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"Goats, chickens, some ducks once. I don't know if that qualifies, though; they were more dinner than pets." It came with a flash of a smile, and then he took a big bite of pasta: unapologetic, it seemed.

"The barn cats were closer, but they weren't really allowed into the house." He mostly chewed before he spoke, shrugged at Melvin. "You?"

"Not...really..." He hesitated a little, working on the food in a thoughtless sort of way, disinterested, and focusing instead on what he did remember. It put a little worry mark between Ever's eyebrows, a considering sort of knot, loosened the lines of his mouth.

"One of my brothers won first place for a sheep in a competition, at some point, but I never really got into all that. Mostly I just wanted to sit alone and read..."

"My options were kind of limited so, um. Classic stuff." He blinked at Melvin, back into focus, twirling up a couple pieces of pasta. Ever didn't look upset. Distracted, maybe, but nothing more than that. He shook his head a little bit.

"I liked Dickens. I know everyone else hates it, but I always enjoyed it. And then, at some point, I found the handful of fantasy books at the library, which were mostly crap, but..." He tilted his head, thinking about it. "I don't know. I was down to read anything when I was a teenager."

"The area I lived in was very....homogeneous." He pondered the word; in a way, it was an agreement with what Melvin was saying. Just in a roundabout way. Ever struggled to figure out how to fill in the rest of that thought.

"I don't think I would have known about other kinds of ways of thinking if not for books. I definitely first learned about gay people from some of those stories." His shrug at Melvin was brief, crooked and slightly amused. "If my parents only knew...."

"They know." But he hesitated over that, mulling on it, assessing. "I mean, it's why I'm here, I guess. Otherwise I would have stayed in college and finished up and lived a more productive life that made me a less..um...appropriate candidate?"

He frowned at the choice of words, swirling up more spaghetti. "I wouldn't have told them, though."

Ever made a quiet sound, staring down at his pasta -- and then set his fork down to lean back instead. They definitely could have shared; there was no way he was going to finish all of that ,but maybe Melvin could convince him into taking the rest home to eat later.

"I think my relationship with my parents is different from what yours was." His tone stayed dry. Instead of upset, he sounded more amused, shaking it all off. "I don't really think of them much, but I'm guessing you miss yours."

"Hm." Ever shifted just a little, legs sprawled out under the table and his posture mostly relaxed -- but his expression gone thoughtful. It wasn't dismissive, just quiet. It was hard to get Ever worked up about things like this.

"You're honest with yourself now, though, I think? Isn't that better?" He tipped his head, assessing. "Doesn't matter if they knew, only that you do."