Declan doesn't drink the second glass. He holds it, long fingers tapping against the edge, manicured nails clicking ever so slightly as they touch the glass. Ronan keeps his blunt and short. Declan keeps his sharp.
He listens while Gansey talks, still guarded but clearly intrigued. His eyes linger on Gansey, catching on his lip, the movements of his hands. His body is turned away, but his chest is curved toward Gansey, wanting to open up to him but still wary, skittish as a feral animal.
The praise isn't necessary, doesn't change much, but it is a good place to start. It's the base necessity of this continuing. If Gansey didn't find him attractive, this wouldn't have started. If Declan didn't reciprocate the opinion, he wouldn't have come inside.
But one line turns it all sour. If it's you, Gansey says, and Declan doesn't think of all the ways that he's safe. He's not used to thinking of himself as safe. He thinks of himself as a constant danger, a desperate engineer against a crumbling dam. Disaster is inevitable. One day someone will come for him with a tire iron. Declan takes that as a fact. Any life that touches his own is endangered by him. So when Gansey says that Declan is a safety against ruination, Declan doesn't think of all the ways that he's safe. He thinks of all the things that he's not.
He's not Ronan.
When Gansey softens, Declan sharpens. His lip curls up on one side, exposing one of those sharp Lynch canines, somewhere between a smirk, a snarl, and a threat. "I'm not going to fuck you just because I'm the less breakable brother."
no subject
He listens while Gansey talks, still guarded but clearly intrigued. His eyes linger on Gansey, catching on his lip, the movements of his hands. His body is turned away, but his chest is curved toward Gansey, wanting to open up to him but still wary, skittish as a feral animal.
The praise isn't necessary, doesn't change much, but it is a good place to start. It's the base necessity of this continuing. If Gansey didn't find him attractive, this wouldn't have started. If Declan didn't reciprocate the opinion, he wouldn't have come inside.
But one line turns it all sour. If it's you, Gansey says, and Declan doesn't think of all the ways that he's safe. He's not used to thinking of himself as safe. He thinks of himself as a constant danger, a desperate engineer against a crumbling dam. Disaster is inevitable. One day someone will come for him with a tire iron. Declan takes that as a fact. Any life that touches his own is endangered by him. So when Gansey says that Declan is a safety against ruination, Declan doesn't think of all the ways that he's safe. He thinks of all the things that he's not.
He's not Ronan.
When Gansey softens, Declan sharpens. His lip curls up on one side, exposing one of those sharp Lynch canines, somewhere between a smirk, a snarl, and a threat. "I'm not going to fuck you just because I'm the less breakable brother."