FATAL ATTRACTION — TEM.

[Luca]

Luca had ran the situation through his mind a couple times, weighing the possibilities, but Pincher reciprocating was definitely one of the least likely realities. Luca felt the fur on his chest brush up against his leader's, and he savoured the feeling for a brief moment before focusing on capturing the reaction he got. Pincher's stillness made him a little nervous, but that nervousness soon faded into confusion as the feeling of the jaguar's tail around his body registered. Closer still- their bodies touched and heat bloomed across Luca's cheeks in an embarrassingly noticeable blush. His eyes widened slightly, lips parting in silent surprise as he took a swift breath. The vulnerability was back on the hellhound's face, brought on by the unexpected intimacy of it all. He almost didn't hear Pincher over the thundering of his heartbeat in his ears, but eventually the words got through to him. A couple seconds passed of processing. Luca merely stared at the captain with round, doe-like eyes as he straightened up again, shattering the illusion of intimacy. Perhaps it was because he had momentarily dropped his guard, but Pincher's words had quite obviously struck him like a knife to the heart.

"I-" His voice was choked, and he hated himself for it. Swallowing, he tried again. "I haven't been crying. It's just... weed..." but there were already fresh tears welling in his eyes. He bit down on his lip so hard that blood spilled onto his tongue, and then his head fell in defeat. He shuffled back a little, turning his face away and pressing a bruised paw to his eyes. Silence. "I just- it's a lot of things," he said after a long pause, his voice barely above a whisper. "I dunno, it's stupid n' embarrassing." He knew nothing about Pincher. He didn't want to spill his traumas and insecurities on someone that was probably only asking out of leaderly obligation in the first place. He looked back up a Pinch, eyes watery and oddly... not pink. The dull blue of his natural eyes had begun to seep back into his irises, indicating that his fake personality was quickly crumbling around him. His eyes were narrowed again, defensive and standoffish. "D-do you think I'm pathetic?" He asked quietly in an attempt to change the subject, his voice breaking a tad as he curled his tail tightly around his limbs. In his eyes, it looked an awful lot like Pincher was toying with his emotions for amusement. "You're not interested, I get it, but you... you coulda told me to go away without pulling that stunt." He was referring to the fake almost-kiss, jumping to the conclusion that his leader was aware of how affection-starved he was. He was quite clearly avoiding the question by throwing his own at the captain, although that didn't mean that he wasn't being serious in his implied accusations.