Now is the worst possible moment to think about her conversation with Tex, particularly the bit that involved dragging North off somewhere by the hair. So of course that's what she thinks about. Oh goddammit, Tex. Not the mental place to go when this poor guy just got horrible news and they're just friends, dammit, she's enjoying just having a friend to begin with and not worrying about all the other stuff until she can do more than wiggle her fingers.

She squeezes his hand, and of all annoying things, actually blushes. When did she start blushing about stuff? She never blushed about anything on that spectrum before. Well, the problem is that she likes North a lot and really doesn't want to screw this up. Fuck.

(Or not fuck as the case may be shit shit shit, this is super inappropriate, Wrath, stop it!)

She does her best to pretend that everything is just fine and maybe he won't notice or will be polite enough to pretend he doesn't. "Good. I'll add it to my to-do list for when I'm out of traction. I already owe you like four hugs, plus interest."