Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Feelings were Destined.
Sario used to think love never existed, like it didn’t feel real to him. Whenever he was with a girl, he didn’t feel those “sparks” that people usually described. To him, love seemed like a concept made up in stories and movies, something that was always out of reach. He had gone through the motions of dating, holding hands, and sharing moments that should have felt special, but there was always something missing. The warmth, the excitement, the undeniable connection—none of it was there for him. It was as if he was watching a movie of his own life, detached and unaffected by the emotions that were supposed to make his heart race. He just assures himself and says:
“Maybe she’s not the one.”
Sario had been saying that all his life, yearning and hoping that he’d find his ‘one true love’. But the only thing the world had given him was a spit in the face, leaving him to grapple with the bitter taste of disappointment and the gnawing ache of unfulfilled dreams. He has always been one for believing in fantasies and happy endings where the main character of all stories found their ‘one true love’ in the end, yet reality seemed more determined than ever to mock his optimism at every turn.
Ultimately, he’d slowly stopped dreaming for his non-existent ‘one true love’ since he was sick of being a desperate, hopeless-romantic who only ever cared about love or some foolish love-fantasy. The woman of his dreams just didn’t exist, so why the hell should he search if it’ll just leave him wandering around in circles; like an endless cycle.
Sario lets out a deep breath, his shoulders relaxed and not so stiff anymore. It was just an average school day for him - dull and boring like it always is, but school kind of saved him from boredom half of the time. The only reason why he had mixed feelings about school was because he could see Elnio everyday and talk about the most random things out of the blue. Elnio is his childhood friend and best friend in the entire world, he wouldn’t choose anyone over him! They have been friends for over a decade now and are still inseparable ever since they were young. When Sario needed someone to talk to, he would always welcome him with open arms. Sometimes, he’d rant to him about love or whatever problems he had in which Elnio gave the best advice despite not being the best at it from what he says, but Sario would beg to differ.
He was making his way to school, his shoes gently pressing down against the concrete sidewalk. Each step he took, gradually closing the distance between him and the school building. His eyes were wandering around the streets, taking in the surprisingly peaceful atmosphere around him. It was just Sario and his empty thoughts alone when he heard a familiar voice behind him.
“Sario, hey! Wait up!” A cheerful voice calls out.
From what he knows, the voice sounded more like a guy’s than a girl’s voice, but why the hell would it be a girl? He wasn’t really that close with any of the girls in his class since whenever he would talk to them, the conversation would be awkward and extremely forced. The person was running, their footsteps were getting closer and audible the second. Their breathing was short and somewhat ragged. Sario could tell that they were getting close, he turns around to look at the person, his face lit up brighter than any luminous light that could ever exist when he saw who it was, his heart beating rapidly inside his chest.
“Ah, hey, Elnio!” Sario greeted happily, a smile playing on his lips. “What’s up, man?”
“Well, nothing really,” Elnio answered with a small chuckle, returning the black-haired boy’s smile. “I’m surprised to see that you’re not counting how many friends you had or something.” He teased, his voice laced with a hint of playfulness.
Elnio is really casual yet still full of energy at the same time. He’s really kind and friendly towards Sario and mostly everyone, his smile always radiating pure energy that made him really attractive in some way that even himself couldn’t resist whenever he smiled at him. Though, he gets pretty annoyed and irritated easily and could go off as sassy or just really angry overall. If there was one thing that could describe Elnio it would be the fact that his smile was as bright as the sun. He is skinnier than most of us yet his cheeks are also a little chubby which makes him look so cute - just like a red panda.
He has caramel-colored hair which is why Rick, Kern, or Sario always teased him about saying that ‘he ate too much caramel-flavored candy that his hair turned into the same color’, but it was only ever a joke and he knew that. If there was anyone who he hated the most, it would be Rick since he was the one always teasing or bickering with him about the dumbest shit ever, but neither of us would have it any other way.
His eyes shot up wide at the other boy’s teasing. “Shut up, dude! I only did that because I was bored. It’s nothing really, okay?” He blushed furiously in embarrassment.
“Oh suree,” he giggled, his hand covering his mouth to stifle a laugh. “You were probably overthinking on why you had such a ‘small’ amount of friends.”
The two boys walked by each other, side by side and he wasn’t alone now, he was with Elnio and that’s all it mattered to him. But he wished at times that he had more friends like most of the people at his school who had like more than 4 friends - the amount of friends that he had in total. It caused him to ponder on what it would be like to have so many people there for you.
“I mean,” Sario began, his hands sunk deep inside his pockets. “Who wouldn’t? A lot of people would rather have a whole ton of friends instead of just four, right?”
Elnio was about to say something when he paused, his smile faltered. “And you agree with them?” He asks, his eyebrows raised up.
He blinked a couple times at the brunette’s question. “Uh.. I..” he stammered, feeling unsure on what to say. “I guess I do since it would be nice to have a lot of people you know you can trust.” He answered from the heart.
