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[abrightboy]

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[conning]

"I mean, that might be... overstating a little, as well. The always part." He shifts a little on his stool, uncomfortable less because of what Malcolm said than because he can think of instances in which almost everyone but Sara and June did. Peter, El, Mozzie, Jones--not Diana. She hid things from him, certainly, but she never betrayed him.

He looks up, blue eyes worried. "It was impermanent. That feeling. The reason I said it. I was angry, furious, at the things you said, yeah, but... I also was so angry at you for not existing before then, for being so kind until that point, and caring so much when no one else did. For doing all that and then finding Will and turning into someone I couldn't keep."

[abrightboy]

"But I want you to keep me," Malcolm answers plainly.

[conning]

A smile, small and unsteady but real.

"I know. I want to. It just... It's hard for me to care about someone as much as I care about you without weighing how likely it is you'll pick me if it came down to that kind of choice. In my life..." A soft, mirthless noise. "In my life, it always has. And I'm never the one that gets chosen."

[abrightboy]

“So…” He’s clearly trying to parse and understand rather than judge. “So it’s always a contest? Between you and… everyone?”

[conning]

Neal shrugs a little helplessly. "I don't mean for it to be."

[abrightboy]

“That sounds lonely,” Malcolm admits.

[conning]

"I really don't mean for it to be."

[abrightboy]

"I'd never turn you away when you need a friend," Malcolm says. "Even if it's just because you're feeling lonely and you just want to..." He gestures around. "Drink tea and play chess with someone."

[conning]

Neal has no idea how grateful his own expression is. "I know. It's one of many reasons that I love you."

[abrightboy]

That brings a charmed smile to Malcolm's face.

"I'm never had a friend that let me do that for them."

[conning]

"...Really?" He finds that baffling, personally. "You're really good at chess."

[abrightboy]

“Sure. If you get past the fact that I’m macabre and peculiar,” Malcolm points out. “That kind of puts a stop to things before the opportunity to be a supportive friend comes up.”

[conning]

Neal smiles crookedly at that. "Half the barge is macabre and peculiar in their own ways. Anyone who can't acknowledge it respectfully in someone else is a hypocrite."

[abrightboy]

"Yeah, but when I tell them that, they just tell me I don't understand people like I think I do," Malcolm says with a smirk. "Apparently, I'm bad at my job, but it isn't personal or judgemental of them to say so. ...I think the next time someone tells me that, I'm going to ask what it is, then."