[Ryan is in line for pork buns, giving Min a moment to breathe before his (hopefully their? Eventually?) Trench friends come and meet the famous Min-Gi Park, while not going too far away. His heart is fluttering and he's bouncing on his heels and just so psyched.
But then there's a slow motion realization of horror. Wu is on his way, and...he never told him, did he? Wu doesn't know Min isn't technically....
Fuck.]
WU!!!!!!!
WU BEFORE YOU GET HERE THERE'S SOMETHING SUPER IMPORTANT I NEED TO TELL YOU ABOUT ME AND MIN
YOU GOTTA KNOW BEFORE YOU MEET HIM SERIOUSLY DON'T LOOK FOR HIM YET I FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT
[ Well, now you tell him, Ryan! Wu is in the middle of his very awkward conversation and his Omni buzzes, and he looks down at it only to see this very message. He knows what this is about. He definitely knows what this is about, and he feels sick to his stomach, and it has nothing to do with the steamed buns.
This message that would have been just great five minutes ago. But now? Now?! ]
It might maybe be a little late, Ryan!!!!!!!
I'm so so so so so so so sorry. I maybe totally definitely said that you were boyfriends
I'm so sorry dude I should have said something I had like jello squid brain when you asked me and I got all excited and said yeah but we're not like OFFICIAL official but like what else do you call someone you're spending your whole life with??? living out your shared dream????
[A BANDMATE, RYAN.]
wait don't say that to him how pissed off is he
wait how pissed off are YOU?????
seriously I always meant to fix it but it got harder to do the longer it went on but i TOTALLY meant to I swear!!!
I'm really really sorry you said that and I assumed!!!!!!! You know you could have told me, right???? I know what having squid brain is like it's really hard and weird I would totally get it but now I definitely told him you said you're boyfriends
Wait so does he like you???? Do you know?? Have you kissed?????
[Min doesn't think so much about Wu getting a text, in fact it's a nice reprieve from the very personal questions. Good, he'll just sit here for a moment and then find a nice way to run away- oh no.
Oh- oh no no no he can hear Wu reading the texts to himself in his head.
Why can he do that- how are they messaging so fast??
Someone you're spending your whole life with- not official official- does Ryan want that is that the goal-
Min-Gi can feel himself sinking lower and lower into the ground as he wills himself to stop existing whilst channeling his surprise and anger and all his other very intense feelings. The ground below him starts to dip, darkening into something purple-black and liquid. Like he might actually be getting his escape after all.
But he doesn't, he just. Snaps.]
WE HAVEN'T KISSED!
[Way louder and far more sharp than it should be. A few near by Trenchies spook at the outburst and step back.]
[ Oh, boy. Oh, no. He didn't think-- he didn't remember that for some reason Min-Gi can hear all his thoughts right now. He looks up from his Omni with a look of vague horror ]
Right. Right! Hey, sorry, buddy! I just, assumed. You know. Assumed that maybe your relationship was like that! Totally my bad. Super definitely my bad.
[ He laughs the kind of thin, tight laugh one laughs when it isn't funny at all, but Wu has no idea what else to do here. ]
[It isn’t Wu’s fault. It isn’t. He’s just going off the information Ryan gave him. It’s logical. It makes sense. But damn is Min just isn’t in the frame of mind to step back and thinks about this for a second.
Wu who is Ryan’s new best friend. Wu the charismatic, psychic, new best friend. With a pet raccoon and a venue, what an upgrade! No wonder..
He rolls an ugly sort of jealousy into the mix and curls his fists even tighter.]
You’re his best friend, you would know. I should go.
[ Wu notices that black swirl under Min-Gi's feet and he doesn't really know what it means. He doesn't know, but it feels bad, and Ryan will kill him if he scares off Min-Gi like this. If Min-Gi gets lost in Trench all alone-- ]
You don't know the city! At least let me, or Ryan, show you around, okay?
[ Except he can feel that sick swirl of jealousy, he can feel it, and that's his fault, isn't it? That's his fault for finally finding a friend like Ryan who actually understands him and gets him and has fun with him. Sure, he has his flaws, but he is Wu's best friend.
