[It isn't a flinch Dave would feel in a half-hug, it's just an involuntary micromovement of face muscles and then the immediate emotional reaction, the confirmation of what he is still too insecure not to fear, fades a little bit, but not entirely, because Dirk is scared of it too: what the edge might be, how he could switch over, what he'd become and what it would do to Dave. He can't let it happen. But he puzzles over Bro, twists what he knows against what he is and tries to find the difference, the nail he's wanting, something definitive and certain that separates Dirk from that splinter so he'll never slide into it.

He tightens the hug as best as he can.]

It's sorta impressive the way we can turn any of our conversations into agonizing explorations of our interpersonal relationship. I'm wondering if we'll ever run out of material, but I suspect not.