mylegacy | ic inbox / drift fleet

So? I was just showing it to you.

[He comes very close to typing out Why did YOU send it to ME?, but he stops himself. The question's implied anyway, isn't it? There's no need to ask directly.]

And I was just seeing if you thought it was cute.

[...What? Joseph is intensely frowning at his communicator again. He's starting to think maybe text wasn't the right way to go about this. It's too difficult to get a good read on Caesar even if it's giving him time to think about what's happening.]

[Maybe it's the time to think that's the problem. After probably too-long-to-be-natural delay,]

Duh.

[It's no big deal.]

[He really has no idea what Joseph's damage is. So what if he's flirting a little - it's not as though Joseph ever actually picks up on that. It's just something he does to. Torture himself, probably.]

So you do care what I think.

What?

You cared whether I thought it was cute. Not because of girls. Which was ridiculous to say anyway, you hate when I talk to girls.

[Well, he can't really lie about that now that he's getting called out on it.]

Only because you always get so cheesy. And you lie to the girls.

[He's not jealous though. Forget what Ino says. And hey, this isn't about him anyway. He's trying to figure out if Caesar's gay or not here. That's got nothing to do with Joseph.]

I never lied to Ino.

[He's actually sort of confused about why Joseph got so mad about that.]

It'd only be a matter of time before you tried to pull some kind of Casanova bullshit with her.

She's got a boyfriend, Jojo. And she's my friend. And she's your friend.

You really expect me to believe you've only ever gone after single girls?

No, but I've never gone after a girl who's my friend.

[Because he's never had one. But. He wouldn't want to.]

[He considers doing something that's both mean and stupid. He probably shouldn't. But. Well.]

I wonder if you'd be this angry if I went after someone different.

I didn't get mad after you went after the waitress, did I?

[...Except that he did. Well, no. He didn't get mad. Did he? No. It hurt a little because it felt...intentional, but he didn't get mad.]

That's not what I meant. That's the same as usual. I said different.

What are you talking about?

You can't be this stupid.

[Except he probably can, can't he.]

[The answer to that is yes and no.]

Are you gonna say what you mean or just keep insulting me?

[There's a long pause, here, while Caesar decides whether or not to insult Joseph to distraction or actually say what he meant. It's a gamble. It seems like everything's a gamble, though. So.]

I'm saying I don't think you'd be this angry if it wasn't a girl.

[...Well, it's a really damn good thing that this is a texting conversation because Joseph drops the communicator almost as soon as he finishes reading what Caesar wrote back. He thinks maybe he misread it. He even moves down to the floor and turns the communicator over to read it again just to be sure. But there's no mistaking what he's written or implied.]

[Joseph can feel his mouth go dry. Even though he's sitting on the floor now, he feels a little dizzy, too. And maybe a little sick to his stomach. But wait, no. Slow down, Jojo. Just because A is true, doesn't mean B is true. Joseph slowly picks the communicator back up and stares at it for a little while longer before he starts typing, his tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth in concentration.]

Wait a second, Caesar, is this why you didn't want to explain what Nightingale was talking about the other day? Because it's okay, you know. I don't care about that sort of thing and it wouldn't change anything since I'm not gay or anything like that.

[That's the right thing to say, right? Hopefully.]

I know you're not.

[And again, it's a really good thing this isn't in person, because Caesar's lips are a tight little line. Nothing's going to change. That's the whole point.]

Anyway, I wouldn't care what you thought about it. It's not really your business. I just thought you should know before you made a bigger fool out of yourself.

[It takes a moment, but everything starts sliding into place for Joseph. It makes sense now what happened in the restaurant. Caesar was obviously a little tipsy and signals got confused with everything they both were dealing with about being together again. He must have felt embarrassed at the mistake and got angry. And Joseph got upset about the waitress because obviously on some subconscious level, he got what was happening. He was just bothered by Caesar lashing out at him like that even though Joseph's not like that at all.]

Well good, I wouldn't want to give you the wrong impression and end up leading you on. That wouldn't have been very fair and I'd feel awful about something like that. [And he would, genuinely. Joseph breathes a small sigh of relief, feeling that the mystery's been solved and misunderstandings all around have been cleared up.] You should have told me sooner though. I feel like I'm the last person to know now.

[There's a long silence, then, when Caesar struggles, really struggles, not to track him down and scream at him. He doesn't want Joseph to know, but how can he be so stupid? How can he not know, when people who don't even know them seem to, when it's all Caesar can think about sometimes?]

[What an idiot. What a stupid person to love.]

Then you wouldn't be angry. If I was flirting with a man in front of you.

[It really feels like digging the knife deeper into his own back, but what the hell.]

Why would I get mad about that? If he falls for your cheesy lines, that guy's an idiot and it's his problem.

A girl, on the other hand, is just naive and probably isn't used to playboys like you. What can I say? I get protective when it comes to girls.

That's not my type. Idiots, I mean.

[What a fucking lie that is.]

Maybe I'll try it and see if you're telling the truth.

[Okay, why is he pushing this so much? Does he think Joseph's too immature or bigoted, or something? Caesar's gotta know that it really doesn't matter to Joseph.]

Whatever. Just don't do it when I'm eating. You know your lines in general are nauseating.

Seriously though, did everyone else know but me?

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