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“Dude she’s hot.”
“I know right?”
“Oh if you think she’s hot, check out Gloria Donner. She’s also smart as heck. Aced algebra and English.”
“Oh shoot-”
Roman let out a heavy sigh as the boys crowded around each other’s phones, scanning through whatever social media site they were on today. He lazily shaded in the sketch of Patton he’d made earlier in the day, and occasionally let his attention return to the group.
They were supposed to be actually…talking. He wasn’t sure what he expected anymore, but it wasn’t this. Wasn’t there something more interesting than the girls they all had crushes on? There were a million more interesting things Roman could imagine as a topic. But, this is what his friends had ended up on, and he was just… tired.
Easier to be excluded from the topic of conversation than try and derail it.
“Hey, Roman, you haven’t said a word.”
“Oh! Yeah, do you got a crush?”
He glanced up from his page, “I- uh-” Expectant eyes stared at him and he suddenly felt very small. “Uh, yeah…” He muttered, rubbing the back of his head. His heart pounded. Why the hell did he say yes? Why didn’t he just say no? They accepted it every other time he said no, why would he say yes? Why? Why? Why?
“Shoot really? Who?”
He glanced down at his paper and curled his legs up further against his chest, pressing the drawing pad between his chest and legs, “Not anyone you’d know.” He muttered.
“She got a insta? Gimme a name, I can look her up.”
Roman shook his head, putting on a smile, “Nope.”
“Come on Ro, who is this girl?”
“Is it the person you were drawing?”
Roman flushed at the notion, and pushed the paper protectively against his chest, laughing uneasily, “No way!”
A playful nudge to his shoulder, “Come on, even if it’s not I just I wanna see!”
“Roman is that a blush I see? He’s totally blushing.”
“It’s just a random sketch of a friend, and I am not blushing!”
“A frienddd?”
“If you must know the friend is a guy so, there’s that.”
“Oh fine.” A teasing smile was given his way and his friend leaned back and quickly the topic was returned to other crushes.
Roman fiddled with the edges of the paper, eyes downcast as he found himself drifting through his thoughts.
Morality smiled brightly as the younger sat next to him, “Hey Creativity, how’s it going?”
Creativity shrugged, “Pretty good.”
Morality hummed skeptically, “Empath, remember?” he gave a gentle push against Roman’s shoulder, “What’s gotcha down Kiddo?”
He let out a dramatic sigh and leaned against Morality’s shoulder, “Do you ever lie about something super stupid and you can’t tell why?”
Morality hummed, “Can’t say I’ve done it to my recent memory.” He giggled, “But I don’t have Logan’s memory, so maybe I have.”
Creativity huffed a laugh, “Yeah, thought not. I don’t know. I didn’t even like- get anything out of it.”
“What was it?”
“Oh, my friends were chatting about crushes and girls and stuff and I just- They asked me if I had a crush and I said I did. I don’t know why I said I did.” He frowned.
“Were you feeling left out?” Morality said softly, “Like the odd man out?”
Creativity shrugged, “I guess. But it wasn’t even- They moved on and then I’m the odd one out again. They talk about crushes so much more now and I just wish they’d- stop. It can’t seriously be that interesting. We used to talk about… normal stuff.”
Morality laughed, “People are kinda funny like that. You can always find more friends to chat about ‘normal’ stuff with.”
“Yeah, but, they’re… my friends,” he sighed, “I’ve been friends with them since elementary school.”
“I get that,” Morality said softly, gaze getting reflective, “It’s hard finding out people you used to share everything with no longer… understand you.”
Creativity hummed and leaned his head further into Morality’s side, “I just, don’t get why.”
Morality hummed, “Have you ever had a crush?”
The boy gave Morality a look and Morality laughed, “I’m serious. This is me trying to help you figure out why.”
Creativity groaned, “I- don’t know.”
“How about this, do you find girls attractive?”
“Not… particularly. I mean, there are girls who like, obviously look- nice. But.”
“Guys?”
He shook his head.
“Anybody outside that range?”
He billowed out a sigh, “No. Gosh, am I weird? I’m weird, right?”
“No, you’re not weird. It’s fine if you don’t like anyone. You know, have you ever thought you might be ace?”
“Ace? Like a flying ace- like a pilot?” Creativity giggled, scrunching up his nose as he grinned at the notion, “No I don’t particularly feel an inclination towards flight.”
“No! Asexual, not feeling sexual attraction. You don’t like any guys, gals or nonbinary pals.”
“That’s a thing?” Roman raised a brow, leaning back off of Morality, his outfit returning to simpler attire in a flash of red.
Morality smiled, “Well, yeah. Then there’s also aromantic, where you don’t feel any romantic attraction to people. And then there’s a whole spectrum of all that, like, maybe you’re demisexual, and you just have to be really, really, really close to someone. Or maybe grey-ace, where you sometimes feel attraction. And a whole ton of other stuff I’m probably missing!”
Roman blinked a few times, “Huh.” He glanced up at Morality, “That- actually makes sense.” A smile tugged on to his lips, “Thanks.”
Morality smiled in return, “No problem buddy. Just know I’m here for you no matter what you might find yourself to be.”
A squeak of a gasp escaped Morality as Roman practically tackled him into a hug, face buried into his shoulder, “I mean it. Thank you.” Roman whispered as Morality gently patted his back.