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It all started during twitch rivals when Foolish realizes just how breathtaking Punz looked in real life compared to when he’s on screen. Ever since then he’s had a crush on the other he wouldn’t dare admit to anyone, especially Punz. He tried unliking Punz, but despite ignoring the other or not having any form of contact he still couldn’t help but smile and get giddy whenever he thought of said man. And Punz constantly flirting with him wasn’t helping his situation. Foolish tried to tell the other to shut up whenever he made sly innuendos directed at him to stop himself from getting flustered, half of the time it works and the other shuts up, but that doesn’t completely stop him from making them on a later time.
Foolish was at the point where he couldn’t tell if Punz was actually trying to make a move on him, or if it’s all just jokes and banters. Part of him knows that Punz is like that to everyone, Sam, Sapnap, Dream, occasionally Karl, etc. But Foolish couldn’t help but notice Punz made these innuendos with him more often compared to everyone else. But that could also just be him hoping that hey, maybe Punz is actually trying to make a move on him, if he is then Foolish doesn’t even know anymore.
And now he’s here, sitting next to Punz as they did their interview in Banter, the hit number one podcast as dubbed by Karl and Sapnap.
They were talking about the famous thing that happened in Vegas twitch rival. Foolish tried elaborating that nothing happened (though, as much as he hated to admit it, wished something did happen), and Punz, being Punz, insisted that he did in fact lick his bicep, Foolish, being Foolish, as usual denied the allegations with a face slowly turning red.
“I’ll lick Foolish’s bicep right now. To make things official.” Punz said with the laxest expression ever as he leaned his head down to supposedly try and lick Foolish’s bicep. Foolish, his heart raising, tried pushing Punz away.
“Stop!” Foolish whine-giggled, still trying to push Punz away as the other stubbornly tried to actually lick his bicep. Foolish thought about lessening the amount of force he puts into the pushes so Punz could actually lick his bicep to fulfil a warped desire of his but quickly shook that thought away. The two continued with their antics, Punz stubbornly trying to get even just the tip of his tongue to touch Foolish’s bicep and Foolish trying his best to prevent that from happening.
Meanwhile, Karl and Sapnap listened to them struggling as they tried to stifle their laughs and giggles away from the mic.
Foolish continued with trying to push Punz away and telling him to stop, until he eventually all of a sudden did just stop. The suddenness left Foolish confused so he looked at Punz to see what made the other suddenly stop, then he saw it. A red mark on his cheek. Foolish quickly muted the mic before sputtering out his words.
“I-I’m so sorry!” Foolish quickly apologized in a panicky tone as his hands hovered to Punz’s face and to where the punch mark was but not actually touching him. Punz gave a smile in response as a reassurance as he went back to the mic, fixing his position.
“I licked it.” Punz blatantly lied and Foolish quickly denied it.
Sapnap and Karl cheered like idiots. “There you go folks, ‘lickgate’ officially happened, live here on the number one podcast in the world.” Karl concluded that bit and they changed the topic a few seconds later.
And the topic boomeranged back to them.
“There’s this ongoing phenomenon where whenever Punz tries to show feelings towards Foolish, he always just shuts them down in any public setting. Why is that hm?”
“He literally just did that a few minutes ago!” Punz quickly exclaimed.
Foolish laughed out of nervousness, there’s no way would he ever admit to the truth and say ‘because it’ll makes my stupid crush for him grow even bigger if he continues’ nope, not in a million years.
“That’s true, so care to explain why, Foolish?” Karl interrogates.
The seat felt hot as he began getting nervous to think of a valid excuse. Foolish felt the millions of people listening to the podcast stare at him, waiting for his answer, especially Punz who, despite not even looking at Foolish and had the most calm expression ever, was probably anticipating the answer more than anyone else. And without even thinking about it he just spat out one of the excuses he had in mind, anything to hide the fact that he has a crush on the person sitting next to him.
“Because I like someone else!”
REALLY NOAH?? THAT'S LITERALLY THE WORST EXCUSE YOU COULD POSSIBLY SAY!!!
Foolish’s first instinct was to analayze Punz, to see if he hurted his ‘feelings’ by saying that. Punz seemed fine, his face remained the same and he even looked at Foolish with a smile.
Karl and Sapnap on the other hand were blown away with that response and they both knew they just had to annoy the living daylights out of Foolish to know who his crush was.
“Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who?” They both repeated in a sychronized manner which honestly impressed Foolish.
