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[laughitoff]

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[strikingchords]

Hm.

[goes back to reading, or at least appears ready to...]

[laughitoff]

[before he can, quite--]

What about your other task, then?

[strikingchords]

[...nods, looking back at him...]

To confess a sin.

[laughitoff]

That one seems hard for Hanguang-Jun.

[strikingchords]

[... huffs lightly, shaking his head]

Is there a kind you would prefer?

[laughitoff]

No? Tell me one you're willing to tell.

[strikingchords]

...

[considers...

after a while]

Sometimes, failure to speak is cowardice.

[laughitoff]

[frowns, unsure where this is going other than 'probably somewhere he doesn't truly want to hear about,' sadly]

...yes...?

[strikingchords]

[tilts his head at him, uncertain what he wants; that was supposed to be the confession, maybe...?]

[laughitoff]

I don’t want to pry, but I don’t think that counts as telling me about your sin if you’re just…naming a sin?

[strikingchords]

...

[clearly searching for words to put it more plainly]

I have failed to speak, before.

To you, if I believe a topic may disturb you. Or you would not wish something known by me.

...

I am truly uncertain what you wish to hear spoken. Or when you "are ready." But these are excuses as well.

I. Prefer. When things are easier between us.

[laughitoff]

[absorbs that, in a brief startled silence]

…

How can I make it easier for you?

[strikingchords]

[what

just stares at him in complete confusion??]

[laughitoff]

[awkwardly]

If you’re thinking of that as a sin, it must be heavier on you than I’m comprehending.

[strikingchords]

[oh?????????????

just kind of looks down at the table, processing that]

...

[laughitoff]

[fiddles uncertainly with the duvet's edge...]

[strikingchords]

You do not have to.

[clarifying, not arguing; if anything he's still wide-eyed and bewildered, at this close range]

[laughitoff]

I know.

But then things will continue as they are, won't they?

[strikingchords]

[inclines his head, acknowledging the point]

...

I am thinking about it.

[laughitoff]

...take your time.

[strikingchords]

[squeezes his hand gratefully]

[laughitoff]

[his fingers twitch in Lan Wangji's, in startlement

still wild that this is a sin!!!]

[strikingchords]

[it takes him a little bit longer before he breathes out...]

I am uncertain.

I do not wish to cast myself as an enemy, by unwanted knowledge or misstep.

[laughitoff]

Why does--

Why does this matter so much to you?

[strikingchords]

...

No one can give you a broad road to walk.

But, on a narrow one. Missteps become painful without means to recover.

[thinking of someone scrambling at the edge of a path, feeling it crumble into the abyss beneath their fingers. it is how he feels sometimes! and if he feels that way, how much more must Wei Wuxian fear defending the shrinking expanse of what is left...?]

Wish to stay by your side. Not further carve away your path.