how to fight loneliness
Tyson once awoke in the middle of the night, bathed in cold sweat, rolled over and said to Rei, "Don't ever leave me again." And though Rei knew it was because of that nightmare he had sometimes—oftentimes, the one where everybody Tyson loved spontaneously mummified and EXPLODED into white dust that drifted through his grasping desperate fingers and away—and though Rei knew he'd be lying if he said okay, because it had to be a lie… Rei still opened his golden eyes, as alert as if they'd never closed, and stared straight into Tyson's fear. And let sympathy grip his heart. And nodded, yes alright. I'll never.
It had to be a lie, of course. But it was one they'd all told, for Tyson's sake. Because of Tyson's profound fear, and pathetic, pathetic hope. Afraid they'd say no, because in his introspective moments he knew he'd given them reasons to leave. Kept giving them reasons. Pathetic because he was so sorry, so genuinely heartbroken that he may have broken their hearts sometimes. Hope because he had a feeling they loved him, and he loved them, and all he needed to sleep was that barest assurance.
That slightest nod.
a/n: And I love Tyson too. That poor wretched boy. He makes everyone so miserable and in the end needs them, and at the end of the day loves them, so fucking much. He's so very important.