[The grills: Castor & Pollux]
Will just sat and listened while Hannah spoke. He smiled as she went on, but not because there was anything comical in what he was she was saying. It was more because she talked like she wrote and he was finding it remarkably easy to settle into a conversation with her.
'Are we making friends?' The voice in his head, he'd never seen her face but he could hear the smug little hum. 'Does that mean we're staying? I mean, you'll want your books back right?' Will ignored it by keeping focused on what she was saying, actively tuning Sigyn out.
"That's a really good point you got there." He wasn't pandering her either. "I prefer to think my life is about me really, at least as far as all my choices go. When I help someone, or even put them first, it's still my choice to do that and it doesn't make my life about them. That's kind of what I meant by personal responsibility. Understanding that everything we do is a choice. It's our story to tell and we get to pick the pages we turn to, though there's no holding your finger between the pages to go back and try and do it right." Will hadn't thought about those books in ages and the comparison made him chuckle.
"I'd be happy to." And if he didn't have his copies anymore, if there were still in some box he'd left behind in his old life, he'd just buy Hannah her own copies. Easy as the smile on his face. "And I'm not the least bit surprised to here there's some character comparisons there." He said it was a compliment, but he could easily see it in her mannerisms.
"I don't think you're a round peg in a world of square holes either." He added, not feeling the least bit awkward. These kind of conversations, where people put their true selves on display, were his absolute favorite and they were hard to come by in this day and age. "But there's a very good chance we're just two round pegs." Which was true. He saw the world in ways a lot of people didn't and was willing to accept the fact that just because he saw something a certain way didn't me that it was true.
"Well that's fantastic!" Again, no pandering, no condescension, could be found in his tone. Instead it was genuine enthusiasm. "It's better than television anyway, at least most of the time, and all the really good stuff is based on books anyway."
Again the tide of their conversation would turn another page and Will would again fall silent after his little quip about the quality of modern television. He just sipped at his beer, holding as much eye contact as mutual comforts would allow, and listened. She wasn't wrong about what people wanted. He knew because that largely had been his presentation. The all around average kid who did good, was good, and was always just polite and looking to help. It was a well polished image of himself and the foot with which he tended to lead, but it wasn't all of him. It wasn't his cracks or his jagged edges and, in that, he realized he didn't often give off the impression of what he most sought after.
"We hide, I won't argue there." He now fished that pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, screwed one into his lips as he pushed off the table, and dropped the pack on it as he lit it. "Most people just do it until they're sure it's safe to come out, until they're comfortable—" The butt was clenched between his teeth as he picked up the kabobs and moved to start them cooking, and then he snatched the butt from his lips to clear the way for his words. "—I just think a lot of people don't know how to be comfortable." Which was why he wasn't correcting and changing his name to Will and...
I like her. She can stay. He wasn't the least bit surprised and it actually took him a moment to stop himself from rolling his eyes.
"Not everybody hides." He managed as he turned the food, even if it was sooner than necessary. "Not always at least, and you're right that everyone has their own reasons and I think everyone's got a right to those, even if I do agree with you in that I think it'd be better if no one did." Sure, it would expose a lot of awful in the world, but at least then things were out in the open and could be handled.
"So what was the very first book you read?" Because that had seemed to excite her and he really did want to know.