( he knows good and damned well that vash — even without his other arm — would not let him jerk him around like he is if he didn't want to, if there wasn't a point to it, and don't think for a second that he's going to take that for granted.

but that also means he's feeling guilty about something, about everything that had happened in july, and he's not about to stand for it. not for a second.

he growls out a low sound that catches just behind his teeth when vash finally speaks up, fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt, flexing while he thinks of an answer that isn't simply shut the hell up. )

Yeah, and a whole lot more woulda followed if you hadn't tried to do what you did.

( trust that he understands how terrible the situation is, because he does, but vash hadn't been the only one at fault, hadn't been the one to set everything in motion, and he's not going to let him continue to beat himself up over something he had so little control over.

without thinking, he reaches up and brushes the pad of his thumb through the wetness at the corner of one of vash's eyes, the left one, just above his beauty mark. he'll deny that it happened, later. probably. )

It's not like it was somethin' you set out to do. Not somethin' you had any control over. I am not gonna let you keep holdin' all the blame in that fool heart of yours, 'cause it wasn't your fault. Do you understand me?