Chapter Text
Vibrant orange leaves covered the floors of Nevermore, cinnamon could be smelt from a mile away in the cafeteria. It was fall, a crisp fall for all of Nevermore and its students to enjoy.
And today was October 2nd, it was a perfect day for anyone to travel in, evident from the nice sun and cool wind. While the couples of Nevermore decided to plan for October 3rd, as their National Boyfriend Day celebration, Eugene planned today for bug-catching. Earlier this week, he saw a few purple dragonflies he needed to inspect, and he couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
Stopping his doom-scrolling on his phone over the dragonflies, Eugene felt ready enough to track them down. He already knew everything beforehand, but a google search rabbit hole never failed to make him feel more confident. Eugene strapped on his backpack, checking himself out in the mirror for a second to see if he had everything he needed, before he realized the closet door behind him was slightly open.
Creepy, it was creepy. He definitely left that closet door closed before. Right?
Eugene peered at the closet door behind him, from the mirror, and turned around to close it. However, when he reached in an attempt to, a sudden hand grabbed him from the depths of the closet.
“AGHH!” Eugene screamed, immediately falling back and taking his captor with him in the process.
He laid on the ground, stunned. His glasses were knocked off during the entire ordeal, and he couldn't clearly see the figure toppling over him. But he could already infer from who it was, from their stature and black-white striped sweater.
“Got you!” Pugsley said, with a laugh. From the sound of his laugh, it was as if he heard the funniest joke of his life, which was funny in of itself, considering Eugene felt quite the opposite.
“Pugsley, do you ever know when to quit it?” Eugene angrily declared, trying to calm his beating heart. Although, he couldn’t decide if the reason his heart was beating quickly was due to the adrenaline or the fact Pugsley was on top of him.
Breathe, in and out, c’mon Eugene, get a freaking hold of yourself, it’s just Pugsley, it’s JUST Pugsley.
“Get off NOW, quit the pranks.” Eugene announced, hoping Pugsley would listen to the last part, knowing he wouldn’t.
“I can’t quit you.” Pugsley grinned, quickly releasing his hold on Eugene and getting off of him.
“Cheesy, that’s what you are.” Eugene said whilst rolling his eyes, laying on the ground. Being pranked by Pugsley constantly made you develop a tolerance to shock, it was unnerving. But, something in the way Pugsley said I can’t quit you, made Eugene’s heart do loops and flutter in his chest.
“Then I guess you’re the mice running to me.” Pugsley teased, his voice seemingly closer now.
Did Pugsley ever understand how he teased Eugene was like flirting? Or was he too oblivious to teasing Eugene, he didn’t even understand what was romantic or not anymore?
Before Eugene could comment on his stupid pun, his hands felt the familiar plastic frame of his glasses and immediately he wore them. He blinked a few times, readjusting his vision. He clearly saw Pugsley, grinning ear to ear, standing over him with an outstretched hand.
“Why do you do this?” Eugene said with a sigh, ignoring Pugsley’s hand, using his elbow to prop himself up. He tried to stand on his own, but Pugsley was quicker, immediately tending to him.
“Because seeing you frightened is as enjoyable as any form of torture.” Pugsley grinned, helping Eugene up, watching him struggle to stand on his own. “Are you… hurt?” He said, a little softer, apologetic and sincere.
Eugene’s heartstrings tugged at the tone of Pugsley’s voice.
But before Eugene could answer his question, Pugsley grabbed the sleeves of Eugene’s sweater and started to look around his body for any damage. He couldn't feel Pugsley's cold hands through his sweater but knowing they were on his body carefully inspecting him, was more than enough to for him to flush.
“No, it was just a small fall. Don’t worry about it, sheesh.” Eugene said in a lighter manner, trying to conceal the grin and flush he had on his face. “Stop trying to inspect me like I’m a new dynamite or whatever it is you like.” He said, pushing Pugsley away lightly, dusting himself off.
“Oh, okay. What were you doing anyways?” Pugsley asked, curious about the gear around Eugene. He pointed at the gear Eugene had on his backpack.
“I was ATTEMPTING to leave and go bug-hunting, before YOU spooked me half to death. But, now I’m leaving, so it's just a delay.” Eugene said accusingly, turning to leave the dorm. In the next few seconds he was out the doorway when suddenly, Pugsley appeared in his vision right next to him.
“Wait! I want to come with you.” Pugsley excitedly said, following.
“No, because you’re not allowed to eat ANY of the bugs I catch on this trip, they’re my pets, not your SNACKS.” Eugene said with an eye roll, trying to quicken his pace.
