"Just tell me why you've stopped! Is it my fault? Is there something wrong with me? I'm not angry! I just want to know what I did!" He pulled the others hand, angry tears falling onto the cold tiles with ease. The other looked to him blankly, boardly, without any emotion. He looked...wrong. This wasn't him. No, he would glare, he'd slap away his hands and tell him to fuck off. He'd say something, anything. He'd just tell him what was wrong. He'd yell it to the rooftops before he'd ever be silent. No, he wouldn't do this to someone, he wouldn't do it to me. I deserve better than that. He puts me above everyone else. I'm better than everyone else. No one is as important to him as I am. I'm better than them... right?

The other would always be so straight forward. He had more confidence, so much more than him. He was brave and blunt. He could say an insult without stuttering. He could blow off an insult without stumbling. He could walk away without tripping or walking too fast. He could yell at an asshole instead of shrink and walk quicker. He could take the lead. He could empower. He could survive in this world. He could list off good things about everyone, even himself. He had determination. He had a voice. He had a clear goal that he followed that no one was allowed to take away from him. He had everything he didn't.

His hands weren't shaking. He wasn't the one spilling tears onto the kitchen tiles. He wasn't the one sobbing. He wasn't the one begging. He wasn't. He wasn't. He wasn't. He wasn't. He wasn't. He's not. He's never been. He never will be. He never could be. He never should be. He'd never want to be. He's not desperate. He's not crying for attention. He's not clinging to something unhealthy. He's not. No, no, fuck stop it. Stop it. He's not- Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I know he's not! I know you aren't! Don't give me that face! I can't stand that face! I can't take the quiet! Please, say something! Say something! Don't leave me, please! P-please, please, j-just... just anything. C-call me stupid, or... or hit me. Anything but the quiet! Anything but the silence! Please, just hurt me so I can't hear myself think! I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hurt. I don't want to know. Please, please just... say... something...

He wasn't the one who was angry. He wasn't the one who broke their promise, but he wasn't the one hurting either. He wasn't anything. He was, but in this situation he wasn't. He was, at one point, a passing thought, but now he's nothing but a blank stare that says all that he couldn't. It was more of the other projecting, but at least he was projecting what he knew he needed to hear. He could hear the voice in his head, comforting him wile still breaking him down. He was speaking in the others head easily. He was the same blunt, aggressive person in the others head and he knew it. He knew that the other was constructing his assumed response in his head, preparing for it. The other was waiting for someone else to tell him the truth. He was waiting for the final "I'm never speaking to you again. I want you to avoid any form of contact with me from now on" he was waiting for the rejection. He was waiting for him to hate him like he hated himself

"Nagito, I'm not angry"

"I know you're not! That's the problem! You should be angry! You should want to hurt me and leave! You should realize I don't deserve to have you here! I broke our promise, Hajime! I disrespected both of us and did something filthy and horrible! Why can't you see that? Why can't you see that I am shit!"

The other nodded gently, standing up from his previous position of leaning over the counter. He looked to the other thoughtfully, seemingly soaking in his cries like a cloth to water. "You want me to act how you expected, didn't you? You want me to hate you. This isn't about this, is it?" The other froze, gaping for words as he stared into his cold, emotionless eyes. "No" He stepped back as the other stepped up closer to him, now grimacing. "Nagito, you didn't do this because of anything except yourself. You can't handle that anyone else in this world cares about you so you set out to make sure you're the most unappealing, depressing, vile human. You did all of this because you want someone to hate you enough to where they understand how much you hate yourself. You hurt yourself like this so you have no chance of ever liking yourself or being happy. Every single filthy, horrible thing you've done up to this point was reasoned with "I want to show that I truly am the horrible person that I say I am" and that doesn't work anymore. You don't think I haven't been able to see through this bullshit? No, I know you know that I do because you're so angry. You're mad with yourself because you don't know how to deal with someone actually caring. You expect me to be angry because you are"

He stepped away from the other. He quickly grabbed the keys and his phone and walked down the hall to the front door. "Nagito, I want you to find me when you finally understand that no matter what shit you throw at me, I'm going to love you regardless and that by doing things like this you're hurting more of you than me. Don't talk to me unless you understand that I can never hate you. If I've seen you be abused, reject me, and hurt for years, there's no way I'll stop loving you now" He turned the knob easily and flung the door open, looking back to Nagito as if he were some discarded piece of food rather than a frozen person, sniffling in their kitchen. "Please don't wait another five years to come back to me" he shot before stepping out the door, and on a larger part, stepping out of the relationship for several months to come