[AN: eyyyy. a dream i had. legit young ones dream. and it was lame.]

'Do you really not love me?'

Vyvyan put down the pickaxe wearily, smoothing away the debris and inadvertently transferring it to his face when he rubbed his knuckles across his brow.

'Rick, not now.'

'No, it's just… I've tried not to think about it like you said but I just want to know. I think you…' Rick swallowed loudly. 'I think you owe it to me.'

Vyvyan licked the drywall from his mouth and spat, staring at it for a long while. It was never easy with Rick. He didn't know how to be content. He wouldn't know what it was if it slapped him in the face, and Vyvyan had tried.

He shrugged his shoulders. 'What do you want me to say?'

'Why you don't love me.'

'I just don't. Why are you so obsessed with it? It shouldn't matter.'

'Shouldn't— Vyvyan! Vyvyan.' Rick's voice dropped pitch abruptly, blinking owlishly with his jaw clenched. 'Could you. Just tell me that. Could you? At least say you can pretend, sometimes.'

'I don't need to pretend, Rick. I like you, I'm with you, girlish nonsense doesn't have to play a part in that.' Vyvyan grabbed at the back of his hair where the gel was loose and it didn't matter to mess the mould, then set his palms out flat against the beam, inspecting the wall damage. 'It's been three years,' he began, throat dry and voice gruff. 'If I was going to, I think it would have happened by now.'

'Then why are you with me?'

Vyvyan's eyes rolled up, head shaking as he ran his fingers around the jagged edge of the hole. It had been going somewhere, he was looking for something, he just couldn't remember what. He half-expected Rick to lay a hand on him, but he could hear the shuffling of Rick's feet and Rick had kept his distance.

'When you could find someone else. Who you could love.'

Low, bitter, so very unlike Rick. The man inside the boy. Vyvyan grinned weakly, all teeth and no sentiment. He didn't turn his head.

'Because,' he said neutrally, grin growing in spite. 'I don't think anyone else would love me.'

Rick still didn't touch him. It put Vyvyan on edge, not being able to predict him.

'You're with me because I love you.'

'Yes.'

'And that's it.'

Vyvyan sighed, turning his head to glance at Rick over his shoulders. 'Don't turn this into a mountain, Rick. I hate you at times, yeah, but I'm happy with you. Nothing's different than yesterday or last month. You're not the one going the distance, I'm meeting you halfway, okay? I'm in this relationship, I just don't— It doesn't— I don't love you. That's all.'

'Right.'

Vyvyan spun back toward the wall, picking at the plaster.

'Thanks for that, then. Good to know where I stand.'

'Rick,' Vyvyan groaned, forehead falling against the wall. The jolt of the door slamming made debris trickle down into his eyes.