Re: Dietre A./Hugh C.: On the patio
Hugh didn't want Dietre to be anxious about these conversations, even if, god, he could work himself up into anxiety about them. Confidence was projected more than felt at the current moment, and it was years of practice that had managed that projection. But he didn't know if he could change that for Dietre. There was history there Hugh didn't know and didn't have and he suspected there were reasons.
"I guess it never came up," Hugh offered about Hannah with a small smile. There were things he probably should tell Dietre. But there would be time for that, and the important thing in this moment for Dietre to know was that he and Hannah had been lovers and now they were friends. "I think friendship after - it's individual, but it can be done. I'm not friends with all of my exes. But if the friendship is valuable to us then I think whatever we are, or whatever we become, then we'll protect that friendship.
"And I don't want to lose your friendship," he looked over at Dietre, admiring the lines of the man's face. "I've been terribly lonely way too many times in the past few months to ever take a friendship for granted ever again."
He reached in his pocket for his phone, and slipped his hand out of Dietre's so that he could open it, pull up his music ap, and pull out his airpods. "I have friends I've known longer," he said as he scrolled through music. "Zee is one of those friends, and we're close, it's true, but we've also not been around each other for years and I haven't been an amazing friend always - she's here and I'm trying to do better. So, I guess, I'm saying that because you shouldn't compare what we have to any of my other friends. It's not the same, and it doesn't need to be. We'll put together our own thing."
Hugh handed over one airpod. "Here, I promised you a guilty pleasure song, and we don't have to leave the patio for that," he slipped the other in his ear. "I love Taylor Swift," he whispered, as if he didn't want anyone else to hear even though it really wasn't that big of a secret. "So here," he pressed play, and slid his hand back into Dietre's again.