Fight to be free

I am Jesse Mullins and I lost count at 1095 days of being alive since the rebirth.

[oldmanschwartz-deactivated20140]

  Reiner rolled his eyes when Jesse continued talking, the man easily falling in step with the soldier as he walked to the cook. The cook nodded to Reiner, knowing he wanted food and water, so Reiner lingered by the serving table until he got it. 

After a few more seconds of Jesse talking, Reiner growled lowly in the back of his throat and his hand snapped out to wrap around Jesse’s face to cover his mouth in a blatant command for silence. Reiner punched the bridge of his nose and heaved another sigh, rubbing his face quickly as he held his hand at Jesse’s mouth until his food arrived.

[j-mullins]

Jesse frowned  under Reiner's grip and contemplated liking  or biting him so he would let go but who knows where that hand has been. The younger man crossed his arms and tapped his foot and tried not to think where that hand had been lately. 

He finally nudged himself free from Reiner's grip once the other man got distracted by his food. ''Raaay'' Jesse whispered.

[princessoftheoutpost-blog]

  "Well, I took a physics class in high school and we built a few things. That’s why I asked." Daphne shrugged, more and more time with this dude was making him even weirder. She didn’t get the whole science nerd thing. "No one would ever ask a chef to make a Turducken." Daphne said, her voice monotone as she stared at the man sitting next to her. Why did she not mind her own business? The man continued to ramble on and on about absolutely nothing. She was pretty sure he just talked to hear himself. 

Daphne smiled again, giving him one of her charming beauty pageant ones. “We can set you up with the kids sometime today if you’d like. They still take classes even though we’re all in the mess hall. Gives them some sort of schedule.” She nodded, “I guess so. I just love to cook and baked. Loved actually. I’ll probably never get to do it again.” When he placed his hands on hers, she was a bit surprised. Wondering what this guy’s same was. “I’m not that artistic. I got better with math when I opened my own business although Dillon did most of the the financial end of it.”

[j-mullins]

Put a gun to my head and paint the wall with my brains.  

He stared at Daphne a bit longer than socially accepted, ”Um…” he cleared his throat. Was she serious? Jesse fought, he fought hard against his urge to tell her Yeah well no one with so much as half a brain would ask an astrophycisist to build a “machine” . 

Jesse gave her a half smile, ''I'm sorry to hear you lost someone too...'' he stayed quiet for a couple seconds before breaking silence with a gasp. ''You just gave me a great idea for the kids! What if we combine cooking class taught by you, with math lessons taught by me. We could make it dynamic and fun. You never know, we might end up learning from each other too.'' 

[its-alex-thompson]

  "I can throw you into the vat of used motor oil. That might get you over your phobia." Alex said with a laugh. He wasn’t surprised at all to learn that Jesse wasn’t interested in cars. Most of the intellectual people he met could care less about cars. Most of the ones he went to high school with couldn’t even tell brands of cars apart, let alone anything about what was under the hood.

Alex laughed. “No, it wasn’t red. White with blue racing stripes.” He looked over his shoulder when Jesse shivered. Alex was a little confused, it was just Daphne. She wasn’t anything to shudder over. He smiled back at her before turning back to Jesse. “You mean like liquor? I’m sure we could raid the kitchen and find some wine that they cook with or something stronger if we’re lucky.”

"Do you mean outside this building or outside the wall? Because right now the answer to both is no." Alex said, glancing toward the boarded up windows, wishing that at least there was some natural light coming into the over crowded mess hall. "After all this is said and done though, we’ll be allowed to go out with scavenger missions if the council approves."

[j-mullins]

Shit, was this man trying to kill Jesse or why did everything that came out of his mouth sound so goddamn sexual. Alex's chocolaty laugh resonated sweetly through Jesse's ears. ''Yes, I do mean like liquor and I swear I won't go full nerd on you if we happen to drink more than allowed because, by how you put it we're not permitted to do much here are we? I mean without someones permission. Who holds the spirits? Barbie over there?'' 

He bit his lower lip and looked up for a second in thought, ''Alex...what exactly happens if we break the rules? What if I honest to god just want to go for a walk outside of the wall, with no mission or whatever.''

