A Second Look

[Existentially Odd]

"Yeah, well, I knew you were going back with your family so I wanted to be gone by the time you guys got there. I figured you wouldn't want to see me even accidentally so I made sure I left while it was still dark," he shrugged, gnawing on his lip again.

[Pocky]

"What? Why would you think that?" Trick asked, surprised, looking at Harm a couple of times between glances at the road. "My family adore you. And I..." he stared at the road. "Well, you're here, aren't you," he stated.

A slow blush crept upon his cheeks, seen by the soft lighting of the dashboard. Trick frowned at the road.

[Existentially Odd]

Harm gave Trick a look laced with disbelief, his mouth falling open in surprise.

"Well, mainly because you didn't invite me to join you guys again but also there was the fact that you left me Saturday night like I'd done something so wrong I'd offended your ancestors and I had no idea what it was!" he exclaimed, starting to sound like his usual self as he allowed genuine feelings to flavour his words.

"It was pretty confusing. Maybe I'm here now but I got the feeling you never wanted to see me again so there was no way I was going to pressure you!"

[Pocky]

Trick took a long time replying. He pulled his lips in and gently bit them from the inside, then pooched them out and twisted them to one side. His face went back to normal when someone roared up the inside and cut him off. He frowned lightly, blinking, then spoke.

"Sorry." Nothing else came after that.

[Existentially Odd]

Harm sighed, having watched Trick's facial acrobatics with his heart in his mouth for very little return. It only added to his confusion and the frustrating mystery of his transgression.

"Noooo, I'm sorry," he replied wearily. "Whatever it was, you don't need to tell me now but you do need to tell me eventually so I don't do it to you again. You should know that I was generally very fucking sorry that I spooked you because it all felt like my fault. I thought I backed off enough. I thought I was respecting your boundaries and I hated that I didn't. Somehow. It's not what I'm about and I was appalled, thinking I'd upset you that much. It was because I took my shirt off, right? That's all I've been able to come up with. I know it had to have something to do with that. It made you feel unsafe? I was just fucking hot, honestly, I wasn't going to do anything more to you, I promise."

Harm shook his head, the extended misery of his cyclical thoughts on this matter showing through in his tone of voice. It would be clear to Trick that he'd done a lot of thinking about the incident.

[Pocky]

This time Harm didn't have to wait as long for a reply.

"I'm going to tell you," he said firmly. He looked over at Harm, his expression earnest before he looked back at the road. "I already said. I want to tell you."

He lapsed into silence again before indicating that he was taking the next turn-off. After a few more turns, they were driving along the winding cliff side road.

[Existentially Odd]

"Okay," Harm agreed softly, uncertain.

When Trick had said he wanted to tell him something about himself, it hadn't seemed connected to what had happened with the two of them on Saturday night so Harm didn't understand how they related. He was reassured that Trick was going to tell him everything, though. He just had to be patient and wait it out.

He watched the road instead, trying to calm his nerves and not think too much about anything until he was told. He trusted Trick.