I really love this. In fact, I read it once yesterday and once this morning I liked it so much. There's so much about it that's gentle and that just feels right for John and Rodney. I think much of it is in the way you put the friendship first, but still allow them to have feelings that are independent of one another. What you get in h/c sometimes is a comforter who completely sublimates his own feelings and becomes this odd sort of saintly character who only mirrors the hurt party's emotions. Here, we see John oscillate from angry to annoyed to surprised to happy - all over the map, really, even while he's saying things that don't necessarily correspond directly to those emotions. The other thing I really liked was the way Rodney told John. It range true to me with the pushing forward and pulling back and intellectualizing or distancing when it came too close. I've had similar conversations and, well, it pretty much feels a lot like that. Great piece.