“Pay me a thousand dollars each and maybe I’ll consider telling you guys.” Foolish jokes, carefully moving his eyes to his left to get a quick look at Punz and his current state.
Normal.
—---
Foolish’s heart wouldn’t stop pounding as they did Karl’s and Sapnap’s stream, sitting next to Punz and acting like his heart isn’t going 200 beats per minute. He thinks he’s doing a good job acting normal, so far no ones mentioned anything in the chat or from any of their friends.
So now he’s sitting on the couch using his phone, today was very productive, contentwise that it. They did the live podcast, they did both Karl’s and Sapnap’s stream. Very productive, so now he’s winding down and just chilling. He checked Twitter and checked one of the photos Karl posted of them four a day before.
I need someone who looks at me the way Punz looks at Foolish 😩
Foolish looked at the photo, specifically Punz. He didn’t know whether it was because he’s in love but Punz did look at Foolish in a way that made Foolish feel some hope. The lax but still gentle smile, the fond eyes, Punz only looked at him in one of the photos but it still made his lovestruck self melt and he couldn’t help but smile like an idiot..
“What’s so funny huh?”
“Nothing,” Foolish was quick to respond.
“What were you looking at?? The person you like???” Karl asked and like a child he leaned against Foolish as he tried to grab his phone, by the time Karl got the phone Foolish had already turned it off. Foolish gave Karl a smug face as he felt victorious in their childish antics.
“I’m not returning this until you tell me who you like.” Karl said and immediately sprinted off, it took only a second for Foolish to process what Karl just said, but by the time he processed it Karl already gained a distance from him.
Foolish didn’t bother, Karl didn’t know his password anyways, the only person who knows his password is Punz, or well, he told Punz during the Vegas Twitch rivals event, which was so long ago, so he’s more than likely already forgotten it.
“I’m gonna put this in my safe and not give it back unless you say who you like~!” Karl instigated and Foolish immediately chased after the nuisance to get his phone back.
It took a while since Karl knew every inch of his house and Foolish had only been there for a few days. But Foolish eventually got his phone back, all the running made him tired and he called it a day, telling everyone he’s gonna go to bed now. He got complaints, saying ‘Make the most of our time together here’ or something along those lines. Punz saying that almost made him wanna stay up and not sleep at all, but tiredness overpowered his secret love for the other and he slept, dreaming of the day him and Punz could be the one for each other, but alas, it’s just a dream.
—---
So far everythings going good as far as ‘don’t let anyone know you have a crush on your friend’ goes. Chat was oblivious, he kept his mouth shut despite Karl, Sapnap, and even Quackity annoying the daylights out of him, Punz was also oblivious, or so he thinks.
Punz has been…a little distant lately, he barely talks to anyone, not even to him or Sapnap, and even on stream he didn’t seem to be having that much fun.
Maybe he’s not a crowd person?
Foolish thought, though deep down he knew it wasn't true. He wanted to approach the other so many times, ask him what’s wrong, invite him to their little games, talk to him. But each time he does he always gets stopped by Karl or Quackity.
Now they’re on a road trip.
Karl’s driving and Sapnap in shotgun, Foolish in the second row with Quackity next to him, and Punz at the very back, alone. Foolish wanted to sit next to him, he was sitting next to him until Quackity asked him to sit with him instead, and Foolish, being the ‘kind hearted’ person that he is, couldn’t say no.
After a few hours they stopped for a bathroom break, everyone but Foolish and Punz went out. The two sat there silently, Foolish wanted to break the silence and sit next to Punz and talk with him, he contemplated it. Would it make it obvious that he likes Punz? He finally made up his mind to sit next to Punz but just like every other time, the others just had the worst timing and arrived back.
—---
A month has passed since the meetup. And now Foolish was standing in front of the door to Punz’s house. It happened during one late night call with Punz and others. The others being people who were in a twitch event at New York, Karl, Tina, Quackity. Punz initiated it, saying him and Foolish are gonna meet up since everyone else was meeting up. Foolish though he was just joking during that time, but guess not.
Foolish was of course hesitant to agree at first, him and Punz, alone in his house, him having a huge crush on the other that could explode at any second and make him confess. Yeah, he shouldn’t have come, but he’s right in front of the house already so it’s too late to cancel their meetup. Besides, this would really make up for the lack of interaction they had in the North Carolina meetup…He's not ready to fall even deeper in love for the four days he’s gonna be there, but no backing down now.
