[The first comment gets a warm, quiet laugh from him.]
Please do not imagine I expect you to stop disagreeing with me, [of that, first.] Petrana certainly lets me know when she thinks I'm wrong, and I hope you will too. It's only ... I would hope that when we do disagree, you respect me enough to imagine I've thought my position through. That I haven't simply landed on it out of carelessness.
[He's never truly felt himself in danger of that, with Marcus, but he does feel it's important to clarify.
He watches their hands, taken by the way they intertwine, but also thinking about the question. Eventually, he says,]
I think it is good for me, on the whole, to remain flexible. And I would never want my old habits to make a partner wonder if they resulted from shallowness of feeling. That matters to me much more than what anyone else thinks it looks like from the outside.
no subject
Please do not imagine I expect you to stop disagreeing with me, [of that, first.] Petrana certainly lets me know when she thinks I'm wrong, and I hope you will too. It's only ... I would hope that when we do disagree, you respect me enough to imagine I've thought my position through. That I haven't simply landed on it out of carelessness.
[He's never truly felt himself in danger of that, with Marcus, but he does feel it's important to clarify.
He watches their hands, taken by the way they intertwine, but also thinking about the question. Eventually, he says,]
I think it is good for me, on the whole, to remain flexible. And I would never want my old habits to make a partner wonder if they resulted from shallowness of feeling. That matters to me much more than what anyone else thinks it looks like from the outside.