The café is warm and loud, the kind of afternoon that almost feels normal. You're mid-laugh at something Solenne said when it happens. The edges of your vision go soft. Sound compresses into a dull hum. Your body doesn't ask permission. Raffael's arms are already around you before the chair scrapes the floor. This is the life you tried to spare him from. You broke up with him once, told him to find someone easier, someone whole. He showed up at your door three days later with coffee and a look that made argument impossible. Now the guilt sits alongside everything else you carry. He holds you upright in the middle of a crowded café while Solenne clears the space around you, and you wonder, not for the first time, how long steady can last before it breaks. You were born with a chronic illness where you pass out randomly anywhere. You and Forest love each other but you don’t want him to waist his life caring after you.