[ There's been an elephant in the room since the fall of the Aerie and John's well aware of it, he's just better at quiet denial than he is at actively confronting the sources of his emotional distress.
Especially when said emotional distress involves the spontaneous father-son bond he was given with a guy who, as it turns out, is around the same age as him. How exactly should one broach that subject? They don't exactly sell greeting cards for it. So, he avoids it altogether. There's plenty of distractions about.
At least, there are until he strolls into Red Wings at a time when he's sure he won't be bothered only to find himself making the briefest eye contact with his not-father while he's wiping down a table. It's not much, but it's enough that if he turned tail and ran right now it'd be obvious that he was avoiding something, and he thinks it'd look awfully pathetic. His reputation was already shot to the extent that he couldn't afford to add pathetic to his long list of undesirable qualities. So he approaches him and smiles, as casually as possible. The good news is that when you're dying on the inside 24/7 you get pretty good at hiding it. ]
Stephen. What a pleasant surprise. [ He clasps his hands behind his back to avoid offering a handshake. He's not wearing gloves right now and the last thing he needs is that goddamned empathy bond. ] I hope you've been well.
c
Especially when said emotional distress involves the spontaneous father-son bond he was given with a guy who, as it turns out, is around the same age as him. How exactly should one broach that subject? They don't exactly sell greeting cards for it. So, he avoids it altogether. There's plenty of distractions about.
At least, there are until he strolls into Red Wings at a time when he's sure he won't be bothered only to find himself making the briefest eye contact with his not-father while he's wiping down a table. It's not much, but it's enough that if he turned tail and ran right now it'd be obvious that he was avoiding something, and he thinks it'd look awfully pathetic. His reputation was already shot to the extent that he couldn't afford to add pathetic to his long list of undesirable qualities. So he approaches him and smiles, as casually as possible. The good news is that when you're dying on the inside 24/7 you get pretty good at hiding it. ]
Stephen. What a pleasant surprise. [ He clasps his hands behind his back to avoid offering a handshake. He's not wearing gloves right now and the last thing he needs is that goddamned empathy bond. ] I hope you've been well.
[ When in doubt, default to empty smalltalk. ]