All the while, Ryan but looked, observed and took notice of all these emotions drawing over the man's face, in his motions ; he could almost hear him think. But not quite. And it was bothering him.<br/>It seemed to him he was not the only one having trouble with this path their relationship had started. He wanted it, though, and what he wanted, he got. But this.. this was different. There was nothing here he could buy or take by brute force -mind or body-, it had to be earned.<br/><br/>His face did not change from his near emotionless mask when Atticus glared at him. He let him, allowed him to debate, to pace, to ponder, for as long as he wished.<br/>But all the while he wondered what went on in that head of his...<br/><br/>Then he spoke, and his words were heaven, but his intonation was that of a teenage boy in lust. Oh, the man craved, he could tell, but did he also know the meaning of the words he had spoken if they had been uttered from the heart and not from his underbelly?<br/>Was he actually a good choice to desire, all of him, not but his body?<br/>Not that Ryan had any choice any longer. It had been made for him the first moment he had caught sight of him. It seemed decades ago, but couldn't be more then a year in the past.<br/><br/>He did welcome him when he moved towards him ; one hand curved around the scarred cheek and a warm smile formed on his lips.<br/>When Ryan spoke his voice matched this smile, seeming almost unnaturally warm to come from this man.<br/><br/>"Say those words again, Louis, when not aching. I'd like to hear those words come from the<em>heart</em>..."