“Wait, wait, I don’t want to–I mean, yeah that’s a bonus, if you’d let me. BUT I have better plans.” Pugsley said, keeping his grin wide.
Eugene stopped dead in his tracks, annoyed he was already delayed. “If you’re attempting to revive another zombie I’d prefer not to be involved THIS time, or if you’re attempting to blow up a WHOLE HOUSE like you did during the summer, I’d rather not. Or if y-”
“NO! Just… let me come with. I won’t bug you. Seriously. No explosions, violence or death of any kind to any person or bug. Promise.” Pugsley pleaded, his eyes shining sincerity and excitement.
Why did Pugsley always have to plead with his eyes? And why did Eugene always feel inclined to fold at the sight of them?
“Y’know what? Fine. Just, don’t interrupt my bug-catching then, and DON’T run rampant near me, you’ll spook them. Follow me.” Eugene said begrudgingly, starting to walk again quickly.
Pugsley adamantly followed, speeding up quicker to match Eugene’s pace, as both of the boys walked to the outside of Nevermore.
––----
“Ohh… look over there! Carrot bugs!”
Eugene swerved his head to the direction Pugsley’s finger pointed at. It was an abandoned wooden structure with plenty of holes in them, as if small bugs burrowed around them and had their nest all set up there.
“You mean… termites? They’re not even orange enough to be a carrot.” Eugene said, confused.
“No, duh. They taste like carrots, kinda minty too...” Pugsley explained, running to the termite structure.
“You’re weird, really weird.” Eugene muttered under his breath. “Don’t eat those termites, leave them alone! I’ll let you eat SOMETHING later, if you manage to not slaughter this forest’s ecosystem by eating everything in it.”
Pugsley gave a puzzled expression, running back to Eugene instead of the structure.
“I promised you, I wouldn’t eat any of your bugs. I wouldn’t lie.” Pugsley said, resolute and with a serious face. “You trust me, right?”
Eugene sighed, “Yes. I trust you, just… stay away from creepy places.” He didn’t doubt it for a second anyways, so why was Pugsley acting like this was a marriage vow?
Whatever, he thought to himself as he continued to inspect the area, the thick forest around him providing a challenge to his follow to the sound of water. He knew dragonflies commonly laid around freshwater areas, such as ponds or lakes. Nevermore held a few, so it was only a matter of time before he would find those purple dragonflies.
Eugene quieted, hearing a trickling of water on his right, through the cascades of trees. He quickly walked to the sound, checking underneath his feet once in a while for any other forest animal that could have snapped up and bit him.
Then, he abruptly stopped, turning his heel toward the pond in front of him. He found the purple dragonflies.
Eugene set down his backpack quietly, revealing a glass jar from inside. He reached for his inner Swarmer instinct, trying to feel for the buzzing life of the dragonflies. He was quiet, precise and felt for the same control he would have on his bees. The control swirled invisibly around his fingertips, and he could feel himself in command with the dragonflies.
Quickly, he moved them into his glass jar, and stored them. Easy, at this rate, he’d have the entire insect diversity of Nevermore in the palm of his hand.
But he noticed… where was Pugsley? Wasn’t he following him earlier?
Eugene put back on his backpack, slightly concerned now. He looked around the clearing around him, and it wasn’t hard to realize, it was too quiet. Too quiet, too unlike Pugsley, I mean, he was constantly loud and never knew when to stop snapping up bear traps.
“PUGS? Pugsley? Where are you? I got what I needed!” Eugene called out, trying to detect Pugsley in the mess of the forest around him. No answer came for a moment, and Eugene started to worry for the worst in that short moment.
What if he got kidnapped again? Seriously, there’s no–
“Eugene!”
A familiar voice called back in delight, and he perked his head up toward the sound, to his left. Pugsley ran towards Eugene, rushing down the hill towards him and his pond. Eugene sighed a breath of relief, with an unintentional smile at his appearance, because he was thankful Pugsley was alright. But… he was hiding something behind his back.
“What are you hiding?” Eugene said in a curious tone. Then changed to an accusing tone, "If it’s another undead–”
“Don’t worry about it, let’s just keep going. You first.” Pugsley said, grinning all too hard for it to be NOT suspicious.
He ran behind Eugene, purposely at least six steps paced behind. Eugene sighed as he followed back his path from the pond to Nevermore. He wanted to know what Pugsley was up to, it was odd for Pugsley to ever keep secrets from Eugene, but he refrained with a stout expression.
