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Otto wasn't sure what part of Gale's retort made him more upset, but suddenly he just didn't want to deal with the little British bugger anymore. The teen huffed and pushed past Gale, his face going red to match his fellow Deathy.

"Like I care what you think.." He growled angrily. Not human? Of course he was human. They all were. Right? Otto could have tried to prove he was, but every word from Gale just made Otto want to piss him off some more. A lot of people made him feel like that. Mostly guys. Almost always guys.

Otto winced as he was grabbed, about ready to punch Gale with his good arm. That is, until Gale said something that stopped him. Otto visibly seemed to soften ever slighter, his brows knit together in confusion rather than anger.

Got the girl? Got all he wanted? Won? Otto didn't feel like a winner, though he often felt smug at times knowing Eva had chosen him over Gale.

"Ain't.. like I sought ya out.. or rubbed it in.." He muttered, seeming to rethink his statement part way through. Had he?

Otto's irritation and heated temper seemed to deflate, unsure of the reason he actually hated Gale. His focus on Gale still seemed skeptical at best. Otto was never good at getting along with people, especially other guys. Maybe it was because him and Gale were so similar that he had the most trouble with him.

Gale made a good point. Somehow, Otto never saw a reason to treat Gale as anything but a punching bag. Otto had always been shorter, younger than everyone his whole life. So when he finally met someone smaller, he attacked rather than befriended. He thought that it was finally his turn to be the bigger one, the bully. He could take out all his anger and sass on Gale.

But now, he was being reminded that Gale was in fact, human.

A part of him tried to grin smugly as Gale firmly reminded Otto how often the slightly taller teen did these things so successfully, but another part of him felt actual shame. What became of these mixed feeling was a twist in the corner of his mouth, an uncertain expression that was neither here nor there. He'd become the bully he hated in everyone else; the one who teases and belittles. If he hated it being done to him, why did he feel such compulsion to have it done to someone else?

His expression soon faded though. The bad guy? Was there a bad guy, and why was Otto it? Moreover, did he actually feel bothered by it. The teen usually settled that he did in fact enjoy being the bad one, but the longer he spent at Deus, the more he found it got him into worse trouble than back home. Despite the friends he somehow made, there were things he said and did that simply tore great rifts between himself and his supposed companions. In the end, weren't they all here for the same reason?

Maybe he'd fallen so far, he'd simply lost sight.

Otto had been silent a long while, seemingly contemplating all Gale said to him. Was he actually taking him seriously?

"Maybe.." He murmured more so to himself than Gale.

Otto had trouble expressing himself honestly. Bluntly, yes. Rudely, always. But when it came to matters of the heart, or any weaker and vulnerable things that stemmed from it? He'd put up walls. Thick, concrete walls covered with graffiti to keep everyone away. Eva, among a small handful of others, had managed to punch holes in it.

To let Gale anywhere near that was would be an arduous task. A long task. But maybe because they had been throwing bombs at one another so long, perhaps there was a crack in it somewhere.

The fact Gale was showing his heart to some extent, and letting go of his pride however hard it was to do; Otto felt maybe he owed it to him to try and understand. To try and talk without hate to blind him.

Gale had him thinking; thinking about something that had often weighed down on him regardless of the Brit bringing it up. What redeeming qualities did he have? What did Eva see in him?

"Can't say I know why she picked who she did... I mean.. I'm happy and grateful.." And at this point he knew nothing of Gale's own redeeming points as of yet. "But.. I don't particularly think I got much redeeming qualities. I honestly don't."

The teen huffed, scratching his nose and averting his eyes. "Yanno, she told me to make nice with you sometime back. I kinda forgot.."

Otto took some solace in the fact there had to be something special about him for Eva to like him so much. He would continue to wonder why, and what made him unique or good. He agreed with one thing more than anything; Eva just seemed way too good for him. Yet here he was. With that, he'd never take for granted her feelings for him. It was special.

"This don't mean I gotta stop hasslin' ya altogether, do I?" Otto teased with a relenting huff, though his expression was as always on the sour side.

"But sure.. I'm sure I can manage not to be a colossal a** once in a while."

He paused a moment,

"I'm glad you made it out of Ponyville almost unscathed... It coulda be a lot worse.." He admitted in something just above a mutter. Just because there were people he didn't like, didn't mean he wanted them dead or tortured.
Except for maybe Caelius...

"What is it?" Otto lifted a brow, the urge to be sassy strong within him. It took a great amount of restraint not to hassle Gale for little things.

What.

Otto's lip curled a bit, trying not to read to deep into why Gale was asking something so personal. "Uh..." Otto shifted uncomfortably, "I don't think there was an actual moment of realization. I just... it just sorta.... grew from one thing to another..." As far as he could remember, anyway.

"When I first met her I thought she was annoying and pushy. And a brat. Then a friend who was a brat.. and it just kept goin'.. or sumthin'.." He added passively, trying somehow not to seem too mushy.

"Why's this even important?"