[Well. For a defense mechanism, it works. Leon considers taking offense at it—but he's laughing before he can. It's awkward and embarrassed and it's maybe 50% just releasing tension rather than Togami's stupidass joke actually being funny, but damn, that tension needed to be released, and right now that's more important than the possibility he's being made fun of.
(Possibility? Who is he kidding? Of course he was being made fun of. But sometimes, Togami's barbs miss. When literally the only thing a guy ever does is shoot off barbed comments . . . even Leon doesn't bat a thousand, is what it boils down to.)
And he feels better once he gets that out of his system, though he's still red all the way down his neck, not to mention having trouble looking Togami in the eye. That last not-question even brings a tiny cringe to his smoothed-out expression. Because no, but yes. But no?
It's complicated.]
Shut up, man . . .
. . . I wasn't gonna ask you, if you mean, like—if you think I was gonna invite you over and then go, hey Togami, wanna fool around? That wasn't what I had in mind! Or I guess as you'd say it, hey Togami, you wanna "sexually experiment with men"?
[God, he thought he'd worked up to this, but saying that phrase is still hard. His voice fades out some at the end with mortification, and he has to pause and swallow before he goes on.]
—Yeah, so. But . . . it's not like . . .
It's not like I didn't think it might go that way? I mean. Just, if it happened, maybe it'd happen, sure, and I'd—yeah?
[And then finally, more firmly, with more effort than any other one syllable he's managed to embarrass himself with so far:]
no subject
(Possibility? Who is he kidding? Of course he was being made fun of. But sometimes, Togami's barbs miss. When literally the only thing a guy ever does is shoot off barbed comments . . . even Leon doesn't bat a thousand, is what it boils down to.)
And he feels better once he gets that out of his system, though he's still red all the way down his neck, not to mention having trouble looking Togami in the eye. That last not-question even brings a tiny cringe to his smoothed-out expression. Because no, but yes. But no?
It's complicated.]
Shut up, man . . .
. . . I wasn't gonna ask you, if you mean, like—if you think I was gonna invite you over and then go, hey Togami, wanna fool around? That wasn't what I had in mind! Or I guess as you'd say it, hey Togami, you wanna "sexually experiment with men"?
[God, he thought he'd worked up to this, but saying that phrase is still hard. His voice fades out some at the end with mortification, and he has to pause and swallow before he goes on.]
—Yeah, so. But . . . it's not like . . .
It's not like I didn't think it might go that way? I mean. Just, if it happened, maybe it'd happen, sure, and I'd—yeah?
[And then finally, more firmly, with more effort than any other one syllable he's managed to embarrass himself with so far:]
Yeah.