Whatever Pugsley wanted to tell him, he’d tell him, and he’d… hopefully be delighted to know.
––----
It was particularly dark now in their dorm, but Eugene wasn’t ready to sleep.
The dragonflies fluttered in their enclosure, jumping from a small wooden log, to a leaf. The water beneath them stilled, as he carefully watched them sitting on the floor. He needed live insects for his research, he’d definitely return them back to the wild after anyways. Migration was soon for these creatures, and he couldn’t keep them from Mother Nature’s calling.
“You know what tomorrow is?” Pugsley asked curiously to see if Eugene knew. He scooted closer to Eugene, sitting more comfortably.
“Tomorrow…? October 3rd, you know as well as I do what tomorrow is.” Eugene said, rolling his eyes.
Why was Pugsley asking him about National Boyfriend Day? Did he even know, or did he simply want the date? It’s not relevant to either of them, they didn’t have a partner… as much as Eugene wanted one. But a small voice crept from Eugene’s mind reasoning how, realistically, he wouldn’t have minded if Pugsley were to ask him to be his–
“So, I did in fact… NOT eat a single one of your pets during our entire journey. And, I also, didn’t bug you.” Pugsley said with a grin, interrupting Eugene’s stream of thoughts.
“Ah… okay?” Eugene said with a confused look. “Congrats, woohoo?”
“That means… you gotta give me whatever you promised.” Pugsley added on, trying to spark a reminder of Eugene’s earlier statement.
Oh, he’d forgotten. It was honestly more of a spontaneous reward, he didn’t really think about it. He did say he would give something for Pugsley to eat later, as long as he listened.
“Oh… right. Sure. Let me find them.” Eugene nodded, sitting up and walked to one of his enclosures. He unfolded the top of the enclosure, and picked out two roaches, holding them in the palm of his right hand.
Pugsley laid on the floor and reached out to take them, but Eugene held them firmly in his hand, out of reach of Pugsley’s. Eugene had a chance now.
“What are you hiding from me? Tell me.” Eugene insisted, keeping the roaches as hostages. He backed away unconsciously from Pugsley, as Pugsley inched toward him from the floor.
Pugsley cracked a smile, amused. “Why are you so curious?”
“You don’t usually keep secrets from me, and you disappeared without notice earlier. Tell me.” Eugene said furrowing his eyebrows, standing his ground.
“Are you… mad at me?” Pugsley said, confused and slightly hurt.
Eugene pushed back a sigh, well, no, that wasn’t Eugene’s intention, nor was he mad at him. He just wanted to know what Pugsley was–
Then, Pugsley stopped whatever Eugene was going to say next and immediately held onto Eugene’s leg. He wrapped his arms around Eugene’s leg and rested his head on Eugene’s waist, far too intimately. Eugene could feel every part of his body scream, but he was too stunned to move away from Pugsley leaning into his waist.
“I’m sorry! You’ll know by tomorrow.” Pugsley pleaded, his eyes widening. “Promise!”
Eugene felt paralyzed, unable to process anything he said. His cheeks instantly grew hot; he could tell how embarrassingly flushed he was at that moment. Pugsley's face looked so innocent for once, it was odd for such a dark boy. But what was odder was how much Eugene wanted to tread his fingers over Pugsley's face; he wished he could have cupped Pugsley's face with his hands.
Woah. WOAH. Wait, move, move, say something Eugene.
“Yeah, whatever.” Eugene muttered, banishing every thought he had of Pugsley. He'd analyze Pugsley's hypnotizing eyes another time, he told himself. He shoved the bugs from his right hand into Pugsley’s face. “Take them, just take them, now!”
Pugsley grinned, pleasant with the fact Eugene wasn't mad at him. He stopped holding onto Eugene and gratefully took the roaches with a crunch. Immediately, Eugene walked to the bathroom quickly, and closing the door, he stared at the mirror.
Don’t freak out, stop freaking out, that’s your roommate, who cares? He was doing this to take the bugs off of you, no other reason–why are you talking to yourself?
Eugene breathed in and out, watching the blush from his face slowly dissipate in the mirror. He washed his face under cold water for a few minutes and stepped out to head to bed. He didn’t look at Pugsley nor pay attention to anything he could have possibly been doing, taking off his glasses and shutting his eyes immediately.
There was no time for anything, nothing but sleep.
Sleep would keep him unconscious long enough, so he didn’t have to think about how much he liked the feeling of Pugsley holding him. Holding his waist, being close to him… like a boyfriend. It was unnerving how such a cold boy could put Eugene to such a warm state, was this in thermodynamics?
