A faint, sad smile of understanding. He's a little bit surprised to hear Shaxx put an emotion like that into words in the first place, but he is probably the person to ask.

"You nurture a version of them in your mind for a long time," he says softly. "And that's not really them. They don't know anything about all the times you thought of them, with what emotions and with what need. How they've comforted and aggrieved you."

His eyes are down, focused on the tip of a shoe as he smokes. "You start the relationship over, and try to see who they really are again."