[He never actually meant to teach Joseph how to do this - how to tone down his natural boisterousness and give him comfort. He never meant to ask for comfort at all. But things are different here in the Fleet; he's got too much space to think and not enough ways to cope with all the things he's thinking about. Joseph holds him and he thinks about a thousand things all at once until his head's spinning, until they all coalesce into one thing, which is Joseph, who in moments like these is everything.]
Okay.
[It's a vulnerable kind of thing to say, to give Joseph that trust. But he believes that it's something worth doing, that Joseph deserves it, no matter how many times he's fucked up in the past. Joseph deserves a hundred second chances.]
[He blinks slowly, his eyes unfocused on the engine room behind Joseph's shoulder; his fingers grip a little too tightly to the back of his shirt.]
spam;
Okay.
[It's a vulnerable kind of thing to say, to give Joseph that trust. But he believes that it's something worth doing, that Joseph deserves it, no matter how many times he's fucked up in the past. Joseph deserves a hundred second chances.]
[He blinks slowly, his eyes unfocused on the engine room behind Joseph's shoulder; his fingers grip a little too tightly to the back of his shirt.]
I love you, you know. You're a good friend.