He rang the doorbell.
—---
Foolish was currently laying down on Punz’s bed while being on a call with Karl. Punz was in a different room with Zuko doing who knows what. Foolish is so glad Zuko’s hypoallergenic, otherwise he would be sneezing and having stuffy nose the whole time he’s there, which isn’t the best look in front of someone you like.
“So…is Punz the ‘someone’ you like???”
Foolish choked on air, “W-What?? Like Punz?? As if!” Foolish lied, glad that his camera wasn’t on, otherwise his red cheeks would have invalidated the lie.
“Out of everyone in our friend group he’s probably the least likely I’ll fall have a crush on!” He doesn’t know why he’s being so passionate about the lie so much. Could it be because he’s trying to trick himself into not liking Punz? A placebo effect maybe. He’s been trying to unlike the man ever since he realized he had a crush on him which was around seven months ago, and seven whole months of him failing to do so. If anything it grew even bigger as they spent more time together occasionally on late night calls with each other.
“He’s literally so boring and the only thing he has going for him are his skills in gaming! And he’s so—...” Foolish abruptly stopped when he tilted his head by the tiniest inch and caught sight of Punz, standing in the doorframe, his expression unreadable. For the first time in a long while Foolish felt an emotion he hasn’t felt in so long. Consternation.
“Do you…hate me that much?”
Foolish tried to say something, anything to clarify what he said, but all that came out was silence.
Punz shut the door and Foolish chased after him, but when he opened the door the room next to him was shut and a click sound was heard.
Fuck!
Foolish went to the door and turned the knob, just as he thought, it was locked. “Punz! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean those when I said it!”
Nothing.
FUCK!
He rushed back to Punz’s bedroom and grabbed his phone.
“Foolish? Helloooo? You still there? Or did the-”
“I FUCKED UP!”
“What? What happened?”
“PUNZ, H-HE WAS IN THE ROOM A-AND THE THINGS I SAID AND-”
“Okay okay, calm down, take a deep breath.”
Foolish did just that and inhaled deeply before exhaling.
“Okay, now explain to me in a way I can actually understand as to what happened?” Karl said, his tone going from that full of jokes to a serious and concerned one.
“I was saying those things about Punz right? But like I wasn’t serious right?”
“Yeah that was still kinda messed up.”
“He was in the room and heard it.”
“WHAT?! STOP TALKING TO ME AND SAY SORRY TO HIM!”
“I DID! But he went to the other room and locked it…” Foolish groaned, hugging Punz’s pillow in his chest.
“Text him and if he doesn’t respond then just give him time, he can’t stay in that room forever.” Karl said and Foolish quickly got to it.
Foolish: Punz I didnt mean what I said, can we please talk?
It got seenzoned.
“Well he’s still alive at least, he didn’t respond though…” Foolish said with a sigh, maybe he should just come clean and admit that he does like Punz.
“Karl?” Foolish started and Karl hummed in acknowledgement.
“Do you actually wanna know who I like?” Foolish said, still deciding if he should tell him or not.
“Dude, tell me that a different time, worry about Punz right now.” Karl said and Foolish could see the other eye rolling behind his phone. That response made it clear to Foolish that he could trust him.
“Punz.”
“Yeah, worry about Punz right now.” Karl said.
“I like Punz.” Foolish admitted and Karl went quiet before loud celebratory noises came through his phone.
“I KNEW IT!” Karl exclaimed and Foolish chuckled at how quick the other switched.
“You were literally just naming everyone from our friend group.” Foolish said as he rolled his eyes.
“No but I actually did have a feeling it was Punz more than anybody else, you might have deceived everyone on stream but not me. I saw the way you would look at Punz when we were hanging out. Gentle, lovestruck eyes.” Karl said and Foolish could hear the other smiling behind his phone as he explained.
“You should immediately apologize and explain once Punz gets his sad ass out of the room.” Karl said and Foolish sighed out a ‘yeah.’
“You should also confess.”
“Nope! I’m just apologizing.”
—---
Foolish forced his eyes open and shook his head, it’s already around midnight. He’s been waiting next to the door for Punz to come out for like four hours now, he had to use the bathroom eventually right?
Then, the familiar sound of door hinges creaking were heard and Foolish
shot up, all the drowsiness gone in an instant.
“Punz I’m so sorry!”
Punz jolted back at the unexpected, but his brows quickly furrowed and he tried shutting the door again. Foolish, this time, blocked it with his hand before Punz could fully close it and opened it again, entering inside the room.
