Actually, this was a relief for poor Max, who was hoping that he could wander off and not need to hear their talk anymore. It was all getting too confusing. "Thank you sir," he sighed gratefully, grabbing his place and trodding off into the living room, television switching on a moment later.
Waiting until Max was gone before he spoke, Garret had been watching Mal carefully. He knew that tone. That was a guarded tone that wasn't entirely pleased with what it was having to discuss. Pushing his seat back, Garret got up from the table, going into the kitchen and getting a glass from the cabinet. The question had been directed at Rorie and, for the moment, Rorie needed to be the one handling this.
"Because I love Garret," Rorie said simply. "If marrying means marrying you too, then I'll do it. If the only thing holding you back is our lack of a relationship, then. . . We can work on that. I'm not talking a wedding next Thursday by any means, I just meant. . . Like down the road," he said chewing on his lip nervously. Sure he'd been alone with Mal before, they'd done some stuff together. Cooking, chatting online, racing to the hospital because Rorie thought he was dying of brain cancer. Yet, some how they were lacking, to the extreme. "I do love Garret and I do want to marry him. I. . . I asked him earlier, for real and he said yes, but. . . if you don't want to, then we won't. If you want to wait for us to get to know each other better, okay. I just thought it was something we should talk about with everything going on," he said, fidgeting in his seat.
Mal leaned back in his seat, casual with all the appearance of a relaxed man at home. He listened while Rorie spoke, Garret rustling in the background, grabbing a glass for something to drink. "Garret. What's your feeling on all this?" It was time the other man weighed in. That Mal was willing to listen testified to just how much he'd changed over the months he'd worked at the school. The time that he'd spent with Garret.
What Garret really thought was that he should have been the one leading this conversation. But Rorie had a tendency to blurt things out, and right now he wasn't helping much. If Garret knew Mal, and he liked to think he did to an extent, what this was sounding like to him was Garret and Rorie running off together to get married and letting him come along too, like a third wheel. And after having spent a great deal of the relationship thinking himself exactly that (despite Garret's assurances he wasn't), this was probably not sitting well with the hound at all. "You and Rorie are already tied together, so long as you are both with me," he said vaguely, an honest answer though not very revealing. "Perhaps you need to get to know one another better."
Rorie was nervous, he felt like curling into a ball, and he did a bit. Pulling one leg up, he hugged it to his chest, resting his chin on his knee. Chewing on his bottom lip, he listened to Garret's answer, feeling not very calmed by it. Sighing softly, he turned to Mal. "I love Garret and I do want to marry him, but I can't just be thinking of him and me. You're in this relationship too, equal parts, right? You and I might not be in love, but we can try for something a bit more than just casual friends who happen to be dating the same person. So, before we push the marriage thing anymore, would you like to start dating me?" It seemed like a good place to start. They didn't have to rush, because there was no rush and that fact made Rorie feel a lot better. "We can put this subject up and for now we can just work on getting to know each other more."
Mal listened to Garret, not bothering to turn his head since he could follow the other man's movements with his ears. He was doing a good job hiding what he felt and giving expected answers. "Truth, but not very informative, Garret." Mal smirked lightly, "Seems I'm rubbing off on you." Keeping his eyes on Rorie, Mal let his nose tell him what was going on. Rorie was nervous. Nothing new since he was almost always that way around the hound, but today he seemed to be putting on a brave face. Mal arched a brow in surprise at the suggestion. "You want to start dating me?" It wasn't quite what he expected, but the offer was sweet.