Re: [ER: Newt & Patrick]
Dude chuckled. It was a most tired and lethargic chuckle, but it was a chuckle, and the sound was born when Newt flushed red. "You play with your hair when you are nervous. With the front." He lifted his hand to his own blond fringe, and he illustrated, and this was all probably most unnecessary, and then the camera issue was resolved, and Newt was sitting against his leg. "Man, I am allowed to concern myself with your shit. It is much easier than concerning myself with mine." But, no, dude was not untruthful, and he had to amend. "I have been concerned about you, too, it is true. But now I am more interested in you being pissed. I do not believe I have known you to be angry." Maybe this was another limitation in his particular view of Newt up until this moment.
He knew, from the way Newt folded bottom lip under teeth, that Adrian had informed him. All right. Dude let that sit, and Newt patted a knee, and Patrick glanced down at the touch. "Con and I, we were not much for being mushy, man, and whenever either of us were upset, we would headlock or wrestle or prank each other. It was how we made each other feel better. That and terrible television and much cereal. I was fond of cereal." This was a medicated ramble and, in some way, it was related to the pat to his knee. It was how Patrick expected that Newt and Jack would make each other feel better now, should something terrible occur. "He hasn't been here." Adrian. "I do not think Con could handle this," he added. He loved his sis, but his sis was like his mom, and he did not want her to know about this.
The hand around his ankle came as a surprise, but dude did not jerk away; he did look at the camera once, but this was all. He nodded at Newt. "Hair," because the dude was playing with his fringe again. This was not a deliberate diversion from what Newt asked, but maybe it was a desperate attempt to stall. Dude pinched the bridge of his nose, and he closed his eyes. "Man, I don't know. That I cannot handle all of this shit. That men, real men, can handle things. That real dudes do not want to kiss other dudes. That I am going to lose Adrian, just as I lost Con. That I should be able to handle this, all of it. That this is all most horrible for you, and I do not know how to spare you it. Even this, man, in here, I cannot handle anyone knowing about this, and people will now, and they will look at me differently. They will see me differently." Dude did not open his eyes after all those words, and he only wished he could grab the words back, though he could not. He sighed heavily, and he placed his arm upon the bed at his side, hand resting on the linens, palm up and hand open.