Kib and Maitimo walking down the path to the house, their postures changing as they come within view of people, the comfortable intimacy of the original poses mostly apparent when they change into tense ones. And a lot of Kib looking at Maitimo at all the moments he had wished he could squeeze his hand.
"I think you are not treating your happiness as sufficiently urgent," says his father. "I didn't bring it up to scold you, as I said you have good taste. It seems a complication well worth inviting."
"Only if you want me removed from power," Maitimo says, "which I know you do but I think you're wrong about that."
Kib sighs. "I can try harder? The entire concept of secret relationships is largely unfamiliar..."
"Well, if anyone learns any facts about my personality they might notice that nursing hopeless crushes isn't in there."
"I mean, if you were stalking me, telling you to fuck off possibly while near something large and possessed of moving parts would be me in spades," Kib says.
Squeeze. "I thought I was doing a reasonably good job of not checking you out or sighing conspicuously. I was not aware just how many tells there were to watch out for."