"I mean, what I want is to be less fucked up. It's taking a while. - Substantial factor here is that it seems like maybe a bad idea in principle to start anything - personal - while I have a permanent 'lose argument' button in my head that basically anyone can push, and, like, you have not made any sudden movements buttonward, but."

"I would have done it in your place. And then I would be, I don't know, coordinating humanitarian work on a small scale somewhere because it wouldn't be right to set my sights higher but I don't want that for you it'd be such a waste -

if what I should do is wait that is a thing I can do but I'm going to spend the interim swooning hopelessly over everything you do, not that that's disqualifying of that solution -"

"Okay, before I tell you 'go for the swooning hopelessly over everything I do option' are you in fact involved with your cousin and if so is there a toxic amount of drama going on there."

"We were, and no. If we figured out a way to talk to a ship in leap and you told him about the other set he'd laugh at me because it is not a literally impossible failure mode but it'd require substantial external fuckery - I am willing to place bets there was substantial external fuckery in the other world, actually -

- and we broke up over a not-dramatic conversation by the end of which we were invested in the details of a new tax proposal and our world does not have any homophobia and no one's noticed us interacting oddly because there's nothing to interact oddly over, we were good for each other in Valinor and are not good for each other when facing down a war that's going to be demanding of - of the things I was expecting this war to demand I choose between - it'd be convenient if you could talk with him, but I can't think how -"

"Yeah, short of forking him without being able to ask. The drama is radioactive with the other set but I am pretty well convinced that I should not expect close matching."

"He would be happy for a fork of him to exist where these sort of problems are in play but annoyed if it was brought into existence for the sake of confirming that I can handle relationships with more maturity than a forty-something child."

"Yeah. Uh. So. I'm flattered. I am also fucked up. What do you want?"

"To fix everything everywhere and also kiss you when you are being particularly smug or clever or correct or tail-wagging - sort of had been trying to leave it there - I mean, if you would like to co-rule the universe with me that's very much also an option but - we've got subjective centuries to think through all of that -"

"...tail wagging? Really?"

"It is incredibly distracting! I don't even know why!!"

"It's really not why I got the tail!" But there it goes. Wag.

"I was not remotely under the impression you were doing any of it on purpose! That's part of what -" 

Sigh.

He blinks at Cam hopelessly.

"...sorry." He tucks his tail under his leg.

"Don't be. Take your time. My original plan was actually to not mention it for several decades, but then I considered that objectively and realized that even under very exceptional circumstances - 

 - anyway. We were learning more about Rosalie's world?"

"...exceptional circumstances?"

"...we're in a time-stopped dimensional bar and you just went through everything you went through and if there were ever an occasion to sit on feelings for someone for several decades this would be it but even then it seems like an obvious mistake?"

"Yeah, that's - that's a really long time, for one thing."

"Yes. Less so to me than to you but still, yeah."

"I missed you when you took - however long it was for you, I think it wound up being three, four months for me."

"Six. I missed you too, sufficiently so that at some point it was defeating the point, avoiding you..."

"...thought you said you were hoping it would stick better?"

"I successfully got not-distracted-by-you, as you can notice from the not-throwing-away-games-of-Governor-in-fits-of-jealousy-at-fictional-princesses-you-marry. I didn't get, like, sustainably and permanently disinterested in pursuing anything, though I didn't realize how badly I'd fallen short on that front until it started coming back."

"...fits of jealousy at fictional princesses. Okay that explains that one. She means nothing to me! I forget what I named her!"

He laughs and then subsides into staring a bit longingly at Cam again.

"Have you been looking at me like that behind my back a lot?"