"Pete. I'm just going to be completely honest here and I hope you'll be honest with me," came a half smile, food set aside so he could focus his attention completely on the. A. Sitting across from him. "I'm not boyfriend material. I've tried it the normal way. Everything is fine until the intimacy starts and once that gets going-- it's just bad news from there. I want this part of my life to be apart of my relationship. But I don't want this part of my life to be completely in my relationship. So I've had regular people who couldn't accept this side of me. And people in the community who couldn't turn it off. Or worse, I couldn't turn it off for them because of past scenes. Or because they started out as my client."

He rubbed the back of his neck.

"I need someone to accept that I want it to be like now. Dinner and snuggling on the couch. Or traveling with JC and bringing the fight to the world. But I also want to be in control. I want a pet in the bedroom. And sometimes. more subtly. outside of it."

He watched Peter's face.

"I know myself well enough not to compromise."