[It's hard to take a moment when his whole being wants to pour everything out, but he listens and takes a breath. One, two, exhaaaale.]
I think.. maybe it was just a kiss. But maybe I also like him? Or maybe he's just a friend and I'm getting dizzy about nothing. We were drinking.. He's been having a hard time lately and I don't think he's in a good place so.. I don't know.
That's not nothing! I mean, it's maybe kind of rude of him to kiss you when he can't really mean it, but it's still not nothing. It doesn't feel like nothing, right?
[That's kind of the problem. It doesn't feel like nothing. Is it a problem? Maybe. Or is it just absolutely typical. Spirits, he might not even remember it happened!]
We were just hanging out. Talking about life. Stuff. Problems. One thing lead to another and.. we kissed. It was nice. It was A Moment. ..we haven't talked about it. But we spend so much time together and he's so cool and funny smart. He's saved my life and he's so... strong. It's hard to not want to be around him.
I dunno, I think he's all hung up on his friend who just showed up.. ugh. This is a mess. Should I go for it anyway? I don't want him to not be my friend anymore or kick me out..
[ Ahh that's the ticket. So it's Hunk or Lance, and Wu can take a guess at who, from how Bo was talking about Lance earlier. ]
That's tricky, bud! If he's hung up on someone else, that makes things complicated. But if he decides not to be your friend because you tell him you like him, then he's not a very good friend, is he?
[ Wu pats his hand ]
I can't tell you want to do, but I can tell you that you'll figure it out! Eventually.
Bolin! I don't know if I would follow my advice! I've only kissed one person!
[ Who is your brother!!! ]
You have to trust yourself. You know what you want. You know this guy.
But, okay. Okay! My advice? Talk to him. Ask him how he felt about it. And if you feel up to it, tell him how you feel. You can't know how he'll respond until he does, even if it's terrifying. I wish, I wish I'd done that.
[ To stand up and go get the book from where Wu left it, to page through it with the intensity Mako gets when she's on a mission. She's not going to do anything that willfully endangers Bolin or Wu, and she really doesn't want to disappear.
But there isn't much more about the skins in there. That they may be valuable, which is... interesting and also horrifying, that it may speed up the process. Nothing about what the process means. Nothing about what happens to the other shed skins. Is that all she is? ]
[He works his jaw for a moment, trying to put his through process to words. ]
Okay so when I was making Nuktuk.. Ginger was always so confusing because she was my girlfriend sometimes and not other times. She kept saying like ‘ooh no Bolin, I’m Nuktuk’s girlfriend’ but I am Nuktuk. So that was a thing but then after that when I saved the president she wanted to be my girlfriend more of the time and kissed me and everything. Does that make sense? It made sense at the then, you’d have to’ve been there.
[Right? Right. ]
So this kind of like that except Ryan always flirts with me anyway on or off stage so if we’re like.. a thing- [GASP]
[ Okay, Wu. You can do this. This is what you've been training for. Sort of. Maybe. But he's had a lot of conversations with a lot of people over the last year about issues like this, about misconceptions and issues communicating, but this feels like a lot more. Like there's so much more here than Bolin's saying. ]
No, I don't think you are.
Ryan, he's just like that, you know? He flirts with me, too, but it doesn't mean anything. It's just how he is, it's how he relates to people. And I'm not saying he doesn't like you! I know he does, but probably as friends. Flirting isn't a big deal to him.
But, you know you aren't Nuktuk, right? You play Nuktuk, just like you're playing Columbia. And Eddie loves Columbia, but it doesn't mean that Ryan loves you, okay? That sounds kind of mean, but you know what I mean, right?
[ Does he?? Wu is really trying here, speaking as gently as he can to try and explain this. ]
It sounds like Ginger was really confusing about stuff like that. I don't think you should take her as an example for how you should be with a girlfriend or boyfriend. That sounds like, it sounds like she was taking advantage of you. Which is terrible, and I'm sorry she did that!
Bolin considers all of it, cycling through the points a few times. It’s a visual process, clearly visible on his face as his cogs whirr away]
Well that.. hm. Clears a few things up with Ryan.
[Wow that is embarrassing. Laid out in front of him like that it all seems painfully obvious. But is it, though? Is it really? Or is it just easier to agree so he doesn’t look stupid.]
Ginger didn’t take advantage of me. I don’t know where you got that from. I don’t see how she could have?
[ Good, good. At least that part's cleared up. Wu watches him think with a certain type of empathy because, yeah. He also thought the world worked differently than it does, once. ]
Well, you said that after you saved Raiko, she was all over you. That sounds like she was taking advantage of you liking her to mooch off your fame.
But, yeah, about Ryan. He has a boyfriend back home. I, well. I don't know how he feels about dating other people. But it depends, on if you really like him or thought you... had to.
[Its the second one. Very clearly, obviously the second one. And at the worst possible moment too considering his other thinking about boys in general.
Ahahaha imposter syndrome hello friend. Who let you into this conversation? Have a seat, have a seat.
Ryan has a boyfriend. All of this is totally not what he thought it was. He is an idiot. Shut it down. Shut it down fast before he embarrasses himself even more.]
Rrright.
Whoo boy. I’ve got everything the wrong way around, here. Let’s just forget we had this conversation, okay?
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