[What. W h a t. Under other circumstances, maybe, Ford would be gentler and more sympathetic, but....he is more than a little upset by the fact that Bill, the person whose idea this whole thing was, who drew Ford in by seeming to sincerely care, might....might have just been sincerely caring about winning.
He's a little upset about believing Bill sincerely cared and that turning out to be wrong again. It makes Ford feel very, very stupid.]
How do you not know? You were the one doing it!
This whole relationship was your idea! Are you telling me you don't know if what you actually wanted out of it was to prove you still won?!
[Wait, wait. It gets worse.]
--does being involved with you mean I lose?!
[Ford might be graduated, might be thoughtful, might have good intentions, but he is a knee-jerk emotional person, and this is too close to a lot of painful history for him to think clearly about, hey, remember how this arrangement means you don't have to battle for the fate of the multiverse? He doesn't remember anything that's at stake right now except his own emotions. And it is deeply fucked up to hear that in Bill's mind, being successfully lured into a romantic relationship is a losing condition.]
no subject
[What. W h a t. Under other circumstances, maybe, Ford would be gentler and more sympathetic, but....he is more than a little upset by the fact that Bill, the person whose idea this whole thing was, who drew Ford in by seeming to sincerely care, might....might have just been sincerely caring about winning.
He's a little upset about believing Bill sincerely cared and that turning out to be wrong again. It makes Ford feel very, very stupid.]
How do you not know? You were the one doing it!
This whole relationship was your idea! Are you telling me you don't know if what you actually wanted out of it was to prove you still won?!
[Wait, wait. It gets worse.]
--does being involved with you mean I lose?!
[Ford might be graduated, might be thoughtful, might have good intentions, but he is a knee-jerk emotional person, and this is too close to a lot of painful history for him to think clearly about, hey, remember how this arrangement means you don't have to battle for the fate of the multiverse? He doesn't remember anything that's at stake right now except his own emotions. And it is deeply fucked up to hear that in Bill's mind, being successfully lured into a romantic relationship is a losing condition.]