I've spent more than two thirds of the three years you've known me not in a relationship. I'd think that suggests I can handle being alone.
[Handle it? Chase has made it a near art form, if not initially through any choice of his own. Two foreign countries. Fifteen years with no family worth speaking about. Twenty before the prospect of dating someone had existed at all. Truthfully the prospect of being with someone, seriously being with them is almost as terrifying to him as it is for her, but also something that a part of him craves on a level he could never express. He thinks he could make a good job of it, though, that he's seen enough mistakes to be able to learn from them.
For all that, he's not as stung as he could be by what isn't quite a rejection but is, ultimately, a no. He wouldn't have complained about the leaping into his arms, had that happened, but he can't deny he'd have been suspicious of it. Of anything he earned without putting the work in.
So he nods, just a little stiffly, brow knitting as he considers this less a denial than a prospect. There's at least potential in what she's given him.]
You want me to give you better reasons we should be together. [He nods, and meets her eyes. Phrase it as a challenge and there's not much he won't do to prove himself right.]
no subject
[Handle it? Chase has made it a near art form, if not initially through any choice of his own. Two foreign countries. Fifteen years with no family worth speaking about. Twenty before the prospect of dating someone had existed at all. Truthfully the prospect of being with someone, seriously being with them is almost as terrifying to him as it is for her, but also something that a part of him craves on a level he could never express. He thinks he could make a good job of it, though, that he's seen enough mistakes to be able to learn from them.
For all that, he's not as stung as he could be by what isn't quite a rejection but is, ultimately, a no. He wouldn't have complained about the leaping into his arms, had that happened, but he can't deny he'd have been suspicious of it. Of anything he earned without putting the work in.
So he nods, just a little stiffly, brow knitting as he considers this less a denial than a prospect. There's at least potential in what she's given him.]
You want me to give you better reasons we should be together. [He nods, and meets her eyes. Phrase it as a challenge and there's not much he won't do to prove himself right.]
Okay.