[oldmanschwartz-deactivated20140]

[j-mullins]

"Hold on, this will only take a second." He told the person be was chatting with, and held an invisible cube with his thumb and pointer finger to reassure he wouldn’t take long. Jesse ran up to Reiner, "Ray!" The younger man took a firm step with his left foot and stomped with his...

[j-mullins]

Jesse raised his arms in exacerbation and let out a loud grunt. "Okay you're not into roleplaying either. I can never win with you can I?!" He cried out to Reiner before taking his place beside him. "Ray I can tell you're having the time of your life out there but can you, forget the rush of the hunt for just one second?" He asked as he followed his every move, his eyes trying their hardest to meet the older man's.

[oldmanschwartz-deactivated20140]

Reiner stepped into the mess hall, uncaring that he reeked of the undead and stale sweat. He had been on the wall for the majority of the run, and he needed to replenish his energy with water and food. Reiner walked through the clustered mess hall through what he viewed were useless people. He ignored the wandering eyes and the questions, knowing the answers would only create panic.

[j-mullins]

"Hold on, this will only take a second." He told the person be was chatting with, and held an invisible cube with his thumb and pointer finger to reassure he wouldn’t take long. Jesse ran up to Reiner, "Ray!" The younger man took a firm step with his left foot and stomped with his right, his hand on his forhead, chest out. "Sir, Ray sir. Its nice to have you back." He did all this with a laugh wanting to escape his lips. "Sir, permission to speak?" He asked, Jesse was glad to see a familiar face.

[j-mullins]

[j-mullins]

If Jesse hadn’t been so heedful on contemplating Brandon’s reactions he would have remembered this is when a normal person would smile and give him his condolences. In its place his brow shaped in curiosity and his mouth gaped slightly, until he said in a hush voice ”I see…” and...

[j-mullins]

He woke up to the sound of someone exiting the room. Jesse got up, got dressed, made the bed or whatever he could with the sheets and sat on the floor with his back against the bed. He couldn't help but go over what Brandon had told him last night, he made it seem sso simple and easy... He was startled by the sound of the door being open or the smell of food. It hadn't just been one of the best nights hes had in years but it looked to be like he was going to get one of of the best brekfasts too. "Hey." Jesse gave his provider a welcoming smile. He sighed once his glasses were on and his view of what was real came back to him. The other man was fully dressed and trapped under his facade again. "I hope thats for me, remember what happened to the last guy who denied me food? " he joked, his legs crossed on the floor, his arms gently placed to his sides, it was weird to not feel the need to be able to run at any second.

[j-mullins]

Barricade || Brandon and Jesse

[acerbicbrandon]

  Brandon hadn’t intended to open up, but Jesse caught him unawares when he knew who he was right away, so he couldn’t foresee the harm in speaking about his daughter. Plus, the other man seemed to struggle with comprehending emotions and apathy was of intrigue to the hunter. An absence of feeling was desirable to Brandon.

"She was stubborn. By five, she wouldn’t let us leave her with her cousins anymore while we went on our deep woods camping trips up to Desolation Wilderness. She started surfing at three and was competing by seven. She didn’t take bullshit from anyone and asked ‘why’ constantly; always wanting answers for everything," Brandon answered quietly with a wistful stare. He dragged hard from his cigarette and chuckled on exhale. "I’d never been so scared in my life when I found out I was gonna be a dad. That fear never goes away, it just evolves. A parent’s worst fear is losing their child. I have nothing left to be afraid of." His words were flat and hollow.

Brandon accepted his flask back and polished off what remained. He set it on the bedside table before shifting to lay down. “I’ll be awake at dawn. I’ll bring you back something to eat from the mess hall to hold you over until I can smuggle you over to the medical facility to get you checked out. Don’t leave this room until I say so or it’s your ass if you get shot.”

He didn’t care to talk about his daughter or anything else at that point; he was physically, then emotionally drained.

[j-mullins]

If Jesse hadn't been so heedful on contemplating Brandon's reactions he would have remembered this is when a normal person would smile and give him his condolences. In its place his brow shaped in curiosity and his mouth gaped slightly, until he said in a hush voice ''I see...'' and turned to look down at the bed with a lost stare. He heard in Brandon's voice the painful joy it brought him to talk about his daughter; yet there was so much more he wanted to ask, so much more he needed to know.

