Chapter Text
It all happened so fast. They barely even had time to process it.
One second, Eugene was trying to look for his misplaced bug jar in his bag that he swore he had. His hands rummaged through a mess of old wrappers and old leaves inside—,
“Move!”
Pugsley ran around the corner of their dorm, arms stretched and panic written everywhere on his face. “My rat’s loose again!”
Eugene’s back straightened, “Wait—wait, what rat—?”
And in the next second—
Pugsley tripped, Eugene turned at the same time. Their bodies collided. A loud thud.
Eugene’s hand flew out to steady himself—catching Pugsley’s jacket. Pugsley tried to brace himself by grabbing Eugene’s shoulders.
And in all that motion, their mouths just.. met.
It was brief. Clumsy. Completely accidental. But it definitely happened.
Startled contact. For a second. Enough for their eyes to widen in pure panic before they shoved each other back with matching shouts.
“Holy shit—!” Eugene yelped, a hand covering his mouth.
Pugsley looked horrified, the room started to seem too bright and everything just seemed so extreme. “Oh my God! No—! I MEAN.. HOLY—DID WE—WHAT—"
They just stared at each other,
“I—I wasn’t trying to—!” Eugene panicked, his words racing faster than his thoughts.
“I know!” Pugsley barked, his voice high. “I wasn’t either! We just slammed into each other! That was physics!”
Eugene’s heart was pounding in his chest. His face felt like it had caught fire. “You literally body-slammed me into a kiss—how is that even possible?”
“I’m just built weird!” Pugsley shouted, which made no sense—but they were in a position were they couldn’t question it.
Then silence.
And then, without speaking—Pugsley ran out of the door and fled.
-----
The rest of the day was ruined. Absolutely and horrifyingly so.
They managed to avoid each other for their next class, though Pugsley did walk face-first into a door trying to change routes last minute because he saw Eugene coming. And for Eugene, he nearly fell down a staircase while thinking of physics collisions.
Neither of them told anyone. At least not willingly.
But they didn’t have to. It was written all over their faces.
During class, Eugene dropped 3 ingredients and just stared blankly at the cauldron in front of him as it started bubbling rapidly. Pugsley sat a seat from him, refusing to look up from his textbook.
Enid, in between the both of them noticed. (I just wanted her in the story please do not question me, I have no idea how nevermore works.)
“Okay,” She whispered. “What did you guys do?”
“Nothing!” Eugene replied too fast, looking like he was ready to have a breakdown any minute.
Enid suspiciously raised her eyebrow, “Then why do you look like you just kissed with someone?”
Pugsley made a sound that sounded like he was imitating a cough but sounded more like a shout—then slammed his textbook shut. “We didn’t kiss.”
“Not on purpose.”
“Oh my God,” Enid breathed, eyes gleaming. “You did.”
Eugene groaned, “It was an accident. Like—a collision? Zero romance. Full trauma.”
Pugsley muttered, “I slipped. My foot caught on a floorboard. My face ricocheted from his.”
Eugene felt miserable just standing there, embarrassment was flooding through every part of his body.
“In my defense, he was trying to find something—”
Enid blinked, “You kissed over something you lost?”
“No!” They shouted in unison, frozen and in sync.
Enid started pulling out her phone—“That’s it. I’m so texting Wednesday this.”
“No!” Pugsley lunged for her phone with an alarming amount of speed, grabbing her wrist. “If you do that, I’ll make sure your skincare products turn into slug slime overnight.”
Enid smirked, “That’s oddly specific. Kind of sweet.”
“It’s meant to be threatening.” Pugsley snapped, glaring at her.
“I’m hearing affection,” she replied.
-----
That night in the dorm, the silence was so unbearable.
Eugene sat cross-legged on his bed, textbook open—trying to study botanical sciences. But his mind didn’t register a single word. Every time he saw a word related to bees or insects—he thought of the way Pugsley’s breath caught just before that.. thing happened.
He hated it honestly. He hated how his mind kept replaying the moment.
On the other side of the room, Pugsley was scribbling on a notebook. And furiously so.
Or at least pretending to.
Neither of them said a word about it.
Eugene broke, “I brushed my teeth three times.” He said, suddenly. “Not because of you. Just. You know. Hygiene and stuff.”
Pugsley didn’t look up, still scribbling or whatever. “Cool. I gargled acid.”
Eugene blinked suddenly. “What?”
“Accidentally,” That word just made Eugene flinch at the syllables. “It was next to the mouthwash.”
“Oh.”
A long silence stretched.
“You.. okay?”
Pugsley answered fast—no hesitation, “Nope."
Eugene sighed, and laid on the bed. “Do you think people can die from secondhand embarrassment?”
“I hope so,” Pugsley replied, “Put me out of my misery already.”
They shared a long look at each other.
It was the most honest moment they had with each other the whole day.
A few minutes later, Eugene got up and paced around the room.
“I mean, it was just a kiss. Technically, it wasn’t planned. It was just—something.. Bad timing and terrible coordination.”
“Which is your entire personality.” Pugsley added, still scribbling.
“Excuse me?”
“You walked into a window thinking it was a door.”
“It was clean!” Eugene whined, “Also, rude.” (guys ive done this before.)
Pugsley smiled at that, momentarily stopping his scribbling—it was small and it looked like his body just reacted naturally.
And Eugene saw it.
His heart did that annoying fluttering thing that he assumed was just an upset stomach.
“You’re not like.. upset, right?” Eugene asked after a moment, “I mean, I know it was like.. you know. But you’re not mad, are you?”
Pugsley blinked and sat up straighter, “No, not mad.”
“Good, thank God.” Eugene sighed.
Pause.
“But..?” Eugene asked after a moment.
Pugsley went back to scribbling, “Just.. confused.”
Eugene nodded, “Same, honestly.”
They sat in the quiet for a moment, both of them staring at something—as if the answers might just appear. It was clear they both knew that they didn’t know what to say.
Finally, Pugsley whispered—“It wasn’t bad.”
Eugene turned to him slowly, stopping his pacing. “What?”
Pugsley stopped scribbling, refusing to meet his eyes—“The kiss, I mean. I’ve had weirder things happen today.”
“Oh.” Eugene said, voice quieter than he thought it’d be.
Pugsley bit his lip.
And Eugene hated how he reacted to it. How his heart reacted to it.
“You know, you’re still red.” Pugsley added, not looking at him—just sitting there.
“Shut up—you’re redder.” Eugene muttered, crossing his arms defensively.
And they both glanced at each other at the same time and immediately looked away again.
It was a mess honestly. A disaster. An awkward one.
But the more they thought about it, it didn’t feel as bad as it had earlier. It was still confusing. Still weird. Still embarrassing.
But it was also warm.