—
Somewhere within the same location…
Dante and Xavien sat soundly at their usual stall as Dante picked at his roast. He didn't seem to have much of an appetite as usual as this issue has wracked his brain for some time. Xavien, on the other hand, had an idea of how to help him.
He watched Dante fiddle with his fork and sighed at the aspect of seeing him have such trouble when it comes to communicating with his own partner.
"Look buddy, you're going to have to talk the talk and walk the walk when it comes to women, especially higher-standing ones like Iris."
"Even so…it feels like everything I do is wrong in her eyes…"
"That's the thing, you're doing too much!"
"Whaddya mean…?"
Xavien adjusted himself in his seat and leaned forward to show an example for Dante to understand. He acted as if he pulled his hair back and he was playing as Dante in an exercise.
"You're Iris, I'll play as you."
"What will that even do…?"
"Just trust me, come on."
"...Fine…"
Dante sighed as he looked at him and tried to say his words, though his heart wasn't fully into this 'practice' Xavien had in mind.
"Hi there, Dante…"
"Hey, hope you're doing wonderfully this fine evening…"
Xavien went on to flip his hair as if he were Dante which not only confused him but caused him to react angrily to his exaggeration.
"Hey! I don't do that!"
"Exactly, now continue."
"Hmph…so about the classwork…"
"Seems you don't understand some of the problems….we could…go over them together if you'd like…?"
Xavien then placed his hand on Dante's as if he were trying to coax him into accepting the proposal. Dante, taken aback by the bold acting of Xavien, was reminded of the men who would try to hit on Rita back at the bar, even though she'd make them run away due to her personality being too "brash" for their liking. He leaned into his hand with a bored reaction on his face, as this practice felt redundant to him, shocking Xavien in the process.
"Woah, you're pretty good at acting as her."
"Who's acting? This just isn't helping."
"Hmph, I see."