“I suppose that’s your opinion and I won’t fight you because of it,” the brunette says before he turns his head to the left to look at the other boy.
“Wait--what, why?” Sario asked, his head shot up to look at Elnio in confusion. “What were you going to say?”
“It’s nothing,” Elnio assures, a small smile spread across his face. “It wouldn’t matter much anyway.”
“Come on, please?” He pleaded, his hands clasped together. “I wanna know, I really do!” He exclaimed, swaying his clasped hands back and forth uncontrollably.
“Why do you wanna know so bad?” He asked, tilting his head to the side, not understanding why the black-haired boy was so persistent.
“Because you're someone important to me and I care about what you have to say, Elnio!” Sario answered, his voice genuine and filled with sincerity.
“What–?” Elnio paused, his eyes widened slightly as he felt an unfamiliar flutter inside his chest. “I-I’m someone.. Important to you?” He stammered, caught off guard from his words.
Sario felt butterflies inside his stomach when he realized that Elnio was caught off guard because of him, a small blush crept up on the black-haired boy’s cheeks. “Yeah, wasn’t that obvious?” He averts his gaze shyly, his hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck.
“N-No, not really,” he replied, shaking his head. “All I know is that I’m your best friend and someone who gives you advice.”
“Well..” he exhaled deeply, taking a step closer toward the brunette. “You are important to me, okay? Now that you know, I’ll make sure to remind you every once and awhile.”
“Don’t be stupid,” he laughed out, nudging him playfully in the arm. “I’m sure I don't want you to remind me - I’m very good at remembering things. That must explain why I get good grades, hmm?”
Elnio’s remark made Sario laugh too, nudging his arm in return. “Okay, okay, smarty pants. Just tell me what you were going to say and stop getting sidetracked.”
“Alright, alright,” Elnio nodded his head. “It’s just that.. I highly disagree with what you said about having a lot of friends.” He replied with a shrug.
“Really? How so?” He raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued at the other boy and his response.
“Well, I’ll ask you this, Sario,” he began, the brunette taking a step closer to him, closing the gap between them. “Would you rather have a hundred cents or a dollar?”
The question hit him like a truck, leaving him to wonder where he was going with this. “Obviously the dollar, where are you getting with this?”
“It’s the same thing as a hundred fake friends or one real friend,” Elnio replied. “And you don’t need a hundred fake friends, right? You just need one real friend that you can trust with all your heart. And well, you’re that one friend, Sario.” He explained, his lips cracking up into a heartfelt smile as he placed a hand on his chest.
Sario felt a loud thump inside his chest, his heartbeat began to quicken from the brunette’s words. His gaze lingers down towards Elnio’s lips, his own lips parting slightly, suddenly feeling the urge to just lean downward and close the gap between them both, the thought of it sending a surge of electricity through his body. Elnio must’ve noticed him staring down at his lips, a rosy pink-colored blush suddenly appeared on the boy’s cheeks, making his heart race even faster. Tension slowly began to build up around the two boys, causing Sario to instinctively lean closer to Elnio until the other boy breaks the moment they shared.
“Let’s get to school already,” Elnio said, breaking the silence between them. “We don’t want to be late for class.”
He watched the other boy turn around and make his way over to school, wanting to say something but the words got stuck in his throat. For some reason, he felt his heart sink when Elnio just walked away and acted like nothing happened. However, it was understandable after all, he didn’t know what to feel about what happened earlier either. Why did he have such random urges at that moment? It was all so confusing for him, he felt so clueless and stupid for being able to point out what he felt at that exact moment, but it was a weird feeling he felt towards his best and.. It somewhat felt wrong, really wrong.
Elnio abruptly stops in his tracks, turning around in his heel to face the black-haired boy. “Are you coming or not, Sario?” He asked, tilting his head sideways, he couldn’t help but smile at him.
The smile on the other boy’s face immediately washed away all of Sario’s earlier disappointment and longing towards him, a gentle smile played on his lips. He nodded his head eagerly at Elnio’s questions. “Yeah, I am,” he says before taking a few steps forward until they were now standing next to each other side by side.
“Thank god, that’s a relief," the brunette sighed in relief. “I was worried for a second, you know?”
“Why would you be worried?” The black-haired boy asked in pure shock, his eyebrows shot up.
“Because I thought that you would just be standing there like an idiot or something, man,” Elnio teased with a smirk on his face. “Or am I possibly giving you ideas, huh?"
“What!?” Sario gasped out, his eyes wide and his jaw dropped. “I’m not that dumb to even do that, dude!” He retorted, giving the other boy a nudge in the sides.
Elnio broke into laughter, shaking his head. “I was kidding, man, geez,” he reassures, enjoying Sario’s hilarious reaction before changing the subject, “let’s just get to school, I feel like we’re actually going to be late.”