And Giles looks back at Helios - glad, despite himself, that the other can look at him, but at the same time caught a little off guard, because...well, it's so unusual for Helios to be able to look at him, after all this time.
He lets the silence stretch on, for a while, gives them both a chance to gather their thoughts. Finally, sounding a bit...well, calmer, he speaks. He thinks he can explain, and he thinks it's even an explanation that might help, and so...
"I, um, I meant what I said, Helios. Before...before all of that. Back when we first met...I, I didn't really know what I felt, about you. You, you were literally like no one I'd ever met before. And...for a while, um, my feelings did tend towards the romantic, I confess.
But, um, that was before I knew about Elise." He says her name apologetically, sorry that he's initated a conversation that might have led to her being brought. "Th-That, that was before I really...well, before I really knew you."
Before Ginia is unsaid, but it doesn't really need to be said. After their little promise to one another that, one day, they would meet the daughter who had graced their dreams...no, Giles' devotion to Ginia is without question. So it doesn't matter, if his feelings for Helios are nearly as intense, as long as they're intense after a different fashion. People can work that way. He'd been ready to die for Buffy, after all.
"It's, it's Nero I want to replace, now. Not her." Not Elise. "You, um, you deserve to live in a world that's a bit kinder to you, a-and, and you deserve to be around people that care about you. I meant that."
no subject
He lets the silence stretch on, for a while, gives them both a chance to gather their thoughts. Finally, sounding a bit...well, calmer, he speaks. He thinks he can explain, and he thinks it's even an explanation that might help, and so...
"I, um, I meant what I said, Helios. Before...before all of that. Back when we first met...I, I didn't really know what I felt, about you. You, you were literally like no one I'd ever met before. And...for a while, um, my feelings did tend towards the romantic, I confess.
But, um, that was before I knew about Elise." He says her name apologetically, sorry that he's initated a conversation that might have led to her being brought. "Th-That, that was before I really...well, before I really knew you."
Before Ginia is unsaid, but it doesn't really need to be said. After their little promise to one another that, one day, they would meet the daughter who had graced their dreams...no, Giles' devotion to Ginia is without question. So it doesn't matter, if his feelings for Helios are nearly as intense, as long as they're intense after a different fashion. People can work that way. He'd been ready to die for Buffy, after all.
"It's, it's Nero I want to replace, now. Not her." Not Elise. "You, um, you deserve to live in a world that's a bit kinder to you, a-and, and you deserve to be around people that care about you. I meant that."