"Does it hurt?" @willcunting asks gently, brow slightly furrowed as he looks at the visor. Moreso, the eyes behind the visor. "I mean, it's energy just bouncing behind the lens back into your eyes, right? There can't be anything to help with that kind of pain."
There's no malice or judgement in his tone. There's not even pity in his words so much as there is concern.
Thoughtlessly, his fingers raise up and delicately graze the fingertips against the edge of the metal. If Will's overstepping, it's because he's not thinking about boundaries in any way so much as he is about the mutant before him. While he himself isn't a mutant, he's grown an appreciation for their situation.
@willcunting, unprompted.
Scott flinches, hand reaching up to grip Will's wrist hard. He doesn't mean to, and he regrets it as soon as it happens, but Will's fingers signify danger. It's not kindness, and it's not intimacy-- it's one wrong move and Scott's blasting his fucking head off, and he doesn't have any contingency plans for that.
(None that won't make him want to jump off a bridge, anyway.)
"Don't..." He hesitates. Will is one of the few people at school that's nice to him even after knowing what he is, and the last thing he wants to do is ruin that.
Scott releases his wrist, head immediately dipping in shame. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean... if this comes off, Will, I could kill you."
Just thinking about it makes him feel sick.
"Knowing that," he says quietly, hands clasping together, "is more than worth the pain."
