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"Thank you Y/N for helping me organize the papers," Mr Murray told me as I picked up my backpack from my chair. Mr Murray had called me for a task to help him bring some papers to the teacher's staff room. "Oh, no problem, sir!" I replied, quickly slinging the bag over my shoulders. "I've got to go, Qiu's probably waiting for me".
"Ah, well. I won't keep them waiting then" he replied. "Tell your mother I said hello, will you?". " Of course I will!" I told him, and headed out the classroom doors. "See you tomorrow, Mr Murray!"
I ran down the hallways, heading for the exit. Qiu promised to wait for me after I was finished my task. Butterflies were flitting around in my stomach, a warm feeling emanating in my chest. Not a lot of people knew this, of course, but I actually had a crush on Qiu for the longest time I remember, maybe even when I first met them. The only person that knew about my crush was Tamarack, who fully supported me all the way.
I finally reached the school doors, pushing the doors open, and saw Qiu waiting for me right outside. The sunlight fell across their face in a way that made them look so much more beautiful and worsened the nervousness in my stomach. I was good at acting though, I've been successfully hiding my feelings for so long and immediately ran up to them, trying to look like I wasn't just panicking over how pretty they looked.
"Qiu! I thought you would've already left!" I smiled to them. "Glad to know you're still here". Qiu turned his attention to me, and smiled back. "Couldn't leave my favourite neighbor behind, could I?". God, did that smile made me more flustered. I felt my cheeks turn red, but I quickly chuckled it off. The two of us started walking back towards our houses, chatting along the way about random stuff. Homework, class, all that sort of jazz. Until...
"Hey, Y/N. I need to tell you something important," Qiu told me. "But we need to talk about it in private. Meet me in that open spot in the forest". "Oh, sure," I replied. I felt my stomach flip-flop in nervousness yet again. "I just need to drop off my bag at my house or my mom might worry about where I've been".
Qiu nodded, a smile and a slight blush across their face. At least, I think a blush. Or maybe that's just me hoping. "Makes sense. Your mom worries about us both a lot". We both laughed about it, before reaching our homes.
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As I walked up the path towards the open spot in the forest, the leaves scattering as I walked along, my thoughts began to race. What could Qiu possibly want to tell me? Could they... Also have feelings? For me-
"Ugh, as if!" I quietly scolded myself, softly patting my reddening face with my hands. I had forgotten my gloves at home, but I was far too lazy to go get them back, so I could clearly feel how hot my face was. "You're raising your hopes too much..." I sighed to myself.
I reached the open spot in the forest that I remembered as the first place we met Tamarack. Us three have hanged out here a lot since then. We haven't had a lot of chances to hang out now as school interfered with a lot of our plans, but you always made time to hang out with your favourite neighbors.
Qiu was waiting there for me, leaning against a tree. He looked my way, and my eyes made eye contact with theirs. They gave me a small wave, and I waved back, walking closer to them. "Hey, Y/N" they chuckled to me. "So, was is it you wanted to talk about?" I asked them. "You must've had a good reason to call me here, right?".
"Of course I did," Qiu told me. "I just-"
Suddenly, I felt a drop of liquid on my head. We both looked upwards as another raindrop landed on my face. And another. And yet another.
Soon enough, rain started pouring down on the both of us. Qiu scoffed in disappointment, the rain ruining their moment. "Out of all the times to rain, it had to rain now?".
I softly chuckled at them, and put my own coat hood up. Qiu's hair looked so pretty when it was in the rain. "The rain's not that bad, we both have coats with hoods anyways" I said to them. "Yeah, but I had the perfect plan for this!" Qiu replied. "And the rain absolutely ruined it". I laughed, and walked towards them and flipped their hood over their head. The fact that I was closer to them made it clearer to me Qiu was actually blushing. This wasn't just my guess or me hoping.
I cupped one side of Qiu's face with my hand, the heat from their skin warmer than the cold downpour of rain around us.
"Your face looks really cute in the rain, you know" I told them, eyes locked onto theirs. Qiu seemed to look at me in shock for a few seconds, before they softly smiled at me and placing their hand on mine. "Thanks, Y/N".
