@bellytochin asked: ꫂ᭪݁ from ryland ;)
Send ꫂ᭪݁ To Tie My Muse Up For A Thread!
At first he thought it was a game. Or maybe Ryland was under the noble, concerned, if misguided impression that he was saving Robert, no- Mecha Man- from a perilous endeavor.
That would have been… disarmingly sweet, actually. The very thought sends a pang through his chest that he’d press a hand to, were it free to do so. Did Ryland care that much? He knows for certain that the biology teacher has his hooks full, deeply, maybe even irrevocably sunk through the (would-be) errant vigilante. Maybe it's time to dispense with the games? There are risks to that, of course. Namely that Relationships, capital R- can often be mentally, physically(and sometimes financially) risky to the civilian involved. It's just DIFFERENT when someone from outside the life is attempted to be incorporated into the already spinning, whirring world of the hero's orbit. Everything in the outer edges tends to be tossed away by that centrifugal force.
There's also the risk that Ryland wouldn't LIKE Robert. After all, he's spent a lifetime ceding everything to the mantle. Almost 30 years of dissolution leaves little left aside from an ocean of want and longing. And relationships can't survive on want, alone. A second glance at Ryland's face puts a halt to this train of thought entirely. Oh. This IS a game? He feels silly, and his face heats under the mask, but he finds himself smirking back.
❝Ah... I see,❞ he chuckles. He's not used to seeing that sort of glint in the teacher's face. ❝I know you're good at instruction... and taking orders,❞ he smiles, thinking of that time when he just couldn't help mauling the teacher during an impromptu lecture. ❝You're a man of action, too... Good to know...❞
