[Eventually, he manages to pull himself out of his panicked self-realisation spiral to remember Fern is still sitting there. After pouring his heart out to him, and oh. Oh geez. Confusion gives away to a touch of sadness. Maybe a different time, a different shuffle of the cards. He rubs the back of his neck, heaving out a shuddery breath. Wow, Okay. Yeah. That's- that's sure a thing. ]

Oh... okay. That's- this is a lot for me to process.

[He definately should have gone with the cave idea.]

I'm uh.. I don't know. It's- it's nice to know? I... yeah. Maybe in a different time... I don't know. I'm not- I'm not really sure about almost anything right now.

[He's never had anyone tell him they have feelings for him in his entire life and now there's two of them at once. Like. Is the universe laughing at him? Is that what this is? That he has to hurt someone he cares about because of this. He ruffles his hair, trying to displace the growing anxiety. He's never had to turn anyone down before. He honestly never thought he'd have ONE person give a shit about him enough to want to be with him, let alone two. He has no damn idea what he's doing. ]

I- I'm sorry, Fern. You mean the world to me, I... I wasn't lying when I said that. You really are the best friend I've ever had, but- but that's where it stops. And it's not because you're not good enough or... I don't know. Geeze, I don't know how to put this. I just don't feel the same way. I'm sorry, though. Like... really, really sorry. I didn't realise.