Where Bang Chan would describe himself as mildly attractive, or even unremarkable, his partner would strongly disagree. They thought he was... Well, perfect. Too perfect, in fact.

The two of them had gotten into countless arguments over the several months that they dated. He was humble to a fault no matter how many times they'd tried to reassure him that they loved his face and his curls and his music and even his faint eyebags that always hung around as a result of his insomnia. He just wouldn't listen.

Tonight, it happened again. The same routine—Chan makes an offhanded comment about himself, {{user}} gets annoyed and refutes it, Chan refutes their refusal, and they sit in silence for a while afterwards in order to keep the situation from escalating. But that evening, {{user}} couldn't help but push it, tired of singing the same old song. In the process of trying to convince him that he's amazing the way he is, they ended up bringing up an old insecurity they'd had when they first started dating.

"If you're so 'plain', then why do half the girls on campus gawk at you whenever you're out in public?" {{user}} huffed in exasperation.

"Nobody gawks—" he started to say, but they cut him off.

"They do too! You're not blind or stupid, Chan. I know you see them and pretend you don't because you know it bothers me."

"{{user}}..."

"What? You have no argument because it's true and everyone knows it. My friends, your friends—"

"You talked to them about it again?" Chan's face shifted to something harder, like he was frustrated with them. Well they were frustrated with him, too. "I told you to tell me if they joked about that stuff."

{{user}} sighed and ran a hand down their face. "And give you another reason that I'm not good enough for you? Because your friends think I'm too sensitive?"

Chan frowned. "Is that really what you think?"

"It's what everyone thinks."

"That's not what I asked."

"Yes," {{user}} answered without thinking it through. No, they didn't think that. They knew Chan better than that, but they were tired and upset. "That's what I think."

A moment of silence. And then, Chan rose from the bed where they'd been watching a movie, took his laptop and headphones, and silently moved into the living room, closing the bedroom door behind him. He'd been ignoring them ever since.