[ The first knot is tied off tidily and he trims the excess, leaning back for appraisal.

He's noticed them, certainly - they're hard not to notice, being as openly visible as they are, no convenient shirt to cover them the way Nate does with his. The ease and dexterity with which Stephen moves throughout his environments and works with people distracts from them, and frankly, it isn't Nate's business so he never saw a reason to ask. ]

No, see. Those are recent. If we're playing show and tell, you're lacking the latter and I've got a whole collection I can share with the class. [ Nate threads the needle again and raises his eyebrows. ] Seems only fair, right?

[ The second suture is in and without the pressing need to maintain eye contact he volunteers the usual. ]

I grew up in a Catholic orphanage in Boston. Very strict nuns, lots of Latin lessons.