Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks

“I think the word you’re looking for is naive,” he supplies blankly. “What should I do about it, then?”

Arthur leans back in his chair, closes his eyes, and rubs at his eyes with the heels of his hands tiredly. “Okay,” he sighs. “Sorry.”

“So anyone who wants something sexual from you is manipulating you?” he clarifies.

“What if you only feel that way about Dr. Hatchman because he’s manipulating you?” Arthur counters. “What if you’re manipulating me? How am I supposed to know?”

“Oh, okay. Well… Spencer doesn’t take advantage of me,” he tells him. “Maybe he did when I first got here, but he doesn’t anymore and I know he feels bad about doing it because we’ve talked about it before. A lot. But he’s not now. He’s nicer to me than I am to myself a lot of the time. And Jack? Yeah, he maybe took advantage of Jack a few times, too. But he knows that was bad too, and he knows not to do it anymore. I think. Spencer’s-. He’s-. He’s learned to do things a certain way to get what he needed, and I know it’s not an excuse, but now he’s learning how to not do that so I think we owe him some grace.”

“I can tell you why you’re wrong about what, exactly?”

Jack doesn’t say anything for a while. His eyes had been fixed on Josh as he spoke, but they now flick back down to his lap, hoping that the lack of eye contact will make him feel less vulnerable. “I never want you to look at me and feel hurt.” He tells him. “I shouldn’t have gotten involved with you when I needed to sort my shit out first.”

“Are you gonna quiz me about him to make yourself feel better or am I just supposed to defend him?”

“Have you found closure, then?”

“You’re right, it has been a long time. Things are going to be weird, we can’t tip-toe around each other.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” He tries, genuinely, but doesn’t offer any further explanation yet.

“Yeah. Not that it’s a bad thing.” He quickly adds.

“Good point,” He notes. “you didn’t used to be like this.”

He shrugs. “I guess it’s hard to imagine anything that isn’t this. Don’t you think?”

“Huh,” He nods, trying to envision it. “I can’t really see you with kids.”

Arthur shrugs. “Let’s find out.”