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"time is weird when i'm with you."
skeppy watches bad slowly, as if he's trying to understand what his friend is saying, as if staring intensely at him might help him in understanding the words that had just come out of his mouth.
"excuse me?" skeppy shakes his head. "wait, wait, just... what do you mean by that?"
bad bites his lip.
"i miss you."
"i know." skeppy whispers, the low rumble of his voice causing a shiver to run up and down bad's spine. "but there's more to it than that, right?"
bad closes his eyes.
"do you ever notice that your perception of time changes?" he asks out loud, then pauses to wait for a possible response.
skeppy doesn't say anything at all.
"sometimes, time doesn't pass by normally. it acts strangely, almost of its own free will. because normally..." bad lets out a small huff, gathering his thoughts. "well, normally, you'd think time just passes by normally. but of course, there's the theory of relativity, but that's not really what i'm talking about. perception of time is more of a social aspect thing, not really a science thing. and, well, time. it... it typically seems like it passes by faster as you grow older, because one hour is a long time to someone who's been alive for a day, and one hour is really short for someone who's been alive for decades."
bad takes in a breath.
"where are you going with this?" skeppy asks lowly. "what are you trying to say? just say it, bad."
bad shakes his head, letting out a shaky breath on the line. "no, you... i'm... i'm getting to that. what i'm trying to say is that, that's how time usually works, but around you --" bad shivers. "around you, it's different. around you, time works differently and it doesn't make sense but it does at the same time, and--"
"you're really taking this metaphor places, aren't you?" skeppy tilts his head.
"... the time i spend with you is different."
"different?" skeppy echoes.
bad lets out another nervous laugh, this one louder. he lets out another smaller giggle, but it's less enthusiastic. he clears his throat, and looks back up at skeppy. he's not laughing -- he's not really smiling either. he's just staring at bad with those dark eyes, as if he can look straight through him. there's a look deep within his eyes that he can't quite place, not sure how to categorize it except for the simple fact that bad feels as he's sinking, sinking, sinking into something far deeper than he's ever felt before in his life.
"it's different," bad echoes again. "you... make me feel different."
"different," skeppy says slowly, as if he's tasting the way the word feels on his tongue. "is that a good thing?"
bad shivers.
"... everything about you is a good thing," bad continues. "everything about you is different, but a good different. it's a different that makes me feel fluttery on the inside, a different that makes me feel as if anything's possible, a different that makes me want to do anything as long as you're here, because--" the words get caught in bad's throat.
he takes a moment to gather himself.
"because i know everything's going to end up okay as long as you're here."
skeppy's gaze flickers over to bad. "me?"
bad just nods.
"you make it sound like..." skeppy lets out a small laugh. "... like i'm some sort of magical being. i'm just a normal person, bad. i'm not anything special, really."
bad frowns.
"that's not true."
skeppy raises an eyebrow.
"maybe," bad starts. "maybe that's what you think, but in my heart, that's not true. in my heart, you're special. you're the most... most special person, ever. you're--" bad stumbles on his words. "you're one of the most important people to me. you're incredibly special and precious to me, skeppy - you know that, right?"
skeppy just looks at him.
"skeppy--"
"i--" skeppy stops. "well--" he runs his hands through his hair, looking away, thinking. "that's incredibly flattering. that's... so sweet. you know i love you, bad."
"and i love you," bad returns, but the words fan a flame within him, and he feels like he's burning, with those words. "i love you," he repeats. "i love you, skeppy. if there's anything that you need to know, it's that i love you, no matter what."
skeppy cracks a grin. "i know. you make it sound like a life-or-death situation."
"yeah?" bad snorts.
it does feel like a life-or-death situation, though. the words burn, as if they're not right, as if they're not enough, as if it's not true, but it is, but maybe it's because bad knows that deep down, he doesn't mean it that way and he knows that skeppy doesn't mean it the way that he means it, so maybe, just maybe, those three simple words keep boring a hole into his heart because it hurts so much more than skeppy could ever imagine. each time he says it to skeppy, each time that skeppy says it to him, it hurts even more, because bad knows that those three words are simutaeneously not enough and too much: not enough to explain how he truly feels about skeppy and too much to think about when it's late at night and he's thinking about skeppy saying those three precious words but not in the way that he wants them to be said.
"i dunno," skeppy quips, leaning back. "am i right, or am i right?"
