[ToxicShadow]

As he looked, he witnessed the woman quietly, but hurriedly kicking her shoes off and moving to get herself under the already somewhat disheveled blankets, she being one of the types that tended to forget to make her bed perfectly after leaving it. She'd arranged herself so that her back was toward him and most of her body was covered, the blankets pulled up to her shoulders, with her legs and body curled up beneath them. One hand grasped desperately at her pillow, as she half hid her face into it.

[ToxicShadow]

Looking on, he could already tell. Her body was tensed up, but he could see that she was shaking, even with her attempting to hide herself in the covers. He felt a sad, painful pang in his heart, seeing her like this. There was nothing he could actually say to help her now. "It's going to be all right," just wasn't true. He sighed to himself, vaguely annoyed with himself that he didn't know what to do for her.

[ToxicShadow]

But he could not leave her alone. He would not leave her alone. Not when she was hurting. That much was for certain.

After brief deliberation, Z walked a handful of paces around her bed, coming to the other side of it, now standing in the direction that her body was facing. Though, this was not because he wanted to see her face or have her facing him. It was just because it was the more empty side of the bed.

[ToxicShadow]

Not wasting any more time, he kicked off both of his shoes and he reached for the edge of the blankets, pulling them back just enough, and slipping into the bed with her. In most cases, she may not have appreciated him just helping herself to her bed, with her already in it, as he pleased, but this was a different matter.

He paused, only for a moment, before settling all the way down, lying in the bed beside her, facing her with his arm under his head, rather than sitting.

[ToxicShadow]

Feeling the bed move under her from his coming into contact with it, Toxic peered toward Z with only her one uncovered eye, that wasn't hidden in her pillow. Realizing that he was right there, and that he was crawling into her bed with her, she buried her face entirely into her pillow, hiding her face and her silent tears from him. But she didn't tell him not to get into her bed, or to go away.
[Wild Pet Found]

[ToxicShadow]

[Post count for the next roll starting here.]

If she opened her mouth to speak, she'd only sob out loud, so she didn't say anything.

There was a space of several inches between them, Z intentionally still giving her some space, in spite of his position beside her now. Even though she only glanced at him briefly, with just one eye, it was impossible for him to miss it. That her eye was moist and that there were trails left on her face from the tears.

[ToxicShadow]

Z watched her, for what seemed like a long moment, although it was really only a few seconds time, as she silently wept into the pillow. She wasn't allowing herself to completely cry, and he was aware of this. His gaze was soft and concerned, something almost uncharacteristic of him, at least toward anyone else; he was the sort of young man that tried to put on the airs of an harsh asshole to most folks.

[ToxicShadow]

But Toxic was different.

He treated her vastly different from most people in the world, and even treated her uniquely compared to most of his other friends, too. There was something different. He was entirely aware that she understood him best, compared to anyone else, and he was thankful for that. She did not know everything, as there was always something new to learn about a person as time went by, but as close as one could get, and she continued to try to understand, even if it was fundamentally difficult for her.

[ToxicShadow]

Equally, he tried his best to understand her, and be patient in regards to the things that he just fundamentally had difficulty understanding about her. They were two different people, with their obvious differences, but they cared about one another. They were kind to one another, able to take care of one another, as well as able to butt heads and clash so strongly that it looked like they might have been torn apart in the process.

But that was just them. And how they were able to come to understand one another.

[ToxicShadow]

Although a small part of Z hesitated, as the lines had not entirely blurred between them, he reached out, putting his hand on her upper back, specifically her nearest shoulder blade, in a gentle gesture that he hoped would bring her some comfort.

Although he knew that the words were not entirely true, he finally said those words, they spoken at little above a whisper, "It's going to be all right." He knew that such words wouldn't actually change anything, either, they wouldn't change the horrors of the world, but if they could help her, then that was enough.

[ToxicShadow]

The touch was not unpleasant. The young woman did not feel uncomfortable by Z's hand on her back, understanding that he was trying his best to be there for her right now, even if she was trying to hold things in while in front of him.

But when she heard him utter those words, she felt her heart ache even more, and the tears she cried went from slowly, silently flowing to welling up and spilling over completely uncontrollably.

[ToxicShadow]

She clutched onto the soft, cushiony fabric of her pillow even tighter with both hands, unable to hold her tears back any longer.

Beneath his hand, he could feel her whole body beginning to tremble, it was only a brief moment before she was crying so hard into the pillow that he could see her body shaking, even beneath the layers of covers. And he could soon hear her sobbing, even with it being muffled.

He felt like he made a mistake.

[ToxicShadow]

"I know," he finally said. "It's not. It's not going to be all right. But we did what we could. It wont keep happening. It wont keep happening." He said it twice, in an attempt to reassure her and cement them in place.

As her sobbing grew more and more uncontrollable, even Toxic not being able to force herself to stop, the woman abruptly rolled in her place so that she was facing Z, letting go of her pillow in order to do so.

[ToxicShadow]

She met his gaze through her tear filled eyes, opening her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. Toxic couldn't find her voice between the sobbing.

Her sudden flipping around to face him startled Z a bit, but when he witnessed her expression, her tear soaked face, on top of her trembling, another painful pang could be felt in his heart. Without even thinking about it, he reached out, wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her a little closer.

[ToxicShadow]

In the same way that he was startled by her turning over, Toxic was surprised by him pulling her close. Not just that he did, but also by his ability to seemingly do so easily. He was able to effectively move her half-dead weight with just one arm. But then, he was strong enough to carry her, too. That was the Z she knew now.

She was so surprised that, for just a moment, that her crying was temporarily halted.

[Wild Pet Found]