Whatever pipe dream Basil had hoped to hold onto by thinking this was all a misunderstanding evaporated at the look that crossed Gus’ face. He watched, breath hitching, as the boy ran a hand through his red curls and spat back at him. Basil reddened again, embarrassed. “N-No, of course not.” He should know better. “I-I didn’t mean to—" to what? Tell Gus how he felt? Even though that’s exactly what he had done. Before Basil could sort that knot out in his mind, Lissing continued speaking and the Ravenclaw felt himself begin to loose control of the situation.Sucking in a painful breath, Basil tried to force himself steady. He focused clearly on the other’s words and tried to think through them. How could Gus love him? How was it… biologically possible? Everything in the brunette’s scientific, data driven mind rebelled against the idea. He didn’t understand it, couldn’t compute it, and thus - was he destined to reject it? Surely he couldn’t be so close minded. Basil swallowed a lump in his throat; his mouth was dry.
As Gus stood and brushed his robes off, Basil could sense the pinnacle of this discussion coming. It was like a warning, ice and goosebumps raking up and down his spine. He wouldn’t have much of a chance to salvage this if he wasn’t careful. Whatever next words he managed would define them, floating in the chasm that was slowly starting to form. Basil took in a deep breath and tried to steady himself. He needed a minute to think this through but unfortunately it would seem he didn’t have one.
“Lissing—” he tried, but the exasperated noise that came out instead blocked any other words. Basil frowned. “I-I know you think that’s how you feel, but I… I just don’t…” Comprehend? Fathom? Recognize it? Basil let out a frustrated growl. “I just don’t understand!” He burst finally. Hands balling into fists, Basil stepped closer to his friend. “What do you mean you love me? It’s not biologically possible! Besides, even if it was - what do you expect me to do with that information?! You’re leaving!” His voice broke on the last word, and Basil frowned even harder at himself.
The anger was beginning to bubble up inside of him. What did Gus expect him to do with this now that he’d just proclaimed he was off to live his own life trotting the globe? Putting himself in the shoes of a feckless debutante for a minute, Basil could only imagine how heartbreaking it would be to hear one’s love proclaimed and then have the person disappear forever! It wasn’t fair that deep down he might have looked passed the impossibility of it if Gus were to stick around London. They could have tried to navigate… whatever that was, together! Like they did everything else. But, now, it was impossible seeing as Augustus was quite literally hop skipping across the planet!
Basil’s misplaced anger roiled in on itself. Yes, this was exactly what he was angry about and it was just too bad there was nothing that could be done about it!