There was one question in particular that buzzed louder than the others, one question that he tried asking to himself only to find a shrug as an answer. One question that would truly get a reaction out of his midnight partner. If you loved her so much, why is she dead? Jesse couldn't believe that Brandon found a second coming in this ''new world'' or any sort of freedom. It was odd for Jesse to see someone who used to be so alive still want to fight, in his opinion: fighting for nothing. The question now was, Why aren't you dead too?

Despite having so much to ask, Jesse was well aware if he added anything more he'd distress the comfort their dead of night randevu had created. He accepted the orders the other man gave him as a sign to let his mind and body rest after a tiresome day. He nodded with an understanding "Okay" and a yawn. The half Irish waited for the other man to turn off the lights and lay back down, quickly a tattoo-less arm found itself around a tattooed torso. "I'm Jesse by the way." he whispered before closing his eyes for the night. 

[j-mullins]

Barricade || Brandon and Jesse

[acerbicbrandon]

  'Did you have a kid?' Did. Past-tense. She was something that was, and now was not. Brandon reached for his flask off his nightstand and all but chugged its contents.”I was an only-child. No nieces or nephews possible,” he answered with a cringe as the moonshine burned down his throat.

Brandon looked down at the tattoo in question. Smudges of red and blue decorated his calf in disjointed finger-paint strokes. He gazed at it for a long while, unmoving. The ash on his cigarette was precariously long, but his stillness while he reminisced kept the soot precariously balanced. “It was for her fourth birthday,” he suddenly said, shattering the silence. He spoke in monotone, as he checked out of the room, the moment, the current time, and stepped into a memory.

"She said she wanted to give me a tattoo because, well," he held an inked arm aloft to demonstrate his art. "I handed her the markers and she said she wanted to give me a real tattoo. So I set her up with paints and paper, told her to paint her favorite superhero, and she came back with Batman here,” Brandon continued as a rueful smile threatened to reveal itself. “I had my tattoo artist buddy put it on my leg the next day. She came with me to the shop and he asked her why she picked Batman. She told him it was because Batman is like me.”

The frail ash dropped off Brandon’s cigarette and onto the blanket. He smeared it away quickly and set the remaining cigarette in the ash tray so he could take another sip of moonshine. Brandon swallowed and passed the flask to Jesse beside him in offering. “I make it myself.”

[j-mullins]

Jesse listened to the other man, he finished his cigarette and put it out in the ashtray; this is was actual mourning looks like. A man that when Jesse first encountered had been protected by layers of clothing and hidden behind a strong demeanor was now shed free of limiting obstacles. Is that was death is supposed to do to you?

''How was she like?'' Jesse asked with an airy voice not completely full of sorrow but he tried. He wanted to imagine what having the most prized person in your life being taken away from you felt like. Or having a prized person for that matter.

Was he wrong in going about like nothing had happened? Of course he thought about his parents and Tony and a countless other men who popped up in his mind now and then. But it wasn't like this, not how Brandon did it, not how he projected himself and felt it, actually felt it. Jesse just wondered how they died or missed how Tony would wake him up in the wee hours to go watch him surf. 

He accepted the flask and took a small sip of the liquid before taking a bigger gulp. He winced and took another swig at the unfamiliar taste. The bottle wasn't his so naturally he handed it back to Brandon, he looked at his body full of ink, each undecipherable tattoo probably had more meaning than Jesse could ever imagine. 

[princessoftheoutpost-blog]

  Daphne frowned, rolling her eyes. She hated when people laughed at her. “Alright then.” She forced a smile, not wanting to come over as a bitch. “I was just wondering. It makes sense though. I just heard physics and thought maybe you’d be more helpful. Do you have a position here yet? I’ve never seen you around before.”

Her eyes slightly glassed over as he spoke about volunteering and teaching physics and science to kids. “That’s actually very interesting. Maybe you could help some of the kids out. We have a few teachers but they don’t learn as much as they could.” Daphne smiled, shrugging slightly and turning a bit red, she rarely talked about her life before this. “I owned a catering company. Daphne’s Dolls. I uh, was trying to open up a cupcake bakery. I’m from Texas if you can’t tell from my accent. Not that interesting, I’m afraid. I hate science and math.”

