"I mean, I did fight with your boyfriend that one time," Chase reminds him, and very purposefully uses the word boyfriend again. "But the time I died and killed the guy who killed me was before we were paired, so I guess it doesn't count." He has, in fact, been a pretty laid back inmate. Just occasionally grouchy and stubborn.
Oh, the thing they've never properly talked about? Now is the time he wants to bring that up? The needling at least makes it clear Chase is firmly still himself, and Wen Ning gives him a flatly sour look for it that he'd have tried harder to hide before this morning. "I don't think that had much to do with being an inmate," he says as primly as he can.
"No, it had to do with you thinking too little of yourself, your boyfriend not communicating very well, and me being a dick," Chase says. At least he claims some part of it to be his fault. "None of which has really changed, I think, which is probably going to be a problem with me being a warden. Unless there's inmates out there who like jerks."
That doesn't feel entirely fair. Neither of them was communicating, and it is, in fact, much better now. Day to day, about the same, but with that one knot of buried anxiety untied, the bad TV and cuddling and washing dishes while flirting outrageously all feel more real and safe.
And that does come down to Chase, however he intended it. "You could have handled it better, but you were..." He struggles to phrase it. "Effective. Call it directness." Being a dick might be a power he can channel.
Well, Wen Ning does still seem to think too little of himself, and Chase figures he's still a jerk, and he doesn't know how well Angel communicates these days, so he figured the guess was a safe bet. He gives Wen Ning a long look, somewhere between exasperated and tired, and says, "Well, good, at least it helped."
He is still a little miffed. He tries not to let that get in the way of the point he's making. "It is a strength, though. Being blunt. I'm certainly bad at it. You just have to learn how to use it, like anything else."
"Use being blunt." Chase laughs a little, though it's tired-sounding, too. "All right, I'll try that. I can be nice and polite, it's just always an act when I am."
"I think that's just how politeness works for a lot of people?" Not him, but the strange combination of comfort and defense mechanism is kind of a Wen Ning problem. "What you do is what counts, not what you think about."
"That's the best we're going to get, with me, anyway." He reaches for another of his graduation cookies, but he offers it to Wen Ning first. "Are you going to leave now? I mean, go back to your family?"
He shakes his head. He pretty much never actually eats. It's a waste. Especially what ought to be a celebration. "I'm not planning on going yet." He decides not to rehash the fact that, at least as things stand, he's not going back to his family. He'd just bring another disaster to them. "I might have a use for another deal." His last real talk with Godric made him feel like he had permission to think about being human again. (That's not the only use he can think of for a deal, especially with Husk gone, but that is something he isn't talking about for another reason.)
Yeah, yeah. Back to his world or whatever. He sighs a bit, though, and maybe it's relief. "Okay." He pauses, then asks, "Could I ask what it is? I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine."
"I haven't really decided for sure. But maybe? Do what Song Zichen did." He's very glad the other fierce corpse, the one who could only exist because Wen Ning did first, escaped. He's only just beginning to face the idea that he could ask for the same thing. "Ask to be human again." It doesn't feel like it should be allowed. He died, and it would have been much better for everyone if he'd been left that way, and what's he done to warrant being whole and breathing again?
"That's a good one," Chase says with a nod. Honestly, it'd what he would've gone with for Wen Ning if he could make a choice for him. Also: "I'd do it, if I were you." Then he could possibly go back to his family. Or, really, go anywhere, since he wouldn't be a walking dead body anymore.
He hasn't quite convinced himself. Deals can do so much. But saying it aloud and having it affirmed is a pleasant sensation. It's an idea he can hold onto, anyway. "Some wardens stay here a long time," he adds, like he needs the justification. "There's always something to do." And he's not terribly tempted to leave a place outside time where he can do what he enjoys with people he likes... forever.
"I mean, you can do that, too, if you want. I don't even know how many inmates some of the other wardens have graduated by now, they probably just don't want to go anywhere else yet," Chase shrugs. That is not a problem he's going to have. He wants to see his parents, dammit.
Even if going back has its own set of problems. He'll deal with them later.
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And that does come down to Chase, however he intended it. "You could have handled it better, but you were..." He struggles to phrase it. "Effective. Call it directness." Being a dick might be a power he can channel.
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Even if going back has its own set of problems. He'll deal with them later.