[ That would be why the expectations didn't align then, Jim, wouldn't it? But Stephen can't blame him. He himself hasn't had a single deliberate conversation about needs and expectations with any one person he's been sleeping with. ]

It was and it wasn't. [ It was. The it wasn't comes mostly from how small the comment was that had really set him off, and how hard it had hit all the same. He should probably warn him. If this is hard for Stephen, he can only imagine it's harder for Jim with the decades that yawn between them. ] I told her what we were, in the Void. She made a derogatory point of my being a man.

[ It was the first time that's ever happened to him. He hadn't quite been ready for his own reaction. ]

If she says anything to you, cut her off. You don't have to listen to that.

[ Stephen hadn't. One strike and he'd killed the conversation dead. ]