[j-mullins]

''Oh no no, I wasn't trying to be rude. I'm sorry, it was very ironic because I don't get along with machinery.'' he gave out an innocent chuckle and gave her a commiserating look. Though on the inside he felt a slight pinch of acid run through his veins, did she just say an exact science isn't helpful? Did she just call him useless after having heard he knows about actual theory of time travel? Jesse might have just found his favorite person in the whole camp. 

''It's sort of like...when someone studies confectionery, and you think 'Oh she's a chef! She can make me a Turducken.' Now unless you specialize in any other sort of cuisine, you're only stuck with desserts, so let's say I'm only stuck with desserts and even though I know what a Turducken is and its mechanics, I don't exactly know how to make one.'' He imagined this is what it would be like trying to explain basic math to a child. Jesse made a mental note on keep on using the topic of kids and families and shit like that if he wanted to win her over. 

''I would love to help the kids out with math! It's such an essential part in a child's assay development you have no idea the damage it can bring to their comprehension of the world if they're not properly educated in math. And- and just the thought of being able to give the kids anything meaningful to their lives especially now, is...enough for me to keep on living in this F-up world.'' He sighed and looked down, his brows arched. All the while he thought she probably doesn't now how to do a proper multiplication. ''Oh! I bet your cupcakes were delicious and very crafty. I see you as a woman who likes detail. And trust me-'' he placed his hands on hers briefly as a bonding gesture,''-I hate math too but it's the only thing I've ever been good at. I wish I was born with a more artistic incline.'' 

[its-alex-thompson]

  Alex smiled, happy that someone at least understood his passion about cars. He knew he used to get on his old friends nerves when he used to talk about cars. His old roommate and coworker, Thomas was the only one who cared. “You can come down to the garage. I can try and teach you, if you want.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at the way Jesse talked, using computer slang.

"I’ve done it. I was working on restoring an old Mustang before the world ended. I only needed one more part before she was perfect." Alex thought back to his life before the world ended. A spot in the garage was always reserved for the Mustang, because it constantly needed work. For a while, it was the biggest thing in his life. Even now when he had bigger things to worry about, he wished he could have finished restoring the mustang.

[j-mullins]

You can teach me anything you want, Jesse thought, no, scratch that you can teach me anywhere you want. ''I'd hate that actually. But maybe you can help me erase the tabu I have towards actually getting my hands dirty with the hardware of a car.'' he said with a laugh. You can teach me inside the vehicle or outside. In and out. 

''Before we continue our talk about Mustangs...-was it red? I can only imagine it red. Like in the movies.- Is there anything we can drink around here besides kool-aid or water?'' He asked as he saw a snobby looking blonde walk by and give them a smile, it made him shiver. She was the boss around here, he could tell. 

''Are we even aloud out? Do you wanna go out? We can always go look at some of your cars already and I can explain to you in massive detail why a wheel turns and never falls with the basics of the rotation dynamics.'' he said with a tone of irony in his voice, he bit his lip and tried to calm himself down. Jesse is known to talk if he doesn't shut himself up or get punched in the process, and the thought of being alone with the other man was enough to make him not want to stop. 

[j-mullins]

Barricade || Brandon and Jesse

[acerbicbrandon]

  Brandon huffed a short laugh of agreement. “Fucking is the only thing that feels alive anymore.”

The surfer stretched his bare legs straight out and crossed them at the ankle as he leaned back against the headboard. He listened, and watched, while Jesse explained the nature of the contusions covering him. His balled-up posture suggested he was uncomfortable with the subject he was speaking about, but his eyes didn’t waver and his hands stayed away from his mouth, suggesting he was speaking the truth. Brandon’s eyebrows arched sympathetically as he moved the ashtray to rest between them on the bed. “I can imagine wandering in the desert for forty years would beget the occasional bout of hanger. I’d probably play ‘Cain and Abel’ too.”

This new guy wasn’t so bad for company. At the very least, he wasn’t boring.

[j-mullins]

''I've only ever felt alive while fucking.'' he gave Brandon an incredulous half smile as if he shouldn't be taken so seriously. ''I can honestly say- Oh thank you'' Jess cleaned his hand from the ash and let it drop on the tray, ''- I don't feel much different from before all of this, just less productive and less fucked. A lot less.'' Even still on a natural high from a gratifying  lay Jesse wasn't comfortable talking about himself in such big chunks of actualities, he hugged his knees and tried to let silence make him comfortable again. 