It took me a few seconds until I realised what I wad doing, and I quickly retracted your hand, face red from embarrassment. Qiu looked a bit surprised, and I felt more guilty and embarrassed. "Sorry for that I- My hands were cold and I forgot my gloves and your face looked really warm!!" I immediately blurted out. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything, I-".
"Y/N, calm down!" Qiu told me. They still held onto my hand, the rain droplets hitting against both of you and the leafy ground. "I-I really don't mind it. I mean it!". My face was still so red, and Qiu sighed, taking a few seconds to gather their thoughts.
"Look. Y/N. I value you more than anyone else. You mean the world to me and even if my life is kind of confusing now, I want my life to have you in it," they explained to me. "I... I like you, Y/N. More than as a friend. I love you....."
It took me a few seconds to let the words sink in. But when I finally processed that this was reality and not a dream, I immediately went to hug them, the force accidentally knocking Qiu's hood down. They held me in their arms and comforted me as I scrambled for any words to say. What could I say? My best friend/crush just said that they liked me and are currently hugging me back.
"I-I like you too, Qiu!!" I told them through tears, which I wasn't sure were actually tears or the rain on my face. "And also more as a friend...". Qiu softly smiled at me, that same smile I've seen nearly everyday as we grew up together.
I lifted my hand to cup Qiu's again, not nervous or afraid anymore. And Ieaned in to kiss them. It was short, sweet, and in the rain and Qiu's hood was down so their face was really wet. But I was glad that my first kiss was with my childhood friend, the love of my life.
Qiu's face was much more red than I've ever seen them before afterwards, but then they chuckled softly at me, placing another kiss on my forehead as we held eachother.
We stayed like that for a while. Hugging it out and standing in the rain, sharing short kisses. But we both knew we'd have to go back to our homes later. "We really need to go back now," I told Qiu. "Mom might really worry about me now that the rain's coming down". "Oh yeah, and then she might come find us and find out we were kissing in the middle of the rain," Qiu teased me.
"Your hair is seriously wet though!" I jokingly scolded them, flipping their hood up over their head. "Try explaining that to your parents!". "You were the one who knocked it down when you hugged me!" they laughed. "Not my fault I'm that strong!" I chuckled. "You had a chance to our your hood up in the fifteen minutes we were standing in the rain!". "Sorry, I was too busy focused on your beauty to put it back up," Qiu laughed. "Besides, you said I looked pretty in the rain". "True, true" I chuckled.
We walked back down the path towards our houses, finding comfort in eachother's presence. I reached my hand out towards Qiu's for him to hold, and felt them interlace their fingers with mine. Those butterflies were still flitting about, but they felt more comfortable and happy rather than nervous. I'm glad I had forgotten to bring my gloves, otherwise I probably wouldn't have noticed how warm Qiu's hands were.
We stopped when we eventually reached the fork in the paths between the walking path and the tree-line towards Qiu's house. "Well, I gotta go now" I told them, squeezing their hand. I leaned in to give them a last kiss on the cheek, then walked back towards my house. "See you tomorrow again, Qiu?". Their hand was on the cheek where I had just kissed them, but they still gave you a wave back. "See you tomorrow, Y/N!".
I walked back towards my house, coat and all clothing soaked. Mom was waiting for me in the kitchen, looking quite shocked at how soaked my clothes were. "I was wondering where you were, Y/N" she sighed. "Is your face okay? It's very red. Did you get a cold?". "Mom, I'm alright!" I told her. I didn't realise my face was still very red from the confession. "I-I just need to go change my clothes and I'll be alright". "Okay, sweetheart. Come back downstairs afterwards for lunch, okay?" Mom told me. I nodded as I went back upstairs to change. It was good to get back into some warm clothes.
As I was alone in my bedroom, all that was on my mind was Qiu. They actually liked me back. All those fantasies and daydreams about dates and weddings and meet-cutes could be real now. My heart still felt so fuzzy and warm. And I loved the giddy and joyful feeling in my chest.
And I loved Qiu.
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