Foolish observed the room and saw that there were tissue pieces on the floor, now as he took a closer look at Punz he saw his eyes were puffy. He was crying.
Foolish opened his mouth to say something but Punz beat him into breaking the silence. “You’re really terrible, you know.” Punz croaked with a broken smile which made Foolish’s heart ache, both because of the other's state and the words he said.
“I’m sorry…” Foolish whispers as he tried to pull the other in the hug, Punz slapped his arms away.
“I liked you, you know. I wanted to hug and kiss you so bad whenever I would see you in person, or even just talk to you on Discord.” Foolish’s heart fluttered and he wanted to say the same thing ‘I like you’ but he let Punz continue.
“You’re the first ever male to make my heart skip a beat and make my stomach feel fuzzy whenever I think of you.” Foolish wanted to kiss the other so badly and to say ‘I feel the same way!’ But he let the other continue.
“Can't believe you’re this much of an asshole behind peoples back.” Punz chuckled sadly and before Foolish knew it the other had tears flowing down his cheeks. “You fucking suck!” He weakly punched Foolish in his chest.
Foolish slowly pulled Punz in and into a hug.
“Let go of me you dickhead,’ Punz protested as he weakly attempted to pull out of Foolish’s arms.
“No,” Foolish mumbled.
“Dickhead,” Punz grumbled.
“Punz…I-...I didn’t mean what I said,” Foolish murmured, pulling out of the hug but still holding Punz on both his shoulders.
“Just say you hate me, it makes it easier to move on.” Punz chuckled but the pain was still evident in his voice.
“N-No! I really didn’t mean what I said…I just needed to act like I hated you…” Foolish explained with a low voice, his head tilting to the side.
“Oh yeah? Why’s that? So our friends don’t assume we’re dating or something? Foolish, you sounded so…serious when you ‘acted’ like you hated me.” Punz chuckled, the brokenness from his voice almost gone now and Foolish was glad that they’re talking casually now again.
“Yes-I mean no! Yes to the first one and no to the second one. Punz I actually didn’t mean it, you’re a great guy who’s also really good at gaming, you have a great personality and I’m not saying that ironically, you’re also a pretty good cook…plus you’re good looking as well…” Foolish said, a red hue tinting his cheeks.
Foolish saw the way Punz’s face turned a shade of red and he knew now was the time to say it, can’t believe he’s actually doing what Karl said.
“I’m sorry for what I said, you’re really great and I want to be able to hug and kiss you as well…so with that said…” Foolish cupped Punz’s cheeks and leaned in, connecting their lips in a sweet kiss.
Foolish felt Punz kiss back and they eventually pulled away, neither of them saying anything but the silence was comfortable. “How long?” Punz broke the silence.
“H-Huh?” Foolish stuttered, his face quickly turning red.
“T-That’s not what I meant! I mean like, how long have you liked me?” Punz clarified, his face also turning slightly red from embarrassment.
“Hmm, ever since I saw you in Vegas. That day was when I realized I was attracted to guys too I guess, or maybe just you, I don’t know.” Foolish answered with a shrug.
“Oh…and I thought my one month crush on you was long…you must’ve been suffering with all my bantering huh?” Punz giggled and Foolish blushed a little.
“So, you and Karl are just friends..?” Punz asks in a shy manner and Foolish eagerly nodded. “You thought we were dating??” Foolish exclaims, baffled as to how Punz would’ve thought of that.
“I mean, from my perspective, yes! You guys were on call almost everyday, you’d say ‘I love you too’ back to him when he said it, and you guys just got along so well, how would I not think that!” This made Foolish think back, and yeah they did sorta act like couples.
“I go on a call with you almost everyday as well! We get along as well! And we only say ‘I love you’ half heartedly as friends.” Foolish explained and Punz slowly nods.
“Hmm, you stream 24/7 so I assume you don’t have an actual love life outside of streaming?” Punz snickers and Foolish rolls his eyes.
“So with that said…” Punz starts. “Do you want to be my boyfriend?”
“You can’t just insult me and then ask me to be your boyfriend afterwards! At least say I love you first or something.” Foolish scoffs with a giggle and then Punz chuckles and holds both his hands.
“I love you.”
Foolish leans in for another kiss and Punz smiles into the kiss.
“I’ll take that as a yes then?” Punz says with a sly grin and Foolish rolled his eyes again.
“I love you too.”