Impossible. ''Did you have a kid? Or did a nephew paint that? It gives you a nice vivid touch.'' he pointed with his pointer and middle finger, cigar pinched in between them, towards Brandon's calf. It wasn't until now that Jesse spotted a dash of color on the other man's body, it wasn't only the color that stood out, but between the blurred symbols and letters this specific tattoo had no particular shape. 

[its-alex-thompson]

  Alex listened to Jesse talking, getting more and more interested in the other’s life as he kept talking. The life he was describing sounded like something from one of those secret agent movies he used to watch when he was younger. Never did he ever think that those were jobs that people actually did. Yet here Jesse was telling him that he did exactly that. “No, don;t worry. You’re not boring me. That sounds so much better that the life I had before this happened.”

Alex thought for a second about the question before he answered. “My passion has always been about cars and I still get to fix them. Not the classic cars that I used to spend my time restoring. Man, it would be fucking amazing if I could find a classic car and bring it back to fix it up. Soup up the engine, get it running almost silently, from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds. But, no. The council want practical cars. Cars that are easy to fix, easy to find, don’t take a lot of time to get running. I’m babbling. Sorry.”

[j-mullins]

”Alex, you know how you can tell when someone’s extremely passionate about something?” he inquired though the question was somewhat obvious but he needed it to make a point. ”All I know about cars is how to drive one, and that’s it. I know nothing, in fact I used to despise having to so much as fill the tank.” he continued. ”But you my friend, you made me want to get under the hood and install a new engine, get behind the wheel and go fast, and shit I really have no idea about cars.” Jesse chuckled aware of how he used computer slang on car talk. ”But for a second you made me think I did.”

The blue eyed man wished he could remember if he’d seen an automobile anywhere before finding the wall. Jesse wished he could know where to find one of those classic cars Alex was going on about, and take him there. Lay on the hood and look up at the stars and tell Alex useless information about solar systems and how we're so insignificant to the universe yet we're all made of the same decaying matter."Have you ever gone out car hunting? You know for one of those old fancy cars? God knows I used up each and every computer's resting life spand I've encountered. "

[j-mullins]

Barricade || Brandon and Jesse

[acerbicbrandon]

  Normally Brandon would have refused bumming Jesse —or anyone— a cigarette, but he’d more than earned the reward in this case. He passed the smoke he’d just barely lit to the other man and took another out for himself.

A puff of smoke escaped Brandon’s lungs as he let out an amused chuckle. “You certainly have a way of making yourself at home,” he remarked while eyeing the bruises covering Jesse’s flesh and his tone shifted from sated to curious. “Who’d you piss off?”

[j-mullins]

''Thanks.'' he said as he stole Brandon's cigarette; he pressed it to his lips and took it all in, the smoke, like Brandon. He trapped the fumes in his lungs for a couple seconds before letting it out slowly, his head tilted slightly upwards. ''If that wasn't home, then I don't know what is.'' he added with a titter.

''The right people apparently.'' Jesse sat himself up, back against the wall, knees to his chest, he pulled the covers over himself. ''The last 'group' I was with...'' he bit the inside of his cheek before continuing, ''Um, they were some sort of a hippie vegan nomad hybrid, so we spent our time walking and walking and not eating meat and walking and fucking talking about mother earth and discussing on how we deserve this whole ordeal. Oh the fucking irony man.'' He puffed from the cigar and motioned his hands in circles to indicate he'd continue soon, Jesse didn't think the other man was one to enjoy details, ''Anyway, long story short, after...I calculated about 3 months of, roaming with them, we sat down to 'eat' after a long fucking day. Man I was tired, and bored, and hungry, god, more than hungry.'' He chuckled, this was his favorite part of the story.

''So it was this idiots turn to say 'grace'. His fucking idea of grace was reciting everything he could remember from the bible, I swear. Not just that, oh no. But we had to pause after everything and repeat whatever he thought meaningful. So I lost it.'' Jesse's eyes widened and closed back to their normal size as he shrugged. ''Fuck food, fuck being tired, fuck mother earth. I was probably more sexually frustrated than anything, he wasn't bad looking, so I beat the shit out of him...hard. I was on top of him just punching away. It just felt like the right thing to do.'' 

