Chapter Text
Marker was terrible at showing feelings, especially love. He could never take hints easily, and was never known for being good with girls and boys. Marker was more likely to stay single forever than to date someone. But he found himself having extremely strange thoughts, for someone like him.
He had always been very innocent and everyone who tried to win him over or want to start a romantic relationship gave up in a few days. Despite being a charismatic and fun man, he never even noticed that people felt interested in him in that way, but also, he had never felt interested in anyone before. But now... Something had changed.
A few days ago, there was Marker, in a messy room, with paints, pencils and, of course, countless markers scattered everywhere. This was the most organized environment he had ever known.
Trying to find his way through his mess, there was a specific paint he wanted to use on his new painting, but he couldn't find it anywhere.
When he finished high school, he decided to become a painter, taking an art course. However, this decision, like that of all his friends, ended up leading to his separation from the group. For many months, Marker felt bad about it, he didn't like being alone. Some company or other is always welcome for him.
When he found himself alone again, he couldn't help but feel desperate, and for a while he tried to keep in touch with his group of school friends, Death P.A.C.T again. Marker remembers to this day how they became friends: it was a school project, and the teacher decided to bring together everyone who was without a group.
Fanny hated group work - in fact, she hated everything in general - so practically no one put her in groups. Maybe Bubble would do it, but she had transferred to another school (and anyway, Pencil and Match would hate having Fanny on the same team).
Black Hole and Tree usually refused to join other groups, since they preferred to do everything on their own, and since they were left, they were forced to join the rest.
Pie and Remote didn't care which group they were in, and left choosing their team until the last minute. Which resulted in them being left out.
Lightning was kind of shy, and a lot of people didn't like him, maybe because of his behavior in the past years. He used to be a bit violent, Flower made that clear to everyone before she transferred to another school.
And Marker... He was just too dumb for people to find any use for him.
At first, they didn't get along very well, Black Hole liked being alone more, and mainly, not being touched. Some people in the group were used to touching their friends naturally, like a light touch on the shoulder or a hug. Something that Black Hole despised at all costs. Marker had always liked physical contact, and perhaps this had... Worsened the relationship of everyone in the group.
Like any normal person, they felt uncomfortable with the constant mention of Fanny hating everyone there. And for a long time, she was misunderstood, until everyone understood that it was just her way of expressing herself.
But as the days went by, the work that had taken a few weeks to be done was ready. And for some reason, everyone was pleased with their new relationships. Especially Lightning and Marker, who ended up becoming best friends after the work. Black Hole and Tree got along well, and for a long time, they were also good friends.
It turned out that, in a way, what was once the group of "remains" became Death P.A.C.T again.
Marker remembered that time, and found himself smiling. A mixture of nostalgia and joy warmed his chest, and as he continued to search for the paint in his drawers and desks, he found something that paralyzed him.
It was a friendship bracelet that Marker had made for Lightning. Something childish, but that the two of them wore every day, until the end of high school. He liked to make bracelets, the ones with beads, specifically, and it was a way of expressing his gratitude for the friends he had. Marker had already made one for each of his friends, but the only one that matched was Lightning's.
"Huh? How long has this been here?" He picked up the bracelet, examining it for a while. Something told Marker to try to talk to Lightning, maybe ask him out or something. Sadness hit him hard, almost painfully. He wanted to go back to the past, when they were inseparable, but now they were nothing more than acquaintances.
The man felt his heart beat faster, and without thinking twice, he picked up his cell phone, almost desperately searching for Lightning's contact.
And there it was. That contact so hidden, with the recent messages being from months ago. Something that, in the old days, would have been only a few minutes ago. They talked every day, almost every moment, and this memory made Marker hold the cell phone tighter, rethinking everything that had happened between them. And maybe... What could happen.
He didn't like to think before acting, it wasn't like him, so on impulse, a message was sent.
With his heart pounding in his chest, he wrote with trembling hands. It had been so many months since they had spoken, and years since they had seen each other in person, Marker could not even remember the voice and face of someone who meant everything to him. This didn't seem right, he had to do something.
With a sigh, he clicked send on the message.
"Hi, hehe... It's been a while :>"
Lightning was no different from Marker, being equally horrible at showing his feelings. He doesn't remember having been in love before, maybe just a small crush in high school, - Fanny maybe... - but nothing more than that. However, the man was feeling confused, and found himself distracted while writing the lyrics of a song. It had been a few days since he had composed anything. Lightning was only playing guitar covers, but he missed creating a song, however, he was lacking creativity. Staring at a blank sheet of paper, he had already mentally sketched out an interesting song lyric, but when he put it on paper, his mind went in other directions. Directions that Lightning never imagined himself having problems with. "Why am I thinking about him so much?" The man whispered to himself, before dropping the blank paper and lying down on the bed. He stared at the ceiling, not understanding the situation he found himself in. Marker. That was the name that was stuck in his head for some reason. He was his old school best friend, who, now, they rarely spoke to. Maybe just to wish him a happy birthday or a happy new year, something very rare. The frequency was very low, different. Almost painful.
