He can't help the flinch that jerks his body, that slight burst of adrenaline that shoots through him. He remembers that gesture (it was often repeated against a table or a wall whenever he was caught doing something wrong) and knows instantly that he's said the wrong thing. His instinct tells him to apologize. He needs to apologize and take the punishment for messing up.

--but didn't she tell him that there was no need to? No matter how he tries to hide, she'll find him. Those were the promises she made to him. And she's shouting, now, that she believes in him, even as he's ducking back and hiding.

Though the water ripples, he can see the tears in her eyes. He's fine if she hits him. He's fine if she calls him an idiot, or garbage, or any of those things. Those are the ways she tries to protect herself and cement her image as someone beyond that fragile girl she used to be. But he can't stand that pained honesty. Those glistening eyes...

She does so much for him already. Dressing up though he knows she hates it, moving in with him at his insistence, daring to open her heart to him only to have him stab it...

"--I'm sorry." His mask smiles, even as he bites the bottom of his lip. What is he apologizing for? His lies? His mistake earlier? He doesn't know. But he hopes that she can read him. That she can find him and forgive him for not saying what they both want outright. As much as he's opened up to her, that familiar fear that kept him from leaving the apartment now prevents him from leaving his masks behind.

"What I said... it's true."