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A small, tired sigh slipped from Jinx’s lips as she rested her head against Ekko’s shoulder. He gently leaned his head atop hers and gave her hand a little squeeze of comfort. They were both sitting quietly in the back of the car.
Caitlyn and Vi were up front, with Vi in the passenger seat shooting frequent worried glances at the rearview mirror. Neither of them said anything though. Everyone was perfectly silent.
It was going to be a long drive back home.
“I love you. It’s okay to cry,” Ekko whispered softly, just loud enough for only Jinx to hear as he rubbed his thumb against her knuckles in an attempt to soothe at least some of her nerves.
She didn’t respond, just nuzzled closer to him and gave his hand a tiny squeeze back. Big blue eyes were held tightly shut, not wanting to let the dam break and release the flood of tears she had been trying so desperately to contain all day.
Feelings were too much, and it was too much to allow herself to express them and make it someone else’s problem. Everyone already knew she was upset, that’s why they’ve all been walking on eggshells with her this entire time. She didn’t want to be any more of a burden.
Ekko hugged her closer, tighter to his side, trying to offer as much love and solace as he possibly could in the moment. Seeing that dull and utterly lifeless look in her eyes that were usually so full of sparkle made Ekko feel like his heart was breaking. It hurt, and the cracks spread further and sunk deeper with every shuddering breath she tried to hide. He couldn’t take it, he wished he could protect her from every bad and hurtful thing in the world.
The sun had already set, a blanket of darkness draped over the sky above them. It was an especially dark night, with the abundance of trees lining the road blocking the moon’s glow from view. The only light they had came from the car itself, illuminating hardly anything more than the path in front of them as Caitlyn drove them along.
They’d been at the hospital for hours, everyone just sitting around uncomfortably in the waiting room while Jinx visited her father Silco. He was sick, had been that way for years, and it suddenly got a lot worse. He was dying, and Jinx wanted to stay with him as long as she could. She was probably the only person left in the entire universe who genuinely cared about that bitter, miserable old rat. He couldn’t even give her a full day.
Apparently, he had told her not to cry, so this whole time she’s just been bottling it up. How are you not supposed to cry when your dad dies? How are you going to ask your daughter not to cry for you? He didn’t deserve her tears, that was true, but Jinx loved him and would give him her entire heart on a platter if he asked for it. If it had been an option, she would’ve given her life to save his without a second thought. And he asked her not to cry.
Ekko almost wished he had been present in the room before the man’s final breath so he could’ve pulled the plug himself for that bastard having requested such a thing from her. Silco knew Jinx better than anyone, he should have known how she’d cling to those words and how it’d eat her alive. Ekko wanted to be mad at him so badly, but... a part of him understood.
You’re dying, Jinx disregarded everything to spend the whole day with you, and the moment is rapidly approaching. You don’t want your last memory to be her sad or in pain, you want to see her well and happy. You want to see her smile, hear her laugh, listen to the silly things she rambles on about that make her light up like she is the sun and you can feel the warmth she radiates. You don’t wanna see her cry because it hurts, and maybe that’s a selfish thing to ask for, but... Ekko gets it.
“I love you so much,” he repeats softly, stroking her hair.
No words, but another shaky breath. She was trying so hard not to cry. It made him feel like he just might.
It was going to be a long drive back home.