The knock at the door sounds again.

Coming.

He stands up with aching limbs even more so than what a full day on the farm leaves him with. He blinks his vision clear and his hand instinctively reaches towards his temple. The feel of petals under his fingers put him at ease. It was real.

He takes the buttercup only to notice it's more crumpled than he remembers, and a petal flutters to the floor. He frowns, realizing he must have broken the delicate flower with his fall or rolled over onto it in his sleep. He places it carefully on the coffee table, and goes to open the door.

You're back.

Phillip greets seeing Titch and Derek in the doorway. Derek has his arms thrown over Titch's shoulders still the most lovesick grin as ever.

Oh well, we couldn't stay away forever. Even if we found ways to fill our time.

He kisses Titch on the cheek. It's so easy, so natural for them now.

Then they're back to all business. Without the wedding planning in the way it's all updates on the crops, orders that need to be placed, and bundles that need to be sold.

They only need one word answers from Phillip. Yep or Nope when appropriate, and he always knows the answer. Except when Derek asks.

What did you get up to when we were gone? Have fun?

Phillip's eyes cast over to the buttercup which lay innocently, damningly, as a reminder.

I think Derek and Titch are so compelling because there's clearly history between them and Titch's initial rejection of Derek makes sense and doesn't just feel like he's being a shitty person.

Derek has been working for Titch for a while, so they know each other already at the beginning of the story. Despite being coworkers something happened that led to them having sex at one point and that makes Derek comfortable enough around Titch to touch him in ways you wouldn't usually touch a coworker - which Titch does not seem to mind at all. Only when Derek calls himself his lover does Titch make it clear it was a one time thing for him. Yet the reasons he gives as to why there can't be anything more between them are that he's a workaholic and too stressed to focus on a relationship, not a lack of feelings for Derek. Which is why it makes sense why Derek doesn't give up so easily. Derek also chooses the worst possible time to talk about their relationship, as Titch is very worried about his livelihood in that moment, which makes Titch's initial rejection understandable to me. Also, despite not being ready to admit his feelings, Titch does still tell Derek that he helped him through this difficult time in his life and trusts him enough to join him in confronting OLM. Showing that he does value Derek. He also hesitates when Derek asks what he is to him, when he could've just said "assistant" or "friend", so very clearly Derek's feelings are not one-sided. Derek is also not just some lovesick puppy running after Titch - when he realises Titch doesn't have the guts to stand up for him, he leaves. Titch is clearly conflicted about the whole thing, but him being afraid to confront OLM is geniunely something that makes sense. She literally cursed his land, of course he'd be afraid, I don't take that as Titch being a bad partner for Derek. Derek very clearly knows Titch has feelings for him because despite being upset and leaving, he asks him to come back when he works out his priorities, knowing that that's the real reason nothing is happening between them. Which Titch confirms when OLM calls him out afterwards.

So there's clearly a lot of build-up to the confession that makes it feel natural to me. Well, as natural as improv can be.