"This just in- Archer enjoys speaking to himself."
The agent took his eyes off the coffee machine in order to turn and look and his younger companion who was sipping his own drink and staring at the screen in his hand. The agent remained silent for a moment as he tried to choose among the dozen comebacks that popped in his mind all at once.
"...Perhaps I may remind you that by conversing with me, you are theoretically doing the same?" he offered to the younger agent finally. Although on second thought maybe he should've questioned why he had Proton's phone details.
He blinked when his housemate chuckled rather half-heartedly. "Ah, but mister Hawkshaw, I do not regard us as being the same person," he replied, smiling. "Not when you are far more great and wise than will ever be."
He didn't answer.
He crossed his arms, quietly watching his partner a moment. He didn't understand how the younger man could feel that way- how he could think so little of himself, like he wasn't worth being with, like he didn't have the right to be here.
How could he consider himself as being worth less than the older agent when it was very possibly the opposite?
He sighed, moving away from the coffee machine and taking a seat next to his younger partner. "Listen...when I was your age, I was bound a wheelchair," he began quietly. He shot a quick glance down at his right hand which had subconsciously started gripping his left arm again, and slowly unwrapped his fingers from his limb. "I could do nothing on my own. I required Melody's aid even for basic, daily activities such as bathing or dressing. And even after my recovery, I had not gone on such large missions as you do- I have only come to cross paths with criminal groups such as Galactic or Plasma in very recent years."
He shook his head and offered his youger housemate a heartfelt smile. "If you are capable of such feats now, I cannot begin to imagine what sorts of actions you will achieve in twenty years, when you finally reach my age."
"M-Mister Hawkshaw..." the younger agent breathed.
The next thing he knew, the younger housemate's lips split into a wide grin and suddenly the older agent found himself being wrapped into a hug.
He chuckled and tried to return the embrace as best as he could in his current position. "You still have much ahead of you, my friend..."
...So please, don't ever think you're worthless.