Except Min-Gi is Ryan's best friend. And Min-Gi has been Ryan's best friend since they were children. Who is Wu? Someone Ryan met six months ago, someone who keeps prodding him and poking him to tell him more than he wants to. Who pries and annoys him, and is all the things that have turned people away from him before. ]
[Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding a few more texts roll in:]
dude it's not your fault you asked me point blank if he was my boyfriend and I said yes like a dumbass
and I know. seriously, this is my bad
WE HAVE NOT KISSED AND NOW THIS IS ALL I'M GOING TO BE THINKING ABOUT WHEN I GET BACK AND HE'S GONNA KNOW HOW MUCH I WANT TO BECAUSE OF MY STUPID POWERS wu my dude I have dug myself a grave
I have no idea how he would take that??? it's...different in our world y'know. scarier. like not that he doesn't know about me we've never talked about it but my closet's got glass doors and big bay windows but. i dunno. maybe??????? but like if I'm wrong I lose him again and i can't deal with that. like it's one thing for your best friend to be queer and it's totally another for your queer best friend to have been pining for you since like middle school. he's gonna FLIIIIIP and I JUST got him back.
also hey since you're here do you want any nikuman I'm almost at the front of the line
[It is not fine. Nothing about this is fine. He hates this, he hates all of this so much.
Min pushes up to his still wobbly feet and growls when his knees threaten to buckle. Not now! He doesn’t have the time for this right now! You can’t storm off angry when you walk like a penguin! Nevertheless, he persists.]
It takes everything in him to ignore the dinging of his Omni, but he resists because who knows what Ryan is saying and it might just make this worse.
He doesn't really know what to do. He thought this would be fine. He thought this would be great! Ryan's boyfriend is finally here! They could go on cute double dates and things like that, but no. No, he is't Ryan's boyfriend, he's his best friend from back home and he's jealous of Wu and Wu doesn't know what to do with that because he's confused and kind of jealous right back, and it's a swirl of emotions that he's not sure how to handle.
But instilled manners get the better of him ]
It was nice to meet you, too, Min-Gi. I... oh! Oh. Come by the Raccoon Room, if you need anything.
[ It's sort of a lame offer, but it's there all the same. An olive branch, so to speak, because he really doesn't want Min-Gi to end up like Ryan did, living in whatever shitty place he could find empty in the city instead of asking for help ]
[ Wu is torn. He feels like he should do something. He should go after Min-Gi, but he also has no idea what to say. He feels guilty, very guilty, for driving him off. What if he goes back to the sea, and it's all Wu's fault!?
Instead, he hunches over his Omni, tapping back: ]
Ryan I'm so so sorry but he left!!! I don't know why but he can hear my thoughts so he heard everything we were texting.
[Ryan literally runs the entire way back from the nikuman booth, or pork buns, or whatever Trench is calling them, and it's a miracle he doesn't crash into anyone on the way.
When he gets back to the table he had left Min at, he finds exactly what he was told he would find - Wu, alone, with no Min in sight.
Ryan says nothing, at first. As if in a daze, he pulls out the chair Min had been sitting in, sits, and lays his head down directly on the table. Tomo, who was hiding inside Ryan while he navigated the crowd, reforms and flops down on the back of his head in exactly the same amount of despair. The nikuman are in a bag that is all but forgotten on the table. The smallest whine slips out.]
No, buddy. No, I wasn't thinking and I just said it!
[ Wu's hand drops to Ryan's shoulder, squeezing gently. Fritter hops off Wu's shoulder and goes to wrap her little arms around Tomo ]
I didn't think-- I now that people are weird about it on Earth, too, but I'm so used to things being normal, here. I forget that new people, they don't know that. They aren't used to people just, just being.
[ He lets out a groan, falling back in his chair dramatically ]
Where do you think he went? He doesn't know the city! Maybe, maybe we could really get Mako to track him down this time. Unless his detective skills are rusty because he's been bartending for so long now--
[Guilt and regret are rolling off of Ryan in waves, and and even a little self-loathing.]
