It's clear Francis isn't going to push. Likely he can't. Only had the strength to ask it once, and Raju—
He watches the cloth for a moment. He pulls it flat one more time.
Raju doesn't have the strength to answer it, that most important question. The promise. If I die, I need you to— All that Raju has to say is yes. Yes I promise, yes I'll warn them, yes I'll take care of it for you, so they can live.
He isn't strong enough. The knowledge appears in him from out of nothing, one moment knowing what his dearest friend needs from him to help him at the last leave something good behind, and in the next the knowledge that he can't, frozen and brittle and already settled all through him. It's the first time he's ever thought it about himself.
All Francis wants is for Raju to sit with him, now. Hasn't the strength to ask for the other thing again. Or maybe he's given up on it. Because the moment's already passed when he'd needed Raju to say yes, and Raju didn't.
He shifts around to sit beside Francis. What else is there to do? It's a very familiar position now. New to Francis, who wasn't conscious for any of Raju's waiting. Raju leans his head back against the wall for an instant and then leans forward and around, gaze darting from Francis' swollen face to his broken body, his hand starting to reach for him but hovering in the air, unsure. There doesn't seem to be any place that he could put his hand that wouldn't hurt.
"I don't want to move you again," he manages, words mostly steady, quiet. "I think this is as close as I can get."
no subject
He watches the cloth for a moment. He pulls it flat one more time.
Raju doesn't have the strength to answer it, that most important question. The promise. If I die, I need you to— All that Raju has to say is yes. Yes I promise, yes I'll warn them, yes I'll take care of it for you, so they can live.
He isn't strong enough. The knowledge appears in him from out of nothing, one moment knowing what his dearest friend needs from him to help him at the last leave something good behind, and in the next the knowledge that he can't, frozen and brittle and already settled all through him. It's the first time he's ever thought it about himself.
All Francis wants is for Raju to sit with him, now. Hasn't the strength to ask for the other thing again. Or maybe he's given up on it. Because the moment's already passed when he'd needed Raju to say yes, and Raju didn't.
He shifts around to sit beside Francis. What else is there to do? It's a very familiar position now. New to Francis, who wasn't conscious for any of Raju's waiting. Raju leans his head back against the wall for an instant and then leans forward and around, gaze darting from Francis' swollen face to his broken body, his hand starting to reach for him but hovering in the air, unsure. There doesn't seem to be any place that he could put his hand that wouldn't hurt.
"I don't want to move you again," he manages, words mostly steady, quiet. "I think this is as close as I can get."