[He's already decided that he likes Claude. The revelation that he's also been the subject of rumors just reinforces that opinion by striking a sympathetic chord in Wilhelm.]
Sorry you've had to go through that. [Sincerity presses into his words, but a sip of tea later, he reaches for some levity.] Just be grateful nobody could turn it into a meme.
[Not that...Claude has any context for what the hell that means. By way of explanation, he offers:]
It's a kind of...joke that gets passed around online.
[He does sense that the man is trying to sift more details out of him — and he has no reason to believe it's anything more than a friendly effort to get to know him. However well-intentioned the reason, though, Wilhelm would rather not — not even in the vaguest way, not even with the longest stick — touch on that mess. That mess being how he was outed via a video of a make out session that was maybe a little more than a make out session... Even months removed from the shitstorm that followed, just thinking about it makes his whole being clench up like a fist.]
no subject
Sorry you've had to go through that. [Sincerity presses into his words, but a sip of tea later, he reaches for some levity.] Just be grateful nobody could turn it into a meme.
[Not that...Claude has any context for what the hell that means. By way of explanation, he offers:]
It's a kind of...joke that gets passed around online.
[He does sense that the man is trying to sift more details out of him — and he has no reason to believe it's anything more than a friendly effort to get to know him. However well-intentioned the reason, though, Wilhelm would rather not — not even in the vaguest way, not even with the longest stick — touch on that mess. That mess being how he was outed via a video of a make out session that was maybe a little more than a make out session... Even months removed from the shitstorm that followed, just thinking about it makes his whole being clench up like a fist.]