I know, [he replies with a little difficulty, because he very, very much knows. And he feels stuck knowing, because when push comes to shove, he keeps - missing - the cue. It's something big that bowls him over, or it's something small he reacts to without thinking.
He just -
He can't admit to this. See, an object example. Gladion closes his mouth and sits there stiffly for a moment, recalibrating to the room and the lack of reasons for this to be such an enormous fucking issue.
How can he express...this? Other than as questions he already knows the answers to?]
...I. [Breathe. Which he does until one thing works itself free of the tangle, and it's not something he wants to admit to but. Well. Nothing is, and that's the problem.] I can't imagine doing that.
[Quite literally - the feeling of embarrassment is one thing, but he can't imagine what he would be like or look like if he did that, and he can't imagine it happening without consequences, and he takes it as a reason to continue on like he does, but is it just a failure of imagination?]
no subject
He just -
He can't admit to this. See, an object example. Gladion closes his mouth and sits there stiffly for a moment, recalibrating to the room and the lack of reasons for this to be such an enormous fucking issue.
How can he express...this? Other than as questions he already knows the answers to?]
...I. [Breathe. Which he does until one thing works itself free of the tangle, and it's not something he wants to admit to but. Well. Nothing is, and that's the problem.] I can't imagine doing that.
[Quite literally - the feeling of embarrassment is one thing, but he can't imagine what he would be like or look like if he did that, and he can't imagine it happening without consequences, and he takes it as a reason to continue on like he does, but is it just a failure of imagination?]