Deer Country IC Inbox

[pabugotmoves]

Huh? Oh-- You've reached Bolin!
Yeah, I'm a pretty busy guy but leave me a message and I'll beep you back

Comments

[royalfling]

Hey, hey, hey! You don't have to know. It's okay, buddy. [ Wu's a little sad to lose the hug, but it's inevitable. He looks down at Bolin with a small frown ] But you're thinking about it? I mean, I can't blame you. So many people here are in gay relationships. We're everywhere!

What got you thinking about this?

[pabugotmoves]

A kiss-

[Wow he sure just blurted that right on out there, huh.]

Ffh- I mean, it was just a kiss it doesn't have to mean anything and like you said most everyone here is gay but everyone is happy; everybody I know who is.. is happy. Maybe I've been going about this all wrong!

[Wow he's been. He's been holding on to this for a while now and it all comes tumbling out. He can hear it and wants to stop but can't and then suddenly it's all gravity siphoned out of him. Curse you, physics!]

[royalfling]

Whoa, whoa. [ There's a lot to unpack here!

First, though: ] You kissed someone? A guy? Who-- you don't have to tell me. [ Please tell him ]

And just because we're all happy, it doesn't mean you can't be happy with a girl! There's-- there's... [ Spirits, does he know any people in straight relationships? He hesitates. And hesitates. Well, oops. He doesn't have any friends in straight relationships. ] Well, you can totally be happy with a girl if you want to be! But maybe you could be happy with a guy, too.

[pabugotmoves]

Maybe.. yeah. [Softly. He didn't mean to bring any of this up, not until he had more of an idea of what all this meant for him. What he was gonna do about it.

But also it feels good to talk about it with someone. Is it weird it's his brother's boyfriend? But.. it's Wu. He's such a good person to talk to and Bolin trusts him. So maybe not.

Sigh.]

It was pretty nice.

[royalfling]

Well, that's good! Do you like this guy? Or was it, you know, just a kiss?

[ Wu reaches over to place his hand on Bolin's squeezing gently. He's here for you, buddy ]

Take your time. It's really scary to admit this kind of stuff. Trust me, I know.

[pabugotmoves]

[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.

Sounds like nothing when you say it out loud.

[royalfling]

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?

How, how did it happen?

[pabugotmoves]

[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.

[royalfling]

[ Well, doesn't this sound familiar. Wu sighs softly in sympathy. He knows that feeling far too well. ]

Do you want to kiss him again?

[ Because asking if he has a crush seems pointless because that sure sounds like a crush to him ]

[pabugotmoves]

[Oh how the turns have tabled]

I.. Yeah. I think I would.

[Bolin groans and pinches his temple.]

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..

[royalfling]

[ 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.

[pabugotmoves]

[He wasn't purposely avoiding Lance's name, he just got caught up in talking about the everything else. If Wu asked again he'd remember to answer.

By the by, now.

He sighs again and looks over, brows knit. Baby's first boy crisis.]

Help. Please tell me what to do. I'm begging you.

[royalfling]

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.

[pabugotmoves]

[Yeah and it's going well for you!!! Romantic novel romance!!!]

Nnnngh- It's so hard to get Lance to talk about anything what if I stress him out?

[What if he explodes? Literally explodes, he can do that!]

[royalfling]

Well-- relationships are stressful! If he's not willing to talk, then he probably wouldn't be a very good boyfriend.

[ Even though, you can train them to talk. Wu's been doing alright at that ]

[pabugotmoves]

[Yeah but Mako is easy to train.]

Boyfriend. That is. That is a whole word.

[royalfling]

Yes, well-- [ Wu is moving too fast, isn't he? ] Is that what you would want?

[pabugotmoves]

I don’t know.

[Phrase of the day, apparently.]

Plus there’s the whole Ryan thing.

[royalfling]

[ Oh boy ]

What... Ryan thing? The stage boyfriend thing?

[ Oh, no. Is Bolin taking that seriously? ]

[pabugotmoves]

[He looks.. guilty. Was he not supposed to?]

Yes?

[royalfling]

What, um. What do you really mean by stage boyfriend?

[ He is Concerned ]

[pabugotmoves]

I guess it’s like. A boyfriend you didn’t choose but now you’re together kind of?

[royalfling]

Bo... you know that just because you're together on-stage doesn't mean you are off-stage, right? Did Ryan say something about that?

[ Because if he did, Wu is going to have Words with him. ]

[pabugotmoves]

Not strictly speaking.

[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]

Oh no- did I cheat on him? Am I a dirty cheater??

[royalfling]

[ 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!