Archive of Our Own ^beta

If Eduardo were in a romcom, his role would probably be those losers. 

Y’know, the losers who are codependent on their gay best friend? They may not be their plot twist love interest, but he still barely gets the girl at all???

If he could define his friendship with Anand with a film, he’d give him three. SuperBad, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, and Be More Chill. Musicals should count. It’s only his top three because they’ve never reflected Eduardo that hard ever since A Goofy Movie or Love & Basketball. 

This week’s unspoken weekly weekend hangouts lately were different, for the last two weekends they’ve accidentally slept over together for two school weeks.

Has it gotten weird? Weird enough to accidentally get used to the weekend routine? It shouldn’t be when you haven’t even done it. Or even- experimented it. Hell, they haven’t even walked into each other throughout the years they’ve known each other.

it shouldn’t be. Anand hasn’t expressed any awkward mannerisms at all. Neither of them did.

So no, things haven’t gotten weird between them.

So this Friday’s second lunch of the afternoon, Eduardo came to the conclusion that everything between them was cool.

“Khalil & Nico finally got a gig at that bar in little Italy tonight.” Anand says whilst he erased a pixel of Shrek doing a 6'7 that Eduardo made off his scientific calculator. “Wanna skip tonight’s home game and go for that instead?”

“Didn’t Khalil mess up my Fantasy Basketball lineup on springbreak?” Eduardo deadpanned.

“Yeah.” Anand nodded back; his eyes widen at the sudden reminder.
“A- And he’ll make up for that-! With his signed Jalen Hurts Eagle's cap!” Anand giggled sheepishly. “If you come tonight.”

“We can’t skip this one.” And he unfortunately means that, as much as he wants to. “Hrbek’s finally letting me start the Jig!”

“You’ve done a thousand of those.” Anand gags.

“But none of them were football games!” Eduardo states whilst drumming his fingers.
“And tonight— is THEE HOCO-HOME-Game! HOCO-JIG, DUDE!! I might even hold my own set of drums or even have cheerleaders in my solo if I wanted to.”

Anand wasn’t amused at the thought of girls the way Eduardo was. “Charming.” His attire today was so nerdy today, even for him, he wore his backpack in the front of his stomach all day to cover up the fact that his concert-black attire made him look overdressed.

Some cliche’s would say their awakening would be their straight best friend, Ryan Reynolds, or Josh Hutcherson. For Anand it was Francis from Malcolm in the Middle, Tim Bradford from The Rookie, and Tristan Dugray from Gilmore Girls.

In conclusion: Blondes.

And Anand would be very vocal & open about his type of men if anyone even tries to verbally ruin what he & Eduardo had.

To make the suspicions die down, they've made their duo into a trio with Cecilia if it was ever needed. 

But with their strategy & bond, it’s kind of impossible to make it weird. Even for Casey.

They knew their dynamic was different when they compared how different they were from  Lunella & Casey when they did a girls vs boys battle.

They knew their dynamic was different from others when according to Lunella & Mrs. Dominguez, even their parents - they apply to the saying, “opposites attract.” 

Whatever the hell that meant.

Some would say they were each other's invisible string because they were only friends through their older cousins, Khalil & Nico.

“Please don’t let your ego make a fool out of you tonight.” Anand quietly begs whilst he crushed his juice box. “Actually, give me a warning. What’s the set-list?”

“Cute.” Eduardo paused coldly, glancing down at his purple nerdy binder bag. “Mind you we’ve been best friends ever since we were eight. And not once throughout those years, neither our cousins nor being gay hasn’t stopped me from kicking your ass.”

"That applies to me giving you hickeys when you use the term 'gay' as an insult" Anand smirks.

"Is that right?" Eduardo scoffed. 

Should he risk it, or should he risk it? Is all Anand thought, before he could drop the bomb on this one. On the other hand, reminding him of his most difficult time period is not a good idea. On his other, that time period has never made Anand laugh this much in his entire life. 

Fuck it. “Better believe it, MoonBoy.”

Right as it died down, right when his eyes were finally no longer on him, just hearing MoonBoy again gives Cecilia and Jurnee their full attention across the lunch table.

Now Eduardo was debating on what to beat him up with - His nerdy binder bag or his lunch tray and ruin his last good concert-black button-up.

He went the safe route; he immediately jolts up from his seat and lunges Anand in a headlock.
Cecilia abruptly cackles at their tug-of-war on each other, this is why no one can’t make them look weird, just look at them fighting!

They aren't.

The two boys were making sure they don’t hurt the other in a tug-of-war on their SLEEVES.
Cecilia didn’t grab that much attention when she shouted world star, but she continued on laughing at the two as she whipped out her phone.

Cecilia’s laughter isn’t what made Eduardo look up, what made him stop and stare was seeing Lunella finally enter the cafeteria. She was with Casey as usual. But he hasn’t seen her nor had the chance to talk to her ever since the day she left for her M.I.T internship.

The same day MoonGirl left him and the L.E.S.

Now that they have both returned, and back in his life – his life was on a new leap, good things were happening; Unlike the most recent moment he had when MoonGirl came back. He accidentally made himself an accomplice on one of her L.E.S missions & made a fool of himself in front of her, Mrs. Marvel, EVERYONE! He was trending as MoonBoy on all platforms.

Eduardo just realized that if this was going to be the first time Lunella has seen him since then, he didn’t want to ruin his second reunion, his second chance - to Lunella seeing him wrestle Anand in the cafeteria.

Maybe this time, he can do things differently.

Cecilia boos at Eduardo when he quickly breaks it off; Anand had noticed him crawl under the lunch table before she did & furrowed at his sudden lurking before he crawled beside him.

He tried to meet where Eduardo’s Bambi eyes were staring at, & took a wild guess at Lunella. As if his concentration & burning ears hadn’t made it more obvious. 

He glared at him when Eduardo leans his head in for a zoom like a camera lens. He rolls his eyes before he gives Eduardo a pinch on the neck.

Eduardo immediately swats his hand away, “Ow-! Quit it!” Eduardo whisper-yelled.