"you're such a silly muffin," bad laughs. "that's the same option."
skeppy lets out a loud laugh, a genuine one. it's one that makes bad's heart flip, one of those loud excited ones that makes him happy because skeppy is happy: because if skeppy isn't happy, then he's not happy. how could he be, if his best friend wasn't happy? the world is a better place with skeppy; the world is an even better place with skeppy's laughter and joy that he spreads everywhere he goes. he's bad's little bundle of joy that he keeps around because sometimes if you need a reason to laugh, then skeppy's your choice.
and bad's choice is always skeppy.
"alright, alright, i have a question for you, actually, badboyhalo," skeppy hums, leaning back over to the camera. "what did you mean by time being different around me?"
bad blinks.
"time is normal, i'd like to think. time is constant, as long as you're not thinking too much about acceleration and perpendicularities and photosynthesis--" bad lets out an amused huff. "-- so bad, what do you mean when you say that time acts differently around me?"
bad lets an awkward silence pass by, running a hand through his tuft of hair. "uhm... well, how to explain this..."
"take your time," skeppy says, leaning back. "i've got all night."
"well..." bad takes in a deep breath. "when i spend time with you, it always feels like there's not enough time. like-- like our time together passes by quickly. in a flash. like there's just not enough time in the world to spend together."
"uh huh," skeppy adds slowly.
"but... but when you leave, it feels like time slows down. a lot."
"a lot?" skeppy echoes.
"a lot... like time slows to a standstill until the times that i can hang out with you again." bad shifts, shooting skeppy a small smile. "because well, i miss you. i miss you all the time when you're gone. and when you're here, my time with you is so short-lived that sometimes i even feel like begging you to stay longer, even though i know that you're busy and i'm busy and we've already spent time together." bad just laughs. "isn't that silly? i mean, i don't know, it just sounds ridiculous and maybe i exaggerated a little, but that's-- that's really how i feel sometimes, even though it's stupid and muffiny and silly and i don't know why i even brought it up."
bad lets out a laugh with little amusement behind it. "... well? don't i sound like an absolute muffinhead?"
skeppy tilts his head, looking at him.
"i won't be mad," bad adds. "i know i'm kind of being a muffinhead, so no hard feelings. just... tell me the truth, skeppy."
"you want the truth, bad?" skeppy gives him a small grin. "you want to know the truth, huh? well, i'll give you the truth, then. i think... i think that you made this way more complicated than it needed to be."
"what?" bad scrunches his nose up.
"that you said all of that when all you needed to say was, i'm in love with you, skeppy, and that would've been so much easier."
bad blinks.
then he laughs.
he just laughs and laughs and laughs, and then -- "you think i'm in love with you?" bad says in amused disbelief.
skeppy doesn't laugh back.
"i don't know where you got that idea from, but it's pretty obvious that i'm not in love with you. i mean," bad snorts, rubbing the grin off his face and replacing it with a faux-relaxed smile. "come on. do i really sound like i'm in love with you?"
"you said you wanted the truth and you got the truth." skeppy just looks at bad, with those dark eyes that make him feel weak at the knees and make him feel blessed that he's sitting down at his desk because his knees grow weak at that one simple look. "and that's the truth."
bad holds his breath.
"you do."
"skeppy, i'm not in love with you."
"well, that sure sounded like a love confession."
"well, maybe you're reading too much into it."
"i'm reading too much into it?" skeppy lets out a snort. "okay, you're pranking me. you have to be trolling me. you're telling me that metaphor wasn't a thinly-veiled confession of your true feelings for me? okay, i changed my mind, you're really just trolling me and making me think that i'm in love with you as a prank, and all i have to say is, it's not funny."
"i'm not pranking you--"
"oh sure, that's what you want me to think--"
"okay, well, i'm not lying to you, all of what i said, it's true, okay?" bad raises his voice, huffing.
skeppy remains silent.
"i'm not lying, skeppy."
"okay, well," skeppy sighs. "if that's how you feel about me, then what i have to say is... i love you, too."
bad widens his eyes.
"okay, wait, you--- what?"
skeppy shakes his head, an amused smile growing on his face. "hey, you're gonna buy me a muffin when i go visit you, right?" he asks, changing the subject and shooting a wide grin at the camera to his best friend, noting the flush of embarrassment spreading on his face.
"b--- uh -- wh... yes?"
skeppy smirks.
"can i add a kiss to my order, too? kinda been craving that, it's a chef special, right? i've wanted to have that for a long time, actually."