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 Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 1:17 pm
Ganymede had grown lazy. He thought he had a good excuse. The events up at the Surrounding had taken a lot out of him. He’d spent a few days after getting some rest, and had been so focused on things in his civilian life that most nights he didn’t have the energy to go out and just collapsed into bed after dinner instead. Then, of course, he’d done quite well in the gladiator tournament, and had decided that giving himself some time off from patrolling was a reward he’d definitely earned.
But that was almost three weeks ago. He was getting lazy, and it needed to stop before it became more of a habit.
It was completely by chance that he ran into Babylon while wondering aimlessly around the city, seeking out youma that didn’t seem to be around this evening (not that he was going to complain about that). He told himself that their mostly directionless amblings were actually a minor team building exercise—because surely Europa would like that—but really they were just using their chance run-in as an opportunity to hang out on a peaceful, inactive night.
“Your face is looking a lot better,” Ganymede commented with a bit of a sly smirk.
It had been mean of Valhalla to punch him during the tournament, especially when he’d already won the battle, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t amusing, and since he couldn’t even tell there’d been any damage there after nearly three weeks, he thought it was okay to laugh about it a little.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 2:34 pm
"No thanks to your-" Babylon began, and then stopped himself, because he wasn't exactly sure where Valhalla and Ganymede stood, and after the gladiator matches he was even more confused. Valhalla could swear up and down that he and Ganymede were just friends, but if there was one thing Finn Derouen wasn't, it was blind. "Okay, dude," he interrupted himself, swinging his lantern. "I've gotta ask. What are you and Valhalla?"
Not because he cared about Chris Gallo's sexual orientation or anything like that. No. No sir. No way. Nope.
"Because that gladiator battle," he added. "That was not 'just friends.' I don't care what he says. You know the phrase 'cut the sexual tension with a knife'? Forget that. I needed, like, a sundae spoon. One of the wussy ones with the long handles."
Still, not because he cared.
"Funny luck though, isn't it?" he asked, trying to segue out of asking about the fascinating subject of Chris Gallo's Sexual Orientation. "All us Jovians fighting each other? Do you know who you're up against in the finals?"
There! He'd done it! 2x transition combo successfully deployed!
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 5:03 pm
“Oh, we’re just-” Ganymede began to reply with the predictable answer that was more lie than truth, but stopped himself when it seemed that Babylon wouldn’t be fooled by it. Not that he expected anyone to be fooled by it when he spent so much time clinging to Val and being a little more touchy-feely than most people were with someone who was just their friend.
He wasn’t sure how to answer, if only because he didn’t know how much Chris would like him revealing. He knew it was probably embarrassing for Chris to admit that he’d dated him while under the impression that he was a girl, so he definitely didn’t want to be revealing that to someone Val obviously didn’t get along with. He could imagine the goading that could potentially cause, and then the fight that would probably result from it when Chris lost his temper.
“I’m not sure about the finals yet,” he answered the other subject instead. “I haven’t heard. I should know soon, I think.”
Yes, that was a much easier topic to discuss. It wasn’t that he intended to completely ignore the first question, he just needed a few moments to think about how he wanted to answer it. It was a delicate issue, and not one he was too keen on exacerbating.
“Val and I had an awkward situation before, I guess you could say,” he finally said. “I’m sort of madly in lust with him,” he added. He meant it as a joke even though it was true enough. “I mean, he’s gorgeous. And he’s such a sweet guy. Well, except when you piss him off. I told him to lay off, by the way. Or at least I told him he should be nicer to you.”
Not that he thought Val was going to listen to him.
“But he either isn’t interested for one reason or another, or he’s really good at playing hard to get,” Ganymede finished. For the last couple of months he’d thought it was the former, but more recently, with more than one person casting doubt on his previous assumptions, he’d begun to wonder if it was perhaps something else.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 7:02 pm
Babylon swept his lantern grandly over his head. "Story time," he announced, grinning sillily at Ganymede. "So there is this magical place called the closet. Maybe you've been there but you know between you and me I sort of doubt either of us spent much time in it. Just making assumptions and all. Anyways there is this magical place called the closet and Valhalla is so far into it that he's in Narnia eating Turkish Delight. Talking lions and unicorns. Fauns. And that is my whole story, the end."
