“I thought I’d play along to make her happy. Like I do when she wants to experiment with food. We’ve had some small, tiny successes there. Maybe there could be a success to be found here.”

“Of course.”

“I spent a while thinking about it. I think I was wrong, thinking I could do that. I think each time I try to play along, it’s only pushing me away. It takes what we can’t have and pushes it into my face.”

I snapped my head around, looking at him.

His forehead was creased, brow knit. Quicksilver eyes looked back at me.

“I know it’s a fucked thing to say, but I like girls and part of that is liking girls’ bodies. Sorry if that’s TMI. I haven’t had one of these conversations with anyone.”

I shook my head. My heart was pounding in my chest, as calm as I was trying to appear.

“I feel like a traitor, even saying it. Saying I’ve entertained thoughts about breaking up with—”

I stabbed my finger at his shoulder, using the Wretch to give that finger the power to push his heavy metal body. I pushed his shoulder into the window’s frame, indenting the metal and damaging the wood.

“Ow,” he said. He blinked, metal closing over those liquid silver eyes with etched irises. “Actually pretty close to feeling pain there. Ow. That registered.”

“Breaking up?” I asked him, my voice hard.

“It crossed my mind, after the other night. And the nights since. I know that makes me the scummiest hypocrite, saying I’m not sure I can date a Case Fifty-Three when that would disqualify me in a lot of people’s eyes.”

I dropped my finger.

“No,” I said. “You’re not.”

“You don’t have to lie,” he said.

“I’m not. You don’t have to date a Case Fifty-Three anymore than a black person would have to date another black person. That’s a screwed-up mentality.”

“It’s different,” Weld said. “Being black is the most normal thing in the world. Being me, being Sveta, being Chantilly or Gentle Giant, it comes with complications.”

“If you were disabled, you would not be obligated to only date disabled people.”

Weld shrugged. With his broad shoulders, decorated with melted fragments of metal, it was a pretty dramatic movement. “You can say that, but I still feel like a hypocritical scumbag.”

“I don’t think you’re a hypocrite. I do think you’re a bit of a scumbag, talking about dumping my best friend.”

Weld nodded, with enough fervor that I felt bad for being hard on him. “I want to do right by her. I mean it when I say I love her. But that love gets confused.”

“Confused?”