“You quit it!” Anand whisper-yelled back. “This is pervy!”

“Fuck off! I’m not a-!”

“Christ, both of you are pervs.” Cecilia murmurs.

Her sudden presence in between the two made them flinch & cuss her out in unison as Jurnee tried to huddle in. 

Cecilia ignored the two swearing her off & tried to scan who they were peeping at instead. Eduardo tries to block her vision when she saw him glance at Lunella but it was too late. It may be cliche to how she solved this, so let’s just say spy films has a knack for some dark romance.

Even in novels.

Specifically in the Mafia genre.

She cockily clicks her tongue at Lunella’s admirer, teasing Eduardo with raised brows whilst she lowered her glasses down & nudged Jurnee. “Me-thinks, our perv is into our nerd.~” Cecilia cooed.

Eduardo gasps, “Y’KNOW DAMN WELL-!“ Before he could defend himself, she had her palms covered his mouth. His temper only grew when Cecilia gripped on his jawline before he could bite her off.

“And me-thinks MoonGirl and MoonBoy are no more..” She continues dramatically. 

“Awe, Eduardo!” Jurnee pouts teasingly, but it was impossible to hold up when her poker face was about to explode. “Y-You and MoonGirl couldn’t make it work–?! Gee, th-that’s t-!”

He didn’t mean it when he did it, but when he shoved the two girls down & they were STILL LAUGHING when they rolled to the floor, he realized he didn’t regret it one bit. 

Jurnee’s giggled as she sat back up & tried to shield herself hit after hit, “Okay! Okay! I’ll be real with you now!”

“Definitely keeping this baby up for blackmail if you ever cross me, sooo . . .” Cecilia smirks whilst she waved her phone up. He finally realized she recorded the ‘fight’ from earlier.

“M’kay, fair.” Eduardo relents.

Cecilia crouched & pushed up her glasses to scan the cafeteria for Lunella again; she tunes out Jurnee gathering info as she does so. 

“What’s USC's Moon-Drummer-Boy adventure today?” Jurnee teased.

“Die.” He deadpans.

“C’mon, hon-“ She says whilst she wraps her arm around Cecilia’s shoulder, “It’s us.~”

“Wing-women.” Cecilia murmured.

He glances at Cecilia, just for his deadpan to deepen even harder. “Die twice.”

“FINE!” She scoffed, making Jurnee puppeteer her arms. “I’m SORRY I called you a perv in front of your huzz!!”

“DIE THRICE!” He spat back.

“How can we die thrice? Your second penalty was technically her first.” She smirks, pointing her thumbs back at Jurnee before she spoke in Shakespeare tongue. “That cost you two lives! And As we all.. We died together.”

“And I hope alone.” Eduardo adds.

Their bickering was interrupted once Anand tugged on Eduardo’s arm after he gets a text from Khalil again. 

“Dude! Dude! Khalil has more news about tonight! He & Nico says that we can bring a couple of friends after the game because the bar gave the band an extra hour to play!”

“Ouu~!! Bar?!” Jurnee cooed.

“Sound cloud band?!” Cecilia leaned in. "Isn't this the one where your hot-twenty-six-year-old cousins are bf's in a band?? The Infinity Stones??"

Jurnee couldn’t help but gasp a laugh out loud after hearing their band name.

“THEY'RE JUST FRIENDS!” Anand and Eduardo snapped in unison.

"That's what they all say.." Cecilia cockily teased back.

"And who say's you're invited?" Eduardo sassed.

“Oh, contraire, MoonBoy~!!” Cecilia hummed, “I'm pratically fam—!”

“C’mon! Like my cousin needs to deal with more sixteen-year-olds to babysit.” Anand snorts.

“So who else but us?? The junior's section??!” Cecilia fired back, glancing at the cafeteria doors. “Speaking of: look who’s on their way to sit with our nerd and Casey now. ~” 

She spun their heads around herself, and once they saw Brooklyn’s little volleyball clique sit with Lunella, Eduardo couldn’t help but envy that.

He wasn’t jealous that Lunella was friends with Brooklyn & those guys – he was more jealous of Brooklyn, she gets to sit with Lunella that close to her every day. 

“The hell??” Eduardo murmured to himself. “Since when have they gotten so close?”

“TJ is on our robotics team!” Cecilia smiles proudly, “I thought you and Brooke were cool?”

“We are but not like that.” Eduardo shrugged. “It’s kind of complicated.”

“So WHAT if you fumbled her too?! Get over it!” 

“CECEEEE!!” 

“Ohmygod, quit being dramatic and follow me. M’kay?!” Cecilia continued to crawl under the tables with Jurnee, & Anand unexpectedly caught up with them – but Eduardo hesitated- the possibilities of someone kicking you and calling you out as a perv were endless now.

“So, what’re y’all’s plans for tonight? Are you guys checking out the hoco game?” Brooklyn asked Lunella & Casey.

“Oh!” Lunella chirpped. “We were actually hoping to hang out at NYU with you and Tai!” Lunella smiled.

“Lunella, c’monnn! I’m tired of school!” Brooklyn whined. “I’d rather be anywhere but school tonight.”

“Sooo, no hoco game then..?”

“That doesn’t count, I actually want to go to that junk.”

Lunella’s laughter filled up the room, it made Eduardo’s heart stop for it. The same feeling he got back then.

As he stopped the trail, Anand accidentally bumps into him, making Eduardo hit his head against the table - It makes Cecilia & Jurnee freeze up, and the only one who heard the table thump was Brooklyn.

She tried to make herself look as casual as possible whilst she moved her foot around under. Once she accidentally kicked their face, Brooklyn immediately dragged them out.

You can kiss that second chance goodbye. 

“Pervs!!" Brooklyn sneered to Eduardo. "Talk!”

Eduardo tried to keep his head up, but the hook of shame made him beg Brooklyn to end it all. “Um— CeCe..!!” Eduardo stammered.

“Come out, Anan–! Cece?!” Brooklyn repeats, bending under the table. “Cecilia?!”

