"I gave it my best shot, okay?" Desire replied without offense, dismissively waving his free hand at the air while his chopsticks made a move on the offered bit of meat. "Middle ground only exists where we agree on something, and we're still working on that part. That's why his preferred tactic is to not say a damn thing until we figure ourself out, remember?"

Into his mouth went the meat, complete with a brief pause of appreciation for the unexpected heat of it. But Reason was finally doing a round of thinking in a less self-deprecating way, so Desire left him to it, taking on the role of 'protecting' him for a while by coming forward to resume facing Mac.

"The big guy treated me normally from the get-go. I'm smitten. I'll do anything he wants me to, as long as it's something."