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It was safe to say that Kel certainly hadn’t expected to find a letter in his school locker before he headed home for the day, however, a letter was indeed there waiting for him. It was easy to guess the type of letter this was, though. It was Valentine’s Day, after all.
However, up until now at least, Kel had never gotten any sort of love letter. While Kel was not disliked by his classmates by any means, as far as he knew, his relationships with others were purely platonic. That wasn’t to say he didn’t have feelings for anyone, but…Kel was sure that there was no way in hell that this letter was from that person.
Honestly, before he opened it up, he had a suspicion that this was some sort of prank to mess with him, or something like that. Perhaps he’d open the envelope, and there would be a single piece of paper that just said ‘Hey, loser’. It was easy for him to think that, because if that was the case…it would not be the first time. It’d been a few years since Aubrey had last done that, though. Maybe she didn’t grow out of that joke like Kel had once thought.
Finally, though, he did open it. It was clear at first glance that this wasn’t what he’d thought. He pulled out the piece of paper, seeing that there were definitely more than a couple of words on it. Instead, there were a couple of paragraphs. Kel hadn’t been prepared for this. Kel glanced around before reading it, but he didn’t spot anyone acting out of the ordinary. Could the person who left this for him be looking at him right now?
He tried to push the thought out of his head. Kel wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. After taking a deep breath, he began reading. Whoever’s handwriting this was was quite neat. It almost looked familiar, too…
Kel,
I’m not typically one for stereotypical things such as declarations of love in the form of letters on Valentine’s Day, but, I feel like I can make an exception, just this once. You know better than anyone that I’m not always great with words, and I can guess that if I tried to tell you this in person I’d mess it all up. This is easier.
I’m going to cut to the chase instead of dragging this out more than I should. I have feelings for you, Kel. And, yes, I do mean the romantic kind. Maybe that’s obvious by now, but I don’t want there to be any room for interpretation.
If you don’t feel the same way, it’s fine. You can tell me. You don’t have to, though, I guess. If you do, though…you know where to find me.
Kel looked down to the very last piece of writing on the page, in order to get the most important confirmation. Who had written this?
Your friend, Sunny.
Wait.
Sunny?! No wonder that handwriting looked familiar, but…how would that even be possible? Kel had been sure that Sunny didn’t care about him in that way. But…Sunny wouldn’t lie about something like that. He knew better than to think that.
Once the realization truly hit him… Sunny liked him… it was impossible to stop a wide smile from forming on his face, even if it was a bit embarrassing seeing as he was in public. But that didn’t matter right now, did it? He…he had to find Sunny! He quickly looked around again, but it seemed that Sunny was already long gone from the school grounds.
Well, Kel sure was glad that he was an athlete. He’d get back to his neighborhood and over to Sunny’s house in no time at all. He wasn’t sure when he had last attempted to get home so quickly. His backpack was on in mere seconds, right after he tried to get the letter within it without damaging it in any way, which was thankfully able to be done.
Rushing out the front door in what was almost a sprint, he ran out and towards the gates of the school, doing his best not to run into anyone. It was mostly cleared out, though, thankfully, seeing as Kel had gotten out a bit later than he usually would have. Though, Aubrey was there, walking towards the gates at a much more regular pace.
“Kel? Where are you going in such a hurry?” She tried to ask, but Kel was stopping for nothing and no one. Sorry, Aubrey.
“It’s important! I’ll tell you later!” He answered quickly, barely slowing his speed for more than a couple of seconds in order to make sure she heard him.
Kel was glad his and Sunny’s neighborhood wasn’t far from their school. It took him less than five minutes to get there with how fast he was going. By the time he reached Sunny’s doorstep, his breathing was a bit more strained than it usually was. That was alright. Sunny would understand. Finally, standing on the porch, Kel knocked on the door. Honestly, if he didn’t get an answer quickly, he might consider just opening it. He and Sunny were known to walk right into each other’s houses without asking, since they’d known each other for so long. Hero and Mari were far less fond of this, but that was alright.
However, that wasn’t necessary. The door was indeed answered. …Not by Sunny, though. Mari was there, with that bright smile on her face that she almost always seemed to have. “Hey, Kel!” She greeted, “Are you here to see Sunny?”
Kel gave a small chuckle. “Yeah..! Uh, how’d you guess?” Though, Kel was almost sure he knew the answer. It was because he was there rather often to see Sunny, wasn’t it?
“You got his letter, didn’t you?”
Kel hadn’t realized knew about that, but perhaps he should have guessed so. “Oh..! Uh, yeah…. I did.”
