(idiomatic) to bluff, to put up a bold front

the usual, ordinary

always, invariably, all the time / usually / (with a negative verb) never

bluff, false show of power

self-confidence

spread, fill / swell / put up, spread / stick out (arms, chest), be prominent / stretch a rope, post a cordon / slap / be nervous, be tense / be expensive / add (water) until a container is full

he / distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that / boyfriend

distal demonstrative, something far off removed from both speaker and listener: that, yon / particularly, male personal third person pronoun: he / by extension from he: boyfriend

he; boyfriend

stiffen / for a person to freeze, for one's expression to freeze