No, even on Earth usually when you say someone told you a person is their boyfriend, they're usually aware of that and don't freak out. I should have said something...
[Carefully, Ryan sits up so he doesn't knock Tomo and Fritter over. Tomo sadly slides off of Ryan's head and immediately goes to curl up with Fritter, letting out many little distraught squeaks.]
I dunno. [Ryan sighs, looking up and away from Wu.] Probably...somewhere small and quiet he can hide, away from people. He's probably curled up there thinking about the horrible mistake he made throwing away his university education to be in a band with a creep like me.
He wasn't thinking anything like that! I swear, Ryan. For some reason I could hear this thoughts, like really, really well. I-- sort of can hear yours too, buddy.
[ Even though, it's just fainter, like the effect, whatever it was, is wearing off. ]
He wasn't creeped out. I think he was just, just confused. And embarrassed, and kind of jealous? I don't know him as well as you do, but if he did all that for you you liking him can't be that bad, right? It just means, means that you like him!
[ Even as he says it, the words fall flat. Isn't this the exact same thing he was worried about with Mako a year ago? Ryan can feel that Wu doesn't fully believe his words ]
And there's, there's a school here. [ As if that's the same thing at all ]
Wu, we're palebloods. That happens a lot with us. Plus I project my thoughts out by accident a ton.
[Except, if Min could hear Wu's thoughts...]
...I didn't think Min would be paleblood too. Honestly, kinda assumed he'd be coldblooded because it would match us with you and Mako?
[Which is a dumb reason, he thinks, but they're already so alike as it is. It made sense in his head.]
It's...complicated. It's not bad, it's just. Dangerous, where we're from. And like, not just in the usual way where people are jerks, though that happens too. I don't think I've told you because it's kiiind of heavy but. In the world we're from...people like us are getting really sick, and dying. I don't think that can happen here! But he just got here, so...there's reasons he might not want to deal with it.
[Deal with him specifically, is what he means. Ryan's clean, but it's a lot for Min to process all at once. There are definitely people who would walk away from a band over less.
But he remembers something Wu said and quirks an eyebrow.]
No, I... didn't know that. They're dying? Why? [ Maybe he shouldn't ask. Ryan volunteered this information, and Wu knows how precious that is. He frowns and reaches over for him again, gripping his arm ] That-- you don't have to talk about it. But that's awful, I guess... I guess that is more to worry about.
I think he's jealous of me. Because you're my best friend. I think he thinks I'm replacing him? But of course I can't be! I can't be, because you love him so much. But maybe he doesn't know that.
From everything you've told me, he's a great guy! He's probably just freaked out by the, the squid thing. He'll come around to it. [ Right? Wu has to believe that. He can't believe that his own happiness could be at the detriment of someone else's. That's what he vowed to fight against, back home. And even if it's on this micro of a level ]
[Ryan did volunteer it, and unlike at The Red he's not squirming to avoid saying it either. There's still a little compulsion there, but it's something he's sharing anyway. He puts his hand on Wu's, grateful for the out, but he still answers.]
I don't think anyone's really sure? It screws up people's immune systems really bad, and makes it so they can get sick super easy. Most of the people who get it don't make it - it's basically a death sentence. And most of the people who do get it are...well. Gay guys. A lot of people call it "gay flu" or "gay cancer".
[He rolls his eyes at that though. Like, come on. That's just mean.]
But yeah! Min worries. That's what Min does. He's probably worried about that, worried about the squid thing, worried about...I dunno, the fact that I rushed into something again on him? And...I guess, worried that I replaced him.
[He hadn't really been thinking of it like that at all, but now that the thought is there...well. He can see how that might have happened. It doesn't make him feel great, but he can see it.
He sighs, and reaches in the bag for one of the nikuman before they get cold.]
You really think he'll come around?
[Honestly, Ryan kind of knows Wu can't really know for now, but the reassurance sounds nice right about now.]
