Why? So you can hold it?

[ Reggie raises his eyebrow wryly, wrapping the towel a little tighter, but he seems to be starting to relax a bit more-- which isn't to say he feels better, because how could he, but the comfort of Derek's presence here is at least helping to relieve some of the angry, distressed tension from his mind and his body already, if only temporarily.

Same with the question, and Derek's answer. In a way it doesn't even matter if Derek's serious, Reggie has several more Dominant friends he could ask if things were truly that dire, but sometimes people just need to hear what they need to hear.

And if anything, to Reggie, asking it only makes it feel more like Nick will come back, especially if Derek's humoring him. ]

Cool. Thanks, bro. I mean-- [ He shrugs too, casually. Probably too casually, like everything about Reggie right now. ] No rush, obviously. And yeah, he is that, but--

[ Pfft. Reggie wets his lips again idly. ]

You wanna hear something crazy, though? I actually told him that I... uh. That I-- okay, it's way more dumb than crazy.

[ And probably obvious. And very hard to repeat. ]