Vasquez hates hearing Faraday talk about the battle like he had been the one to run away. It irritates him wildly, which is why he thinks that he's going to give up the ghost and say all the things that he hadn't meant to say.

"You didn't leave," he spits out. "Stop saying this." The only way he'd left had been dying and that had been something that Faraday doesn't want to spend much time thinking about, because it still leaves a pock-marked hole of grief on his heart.

He swallows hard at the touch to his scar, not wanting to move. He wants to freeze in this moment to let Faraday keep touching him, leaning into it, his eyes turning sad when Faraday looks to his chest. "Do you want to know the truth?"

He won't say unless Faraday asks for it.