robopriest | RUFUS CATCH-ALL

You can hear it as long as you pay me.

Sure, sure. More apples for you. Maybe I'll switch it up and give you oranges, too.

[And since its affection week STILL he just reaches over to give the other man's hand a squeeze. His hand is...oddly firm, somehow. He does draw it back after a moment, though.]

[His gaze shifts from the apple to the squeeze, following Hansa's hand even once it retracts.

Between this and a couple of other instances, he finds himself momentarily wondering—and he doesn't look discreet when doing it.]

[He notices the look...and that makes him furrow his eyebrows slightly, his gaze questioning.]

...Don't tell me I need to give you another apple for your thoughts.

[Were it any other thought, he might've asked for that orange. But he recalls that Hansa initially refused to strip during trial for a reason.]

. . . Your body isn't flesh.

...

[His smile curls on his face, like a Cheshire Cat.]

What makes you say that?

[The smile doesn't deter him. In fact, it gets him to continue.]

Just now, I felt it again when our hands touched. It was the same as what I had experienced at the planetarium. It hadn't mattered then, but I remember that you refused to bare yourself at the emporium.

The reason for that refusal . . . Am I wrong?