That's so scary. [ He can't really imagine it, being that kind of afraid. It's is different, from the prejudice back home, and Wu can see Ryan's worries. He knows that Mako probably wouldn't take a risk like that, either. ] But... yeah. I don't think we can get sick like that, here. Everything says that Sleepers are immune to normal illnesses, we only get the weird blood ones, now.
[ Which isn't entirely reassuring, but it's what they have to cling to. ]
But you didn't bring him here! You've been here for so long, Ryan. You didn't choose for him to come here! Maybe, maybe you wanted him to, but we have no idea if that means anything for him actually being here.
And you didn't replace him. Of course you didn't! Our friendship is completely different, right? Because, because Min-Gi isn't like me, or you, right? We're friends because we have so much in common! But that's a different kind of friendship than you have with him. [ Crush not withstanding here ] I'll do my best to convince him of that, okay? I won't, I don't want to get between you two! And, anyway, I have a wedding to plan.
[ None of that really has to do with their friendship, but Wu does have that small inkling of fear, too. He doesn't want to be replaced, either. He loves his friendship with Ryan, cherishes it. He doesn't know what his experience in Trench would have been like without him. ]
I do. I really do think he'll come around to it. I mean... we don't know if you even can leave? I know some people have, but they, they finished, didn't they? They got what they needed. [ At least, that's what Wu tells himself ] I don't think Min-Gi can have gotten what he needed after an hour here! Right?
[Ryan sincerely loves their friendship, and it really is a comfort to hear all of this from someone, even if there are parts he doesn't entirely believe. Just having someone to say them helps.]
Totally! What we have is like-- it's a totally different level. I've never had a friend like you before that was super like me. It, uh. It makes things...clearer with Min, I think?
[He flushes a little at that. It's something he's thought about a lot in Trench, how things he always thought were close friendship are things Wu has with Mako, and not things Ryan has with him. It's never made him jealous though, it was just a quiet realization of everything his ex-girlfriends rolled their eyes about.]
...I don't know. When he gets scared or overwhelmed he tends to...you know. Run? It's why my solo tour was solo - I sprang it on him with a week's notice and it was too much for him. And...I assumed that meant no forever and took off.
[He's calm when he says it - they've worked through it thanks to the train and they were finally on tour together, but there's still definitely fear underneath it that this was too much all at once, that it might be the final straw for Min.]
[ Even if he has no idea if Min-Gi feels the same way. Probably, by how he reacted to Wu saying they were boyfriends, but you never know ]
Okay... so maybe he needs some time. But, this place is pretty scary. Do you think we could find him, but then, like, not make him do anything? Just to make sure he's okay?
[ Because even with his own twinge of jealousy, having someone, anyone, out in Trench, alone and powerless-- it's terrifying. He doesn't want anything bad to happen to him for Min-Gi's own sake, and for Ryan's, too. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Text; un: liontamer
But then there's a slow motion realization of horror. Wu is on his way, and...he never told him, did he? Wu doesn't know Min isn't technically....
Fuck.]
WU!!!!!!!
WU BEFORE YOU GET HERE THERE'S SOMETHING SUPER IMPORTANT I NEED TO TELL YOU ABOUT ME AND MIN
YOU GOTTA KNOW BEFORE YOU MEET HIM SERIOUSLY DON'T LOOK FOR HIM YET I FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT
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This message that would have been just great five minutes ago. But now? Now?! ]
It might maybe be a little late, Ryan!!!!!!!
I'm so so so so so so so sorry. I maybe totally definitely said that you were boyfriends
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I'm so sorry dude I should have said something I had like jello squid brain when you asked me and I got all excited and said yeah but we're not like OFFICIAL official but like what else do you call someone you're spending your whole life with??? living out your shared dream????
[A BANDMATE, RYAN.]
wait don't say that to him how pissed off is he
wait how pissed off are YOU?????
seriously I always meant to fix it but it got harder to do the longer it went on but i TOTALLY meant to I swear!!!
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I'm really really sorry you said that and I assumed!!!!!!! You know you could have told me, right???? I know what having squid brain is like it's really hard and weird I would totally get it but now I definitely told him you said you're boyfriends
Wait so does he like you???? Do you know?? Have you kissed?????
