She had always strived to protect him, but to say he never fought her against certain things was dishonorable to who he was. Achilles had always bared a streak of defiance, with an almost obsessive determination. The softer side, that was the one Thetis was ever so carefully trying to bring out of him.
"I have not," he stated simply, that cold tone cracking and breaking away piece by piece. There was no time to hold anger towards her, though Achilles was known for his grudges. When it came to those of the softer persuasion, his temper wasn't impossible to repress.
"I've needed you," he admitted, voice lingering in the air, a whisper. He wanted her to reach out, to comfort him. Achilles abided to Thetis in a way he didn't with any other.