Checkered Hearts
He stopped, the Chapter 18 child present in the room, the death that had broken something, that had preceded his openness to love, that was still unprocessed, still demanding guarantee that love could not give.
"And presence?" Arthie asked. "Being with us? Is that enough?"
"It's harder," Cyrus said, the truth that was confession. "With you, I feel the deaths more. The possibility of your damage, your ending, the specific loss that would be —" He stopped again, the word that was dangerous, that was commitment, that was the guarantee he had refused to demand and now found he could not bear to lose. "The loss that would be irreplaceable. The you that is you. The Theo that is Theo. The us that i