Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was the little things, Halia found, that she enjoyed the most. A quiet evening curled up with a book, spending the day at her grandpa's farm just with the animals, or just relaxing with a friend, it all brought her joy. More than anything, though, she enjoyed relaxing and spending time with Mason, even if they didn't do anything other than exist in the same room together.

Halia lay sprawled on the couch with Mason sitting beside her, her eyes closed as she let herself relax. They'd gone on what turned out to be an uneventful patrol and she had offered food at her place, but all she wanted to do currently was become one with the couch. Things had been weighing on her mind all day, and it had caused her to miss the edge of the roof she was jumping to, causing her to fall hard on her a** on the ground below. The embarrassment was beyond belief, and she had waved it off simply saying she had been distracted. Which was, technically, true.

Mason slid his phone back into his pocket and rolled his head to look at Halia, who was absolutely having a no-bones day. Or a no-bones night, or whatever. She was so not going to deliver on the promise of food, was she? Mason hadn’t tracked how many calories it burned, Squiring around town, but he was pretty sure it was a lot.

“Sooooo,” Mason said, flopping over to poke at Halia lightly. “Whatcha thinkin’ so hard about?”

Without thinking, she grabbed her phone and pulled up a delivery app before holding it out to him. “First I'm thinking you should order food, because I'm pretty sure I'm not moving off the couch for a bit.” She smiled a little at him, then sighed heavily.

“So…..I have a friend who's sort of in a…really unfortunate situation. And I've been turning it over in my head a lot lately.” She peered up at him, speaking carefully. This was a horrible idea, but it could potentially be worth it to hear his thoughts on it.

“That building totally moved on you,” he teased, gently, as he took her phone and began clicking through screens. Mads never let them order in, and he was planning on taking full advantage of whatever unhealthy, carbalicious food he could find.

“What’s the situation? Or is it like, a secret? Or or is it like, a Real Problem, like - someone’s in a living situation they need help getting out of, or something?” Mason asked, his mind immediately leaping to the worst possibility. “Can I help?”

Halia rolled her eyes and lightly poked him in the ribs. “Rude. So incredibly rude.” She shook her head and sighed again. “So my friend is….well. It's complicated. She recently realized she's in love with her best friend, but the feelings aren't exactly the issue. The issue is that the best friend is already seeing someone. She's got absolutely no idea how to handle it, because while the best friend isn't in the happiest of relationships, he's still seeing someone y'know? And she also just has no idea how the friend feels about her. And she feels sort of like she's just...like she needs to just set her feelings totally aside and pretend they're not there. Which arguably isn't fair to her but….she's sort of an idiot, because she's genuinely in love with this guy. She would give him all of the stars in the sky if she could…”

Mason let out a knowledgeable sounding ‘ahh’ noise as she spoke, leaning back on the couch as she continued. He had no experience in ways of the heart himself - he’d basically gotten into his own relationship on accident, for crying out loud - but he and Mads watched a lot of TV, so he felt like that gave him a decent understanding. Plus, he was a guy, and this other guy was a guy too, so that meant they had to have some kind of common ground, right?

“Well, if he’s already seeing someone, she should just keep her mouth shut,” he said, “because what happens if she doesn’t? Either he doesn’t feel the same way and it’s awkward and they top hanging out at all because he doesn’t know how to deal or his current partner gets weird about it, or he does and then he’s in an awful situation where he has feelings for two people at once and ends up hurting one or both of ‘em. If the relationship is solid, well…” Mason shrugged. “That’s just the breaks, I guess. She’ll have to get over him eventually. If it’s not, she should let ‘em break up on their own so she avoids any blame for meddling, and then when an appropriate mourning period has passed…” Mason shrugged again.

“When the time is right, for both of them, she’ll probably be able to tell. Then it’s just about being brave enough to say the words out loud and hoping for the best, right?”

Halia sighed softly. “Right. Yeah, that makes sense.” She rubbed her face and relaxed against him again, closing her eyes. “It just sucks because she thinks she might actually be in love with him….” She shifted a bit so her head was now in his lap. Purely for comfort with how she was laying, nothing more. Clearly.

“I think she might have been in love with him even before she realized it. And it's…… it's hard, because she's never been in love before. Never even caught feelings for someone before. Granted, she's pretty sure he would never see her the same way she sees him, but still. It's….. it's a rough situation.” She looked up at him, trying to read his expression.

Mason nodded sympathetically, a half-smile on his face as he absently brushed his fingers through her hair, the same way he did for his sister, who had occupied the same position more times than he could count.

“Well, if she’s never had feelings for anyone, how does she know the difference between a crush and like, real feelings? And besides, I don’t think you can really be like, in love-in love with someone until you’ve like, dated them for a while. Until you really know them, like inside and out, good and bad and everything in-between, y’know? It’s easy to feel like he’s the bestest person in the whole wide world when you like, barely know him, or if you’re like, decently friends, but like ‘til you’ve seen them at their worst, I don’t think you can really be in-love in-love. If you still feel that way after they’ve shown you the awfulest parts of them, maybe, but…” Mason shrugged.

“But, yeah, believe me. I get how much unrequited feelings can stink,” he said with a faint chuckle. “I hope your friend figures it out soon. Is she like, totally making you crazy and talking about it all the time?”

“Her friend pointed it out to her. Point blank. She…..cried over it, because she felt so guilty. Because in her eyes, how dare she like someone who's heart already belongs to someone else?” Halia closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of his fingers in her hair.

“Maybe…..but I think she at least definitely loves him. Because….loving someone and being in love with someone…. They're different, right?” Her eyes opened and she peered up at him curiously.

Sighing softly, she laughed as she shook her head. “No, not at all. But ….I can tell it weighs on her a lot. It's not something she takes lightly, especially because her feelings could be a potential burden in her eyes.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Mason said with a light shrug. “Loving and being in love, I mean. But the same thing counts for both of them - if you love someone, or if you’re in love with them, you want the best for them, right? If your friend’s crush is happy in their relationship, then your friend should be happy for them. Riiiight?” Mason quirked an eyebrow at her, amused and curious.

“Yes. Definitely. But…..they don't actually seem happy. Which is why she's in the emotional mess she is.” Halia sighed softly, making a face. “Emotions are….. complicated. There needs to be like….a guide book or something. Especially for people like me and my friend who have never been in a relationship before. How should I know how to help if I've never even….had feelings for someone before.” Before now, that is. Not that she would admit that out loud.

Mason laughed. “There should be a guidebook for a a lot of things that there are not guidebooks for,” he said, shaking his head. “I dunno, man. I’ve only had–I mean, I’ve only been a boyfriend for like–a couple of months. And I don’t think I’m a very good one, maybe, so…you know, what do I know, but. As someone in his first relationship, I’d say probably your friend should just keep quiet, ‘cause relationships are hard enough without anybody trying to break them up, y’know?” Mason smiled wryly - his own relationship, such as it was, was certainly difficult enough - he couldn't even imagine how much harder literally any other complication might make it.

He didn't even want to think about it.

So he didn't.

“Anyway,” Mason added, “if he'd dump his current partner just ‘cause someone else has feelings for him, he's too flighty and easily influenced for your friend anyway. She wouldn't be able to tell if his feelings were real or if he'd just go off after the next girl that said she had feelings for him, y’know? Guys are pretty dumb like that, and I'm sure if she's your friend she deserves better. I know that doesn't really - like, help, but…I dunno, maybe Mads can give better advice on the plotting front. Just - make sure your friend does what's best for as many people as possible, and I'm sure it'll all work out.”