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“Be careful,” Kite says as the blade scratches across his neck. It’s an empty warning. In truth, he’d let Joe bleed him dry. He already has in so many ways. His soul is only just starting to repair itself, his face just getting color back. Still, he trusts him. Agatha did her best to crush out that dangerous empty empathy, that animal-like curiosity that keeps him coming back again and again. A kicked dog offered the same bone, hoping for lasting affection just this once.
“If I were careful with anything in this world, I would be careful with you,” Joe says. His touch is gentle. He runs his free hand along Kite’s collarbone and lets his nose rest in the messy, red curls of his hair. Kite wants to believe him.
“You weren’t though.” Kite’s reply is so soft he can barely hear it himself. He wonders if Joe can tell what a struggle it is for him to force out those words, what it means for Kite to lay himself so bare and admit that Joe wasn’t there when he needed him, when he needed Jem. Maybe Joe is selfish and masochistic, but he asks anyway.
“What?”
“You weren’t careful.” It rings loud and sincere between them, as much as Joe doesn’t want to admit it to himself. All along he was reckless. He’d laid out his hands, coaxed Kite’s battered heart into his open palm, and took it for granted. Fate saw fit to give him multiple chances at tending and polishing the fragile glass of the man Kite had become. Joe should have been the one to make him shine, not shatter.
“I know,” Joe says, running his hand along the smooth side of Kite’s jaw, down to his neck. He savors the trembling breath Kite lets out. He tips Kite’s head back to look him in the eyes.
“I’ll try to be,” he says and kisses Kite, tasting the soap on his lips. He tries to put all of his devotion into it - tries to repair all of the broken parts and undo all of the abandonment and doubt. He tries to reassure him that he’s here
now
and isn’t going anywhere ever again. He licks into Kite’s mouth to tell him just how precious he is and how careful he will be from now on.