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“You’re going a little overboard now.”
He is deep within something like meditation when the other man speaks up, so it takes a few extra seconds to process the words. Doing nothing except listen to someone breathe can be very relaxing. Which is why he’s chosen this position, lying on top of his main drinking buddy. And he was very comfortable too. But whatever. His human pillow has things to say.
“Huh?” Roland is about as elaborate as a half-asleep man can be. Blinking a few times before he opens his eyes fully to look at Netzach. The man’s gaze is.. tense, to say the least. Here we go.
“This.” A single lithe hand vaguely gestures around them like that alone says everything. “I’m wondering what changed.”
The Fixer props himself up a little, turning his head to face Netzach properly. “Maybe I just found out you’re nice to the touch.” But he knows how this type of thing goes, and there will be a rebuttal in three, two..
“I doubt that.” One. The thing with his companion here, is that he seems to get more resistant the further you try to get to know him. This can be very unexpected to most people, who usually see him drunk once or twice and decide for themselves that he is an open book. But Roland is not one of those. Courtesy of his intimate knowledge on alcoholics, and here’s a lesson: you never start drinking unless you have something else going on.
He meets his stare head on.
“Is anyone allowed to be nice to you, like ever? Or is that illegal?” A simpler question like ‘why do you think that?’ would get them nowhere. That’s the part he had to learn in person. The man avoids regular human concern like the plague.
There’s a furrow in Netzach’s brow at that, bordering on a glare before it abruptly falls. He feels the rise of his chest as the man lets out a sigh, looking away. The newly showing emotion in his expression is.. No, c’mon..
“..Sorry.” It’s soft. Too soft.
And it’s Roland’s fault. He chases after the man, pulling himself up to get closer to his face. Squeezes his arm. Netzach just keeps looking away into nothing. Come back.
He looks for anything else he can do, grabbing onto his shoulder, leaning into his chest. Whatever gets him out of that spiral. His efforts prove some use when the man’s gaze moves further down. He’s still present. Good.
“Not what I meant” the Fixer breathes into his shirt, trying to reach through the millennium old walls. Nobody said it’d be easy. He starts from the beginning.
“It’s just. I like you. I like being around you. And..” he mimics Netzach’s prior gesture “this, too.”
And the words do seem to reach him, because the artist’s eyebrows shift again in thought. “..Okay.”
..He can’t help but give an incredulous look at the reply. “That’s it? No ‘love you too’ or anything?”
Roland takes a little too long to realise his slip-up while his companion finally looks back at him. Far more present than before.
“That’s not what you said.”
Right. Um. Yeah he has nothing to defend himself with. So he just buries his head deeper into Netzach’s chest and tries to ignore it. Not very successfully.
“Tomato-tomato” is all that comes out in response, barely audible. But at least the other man is more alive now. As seen with his quiet exhale, close enough to a laugh.
“Sure. I like you too.” He can survive some embarrassment if it means hearing things like that. And promptly followed by a hand squeezing his, no less.