do you want to maybe try that again
To [Solace]: as friends
[Solace] whispers: yes! :) :) :)
[Solace] whispers: yay
[Solace] whispers: are you sure?
[Solace] whispers: Hmm, I guess I should have said that the other way round
Actually, Drew wasn’t sure. He was kind of the opposite of sure. Mainly he was terrified.
To [Solace]: yes
To [Solace]: maybe we could medusa a bit?
[Solace] whispers: I’d like that. When would work for you?
To [Solace]: I’m free tomorrow after lab
To [Solace]: so kind of eveningish
[Solace] whispers: see you then
[Solace] whispers: looking forward to it
To [Solace]: me too
And he was.
Still terrified, but looking forward to it.
Drew had made the terrible mistake of attempting to render water. And consequently had spent the entire day on the verge of beating himself to death with his own keyboard.
“Dude.” Sanee leaned over from the next terminal. “I know what you need. You need to shoot a Mall Santa, eat a horse, and die of frostbite in an abandoned school.”
Even if he hadn’t arranged to meet Kit, Drew was a little bit Dead of Winter’ed out. Every time Sanee and Steff got a new board game, it was basically all they wanted to do for a week, and Sanee’s commitment to doing the same thing over and over again was very slightly higher than Drew’s. Which left him two options. He could either mildly hurt his friend’s feelings by opting out due to tedium, or he could admit that he had a nondate with a boy he met in an MMO. It wasn’t really a choice.
He sighed. “I’m kind of seeing Kit tonight.”
“Seeing who?”
“You know . . . Solace, the imaginary elf girl.”
“You mean,” asked Sanee, a delighted gleam creeping into his eyes, “the imaginary elf girl who’s really a dude?”
Drew grit his teeth. “Yes, that imaginary elf girl.”
“Lol. All of the lols.” And then, in response to Drew’s look, “So what are you doing?”
This was getting worse by the second. “We’re playing HoL. We’ve rolled some new characters, we’re playing the low levels together, and so far I’ve really enjoyed it. So please shut up.”
“Come on mate, I’m only having a laugh.”
“Yeah, at me.”
“But it is a bit funny.”
Drew couldn’t tell if he was in a bad mood because of watergate or if Sanee had genuinely crossed a threshold of dickishness. Of course, Sanee could be kind of a dick, especially when he got an idea into his head, but it felt different this time. Maybe because it seemed to be directly about Drew instead of about . . . things. Like people who played Call of Duty. It didn’t help that Drew wasn’t used to having these sorts of conversations. Especially not with Sanee.
“I think,” he said slowly, trying to wrap his head round it, “that what’s bothering me is that I don’t think you’d be taking the piss half as much if you just knew I was gay.”
Sanee’s eyes widened. “Of course I wouldn’t. I’m not a homophobe. The thing is, you’re, like . . . you.”
“So, it’s not funny that some guys like other guys in general. It’s funny that I might like another guy in particular?”
“Well—” Sanee thought about it for a moment “—yeah. Also the fact you met him in HoL makes it about a million times more hilarious. What are you going to tell your adopted grandkids?”
“That when I was at university I met exactly one bloke who wasn’t a complete tosser.” Drew got up jerkily, and started stuffing his things into his bag. “And now I’m going to get ready for my clearly ridiculous online not-a-date thing that I was actually really looking forward to.”
Sanee pushed off against the table and sent his wheelie chair careening backwards into Drew’s path. “Dude, I’m sorry, okay? If you’re— No matter what you are, I’m in your corner. I might be laughing, but I’m definitely in it.”
Not counting the Steff Fight Crying Incident They Did Not Talk About, this was the closest to a heartfelt conversation he and Sanee’d ever had. So while Drew was still a bit ticked off, he couldn’t quite bring himself to storm out. But at the same time, this wasn’t the sort of thing he talked about with Sanee, so it was probably best for both of them if he got it over with quickly.
“Thanks, mate, it’s just I’m still a bit mixed up about this. So if you could, y‘know, lay off on the gay jokes and the internet-dating jokes, that would really help me out.”
Sanee held out his fist for