forum "You DO like me!" "I don't think 'like' is the right word." "You tolerate me." "Maybe." one on one

Started January 29, 2021 by @cryptic-glitch

tune

Lin flushed red, not seeming quite sure what to do with himself. "O-Oh! Um… I… I-I don't really know… how…"

"Yes, you do. You just did it," Orion said. "Give it a shot. What's the worst that'll happen?"

Lin still seemed uneasy, his heart pounding in his chest. "I-I don't… I dunno, Orion… I don't know what I'm doing…" He whispered weakly.

"It's okay. You're okay." She moved away from him. "I didn't mean to make you freak out."

Lin nodded weakly and looked away, fidgeting uneasily with his hands. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to relax.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She rested her forehead on the steering wheel. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay! Don't… d-don't feel bad…" Lin insisted, holding his hands up a bit.

"Then what do you want me to do, Lin? What?" She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, head still on the steering wheel.

"I-I dunno! I just… I don't know, okay?" Lin sighed shakily. "I don't know anything. I don't know what to tell you."

"Think about it for a minute." She crossed her arms. "You know a lot of things. Just- take a minute and collect your thoughts."

Lin sighed again and closed his eyes, doing as he was told. "I-I just… I don't know how to do any of this. I'm not used to it. And… a-and suddenly asking me to do it doesn't really help me learn, it just kinda psyches me out… I don't do well under pressure." He ran his fingers through his hair, still seeming nervous. "Especially with you, I just… I'm not used to thinking of you as something other than my friend, so suddenly kissing you kinda… kinda shocked my system, I guess…"

"Okay. Thank you for forming coherent sentences. I won't kiss you again," she said. "Alright?"

"No, n-no, you can… you can kiss me again if you want, I just… probably won't do well if I'm kinda forced into it." Lin sighed softly.

"I'm not going to." She closed her eyes. "This is my fault, anyway."

"No, please don't feel guilty… I'm just… overly sensitive." Lin looked away, still fidgety and nervous.

"I'm the one who said I had a crush on you. I could have said nothing. Stop fidgeting. It's making me jittery."

"S-Sorry…" Lin reluctantly lowered his hands. "I dunno, I… I don't mind it, honestly, it's just going a lot faster than I expected. I'm a little slower, so you'll have to be patient with me."

"I know. I know that, Lin. I'm just used to going at light speed and then leaving them behind. Relax, I'm not going to do that to you." She folded her hands.

Lin nodded weakly. "I'm sorry for being problematic… I know you're probably more used to being with people who are willing to go fast."

"If you apologize for having boundaries one more fucking time, I will slap you upside the head. Boundaries are good. The fact that I have none is concerning."

"Sorry, s-sorry…" Lin flinched a bit and looked away, still obviously nervous. "I don't know what's normal and what isn't, okay? I have no way of knowing whether my reactions are normal or not."

"It doesn't matter if they're 'normal.' They're valid. And that's what matters. And for God's sake, relax. Just breathe for a minute."

"Okay…" Lin drew in a wavering breath, trying to calm down. Orion being snippy and rude to him wasn't really helping him feel better about the whole ordeal. "M-Maybe you could walk me through some stuff? So I know kinda what to expect?"

"Like what?" she asked.

"Well, I dunno… just… tell me normal things people do in a relationship, I guess?" Lin shrugged a bit.