Spring time [Cale]

"Woah, you okay there? You been drinkin' or somethin'?" Cale asked, though he was mostly joking it would seem. He noticed the bird, and he knew full well that Nostro tried to make his alcoholic pizza. Once again the damn guy wanted to help and be useful, but only ended up making things worse for people. Cale looked at Ryan and blinked before cocking his eyebrow. "W-Uhm...you, okay?" Cale asked absently before his mind snapped back to attention. He looked back to the television and handed the remote to Ryan, allowing him take it if he wanted.

 "Here, change it to what ya want." He said as he looked to Nostro, who seemed genuinely confused and befuddled about what was going on. Cale shifted, slightly uncomfortable, but didn't move too much, instead looking and preparing to be pelted in the face by an ice bird at any given moment. "Godamn birds."

Ryan wasn't drinking anything as far as he knew, unless he did without knowing that he did. ”Nope, haven't drunk anything since I woke up.” Ryan answered simply, not really even noticing the fact that he may have been a little too close. There was that awkward moment where their eyes met for a few seconds, and...well he was not really sure what was happening. Muttering, he realized that things may have been awkward with the whole closeness thing that he had somehow managed to put himself into. ”I...um...yeah i'm good.” Ryan muttered pulling himself back by a few inches, feeling more awkward than anything else.

He looked at the remote, wondering what he would even watch or if there was anything interesting to watch on tv. ”There’s probably nothing good on.” Ryan muttered twiddling his fingers, unsure if he should have gone through with the thing he was asking. Did it matter or would Cale not want to talk to him because he asked that? Ryan sort of looked to Nostro, though that was for only like a second before he turned back to the television. Unfortunately he did not understand that Cale was talking about drinking alcohol, even if he did not drink any of that. ”There's never anything good on.” Ryan mentioned off handily, forgetting the whole personal space thing.

Almost as if taking que, the bird would flutter down and land on his shoulder. ”Oh look, there's the bird.” He noted petting the snow bird on the head as he softly cooed. ”So Cale...do you not like me?” Strange way to word things but then again Ryan was strange.

Cale was confused a moment when Ryan continued to say that there was never anything interesting on. How could this guy say that? There was a cooking channel, there was Sci-fi, there was Game of Thorns, and Hell there was even sports stations. How was there nothing on of interest? This confused Cale a little, but Ryan still seemed to be close to him and Cale was interested to know that Ryan drank alcohol when he woke up. He wanted to ask if his drinking was an every day occurace or if today was special for some reason. Ryan still couldn't seem to respect the personal space thing, and it was sloly driving Cale crazy, dissolving in at his core to the point that his patients was nothing by a fragile little man begging to be killed to be put out of his misery. Cale likes his space, he needed his space, it was primarily why he chose to make barrier robots and pretend to have barrier powers.

  Cale was then asked a question that was a metaphorical loaded gun. "Do you not like me?" Now simply put Cale was going to say no in response, meaning that the no's would cancel each other out and then the remaining sentence would be "I do like you". but this wasn't math, was it? Could that work that way? If he said no he was saying he liked Ryan, but if he said no then he was easily able to be interpritaed as affirming the fact he didn't like Ryan. What the fuck was this even about? they were friends, obviously he liked him. He blinked and looked confused a mintue, wondering what in the hell triggeted this in Ryan.

  "No? Yes? D-dude that's now hoe you say that. It's "Do you like me?" " Cale said as he shifted slightly. "And yeah...I obviously do. Why?" Cale asked as he was shifting a little.

Ryan was not sure what to do, feelings were a weird thing for him and so he tried to deal with them as best as he could. Especially feelings like these that made his chest all tingly and warm, with the whole reddish cheeks and whatnot. There had to be something he could do but maybe it was something. Something, but what was that something that he should do. There was a line on a movie or something that had an idea of that, and so he would have to roll with that. He did say that he did like him, even if it was followed by a correction and more than anything Ryan wanted to know. It might have just been stupid curiosity in him or whatever, but he had to know. If they did like him, maybe this would not go as bad as he thought it would. It could also go bad, and then his brain started hurting.

His chest felt kind of heavy and he sort of went for it, likely catching Cale off guard as Ryan leaned slightly upwards and kissed Cale.

Well this was unexpected. Nostro was still smilong but something about this was all off to him. Cales hand came up before he realized what he was doing. He pulled back and immediately, a barrier forming between them. Cale was immediately flushed with many things. Anger, shock, pity, but none of them made any better by the fact of what just happened. Nostro was quite shocked now as Cale seemed to stand up and shake his head. "Ry..This isn't me. I've lost it...I gotta go find it." He said before sighing and letting his arms down, flopping at his sides. He quickly looked to the confused Nostro, reading the look on his face, sighing and running his hand through his black hair, messing his phaux hawk a bit. "I-I'm sorry. I gotta go. Nostro...take care of him. Let him stay as long as he wants. I gotta run to the store." Cale said as he made his way to the door, attempting to leave.

  Nostro stood there and then looked to Ryan, waiting to see what would happen. That was....different. I didn't think that was how liking someone worked. He mused and nodded, making a mental note of this as he looked to the likely confused water-boy.

