"Oh it is! It's nothing! I just—I don't want you feelin' like you'd ever have to change something about yourself for me." Blythe can't really pinpoint where the insecurity bubbling in his gut comes from; this feeling that he, the nice guy, the affable pushover, should be the one to make compromises and try new things, and if any partner of his made a change then he'd have to prove he was worthy of it. "And I wouldn't wanna share any of your attention anyway."
"Oh, but I'm open to changing myself. Whole new world, whole new me. I can be better than I used to be! I don't mind," Niko says quickly, insecurity also rearing its anxious little head; as far as he was aware, all of his previous relationships had ended due to there being something wrong with him, and he was eager not to ruin this new thing too.
"I don't want to share yours either, but if there's ever anything about me that's annoying or off-putting or whatever, you can tell me. I'll fix it."
"But I like who you are," Blythe says, and rests his hand on top of Niko's. His heart is still thudding too loud and too fast for a man his age in a world without proper hospitals, but he recognizes it as the kind of thrill he gets before going on stage. It's not scary, it's exciting, it's what he was made for. "And everything I've learned about you's just made me like you even more. I can't imagine anything I'd want to change about you."
"There's nothing I would change about you either? You're perfect! You're such a good person! You're too good for me, probably!" Niko says it like it's a joke, but it's clear that there's a grain of truth in there.
"I haven't even taken you on a proper date yet. I'm sucking right now—and not in a good way."
Blythe could list every unfortunate aspect of his own personality: he's needy, he's meek, he's not realistic, he's terrified of being forgotten, he avoids conflict, he's— he's a lot of things that are far from perfect, and don't really sound like traits a good person would have. But he doesn't want to go down that path right now, he doesn't want to throw cold water on this moment and this feeling.
"Just came up with another present for ya," he says, his voice low and affectionate. "I'm gonna make you realize how amazing you really are."
If Niko were to have drawn a personal Maslow's hierarchy of needs chart, having a kind, handsome man reassure him that there's nothing wrong with him and that he wasn't going to instantly abandon him the moment he wasn't perfect likely could have filled in most of it.
"That's gonna be hard, but you know what? I trust you," Niko says, taking a deep breath and diving into this deep end.
He pauses for a moment, then asks, completely earnest: "Am I allowed to be needy for a second here?"
"We can do whatever we goshdarn please, it's a brand new world." Blythe's grin splits his face in two and he's about three seconds from breaking out into song, so hopefully the rest of his theater troupe is still on standby. "Dr. Kostopoulos," he leans in close, "are you askin' me to go steady with you?"
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko
"I don't want to share yours either, but if there's ever anything about me that's annoying or off-putting or whatever, you can tell me. I'll fix it."
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko
"I haven't even taken you on a proper date yet. I'm sucking right now—and not in a good way."
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko
"Just came up with another present for ya," he says, his voice low and affectionate. "I'm gonna make you realize how amazing you really are."
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko
"That's gonna be hard, but you know what? I trust you," Niko says, taking a deep breath and diving into this deep end.
He pauses for a moment, then asks, completely earnest: "Am I allowed to be needy for a second here?"
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko
He doesn't feel fully confident enough to just come out and ask what he's actually asking.
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko
THE BAR: Blythe & Niko