Howard waits a while, until he can tell that Orc's completely engrossed in the story.

"Hey, so."

No answer. Good. Howard can work with talking to a stone, at least, a stone that isn't listening to him.

"I've been thinking."

He waits again, just in case.

"I think I like guys."

No response. No slow-witted questioning of the nature of their relationship. No 'okay' or anger or even flat-out confusion. Maybe 'nothing' is the best response Howard can hope for. He's alright with that.

He goes back to reading the manual.