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 Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 3:31 pm
Gale looked positively offended.
"Okay, fine," he said, pushing himself up off the couch and marching resolutely to the little kitchenette and pulling down supplies. "Keep your arse there, I'll get you some tea so you can at least drink the good stuff before you call it boring, bloody hell."
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 3:42 pm
Gale was going to make him drink tea. Tea. Otto blinked, leering from the couch. "Yer tryin' to turn me fancy like."
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 3:49 pm
"Tea is not fancy," Gale sniffed, as the kettle on the stove gave a little whistle. He reached for a hot pad and carefully moved it to the other burner to let it cool while he set out the cups. "It's just tea, bloody hell, Otto."
A few minutes later, he had managed to pour both of them some earl grey, which he then carried carefully over to the couch and sat down again. Gale thrust one of the mugs towards Otto.
"Drink up, and if you hate it, then you hate it, but at least drink some of it."
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:06 pm
Otto wrinkled his nose, taking the cup wearily. The young man was always iffy and hesitant about trying new things. Tea was for ladies. And Gale. Gale and ladies. He blew on the beverage, warned of it's heat by the feel of the cup. Why did people like drinking such hot things? He took a careful sip, letting the flavour sit in his mouth before taking another one. It wasn't bad. And the hot feel of a hot tea going down his throat really did feel relaxing. "S'not terrible.." He mumbled, taking another sip, cupping the hot mug with both hands.
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:24 pm
He liked drinking hot things because tea was something simple and reassuring, and it always seemed to make him feel at least somewhat more relaxed when he was stressing out a little. Maybe it wasn't a catch-all solution, but at least in Gale's case it alleviated just a small bit of tension.
A pleased smile spread across Gale's face. He would have nudged Otto again, but it might have made him spill his tea, which would defeat the purpose, so he refrained.
"Good," said Gale, and then he hesitated.
"Did talking help at all?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:28 pm
Otto gave a short nod, hovering over his tea protectively. "Yeah. It did. Still not sure what I'm gunna do, but..." He gave a shrug. What else could he say?
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:35 pm
"Good," said Gale, and sipped his tea.
"You don't have to know what you want to do right away, it's okay to take time to figure that out."
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:46 pm
"I do need time." He drawled. "I also need to have space.. but if I ask for it again, I feel like Cami will...." He breathed a groan. "She's fragile, her and Maebe both. I do anythin' wrong and they'll just..."
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 5:00 pm
"You can't set aside your own happiness just because you're afraid of what they might do," said Gale quietly. "They should understand and support you as much as you understand and support them. Relationships are supposed to be a two way street, not a one way street with no exit."
He was about to say that Otto was kind of fragile too at the moment, but thought better of it, Gale just taking another swallow.
"Long story short - do what you need to do," he said. "What's good for you is important."
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 5:27 pm
Otto nodded. It was very clear what he ought to do, but lacked the courage to do it. For now. He dipped his head, and let silence take over. He quickly finished his tea. "You're right. I just don't wanna be too selfish." He finally spoke, setting down the mug. After all, he was sure he had a good thing going. He just... God, he didn't know. "I think I realized somethin... that maybe I rushed into havin' relationships." He'd admitted this once before, he was sure it was to Ripley.. or someone. "Cause of that I never really um... let myself really be free. I thought to be loved and happy, I had to have a girlfriend." Maybe he'd been wrong. He'd had needs and he assumed only a man in love had the honour of having a physical relationship.
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 5:38 pm
"People aren't incomplete without a significant other," said Gale quietly. "I've always hated the mentality that in order to be considered 'whole,' that someone had to have someone else in their life."
He looked down at his mug, at the last dregs of tea still in it. "It took me a while to realize that, though, because I watched everyone else around me get together with people before Stormy and I found each other. Bix, Marcus, you, Candace...I was just the young kid."
Gale lifted his head and gave Otto a slight smile. "But people aren't incomplete if they aren't together with someone. People are already existing and whole without significant others. Having someone else is just an added blessing. Stormy is my entire life, and I love her more than anything or anyone else in the world; but it should never be that you can't survive without someone, it's that you can, but you just don't want to; that you make the choice to be with someone because you love them, not because you physically can't survive without them."
He lifted his mug and took a sip. "If you think you rushed into things, and that to re-learn yourself, then you should do what you think is best for you. Maybe you did rush, maybe taking a step back is what you need to move forward again."
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Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:38 pm
Otto knew, reasonably, that he could live and survive without girlfriend. He'd had a few, but lately the time between one and the other was much too slim. He really had made himself feel that he needed one to keep going. Rather than let himself transition and truly fall in love, he'd mistaken attraction for love. Attracted to their mind, their humour and looks. But love? The love that people spoke of? God.. had he imagined it? Had he whispered the words to a girl and not truly meant it for what it really meant? Otto leaned back, feeling like he'd made a disturbing breakthrough in learning about himself. "Love isn't just bein' attracted to someone..." He murmured mostly to himself. "I think.. I got it wrong.." He allowed flattery to move him so easily, and attraction to create a connection where there was none. He wasn't incomplete. Lost, sure. He was just as much himself as before he'd had a girlfriend. He'd simply never given himself time to understand his own heart, or what love truly meant. Otto looked to Gale and gave him a nod. "I do need to take a step back. Maybe a few dozen steps."
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Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 12:56 pm
"No, it's not," said Gale, taking another sip of his tea. It had grown cooler now, and he cast a sideways glance at Otto, wondering what the look on his face meant, what he was thinking. "It's a myriad of things. You can be attracted to someone and let the love come later, or the love can come first and the attraction later, they work together. But attraction doesn't necessarily equate to love, love is a lot of things all jumbled together with attraction just being a facet of that."
He swallowed the last of his tea and set it down on the coffee table with a little clink, now looking somewhat worried. "Are you thinking maybe..." he asked hesitantly. "...that you might not have felt the way you thought you did about your girlfriends? That maybe you love them, but weren't in love with them?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:27 pm
He turned to give Gale an almost hopeful look. "Is there a difference? I mean... loving someone, and being in love with them?" Maybe he really did have this all wrong. All wrong...
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Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:37 pm
"Yes," said Gale decisively. "Or at least, that's how I see it. I love Candace. She's a good person, she looks out for me, and she cares for me, and vice versa. I want her to be happy, just as she wants me to be happy. She's very important to me, and I'm very important to her. But that's it."
He exhaled a breath, wondering if this would just muddle things up more or if it would help. "I'm in love with Stormy. I want to spend the rest of my life with her; she's who I look forward to seeing when I wake up and the first person I think to call when things happen, the first person I go to when I need help or advice or just reassurance or comfort."
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