"Having opinions will be helpful. And, I don't know, maybe being able to see places that are hard for people who are made of matter see for... broken pipes and faulty foundations or whatever maybe? I dunno."

"If you can get a light source in there for me.  To be determined whether my night vision is much better than yours, but it still doesn't work in pitch dark.  Or through solid matter."

Jake blinks at Jeremy. He looks... more cheerful. Why does he look more cheerful. What happened while Jake was showering.

Well, Jake's not complaining. "Skill issue."

Jeremy's slight smile wobbles while Jake blinks at him.

"...Is that slang?"

"—yes, sorry. It's, uh. Like. Literally it means if you were more skilled you'd be able to do it but since this isn't actually a matter of skill it's kind of just a light hearted social noise? I guess?"

"And is 'social noise' slang?"

"Maaaaaaybe? I guess? It sounds like just like a thing. Like, you know, when something doesn't really necessarily mean anything exactly and it's just there to say, uh, social things." He never has to think about this shit in words he doesn't know how to explain it.

"Like... small talk?"

"I mean, like, you know when someone's telling you a story and you sometimes go 'yeah' or 'uh huh', it's not because they like asked you a question that you're saying 'yes' to it's just saying 'I am still here listening and paying attention to you', it doesn't really mean anything. So like I say 'skill issue' and it basically just means 'I like you and feel affection for you' or whatever."

"......I don't see how that could be the case but I believe you."

"I'm not good at explaining this stuff I just kinda do it," he says, shrugging.

"The important part came through, I think."

"Excellent." He has done a sufficiently good job of dedusting the bed that he can flop back onto it without stirring up a cloud of dust.

Jeremy kind of stutter-floats in that direction a few times.  "—Should I come over?"

Jake is suspicious that this means Jeremy has decided to fake feeling fine to please him.

He doesn't have it in him to care right now. He scoots. "Sure."

Here is a Jeremy!  He puts his bottom arm through the mattress for more efficient cuddling (which feels surprisingly un-weird to Jake; being touched by two things in the same spot isn't all that different than one thing, at least in the current configuration) and—tucks his other arm behind his back, apparently.

Okay no what's weirding Jake out is the thing where Jeremy is suddenly being affectionate.

"Okay what happened while I was showering?"

"I didn't complete writing a brand-new spell, if that's what you mean."

"No I mean the thing where you were acting upset and guilty and now you're acting cheerful and cuddly."

"Should I not?"

Bingo. "You should act honest."

"......We might have to try out the truth spell for that."

Oh for the love of- "Fine, get me the damn spell."

Jeremy is up and back over by the desk quite quickly.  "I mean, it didn't—it didn't seem like it was helping, when I—I don't know.  I'm sorry."

"The thing I want is a genuine human relationship and those occasionally involve people feeling upset."

...wow uh. Does Jake have. Literally any of those in his life. Now that he thinks about it. 

He's known this boy for three days.