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 rolled his eyes a bit. "I wouldn't have died. I'd be fine. The worst that's happened was like… I started coughing up blood and I was hoarse for a while. But I was fine."

"Right. Okay. I hate you so much I'm going to combust." She pulled into the Taco Bell D=drive-through. "What do you want."

"Why do you hate me for that??" He asked. "And I'll just have like… one taco. Something cheap."

She ordered two tacos and the little crunchy cinnamon things and a Mountain Dew. "I hate you because you suck, that's why."

"Why do I suck?" Lin asked, pouting a bit as he accepted one of the tacos from Orion. "What did I do?"

"You're stupid. You don't take care of yourself. Somehow, you made me like you." She bit down on a cinnamon twist. "There. Three reasons why I don't like you."

Lin fell quiet for a while, looking away while he ate. "B-But I…" He considered for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. "At least I'm trying…"

"I'm teasing you, Lin." She threw a cinnamon twist his way. "Lighten up."

Lin looked up and flinched when she threw the cinnamon twist at him, tentatively picking it up and taking a bite. "Sorry…"

"Don't apologize. Honestly, I can't believe you." She drank some Mountain Dew. "You want some?"

"No, I'm okay… and what can't you believe?" Lin asked softly. He still didn't really get sarcasm or jokes or rhetorical questions or much of the sort. Teasing, especially, he didn't understand.

"You need to learn that when I'm rude to you, that means I like you. I am expressing affinity toward you."

"Oh…" Lin was quiet for a moment. "Why, though? What's the point?" He asked softly, fidgeting nervously with his hands.

"I feel uncomfortable expressing feelings in a nice way. So I do it in a mean way."

Lin sighed softly. "I guess that works… it just won't come off well in most situations."

"What do you mean?" She looked at him. "That's the point."

"Well, then people won't like you because you're being mean and they don't realize you're trying to be nice or whatever. It's confusing."

"Yes. That is the POINT." She blinked twice. "What are you not understanding."

"I don't understand why you would add the extra step, you know? Like, being mean to be nice instead of just… being nice."

"Because I don't like when people know that I can be nice."

Lin sighed softly and leaned his head back against the seat. "But why not? What's wrong with people knowing you can be nice?"

"It just makes me feel vulnerable. I don't like people knowing that I'm human."

"But… you are human. And there's nothing wrong with that. Humans are stronger than you seem to think."

She snorted. "The humans you know. Not me."

"Why are you so insistent on not being human?" Lin asked softly.

"Because, Lin. Because every human to walk this earth has died. And I don't want to die like a human and be buried like a human and decay in the ground like a human."

Lin sighed again, running his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, well… unfortunately, you can't stop that. Everything in the world with a heartbeat has died, not just humans. You can't stop your heart from beating, or you would die. Being mean to everyone won't help you live any longer."

"Yes. I get that. But if I can just convince myself that I'm not human, and that I have all the time in the world, I might just be able to push myself over the edge and kill myself on my own accord. So I didn't die. I ceased to exist."

Lin paled a bit. "W-What? No! Orion, please don't do that!" He insisted, seeming frantic and panicked now.

"It's a metaphor. Jesus, Lin. I've been to therapy long enough to know some things. Calm down."