[God. He sighs. He doesn't want to do this. Not now, not ever. It was easier when there wasn't a deadline. He isn't any good at this when he doesn't have the space to maneuver, and he's terrible at honesty anyway.]

[What he wants and what Mettaton can do aren't the same, in any case.]

[Giorno's quiet for a moment, letting himself relax so he's tucked under Mettaton's chin. It seems like all he's doing this whole conversation is fighting himself.]

I want you to be happy. I want you to be somewhere doing something that's good for you and makes you smile. The problem is that I want it to be somewhere I can find you.

[He doesn't understand why people keep leaving. He can't be home, which he's come to terms with, but when he tries to stem the loneliness by daring to care about someone, it's a couple months and they're gone. At least Kaz and Jesper didn't ask to go. This hurts either more or less, or maybe just differently.]

I've never known someone like you before. I thought it was meant to be that we'd met, because there were things about you that I understood without having to work as hard as I work with everyone else. I thought we could help each other, that understanding would be good enough, but it just isn't. It's not.

We're not the same. I don't think anything I said to you about George and Mavahari was wrong. If something like that happened again, there isn't anyone's opinion I respect enough to stop, not like I stopped for you. But I'm not a cruel enough person to tell you to stay for me. That's what I want, because I'm sick of losing people, but it's not a fair thing to ask of someone you care about.

[Another moment of quiet. His fingers curl in Mettaton's shirtfront; he sighs again.]

I'm just disappointed, really. I could have done better.