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This is Rosita. I'll hit you back when I can.

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"Sometimes I did that as a kid. With foster families. I thought... I don't know. That it was going great. That they'd give me a room. That we'd have Thanksgiving and Christmas together, you know? Kodak moments."

But it never worked out that way.

"I get scared sometimes I'm doing that now. Imagining something really great when they don't feel the same way."

"Yeah."

And it's fucking terrible to realize someone doesn't want you, whether it was ever real or not.

But: "But Jesus - K threw you an entire Thanksgiving meal. He didn't even know what it was but he did it because you said you always had."

He smiles and it warms every feature in his face.

"Yeah, he did. And it was one of the best times I've ever had." He nudges her with his shoulder. "My 39th birthday party was pretty great too by the way."

"Um, your 39th birthday party was amazing, bar none. I saw the pictures," she huffs at him, brows raising.

She nudges his shoulder back though. "What I'm saying is that if you were just asking me outright, with the knowledge that I have from the outside, things look like they're more or less on track."

"That means a lot." That someone who he knows is critical of his lovers can see that they're moving in a positive direction.

"Who do you like most out of them?" It's probably not a fair question. Best friends ask unfair questions sometimes, he decides.

"I like me," she answers, because yeah it is unfair, and that's what he gets.

But she does add, "Vrenille."

"You can't pick you," he protests. "We're not dating. Even if people think we are."

Which is hilarious and he, gremlin that he is, doesn't always tell people otherwise.

"What do you like about him?"

"I always pick me."

But she gets the same thing, does the same thing, and it makes her grin.

"He's here, trying his best to help us. He came with a ready plan when the Creator threw his fucking tantrum, and he listens."

"Good." He knows she'll never be close to K, and probably not to Drake either, but he knows she works with Vrenille on other things. He's glad for it.

"Good?" she prompts.

"You're out here handing me these bullshit questions and all you have for me when I answer them is 'good?'"

"I've never had a best friend to approve or disapprove of my boyfriends before!" He laughs. "I don't know, it just feels good that you do. It would be hard on me if you didn't."

"It would be harder if I disapproved and didn't say anything," she promises. Something being hard on Jesus, if it's necessary or it keeps him alive, will not stop her from doing it.

"I'll still fuck 'em up if they make me mad." If they hurt him.

"They're all afraid of you," he laughs. "Drake especially though. Well. Maybe K is a tie." He grins, at his hands though, like he does when he's feeling touched and warm.

"I wouldn't want you to stay quiet. And if I didn't approve of someone you were doing, I'd say something, too." Even though it's harder on him to strike up a confrontation than it is for her.

"They should be."

This is the same threat she used to make even before the virus; back then, though, she didn't know the best angle to hit the brain from under the jaw with a utility knife. Now she does.

"I don't keep most of the ones I'm doing, and Magpie is gay as they come, so you don't have to worry about me."

He gives her a Look. "Well the one you have kept, I also want to spend time with, so you're doing all right so far."

A look she returns in kind, with interest.

"I'm onto you, you know."

"Oh, really?" She is not. His eyes are so blue and so innocent. "What am I doing, then?"

She's not falling for it. Nope.

"I think I can get him to the date," she sidesteps instead.

"We should try dinner. See if sharing food helps."

"I'll take it. I think he'll be okay if we're both there, showing him Vrenille's not a threat." He chuckles. "I don't think he trusts my take on who's a threat and who's not but he might trust you."

"We both worry about you."

But Jesus is adapting better, faster, more completely than either of them.

She thinks about it a lot.

"We have to be willing to let it not work, though."

"I am. If they can't be friends, I'm confident they can still exist in the same space. If the worst happens." If they have to come to Creekside to live, if Carver brings his vampires. He looks at Rosita. "But that's the least I'll take. I really think they could be good for each other."

Rosita raises her eyebrows at Jesus.

"He's been willing to let it not work with us and Grayson." He hasn't pushed, beyond what is for him the very telling minimum of stating that they're important to him.

"He's been willing to keep going between us if it doesn't work with us and Grayson." There's a difference. "But that doesn't matter because it's not what I'm willing to settle for."

"As long as you not settling doesn't look like you pushing him for something he can't give. Or that's bad for him to try."

There is the faintest edge of warning in this; Jesus loves Vrenille. Vrenille has a lot of good qualities.

But no one is a good fit for everyone.

"I would never do that to him," he promises. "I'm watching. I'm paying attention."

And there's potential there for an alliance, if not a close friendship.