if i get home before daylight

[salamanca]

who: lalo salamanca + you!
what: lalo's log for the month of august, including closed + open threads! ft. lalo's bulletin board post and the re-opening of his restaurant at doe's retreat in lakeside
when: throughout august
where: lalo's restaurant in lakeside (first 2 weeks of august) + all around milton (second two weeks of august)


[ open + closed starters below. ]

Comments

[maintiensledroit]

[ Lalo is all good-natured bluster, waving off his joke, but Fraser looks thoughtful for a moment, then nods. ]

Yes, she was quite attractive.

[ He waves at his own mouth, baring his teeth for a moment. ] She had very strong teeth.

[ It's a useful physical quality for someone whose diet consists largely of meat, and who lives hundres of kilometers from the nearest dentist.

That question thus set aside, he turns his attention back to what Lalo was saying before. It hasn't escaped his notice that Lalo has a tendency to push smoothly past things he might consider awkward or embarrassing, and perhaps it would be the polite thing to let him change the subject, but—

Well, he had been in some distress, and he'd asked Fraser for help, and so Fraser is determined to help him however he can.

Still, his question is a bewildering one. ]

I think it would be difficult for anyone to consider a consensual sexual relationship between a man and a woman to be 'gay,' Lalo. What you have might be unorthodox, but it still lacks the necessary requirements for that particular distinction.

[ His tone remains thoughtful and level and without a hint of judgement. ]

Why, do you find it makes you attracted to men?

[ That seems unlikely, but considering how worried Lalo is about it, he thinks it's worth breaching the subject. ]

[salamanca]

[ In a strange way, Lalo is grateful that Fraser doesn't let him evade the subject. When Lalo feels embarrassed about something, it's sheer instinct to cheerfully brush over it, as Fraser had noted. But he won't get to the bottom of this by breezing over everything.

He has to actually open up about his insecurities. He actually does smile genuinely at Fraser's kindness, from his serious assessment of the woman with strong teeth to Fraser's gentle prodding about his insecurities.

Lalo's ears get red; common for him now, when he's embarrassed. He realizes how vulnerable he feels right now, and how alien that feels to him. To some people this might be nothing, but to Lalo, he feels like he's exposing his soft underbelly to Fraser in a way that could easily be deeply embarrassing for him if Fraser wasn't the nicest man alive. There are so many insecurities he's exposing to Fraser right now.

Lalo is not afraid of violence, or death, or mortal peril. He's not afraid of the icy wastelands they find themselves in or the creatures that live in them. But right now, it takes a lot of courage for him not to brush past again and force himself to just directly answer Fraser's question.

He rubs the back of his neck, and looks down at his shoes. He clears his throat. ]

Yes.

[ They might be in snowy Canada, but Lalo feels like he's going to disappear in a blaze of fire at any moment as he heats up from the embarrassment. ]