...Okay. [ There's a long drawn pause before he repeats: ] Okay. 'cause I just... [ Didn't expect it. But Zack has a feeling from what he's seen of how others have reacted as he vaguely gleaned the rest of things... Al already knows he didn't expect it. A lot of people didn't.
He runs a hand down his face slowly as he takes a moment to let his own racing anxiety over this settle. It's fine. At least- in the sense that Al's not mad at him. That's good at least. But that still leaves the other question. ...A question he can understand if Al doesn't want to answer. And maybe an answer Zack partly doesn't want to know because the idea of another boy near Cloud's age being used as an experiment... ]
...Look, I... won't ask you what happened if you don't want me to. I just didn't want you to think I thought you were a monster or something. [ He can't hide the faint press of underlying grief in those words. He's put it together enough that something bad happened. But all the same. He gets how some things are better off unsaid. He has his own history of things better off put behind him. ]
no subject
He runs a hand down his face slowly as he takes a moment to let his own racing anxiety over this settle. It's fine. At least- in the sense that Al's not mad at him. That's good at least. But that still leaves the other question. ...A question he can understand if Al doesn't want to answer. And maybe an answer Zack partly doesn't want to know because the idea of another boy near Cloud's age being used as an experiment... ]
...Look, I... won't ask you what happened if you don't want me to. I just didn't want you to think I thought you were a monster or something. [ He can't hide the faint press of underlying grief in those words. He's put it together enough that something bad happened. But all the same. He gets how some things are better off unsaid. He has his own history of things better off put behind him. ]