[It's foreign.

It'd been enough to send Baren's heart into a frenzy when Zoro said that he missed him - because it was believable. Embarrassing but believable.

Zoro wanting him - past the physical?

It's so impossible to believe that Baren thinks it's a lie.

An unintentional one, misguided in Zoro's confusion. Mistaking lust for love isn't that odd, he's pretty sure Chuuya has the same problem. It's nothing that Baren holds against him, but it's also something that he knows he has to end now. Not enough to shatter their relationship, because he'd just promised otherwise, but enough to nip this empty infatuation in the bud.

Hence why he answers calmly, delivers his answer almost clinically.]

I don't date.

That's not up for negotiation - even for you, Z.

['Trust me,' he thinks, 'I'm doing you a favor.']

Edited 2017-08-30 07:29 pm (UTC)