[ THE GOSS, RYAN ]
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Oh- oh no no no he can hear Wu reading the texts to himself in his head.
Why can he do that- how are they messaging so fast??
Someone you're spending your whole life with- not official official- does Ryan want that is that the goal-
Min-Gi can feel himself sinking lower and lower into the ground as he wills himself to stop existing whilst channeling his surprise and anger and all his other very intense feelings. The ground below him starts to dip, darkening into something purple-black and liquid. Like he might actually be getting his escape after all.
But he doesn't, he just. Snaps.]
WE HAVEN'T KISSED!
[Way louder and far more sharp than it should be. A few near by Trenchies spook at the outburst and step back.]
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Right. Right! Hey, sorry, buddy! I just, assumed. You know. Assumed that maybe your relationship was like that! Totally my bad. Super definitely my bad.
[ He laughs the kind of thin, tight laugh one laughs when it isn't funny at all, but Wu has no idea what else to do here. ]
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[It isn’t Wu’s fault. It isn’t. He’s just going off the information Ryan gave him. It’s logical. It makes sense. But damn is Min just isn’t in the frame of mind to step back and thinks about this for a second.
Wu who is Ryan’s new best friend. Wu the charismatic, psychic, new best friend. With a pet raccoon and a venue, what an upgrade! No wonder..
He rolls an ugly sort of jealousy into the mix and curls his fists even tighter.]
You’re his best friend, you would know. I should go.
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[ Wu notices that black swirl under Min-Gi's feet and he doesn't really know what it means. He doesn't know, but it feels bad, and Ryan will kill him if he scares off Min-Gi like this. If Min-Gi gets lost in Trench all alone-- ]
You don't know the city! At least let me, or Ryan, show you around, okay?
[ Except he can feel that sick swirl of jealousy, he can feel it, and that's his fault, isn't it? That's his fault for finally finding a friend like Ryan who actually understands him and gets him and has fun with him. Sure, he has his flaws, but he is Wu's best friend.
Except Min-Gi is Ryan's best friend. And Min-Gi has been Ryan's best friend since they were children. Who is Wu? Someone Ryan met six months ago, someone who keeps prodding him and poking him to tell him more than he wants to. Who pries and annoys him, and is all the things that have turned people away from him before. ]
I'm really sorry.
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dude it's not your fault you asked me point blank if he was my boyfriend and I said yes like a dumbass
and I know. seriously, this is my bad
WE HAVE NOT KISSED AND NOW THIS IS ALL I'M GOING TO BE THINKING ABOUT WHEN I GET BACK AND HE'S GONNA KNOW HOW MUCH I WANT TO BECAUSE OF MY STUPID POWERS wu my dude I have dug myself a grave
I have no idea how he would take that??? it's...different in our world y'know. scarier. like not that he doesn't know about me we've never talked about it but my closet's got glass doors and big bay windows but. i dunno. maybe??????? but like if I'm wrong I lose him again and i can't deal with that. like it's one thing for your best friend to be queer and it's totally another for your queer best friend to have been pining for you since like middle school. he's gonna FLIIIIIP and I JUST got him back.
also hey since you're here do you want any nikuman I'm almost at the front of the line
no subject
[It is not fine. Nothing about this is fine. He hates this, he hates all of this so much.
Min pushes up to his still wobbly feet and growls when his knees threaten to buckle. Not now! He doesn’t have the time for this right now! You can’t storm off angry when you walk like a penguin! Nevertheless, he persists.]
It was nice meeting you, Wu.
[Was it..]
You’ve given me a lot to think about.
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It takes everything in him to ignore the dinging of his Omni, but he resists because who knows what Ryan is saying and it might just make this worse.
He doesn't really know what to do. He thought this would be fine. He thought this would be great! Ryan's boyfriend is finally here! They could go on cute double dates and things like that, but no. No, he is't Ryan's boyfriend, he's his best friend from back home and he's jealous of Wu and Wu doesn't know what to do with that because he's confused and kind of jealous right back, and it's a swirl of emotions that he's not sure how to handle.
