balancing act

[ She could feel his curiosity hanging in the silence, even if she couldn’t see it written across his face. In a way she was forcing herself to speak by keeping her eyes shut, cutting off such a key element in the art of voiceless communication. This was as much an exercise in staying well for her as it was a need for comfort. And with the world dark around her and nothing but his hands tying her to this universe she almost wanted to say something, wondering what it would be like to hear her words echo off of him and bounce back in his reply. “You can ask,” she said at length, her voice barely above a whisper. Her words fell like dust. ] 

[ As he crawled into the small space with her, she let the air settle around them for a moment. Her skin felt hot, but not as if she were too close to a fire, rather as though the stars on the walls were flying from their fixed spots and twirling around them, stirring up the heat in the room. She placed her hands on top of his, hovering, not holding. Her hands and his were magnets with the same charge, defying science. Sticking together despite every law that urged them to repel. Her palms finally rested against the back of his hands and she read them like braille. Invisible weights tied to her fingers held her hands down and to his, she couldn’t have pulled them away if she wanted to. Her eyes closed, and she sat still and straight with the room dark around them, vulnerable and trusting. Wrapped in what might have been an illusion of safe. ]

{ In spite of himself, Iacomus kept quiet. Questions tore at the border of his mind, dragging themselves by vein and vertebrae towards his throat. Unending--they came in legions. Marching. Massacring. The wonderings clawed at his oesophagus, threatening to choke him, yet still the boy did not speak. Iacomus bit his tongue until the indents felt like to be permanent, his innards overflowing with words unspoken. There was no question more important than this silence, he decided, and so traced the lines of Kimber’s hands with his own instead. She closed her eyes. He could not close his. }

I haven’t been here before. 

I think–

I think you knocked me closer to it.·Balance.

Okay.

– Is that good?

It was you.

Why does it concern you?

Marcella Zabini.

I know.

Not the point I was trying to make, but it’s nice to meet you.

You can’t just ask me wh– Good grief, I don’t even know your name. 

Jake.