Lucio was too smart to think that Ansel didn't know what he was doing. The professor tolerated it, for now. The young man's admissions probably weighed heavily on him, made him vacillate back and forth on what he really wanted. Ansel knew what he really wanted, and perhaps deep down, Lucio had already realized it as well. He had, after all, given him the rose, and he had spent the entire night cuddled up next to Ansel and sleeping peacefully in his arms. His fear that they wouldn't work maybe had some merit, as wasn't there fear that<i>any </i>relationship wouldn't work? But Ansel perceived Lucio's resistance to the idea somewhat childish at best, and immensely frustrating at worst. How could they move past this if Lucio wouldn't even talk about it? But Ansel couldn't force it, no matter how much he wanted to, so he played along with Lucio's pointless game and participated in the idle chatter, knowing full well that more pressing matters rested below the surface.<br/><br/>Ansel watched silently as Lucio moved around the apartment, noting every unusual stride, every awkward step. He said nothing, but made a point to remember every single spot so that he could return the favor to Buckley when the time came.<br/><br/>When Lucio brought up Petra, Ansel shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. He began collecting some of the gift bags and walked them over to the kitchen, finding the ones with the alcohol and storing them away in his liquor cabinet. He pondered lying to Lucio for a brief moment, or perhaps obscuring the truth, but Ansel quickly realized that lying was never going to work, and opted for complete honesty even though he had no desire to continue on with the conversation.<br/><br/>"Petra got into the shower with me and saw the bruise on my leg from when we fucked in the car." The sound of glass clinking and bottles being moved around filled the kitchen. "She asked me if I was cheating on her. I didn't say anything and she took that to mean yes. She didn't officially say, 'Ansel, I'm breaking up with you,' but considering she slapped me in the face and then immediately stomped out and hasn't contacted me since, that's the assumption I'm going with."<br/><br/>Ansel found the champagne box Lucio had gifted him and sighed as he looked at the prominent black spade. With the way things were progressing this morning, chances were it would be a while before Ansel and Lucio could enjoy the beverage together properly. "I'm not distraught about it," he said, carefully placing the box away from view. "I want neither comfort nor pity. I do not want to be with Petra."