Were Tim in a better place, were they not in this pressure cooker of a town, he'd like to think he'd have the strength stop. He knew he couldn't, wouldn't stop loving Raylan but it could be more like back home; where he loved him but found platonic ways to show it. Like looking up the average age that babies start to crawl, walk, etc.
But it had taken every ounce of courage in him to make the offer to Raylan. To accept that it was too messy for the older marshal to try to juggle three lovers and to give his partner the opportunity to press pause on them. Raylan hadn't taken it, and Tim would not admit to the way a knot in his chest had loosened and fallen away as a result. He couldn't and he wouldn't ask again.
This may have communicated itself in the way the sniper leaned into Raylan's hold, the tightness with which he held in return.
"I've been trying to extend you the same courtesy," he said quietly. "I think that might be a sticking point with Malcolm. He wants us to work together to help you and I fear he's taken my reluctance to discuss you, back home and here, as a rejection of him."
Though it was true that Tim wasn't all that good with emotions, even when he had permission to talk about them. Shifting his head a little to rest on the older man's shoulder, his fingertips began to make soft circles on chilly skin.
"Yes," he said without hesitation. "I may not be able to offer you much to make any of this easier for you, but I can get my head out of my ass in this instance and focus on you."
no subject
But it had taken every ounce of courage in him to make the offer to Raylan. To accept that it was too messy for the older marshal to try to juggle three lovers and to give his partner the opportunity to press pause on them. Raylan hadn't taken it, and Tim would not admit to the way a knot in his chest had loosened and fallen away as a result. He couldn't and he wouldn't ask again.
This may have communicated itself in the way the sniper leaned into Raylan's hold, the tightness with which he held in return.
"I've been trying to extend you the same courtesy," he said quietly. "I think that might be a sticking point with Malcolm. He wants us to work together to help you and I fear he's taken my reluctance to discuss you, back home and here, as a rejection of him."
Though it was true that Tim wasn't all that good with emotions, even when he had permission to talk about them. Shifting his head a little to rest on the older man's shoulder, his fingertips began to make soft circles on chilly skin.
"Yes," he said without hesitation. "I may not be able to offer you much to make any of this easier for you, but I can get my head out of my ass in this instance and focus on you."