he’s hardly off the couch before he finds himself sitting back down. he knew he shouldn’t have tried to leave in the first place, he’d read the code - the sudden body language his friend that read please, don’t leave, before the request even left his lips. doug let his hands rest in lap, waiting a moment before answering. it was a fake hesitense, an attempt to not read into what to say. he always knew the exact words to heal any situation, it was a supposed gift from being retrieved from the dead. he’d learned early on that it unsettled people how quickly he could answer things and reply so he’d started fake thinking, even to close friends - a reminder to him to slow down and come up with his own thoughts, and not what his powers enabled him to do.
“okay, but if warlock comes burstin’ in through a window in a mad search for me, you can’t bill me for it.”
he smiles, melting into the couch in a sign of relaxation. maybe reconnecting with a blast from the past is exactly what he needed to feel like his old self and not just a background member of the x-factor.
