That shut up Eddy quite firmly. He glared at Gabriel with his mouth pursed so tightly that he looked like he sucked a lemon. Mostly because the younger man was right, always, irrefutably right. And Eddy resented the fact that someone half his age was calling him out on his bullshit. Even if it was exactly the reason why he came to Gabriel in the first place.<br/><br/>These were all the same salient points that his therapist had made about past relationships, though always stated less directly than Gabriel. He wanted to make Eddy admit his fear of commitment outloud, to come to those damning conclusions himself. And Eddy knew, he really knew that he was not free of sin, but maintaining silence was so much easier than admitting fault.<br/><br/>Admitting fault was an intricate process because it was never the all-of-the-blame or none-of-the-blame as one tended to assume. It became an examination, an inquisition, a weighing of every infraction and what had caused it. It was a messy detangling of cords, painstakingly untying every knot and tracing back every loop, a long and exhausting and repeatitive process until it came to it's natural end. Often enough that turned out to be an underlying trauma long since dealt with, only to realize he hadnt dealt with it at all and then having to relive the pain yet again.<br/><br/>Gabriel had a way of cutting that emotion feuled, month long journey down to three or four brutal sentences. It was no easier or any less painless (sometimes more painful), but it was far, far quicker, and Eddy had always appreciated expediency.<br/><br/>So Eddy let out a long, slow breath and forcibly released his knee jerk reaction to snap back with equally hurtful observations. It took him a long moment, his rage a simmering thing in his belly that he slowly extinguished with sips of his scotch. Eddy thought he was owed his fear, he had been hurt too much not to be wary. But Gabriel was still right.<br/><br/>He would actually have to try this time if he really wanted this to be something. And he did, he honestly, foolishly, wanted it, despite knowing better.<br/><br/>"Mmm," was all he said when his throat loosened enough to speak.<br/><br/>A moment later, Gabriel's phone chimed with a text message from Paul, asking if Gabriel was available for the evening.