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Thane covers his face with his hands, groaning softly to himself. “Right,” he says into his hands. “That’s so embarrassing. I’m so sorry to be a bother, Maverick.”

“Hey,” I say right away, walking around the table so I can put a hand on his shoulder. He looks up at me, a wrinkle between his eyebrows. “It’s okay. You’re not a bother. Not even a little bit.”

“You didn’t have to take care of me.”

“Yet I did it nonetheless.” Taking a chance, I run my fingers through his hair, carefully placing it behind his slightly pointed ear. His cheeks turn that lovely purple color when he blushes and he looks down at the table. This close, I can see every little detail of his smudged eyeliner. It brings to mind images of him on his knees, the eyeliner running down his cheeks from tears of pleasure instead of a night of drunken fun. Fuck, I need to rein in my thoughts. “I like taking care of you.”

“Oh,” he breathes out, his hands clenching. I step away from him, allowing him space as I get the plates of food and bring them to the table. I sit down across from him and he gives me a small smile. “Thank you, Maverick.”

“Dig in,” I say, nodding at the food.

I sit back, nursing a hot coffee in between my palms as Thane helps himself to some turkey bacon and hashbrowns. My chest aches with something I quickly realize is disappointment. Thane doesn’t remember the little promise we made last night. I don’t think he remembers much.

I only now realize how desperately I wanted him to ask for a kiss. I shouldn't be hoping for this. I shouldn’t want more from him, yet I find that I do. I want him. I want him with a fierceness that surprises me.

As Thane eats, the color of his skin goes back to its normal pallor. He looks better once he has some food in his system. He sips at his water and takes his painkillers as well.

“How much do you remember from last night?”

Thane sets his fork down. “I remember going to that party. I remember seeing my sister with someone. I remember hanging out with a few of my friends.” He tugs on his hair. “I remember leaving,” he says slowly. “Things get pretty fuzzy after that.”

“Ah,” I say, the full force of my disappointment hitting me square in the chest like a car hitting a brick wall. It steals my breath with how hard it hits me. “I’m glad it was me that found you and not someone else.”

Thane nods his head. “Honestly, me too. I trust you, Maverick. I know that I haven’t known you very long but, umm, yeah. I trust you. I hope that’s not strange.”

“It’s not,” I tell him right away, giving him a reassuring smile. “I trust you too.”

Thane mirrors my smile and it’s the most breathtaking view I’ve ever seen. His entire face lights up, his golden eyes shining even brighter than usual. Jesus, I’ve got it bad for this kid, don’t I?

“You’ve talked about your siblings before and now I’m curious. Would you mind telling me about them?”

Thane takes another bite before sitting back in his chair. Now it’s my turn to eat while he chats. His entire face lights up all over again as he tells me about his siblings.

“Well, I have a twin sister. Her name is Tess and she’s actually going to school here as well. She wants to be a teacher.” I nod my head, remembering the orc that Thane went to the bonfire with, remembering hearing about her a little bit already. “Back home, I have another pair of twin siblings. Their names are Bax and Blaire. They’re fifteen.”

“Wow,” I murmur between bites. “That’s a big age gap.”

Thane nods his head. “Yeah, I always kinda saw myself as their parental figure since they were born,” he admits softly. “My, umm, my parents weren’t really around much when I was growing up which honestly was for the best. When they were home, all they ever did was fight. It got even worse after the Halloween Wave hit.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine,” he says quickly, waving me off. The problem is, it’s not fine. No kid should have to grow up in an environment like that. No kid should have to grow up so quickly in order to be a parent to their younger siblings. I can see it in the way Thane holds himself, the way he’s always taking care of the people around him, the way he’s pushing himself so hard now that he’s on his own for the first time.

Fuck, I want to take care of him even more now.

“It’s not fine,” I tell him softly. “That was so much on your shoulders from such a young age. You deserved a childhood.”

Thane picks at his food without meeting my eye. A moment passes. Then another. Just as I’m about to ask if I’ve overstepped, Thane lets out a long sigh.

“You’re not wrong,” he says, finally looking up at me. “I deserved better but I did the best I could with what I had going on. Sometimes, I feel like I’m half-assing all of this. I can’t stop second guessing myself. Half the time I feel like I should be back home still, taking care of Bax and Blaire, but they told me I should be here and that I had to stop using them as a way to hold myself back. Fuck, Maverick, sometimes it gets to be too much.”

It takes all of my self-control not to stand up and walk around the table to him. I want to hold him in my arms. I want to take that burden from his shoulders, even if it’s just for a little while. I want to give him everything.

“Thane,” I say softly, forcing him to look me in the eye. “I’m really proud of you.”

“What?”

“You’ve taken so much onto yourself. You’ve done a great job raising your siblings. You’re getting an education, one that’ll help more kids in the future. You deserve to have someone in your corner cheering you on. I’m proud of you.”