Chapter Text
It’s a beautiful day, and for that, Pen can’t help but smile. The sun is shining, not a single cloud in the sky to obscure its glow.
He leans against a tree, taking in the cool spring breeze as it blusters past. Yes; this is perfect, he tells himself. Nothing could be better than this.
Well, almost nothing.
As soon as he walks into view, he immediately catches Pen’s attention. He’d always joked that the other’s presence was enough to brighten any room.
With one glance, Pen’s entire body is practically engulfed in heat. Any more than that, and his heart might just explode from the rate at which it’s beating.
Just.. him . It might be beautiful outside, but Pen can think of one thing much more captivating than the gorgeous day.
Who is it? Not just anyone, it’s his best friend Eraser.
They’ve known each other for a long time–pretty much since forever. Eraser is the only one who can perfectly match his energy.
And Pen thinks he might be in love. It’s embarrassing.
Sometimes, when left alone for too long, his mind begins to wander. He thinks far too much about things that don’t matter, and even more about things that do.
He wonders what it’d be like to swallow his pride and confess to the man, to just walk right up to him and say it out loud. The thought has replayed in his head over and over again.
“Hey, Eraser! Don’t think of me weirdly after this, but I have a crush on you, bro!”
..Boy, that’ll be the day.
He could never do that, no matter how confident he tries to make himself seem. It’s too risky.
What if Eraser doesn’t feel the same? What if he likes someone else? They’ve been best friends for so long, what if that’s all Eraser sees him as?
And his biggest fear of all — what if Eraser stops wanting to be friends after he confesses? He doesn’t know if he’d ever be able to recover from hearing that .
Too many possibilities, many of them not the one that he wants.
He sighs. Why do feelings have to be so complicated?
Oh well, Eraser is signaling for him to come over. He’ll just have to confront his dumb emotions later.
“Hey!” Eraser greets him coolly, flashing a big, toothy grin, “Was wondering when you were gonna come out of the shade.”
Pen simply chuckles in response. “You know me. Always hanging around in weird places.”
“Soooo, what’s on your mind?”
Damn. He should’ve seen that one coming. In an attempt to hide his flushed face, he quickly thinks of a distraction.
“Wait, bro!” He dramatically turns his head, pointing at something–which really isn’t anything at all– in the distance, “What’s that over there??”
Eraser instinctively turns to look, slightly caught off guard. “Huh??”
He can’t afford to slip up and say something dumb now, it’s way too early for that. With all these possibilities still racing through his mind, anything could happen.
He doesn’t want to compromise his friendship with Eraser over a dumb crush. He’d rather pretend his feelings don’t exist instead. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than potentially ruining everything.
And so, he runs.