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Branzy woke up to his phone vibrating with his alarm at approximately five in the morning. He was honestly a little tempted to just turn off the alarm and just continue cuddling with Clown for who-knows-how-long, but Clown and him had been planning to go and see the sunrise for over a week . Besides, it wasn’t like they couldn’t cuddle once they were at their chosen picnic place.
Now that he thought of it, Branzy actually wasn’t so sure when Clown had landed in his bed. He distinctly remembered Clown going to his own room to sleep, so he must’ve come in at some point during the night. Branzy could vaguely remember a comfortable warmth following him half-waking up in the middle of the night, so that must have been when Clown had come in to cuddle.
Having that figured out, Branzy sat up to the best of his abilities with Clown still clinging to him. He chuckled softly and carefully loosened the younger’s hold on him to sit up enough to gently shake him out of his sleep.
Clown squeezed his eyes shut and made a dissatisfied sound, causing Branzy to laugh softly. He felt a little bad about waking Clown, but if they wanted to go see the sunrise at the lake together, they’d have to leave pretty soon, so he continued his efforts to wake him.
“Clown,” he said softly, “Wakey wakey, Clown.”
Clown’s lips twisted into a frown and he brought his hand up to Branzy’s face.
“St’ppp,” he whined, lightly pushing it away. Branzy chuckled again.
“Clown, we need to go soon,” he said, “You gotta get up. Unless, of course, you want me to go picnic and see the sunrise without you?”
“Wha..?” Clown asked, opening his eyes barely. “No. My branzy.”
“Well, your Branzy was promised a picnic by the lake during the sunrise,” Branzy said, “You seemed pretty enthusiastic about it, too.”
Clown sighed dramatically and dropped his arm back on the bed before fully opening his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said and sat up, “I’m up.”
Branzy smiled and patted Clown’s head. “There we go, big guy,” he said, “Now, how about you go get dressed and ready to go. We still have about half an hour until we need to leave.”
Clown nodded and gracefully climbed out of bed. “Yep,” he said, “I’ll be in the kitchen in fifteen.”
With that, he left the room, presumably to go back to his own room.
Branzy smiled softly before getting out of bed himself and thinking about what he should wear. It was gonna be a little chilly before sunrise, too chilly for short sleeves, but once the sun would rise, it would get too warm for long sleeves rather quickly, so Branzy decided on his black zip-up hoodie over a purple tee paired with black jeans and later his purple and white sneakers.
He quickly got changed and brushed through his curls with a hand to untangle them a little before deciding that he looked fine.
Afterwards, he looked at his phone for the time. 05:09. So he still had a bit until Clown would be done. With his usually a little more extravagant outfits, the other usually took a little longer to get dressed, something that Branzy had grown to appreciate.
Deciding to use the time Clown was still changing to already start with getting their picnic basket ready, Branzy walked to the kitchen and took out the basket. For about five more minutes, he was alone in the kitchen, making their sandwiches and putting them in tupper boxes.
“Hey Branzy,” Clown said as he entered the kitchen, sounding a lot more awake than he had just about fifteen minutes earlier, “Oh, you already made the sandwiches, that’s good.”
Branzy looked up, about to respond. He found, however, that he couldn’t respond, his words leaving him at the sight in front of him. To make it short: Clown looked stunning .
His hair looked like usual, though the waves were a little more defined, maybe, maybe fell over his face more intentionally. His makeup was mostly earth tones with a little red, complementing his eyes and dress.
But the dress, the dress. He was wearing an ankle-long cottage core-y red, white and brown dress paired with white leg warmers and brown short and chunky heeled platform pumps that did a little less for his height than his usual platforms did.
Nevertheless, he looked absolutely beautiful, perhaps more beautiful than anyone or anything that Branzy had ever seen before.
Clown chuckled. “I don’t look that bad, do I?” he asked, effectively pulling Branzy out of his simpage and causing his cheeks to rapidly heat up.
“Wh- No, no,” he quickly stammered out, “Quite the opposite, you look absolutely amazing, like wow . I was just… Wow .”
“That…” Clown said slowly, cheeks reddening too now, “I was kidding, Branzy. But, uh, thanks. It means a lot.”
Branzy smiled softly. “Yeah, no problem,” he said, “Just saying the truth.”
Clown rolled his eyes but was grinning. “Sure,” he said. “Let’s finish up the picnic basket now and leave, yeah?”
Branzy nodded again and did his best to continue packing the basket alongside Clown without getting too distracted by his appearance, which wasn’t nearly as easy as one would assume. Nevertheless, they finished packing in maybe five minutes, leaving them about ten minutes ahead of schedule, so they left early.