Well, actually, no, the squire was slow to realize. Because Valhalla had admitted to him, in his own roundabout, flustered sort of way, some bi-curious leanings that he felt inclined to share. Strictly to help a brother out and all. "So, this is strictly between you and me, but I don't think this is totally hopeless." Not that he could see the appeal of being madly in lust with Chris Gallo (and he would take a moment to reflect on the genius of Ganymede's pun, and he had taken it and now it was over) - Babylon certainly wasn't madly in lust with Chris Gallo - but clearly the man had some charm points because everyone else seemed to be.
"So Valhalla was dating this chick - this is what he tells me," he prefaced to Ganymede, leaning jauntily against an air conditioning unit. "Or at least he thinks he's dating this chick except it turns out she's a he. It's a pun in hebrew. Or is it a false friend? I digress." He set the lantern on top of the AC unit, too - he was tired of holding it.
"So Valhalla dumps her. And he's telling me this and I'm like 'Are you sure you didn't just break some poor mtf's heart?' but that's absolutely not the point." He was getting to the payoff. Babylon grinned at Ganymede like the cat who had gotten the canary, because he had the best secret in the whole wide world and he hadn't even realized it until just now!
"The point is," concluded Babylon, after a long pause for emphasis, "Is that Val doesn't give a s**t one way or another whether he was dating a dude or a chick. It's the fact that the dude lied about it! So, in conclusion, Valhalla is one bi-curious son of a b***h and you should tap that because I sure as hell am not."
The wheels were turning. Babylon narrowed his eyes at Ganymede, as if finally putting something together. Because - awkward situation? And hadn't Chris been dating some petite blonde at camp? Ganymede had been at camp, and Ganymede was a petite blonde... Babylon snapped his fingers in excitement. "Wait," he said.
"Wait wait wait. Are you the guy Valhalla dumped?" Because that would just be... well, pathetic, but getting them back together would give Babylon something to do. And it would probably drive Gallo up the wall.
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 7:40 pm
Ganymede let Babylon talk, not only because it seemed as if the squire had a lot to say, but because the topic was one Christopher Gallo, and there weren’t many instances in which he didn’t like hearing about Christopher Gallo—unless it was a painful conversation, but this one didn’t seem as if it were going to be, at least not yet, so he certainly didn’t mind it, even if Babylon wasn’t Chris’s biggest fan.
Because the bickering and the little mini rivalry between the page and the squire was actually kind of adorable, when he thought about it.
Of course, when Babylon hit on the subject of his and Chris’s messy relationship, Ganymede kept his face as straight and impassive as possible. He didn’t have the decency to blush—he couldn’t really remember the last time he’d blushed over a boy—but he did have the decency to feel guilty, and he hoped it didn’t show too much. He didn’t need to start feeling depressed again about something that was already done and over with.
“You’re not slow on the uptake at all,” he commented once Babylon’s ramblings had come to an end. He wasn’t being sarcastic. He had to hand it to him for figuring it out, though when he thought about it he realized it wasn’t that hard, given what Babylon clearly already knew.
He was, however, very surprised that Chris had actually told him that. He had assumed Chris didn't go around telling very many people. It seemed ironic to him that his ex would admit it to Babylon before anyone else.
“I wasn’t under the impression that he was still interested in me after that,” he said. “But then I apparently don’t have the best gay-dar, which is probably something I should be ashamed of considering how long I've been out and proud.” Because, really, how does someone miss something like that in both their best friend and their apparently bi-curious ex-boyfriend without something being seriously glitchy?
“But you’re not the first person to say that,” he observed. “Well, you’re the first one to see so much humor in it, but… Val’s mom and older brother don’t seem to think that he’s completely straight…”
He didn’t know if that said something about them for jumping to conclusions, or if Chris was just that obvious to the people who knew him best. Ganymede thought he’d known him pretty well, but it hadn’t been obvious to him.
