[Without the pain and torture Wade wouldn't be who he is. Even before Francis, he'd been broken by his childhood, by the military. Those things shaped him. Without them, who might he be? ]

It's better you don't know what I'm talking about. Half the time I don't even know what I'm talking about.

[He just looks in Nate's eyes, admiring the feeling he could see in them without Nate needing to project them to him. Wade sometimes wonders if he's been selfish, in allowing this... whatever it was to grow between them. Nate wasn't even half his age. Then there was the matter that Wade didn't believe he was good for anyone, not after losing Vanessa.]

We do, don't we? [He keeps finding himself seeking Nate out, thinking about him when he's not there. Then he's willing to do whatever he can to make him happy. He knows what it all means. Wade's not usually so reluctant to bandy about the word love. But that's when it's a joke. When he doesn't actually care. Or when he assumes the other person won't actually know how serious he is.] And I'm not going anywhere.

[That may be a promise Wade can't keep either, but he'll try his damnedest.]