Really need to grind down into Juniper and Snag's dynamic in the next thing and explore how they're both kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop and desperately ignoring it. They're both in a very "they're too good for me, this is too good to be real" mindset and afraid that confronting that directly will dispel any illusions to the contrary. It's coming from different places, but it's similar in the sense that it's happened to them both before.
Juniper is so tired of disappointing people and feeling like she isn't enough. It's like she's fundamentally misaligned with others, expecting way too much when she seeks companionship on her own terms. What has she ever done to justify it? Why should anyone settle? And isn't she just being an opportunist anyway?
And Snag is used to being disposable and knows that his desires are easily exploited. But he's concluded that he's already fucked up so many things up in the pursuit of them, he might as well not stop now. He doesn't believe he even theoretically could be enough to justify being loved and cared for so earnestly, but damn it, he's going to indulge in the sensation of it while he can.
So this is obviously a polite fiction they're both engaging in because it's easy, and the sex is good... and as long as they don't think about it too much, as long as they don't rock the boat, they can go on pretending that things are exactly as good as they feel. And the fear in the back of their minds totally isn't making them kind of miserable all the while. 🙃