“Yeah...Hi! Uh.. Guilty!” Cecilia stammered, dusting herself off. She may have imagined it, but she was so sure that once she glanced at Lunella, she must've shot daggers to her chest because she has never felt this sharp pain of burning sensation of guilt before. She felt it was right to take the fall. “This was– all me by the way!! I swear, they aren’t perverts er–!''

“Save your sob story. We’re good.” Brooklyn chuckles, making Eduardo take the empty seat beside Lunella.

He has not looked up at her ever since he sat down. He couldn’t even say hi to her. 

“Good? Good!” Cecilia perked up sheepishly. “Just– trying to be a homeboy's wing-woman y'know-?! Ow!” She took the hint to shut up after the pinch Eduardo gave her. Since what happened was just old news, everyone continued on about their plans for tonight like nothing happened.

Brooklyn mentions that it would be Eduardo’s first time doing the Jig in front of Lunella. And just hearing Lunella look forward to it makes him avoid eye contact at all times. It was pretty entertaining for Casey & Anand to see him like this, seeing his ears burn, his redness being so visible in the open.

It was pretty funny too.

“So what song did you pick for the band to play?” Brooklyn asks Eduardo. “I bet it’s some corny shit.”

“No it’s not.” Eduardo glared, looking up at Brooklyn.

“It actually is-“ Anand chuckles, trying to wipe off his smile, “But he actually made it look cool.”

“Words I’d thought no one would say, ever.” Casey bluntly states.

“Ditto.” Tai nods.

“Be nice!” Brooklyn scolds. “Boy, I swear, if it’s the Rick and Morty theme-"

“I swear! It’s not!” Eduardo insists defensively.

“Anyway,” Cecilia began as she patted his shoulder, “We’ll reserve the whole front row for y’all if we can expect you to rsvp. . . ???” 

“Yeah, count me in.” Brooklyn hummed.

“Me too.” Tai smiles.

“Same-zies!” Fawzia waved.

“Noice! Peak cinema!” Cecilia giggled, and grabbed Eduardo under his arms to drag him away from the group. “Stay alert for the deetz of the GC-after p-!”

“The hell are you doing?!” Eduardo says to Cecilia.

“Being a wing-woman-homegirl! You’re welcome!” She sassed back, turning her back on him whilst she sets up the group chat on her cell.

“Quit living off my love life for entertainment!” The ping from Eduardo’s cell alerts him of the group-chat. The chat room’s name was ‘Sex-Bob-Omb’s’ and the volleyball team either greeted the chat room calling the nerds dork's for it or read through Lunella overflowing the chat room with a million hearts.

$EX-B0B-0MB'$!1!1!

CeCe 

You likeyyy?!?!??!

Ca$$$ey > CeCe

OH HELL!ZZZ!YEAH!1!1!1!

Eduardo > CeCe

Die.

Eli > Eduardo

NOOOO!!

Fawzia > CeCe

omg, is this gonna be his song??

Ca$$$ey

OMG- CLASH OF DEAMONHEAD \(//∇//)\ ?!?!?!

Lunella <333

YAYAYAYAYA🥁💜🥁💖🥁💜🥁💗🥁💜 

God, He wish it was now. . .

CeCe

No </3 RSVP & Find out ;3 <3 <3 !!

Lunella <333

🥁💜🥁💖🥁COUNTMEINANYWAYYYY💜🥁💗🥁💜🥁💜🥁🩷🥁

🥁💗🥁💜🥁💜🥁🩷🥁💜💜💜💜

💖🥁💕🥁💞🥁💗🥁💘💜💜💜💜

🥁💜🥁💜🥁💖💜🥁🩷💜🥁💗🥁💘

Brooklyn > Lunella <333

Lunella, wtf are you doing 💀?

Lunella <333

Love bomb-drumroll, idfk

💘🥁💜🥁💘

Tai

#FlirtLikeNerdsFinalboss.

Tai > Lunella <333

Pls get a room & spare Eduardo the heart attack.

Lunella <333 > Tai

SYBAU TAI

OMFG..

Eduardo got flustered after reading the ongoing group chat, he tried to wipe the redness off his face, but he couldn’t. He looked stupid instead. Hearing the clique's laughter echo throughout the cafeteria over this was way more embarrassing than being laughed at for MoonBoy.

MoonGirl would agree on that too.

・・・

Eduardo was able to keep his concert-black button-up in good condition & unstained for practice rehearsal once school was over. Until he felt the heat pass through him, he was really debating on changing into his I.S band shirt instead. 

He stared long and hard at the empty front row Anand, Cecilia & Eli were reserving for everyone before rehearsal began. Any minute now Lunella’s going to show up, and he’s going to be looking like a fool all over again. 

Ever since their little moment at the cafeteria she pulled- after the shit TAI PULLED- Lunella couldn’t help connect the non-existent context clues that were thrown out today.

“Wing-woman,” “Hoco plans,” And–

”Spare Eduardo the heart-attack.”

whatever the hell Tai meant by that. 

But anyway–

They all connect to dating.

And so does homecoming.

Moral of the story: it was impossible for Lunella to stay calm throughout the day, even after what Tai pulled at lunch in the group chat.

She finally got her braids done with her mom & Junee after school just in time before the first quarter began. And as usual, their opponent's spirit was always dead at home games. It wasn’t like Bring It On at all or to what Lunella was expecting. Sort of.

She sat in between Anand and Casey, and tried so hard to make it seem less obvious that she was looking for Eduardo on the tracks. As if standing up on the bleachers while asking for him helped with that. “Anand!! I thought you said we’d see Eduardo on the field??!!” Lunella shouts to Anand.

“Ohh, you’ll see him~!!” Anand smirked, waving his arm out on the aisle. “This side’ll be where the band sits! Pretty soon, he’ll be walking up this aisle after the football players do their runway!!”

