Bragging Rights

Keen

Keen

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He was expecting... relationship stuff. Smokey's mouth twisted into a restrained smile. Something that was very not appropriate after all he said. "I don't like lying so that's okay," they let out, unsure of how to continue.

Relationship stuff... Well, if he wanted to talk about that...

"And you weren't entirely wrong about expecting relationship stuff," they said with a sing-song tune. "Let me preface this with a: I know we're just friends and I don't expect anything. There. So! January's pool showed me your face and, I don't know, I think that's why I'm acting weird." See? That was easy. "I know you're not interested in me and I'm happy being friends, but I'd like to hang out more and for us to have more in common." Now if they could just stop. "You know how oricenta can be aggressive with affection, so I'm trying a more human way to display affection and all... that... "

And now they were here.
 
Romi

Romi

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If Angelo was a computer, he'd have just crashed to a blue screen. He was a deer in the headlights, which was ironic, since he was the one person in the room who had never been an actual deer.

A crush?

Smokey had a crush on him?

Somewhere in the distance, he was sure that Roa was screaming.

"You were - oh, uh, yeah. You were very... you were very human. I'm just... oblivious. Very much."

God. How had he not noticed? Never mind Roa's screaming, somewhere in the distance Travis and Broen were probably laughing their asses off at how fucking dense he'd been.

God. He should have noticed. He was just oblivious. And he was... he was what? Too quick to dismiss things he had recognized as 'Oricenta are weird'.

"I'm still okay with being friends. And... I'm sorry I can't return your affection." Was that the best way to say it? No. But it was the way that came out. "I learned to read books really fast. I can digest through them like nothing. But I guess it feels like there's less weight to it. Because it takes no time. Before, studying felt like a big accomplishment, and now it feels like nothing at all."
 
Keen

Keen

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Did Smokey break him?

Why were humans so complicated? All oricenta had to do was talk things out, maybe have a few awkward giggles, then get over it. They didn't even need to date to make a new family! All Smokey wanted was someone they could cuddle, hold hands, kiss, and study with. It didn't need to be romantic. Why was that such a complicated thing here?

Angelo finally started talking again. First, slowly and unsurely. Then he slowly came back to "normal." When he continued, Smokey noticeably grimaced at his "apology." First of all, it was an apology that felt empty in that fake polite way. "Don't apologize for how you feel," they responded a bit too bluntly. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Like all Smokey moods, the grimace didn't stay for long and was replaced with a concerned frown. "That's... disappointing. I get a rush from learning. Like, like, when you watch an action-packed movie? I thought having all of—Wait, what was that about reading really fast?"
 
Romi

Romi

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"You can absolutely apologize for feeling how you feel," Angelo countered. "Just because they're your feelings doesn't make them right. Like..."

He trailed off for a moment, and then continued, his tone like someone offering up a confession. "I'm just not attracted to... to anyone noticeably non-human. Horns, fangs, whatever. But the moment it gets too far away, I'm just... not into it. But that feels wrong. Like I'm being... speciesist or something. It feels wrong, no matter how much people tell me it isn't."

There were a lot of parallels he didn't want to get even close to unpacking there.

He glanced at Smokey when they mentioned the reading thing, and then shrugged.

"New power," he said after a moment. "I can... speed read, effectively. All but useless for fiction, since I don't get any of the feelings, but it lets me take in the knowledge almost immediately. That's kind of what I mean about... not getting much feeling from it. There's not much of a feeling of accomplishment, because there's no difficulty or challenge."
 
Keen

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Smokey never thought of apologies that way. Apologizing for feeling wrong... There was nothing wrong about not being romantically interested in Smokey. They knew that as an oricenta, their culture was very different from humans. They knew they could be weird and wild. That was just how they were.

Smokey began to understand what the actual problem was when Angelo explained further. Yet he was already explaining his speed reading before Smokey could make a proper comment about it. As if a different subject ever stopped Smokey from voicing their thoughts.

"Wait, I want to go back to the speciest thing. That sounds more important. I don't think it's speciest to not be into non-humans. In the Narrow Reality it's weird for humans to want to have sex with animals, right? Or... mm...that could be because they aren't sapient." They were so out of their field here. There was a subtle look of "help" written on their face as they tried to search for the proper words. "Either way, it's normal to want to stick with your own species or similar. And, um, I think of it like sexuality. Or fetishes. It's not bigoted for a straight man to not be into other men, and it's not bigoted for someone who wants BDSM in sex to be uncomfortable with someone who only wants feet stuff in sex. I think? I'm still, uh, learning my way around sex and paraphilia."
 
Romi

Romi

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It was like the old saying went... there was a lot to unpack, so lets just throw the whole thing away. The entire situation felt like a nightmare, trying to explain the functional differences between someone's fetish bothering you and someone's appearance, and Angelo took a deep breath, trying to steel his nerve.

"I think it's more... well, I don't think it's comparable in that way. Being interested in BDSM or not is something you choose. It's something you can act on or not. It's a fundamental incompatibility. But it's different when you're judging someone for how they look. People don't... they don't choose their species. And I'm supposed to be the student council president. I'm supposed to treat everyone the same. Dating or not dating someone because they started looking like..."

He trailed off, his face flushing red, and he looked away.
 
Keen

Keen

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Okay, it looked like Smokey was very off the mark with some of their advice, but they were still convinced that most of what they said was helpful. "Okay, then ignore the fetish part. I still think the sexuality part fits. That's about appearance, usually. And people have types in general. I don't see what the big deal is as long as you're not being rude about it."

The way Angelo trailed off got Smokey thinking. After several seconds, Smokey's face transitioned into a wide-eyed, open-mouthed surprise. "Oh! Is this about Alma?"
 
Romi

Romi

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Angelo had spent his entire life hiding. He was a master of it, of disguising who he was and what he was really like. He'd hid his dad's identity and nature from literally everyone for almost his entire life. He'd hid the fact that he was running around as a superhero from his father. He'd hid his father's identity and his true name from his teammates.

And for all that lying--all that skill--Angelo couldn't lie about his emotional state to save his fucking life.

He went bright pink the moment Smokey said it, blurting out a quick "What, Alma? No!" with a lie so blatantly transparent that a five year old would have recognized it for what it was.
 
Keen

Keen

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If lies could hurt, Smokey would have combusted into smoke. There wasn't any way they could be offended by... this. This was too weak to be considered a lie. Emotions were high right now and Smokey poked Angelo's in a way that he could be forgiven for his quick reaction.

Now felt like one of those times Smokey would laugh and tease Angelo. They were in no mood for that. As much as they found Angelo attractive for his big brains and his robotic arm and the fact they might very much have a thing for blond human men with twunk bodies, they needed to respect and support his relationship.

"Don't get so antsy! I'm not judging you. Well, I am judging you for that bad lie, but not about Alma. I saw her the other day shape-shifted and it was weird for me too. It was like I was looking at someone super familiar but not. Liiiiike a close relative of a friend."
 
Romi

Romi

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Angelo buried his face in his hands and tried to spontaneously stop existing. Unfortunately, that wasn't a power he had, and he was sadly still existing in front of Smokey despite his desperate attempts.

"That... that's kind of how I feel, yeah," he said after a moment. "When I look at them, I can't make myself see Alma. Even with my powers, my eyes still say that's not Alma. I think it would be easier if they were just... like, if they were just like Iggy? Where they just had one form. Because then I could get used to them having that one form, and make it register. It's the same way with... with Kon, if you know them. They've started doing something similar, changing forms so rapidly that my eyes and brain feel like a total mismatch."
 
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