Housemates

Samuel

Sam watched Ronin fill the teacups and sit next to him, surprised even though he was forgiven that the man could so easily sit next to him. Even without The Blight, in some circles they could be enemies anyway. Sam had once loved his husband, had hurt him too - it would not be ridiculous if Ronin had taken against him based on that. Yet here they were, and he found himself grateful for the good souls of the people he knew.

The answer to his question struck him, because while he was sure it wasn't the same kind of distance, Ronin had described exactly how years of mental illness had felt when he had been alone in his house. Watching himself from afar all day going through the motions, waiting for the monotone world to end.

It showed on his face, but could hopefully simply pass for shocked sympathy. After a moment he nodded grimly. "It does sound awful. I heard some people...hurt people. I know one of my friends said some things to me that...well, I hope he didn't mean. But I've heard it can get violent, too."

And it's hard to write about being happy
'Cause the older I get

I find that happiness is an extremely uneventful subject