Wait, What? "What- WHAT?!" Lunella accidentally shrieks, gripping onto Casey's wrist mid slip. He is going to be sitting right beside ME?! Lunella couldn’t believe it. She kept looking back and forth at the empty bleachers to her right, the bleachers where the band is assigned to EVERY. GAME. 

She’s going to be stuck by his side all night.

"SORRY!" Anand shouted back sincerely under his laughter, "BUT YOU WOULD'VE KNOWN THAT SOONER, Y'KNOW!"

Surprisingly, all of that panicking when Anand dropped that bomb on Lunella quickly washed over her after the pounding whistles through the speakers made her jolt back to reality, she wouldn’t admit this out loud, but for once, she felt like she was a being a teenager, doing it ‘correctly.’ Just having a circle of her own kept herself secure & balanced from MoonGirl like that.

I.S. Had won the first quarter, they were at a good 10-7, and all Lunella could think of is how rude it would be to offer Coach Hrbek her lineups she has made in the last twenty minutes.

Anand found the remark hilarious, Casey didn’t find it funny at all, but Lunella was dead serious. As serious as her non-existent context clues she made today. She realized they were able to score that 10 because no one else noticed Robbie saving his penalty he made before his touchdown.

Lunella stopped working on her next lineup to give to Robbie once Principal Nelson’s school spirit blared through the megaphone during halftime. He gave a heartwarming speech to the school, to Coach Hrbek, & to everyone who worked hard during testing season. To Lunella & Eduardo especially.

Ever since She had that meeting with Principal Nelson in her MoonGirl suit with Agent Hill & her parents on the day she left, he understood her situation completely. (He thanks Hannah Montana for that.) He even allowed her to hack herself into the school system to have her data on M.I.T'S internship program when she took that S.H.I.E.L.D trip to Wakanda with RiRi. She was a natural at that when she had to do the same hacking for Vision's Academy.

But anyway- ever since she has skipped freshman year because of MoonGirl, I.S. Has been thriving because of her IQ. Her smarts gave L.O.S. Some upgrades. 

It seemed like she was doing Principal Nelson favors, it seemed like he was giving her special treatment.

Nelson tried to make it less obvious by letting other students shine for I.S.

Academically? Eduardo wasn't doing so great on that without her. but athletically? And musically...?

That's the only time he's in his own element - because at those moments - she was his muse.

He meant it when he said her feedback meant a lot to her, and Principal Nelson made that known in Eduardo's special mentions he allowed to share with his accomplishments this semester. 

“Now - To start us off for the second quarter-! Our I.S.’ Shooting-Guard is finally gonna show us what he’s made of!!” Principle Nelson’s voice blares. “OUR SQUIRREL HAS UPGRADED TO A TRAVELER! GIVE IT UP FOR USC’S FIRST EARLY ADMITTED DRUMMER BOYYY!-AHAHAHH!”

Everyone standing up to get their view didn’t help on Lunella's feet, she stood up the bleachers the whole time to just find more football players & the band conductor in her homecoming dress until she realized that Eduardo was sitting beside her the entire time. And the entire time he honestly thought she was interested in the game than talking to him.

Just hearing Principal Nelson announce those words made Lunella’s heart skip a beat of whatever hope she had left to hold for her & Eduardo. As much as she gives herself credit for being so vocal today on them getting teased as an item, could tonight not be any more of a coincidence when she just got an early admission to CalTech as well? And was it a coincidence that both Cali schools were neighbors?! Supposedly.

She slowly clapped whilst she watched Eduardo step forward & hang his 3-piece drum set below his chest whilst his two bandmates followed behind him, and Anand & Cecilia’s claps were as obnoxiously louder than hers.

She saw him in his I.S maroon band shirt with black overalls, he matched with his black lines painted under his eyes like every other guy in the band or football. She heard Anand scream the loudest he ever did for him to break his poker face, but it couldn’t be broken. his support made their whole section laugh & adore his dorky endearing comments, just like when Eduardo did interpretive dance throughout the Winter musical just to break his role. 

Long story short, Anand accidentally sang a verse from the uncensored version of his Michael in the bathroom solo, and needless to say it made Eduardo’s night, the show was worth every beating he’s ever gotten.

Eduardo had marked his place as he stood on the first lap of the track in between his bandmates. He quickly looked up & shut his eyes after he realized how close he was standing in front of Lunella. 

Twelve feet apart.

Fuck. He immediately pulls his blindfold back on. Taking a peek at Lunella was a bad move too.

She was smiling like she used to from way back when they were thirteen.

Smiling FOR HIM. Giggling AT. HIM. Because she came to see HIM.

He couldn't even believe it himself either.

He gripped his drumsticks for comfort, to control his breathing, but with the bright lights blinding him through the cotton, & the silence being louder than his squeaky Jordan’s on a game of HORSE, the combo didn’t help control his breathing at all.

Now he really wished tonight was like any other game night. 

Why did the USC administrators have to be here?!

Why did Lunella have to be here..?

Was it the end of the world that she was here? No. He has begged Anand 24/7 to invite her to at least one game he would play at, she barely even goes to his basketball games for him.

At this point, Anand should be going to homecoming with him tomorrow instead.

Now that she’s here, he was hoping tonight she would give him the same crappy excuses she’d give to Coach Hrbek when he would threaten her with an attendance suspension. 

But it felt so right that she actually came.

Maybe tonight they’ll be more than just—

All of a sudden, Eduardo flinched at the pat on his shoulder he got from Hrbek, mouthing 'You'll do great.' to him as he patted his back & gave him a thumbs up. After that moment he had with Hrbek, Eduardo accepted the fact that he was on his own.

Throughout the whole Jig, after every cheer, even after hearing her scream like she's his biggest fan, he didn't dare to look up and ruin this moment with his friends. Even if he dared to look up at Lunella, his reputation as MoonBoy would become indefinite.

The adrenaline he had flowing in his wrists right now were the same feeling he had when he bumped into MoonGirl.

Was it a coincidence the feeling stayed the same as he was in front of Lunella?

For that, his answer was unclear.

But for Lunella -

Seeing Eduardo in his element like that made Lunella so sure of what she wanted with him.

