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"Uh. It's not that late, is it?" He blinked, looking around: Ever, at least, was watchless. Not having any real time-based responsibilities meant he could get away with that, until he found some people to take up his tutoring fliers. It also meant odd hours, no early morning duties to wake him up or drive him down early -- and most of his focus was on that second life, these days. A nighttime duty.

"I was hungry, I guess." No clock. He shrugged, attention flashing back onto Ladon. He got a good look at that still-flustered expression and grinned again, amusement taking him over.

"Oh, come on, chill. Seriously, no one cares, and you could kick their asses even if they did, so what's your worry?"

"It's not about actually doing it, it's about knowing you can." He looked bemused, just staring across at Ladon, unsure what to do with that shocking insecurity. If Ever'd know he took 'kick their a**' to mean 'ruthlessly slaughter them' there might have been more comments about insanity, too. He certainly hadn't used the word kill, had he? Had he ever suggested to anyone that they do that? Hell, he'd only killed one senshi in his time in the Negaverse...

Absently, he crossed one foot over onto his knee, slouching and watching him, eyes taking in the way he moved. "Why does it bother you? That's the point. If people know you well enough to matter, they know you well enough to understand. If they don't know you well enough to understand, they don't know you well enough to matter."

He rolled a hand, demonstrative. "Simple law of contrapositives. But you're tenser than Zac gets."

"Arguably, I am a shady pervert, though, so." He beamed at Ladon, entirely unconcerned, and fished into his pocket to check his phone. An ancient brick of a flip phone, dead or dying, it vibrated feebly at him to remind him he should plug it in. Oops. later, maybe. It just meant no one could reach him for the rest of the night...

"A different era -- or a different part of the world -- with my preferences..." He tucked it away again, one shoulder raised in a shrug, easy going still. "It'd mean a stoning, if I was lucky. Worse if not. But we're not there, thank God for that."

He raised his water glass, to that, and took a quick gulp.

"You should tell him that. Well-behaved bit, I mean. I think Zed would argue with you." He smiled, though, suddenly, a flash of teeth in his face -- amused and pleased and affectionate. He really did like Zac. It wasn't quite lovey-dovey, but it was sure as hell as close as Ever came.

He brightened, straightened a touch, as the waitress appeared with his food. Not a lot, it was cheap and greasy but it would at least be filling. And for Ever, this was something of a luxury. Affording food out. No Ramen today.

He beamed at the waitress as she left. At least he was friendly. Maybe it'd make up for the weird comments. "...or at least he'd pretend to argue with you. He must like me at least a little bit, right?"

He'd started on the tea: Ever was sipping it, slowly, as Ladon asked the question. The result nearly killed him, an intake of breath that turned to a frantic cough, his shoulders curling forward and his eyes glittering with amusement. Carefully, so he wouldn't spill all over himself, Ever set the tea down and grabbed at a couple of napkins. One was for his face, his mouth, as he coughed again. The other was to mop up the table.

"You mean..." He was a little garbled, a mix of coughing and laughter and something wry mixing together in his voice. "...yes. We are 'confirmed bachelors', if you want to be polite about it."

Ever probably could have clarified, but -- there was a point at which he just couldn't keep pushing. So instead he laughed again, poking at his eggs and slouching in his chair, a hand worked up through his hair and eyes taking in the slightly-peeved duo at a table nearby. Apparently they thought he was being too loud for this hour, that his amusement was in some way inappropriate. Ever simple didn't give a s**t. Maybe Ladon would.

Oh well.

"Jesus, you're as uptight out of uniform as you are in." He shook his head, breaking a piece of bacon in half between two fingers. "But in a totally different direction. How is that even possible?"

Just a beat, considering. "How old are you again?"

"If you're eighteen and your way of asking if I'm ******** around with Zac is 'are you good friends', you're uptight." It was less joking now, at least, his head tilted and his eyes gone more serious. More grown up himself. It was easy to forget that Ever was twenty-two, with twenty-three approaching at a startling pace. No stumbling teenager, here.

"You don't even have to ask about the bedroom. You could have asked 'are you two a couple?' which would have been an easy answer, since it's been...Christ, let's not even talk about how long it's been." Terrifying to think about. Ever shook his head. "But you're afraid to even touch on the subject, to even let your head wrap around the possibility of two people involved together. That's uptight."

Babbling -- Ever watched Ladon fumble with words, absently working through his food and his tea, his expression still serious. Not laughing. Not really shrugging it off. Ladon could make all the excuses he wanted -- they simply weren't convincing.

He chewed, and swallowed, setting his fork down again. "There's not a lot that offends me, kid. I find the dancing around the subject, and the prudish stiffness, far more annoying than if you asked me flat out what was going on in my life."

Both hands wrapped around his tea, he watched Ladon, quiet. "Plus, I can always tell you to ******** off and not answer."