[It's fascinating to watch the frozen droplets slide across his hands, but Bruce doesn't let himself be distracted. He's too sharp not to notice how Jack had turned the question back around on him, not volunteering anything but not closing up, either. To someone as experienced and versatile in verbal evasion as Bruce, it's noticeable.
He isn't worried about the possibility of creating a wedge or a point of friction. Although it's almost impossible to get Bruce to declare his attachment to anyone out loud, once they've earned it in some measure, he's loyal to a fault. It's hard to drive him off, and it'd take a lot more than a peripheral mention of what is one of his taboo subjects, especially after Jack had backed off so quickly, something he hugely appreciates.
But he's careful about his response here, at first not sure what to say. He fills the pause in which he thinks it over with pouring more tea for him, not steaming any longer but still hot and needing to be refrosted. As he withdraws the pot, he says,] I mean anything that you'd want to say.
[Wanting to clear the air, he adds,] If we're going to be not really family, we should probably be opening up. [There's a subtle note of humor to the statement, a self-conscious jab at himself for his difficulty doing that.]
Re: action;
He isn't worried about the possibility of creating a wedge or a point of friction. Although it's almost impossible to get Bruce to declare his attachment to anyone out loud, once they've earned it in some measure, he's loyal to a fault. It's hard to drive him off, and it'd take a lot more than a peripheral mention of what is one of his taboo subjects, especially after Jack had backed off so quickly, something he hugely appreciates.
But he's careful about his response here, at first not sure what to say. He fills the pause in which he thinks it over with pouring more tea for him, not steaming any longer but still hot and needing to be refrosted. As he withdraws the pot, he says,] I mean anything that you'd want to say.
[Wanting to clear the air, he adds,] If we're going to be not really family, we should probably be opening up. [There's a subtle note of humor to the statement, a self-conscious jab at himself for his difficulty doing that.]