HE, HIM, AND US (Complete ✅)

What is he like?

New leans back on his couch. Bare feet rest on the cold glass table before him. He switches his eyes back and forth as Smiley Tawan paces before him. He is not sure pacing is the right word for it. The man is moving from foot to foot in no particular direction.

He is blathering. His fingers run through his hair every other minute, leaving the dark locks on his head looking like a stack of hay. His—not his—Tawan wouldn't be caught dead looking like this. First of all, his Tawan wouldn't bother to talk to anyone this much.

"I know I should be freaking out," he is blabbering. "But this...this is amazing. Awesome. How is this even possible? My mind is completely blown." He stops suddenly. "Wait. Where's my Hin?" He leans down, hands resting on his knees. He brings his face closer to News. "Hin?" He waves into New's face. His voice is softer.

New swats his hands away. "What, do you think I swallowed him?"

"I don't know how this works." Tawan resumes his weird pacing.

New is already bored of this whole thing. He glances at the watch on his wrist. He wants this strange version of Tawan out of his home. But something he said snagged his interest. "Your Hin? Are you and New together?"

He freezes. "N-no?" His ears turn garnet red. And this is only slightly exaggerated. "Why would you say that?" His eyes slant into a curious look "Are you and Tay..."

"Me and Tay what?" He holds Tawan's stare. He retches when the meaning strikes, "God No. I'd rather feed my balls to a lynx."

Tawan stops for a second to imagine the picture New painted. Then he shudders. "Am I that bad? I mean him." He points to the sky. Then to his left. To himself. "Wherever he is. What is he like?"

New says without hesitation "He's a dick."

"Forgive me but I'm looking at you right now and you're not giving me any impressions that you're any different."

New is unfazed. The defensiveness in his tone, however, New finds fascinating. He crosses his arms over his chest. Rolls his eyes. This is not the first Tawan to call him a dick. "What about your Hin?"

He smiles. It is wide. Gummy. It makes him look soft. Knowing Tawan can do this with his face is kind of unsettling. What else can Tawan do? New wants to stick him with pins and needles to find out everything he's been hiding behind that cold exterior.

"New, My—", he shakes his head. "New of—here is also kind of a dick. He's always teasing, getting on my nerves. I think he does it to get a reaction out of me." The smile gets bigger. New didn't think it was possible. His eyes stare off into far space as he speaks. "He is annoying but he's kind too. He drives me around. He's the first person I call when I have good news or bad news—sometimes no news. He fixes the things I break. He's just—",  he sighs. "He has so many good qualities. He is less dickier than you are."

New, once again, does not take offense. "You are blushing." He comments instead and smiles as the man actually blushes.

Tawan straightens. "No."

He picks imaginary dirt from his nails. Blows it away. "You have a nasty crush on me, Tawan."

"I do not have a nasty crush on you." The man is a mess. His body is turned at a ridiculous angle. "I don't." His voice is unnaturally high pitched and his eyes can't hold New's anymore. "Not you."

"Aha! There it is."

"Nothing." Smiley Tawan is a character. He holds his hands up. Subtlety is definitely not his forté. New hopes his other self isn't dumb enough to not notice this man's glaring crush on him. "There is nothing. You don't know what you're talking about."