"Because I like you," he says, as though it's the most obvious thing in the world. "How should I be acting? Should I be mean to you? I'm not always a nice person, anyway. I get myself into plenty of trouble with this big mouth of mine. But why shouldn't I be nice to you, if I can be? You're nice to me."
He really doesn't understand why Ned should be so baffled by it, but there's a certain part of him that understands it, too. It's rare, in his experience, to spend time with someone who doesn't mock or belittle him, who doesn't treat him as though he's insufferably weird, who doesn't make him feel like some kind of other, bizarre species. He thinks that maybe Ned feels that way, too, and that would explain why he's so confused by the continuing 'niceness' that Ginsberg's offering (in actuality, he doesn't think of himself as being nice at all, simply honest: if he likes someone, he tries to treat them well, or at least, as well as he can, given his own limitations.)
"Okay, distraction." He finally loosens his grip on Ned just a little, so that he can draw back and look at him, but not so much that he breaks away from the hug entirely. "We can talk about something, if you want. It doesn't have to be anything serious. We don't even have to talk about you. Or me. We can talk about..." He shrugs, trying to think of the most inane thing possible. "We can talk about bad television. We can talk about the weather. Seriously, you name the topic, I'll discuss it."
no subject
He really doesn't understand why Ned should be so baffled by it, but there's a certain part of him that understands it, too. It's rare, in his experience, to spend time with someone who doesn't mock or belittle him, who doesn't treat him as though he's insufferably weird, who doesn't make him feel like some kind of other, bizarre species. He thinks that maybe Ned feels that way, too, and that would explain why he's so confused by the continuing 'niceness' that Ginsberg's offering (in actuality, he doesn't think of himself as being nice at all, simply honest: if he likes someone, he tries to treat them well, or at least, as well as he can, given his own limitations.)
"Okay, distraction." He finally loosens his grip on Ned just a little, so that he can draw back and look at him, but not so much that he breaks away from the hug entirely. "We can talk about something, if you want. It doesn't have to be anything serious. We don't even have to talk about you. Or me. We can talk about..." He shrugs, trying to think of the most inane thing possible. "We can talk about bad television. We can talk about the weather. Seriously, you name the topic, I'll discuss it."