Jake would, and often does, fuck with people by pretending to be dumber than he is, but he wouldn't do that to Veronica in general — he still can't tell if she likes him at all or if she just tolerates him for Cougar's sake, which is a fate he's more or less resigned himself to at this point in his life — and especially not now that she's in such a fragile state.

"I know exactly how he is," he replies. "I also know that, if given the choice, he withdraws so deeply into himself that he can't remember the way out if people don't keep him from doing it in the first place." He shrugs. "He's my best friend and I love the guy, but he's a stubborn son of a bitch with a self-flaggelating streak a mile wide who's convinced that people will think he's a monster if they know even the most basic thing about him. It took me six months of running through war zones together for me to learn his real name, you know that? Even now he yells at me if I drop it in conversation just between the two of us."

He huffs a quiet, wry laugh, shaking his head. "Well, inasmuch as Cougar ever yells, really."