"I'm sorry." Says Rhys, just as quickly, "I don't want you to feel insecure, and I don't think any of this makes you juvenile. Uncomfortable probably comes with the territory of talking about feelings though."
"I know, but I still don't want you to feel insecure about the things we're talking about."
Rhys offers, sincerely,
"I guess I figured that if there was something about this you wouldn't like, it'd just be that I was-- y'know, putting myself somewhere gross. Not that it said anything about you or your shortfalls or anything like that."
"I absolutely garauntee he'd want to talk about sex robots with you."
Rhys answers, flatly, but this is notably different from Elijah actually wanting to have that conversation,
"Well-- he knows I have a boyfriend, but I haven't told him who." Because it didn't seem impossible that doing so would get you harassed, Elijah, "If you do decide you want to do some recon and talk to him, you can do it incognito."
"That seems unfair," he decides. "And I'm not afraid to talk about
androids' capabilities. Has he ever expressed any curiosity as to who else
you're involved with?"
"He asked the first time we met. When I threw out the 'I have a super hot very exclusive boyfriend' line to get him to cool it a little."
Rhys answers,
"But I got kind of a-- tell me so I can go harass them, vibe. Which is incidentally one of his three most common vibes, so I'm less worried about being fair than I am about you getting a super explicit opt out of this."
"Okay," Rhys concedes, "Well, if he finds out and it's not fine, tell me, okay? Or-- the other way around, if you decide you want... I don't know, a formal introduction?"
A casual introduction you can do yourself, if you decide that, Elijah.
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"...I assume that's not an intentional use of the past tense."
The Rhys-BJ thing is ongoing, surely?
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Sorry to get your hopes up, he doesn't actually say, but hopes is implied in his tone.
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"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."
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Genuinely hard in it's own way. He's just very accustomed to trying to navigate people by instinct.
"How are you feeling right now?"
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"Insecure, uncomfortable and juvenile," Elijah says immediately. "And...a little better for knowing that these things are being aired."
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He waves it off.
"There's nothing to apologise for. I'm choosing to have this conversation."
And everything that goes with it.
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Rhys offers, sincerely,
"I guess I figured that if there was something about this you wouldn't like, it'd just be that I was-- y'know, putting myself somewhere gross. Not that it said anything about you or your shortfalls or anything like that."
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"Even I've noticed that he's become slightly less...gross," Elijah observes. "I assumed that was your influence."
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Is this too much information? Would anything not be,
"Have you actually-- met him? Or spoken to him? Or is that a road you just don't want to go down?"
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"I don't think he and I would have anything to talk about," Elijah says, and even that feels like an understatement.
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Rhys answers, flatly, but this is notably different from Elijah actually wanting to have that conversation,
"Well-- he knows I have a boyfriend, but I haven't told him who." Because it didn't seem impossible that doing so would get you harassed, Elijah, "If you do decide you want to do some recon and talk to him, you can do it incognito."
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"That seems unfair," he decides. "And I'm not afraid to talk about androids' capabilities. Has he ever expressed any curiosity as to who else you're involved with?"
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Rhys answers,
"But I got kind of a-- tell me so I can go harass them, vibe. Which is incidentally one of his three most common vibes, so I'm less worried about being fair than I am about you getting a super explicit opt out of this."
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"If he finds out, it's - fine," Elijah decides. "Keeping secrets on this ship is almost impossible regardless."
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A casual introduction you can do yourself, if you decide that, Elijah.
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"That won't be necessary, thank you." A pause. "And it continues to be...only him?"
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Just the grossest guy.
"I mean, I also got a bit starry eyed under the mistletoe with Quentin, but I'm pretty sure that's just because he's tall."
You must feel it too, Elijah? The pull of the unnaturally tall?
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Elijah considers himself perfectly adequate at six feet, and does not.
"I can't say I've seen the appeal, but our relationship has a different history."
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"Yeah, that checks out..."
Rhys reaches for one of Elijah's hands.
"Is this helping?"
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He curls his hand around Rhys'.
"...I think so, yes."
Everything still feels oddly...delicate, but he's dealing with it.
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Little tug on that hand. Come up here to him please.
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Elijah stands, and moves closer, willing to draw in.
"...Thank you for understanding."
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Only when Rhys is safely in the nape of Elijah's neck and neither of them have to look at each other again, does he say:
"You know I love you, right?"
Probably you don't, since Rhys has absolutely never said this out loud, or even thought about it very hard before.
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If humans could bluescreen.
"I...no. I didn't know that," he says, cautiously.
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