Minoru still continued to gently stroke Ziggy’s hair, but he glanced up at the wall. He was so focused on his friend, he didn’t even notice it coming in. (Had a glass been flying at his head, however, he would have noticed.)

He turned back to Tom with guilty eyes.

At least a couple of times since the overdose, when the topic of alcohol or drugs came up, Minoru had asked Ziggy to promise not to do that to himself again. The rock star lifestyle, coupled with an Anthean metabolism, was a hard thing to comprehend, but Minoru had a better understanding of both now. And a better sense of Anthean honor, and making amends for wrongs.

“I think that might be trading one kind of hurt... for another...” he whispered.

Though maybe, Minoru thought to himself, he just didn’t want his memories of his fiancé to slip away into nothingness.