#dukebao

Bao tugged at the collar of his one decent button down as he walked with Duke down a hallway that felt both infinite and too small. “You think I’m underdressed?”

Duke shot him an incredulous squint. “For the Department of Human services?”

“No, asshole--for meeting your mom.”

“I was joking when I said--”

“Still, I don’t want her to think I’m more of a loser than she already will.”

He flinched a little when Duke grabbed his shoulder and stopped them in the middle of the hall. “Dude, like I said, she’s--”

“What does she think we are?”

Duke hesitated. “Well...uh, I call you a friend? I mean that’s...that is what we are...”

“W-well, yeah but--”

“And you were pretty clear about that--”

“I know, but--”

“And it’s worked pretty well, I think. So you’re just a friend of mine that needs a little support, that’s all. She doesn’t need to know anything else.”

Bao bit his lip. “...Ah, yeah. That...yeah, you’re right, I’m being weird.”

“So weird.”

“Ugh. Fine, my bad.”

Duke looked at him for a moment. “...Did you want to...like...talk about--”

Bao shook his head. “Let’s...one thing at a time, okay? We’ll...yeah.”