Ocean's Breath Plateau When I'm no longer useful you would secretly throw me away

She apologized, and his ears fell flat against his head. He had wanted to hear of her departure prior to it, but nothing could be changed now. The past was the past and he needed to accept that, that way he could move forward. Still, though he knew this, it was difficult. It could not be forgotten, the fact that he hadn’t been there enough to better support her, but history could be kept from repeating itself. This time around, he would be there. As a friend, for sure, as well as whatever else she might need him to be. Eventually, the hurt would fade away, the space it currently occupied destined to be filled instead with positive memories and experiences. “You weren’t selfish,” he told her, unable to drag her all the way down with him. She hadn’t been selfish, or at least he didn’t want to think that she had been. Something had kept them from seeing one another, and that was that—there wasn’t anything more to it.

History would not repeat itself. She wouldn’t leave, and he wouldn’t be left all alone again. When she spoke of making him her home, his heart stopped for a split second, both the words and his body’s response having taken him by surprise. The reaction wasn’t one that he was familiar with, and it left him feeling puzzled, but he’d not dwelled on it for very long. Instead, he smiled and said, “We can be each other’s homes.” Homes that, he hoped, might never disappear. Not again.