There isn't a second there where her teeth press too hard, except there is. When he smiles that unruly, mocking, flash bright, smile he does for only a second before he's not even looking again. It's barely the space of a second or two, but it still feels winding. Like she's not prepared for him to keep going on be anything like...himself. Even though that hasn't changed in a day now.

It'd be hard to count how many times she'd seen that in a day. Impossible across years.
But there was a definite weight to its loss. A chasm where it wasn't, and wouldn't be.

And all of the sudden very much was. There. Here. Right now.


"It makes you twitch." Even the idea of it. Even if not in a visible fashion right now.