[ Beside him, John has gone very still. He's reached a hand to his throat, the expression on his face not so much distressed as mystified: there is a slow, curdling realization as his breath hitches and stalls past parted lips.
He jolts when Asriel touches him. It's a small, human flinch of bewilderment, and even as Asriel draws back, John is frowning into the middle distance like a man piecing together a complicated puzzle. His expression pinches as the burn of breathlessness builds, and builds, and builds.
John breaks: he claps a hand on Asriel's arm. Air surges back in as though a switch has flipped. He breathes slow and careful, as though testing the bounds, and then says: ]
no subject
He jolts when Asriel touches him. It's a small, human flinch of bewilderment, and even as Asriel draws back, John is frowning into the middle distance like a man piecing together a complicated puzzle. His expression pinches as the burn of breathlessness builds, and builds, and builds.
John breaks: he claps a hand on Asriel's arm. Air surges back in as though a switch has flipped. He breathes slow and careful, as though testing the bounds, and then says: ]
For fuck's sake.