It was all fine and good, all okay and fun-natured and in jest until he said those words in that way. A small breath parted his lips and, since Lyle seemed to read him so well he would probably notice, the hint of humor left his features and they darkened slightly.
"Do you?" Nico asked, his tone bordering upon confusion and concern. But then it appeared that he decided he didn't care to know the answer to that question and instead he instructed, "Don't say that. I don't like it." And he immediately retracted in every sense of the word.