She wanted to be with him,

Her statistics were already proven ever since principal Nelson made it known minutes ago that she meant a lot to Eduardo's success.

And she was so sure he was going to ask her to homecoming tonight.

And maybe now, maybe after this, she kinda hopes they’ll be more than just friends.

"I might be crushing on Eduardo!!" Lunella shouts to Casey; she shouts loud so they wouldn't stop clapping. It was loud enough for Anand & Cecilia to hear.

"So, when's the wedding?!!" Casey teased.

Out of all things her best friend could say, she didn't think it would be that. "FUCK YOU!" Lunella smiled.

"TELL ME HOW THAT GOES TONIGHT TOO!" Casey grinned back, poking her arm.

After that remark, it makes Anand & Cecilia cackle, Lunella took that opportunity to shove the trio out of their seats with all the strength she had left of herself tonight.

"Alright, y'all! Enough! ENOUGH!!" Brookyn laughs, separating Lunella & Anand. "Anand! Quit ruining her boyfriend's performance–!"

Being her upperclassman didn't stop Lunella from hitting her too, she & Tai were goddamn super seniors for crying out loud! How did they even get into NYU?!

"I have more where that came from too!" Lunella scowled, folding her arms.

"You and what?" Brooklyn smirks, pointing behind the bleachers, "You and I.S' Flag boy: Devil Dinosaur??!"

They could hear how much fun Devil was having - his roars made the bleachers rumble below them. 

"Girl please-!" Tai chokes, leaning into Brooklyn's shoulder. "Don't make me choke on a White-claw!"

Needless to say, Lunella would grade this day a solid F. She's only cutting herself some slack on the grade because she's finally done waiting on Mel-Varr. It would've been an F minus if she didn't come to her realization today.

"On a serious note–! GO FOR IT!" Brookyn says whilst she taps Lunella's shoulder.
She noticed Lunella kept her ears covered before she spoke as the jig faded out, his surprise song was coming up. "YOU SHOULD ASK HIM TO HOMECOMING! SEX-BOB-OMBS SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DISBAND TONIGHT!"

"YOU DON'T THINK HE'S GOING TO ASK ME?!" Lunella shouts back, frowning at the thought. Brooklyn facepalmed herself over her blinded doubts - just like towards love, Lunella didn't notice that either.

"OHHH, HE'S GOING TO ASK YOU ALL RIGHT!!" Cecilia cooed loudly.

"As long as his ego-battery doesn't die down..!"  She was staring at Eduardo now with that sneaky 'homegirl' glint in her eyes she visibly expressed. "DO Y'KNOW HOW LONG HE HAS BEEN PINING AFTER YOU. . .?!"

Eduardo's drums pounding was louder than her heartbeat.

Lunella seriously couldn't believe what she was hearing.

". . . EVER SINCE THE DAY YOU LEFT!!"

"He may be clueless to it now!” Geri shouts to Lunella. “But it's clear he still has it baaaad for you girl!"

Eduardo’s bandmate woke him up perfectly on cue to end the Jig2 off with his surprise song. No backing out now.

He finally took his blindfold off after everyone left him a moment of silence to collect himself as his two band mates stepped back.

"I bet It's gonna be some corny shit." Brooklyn's snicker taunts through his mind.

Was it going to be corny? Probably.

Would it be "peak" just like Cecilia said if he even dared to try? HE'S GOING TO SEE FOR HIMSELF NOW!

He turns to his friend who banged his drum to get Eduardo out of the clouds. "Dude! You good?! We're waiting!"

Oh, yeah. No one can't play until he starts the first riff.

He doesn't know for certain if this anime has lost its peak yet. He's going to find out now.

He gave his sticks one last squeeze in his grip, giving his drumline trio the signal that he was about to start them off, then - he stared down at the white surface of his drums before going all in.

After hearing himself slam down the first tune, the second soul crashing melody dives everyone into some nostalgia. His mind went blank. But his intuition knew he didn't miss bar for bar.

All it took was for one drum roll melody to make Brooklyn & Tai jolt out of their seats, clenching onto Lunella's arm to break their falls from laughing out of pure shock of nostalgia after the drumline blended into the base even harder.

There are only two explanations for their reactions; Either Brooklyn & Tai were anime geeks or DandDaDan was peak cinema after all.

Coach Hrbek led the Trumpet's as Eduardo shifted the base into the pre-chorus. The whistles from the crowd who were hit with nostalgia made him go with the flow, just like how he would when he would goof off with the class with his "free" concerts.

And tonight's performance turned out better than he imagined it.

・・・

All Eduardo cared about tonight was not embarrassing himself. And he didn't! He made drums & band look cool instead!

Now he's walking into a night bar somewhere on the block of Little Italy, with his blue jacket being worn by Lunella along with his arm around her, it savors the extra curfew they have left to see Khalil & Nico play.

"MOONBOYYY! CECEEE!! WADDUP MANOS?!" Khalil happily greets Eduardo, Anand & Cecilia.

It looks like Eduardo's ego boosted him up too soon. 

"Y'all gotta go now." Khalil muttered matter-of-factly to his cousin's upset peers.

"WHY?! WE JUST CARPOOLED HERE!" Anand pouts.

"I HAD TO SIT ON THIS HOE'S LAP JUST TO SEE THIS JOINT!" Cecelia says whilst pointing at Geri. 

"Sorry guys." Khalil shrugged, putting his signed Jalen Hurts Eagle's cap on Eduardo. "We're minus a drummer. and we might lose our Bass over it." 

the gang looks over Khalil's shoulder to see the band stressed out. They were a pretty diverse band too, Anand & Eduardo mentioned that on the way here.

Their lead Bass was the Korean man in the ponytail, Du-Eun - onstage he goes by Dawn. He was sitting on his guitar amp trying to cool his temper down with their pianist, & Eduardo's oldest cousin Nico. And his Drummer & back-up singer who was nowhere to be found, was Dante. 

You can take a wild guess who their lead singer was.

