[ Oh. The orb, of course. There's long enough to wonder at what it'll be, brace himself to witness some small personal humiliation or receive a secret insight.
And then Yujin takes him by the hand.
The flinch is instant and inevitable and over almost before it begins, overridden by the sudden visceral stone-drop thrill of a missed beat, heart thudding heavy in his chest. Wide eyes lift from a fixation with the thumb that soothes over his hand to the other man's face as he speaks. Searching. Startled.
You've been so kind, Stephen. ]
Yujin.
[ No attempt to draw away. He barely moves at all, frozen to the spot, mind racing and coming up silent. His jaw hangs loose around a trio of unvoiced false starts— I- You- What— no. You don't know what you're doing, Strange. Maybe, for once, you should just shut up.
An unsteady exhale. Held in Yujin's, Stephen's hand tremors, all his usual magical micro-processes blown to nothing like so many fuses. ]
no subject
And then Yujin takes him by the hand.
The flinch is instant and inevitable and over almost before it begins, overridden by the sudden visceral stone-drop thrill of a missed beat, heart thudding heavy in his chest. Wide eyes lift from a fixation with the thumb that soothes over his hand to the other man's face as he speaks. Searching. Startled.
You've been so kind, Stephen. ]
Yujin.
[ No attempt to draw away. He barely moves at all, frozen to the spot, mind racing and coming up silent. His jaw hangs loose around a trio of unvoiced false starts— I- You- What— no. You don't know what you're doing, Strange. Maybe, for once, you should just shut up.
An unsteady exhale. Held in Yujin's, Stephen's hand tremors, all his usual magical micro-processes blown to nothing like so many fuses. ]