"But until I was in a crisis situation, you...believed I was only interested in you for what you could offer me. Lab partners with benefits, so to speak."

He doesn't sound hurt; he doesn't really sound anything.

That's hard to dispute.

"I didn't know what else to do. You're the first person I've really...been with like this."

The confession feels ashen on his tongue, but. It's out there now.

"That may be true. But here or anywhere else, I wouldn't have continued it for months simply because it was...available."

"I..."

Can't possibly reframe that without being the worst variety of gaslighting asshole.

"I'm sorry. I can see how that would have made you feel...unvalued."

"I see."

He stares down at his lap and quietly hates Quentin for having a point.

"Then I should make explicit that it has not been a matter of convenience or availability for...some time. For me. However poorly I articulate that."

"That - probably isn't necessary," he suggests. "I don't see the point of going back and recontextualising our entire relationship so far."

Look, he used the R word!

"I think it simply serves us better to know where we are now, and into...into the future."

"...I assume that's not an intentional use of the past tense."

The Rhys-BJ thing is ongoing, surely?

"No. Of course."

More silence. He doesn't fidget. If anything he's too still.

"I know that I struggle to express how I feel, but I...appreciate being asked. I don't like the idea that I'm forcing you to guess."

"Insecure, uncomfortable and juvenile," Elijah says immediately. "And...a little better for knowing that these things are being aired."

He waves it off.

"There's nothing to apologise for. I'm choosing to have this conversation."

And everything that goes with it.

"Even I've noticed that he's become slightly less...gross," Elijah observes. "I assumed that was your influence."

"I don't think he and I would have anything to talk about," Elijah says, and even that feels like an understatement.