"It's Dante's third time he's called off a gig this month and Du-Eun doesn't want to cover him tonight." Khalil explained. “Or play his songs.”

Casey flinched after Du-Eun kicked his amp out of frustration.

"AYE- DAWN! THAT'S COMING OUT OF YOUR PAYCHECK IF WE EVEN GET ONE TONIGHT!" Khalil shouts to Du-Eun. And he hopes it still works.

"Anyway, it's so rare for this bar to host bands. We aren't even gonna be a trio without Dante for a couple of songs LATER ON. It's not like we can find a drummer who can Drum AND SING backup at the same time in the last- minute. . ." Khalil paused for a moment and gives Eduardo that older brother look. "Oh, waitttt. . ."

Oh, oh no.

Oh, hell no.

As much as Eduardo wanted to risk his luck today, he really wanted to cool off a bit.

He saw that his friends get too excited for him & quickly removed his arm from Lunella. He raised his hands up in a defensive mode as he stepped back from the group. "Nonononono! HELL No!" Eduardo laughs, he stumbles after he bumped his back against the bar once he tried to get farther away.

He couldn't. He was trapped.

"PLEASE!" Brooklyn begged. "You were SO awesome tonight! Just perform the second quarter routine or something!"

"She's only saying this because she wants to drink! I SUCK!" Eduardo shouts to Nico.

"Bite me!" Eduardo sneered.

"PLAY!" Brooklyn grits. 

"I'll forward you the setlist to the groupchat right now if you're actually thinking about it." Khalil says to Eduardo whilst he scrolled on his phone. "You know The Gorillaz, right?"

"YES!" Anand & Cecilia answered for Eduardo in unison.

"You guys hop genre after genre each gig though." Eduardo mentioned.
Even when it comes to language. The barrier didn't matter to the community who stayed for the music.

"Eduardo. C'mon, I know you. You'll know all of these songs because I gave you this music taste."

Damn it. He's right.

The Black Eyed Peas, The Gorillaz, Sombr, Ne-Yo, Miguel, Bruno Mars. Bad Bunny, Selena Quintanilla, Luis Miguel. All of it.

Minus the Korean & Japanese songs, Eduardo knew each artist he has read throughout The Infinity Stone’s setlist. 

and tonight was Rock n' RnB.

This is the only time his friendship with Anand has ever stabbed him in the back.

"Ho-ho! No backing out now!!" Brooklyn cooed mischievously.

"But the first track is–!" Eduardo read it silently to himself. He knew this song very well.

it went platinum around his family's apartment for six months with non-stop Carlton's.

Crushing by Sombr

His mind immediately shifted to Lunella, if risking his luck tonight was his best shot, he better be smooth at communicating through his music & words instead of his sticks.

He almost forgot one last important thing. Someone else knew this setlist way better than Anand.

Someone closer to a gay best friend's point of view.

A ladies point of view.

"I'll do it." Eduardo says, pushing Brooklyn out of his way to Khalil. "For the first five songs if I feel like it too, I guess."

Du-Eun & Nico stopped setting up the stage after hearing Eduardo say that.
The hype quickly died down once Eduardo spun on his heel & points his finger directly at Cecilia. "IF- She plays bass with me."

"Awe, crap." Cecilia & Du-Eun remarks in unison. 

The only people who were allowed 'backstage' (which was technically behind the curtains of the stage) were The Infinity Stone’s, Anand, and sometimes Eduardo.

Now it's sometimes CeCe.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOINGGG??!!" Cecilia mirrored Eduardo.

"BEING A WING-MAN-HOMEBOY!!" Eduardo mirrored back. "YOU'RE WELCOME!"

"I don't know what's going on between you two, but I'm loving this shift in our trio right now!" Anand snorts to Eduardo & Cecilia.

Both Eduardo & Cecilia ignored Anand's statement on their friendship. 

"C'mon! you owe me!" Eduardo insists.

"I don't owe you jack-shit!" Cecilia hissed.

"The hell you do!!" he sassed back. "After the shit you pulled this afternoon?!!"

Cecilia turns her back on him after she folds her arms, "Mhm. And why should I give in tonight? Huh?"

". . . Eli's out there..??" Eduardo winced, hoping that would work.

It didn't.

She relaxed her shoulders, staring down at Du-Eun's purple electric guitar stood up against his amp. She sees a glimpse of their reflection onto it, she snorts at Eduardo's new Eagles cap tipping over his eyes once she took notice of it. He looked stupid with it on. Some would say he would look better with caps unless it was flipped around. "He has seen us play before." 

"Yeah! - But Lunella hasn't!!" 

Double crap. How is Cecilia going to get out of this one?

It's been known that she's a very convincing liar than Lunella was when it comes to excusing her tardies, if she can lie to get out of this band–

"And maybe with a little help . . ." Eduardo sighed - Besides the obvious reflection, Cecilia could tell from the fresh sounds of his dress shoes squeaking softly onto the floor that he was stepping forward to her sincerely. "Maybe we could convince our cousins if we could play this instead...??"

Cecilia looks up to see the reflection of Eduardo's phone shine onto Du-Eun's purple electric Bass. She knew the reason why he wanted to start off with something outside of his rhythm just by looking at the artist. 

The grin she plastered showed him she knew exactly where this was going.

The bar slowly packed up by the time it was 1:00am on the dot. Casey, Tai, & Jurnee tried to make everyone fit into one booth, but they struggled, A LOT.

Anand was with Eduardo & Cecilia setting up, rolling up Du-Eun's amp cord whilst he hid his shadow on stage.

"You're going to ask her during the performance or later??!" Anand whispered to Eduardo. Nico couldn’t help but eavesdrop.

"LATER, dude! I just told you this!"

"Ehhh- we'll see what 'later' comes out to be if she even catches onto the lyrics." Nico chuckles whilst he plugs in his piano. "I know she's 'book-smart' mano, but how is she street wise??!"

"She has made her very own plasma gun out of recycled plastic, tubes & a blowtorch if that's what you mean by 'street-smart.'” Eduardo says as he lightly taps the ride cymbal with his drum stick.