Because if it was, Eugene didn’t know this new law, nor did he know what Pugsley was up to the next day.
––----
It was bright, something bright awoke Eugene. It was the sun’s rays from their dorms’ window, pointing directly at him. He rubbed his eyes, immediately reaching for his glasses. Readjusting the glasses on his face, he blinked and realized something was off.
Where… was Pugsley?
Pugsley wasn’t there on his bed, nor was there any trace of him he could infer. Usually, he’d sleep in on Fridays, so this was odd. There was a single note on Eugene’s nightstand though, next to his previously placed glasses.
“Pugsley is outside the dorm’s door. Open it if you want to see him again.”
Huh.
Wait. That sounded… threatening. And ominous… and oh my gosh. If you want to see him again? Did Pugsley get kidnapped this time, for real? Not kidnapped during his adventure for dragonflies, but under his own awareness when he was SLEEPING?
Eugene immediately shot up from his own bed, pulling the blankets off his bed and quickly ran to the door. There was no time to change out of his pajamas, or dismiss the fact his hair was in a curled mess. He needed to find Pugsley–
Then, when he turned the doorknob, a flash of orange, yellow, green and all sorts of colors in the form of a bouquet blocked him. He immediately jumped back, confused, wait why are there flowers in his face?
“Surprise! Happy Friend Day!” Pugsley said cheerily, behind the bouquet of flowers. He shoved the bouquet into Eugene’s hands, and Eugene automatically took them. But before Eugene could even process what to say, Pugsley hugged him. He unknowingly held him too intimately, and his hands rested by Eugene’s waist. Eugene could feel his heart stop, for real this time.
Speak, Eugene, don't focus on how much you like the way Pugsley is holding onto you right now, SPEAK.
“National… what day?” Eugene said, flushing immediately, unable to process everything that just happened. But his instincts came over him, and he pushed off Pugsley, overwhelmed by his sudden touch.
“National Friend Day? Enid told me to surprise you with flowers, because that’s what today was supposed to be for, duh.” Pugsley said, slightly taken back by the sudden push. He stepped back from Eugene, amused by how red Eugene was.
“Pugsley. Today isn’t– today is National BOYFRIENDS day.” Eugene said, stuttering and clutching the bouquet with his right hand.
“Oh. Well, we’re friends who are boys right?” Pugsley said, confused. “So, I guess you could say, we’re boyfriends!”
“NO! No–that’s–” Eugene started trying to contain his flush, at the idea of them genuinely together. He looked away from Pugsley, burying his head in his other hand.
Enid set HIM UP. She tricked Pugsley to get him to say these outrageous things. To lead Pugsley to believe they were... boyfriends. And the same small voice whispered louder this time. He was so unnerved by how much he didn’t mind the label, by how much he considered them together and would find it… alright.
“I thought you were kidnapped again?!” Eugene fretted, no longer trying to think of them together, looking at Pugsley now. “The note–the– the note on my nightstand–”
“Kidnapped? I wrote it for you, so you could come outside! I didn’t want you cooped up in your dorm for the next ten or twenty minutes, as I sat outside waiting.” Pugsley said, confused.
“You– the way you wrote it–” Eugene started, trying to breathe in and out. Pugsley had no clue of how badly worded the note sounds, and Eugene didn’t know whether he was having an asthma attack or felt himself exploding from disbelief.
“Y’know what… whatever.” He said with a final sigh of acknowledgement, putting down the bouquet onto the floor. “Thanks… Pugs. For the flowers. Where did you get them?”
Pugsley grinned with delight, “Y’know the thing I couldn’t tell you about yesterday? While you were searching for bugs, I was picking flowers.”
It started to click together in Eugene’s mind how everything went down. Why Pugsley disappeared mysteriously, why Pugsley refused to tell him anything. It wasn’t some secret or a lack of trust between the two, it was a surprise of flowers for him.
“Happy National Boyfriend Day!” Pugsley cheered, hugging Eugene again, then his hands accidentally resting on Eugene’s waist again.
But Eugene didn’t push him back this time, he just softly embraced him back.
He took in how cold Pugsley felt, even from beneath the sweater he wore. And how Pugsley smelled like pollen, not ashes for once. He took in the embrace Pugsley held him in, how safe he felt in his hold.
“Happy National Boyfriend Day.” Eugene said with a sigh, his distressed smile turning softer.
He wished he could have kissed him, to really call Pugsley his boyfriend. But this would suffice for now.
“Thanks for being my… boyfriend.”