As they walked down the stairs of the apartment complex, Branzy couldn’t help but start to feel a bit insecure about his own appearance. Not, like, terribly insecure to the point of actually feeling bad , but insecure in a more light hearted way.
As Clown was about to open the door, Branzy jumped in front of him and opened it for him.
“M’sir,” he said, laughing as he bowed a little while Clown walked out, laughing too.
“Thank you, thank you, my good sir,” he responded and pulled his dress up a little in a bow. Branzy grinned.
“You know,” he said, still grinning, “I’m starting to feel a little underdressed. I thought this was a good, casual outfit but now you’re dressed far better.”
“Oh no,” Clown said, sounding like genuinely felt a little bad, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about your outfit. I like how you look, if it helps any.”
Branzy blushed a little. “Don’t worry about it, don’t worry about it, I don’t mind,” he said quickly. “After all, no one could ever even come close to your beauty.”
Clown chuckled quietly and Branzy could see how his cheeks reddened. He couldn’t help but smile. Clown looked so pretty like that.
“If you say so,” Clown murmured and took Branzy’s hand. “And for the record, I think you’re very beautiful, Branzy.”
Branzy knew he was blushing like crazy from how hot his face was, but he felt too [adjective] to care. Instead, he just held Clown’s cold hand, enjoying the fire that prickled beneath his skin where they touched.
“You think so?” he asked after a few seconds of walking. Clown turned his head a little to look at him but didn’t stop walking.
“Of course,” Clown said as though it was nothing, “You’re really beautiful, Branzy.”
“But I don’t even look that special,” Branzy said, frowning a little. Clown’s eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly.
“You’re Branzy ,” Clown said, sounding as if that was meant to clear it up, like it was obvious, “Of course you’re beautiful.”
Branzy felt his expression turn into a confused smile. “I’m beautiful because I’m… me?” he asked, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“What do you mean?” Clown asked and looked forward again. Branzy continued watching his face.
“I mean. Of course I’m me,” he said, “But, uh… How exactly does this make me beautiful?”
Clown hummed and went quiet, looking forward, towards their bus stop. Branzy frowned a little but accepted that he probably wouldn’t be getting an answer this time. He really wanted to know, but if Clown didn’t want to answer, he’d accept it.
The bus took a few minutes to come after the two had arrived at the bus stop, but they were running ahead of schedule anyways, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Once it did come, the two got on it and waited for their stop to come up in a comfortable silence. A few stops in, Clown progressively started leaning more and more against Branzy, eventually going so far as to lay his head on the other’s shoulder. At that Branzy couldn’t help but smile and wrap an arm around Clown.
In the back of his head, he knew that their public display of affection here would most definitely appear romantic to an outsider, but he couldn’t bring himself to mind. He was happy like this.
A little less than ten minutes later, their stop was announcedand the two got off the bus. They were at the edge of town, now, near Spring Lake. Spring Lake was the place they had planned to picnic and watch the sunrise at.
The walk through the older neighbourhood and to the smalll hill by the lower part of the lake took about ten minutes. On the upper part of the hill, the two set up their picnic blanket and sat down.
As they waited for the sun to rise, Branzy took out the tupper box with the sandwiches and served them.
“There you go,” he said as he handed one of the sandwiches to Clown, who was looking at him with an oddly thoughtful expression. Branzy didn’t mind much, though, and just took a bite of his sandwich as he leaned against Clown while watching the horizon.
After a while, as the first sun rays became visible, Clown finally spoke.
“I think…” he said slowly, “I think it’s because you make me happy.”
Branzy’s eyebrows furrowed a little and he turned to look at Clown. “Hm?” he asked, lightly squeezing Clown’s hand, “What do you mean?”
“You asked earlier how you being you makes you beautiful,” Clown said, turning to Branzy now, too, “And I think… I think you’re so beautiful to me because everytime I see you or think about you, I get all happy. And every time I’m happy or see something beautiful, I think of you. And I think… I think that makes you very beautiful.”
Branzy’s breath faltered and his cheeks warmed up again. He thinks tears might’ve pricked at his eyes. “You… you mean it?” he asked and Clown looked at him with an expression so warm, Branzy felt like he might combust.
“Of course,” Clown said, brushing his thumb over the back of Branzy’s hand, “You’re the most beautiful person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, Branzy.”
In a romance novel, this might’ve been the moment they would have kissed and officially confessed their love for each other, but this was reality and Branzy wasn’t sure if Clown meant this in a romantic way, so they just leaned against each other and watched the sunset. And – unbeknownst to Branzy – an ‘I love you’ laid on both their tongues.
