As much as he wanted to argue it, that he was simply a child and that didn't mean he was weak, Kol didn't bother. Not this time. Because he was tired of arguing and he didn't feel up to it. Especially not right now. "It did, yeah. It took a toll, a big one on all of us." he agreed, nodding a bit. "It's just...it's hard to remember that sometimes, given the way you treat us."
"Don't you ever get tired of it?" Kol asked, tilting his head slightly to look at him. "The fighting, I mean." He couldn't believe Nik actually enjoyed it any more than they did. It all took a toll on them as much as anything else they'd been through had, really. "You have. You've done a lot here, made changes, been different. And I know I shouldn't want more than that, I should ask for that because there's only so much you can do, so much you can give before you're stretched too thin and you just snap. But I can't just turn that off, wanting that from you. And I wish I could, I do, because it's not fair." And at least he realized he was kind of out of line asking for more from him all the time. That had to count for something.
"I dunno if you realize it really, but...you're always the one I looked up to. So I guess that's a lot to do with why I want the confirmation, to actually hear from you that you care. But I guess maybe you believed I didn't, because I was always gone and there and gone again, but I was never abandoning you, Nik. All the traveling I did, when I was with the witches, I wasn't never going to be gone forever. I wouldn't do that to you. To any of you. I love you."
"Really?" Kol let a hint of a smile grace his features for a moment at the little indulgence about Nik's painting. "Yeah, I think I'd like that."