The night before, Marker sent him a message, inviting him to go out. Lightning didn't refuse, obviously, he was dying of longing for his BFF from school days. It had been a long while since the two of them had spent time together. It had been almost... An eternity.
With the end of school, the two followed very different paths, with Marker wanting to go to art college, and Lightning with the dream of having a band, of which at the moment, the only member was him. So, in fact, it was difficult to keep in touch frequently.
In school days, they were best friends. Marker was never smart, but he did his best on tests, unlike Lightning, who was smart, but very lazy. They were an inseparable duo, the one that everyone at school knew and didn't dare to separate them.
Those were good times, and the two couldn't help but miss these days and each other.
The last day of school was fun, the students couldn't wait to never go back to a place that caused them so much stress, but at the same time, it was painful to say goodbye to some friends, even if it wasn't a real goodbye, it wouldn't be the same anymore. And with Lightning and Marker it was no different.
It was hard to say goodbye to everyone at school. Death P.A.C.T again was the name of the group of friends they both belonged to. And breaking up those friendships wasn't fun. An old friend of Marker, Black hole, - who in fact they were not so friends - decided to pursue a career in medicine, because he always believed that his purpose was to prevent deaths, and that's where the name of the group came from. Tree wanted to be a teacher, and Fanny... She just wanted to get out of school. Pie was thinking about studying psychology and Remote, veterinary medicine. As expected, everyone was very different, and this led to everyone drifting apart. Including Lightning and Marker.
"Hi, hehe... It's been a while :>" Lightning's heart started beating faster. A message from Marker? After so many months? He even thought he had forgotten about him. But actually... How could he forget? If they were everything to each other. Well... They were. Is it still like that?
"Oh, hi Marker. How are you?" The blond typed back, his hands shaking a little.
"Im great! What about you? Its been so long since we last talked... Do you want to go out or something?" Lightning's eyes widened as he read the message. Of course, of course he wanted to see Marker. It was so out of the blue, he didn't expect to ever receive a message from him again. But there they were, making a date.
"Wow that sounds super good. I totally want it actually" Lightning couldn't hide his excitement even through the text.
"We could go to that ice cream shop we always went to after school :D"
Lightning smiled as he read the message, "That's a great idea"
"Are you free this weekend?"
"Yes, and you?"
"I am too. Deal! :3"
"Yeah, deal"
Lightning replied to the message normally, but internally, he felt like he was exploding. So much so that his fingers trembled before closing the messaging app.
The man noticed how Marker kept using emoticons, it was something he had been doing since they met. Something silly that would go unnoticed by anyone, but for Lightning, it was almost a characteristic of Marker that he had always noticed and found cute, but he had never told his friend about it.
However, Lightning also knew that Marker spoke to him differently, it wasn't the same as in high school, and he couldn't say if he had changed, or if their intimacy had diminished.
Lightning shook his head, the flashbacks of his school memories and the conversation with Marker the day before hammering in his head. Waiting until the weekend seemed like torture, he really wanted to see his old friend again. He was anxious and a little scared.
The man couldn't help but consider himself an anxious person. In schoolwork, he preferred when others presented the school work while he showed the slides. Just imagining himself speaking in front of several people made him panic. He wasn't good at speaking, and Marker wasn't either, but he presented their projects anyway. That was one of the hundreds of things Lightning admired about his friend.
The man found himself laughing, remembering how cute he found it when Marker got confused over his words and his sentences came out jumbled during a work presentation. Marker read a little slowly, and the pressure Black Hole put on him to read correctly only made him make more mistakes. And in the end, Tree, Remote and Black Hole were the only ones who did a good job.
"I hate school projects!"
"Me too, Fanny." Lightning sighed.
"You didn't even said anything! You just showed the slides!" She replied, frowning.
"Hehe, but he showed the slides very well! It would be different if it were you, Fanny. Since you don't have arms." Marker said smiling, not realizing that if Fanny really had arms, she would probably have punched him in the mouth.
It had been several minutes, and the paper that was supposed to be filled with the lyrics was empty. In fact, Lightning's mental draft had disappeared with the whirlwind of thoughts. The blond man sighed, and he doesn't remember the last time he felt like that. It was a good feeling, but at the same time scary. It's natural to feel afraid of something new, something that escapes the routine. A mix of anxiety, confusion and pleasure.
There were a few days left until the meeting, and Lightning found himself thinking about scenarios that day, both bad and good. Maybe he'll trip in front of Marker, that would be very embarrassing. Or, he'll have the chance to show one of his songs to his friend, which would be great.
But Lightning had been training his anxiety, since he and many other people had witnessed many times that when he let himself be carried away by emotion, he ended up breaking something or another, like a lightning in a storm. But at that moment, the real storm was his own mind.
"Maybe I should buy some new clothes." Lightning thought, but soon shook his head in denial, "No, I shouldn't be taking this meeting with Marker so seriously. Or should I?" But he continued to think, worried about what he was doing until the weekend arrived.
"I should understand what's going on with my mind... Why have I only been thinking about Marker since yesterday? This is confusing." He frowned, sitting on the bed and hugging his prosthetic legs.
"Maybe I love him."