Chapter Text
Cherry had spent all morning chatting with Theo—or at least pretending to. He tried to ignore the way his heart raced faster than usual—thumping intrudingly in his chest—along with the clamminess of his palms, and the goosebumps trailing up his spine.
Theo rambled on about whatever, Cherry physically couldn’t listen. Like his body was genuinely rejecting information, out of body experience shit.
“And it’s weird because I love Applebees,” Theo beamed. Don’t ask me what’s going on, I don’t know.
“Yeah, you the bee’s knees or whatever…” Cherry muttered, sweat prickling on the nape of his neck as he tugs on his hoodie string with more aggression than necessary.
“Oh okay,” Theo raised his eyebrow, thoroughly bewildered. “What’s with you man?”
“Men?! I don’t like men! Stop!” Cherry squeaked, his posture locking up like a springtrap. Which is weird because he is more of a pink kinda guy, rather than a purple guy.
A/N I’m so fucking sorry
“Alledgedly. I do NOT believe your ass, I never said anything about that bro,” Theo scoffed. “But actually though, is everything okay?” He placed a hand on Cherry’s shoulder, causing him to jump a foot in the air.
“Everything’s gnarly—I mean everything’s fine, what makes you ask haha…?”
Theo blinked. “You’re shaking… are you nervous about Valentines or something? No need to worry man!”
Oh Theo… bless his soul.
“Yeah… yeah that,” Cherry nodded, swallowing dryly. He tightened his hands around his backpack straps, hyper-focusing on the fabric, the bumps, the way it fit with his finger prints.
Simply to not end up in a straitjacket, of course. He tended to hyper-focus when his mind scrambled like an egg. (👀)
Before Theo could probe further, the bell rang—and people flooded the halls in a sea of students.
Cherry’s pink eyes locked onto a familiar silhouette down the hall, beginning to stray away from Theo.
“Yo, where y’going?” Theo tilted his head in question.
“Home. He’s going home—sorry, I’m going to the uh,” Cherry’s steps slowed. Think, idiot!
“The bathroom! I’ll meet you in first period, man,” Cherry blurted, picking up his pace. Theo nodded in confusion, letting him go.
Cherry ducked behind a set of lockers, appearing about ten times creepier than he’d like. Fuck it, we ball.
His fingers tapped nervously against the metal of the lockers as he watched Riku approach his locker.
It was concerning how much he cared. None of his excuses felt right anymore, they never really did.
It didn’t make sense.
One thing Cherry used to appreciate about Riku—despite his obvious heterosexual hatred for him—was how things did make sense. He didn’t like Riku, Riku didn’t like him, therefore they bickered. It was simple. It worked.
Everything did with Riku, in its own way.
But now? He felt so anxious he wanted to crawl out of his skin and give himself to god or whatever the fuck they do in churches. Every-time he was around Riku, he felt… nervous.
Nervous?
It… it must be that his hatred is evolving, like, like a Pokémon! They’re growing apart. That’s—That’s good! That’s what Cherry wants!
Right?
It didn’t feel right. It isn’t.
He never really imagined growing apart from Riku. Something that went unsaid, impossible. It was annoying how close they were, actually.
Riku was just… always there.
And that’s a bad thing, that’s supposed to be a bad thing—it’s supposed to be annoying, he’s supposed to want it to go away. He’s not supposed to want anything more than that.
Supposed.
His spiraling was cut short as Riku’s fingers—which were actually very pretty, not that Cherry noticed—fidgeted with the locker combination.
The metal door swung open, and the note slipped out and fluttered to the floor like a pink butterfly landing on a dark purple flower.
Riku’s eyes widened, his fingers freezing, his grip on his books falling loose. Cherry’s internal crisis instantly melted into a smug grin.
“Yes, yes, pick it up…” Cherry whispered under his breath, earning a few deeply judging side-eyes from passing freshman.
Riku crouched down and snatched the note, fumbling slightly as he unfolded it. Cherry watched like a hawk as Riku’s golden irises darted across the lines.
His expression twisted in real time—shock, confusion, and then a faint pink dusting creeping up his cheeks.
Riku scrambled to shove the note deep into his pants pocket, looking around suspiciously.
Cherry bit down on his lip to suppress a triumphant grin, his eyes glittering with excitement, before his brain finally forms a thought (for once) and his expression goes blank.
“Why am I acting like such a fucking dork?! I need to lock in bruh,”