"OH! Don't forget her Soda-Pop-glider!" Anand grinned before turning to Nico, "Picture a 'soda-can-boomerang' supported by a Simon Says toy." 

"Don't forget her Alex Dunphy rock-paper-scissors robot hand!" Cecilia beamed.

"THAT WAS MINEEEE!!" Anand hissed.

"Oh, damn–" Nico paused, rethinking his life choices. Only to realize he was too impressed with this girl. He almost thought this Lunella girl might be out of his cousin's league.
"No, none of that. I mean like. . . Has she ever been hit on?"

The question makes a lot more sense now after the way the trio re-interpreted it.

She in fact, has.

By their very own drummer boy & shooting guard of I.S.833 himself. 

It took a while for the connection to hit Nico after watching Cecilia & Anand stare at Eduardo until he got fully red. "Oh–! OHHH!!! OH, SH-!" 

Eduardo quickly got up from his chair to shut Nico up before his laughter makes the crowd lock eyes with the stage before they could even start, and before Khalil regrets his decisions with him.

"You can make fun of me later!! Go! Go!" Eduardo whisper-yelled to Nico.

Anand quicky scurried off the stage as Nico & Cecilia went back into their positions right when Khalil stepped up & adjusted his mic. 

Eduardo scanned the bar one last time as Khalil began with a short announcement before the band introduction. Before going back to his seat, he sees that his luck had run out of battery tonight.

Lunella was nowhere to be found.

But there's a perfectly good explanation for this.

Somewhere at Times Square, an evil magic snowman was keeping them away from their magic moment. Lunella really wasn't in the mood to MoonGirl tonight.

Of all nights, the universe wasn’t on her side today.

The snow hardened this year, so this snowman was a challenge with her sun-blaster until she refueled on plasma tech.

She made it back to Little Italy just in time before the band started, she promised Eduardo earlier that she wouldn't miss the first song.

12:55am

And Jimmy of Jimmy’s Gym. Was the bouncer tonight & he wouldn’t let her in.

"C'MONNNN JIMMYYY!!!" Lunella grits, pulling onto her braided pigtails. "I'M. IN. YOUR. DEFENSE CLASS! YOU JUST SAW KHALIL LET ME IN THREE HOURS AGO!"

Jimmy looked down at her, sure she had the blue jacket on, but she wasn't wearing purple shorts earlier.

Or platform boots . . . Or red gloves??? "I thought you left because of curfew??" Jimmy asked Lunella.

"WOULD THAT BE THE CASE IF I DIDN'T COME BACK BUNDLED UP?!?" 

She was able to sneak past in & change out of her super suit before the show started, meanwhile, Eduardo wasn't a big fan of the warm lights this time. Sure, he prefers them over the luminescent lights at school but these were blinding him from the crowd.

But that should be a good thing! If he noticed her now, he would completely lose his cool in front of her & the guys. 

This time, Eduardo glanced up to look for her, but just when the warm lights above blinds him, all he could see was Cecilia's silhouette staring back at him.
She used up all of her awkward strength to give him a thumbs up. He anxiously gave her one back whilst he gripped onto his sticks at his shoulders. She could easily see that they were on the same boat: Suffering in silence.

He wanted to cringe when he heard Brooklyn shouted for Nico, telling him how fine he was in his black denim jacket, that was until he heard Lunella giggle.

She was here.

He furrowed at him when Khalil said he had some words to say. 
He cringed at him when he accidentally kissed his mic when he released a puff of air.

Nico gave Eduardo a quick glance, that smirk he just thew just left him with more suspicion.

Just when you thought his night would be done with surprises, Nico drops the biggest bomb of all.

"This one goes out to Lunella Lafayette!!"

As always, before starting every show, Khalil & Nico (and Du-Eun) snapped their fingers before the beat drops. They almost laugh at Eduardo & Cecilia’s faces for how fast their reflexes were to the beat drop. Just hearing those words makes Eduardo & Cecilia jump & get taken aback. They didn’t have time to react.

Du-Eun clapped over Casey’s shriek to make it less awkward for the bar. The Bar unexpectedly took the memo to get hyped.

Eduardo stuttered & got red like crazy. "W-WHAT?! DEDIC-??! CECE?!! DID YOU-?!"

"NOOO! BUT I SHOULD'VE!!" Cecilia grinned, jumping & twirling in place with Du-Eun's guitar.

“DAMMIT! NICOOO!!” This wasn't cute, the whole bar was clapping, but Eduardo was as furious as ever when Nico placed his finger over his smirk. Khalil was about to sing. And He wanted to punch the both of so hard.

♫ "I want to hold you in the open, I wanna keep the door from closing, yeah."

♫ "I wanna see you in the morning. . . I wanna be there but I'm boring you."

He technically made his bed for this one, but Cecilia noticed him struggling to meet his eyes with the crowd when the tempo slowed down, that was when he & Cecilia would be harmonizing.
She leaned back & shared with his mic instead, doing the higher backup vocals whilst he mumbled his until his favorite part came up.

And one thing about CeCe -

Is that you absolutely can't make things weird between THEM, either.

Here comes his favorite part, and he was a little too excited for it, After the drum roll, Khalil & Nico never thought he would switch things up and sing along with them. it takes Cecilia aback too before she stepped back to her mic.

♫ "I miss the days when we were crushing on each other! Now you're just crushing my soul, my lover..!"

Lunella flinched at the lyrics. 

♫ "I miss the days when you could never love another - Now you're just someone that I'll never recover..!!"

She laughed whilst she clapped & watched him laugh, he was laughing at Cecilia doing her twirls with her base, she was more impressed of her casually untangling herself after each jump & spin.

Khalil could tell Lunella was into it, into Eduardo.

Nico noticed too.

♫ "I've been thinking about you more and more - 'Cause when you're gone it all becomes a chore . . ."

There’s her heart flinching again. This time to Cecilia's voice in her head. 

"DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG HE'S BEEN PINING AFTER YOU?!"

