W-what?!

No! There isn’t! There’s not!

He is not!!!

He’s never!

They! Are! In a [i]precarious[/i] social standing righ now! They are playing a game of make-believe! They all agreed they were playing make-believe! He hasn’t even seen everybody at the ball oh gosh how many people are even going to be at the ball?! He doesn’t know! So it’s impossible to say, and it would be dishonest to say, and unfair to say, and, he’s not saying, and he wouldn’t say-!

He’s not-!

They’re-!

Oh beans and biscuits, not again

Do you have any idea how hard it is to make his dumb brain shut up whenever he first thinks. Y’know. A girl? And, maybe, one day, one day? Is there something here? Does he want something here? No of course not. But he [i]would[/i] say that, wouldn’t he. That’s exactly the sort of thing a twitterpated person in denial would say. So doesn’t that prove that it’s not nothing? Except it’s nothing! There’s nothing! They’ve never indicated even the littlest bit of something, and it’d be way out of line for him to think that way! So obviously, there’s nothing! 

Unless…

No! No unless!

Well. Not an unless. 

It’s not [i]something[/i] either! He just, there’s, it’s, kind of,

Mmmmghhhhhhhhh

(He has an outfit to pick out Eclair hasn’t messaged him back this is  [i]not the time[/i])

It’s just. It’s only. Only, mind you?

They were good sluzhankas. Maybe there were more complicated metrics that the Serigalamu used, but they made these last few weeks easier, and that’s good enough in his book. He thought they were both going to be upset about the whole. Y’know. Being captured and forced to obey him bit. But, no, every time Juniper caught them sneaking something into his pack, it turned out to be a little treat and an extra handkerchief. (He could always smell their perfume on it.) And when they got back, there they were, waiting to greet him. 

Keli especially. She’s very…huggy. And hair scritchie-y. (And put his head on her lap as a pillowy ha ha ha ha) It was. Nice? It was really nice. Put a little bounce in his step when they saw the tents rising over the last hill. She was always so welcoming, and soft, and yes he knew to keep an eye on his wallet but she tossed out nice words for him so easily and so, sincerely. (“What a clever boy you are, yah? Come here and give me a hug and I’ll give you some scritchies~”) He never got used to it. Sure, she was playing a role, they all were, but she did it so well. Though, yes, she is a performer, it is sort of the point that it should all sound real, it’s not a very good act if no one believes it. Still. Never quite got used to it.

And then Seli. Gosh. Um. Seli. 

Sometimes, she looked at him the way Olesya looked at a beast she’s hunting. Do you know how well you have to know a beast to hunt it properly? Because he doesn’t! A few weeks in the wilderness with one of the best was just about enough to show him how much he didn’t know. You have to [i]know[/i] your target. From head to toe, inside and out, in ways that he can’t even guess at. So when you have them in your sights, nothing escapes you. You see them. You see everything they are. You see everything they could do. Frankly, they’re already caught. They just don’t know it yet. 

Which is to say. Seli.

She’s clever, and she’s quick, and a few weeks with one of the best was just about enough to show him how much he didn’t know. And he did try to keep up! (Most of the time. Some of the time. Don’t ask him for an exact percentage.) But when she [i]looked[/i], like that, he didn’t know what to do with himself or what would happen next or what he was supposed to say or what she was implying, but she never made him feel [i]bad[/i] about it. Quite. Um. Quite the contrary. Usually. Gosh. Sometimes it was all he could do to retreat to his tent, flop down, and kick his legs like a goober until he could think straight again. Goodness.

So! Yeah. That’s how it is. With them. And him. 

Like he said, there’s nothing.

And he will keep saying it until his brain shuTS UP