Seriousness transforms into the closing off that comes so quickly to Paul in the face of horror, but it only goes so far. It's his eyes that give him away the most as they collapse, flickering pointlessly like he might somehow look through nothing to see Midoriya if he wants to badly enough. Paul's fingers trace his cheekbones to sink into his hair as Midoriya bows his head, curling up after the dire weight of that request as if it took the last of his strength for this day to make it.
Paul cradles him as though it's true, his whimper sinking into the warm curve Paul makes of himself to hold it in.
"Anything you ask of me," he promises, in a murmur that comes thick past his heart tucked into his throat. He says it with all of the terrible gravity he can pledge himself with, his mouth half-against Midoriya's hair, binding himself to this pact without qualm or negotiation.
He will follow Midoriya's wishes. Keep him away from the city, don't take risks, ask Kacchan for his advice. Don't let him hurt anyone. Paul intends to follow each rule exactly, if it ever comes to that - and then Paul will bring him back to himself. He'd rather die than kill Midoriya, and since the rule that no one gets hurt extends to Paul by any fair interpretation of Midoriya's intent, it leaves rescue as the only option.
But first, it would have to come to that, and he has yet to see the thing that would break Midoriya's spirits so completely in all that they've been through side by side. So he puts it away from himself for now in favour of sliding his hand down to clasp Midoriya's, shifting away just far enough to fit them between their chest.
"And let's go home," he says, and if Midoriya will allow him, he'll lead him by the hand with the sea medallion around his neck gleaming with his singular desire to fulfill that simple, aching request. "Let me look after everything."
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Paul cradles him as though it's true, his whimper sinking into the warm curve Paul makes of himself to hold it in.
"Anything you ask of me," he promises, in a murmur that comes thick past his heart tucked into his throat. He says it with all of the terrible gravity he can pledge himself with, his mouth half-against Midoriya's hair, binding himself to this pact without qualm or negotiation.
He will follow Midoriya's wishes. Keep him away from the city, don't take risks, ask Kacchan for his advice. Don't let him hurt anyone. Paul intends to follow each rule exactly, if it ever comes to that - and then Paul will bring him back to himself. He'd rather die than kill Midoriya, and since the rule that no one gets hurt extends to Paul by any fair interpretation of Midoriya's intent, it leaves rescue as the only option.
But first, it would have to come to that, and he has yet to see the thing that would break Midoriya's spirits so completely in all that they've been through side by side. So he puts it away from himself for now in favour of sliding his hand down to clasp Midoriya's, shifting away just far enough to fit them between their chest.
"And let's go home," he says, and if Midoriya will allow him, he'll lead him by the hand with the sea medallion around his neck gleaming with his singular desire to fulfill that simple, aching request. "Let me look after everything."