“I don’t know if I should be too hopeful. Even if he is a little bi, that doesn’t change the fact that I lied to him. I mean, he’s gotten over it a little bit, but that doesn’t mean he’d give me a second chance if he ever decided to leave Narnia. And this is all assuming you’re right. I’ve never seen him show any interest in other guys, unless his thing with you is just some weirdly repressed attraction…”
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Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 9:07 pm
"Gaydar," declared Babylon, slamming his fist down on the AC unit so hard that it turned on, "Is a lie based on stereotypical behavior that we are programmed to look for. You, I am presuming, are effeminate enough in your every day civilian life to pass for a girl when you really want to. Bullseye on the gaydar. Me? I'm kind of a bogey, because I drive a jeep and like camping but every now and then I refer to my boyfriend or some political issue and it just ******** with people. Valhalla? He is some kind of Metal Gear Solid Silent Snake ********, but that doesn't make him any less queer."
"QED," he continued, stepping away from his temporary podium in order to make a point, "You're not ******** glitched because it doesn't ******** exist."
He moved back towards Ganymede, giving the senshi a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "If you ask me, you've just gotta give it some time. He'll come around. I mean, he started out hating me and now we can even have a civil conversation!" Except! Wait! No.
"Sorry, bad example," added Babylon, touching the place on his face that had been a bruise this time last week. He then held his hand out for a proper brofist.
"You're pretty cool, Ganymede," he evaluated. "Also? Suck a d**k, Valhalla is so un-attracted to me that it veers back around into chemistry by virtue of how repulsed by me he is. You heard him at the gladiator match. He's got a thing against short, hairy hobbits."
Fantastic racism, if you asked Babylon. Except, what did Babylon care whether or not Valhalla was attracted to him. Oh right. He didn't care.
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:34 pm
“Touchy~…” Ganymede commented, momentarily taken aback by Babylon’s response. He smiled amusedly and wisely chose not to say more about it—partly because he didn’t get the Snake reference and didn’t want to admit it, and partly because he didn’t completely agree and wasn’t in the mood to debate it. He didn’t think it was a lie so much as something inherently designed for failure under certain circumstances, as Babylon clearly demonstrated. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it was just flat out wrong, and the fool who relied on it too much in their attempts to read people ended up looking like an idiot in the process.
And Ganymede could admit that sometimes he was the biggest idiot in the world.
“Vulgar, too,” he continued with a laugh, glancing down at Babylon’s fist with his eyebrows raised before curling his fingers into his palm and bumping back. “You should ask Val about my tongue ring,” he said with the clichéd cat-got-the-canary grin on his face.
The details he kept to himself. He figured he was already being unfair enough as it was, discussing Chris and Chris’s sexual orientation while Chris remained entirely unaware of the event, without going into private matters he doubted Chris would appreciate him delving into with someone he’d recently had a less than peaceful exchange with.
If Babylon wanted to risk another punch in the face, he could ask Val about it on his own time. Ganymede certainly wasn’t of a mind to say much of anything that would give his ex and frequent patrol partner the chance to be mad at him again.
“So why are you so interested in Valhalla and his potential for bisexuality anyway?” Ganymede wondered, raising his eyebrows in curiosity. “It’s not like you're friends or anything. I think we’re all aware that locking the two of you into the same room together would be a bad idea.”
Too much potential for broken bones.
“He’s not attracted to you, and I’m assuming you’re not attracted to him… unless you really are, which would partially explain why you seem to have so much to say about him, I guess, although I thought you had a thing for Vin.”
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Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:57 am
"What? I don't-" Babylon's brain had gone and tied itself in knots. He hadn't had any interest in Ganymede's tongue ring, except for now that the senshi had mentioned it he was inclined to wonder. "You have one?" he asked, cocking his head at the boy. "How do you talk? And doesn't it mess up your teeth?" (He was trying really, really hard to not think about what other things Ganymede might be trying to get at by mentioning the tongue ring. Because he really did not need to know.)
"I honestly do not care one way or another what gender of person he prefers." clarified Babylon, crossing his arms across his chest. He gave Ganymede a serious business sort of look. "I just thought you might want to know, that this was a conversation I had with him, and also that gaydar is bullshit. It seemed relevant to your interests."
He was just paying devil's advocate. Or he thought that Chris Gallo might be nicer if he were getting kissed on a regular basis, because Chris Gallo certainly wasn't nice when he was sexually frustrated.
