'Take your time, I'm broken...'

'Why?'

'Because of me?' he asks, and she feels there's some smugness to his question, some certainty that he already knows the answer.

If she thought he did, she'd lie...

'You?' she echoes, gazing over his shoulder at some distant point. She looks down, to her right, a small smile, slightly sad, arching her mouth.

 ...but she won't have to.

'No.' and she raises her eyes to see into his own, as her smile brightens.

He says nothing, but then, he's always said little. She doesn't expect an answer, as she steps closer and hugs him - 'just this once', she thinks. He doesn't care for these little things - she knows - but it's goodbye and she's allowed to indulge one whim, after all, and he's not pushing her away. She holds tight, for all the times she didn't, and imprints the moment - him - in her memory.

Although she knows it could only be this way, it still hurts.

She steps back, and looks up to see him watching her, eyes dark.

'He knows, too.'

Drawing close again, she rests her cheek to his, feeling his pulse heighten under her fingertips, as one hand lightly brushes his neck, while the other buries itself in his hair. She breathes him in.

How she's wanted to do this...

He puts his arms around her, leaning into her touch. 'Thank you', she whispers on his skin, because he's doing it for her sake. His hold tightens and she thinks that, maybe, he needs it, too.

'I'll miss you', she sighs as she pulls back, lingering an instant to place a kiss on the corner of his mouth. Turning to leave, she notices him licking his lips, eyes following her movements, expression unreadable.

'He never smiles', she thinks inanely.

'I know.'

'Walk away.'