IC Contact Post

[proudbraveandtall]

"This is Hjalti; I'm assuming if you've called me, you want to talk to me. Leave a message and I'll get back to you when I can."

[Unlimited Calling/Texting/Data Plan]

Comments

[youngestone]

Dad, stupid could basically be my middle name. I mean she hasn't ditched me yet but....

[He's scared to lose his friend]

She's really my first non-asshole friend ever. I don't want to fuck this up.

[proudbraveandtall]

You are not stupid. [His tone is very firm there.] No child of Catherine's could ever be stupid, and you're not. You just don't have a lot of practice at dealing with the world outside of an RV caravan made up of people you're related to. If you ever call yourself stupid again, I'm going to find where you are and shake you.

[Bigger problems, Hjalti. Bigger problems.]

You don't have to say anything yet. You don't have to say anything at all, ever, if you don't want to. Keep an eye out and see if she's sending any kind of signals, see if she wants to spend time with you more than anyone else, if she seems to be trying to hide something. I won't pretend that asking that question isn't nerve-wracking - I thought your mother was going to punch me in the nose when I did - but it can be when you're more comfortable with it than you are now.

[youngestone]

[He's going to quietly disagree that he's not stupid since that's not the point right now. Besides, he knows he's kind of an idiot so what does it matter?

(Some part of him is agreeing with his dad, though, saying that he's more than all that, that is he pretty awesome.)]

So that'll either be never or the next time I get worried about her. Fun. Have I mentioned lately that I don't do emotions very well? Or is this normal for everyone and not just me?

[proudbraveandtall]

[Never believing that. You're not stupid, Killian. The more you protest you are, the more everyone will tell you you're not.]

You weren't really raised in an environment that did emotions, from what you've told me. I know the Ryans didn't like dealing with things they didn't like. Like me. But in this case, yeah, pretty much everyone trips over this stuff. I dated a few girls before I met your mother, and I was only never not kind of nervous about it... once? And that was because she was giving me a lot of very obvious signals so I didn't have any reason to worry about how she would take it.

[youngestone]

[He nods, not that Hjalti can see it, and sighs again]

Right. Right. This is normal, actually, which is good. I'm not that much of a loser.

[Another sigh]

...I'm waiting for the "I told you so", by the way.

[proudbraveandtall]

You're not a loser at all.

[He will fight you on this, Killian. And he will win because you are tiny.]

Why? You're not going to hear it from me, or from your uncle.

...I'd be careful of some of the other people the family knows, though.

[youngestone]

You're the first person--other than Blaine, but she's a bitch--but you're the first one to even guess that I might like her and this was when I was in denial.

[A pause]

Don't tell Fil. He'd never let me live it down.

[proudbraveandtall]

I won't until you're ready for it, but you know he only wants to see you happy, right?

And I thought I heard some other people go on about it at that party of Gabriel's, was I hearing something wrong?

[youngestone]

One of 'em was Blaine, the Japanese guy was Shou, my old roomie before I moved in here. You still mentioned it first.

[proudbraveandtall]

[He's not sure if that's something to be proud of or not, but probably better him who isn't making this into a horribly big deal.]

So what do you want to do about the situation? Remember, doing nothing is still doing something.

[youngestone]

Hell if I know. I mean, we've got plans for sparring and stuff on the fourteenth so I'm not canceling that or our Sunday archery, except maybe for family stuff and I don't want to just...ditch her, y'know? But I don't want to risk fucking everything up.

[proudbraveandtall]

Life's a risk, Killian. You never know when something will go wrong - but you never know when something's going to go right, either.

[But he knows that's not what his son wants to hear.]

Just spend time with her and enjoy it. You're still friends, there's no reason you can't keep that. If you don't ever want to say anything, that's your business, but don't believe that it's not because you're not good enough. You are.

[youngestone]

Nothing ever goes right for me, Dad.

[Or at least it didn't. It's starting to now, more or less]

Hey, wanna do lunch on the fifteenth?

[Topic change!]

[proudbraveandtall]

Nothing?

[You can hear that eyebrow raise in that statement, Killian. Direct challenge.]

The fif- uhh, sure, I guess. What did you have in mind?

[Please don't say a steakhouse.]

[youngestone]

[Ignoring the eyebrow!]

I dunno, you can pick I guess? My default is burger or pizza and I am not a creative guy.

[Ladeda dancing around "it's Father's Day and I want to try this"]

[proudbraveandtall]

[He'll store it - for now. You're not getting off that easily.]

No burgers. [You know your dad's diet preferences, Killian.] Pizza might be okay, since you don't like a lot of the things I do.

[youngestone]

You mean you don't like anything I do.

[Yes, he does and he loves to poke at him for it]

Meet for pizza, then?