"This is, like, sooooo not about me," added Babylon, uncrossing his arms to drum a tattoo on the air conditioning housing. "But if you must know, I am dating Vin and it is not a secret and it is awesome so there." Cue the look of pure, smug satisfaction.
"I mean, getting kissed clearly beats getting punched in the face."
Clearly.
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 5:31 pm
Ganymede’s grin temporarily widened before reforming into a smirk. “Talking’s not so bad. Takes some getting used to, but I’ve had it for months now. Had a bit of a lisp for a little while right after when my tongue swelled up a bit, but it healed quick. One of the good things about this magical boy thing,” he said. “The healing…”
He was tempted to argue and comment that it seemed to him that Babylon cared more than someone who claimed not to really should. If he didn’t, he at least had more of an interest in someone he barely got along with on the best of days than Ganymede would have expected. Maybe it was one of those situations about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.
Only he considered Babylon and Valhalla more like rivals than enemies, though he thought the principle of the matter might still be the same. They didn’t want to kill one another, but it certainly seemed to him as if they wanted to best one another.
Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, Ganymede supposed. A little competition never hurt anyone.
Except maybe Babylon’s face.
“Well, thanks for the info,” Ganymede said. He was going to try not to get too hopeful over it, but he definitely filed it away with all the other suspicions that’d recently been taking route.
“I’m jealous,” he commented, smiling in amusement as Babylon practically puffed up as he spoke of his relationship with Vin. “The kiss I weaseled out of Val at the tournament is the first kiss I’ve had in months, and I don’t think that one really counted for much. It was all me. He just kind of stood there. It would be depressing if I didn’t expect it by now. You should be careful,” he added. “Don’t hide too much from Vin. Not that you seem the type to do that, but… even if things seem perfect now, it doesn’t mean it’ll always be that way. Try not to ******** it up, yeah?”
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 6:18 am
"I had a lithp onthe," joked Babylon conversationally, because he had. "It went away in speech therapy." Something he was glad for, to be honest, because it was easier to be taken seriously when you weren't one big, slobbering mess of conflated Ss and THs. And it had been so long ago that he honestly doubted anyone remembered the time in Kindergarden that Finn had been terrified of words containing the letter S. More likely they were distracted by the fact that he'd spent the first eighteen years of his life going by Huckleberry.
The squire harbored his own opinions on the reasons for his feud (or, alternately, rivalry) and it came down to opposites attracting. He wasn't anything like Chris Gallo and would never be anything like Chris Gallo and for that he was mostly glad. Babylon would never have to deal with being a sexually-frustrated closet case with a cross-dressing boyfriend. Babylon would never be six-foot-four.
This was almost entirely a fair trade, he thought.
"No problem," he shrugged at the senshi. "I'm all in favor of peace and love." And someone other than him fulfilling that role for Valhalla. Honestly, he thought Ganymede would have far better luck than him in that department - all things considered. Babylon was on the verge of calling this case closed and butting out of the whole scenario, or at least he would be if he wasn't so curious to see how it played out.
"Believe me," added Babylon, "I'm trying my hardest to not ******** it up." Somehow managing to ******** up his relationship with Vin was one of those things that kept Babylon awake at night. To be quite honest he'd never had much of a relationship with anyone before (not counting sloppy makeouts with closet kids in high school). What did you even do when you were boyfriends with someone?
"You should, uh," he smoothed his hands against the front of his coat. "Go kiss Val. Like, a good one. Blow his mind." (NOT THAT BABYLON CARED.)
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 4:20 pm
Ganymede didn’t think anyone could be anything like Christopher Gallo—definitely not in his eyes, and probably not in the eyes of certain others. It was almost sick, really, how perfect he thought Chris was, only Chris wasn’t truly perfect because he could be kind of a d**k to the right people and Ganymede had always suspected there was a level of superiority buried there somewhere that Chris covered up with his compassion and his chivalrousness. Then there was his temper, which wasn’t always as calm as one would expect at first glance.
But even noticing all that now didn’t diminish how much he still liked him. It was frustrating. A year ago, he’d have thought he’d get along with someone like Chris about as well as Babylon did, yet here he was, mooning over him and pining for him and making people think he was head over heels for him.
