log: louis & ren - diner
If only he had any idea of what he really wanted. Part of him wanted to leave, just pick up and go, because - it felt like rejection, and he'd never been particularly good with rejection. Another part, the part that genuinely did like Louis wanted to ask a hundred questions and try to understand better. The pumpkin pancakes sat in front of him and he couldn't decide if he'd wished he'd gotten savory instead. The idea of something sweet at the moment, seemed off-putting so instead he reached for the coffee and downed some of it.
It didn't really cut through the uncertainty and fog in his head, and at some point he was going to have to look at Louis again, and it might as well be now. He forced his eyes up to look at the man across from him. And there was the anger that he'd expected, bubbling up and threatening to break. He didn't know if it was reasonable anger. Louis had never promised anything more than he'd given, and if Ren had maybe hoped for something more, that was on him wasn't it? It's not like he was particularly good at communicating these things, and maybe it was for the best anyway. He wouldn't have to figure out how to share Louis with whatever the creature was that sometimes was him instead.
Ren drew in a breath, reached for his fork, straightened his shoulders, and smiled tightly. "What does friends look like?" He finally asked. "I mean, you say that, what does that mean to you?" It was as good a place to start as anywhere and the only other thing to do was to walk out the diner door, and this town was too fucking small to make things awkward from here on out.
Probably. He could still make it awkward. The meal wasn't over yet and Ren had a crazy good knack of making things awkward.