''They didn't stop me until I had a rock in my hand. And that's when everyone over sixteen feigned hippie dementia and went all jock on me. It's not as bad as it sounds though.'' he finished his story, a story of facts opposed to his usual fallacies. Jesse let the ash of his cigar fall into his cupped hand with what he had already recollected. 

(Author's note: I mean no offense by anything written.)  

[j-mullins]

Barricade || Brandon and Jesse

[acerbicbrandon]

  Read More

[j-mullins]

The soft lingering warm Brandon's cum left in his ass made Jesse give out one last pleasureful sigh. But before he could catch his breath he was being pushed back down by the other man's weight and order. After everything he just offered, it would be rude of him to refuse. 

He sat up on his elbow and held Brandon's cock with his other hand, his mouth moved faster than the first time, his tongue licked from his balls all the way to the tip and he swallowed him whole one last time. His cum tasted exactly how he wanted it to, Jesse's skin tingled as he let the other man go. 

''D'you have a smoke you can spare?'' he asked from his, face up completely laid down position in the bed, he made the feeling last as long as possible as he controlled his breathing. 

[j-mullins]

Barricade || Brandon and Jesse

[acerbicbrandon]

  Read More

[j-mullins]

Brandon's wish is Jesse's command. He dropped his hands to the edge of the bed, his fingers sunk into the border fiercely as he lift himself up and back with short quick movements. He let out a string of loud moans as his blood boiled with complete effervescent satisfaction, this made it all worth while. Everything that could possibly be wrong with the world vanished into heat and friction around his stirring dick. 

''Cum inside me...fuck. Fuck do it!'' His abdomen contracted with small spasms, he yanked himself as hard as he could against Brandon, eyes completely closed, mouth wide open, Jesse let out a euphoric moan. And nothing mattered but the hot stream of cum that shot out of him and on to Brandon's hand.  

[j-mullins]

Barricade || Brandon and Jesse

[acerbicbrandon]

  Read More

[j-mullins]

The rhythm was good, it was perfect, he was perfect, as if Jess was molded to have Brandon inside of him. And before Jesse could let out a small pleading ''No!'' at his partner's distance, he was shoved on his back and getting fucked again, properly truly fucked again. The other man had done his homework. 

Brandon, always one step ahead of Jesse, all he had to do was enjoy the other man's hold around his dick, ''Yeah yeah yeah.'' he whispered quickly. The far-sighted man placed his hands in the back of his knees and pulled his legs closer towards him relieving the stress and giving his new friend better access.

''Oh god! Ah, god Brandon! '' he bit his lip and opened his eyes to relish on whoever he was pleasuring back but his stare was hard to maintain as the waves of complete pleasure made his back arch and his eyelids flutter. Jesse moaned a loud blissful ''Fuck!'' 

[princessoftheoutpost-blog]

 Daphne tried her best not to look confused as the men continued to ramble on about something or other. “Astrophysics? Is that like the physics of space? Well any physics. I bet you could help us come up with some machines or something right? To help us? I mean, Alex has a bunch of junk in her garage. Right?” Daphne asked, taking some of the words she did understand and trying to continue the conversation with the man. 

"Mother hen? Not quite. The council is no where to be found, like usual. Someone needs to take control or there would be total chaos. I run the kitchens so it only makes sense I would prepare the mess hall as well." She gave him a charming smile, "I’m Daphne."

[j-mullins]

''Machines?'' he asked with a laugh, ''No, not in the slightest,'' he covered his mouth with his hand and laughed again, ''I'm sorry, it's just, the only machine I had anything to do with, and it was a minor hypothetical situation at a bar with one of my professors is, the time machine.'' his eyebrows arched in innocence as he gave her a apologetic shrug.  ''Aah. But I can always teach you the basics if you want or Alex, of course you need physics to build a machine but...it's like making a movie and I'm the guy behind the camera. I know the process of making it but I don't get involved with the actual making. Does that make sense?'' The speckled man continued, his face looked harmless and childlike as he saw no understanding in the woman he was talking to. 

''That was an absurd example but I used to volunteer teaching math and physics or science in general to kids who were having a hard time at school, in my community. My girlfriend and I were planning a children's book on this matter seeing as how I actually got the kids to understand what i was talking about, but then all this happened and...'' he sighed and looked back at her. ''How about you Daphne? Tell me about yourself besides this.''  He placed an elbow on the table and rested his head on his hand, he stared into her eyes as she spoke.