He had actually done it, despite Ryan not really believing that he could but then again e did not quite expect Cale to reciprocate if even for a moment. The feeling he felt was...elation perhaps or something alone those lines. Then it came to a screeching halt as the barrier separated them, Ryan sort of looking shocked at what had happened. Cale seemed to be freaking out and Ryan found himself wondering if he had done something wrong. Fear settled over him as he just looked at Cale with a sort of kicked puppy look. They were leaving, and he didn't really want him to leave. It was a sort of weird thing but then again he knew what he wanted. Something was bothering Cale, so he had to find out what it was, despite the nagging part of him that was scared of it.

He turned to Nostro for a moment, looking slightly confused before jumping to his feet as fast as a Ryan could. ”I'll...be right back Nicco.” Ryan said before running after Cale, using those fancy powers of his to stop Cale, via an ice wall.  Thick enough likely that he would need to use a barrier to get through anyway. ”Wait….” Ryan said with a slight pant, wondering why making an ice wall tired him slightly. ”Did….did I do something wrong?”

Nicco blinked as Ryan left, quickly deciding that if Ryan was leaving he should go too. He continued onward, following just behind Ryan whom seemed to get to Cale quick enough, trying to throw up an ice barrier of sorts. Nostro watched with a smile, enthralled by the ice structire as Cale halted.

  Cale stopped when a thick ice wall impeded his progress. All he wanted to do was crumple it, but he didn't know how to do that, his mind was reeling a moment as Ryan seemed to call after him, exhausted for some reason or another. Cale sighed before looking at him. "Yeah, sorta. You just flat out did it. You don't even know me, I don't know you. There's no way at all that we should even...nah man. Look, all you know about me is my name, and that's about all I know about you. This isn't me. If this is you that's fine, I get it. But it ain't me. I gotta go." Cale said, not quite sure what part about him was unclear. All he did was speak the truth. He knew nothing about Ryan and honestly Cale was mortified at himself more than anything as he sighed. He started to walk around the ice wall, trying to get the Hell away from Ryan as best he possily could.

  "Don't people useally need time to think about things like this after they happen?" Nostro asked Ryan, if nothing else it gave him something to think about. Nostro looked to Ryan and shrugged, if Ryan continued pursuit then Nostro would obviously follow, but pursuit seemed like a very bad option to him at the moment. When Cale was like this there were few people who could sooth him. Ryan was not one of them from what he knew thus far. "That went somewhat well...I think."

Short answer drawn out to an incredibly long conclusion, well he had messed up likely big time. It made sense to a degree, but perhaps Ryan was just too focused upon how he had messed up. He knew almost nothing about Cale, for one reason or another, and that was just how things were really. ”How can I know you...if you keep pushing me away?” Ryan asked, though if Cale actually heard it he had no clue. At this point everything sort of felt like it were falling apart, though he wondered if they even cared to know him. It just sort of felt confusing now, and feeling...well it just wasn't good. Aside from asking that, he didn't really do anything else beyond stand there, letting the ice wall crumble away to let Cale walk past with no issue. For some reason he felt cold, or maybe he felt nothing. It was one of the two.

”I guess.” Ryan responded with an almost dull tone, shrugging as if unsure what else to do. Maybe people need to think that over or perhaps Cale would likely not want to have anything to do with him anyway. So he turned on his heels and returned to the living room area, sitting on the couch and bringing his knees to his chest, semi-withdrawing into himself. If Nostro followed him, well that was his prerogative. ”I think it went terrible….what was I thinking?” A few seconds after that he had his mental answer, he wasn't thinking. What people said was true, he was really stupid.

"I don't know Ryan...I think that went well." Nostro said a moment before placing a hand on his shoulder and trying to keep him slightly still. "Cale doesn't know how to respond to those kinds of things. Give him time and let him think about it. He's surprised, and like a hamster when he is surprised he's scared." Nostro added before looking to Ryan, certain that he processed everything correctly. Yeah...things were going to be alright.

  "Are you okay?" Nostro asked, sensing Ryan's distress.

”I don't think it did though.” Ryan said feeling the hand on his shoulder holding him still, wondering mostly if Cale did not want to have anything to do with him anymore. The thought of losing a friend, especially one that made him feel so weird at the same time. The comparison to a hamster did make Ryan think of a hamster with Cale's hair color as it's fur, but then again all that did was make him smile softly. Maybe Cale was just scared, that could have made sense in a manner but then again he knew nothing about Cale. That made him wonder if maybe Nostro knew anything about the person he knew nothing about.

”I'll be okay I guess. Nicco, you know a lot about Cale, right?” He would then ask looking upwards to the automaton with an almost hopeful expression. ”I know almost nothing about him...could tell me more about him?”

Nostro tried to think of way to make Ryan understand why Cale was slightly alarmed. He didn't' seem to think Ryan understood why Cale was alarmed, specially when he insisted that he thought he did things wrong. He looked to Ryan and nodded once he finished. "I can tell you about Cale." He said with a smile before he leaned down, closing four inches and kissing Ryan the same way he kissed Cale. Well actually it was a little more skilled and passionate, but that was just things he had learned from the internet, several videos he had seen and other sources. Nostro had to admit it felt weird, even if he was doing it right. He pulled back and smiled before looking at Ryan with his own dorky smile, hopefully Ryan would not fully understand how Cale felt...and not too weirdly towards him.

