Caelan crossed his arms over his chest as Dusty began his diatribe. He should have known that the man would find it difficult to just<i>answer. the. question</i>. He kept his eyes on Dusty even while his mind was ticking off common phobias with every second that went by. ‘<i>Spiders, snakes, heights, flying, dark water, deep water, sharks, dogs, thunder, darkness, needles, public speaking, germs…’ </i><br/><br/>His expression softened as Dusty finally shared his fears. Granted, Caelan was somewhat interested to find that they were afraid of very different things. It sounded like Dusty was afraid of the unknown and that was understandable. They had all been living in the unknown for over five years. No one could know what would happen one day to the next. There was no chance that the world would return to what it was, but who was to tell what would happen?<br/><br/>“Listen.” Caelan started, leaning forward on his arms while his folded hands rest atop the table. “I have spent a lot of time on my own, probably more  now than I have in my entire life. I’m going to do what I want and, yes, I will probably get killed for it, but that’s okay. There cannot be anything worse in death than what we are all going through right now.” He licked his lips and smiled mischievously. “Does it not excite you to know that for the rest of your life, you will live with the memory of that one annoying-as-hell blond<i>Etranje </i>that you spent a small blip of time with? The devilishly handsome twig that kept you on your toes?” Caelan grinned and reached to squeeze Dusty’s arm, the embrace only lasting for a second. “You should probably thank me, actually. I’m keeping your brain alert with all of my recklessness and inexperience.”<br/><br/>He used his spoon to dig the piece of fish from his broth. The liquid had caused the meat to fall even further apart. Flavor exploded on his tongue and he sat back, reveling in the taste while he held Dusty's bottle of beer in his hand. Caelan swallowed the beer with the rest of the fish in his mouth and stood. "I'll get another." He gestured to the empty bottle and sauntered outside, stepping onto the porch without once checking his surroundings. He exhaled and set the empty bottle on the table. Every time he felt like he was getting through to Dusty, or even getting one hundredth of an inch closer, he was proved wrong. His gaze wandered while his mind was lost in thought, processing the day in its entirety, taking in the darkness that crept in around the small shack. The candlelight flickered through the window, illuminating less than a tenth of the rickety porch. The pending blackness of the night was comforting to him.<br/><br/>“It’s getting dark outside.” Caelan announced as he returned to the table and set the beers down. “We’ll probably have to take the cobbler to go.” He settled back onto the chair and twisted the top from his beer.