[ Mishima just listens quietly, to what he expects is going to be a simple romance story. A part of him -- that awful, selfish part that he hates -- almost feels a little jealous at first that a fellow internet recluse got to have a relationship like that with a girl. But that's an incredibly shitty thought to have about someone he likes, especially in this context, and this was why no one had ever wanted to be friends with him, and he mentally stomps the idea into the ground. Anyway, someone who cheered him up and motivated him to be a better person -- even if there'd never been a chance for it to get romantic, he'd kind of had that in Kunikida in the short time he'd known her, right? And before that, he'd... He'd kind of had it in Kurusu.
But that pause as Yoosung finishes his drink is like an intermission between acts, and the second part of the story-- none of that is what Mishima expects to hear at all, and his eyes just get wider as it goes on. It doesn't sound real either; it all sounds like the plot to some kind of drama, and it's hard to believe that someone as normal and comfortable to be around as Yoosung could have even been involved in something like that. But even if he were the kind of person to lie -- which Mishima can't really even imagine -- there's no way that pain isn't real. He knows pain, he thinks, though it's... never been anything quite like that.
Yoosung is... actually a really cool person, isn't he? Even if he sees himself as pathetic for the awful way things ended up, the path he took there... he was being strong and courageous, actually taking action and putting himself in danger to protect other people. It was almost the exact opposite of what Mishima had been in his world. Scared to the point of doing nothing at all, selling out the people around him for his own safety.
He'd always thought the two of them had a lot in common, but... when it comes to things like courage, things that count, maybe Yoosung is more like Kurusu and Sakamoto than he is like Mishima.
Fuck. If there really are alternate timelines, he'd like to jump over to one where he hadn't just opened up about his own story, because it seems almost insulting to have put them on the same level. ]
Sorry, I. I had no idea you'd been through any of that.
[ The words are kind of mumbled, and it's obvious he doesn't have any idea what to say. He reaches out, though, a little tentatively, and puts his hand -- still warm from the mug he's been holding -- over Yoosung's. Kind of like Yoosung had done for Mishima at his trial, right? When he offered him his hand. That had... helped. ]
You're... really awesome.
[ He pauses for a moment; he doesn't really expect him to accept that. ]
I know you probably don't think so because of how things ended up, and... god, I'm really sorry, about all of it. But what you were willing to go through for other people is--
[ Maybe it's just because he's such a coward that he finds it so impressive, but. ]
no subject
But that pause as Yoosung finishes his drink is like an intermission between acts, and the second part of the story-- none of that is what Mishima expects to hear at all, and his eyes just get wider as it goes on. It doesn't sound real either; it all sounds like the plot to some kind of drama, and it's hard to believe that someone as normal and comfortable to be around as Yoosung could have even been involved in something like that. But even if he were the kind of person to lie -- which Mishima can't really even imagine -- there's no way that pain isn't real. He knows pain, he thinks, though it's... never been anything quite like that.
Yoosung is... actually a really cool person, isn't he? Even if he sees himself as pathetic for the awful way things ended up, the path he took there... he was being strong and courageous, actually taking action and putting himself in danger to protect other people. It was almost the exact opposite of what Mishima had been in his world. Scared to the point of doing nothing at all, selling out the people around him for his own safety.
He'd always thought the two of them had a lot in common, but... when it comes to things like courage, things that count, maybe Yoosung is more like Kurusu and Sakamoto than he is like Mishima.
Fuck. If there really are alternate timelines, he'd like to jump over to one where he hadn't just opened up about his own story, because it seems almost insulting to have put them on the same level. ]
Sorry, I. I had no idea you'd been through any of that.
[ The words are kind of mumbled, and it's obvious he doesn't have any idea what to say. He reaches out, though, a little tentatively, and puts his hand -- still warm from the mug he's been holding -- over Yoosung's. Kind of like Yoosung had done for Mishima at his trial, right? When he offered him his hand. That had... helped. ]
You're... really awesome.
[ He pauses for a moment; he doesn't really expect him to accept that. ]
I know you probably don't think so because of how things ended up, and... god, I'm really sorry, about all of it. But what you were willing to go through for other people is--
[ Maybe it's just because he's such a coward that he finds it so impressive, but. ]
You're a really good person.