She had a look of compassion on her face. “I thought so. You don’t have to tell me if you like Sunny that way, but you should definitely tell him. I’m sure you already know this, Kel, but my little brother really cares about you. You two are best friends. He’ll understand, as long as you’re honest with him.”
Mari always seemed to know the right thing to say. However, Kel was not going to have to let Sunny down. “Yeah…I know. I’m not here to reject him, though,” Kel’s sentence was punctuated with another awkward chuckle. Even though he was here to confront Sunny about it, Kel still wasn’t used to admitting his feelings out loud. He hadn’t even told Hero!
“I see,” she said, and despite her simple words, her tone made it clear that she understood. “He’s in his room. Just make sure to knock!”
“Right. Thanks, Mari.”
She gave him a nod as Kel began to walk through the house towards the staircase. It wasn’t long before he was up the stairs and at the door to Sunny’s bedroom. Despite the fact that he felt the need to make sure he was actually calmed down before talking to him, he knew that the time for stalling was over. Kel knocked on the door. “Hey, Sunny. It’s me..! Kel,” he said, making sure to be loud enough for Sunny to hear.
It wasn’t long before Sunny answered the door. Kel was now faced with the person he had come to see. “Hi, Kel,” Sunny said. His voice was quiet, and he wasn’t even close to making direct eye contact. He seemed nervous, and Kel understood why.
“Hey, Sunny,” Kel said, for the second time. Whoops. “I, uh—I got your letter…”
“Mhm,” Sunny hummed in acknowledgement, although he still seemed to be having some sort of staring contest with the ground.
“And, uh…” Kel laughed, nervously. He wasn’t trying to delay this any longer! He obviously already knew that Sunny liked him, so why was he still struggling?! “I have feelings for you, too, Sunny.”
Sunny’s gaze quickly shot up to him, finally. It seemed that that was not the answer that he had been expecting from him. “...Really?”
“Yeah!” He didn’t want Sunny to think he was just trying to spare his feelings or something..! “Maybe, uh…we could even go to Gino’s tomorrow! Like a date. If you want to.” That had been a really impulsive suggestion. Hopefully that wasn’t a terrible thing to say, then. Kel didn’t know anything about this type of stuff! Ugh…
Sunny seemed stunned.
“Only if you want to, of course!!” Kel tried to assure him. He didn’t want Sunny to go on a date if he didn’t want to! Was it too soon for that?!
“...Yeah, I’d like that.”
Kel smiled. Goodness, was he relieved. “Great..!”
There was quiet for a moment, and Kel spoke again, still not thinking too much about the words that were coming his mouth before he was saying them out loud.
“Does this mean we’re like…boyfriend and boyfriend now?”
“I don’t know,” Sunny admitted. “Do you want it to?”
“Yeah! I mean, uh, if that’s what you want, of course!” Kel still was having trouble speaking. Wow.
“It is what I want,” Sunny told him simply. Then so it shall be.
Even though Kel had been acting rather awkward, he couldn’t deny that there was nothing that made him happier than hearing that from him. Kel had a smile on his face, bright as day. “Turns out I'm not too good with words, either, huh?”
Sunny gave a single chuckle. Kel didn’t hear it often, but he really did love Sunny’s laugh. “Yeah…but that’s okay,” he told him. He had a smile on his face, too, even if it was less noticeable than Kel’s. Sunny (or Kel’s boyfriend, heh) took a moment before he said something next. “I’ll see you tomorrow? You really want to go on a date with me?”
“Yeah to both!” Kel beamed. “Uh, what time should I be here?”
“Whenever you’d like,” Sunny said. “I know I’ll be ready. You sleep in on weekends.”
Kel chuckled, the slightest embarrassed. “Yeah, that’s true… I’ll see you then, Sunny! But, uh, my mom probably wants me to be getting home… You know she gets annoyed if the first thing I do after school isn’t more school,” he laughed. “Homework.”
“Mhm,” Sunny nodded. “See you, Kel.” Without any sort of warning, though, he gave Kel a hug goodbye. Even more unexpectedly, Sunny gave him a kiss on the cheek. Only seconds later, though, he separated from him and closed the door to his bedroom, presumably locking it, too. Turns out Kel wasn’t the only one who was impulsive… There was no way in hell that Kel was complaining, though…
He was kind of glad Sunny couldn’t see him, though. He was ninety-nine percent sure that his face was flushed red. Embarrassing.
That was fine, though. Kel was happy as could be. He was sure, too, that tomorrow would be just as wonderful.