““I could have kissed you months ago, but it wouldn't have meant anything. I wished for you to see me. And want me. So...did you mean it?" Fragile hope peeked out at me from behind the smug self-assurance I now recognized as his mask. As armor, against a world that no longer claimed or understood him, and suddenly I realised he wasn't breathing. He was just waiting. For me. "Yes," I said, and in some unnamed tension inside me eased. "I see you, Tod.””
