[Alex follows Ben's movements with his eyes. He's still relaxed, but alert, too, to Ben's needs, the possibility that they'll need to flee this place, that it's too dangerous.]
[That's not all he's watching for, though. Ben isn't just someone he needs to watch out for. He's someone Alex admires deeply for his precision, his artistry, his seeming incapability of doing anything but try until he can try no more and then getting up and trying again, his stubbornness in the face of terms and actions and interactions that he has no natural way of understanding. Alex watches him treat this space like a stage, and he thinks that even if he never made a single other friend here or graduated an inmate, knowing Ben would make it all worth it.]
[He smiles at the proximity, not too close, but close enough, and ducks his head.]
Zack needs a lot of things that I need. [That's probably why they don't get along very well, he thinks.] I like them a lot. I've never . . . seen anything like that.
[There's no way to hide that he's a little bit in awe, and he wouldn't want to try anyway.]
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[That's not all he's watching for, though. Ben isn't just someone he needs to watch out for. He's someone Alex admires deeply for his precision, his artistry, his seeming incapability of doing anything but try until he can try no more and then getting up and trying again, his stubbornness in the face of terms and actions and interactions that he has no natural way of understanding. Alex watches him treat this space like a stage, and he thinks that even if he never made a single other friend here or graduated an inmate, knowing Ben would make it all worth it.]
[He smiles at the proximity, not too close, but close enough, and ducks his head.]
Zack needs a lot of things that I need. [That's probably why they don't get along very well, he thinks.] I like them a lot. I've never . . . seen anything like that.
[There's no way to hide that he's a little bit in awe, and he wouldn't want to try anyway.]