[Louis came through after spending just enough time to find his coat and wallet and the soft brown boots he'd worn enough years in a row to wear to comfortable softness in the heels. It took longer to get to Shane than it should have, though.
He had forgotten what had happened when he moved from DC to Marvel. It was strange, actually, how much he seemed to be forgetting, lately. He had forgotten how he had felt as if his heart was being wrenched from his body through his breastbone, had forgotten the feeling of being outside himself until he stumbled through the door again.
Thus he made a less than graceful entry into the room, shutting the door behind him a little too hard and breathing heavier than he meant to. The second he crossed the threshold that feeling of coming apart lifted, as if nothing had happened at all, as if he had imagined every second. A panic attack, maybe, this psychic sensation of falling to pieces. Too little sleep.
He still looked tired. That hadn't changed, not for about six months now, and he sagged for the moment on the edge of a chair.] Had to run up the stairs. [He was still catching his breath. The doors moved all the time, so it might be true, and as immediate and real as it had all felt in the hotel hallway, those sensations were already going away now that he was here. Odds were good that he would forget them again by the time he left.
He pushed himself up from the chair and smiled as well as he could manage.] I couldn't bother you for a drink? [Christ, it had been a long day. Family was never simple, but it felt even more complex than it used to, lately.]