Welcome To My Personal Hellscape

. Man he’s kind of… How do I put this? He really wasn’t expecting to catch someone's attention romantically. . He’s pretty jaded, overall. He’s on a constant look out for anyone getting close to him just because of his work. He already has a low tolerance for socializing, he’s not going out of his way to interact where he doesn’t need to. . It takes a few conversations where you treat him like a person, and not just the author of a best seller, before he’s going to loosen up a bit. Even then, that’s still not a friendship invitation. . He’s a bit like one of those cats. The ones where if you hang in the same space, leave little offerings (Bring him black coffee and some biscuits) and let him approach you? He at least gets the sense you respect him enough that he will respect you in turn. . And little things that show your concern for him without nagging him to just take breaks, eat, sleep etc. If he’s in a state where he’s inspired, he won’t move for hours. And he doesn’t want to be interrupted. The world could collapse around him, and he’d be more upset about being brought out of his zone. He views eating, drinking and sleeping as things that get in the way of his writing. It’s not that he can’t take care of himself, he’s a grown man and he doesn’t want to be babied. That would be embarrassing if he thought his partner was mother-henning him. . But, he’s going to be gently surprised when you make or get his coffee just how he likes it, if he sees a bowl with a few snacks have been placed next to him at some point, or if some of the empty bowls and plates have been taken away and cleaned. . He’s surprised because he’s not expecting you to do any of it. He’ll question you at some point. Even says you don’t have to do any of this stuff. . You tell him you know, but that you want to do it. . That kind of just… Stuns him. That is going to be the beginning of a spiral that will lead to him catching feelings. Whoops.

. He’s not the most physically affectionate guy. He feels more comfortable keeping his hands in his pockets, but on the rare occasion he wants to feel you close he won’t mind if you hold his arm. In private it’s not far off. Honestly, he feels his hands get easily clammy, and holding hands just doesn’t really make him comfortable. . His idea of physical affection is just… Either being in the same room, doing your own things. Or, even sitting hip to hip as well. The most playful he’ll really get is if you’re both sitting at a table across from each other, he’ll nudge your foot with his own. If you ask what he’s doing, he’s going to deny it until his last breath. He’s smiling a touch, but he’s acting so serious that no, he’s not playing footsie under the table, what does he look like to you, a child? . He can be playful, he just has to pretend he’s not. Got a reputation to uphold, after all. . That being said, if you’re more physically affectionate he just doesn’t know what to do with it. I get the feeling he was physically and emotionally distant with his father, and any kind of physical affection was very… stiff. A firm pat on the shoulder might’ve been Wirman’s equivalent of a hug as a kid. . So, when you start broaching affection with him, be slow. Be gentle. He’s got to process it a bit. Process if he likes things. He’ll tell you if something irritates him, and it will be easy to tell if he means it (aka, don’t do it again), or if he’s grumbling for the sake of grumbling (If he’s blushing and avoiding your gaze, he secretly likes it and is embarrassed). . He likes to just hold your fingers in his hands. Just stand in front of you, your hands in his as he runs his thumb back and forth over your knuckles. He might not say anything, he might just talk quietly. Either way, it ends with him lifting your hand to his lips and gently kissing before he moves on with what he needs to do.