Stephen almost walks into the trap. It’s a startlingly easy thing to let his tongue slip and want to talk too much about Gwenaëlle now that he’s being directly prompted: pithily say something about how she can be stupidly reckless too, so they might not be the best at reining each other in in that particular regard,

(and oh that reveals how much he knows of how she ticks these days)

but he cuts himself off like someone swerving away from oncoming traffic. Then squints at Mobius across the desk, tit-for-tat and bemused. “For the record, Mobius, I see what you’re doing when there’s a topic you’re trying to avoid… but I’m doing the same thing, so y’know what, fair’s fair.”