[ well, joke's on him, because any attempt at comfort from him is reassuring, no matter how badly executed.
charles doesn't quite relax, but he isn't quite so tense anymore, either — but then junpei speaks, and charles stares at him dumbly for a second, because — looks like you're stuck with me, he hears his own voice from thirty-five years ago, echoing back at him, and the thing is? back then, it had been him, deciding to run from death, to avoid passing onto his afterlife, and declaring unceremoniously that he'd be staying with edwin, who had let him.
he's not prepared for the light-headed feeling that comes from being on the other side of the equation. and he can't manage to say it — can't manage to say anything, in fact, instead just turning towards junpei and dragging him into a hug.
and then, drawing in a startled breath, as if something fundamental has changed during one heartbeat and the next (and it has, it has, junpei will be able to feel it too, the way charles' touch isn't so cold as it normally is), he chokes out, ] I can feel you.
[ because normally, ghosts... well, ghosts can't truly feel the living, it's more of an impression, the knowledge that the touch is there, at once very real and yet not. and while he's certainly felt all of their hugs before, in that particular way that ghosts do, it's never been like this. ]
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charles doesn't quite relax, but he isn't quite so tense anymore, either — but then junpei speaks, and charles stares at him dumbly for a second, because — looks like you're stuck with me, he hears his own voice from thirty-five years ago, echoing back at him, and the thing is? back then, it had been him, deciding to run from death, to avoid passing onto his afterlife, and declaring unceremoniously that he'd be staying with edwin, who had let him.
he's not prepared for the light-headed feeling that comes from being on the other side of the equation. and he can't manage to say it — can't manage to say anything, in fact, instead just turning towards junpei and dragging him into a hug.
and then, drawing in a startled breath, as if something fundamental has changed during one heartbeat and the next (and it has, it has, junpei will be able to feel it too, the way charles' touch isn't so cold as it normally is), he chokes out, ] I can feel you.
[ because normally, ghosts... well, ghosts can't truly feel the living, it's more of an impression, the knowledge that the touch is there, at once very real and yet not. and while he's certainly felt all of their hugs before, in that particular way that ghosts do, it's never been like this. ]