But instilled manners get the better of him ]
It was nice to meet you, too, Min-Gi. I... oh! Oh. Come by the Raccoon Room, if you need anything.
[ It's sort of a lame offer, but it's there all the same. An olive branch, so to speak, because he really doesn't want Min-Gi to end up like Ryan did, living in whatever shitty place he could find empty in the city instead of asking for help ]
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He doesn’t know where’s he’s going but he has to get away from here. Sorry Ryan but he can’t deal with this right now. He just can’t.]
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Instead, he hunches over his Omni, tapping back: ]
Ryan I'm so so sorry but he left!!! I don't know why but he can hear my thoughts so he heard everything we were texting.
1/2
hang on i'm coming back asap!!!
[is that an acronym Wu knows? DOESN'T MATTER HE IS IMMEDIATELY HEADING BACK WITH HIS NIKUMAN.]
2/2 --> Action
When he gets back to the table he had left Min at, he finds exactly what he was told he would find - Wu, alone, with no Min in sight.
Ryan says nothing, at first. As if in a daze, he pulls out the chair Min had been sitting in, sits, and lays his head down directly on the table. Tomo, who was hiding inside Ryan while he navigated the crowd, reforms and flops down on the back of his head in exactly the same amount of despair. The nikuman are in a bag that is all but forgotten on the table. The smallest whine slips out.]
I fucked this up sooooo bad...
no subject
[ Wu's hand drops to Ryan's shoulder, squeezing gently. Fritter hops off Wu's shoulder and goes to wrap her little arms around Tomo ]
I didn't think-- I now that people are weird about it on Earth, too, but I'm so used to things being normal, here. I forget that new people, they don't know that. They aren't used to people just, just being.
[ He lets out a groan, falling back in his chair dramatically ]
Where do you think he went? He doesn't know the city! Maybe, maybe we could really get Mako to track him down this time. Unless his detective skills are rusty because he's been bartending for so long now--
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No, even on Earth usually when you say someone told you a person is their boyfriend, they're usually aware of that and don't freak out. I should have said something...
[Carefully, Ryan sits up so he doesn't knock Tomo and Fritter over. Tomo sadly slides off of Ryan's head and immediately goes to curl up with Fritter, letting out many little distraught squeaks.]
I dunno. [Ryan sighs, looking up and away from Wu.] Probably...somewhere small and quiet he can hide, away from people. He's probably curled up there thinking about the horrible mistake he made throwing away his university education to be in a band with a creep like me.
[UghhhhHHHHHhhHhHHhH.]
no subject
[ Even though, it's just fainter, like the effect, whatever it was, is wearing off. ]
He wasn't creeped out. I think he was just, just confused. And embarrassed, and kind of jealous? I don't know him as well as you do, but if he did all that for you you liking him can't be that bad, right? It just means, means that you like him!
[ Even as he says it, the words fall flat. Isn't this the exact same thing he was worried about with Mako a year ago? Ryan can feel that Wu doesn't fully believe his words ]
And there's, there's a school here. [ As if that's the same thing at all ]
cw: AIDS
[Except, if Min could hear Wu's thoughts...]
...I didn't think Min would be paleblood too. Honestly, kinda assumed he'd be coldblooded because it would match us with you and Mako?
[Which is a dumb reason, he thinks, but they're already so alike as it is. It made sense in his head.]
It's...complicated. It's not bad, it's just. Dangerous, where we're from. And like, not just in the usual way where people are jerks, though that happens too. I don't think I've told you because it's kiiind of heavy but. In the world we're from...people like us are getting really sick, and dying. I don't think that can happen here! But he just got here, so...there's reasons he might not want to deal with it.
[Deal with him specifically, is what he means. Ryan's clean, but it's a lot for Min to process all at once. There are definitely people who would walk away from a band over less.
But he remembers something Wu said and quirks an eyebrow.]
...Wait. Jealous of what? Could you tell?
