Kintsugi

[Raffe]

After the girls were settled he crashed out in his own bed again. The sleep still seemed deep and greedy, totally dreamless, and when consciousness blurred back in he lay unmoving. Time trickled by unnoticed. Raffe had been avoiding the recesses of his own thoughts for various reasons. Confrontation was not his strong-point, not least with the self-realisation waiting like squat and grinning demons in his periphery. Yet even he was beginning to realise the flat of his mood was not normal.

The voice startled him, even though there had been a soft knock preceding it. Blinking he pushed himself up. The clothes were rumpled around his form; he hadn’t undressed before passing out. The curls were likewise tousled around his serious expression as he absorbed the words spoken. “I always have time for you,” he said. There was no smile when he said it, but it was sincere.