  "So what did you want to know?" He asked without skipping a beat, as if he expected Ryan to know what he was attempting to teach him.

Knowing that Nostro could tell him about Cale, but then again he had not quite been expecting what Nostro did next. It was just so unexpected from Nostro of all people, so he sort of found himself even more confused by why they had done that. Sure, Ryan may have without thinking kissed back, but it was just something that happened. It all felt different than Cale, not with the same emotional response but the same physical response which made itself painfully obvious within the current clothing. Once the thing ended, Ryan found himself turning even redder than before, blinking a couple of times as he looked at Nostro shocked, and somewhat confused. Alot of things were confusing actually, then again Ryan knew almost nothing about all of this thing.

”I...uh...just wanted to know more about what he was like and stuff.” Ryan stuttered licking his lips now confused more than anything. The goofy smile made things even more awkward, though he felt slightly guilty by even returning the kiss considering that weird thing he felt for Cale and whatnot.

Nostro tilted his head to the side at the response he recieved, wondering why anatomically there would be a response to this. He was simply displaying an example as to why Cale was confused. Nostro tried to calculate how he could help Ryan cope with the situation, but his processes were interrupted by the manifestation of MT in the air in front of him. With a little mew he seemed to float around, distracting them for a moment if possible.

"Cale is a strange one alright. He understands robots better than he understands people, thus is why he gets alone with- MEEEYAAAAH!" MT hissed and meowed away back into non-existence when Nostro punched him and sent him reeling through the air and into the wall.

"Don't say that. Cale only knows one robot. Cale is someone who doesn't like someone else clinging onto them. He likes people who are independent and can take care of themselves. He's very distant, he's cold, he's quiet but he's incredibly considerate and sentimental. Right now he only cares about avenging his two little brothers and his mother though. What else do you want to know?" Nostro added before shrugging a little. He left himself stand there half expecting Ryan to ask about the robot comment or the talking cat.

There was some manner of awkward tension in the air, that much Ryan could pick up but luckily a cat appeared from nowhere floating about. He had no idea why the cat was floating, but it did draw his attention towards said cat as it would then say something, which surprised him even more. Normally cats did not talk, but then again in a world of superhumans that should have not been a great surprise. Before they could finish their sentence, Nostro punched them and they disappeared back to where they came from. From there Nicco would explain things in a fashion that he could better understand.

From what he could gather, Cale liked someone that was independent, which meant...he wasn't. That sort of soaked into his mind, sitting there while he considered how one would make themselves independent and nothing instantly came up. Which made him wonder also how one took care of themselves, maybe that meant having his own place and a job like all grown ups. It made sense, to Ryan anyway so he tried to put that into the mental vault too, though he would have liked to see the sentimental side more. Avenging his brothers and mother, well that was something that made sense to him, once he realized that someone had killed him.

”How can I get him to…..open up to me more? Whenever I try to talk to him, he just...makes a mean face and pushes me away.” Ryan explained as best he could.

Nostro blinked and listened to Ryan before trying to rationalize out the best answer he could think of. Of course you were coming to a person who only knew about romance from movies and internet novels written by inexperienced authors. Trying to reason out a nugget of knowledge to impart. Of course the goal was to get Cale to open up so there was a difference in this situation. "You should try to do things you know he will be doing. Take interest in what Cale does. Mechanical things, as him to show you things, to help you." Nostro said, that part of the advice was just fine, perfect and easy to do. "Then we'll find you another boyfriend to make him jealous, and when that boyfriend abuses you Cale will protect you and take you in to satiate his jealousy as well. Then senpai will notice you." This second part of the plot was...not so direct. It was obviously taken from a Lifetime movie of some sort.

  "So mechanics or music. Take interest in them immediately... or get him drunk. Anything else?" Nostro asked as he tilted his head to the side.

Ryan made sure to listen closely to everything that Nostro said, nodding occasionally to make sure it was apparent that he was paying attention. Sure, most of it sounded pretty...well sound but some of it sounded almost wrong. Like the part about trying to make Cale jealous by getting another boyfriend, and Ryan did not like the idea of being abused because that sounded lame. He didn't want to get abused, because that sounded like it would hurt. ”Mechanical things...yeah I think I can ask him about that.” Ryan said with a nod trying to let that settle into his brain, and hopefully stick there, though getting him drunk also sounded like it worked. It made people talk a lot, also barf if they drank too much but maybe Cale wasn't the type to barf...maybe.

Music, well that was something that he actually enjoyed, so maybe Ryan could try that. ”I like music.” Ryan said almost as if he had some kind of epiphany, as he nodded his head a couple of times. ”I can play the drums pretty good.” Ryan mentioned before then finding himself wondering what else he could ask Nicco, the prior awkwardness somewhat forgotten in his attempt to understand. ”So what kinda mechanical stuff does he do? Like fix cars or something?”