negative.

ANYWAY.

"Oh! Her. Right. I gave her a nice tip."

Hye-jin can nibble at her bingsu while snuggled. She has this power.

"I was—not okay, there. And she noticed it, I think. I'm pretty sure. And then she didn't say anything or, she just pretended it wasn't happening, and that was—good. I, I understand why that, um, that might be difficult but... I, I often just, I mean, I'm not, I take a while. To. Think these things through. And I'd rather no one—notice—that that's happening—even if it looks like I'm upset—until I can figure it out later."

"... Okay. Pretend I don't notice. I'll, uh, try, but I might still have the urge to hug you when you're obviously sad?"

"I, I mean, I don't, um—no I—guess it depends. Um. I don't know. There are times when I would like it and times when I wouldn't and I don't know how to... explain the difference...

"...but I noticed earlier that I like hugging you to comfort you more than I liked being hugged to be comforted."

Nod.

"I... don't know if I'm going to be able to always give -" a week's notice, no, bad Hye-jin, "- a warning for when I am upset and want a hug? If I'm being extra bitchy and bitey I am probably upset and if I don't literally tell you to get away from me I will probably accept a hug about it. And I can still just always set you on fire at any time. Um. .... I do like being pampered? A little?" A lot, actually, but. ... She doesn't know how to say that and it feels like such a big ask.

"...pampered?"

"Like - being brought bingsu or being carried to the shower or - it's fine, you don't have to, I know it's silly -"

"Hye-jin-ah, I would love nothing more than to pamper you." He lifts one of her hands to his lips to kiss her knuckles. "Would you like to be fed some bingsu? Shall I get you some more pillows so you're more comfortable? Would you like a massage?" He's being soooooo criiiiiiiinge and what's even more cringe is that he's managing to say all of that with a completely straight face and mean every word.

"... I, I, I, um, probably the bingsu first because otherwise it's going to melt probably I, um?"

"I'm holding onto the ice, it's not going to melt." But he can, in fact, feed her bingsu.

Okay, then, she is fine with this and. Is admittedly enjoying this a lot.

(nom.)