"It starts as a trembling in his lower lip. The pale-rose flesh slips out slightly, miniscule quivers that only increase as he tightens and clenches his jaw. Then the flicker of his slender fingers moving to swipe at his cheeks. I reach up languidly with one loose-wristed hand and press two of my fingers gently to the swell of his bottom lip. A low, watery moan escapes as his lips part and he looks down at my face. The crystal tears he was trying to conceal come raining down on my unprotected cheeks, tasting bitterly of salt and rolling into the collar of my t-shirt.

“I made you hurt?” I whisper sadly. My throat is tight and swollen. Sleep lures at me in the form of a fine black mist that clouds the edges of my vision.

He sniffs and wipes his running nose on the sleeve of his thin zip-up jacket, lowering his forehead onto my thin cage of ribs. “Just stay with me, okay? I’m not even close to being ready, so don’t you fucking leave me,” he chokes in a raw voice. He almost sounds guilty.

It is the first time that he has ever acknowledged the fact that I am dying in a darkened light. I almost want to thank him. As the train rattles closer to our reality, I tumble into dense slumber with his muted sobs vibrating into the skin of my stomach."