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[moneyballer]

username: I CAN B UR DADDY

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[moneyballer]

[meanwhile asher is just???????????]

No offense, man? But like, why, l-o-l.

[oh my god is he

implying

that keats is kind of irrelevant i think he is]

It's not like I'm gonna use these deets to yank your ween or what the hell ever.

[ah and then, he realizes, bcuz keats is an old useless fart of a man]

Metaphorically speaking.

[headlining]

I'm always amazed at the depths of your vulgarity, Asher.

[He sighs. He hates this. He doesn't want to share anything. He's an observer. An outsider. He can't just share his feelings, what kind of nonsense is that?]

[A part of him wants to open up, another part desperately doesn't want to, and yet another just...doesn't even know how to do it in the first place.]

Besides, how do you even do a thing like that? Are you going to make me lounge on a couch and ask me personal questions like some kind of therapist?

[moneyballer]

[And Asher can see that, bits and pieces, knowing full well the awkward feeling of loneliness, of wanting to share but not knowing exactly how.]

You just start talkin'.

[A sigh.]

Like, if your day sucked, you call your friend and go, "Wow! My day really friggin' sucked!"

It's no big deal.

[Or at least, not for someone like himself.]

[headlining]

Okay, then fine. Fine! Things have been going badly. Is that what you need to hear?

[NO KEATS THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS YOU SIX PIECE CHICKEN NUGGET NOBODY]

[moneyballer]

[At that Asher pauses, worried for the other man. Keats will be able to hear it perhaps, the sound of shuffling beneath fabric, as the law student positions himself more comfortably before continuing.]

I don't need to hear it like that. Knowing that you're havin' a hard time isn't fun for me.

I'm not that messed up.

[Still, this is something.

Progress.]

Okay, so things haven't been goin' so great.

Is it just the zombie crap, or... Somethin' else?

[His head shakes on his end, although Keats can't see it.]

Did you get into a fight with anybody?

[headlining]

It's a lot of things.

[He feels so strange. Talking about himself, what a novel invention! Reporters aren't exactly the autobiographical type. Only a name goes on the article and nothing more. And yet, he continues with a sigh, because honestly, he doesn't know what else to say.]

No, I didn't, it's just...it's been complicated. With another person, more exactly.

[A huff.]

I don't know how to deal with it.

[moneyballer]

Complicated, huh.

[There goes that knowing click of the tongue. For a fully grown adult, Keats is pretty... Transparent.]

Is this a certain someone that you might...

[insert unnecessary asher head wriggle here]

Wanna be more than friends with, maybe?

[headlining]

[There's a long silence, before:]

...Maybe.

1/2 (audio -> video)

[moneyballer]

[Keats will suddenly see the transmission change from audio to video, with a close up on Asher's face-]

2/2

[moneyballer]

[as it morphs in2 this heinous expression]

[headlining]

[Instantly:]

I'm going to hang up.

[moneyballer]

Soooo...

[YOU AREN'T HANGING UP U LIL BITCH]

What happened?

[headlining]

[EXASPERATED SIGH]

Nothing happened, it's just...I went a little too far, but it seemed to work out? I don't know.

[moneyballer]

Wait, so you guys like-

[He curls one hand into a little circle, sticking his index finger in and out of it.

Gross.]

Did stuff?

audio -> video

[headlining]

[You turned on your video to show off an expression? Keats can do the same thing. He looks completely disgusted.]

No. Good lord, is that all you think about?

[moneyballer]

N-no! It just, you said you went too far... And that's what people usually mean, in my world, when they say things like that-

[awkward fumbling noises]

So what really went down, then?

What was too far... For you?

[headlining]

Went far by my standards, Asher, not everyone is in each other's beds as much as you think they are.

[He grumbles.]

You're just going to make fun of me.

[Says a grown adult in the tone of a petulant child.]

[moneyballer]

It's different for everybody, though.

[An idea it's taken a while for him to learn.]

A lotta little things can feel... I dunno, like-

[He laughs, somewhat nervously.]

Even bigger? Than all that?

If that makes sense.

[With the right person, even a gesture as innocent as holding hands can mean a lot.]

[headlining]

I suppose.

[He's still grumpy! But....fine.]

I was drunk. It was a kiss. That's it.

[moneyballer]

Oh.

[Asher murmurs slightly, a soft, compassionate noise.]

Well, okay.

How'd it go?

[headlining]

Extremely badly.

[Not one of the best moments of his life.]

I, uh...left. Not long after it happened. I mean, I explained later why I did it and I... [SIGHS.]...confessed my feelings but it was still very awkward.

Really would do that differently if I had to do it again.

[moneyballer]

[He withdraws from the camera, slightly.

Keats will notice that Asher is sitting up in bed, dressed in something relatively informal for his preppy sensitivities. Tilting his head to the side, he offers the other a look of surprisingly genuine sympathy, as he's been in that place before, and knows that rejection isn't something that's easy to deal with.]

That really stinks, dude.

[Somehow, he doesn't have to ask any more questions.]

I'm sorry.

[headlining]

I mean, it's not like it ended totally poorly. It just...we're still friends. I suppose. In a way.

[Again, it's complicated. Keats takes off his glasses, rubbing his eyes with a sigh. Asher, showing him sympathy? It's weird. People showing him sympathy in general is weird.]

It's just all up in the air, really.

[moneyballer]

So you guys still talk.

[He nods in response.]

Okay! Well, that means they probably don't hate you, right?

But are you cool with that? Just being friends, I mean.

[headlining]

No, they don't.

[At least, he hopes so. But he'd know about that, wouldn't he, if that was true?]

...I don't know. I guess I'm just...waiting to see what they'll do.