moneyballer | IC CONTACT;

[Asher, on the other hand, has been incredibly busy.

It's been a sobering couple of days, surrounded by grief, misery, and a reminder that time spent being alive is not to be wasted. He had agreed to be part of the mourning party, specifically, to help carry the body, and has been doing his best to help make arrangements where he can.

Oliver's text is actually a welcome distraction from all the sadness, although he can't say he expected to receive it. After staring at his device to ensure that this message isn't a thing of his rather lucid imagination, the 1L just assumes that it may concern mortality. Death, in this respect, is not quite a thing they're used to.

Or at least, not yet.]

yeah fo sho my brotha from anotha motha

[As if to lighten the mood, Asher tries to be a little more whimsical with his vocabulary.]

WAAASSSSUUUUP

lol

[Nailed it.]

Edited 2017-03-17 17:17 (UTC)

I'm serious, Asher.

[He already regrets this...]

[To be fair, he's being serious too.

"Serious."]

what's up? lmao

zombie madness gotchu down?

Kind of.
It's about that guy who died.
Did you know him?

[He hopes not. This conversation will be a lot easier if he doesn't.]

Yeah, I did.

[This is what makes the situation so bizarre. Asher understands, to some extent, that it wasn't as if he and Patroclus were particularly close.

Still, Patroclus had a way of making him feel warm and welcome, and...

Well, important.]

He was a friend of mine.

Why?

[Ah. That's awkward. He's glad he decided to do this through text.]

I'm so sorry.

[Maybe he shouldn't jump straight into Achilles' unfaithfulness. Asher's got to be hurting enough already. It definitely explains why his replies to him when he's clearly wanting to talk about something serious have been so obnoxious.]

Are you OK?

I dunno if that's the right word for it, but

[Does he feel sad? Of course. Asher isn't used to having many friends in general, and he's already an overly emotional person by default.

He didn't cry, though.

He has yet to shed even one tear.]

I'm handling it.

[Barely.]

Is that what this is about?

'Cause I get it. This shit's scary as hell, dawg.

I feel that.

No.
I mean, yeah, it's scary, but it's not that.

[If that had been his problem he definitely wouldn't want to share it with Asher now. He has no place being upset next to someone who was friends with him.]

I know some not great things about the guy he was seeing.
Obviously I'm not going to say anything to him about them now.
He still deserves the chance to mourn.
But I think I need to talk to Achilles because he wasn't being fair to him and he needs to know that.

[Why is it so hard not to be vague...]

[Oh, so this is about Achilles.

Somehow, drama always seems to trace its way back to that jackass.]

Yeah, well.

Take a seat.

[He can't say he understands his feelings regarding the mourning Achaean. One on hand, the guy is a teammate who is stuck in the midst of an incredibly unfortunate situation, and whatever differences he and Asher have pale in comparison to the task at hand.

Still, it's felt kind of weird helping a man who once looked at him as if he were less than dirt, and ensuring that he is fed and clothed and alive, despite his melodramatic desire to be none of these things.

Somewhere, deep down, Asher is sure that Achilles would have never done anything of the sort for him.]

Whatever you know can't be half as bad as what I do, so.

Shoot.

[Well, that isn't promising. Maybe Asher knows about this stuff already. Maybe Achilles has been with other guys he's gone further with and everyone already knows but him.]

I was kind of seeing him for a few weeks.

It was super casual. It didn't go anywhere.

I was too nervous to ask him out properly because he's so far above my league already and I figured if he was from here it's not like it could go anywhere anyway.

He really cooled off when we found out when we were both Audentes.

I couldn't figure out why because that seemed like it should have been a good thing for us, but I guess he was scared his boyfriend would find out he was hitting on guys behind his back.

[He lets out a long, loud sigh as he reads through all of this. If they were having a real conversation, his tone would be dry, almost like a police officer asking routine questions.]

Did you two do anything?

No.

We just flirted.

We kind of had dates? But not like date dates.

Okay, one? It's not dating until the both of you say it is.

[wow u can already see how far he's come from s1 asher rip]

And two, this isn't the first time he's pulled this shit.