He told himself he wasn’t because he didn’t think he had any reason to be, except that Chris was so nice and sweet and he made him feel all warm inside, and he was so handsome and he had such a charming smile, and he didn’t think he’d ever come across anyone so good looking who actually thought he was worth the time to get to know.
… damn it, he was so ******** tried to smile while attempting to get the emotional denial machine going again at the same time, because this thing with Chris had only ever been about want and need, and that was all he ever intended it to be.
Then again, in the beginning he’d never really intended for it to be like that either.
“Good to know you’re cheering us on,” Ganymede did his best to sound amused. And he was, because Babylon’s interest—however much he denied that it was any sort of interest—was almost reassuring. It was kinda nice having someone sort of rooting for him. “I’ll make sure he knows it’s courtesy of you,” he teased, because he couldn’t help himself. Both Valhalla and Babylon made it so easy to tease and poke fun.
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2011 8:46 pm
"I bet he'll love that," Babylon rolled his eyes. Yes, Chris Gallo would get a real kick out of knowing Babylon was personally investing in his relationship status. Except probably not. "On second thought, don't," he added hastily. Knowing Babylon was meddling in his affairs was only likely to make Valhalla call the whole thing off.
"Seriously, though," he continued, as if Ganymede hadn't gotten the message yet. "Go get your man." Somebody had to. Urgh. Honestly, the idea of kissing Valhalla made Babylon want to lean over the edge of the roof and puke up his dinner. Potentially onto a passerby. "Before I have to."
Now why the sweet, unholy ******** had he said that?
Babylon, realizing what had just said, flushed bright red and exclaimed, "AND PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE FOR BEING A JERK TO YOU." He hadn't meant that last comment! He'd been trying to be funny and the joke had landed entirely wrong.
"I didn't mean that, honestly," he assured Ganymede. "In fact I think I'm just going to go now."
He picked up his lantern and took a few hesitant steps towards the edge of the roof. So much for dignity.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 1:25 pm
He tried really hard not to comment about the flushing, and managed to bite his tongue around a few teasing replies, but Ganymede laughed at him all the same. Whether or not the joke had gone as Babylon intended, it still got a few quiet chuckles.
If anyone else had screwed that up and implied an interest and the intent of going after the guy he liked, Ganymede might have gotten a little defensive, but as this was Babylon he didn’t think he had much to worry about. He was pretty sure there wasn’t much of a threat, even if it ever turned out that Babylon’s insistence that there wasn’t any sort of awkward attraction between he and Val was just a severe case of denial.
Now, if Babylon had a better pair of legs on him, Ganymede might be a bit concerned, but as that didn’t seem to be the case…
“This little crush of yours is cute!” Ganymede called after him, unable to prevent himself from getting at least one teasing comment in. “Don’t worry, Babs! Your secret’s safe with me~!”
It wasn’t like Val would believe him even if he dared to try mentioning it to him. Besides, Ganymede wasn’t that mean. Joking around he could do, but meddling in their rivalry more than encouraging Val to lay off the punching for a while was a bit deeper into their business than he felt like getting at the moment, especially when he had his own issues with Valhalla to work out.
He watched the squire begin to head off and figured he should get a move on, too. There didn’t seem as if there was going to be much action tonight, in any case, which suited him just fine. It meant he could go home early and spend the rest of the night pining away for his ex-boyfriend.
Which was kind of pathetic, he knew, but he couldn’t really help it.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 1:49 pm
Babylon turned around and ever so politely flipped Ganymede the bird. Although he did so with a goofy grin, so it wasn't very likely that he was being serious. "Hey, shut up," he said, absolutely denying with every fiber of his being that he had even the slightest crush on Valhalla. Because he didn't.
He hopped up onto the edge of the roof, waved over his shoulder at Ganymede, and leapt across the alley. Mostly, Babylon was just intent on going home and showering away his shame and bad jokes. He'd gotten his job done as well as he could, which was to say he thought he'd sent Ganymede spinning back in the direction of Valhalla's arms.
What more could anyone expect from him for a night's work, really? Not a whole lot, as far as Babylon was concerned. Mission accomplished.
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