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”You go too fast for me Ethan.”
With that, Andy turned around and started walking away, their thoughts racing. What was happening right now? Ethan… liked them? Since when?
Not very long ago they had both despised each other. Andy still wasn’t even entirely sure how to feel about their blossoming friendship. After everything with the sculck and a hell of a lot of secrets, it had felt relieving to finally just… relax and put the all the hatred behind them and just accept that Ethan wasn’t actually a terrible person. They had actually really enjoyed his presence recently. Ethan seemed to have enjoyed it too, despite how they had both felt towards each other just a few months ago. Andy had even told him the story about the house and their magic scars. Which had been really nerve-wracking to do.
At once they stopped in their tracks. That confession must have taken so much courage for Ethan. Probably even more than telling the story about that house. Oh, now they felt bad for just walking away. Although they did still stand by their initial response. This was going awfully fast.
But it wasn’t like Andy felt nothing towards him….
They had just reached the top of the hill when they turned around and started walking back towards Ethan. He was still standing by the boat in the water, looking like he was trying really hard to fight back tears. The sight broke Andy’s heart a little.
Before they knew it, they were back down by the water.
Ethan had in the past minutes turned around and was standing with his back to Andy now and therefore hadn’t noticed that they had come back. At that moment, Ethan started moving towards the boat, seemingly having decided to return home. Last chance for Andy to decide what to do.
“Wait.”
Andy hadn’t even noticed they’d decided to say it before it had already been said. Okay, no turning back now-
Ethan startled, and turned around so fast that he almost tripped over his own feet.
“Wha- You came back?” He asked, in the smallest voice Andy had ever heard on him. It broke their heart just a little more.
“Yeah. I-“
What were they even going to say? How were they going to explain how complicated their thoughts and feelings were at the moment? They could barely identify them themselves. Andy needed to buy some time somehow…
“Can we talk? Back at mine?” They replied. It seemed like a good way to gain some time to gather their thoughts on the walk back to their house.
Ethan looked very surprised, and Andy wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about the slight hope they could see making its way into Ethan’s eyes. That would be a concern for later though. For now, they needed to try to figure out what they were actually going to do when they made it home.
“Yes. Yeah. Yeah, of course we can. Uhm let me just grab my stuff that I have in the boat.” He replied, stumbling a little over his words. Andy just nodded and waited for Ethan to gather his things. When Ethan was ready to go, they started walking. As they were descending up the hill, Ethan started mindlessly whistling a melody.
A very beautiful melody, Andy couldn’t help but think, before subtly shaking their head to clear that thought and get back to planning what to do.
Apart from Ethan’s quiet whistling, the whole walk was spent in silence. Andy could feel a tension between them that they hadn’t felt in a while. They really didn’t like the fact that it was back. This needed to be fixed.
Before they knew it, Ethan and Andy were standing in front of Andy’s house in the middle of the forest. They silently went inside where Koda immediately went to sleep. He must be tired from the Christmas event.
Andy put their stuff down and gestured for Ethan to do the same. While Ethan was busy with that, they looked around the dark house. Walking over to turn on the light, they spotted Cheese sleeping on a bed. The bed Ethan had slept on during the sleepover they’d had, not so long ago.
The memory of that just made Andy a little sad now though. This situation was not very fun.
“I’m just gonna feed Cheese real quick, then we can talk. You are welcome to sit down wherever.” Andy turned around and told Ethan, who nodded and went to take a seat at the table. Where they had had breakfast together that one morning….
Once again Andy had to shake the thought away. Focus on the task at hand. Feed Cheese. Then… somehow fix this situation.
When Cheese had been fed, Andy wasn’t able to stall any longer without it becoming really obvious that they were stalling. They sighed and walked over to sit down across from Ethan.
He looked up at them with a mix of hope and apprehension in his expression.
When he realized that Andy didn’t seem to be starting this conversation Ethan said
“So… You wanted to talk?”
Andy was rather grateful to Ethan for having broken the ice, because they had really been struggling with how to start this conversation. They had a general gist of what they wanted to say but hadn’t quite gotten to the ‘starting the conversation’ part in their planning.
“Yeah. I did…” Why was it so hard to say something substantial?
For every second that passed without Andy saying anything else, the look of hope in Ethan’s eyes seemed to be slowly slipping away, and dread with a tinge of sadness filling them instead.
That was the final straw for words to just start spilling out of Andy. They told him everything. Everything from how they were just so confused about everything since they stopped hating each other, to how they just felt like everything was going so fast. Not to mention all that had been going on with Rachel and family stuff recently. It was all just a lot.
Every single thought they’d had about this entire situation just… came out. That definitely hadn’t been part of the plan, but maybe it was for the better to just lay all the cards on the table, and the truth to be out in the open.
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel anything for you too. Actually, I think I might have feelings for you too. I just need some time to process.” They took a break from talking to catch their breath.
“And to get used to the idea of not hating your guts.” They finished off.
Ethan, whose facial expressions had been going through every single emotion imaginable, during the explanation, burst out laughing at the ending. Andy couldn’t help but join in. How couldn’t they. Ethan finally looking happy again, made them feel happy too.
When Ethan had calmed down, he finally replied with a smile on his face
“Okay. I respect that. Thank you so much for explaining it. I can’t begin to describe how much I appreciate it.”
Not exactly the answer Andy had been expecting, but they were very happy with that. They smiled at Ethan and walked around the table to hug him.
As Andy pulled back, Ethan looked pleased but slightly confused. Andy didn’t like the confusion part. Had they really been that reserved towards him that a hug was such a big shock?
“You just seemed like you really needed a hug.”
Now it was Ethan’s turn to smile.
Andy could feel themselves starting to get lost in how pretty he looked when he smiled, but they dismissed those thoughts for later and got up, offering a hand to Ethan, which he happily accepted.
Andy looked out the window where it was pitch black outside.
“It has gotten really dark. Do you want to sleep here? You can have the same bed as last time. I think Cheese missed you.” They asked, gesturing to the bed where Cheese had gone to sleep again after eating his food.
Ethan looked over at Cheese with a fond look on his face, before turning back to Andy, smiling brightly at them.
“I would love to.”
-A few weeks later -
“Andy? Have you seen my bag?” Ethan yelled from the hallway. Andy, who had been packing their own bag, looked around the bedroom to see if Ethan’s bag was in there. As they scanned the room, they noticed a green piece of fabric peeking out from under the bed. They went over and pulled it out.
Of course Ethan’s bag had somehow ended up under the bed.
“Yeah, I have it here! It was under the bed!” They yelled back, and moments later they heard footsteps approaching the door. Ethan was stood in the doorway when he asked, “How in the world did it end up there?”
Andy shrugged and started walking towards him, after they had hoisted their own bag onto their shoulders.
“No idea, my love. But I’m honestly not surprised” They replied with a small laugh before handing the bag to Ethan and kissing his cheek before continuing towards the front door.
“Come on! I don’t wanna be late to Desca’s party!” They yelled when Ethan didn’t follow. Seconds later Ethan was walking to the door where he quickly pulled on his boots and jackets. When Ethan stood up, ready to leave, Andy linked their hands together and opened the door.
And they walked through the forest towards Giredale, hands intertwined between them.