"I'm okay. Got... stupid. Overconfident," Simon explained. "OW," he yelped, jerking his leg away and swatting at Kyle's bloody claw which, in hindsight, wasn't such a good idea. "That hurt," he added softly.
"They're Sentinels, th-they adapt," Simon replied, still twitchy from mild aftershocks. He was feeling far from untouchable, especially with Kyle making puppy eyes like that and blaming himself for Simon getting hit.
Stop it, Simon Hall. Just stop it. Kyle's just... just... He's like... he's feral! He really is like a puppy. He means nothing by it. Nothing like what you want it to mean, anyway. Face it. It's never gonna happen.
The often shy boy could not even begin to explain to Kyle how his hopelessly clueless and honest words affected him. He could have groaned. I'm so screwed.
Before he knew it, he had reached over and gently touched Kyle's arm. "Hey, it's not your fault. I knew better." Yeah. I got showy and reckless, making you a gift of the last two Sentinels instead of taking them out like procedure mandates. What was I thinking? "Besides," he added with a wry grin. "I blew you up, so we're even." He still felt terrible about that.