Dinner was quiet and tense. WW ate slowly, picking at his food. He excused himself when he still hadn’t finished the little he’d put on his plate. He didn’t even stick around long enough for his mother to argue.

Pan watched him walking toward where he was sitting, on the porch swing in the garden. WW hadn’t seen him. He was walking on autopilot. His stomach was churning even though he hadn’t eaten much. Maybe it was because he hadn’t eaten much. He hated the feeling. He didn’t know what he could do to fix it, but he knew he couldn’t eat any more. If he did, he would hurl, for sure… He couldn’t risk it, not when his mom was being the way she was. She would probably freak out about it, thinking he’d… She’d probably start…

He let out a groan, finally looking up to see Pan’s eye focused on him. Oh, right. He’d almost forgotten about the plant man for a moment. But he had wanted to sit there. He had wanted to be alone. He stopped walking. He just stood there on the path, a few feet away, staring at Pan, who kept his eye, unwavering, on him. He’d found some confidence in the kitchen with WW’s mom, when he was joking around with her. It was just enough to hold eye contact to the man who was scowling at him. WW sighed, defeated, and continued on his way to the porch swing. He sat down heavily next to Pan, never once uncrossing his arms, and let his head fall back.

“Did you have a good dinner?” Pan asked quietly after a while.

“No.” WW’s frown soured. He didn’t look at Pan.

“Did you eat?”

The words rang out, met with an extended silence as WW scrubbed his hands over his face, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes. “No,” He growled, groaning, “No! Not you too, okay? Promise you’re not going to start nagging me about that, too!”

“I promise nothing to no one.” Pan shrugged, even under WW’s cold stare. “I was just curious. You don’t need to tell me.”

“I’m not going to because it’s not a big deal.” WW huffed.

“Let’s talk about something else?” Pan suggested.

“Honestly, I would rather we not talk at all.” WW glowered, crossing his arms again and sinking deeper into the seat.

“But that just leaves us with awkward silence.” Pan nudged WW’s arm.

“What do you want to talk about, then?” WW turned his head to glare at him.

“Well, as far as we know, we don’t have much in common. We could get to know each other?”

“You’re just going to be leaving soon, though. What’s the point?” WW shook his head, pushing against the ground with his feet to make the swing sway softly.

“Leaving, yes. Soon… Well, I’m... not sure when my people will come looking for me. But it shouldn’t be... too long…” He sighed, also sinking into the seat.

Silence fell over the boys once more, save the occasional creak from the porch swing. The heat of the day was slowly starting to cool as the sky darkened. It was almost time for the garden lights to turn on. WW couldn’t even see the sun over the plants, anymore… The awkward silence, just as Pan had predicted, made him squirm uncomfortably. He looked over to the plant man. Is it weird to get to know the stranger you fantasized about in the shower? He wondered, thinking back to that morning. But that hadn’t been about Pan, per se, but more about the fact that he was horny, and any pretty face was as good as any other to imagine… It didn’t have to be weird. So long as WW just didn’t think about it. 

“Fine.” WW huffed. “Tell me about yourself. What did you do in magic-land?”

A slight smile settled across Pan’s lips. “I used to work for the queen of the tahval,” He said, “We were close, for a while.”

WW couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows at that. “Oh? How fancy… What did you do for her? Why did you stop?”

“It’s a long story…” Pan sighed, looking out at the garden. Watching the darkness slowly fall.

“If you feel like sharing, I’ll listen.” WW offered.

Pan just shook his head. “No, it’s alright.”

“Why not? Were you like an assassin or something?”

“No.” Pan frowned, looking over to the human. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Then why don’t you want to tell me?” WW frowned.

“Why don’t you eat?” Pan cocked an eyebrow at the human. WW looked away immediately.

“Oh… Touché…” He mumbled. He looked down at his hands, picking at a bit of dirt under his fingernails. Pan looked away, too, toward the garden. “I… F-For the record, I do eat. I just… Haven’t been feeling well today…” WW frowned. The silence pressed in on them, seemingly suffocating. WW’s stomach churned, again. He wrapped his arms tight around it and looked down at them. Do you really think you’re better, this way? The words echoed in his head. It’d been a while since he’d remembered them... Remembered the look on the man's face. What an asshole...  Remembered the look on his mother's... He’d been doing so well, but it seemed nothing was enough for her… She saw me eating the fucking sugar crisp. He thought bitterly. He could still feel the milk on his tongue as he slumped into his seat. Who even buys homogenized milk on purpose, anyway? He looked over to Pan, who seemed far too… Serene, given the uncomfortable silence all around them. It was hard to believe that that man, dressed in simple clothes, his green hair a mess of waves and curls that fell to his shoulders, had worked for a queen. Had been close to a queen. A thought clicked in WW’s head at that, though… Had been. But he wasn’t close to her, anymore... “So, Pan…”

“Hm?” The plant man looked over and pushed some of his hair out of his face. WW wanted to run a hand through it, just to answer the question of whether or not it was as soft as it looked.

“Your people are still going to come to get you, even if you fell out of favour with your queen?” He asked. Pan’s eyee widened ever so slightly, his face paling.