It makes her understand his feelings for her a little more. It got her thinking again.

How long. . . ? 

". . . EVER SINCE THE DAY YOU LEFT!!"

She wasn't even sure how to recalculate this. But she has come to the conclusion that he must’ve been lying to her when he said he was over her. That was two years ago.

He told her that when they were fifteen.

They're seventeen now.

Shit.

He never stopped ever since they were thirteen.

The Bar was really loving them tonight, the song was almost over, and all Eduardo could think about was how he was going to talk to Lunella after this.

Maybe after the next four songs..?

But Lunella couldn’t wait that long. She slowly crept in the shadows to wait for him backstage. 
After one glance, Eduardo noticed her waiting for him on the sidelines & quickly stared down at his drums, he tried keeping his cool throughout his duet with Nico to DtMF by Bad Bunny. 
he tried so hard to keep his cool.

But knowing she was there, waiting for him – he couldn’t help but look stupid anyway.

After the song was over, he honestly couldn’t wait to get to her. Since the next three songs didn’t need his drums, he tried to contain his excitement as he dashed out of his seat & Du-Eun quickly ran up to take the drums.

A part of her was touched he waited for her this long. It was kind of nice to have someone wait up for you. 

It felt way better than waiting on them.

When Eduardo faced her he smiled, his heart skipped at the sight of her.

”Aren’t you going to play one more song?” Lunella suddenly asked Eduardo.

”Eh, they can deal without me.” Eduardo shrugged casually.

The silence was deafening in their shadows, it seemed like it went on forever.

Eduardo quietly broke it off. “Do you.. Wanna stay here for a bit or..??”

“Actually–” Lunella thought about it for a moment. Then she remembered that Seward Park wasn’t far from here. Just off the block. “You wanna get out of here??”

Instead of walking in awkward silence, Eduardo shared one of his earbuds with her on the way to Seward Park to hear the rest of the setlist.

He hummed & drummed his fingers on the way there. And looked goody doing it.

By the time they got there, they raced to stand up on the swings.

Their swings rocked back and forth to their music, and Lunella couldn’t help but stare at the gazebo on the center of the playground.

It reminded her the last time she was there with him as MoonGirl.

Eduardo noticed her staring at it, he abruptly jumped off the swing and ran to the gazebo. “HEAD START!” 

Needless to say, Lunella didn’t see that coming. “WH-?! NAH-UH!” She tries to attempt to get off the swings the same way he did but she just ended up stumbling. And thank god he didn’t notice. 

Without thinking, Eduardo took the long trail. He realized she wasn’t catching up behind him once he saw she was already there laying her back against the white bars. “What-? How–?”

”Climbed up the slide.” She says casually whilst she stood up.

“Never thought I’d expect you of all people to cheat.” Eduardo teased breathlessly.

Lunella scoffed and gave him a shove to the shoulder. ”You cheated first with that head start!” 

He had a small teasing grin once he shrugged so casually. “That doesn’t count, that was fair play.” 

“Yeah, whatever.” She says whilst she turned to lean her folded arms on the bars.

Eduardo did the same but kept the distance six feet apart. That was until Lunella broke off the star gazing silence. “So, USC, huh?” Lunella suddenly asked.

”Yeah, what about it?” Eduardo bluntly shrugged.

Fog appeared as she scoffed. “You’ve always talked about going back to Philly for basketball after school.”

He scooted in closer with another shrug. “USC wanted me more than Philly.”

Lunella rolls her eyes. Impatience spiraled through her with his blunt & nonchalant answers. It wasn’t like him at all. “Seriously, why USC?”

His right leg was shaking, he bit the inside of his cheek when he finally caved into the interrogation. 
“. . . You’re there.” Eduardo mumbled whilst he kept his head down at the wood-chipped ground.

The silence from Lunella said it all; he didn’t dare to glance up at her to see her face. Little did he know her heart was fluttering. He hoped his shaken voice wasn’t as noticeable when he mumbled again, “Pretty stupid, huh?”

Until she finally said something. “Actually, not at all.”

Eduardo finally looked up at her, she had her hands clasped together whilst she nervously rubbed her thumbs in circles. “Casey has her eyes on UCLA.” Lunella explained whilst she kept her head down at her hands.
“But she’ll be like, an hour away so — it’s  kinda nice to know I’ll have someone around.”

Fog appears throughout Eduardo’s breath hitching, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing & couldn’t control his crept up smile. Tell me the truth, am I dreaming? Say something – anything. Magic moments like these only happens in his sleep. “Go to homecoming with me.” Eduardo abruptly says.
NOT THAT THING!

Lunella couldn’t help but snort & unexpectedly giggle at his proposal.

It could’ve been worse, At least you didn’t say, “I’m in lesbians with you.”

Eduardo immediately took it all back.
He facepalmed himself after he shook his head, “IMEANIMEAN, I-!” His tone softened once he relaxed his composure before he corrected himself; It was kinda hard to when she was giggling like that.
“Do you – want. . . To go to homecoming. . . With me..?” Eduardo drawled, scooting in beside her.

Lunella cleared her throat & sighed. It takes him aback when she finally stops. It only took him aback because their shoulders pressed when she scooted in closer. Then, her foreheads dropped to his as she leaned in, “Homecoming sounds fun.” Lunella whispered.

Eduardo’s nose scrunched when he returned a thin smile, he couldn’t help but drift to her lips as his hand lingered to reach hers. ”Great.” Eduardo rasped.

The feeling wasn’t one-slided like it used to be like back then, she didn’t think it was possible to feel this way outside of stem romance novels and movies, now the feeling felt right with her. She was back in his life & that feeling felt right with him too. 

Lunella’s fingers clapsed into his as the other brushed up his arms once lips finally met when he took the chance to, and at that moment, the kiss was deeper & more passionate than he imagined it. 

Lunella wasn’t sure how he would feel about MoonGirl now, but that can wait.

Right now, she was sure about what she wanted with him. 

Maybe this time, they had hope for each other after all.

Maybe this time, love won’t end.