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I think he's jealous of me. Because you're my best friend. I think he thinks I'm replacing him? But of course I can't be! I can't be, because you love him so much. But maybe he doesn't know that.
From everything you've told me, he's a great guy! He's probably just freaked out by the, the squid thing. He'll come around to it. [ Right? Wu has to believe that. He can't believe that his own happiness could be at the detriment of someone else's. That's what he vowed to fight against, back home. And even if it's on this micro of a level ]
no subject
I don't think anyone's really sure? It screws up people's immune systems really bad, and makes it so they can get sick super easy. Most of the people who get it don't make it - it's basically a death sentence. And most of the people who do get it are...well. Gay guys. A lot of people call it "gay flu" or "gay cancer".
[He rolls his eyes at that though. Like, come on. That's just mean.]
But yeah! Min worries. That's what Min does. He's probably worried about that, worried about the squid thing, worried about...I dunno, the fact that I rushed into something again on him? And...I guess, worried that I replaced him.
[He hadn't really been thinking of it like that at all, but now that the thought is there...well. He can see how that might have happened. It doesn't make him feel great, but he can see it.
He sighs, and reaches in the bag for one of the nikuman before they get cold.]
You really think he'll come around?
[Honestly, Ryan kind of knows Wu can't really know for now, but the reassurance sounds nice right about now.]
no subject
[ Which isn't entirely reassuring, but it's what they have to cling to. ]
But you didn't bring him here! You've been here for so long, Ryan. You didn't choose for him to come here! Maybe, maybe you wanted him to, but we have no idea if that means anything for him actually being here.
And you didn't replace him. Of course you didn't! Our friendship is completely different, right? Because, because Min-Gi isn't like me, or you, right? We're friends because we have so much in common! But that's a different kind of friendship than you have with him. [ Crush not withstanding here ] I'll do my best to convince him of that, okay? I won't, I don't want to get between you two! And, anyway, I have a wedding to plan.
[ None of that really has to do with their friendship, but Wu does have that small inkling of fear, too. He doesn't want to be replaced, either. He loves his friendship with Ryan, cherishes it. He doesn't know what his experience in Trench would have been like without him. ]
I do. I really do think he'll come around to it. I mean... we don't know if you even can leave? I know some people have, but they, they finished, didn't they? They got what they needed. [ At least, that's what Wu tells himself ] I don't think Min-Gi can have gotten what he needed after an hour here! Right?
no subject
Totally! What we have is like-- it's a totally different level. I've never had a friend like you before that was super like me. It, uh. It makes things...clearer with Min, I think?
[He flushes a little at that. It's something he's thought about a lot in Trench, how things he always thought were close friendship are things Wu has with Mako, and not things Ryan has with him. It's never made him jealous though, it was just a quiet realization of everything his ex-girlfriends rolled their eyes about.]
...I don't know. When he gets scared or overwhelmed he tends to...you know. Run? It's why my solo tour was solo - I sprang it on him with a week's notice and it was too much for him. And...I assumed that meant no forever and took off.
[He's calm when he says it - they've worked through it thanks to the train and they were finally on tour together, but there's still definitely fear underneath it that this was too much all at once, that it might be the final straw for Min.]
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[ Even if he has no idea if Min-Gi feels the same way. Probably, by how he reacted to Wu saying they were boyfriends, but you never know ]
Okay... so maybe he needs some time. But, this place is pretty scary. Do you think we could find him, but then, like, not make him do anything? Just to make sure he's okay?
[ Because even with his own twinge of jealousy, having someone, anyone, out in Trench, alone and powerless-- it's terrifying. He doesn't want anything bad to happen to him for Min-Gi's own sake, and for Ryan's, too. ]
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[Not everything in Trench is warm fires and nikuman, after all. (Though, the nikuman is pretty good. He finished his bun and everything.)]
I don't think he could have gotten far? He's still kind of wobbly, from the whole squid thing. Plus I still have most of his stuff.
[He holds up Min's welcome bag and gently shakes it for emphasis. Min will have to come back for his things, right? ....Right?]
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