[AN: yeah. and then i did more. don't look at me.]

'Yeah, I love 'im. I just don't know why you want me to tell you, is all.'

Mick shrugs and continues to pick through the bowl of nuts, sticking all the cashews in his mouth.

'It's what you do, isn't it. You love someone and you tell them, so you can get married and have babies and whatnot.'

'But Keith doesn't want babies and anyway, he can't have 'em, and I can't either because I asked that nurse lady and she told me. She told me more than once so I'm really sure. It doesn't matter, though, 'cause I'm not gonna tell him.'

'Is it a secret?'

'Nuh, it's not a secret because I just told you and it's not a secret if you tell people.'

'Not if I keep it to myself. Then it's our secret.'

'But he knows already, so it's not a secret.'

Mick throws his latest nut down, shaking his head. 'But how can he know if you haven't told him? That's what telling is for, it's so they can know the thing that you know.'

Kevin sighs, folding his arms over his chest and tucking them in underneath his sleeves.

'It's 'cause I show him, Mick. I, like, touch his face and stuff, and his hair. Look, it doesn't really matter. It's not something you should be interested in because it's not fishing and it's not girls or fighting.'

Mick narrows his eyes, tapping his fingers against the bar top. A slow smile eventually spreads and he nods, pulling the nuts back toward him.

'You're under the thumb.'

'I'm not.'

'You are, you both are. You under each other's thumbs.'

'How could we even do that, Mick. If I've got a bloody great thumb over me head, how can I be putting my thumb out over him. It just doesn't work, does it.'

'Hey.' Mick's chin jerks, and he waves his hand in greeting.

Keith is weaving his way around tables, hair mussed from the wind and tie askew. He touches Kevin's back when he reaches them and sits beside him. Sometimes he'll kiss the side of Kevin's head, but not if Mick's around. He doesn't want Mick thinking he's under the thumb.

'Keith,' Mick says around his chewing, leaning an elbow on the bar so he can see around Kevin. 'You know Kevin loves you, and it's not even a secret.'

Keith tips his head down, like he's fallen asleep against his chest like them birds you see on the telly sometimes.

'I s'pose I know, yeah.'

'Do you love him back?'

'It's not really any of your business.'

'Except that it is a bit, right, if you think about it. As Kevin's most dearest lodger, I've probably got a right to know.'

'Kevin, if you had another lodger, would your favourite still be Mick?'

Kevin glances across at Keith, and then over at Mick. He's never met another lodger, not even someone else's. He does like Mick, though. He's got nice records and he doesn't keep his books overdue when he borrows Kevin's library card. And Kevin's mum doesn't mind that he wears her nightie because she said he could and she says Mick is polite and Kevin wishes more people were polite.

'I guess he would be, yeah.'

Keith turns his head down the bar, looking for the tender.

'Yeah,' he says. 'Then I do love him.'