[ Miguel's response comes like a bullet, rapid, as if the faster he gets the poison out, the faster he can get whatever this is over with. Deflecting pain with pain. ]

And I didn't say I needed you!

[ But the moment the words are out of his mouth, he realizes there's something a little weird about it. He didn't say it; he thought it. He remembers thinking it. It was a little embarrassing, like he couldn't handle being broken up with out of a fake relationship, but he did think it. And he did need him.

...so how did this asshole know that? ]