milliways_bar | (no subject)

He does not know if his reaction is good or not, and so he assumes it displeases Lee.

"... He does not have to call you that," he says softly, glancing at the table.

He looks up, worried. "You don't want him to?"

"I want him to very much," he replies. "I just thought... your silence was you attempting to decide how to politely refuse. It is odd for me to not just know as I do with Gorlim, and so I thought to offer you a way out of the situation."

"No--no, not at all," he says. "I should have said something, I just...didn't know what."

He smiles softly. "I've never had anyone to call me that before." Although his niece and nephew might as well have, had he not lived a few thousand miles away.

"Sorry to be confusing."

"Do not be sorry -- I should not have assumed."

He opens his mouth to mention his bond with Gorlim, how it simplified so many things and offered comfort in other ways, but stops himself.

Lee had not wanted it last time they spoke of it, and he did not wish to seem pushy over something like that. Instead...

"You seem in better spirits," he says weakly.

He shrugs. "I'm doing okay, yeah. Patched things up with Mercutio." Although he's still not completely sure about that.

"Are you...sure there's nothing else bothering you?"

He remains silent for a long time, wondering if this was one of those times Gorlim would advise him to be silent. But if he asked for Lee to be honest with him at all times, it would be wrong to not do the same with him.

"Two things are on my mind other than the child." He does not meet Lee's gaze. "I spoke with Mercutio last night."

And that had gone swimmingly.

He freezes.

"...well, how'd that go?" he asks, forcing himself to sound cheerily hopeful, although he knows the answer is most likely something like 'about as well as the maiden voyage of the Titanic.'

He still does not raise his eyes.

"We did not part well. We did not meet well. I would have to say that the entire conversation was a careful swordfight with civilly spoken insults."

He closes his eyes with a wince, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Honestly, I doubt there was a worse night you could have met him on. I can't guarantee he'd have been a lot nicer if you met him when he was in a better mood, but of all the first impressions you could be judging him for..."

Might as well be completely honest.

"He was not the first to begin the duel of words, Lee," he admits.

He looks up, frowning.

"Then you don't condemn him for continuing it, am I right?"

"I did it knowing he would continue with it."

He sighs.

"Looking for an excuse to dislike him." He arches an eyebrow, not happy.

"I had already enough reason to dislike him," he replies, pulling his hand away from Lee's.

"Really?" He folds his arms. "Explain, please. I'm all ears."

"I would rather not."

"You brought it up. You got into this discussion. Please--tell me why you had this pre-conceived dislike for my boyfriend, and why you felt like you had to go and make it even worse."

"I did not feel as if I had to go and make it worse," he says a bit more harshly than he intended. "I was walking by him, recognized him from Gorlim's memories, and I stopped to speak. When he said something about my unimpressive charms, I retorted with something impolite, the duel began."

Still not an answer to the original question, but perhaps enough to make him forget what he had asked.

The best way to distract Lee is generally to slam him against a wall and punch him. Otherwise, he remains viciously intent on whatever he's pursuing.

"You said you started it," he points out flatly. "Otherwise, I'd believe that."

"I did begin it. If I had ignore his comment about my charms and not... told him to ask for details about those charms... it could have ended differently."

Though he doubted that.

Pause. Stare.

Literal facepalm.

And rather to his horror, as it is not helping his argument any, he cracks up laughing.

He stares in return.

"What do you find so amusing, Lee?"

"I cannot believe you said that to him." He buries his face in his hands, still laughing.

"Yes, I did. Among other things."

His eyes narrow.

"Your unhappiness was not my fault. Nor was his."