Chapter Text
“Wait up!” Pik called.
Jai glanced over his shoulder but didn’t slow down.
“If we miss this bus, we’re stuck here for an hour.”
Rainwater splashed beneath Jai’s trainers as he cut across the pavement. Pik tried to keep pace, but Jai was always a few steps ahead, close enough to reach, yet somehow never close enough to catch.
They both reached the bus stop, out of breath from all the running, only to find out the bus was delayed.
“Are you serious?” Jai groaned.
He bent over, hands on his knees, staring at the empty road as if the bus might appear out of pity.
“One hour,” Pik said. “All that running for nothing.”
“Not for nothing. I got cardio.”
“You ran for thirty seconds.”
“Thirty very intense seconds.”
Pik laughed. Jai always had a way of making even the most miserable situations feel lighter. Maybe that was part of the problem.
The rain continued to fall outside the shelter.
“Anyway,” Jai said, pulling out his phone. “I need your help.”
Pik already knew where this was going. Whenever Jai needed advice, it was never about school, work, or family. It was always about someone.
“What did you do this time?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“That sounds like something someone says after doing something.”
Jai rolled his eyes.
“There’s this girl.”
Of course there was.
“Go on.”
Jai smiled to himself.
“It’s different this time.”
“You said that last time.”
“And the time before that,” Pik added.
Jai ignored him.
“No, seriously. She’s funny.”
“They always start funny.”
“I’m being serious.”
“So am I.”
Jai rolled his eyes.
“She laughs at my jokes.”
“Everyone laughs at your jokes.”
“That is objectively untrue.”
Pik snorted.
“Fine. What else?”
Jai looked down at his phone for a second, smiling at something on the screen.
That made Pik’s chest ache.
“I don’t know,” Jai admitted. “I just like talking to her.”
That one hurt more that all the rest. Not because it was special but because it wasn’t. Talking had been Jai’s favourite thing about the people he liked, and Pik had spent years talking to him.
“Do you think she likes me back?” Jai asked.
“I think she wouldn’t still be talking to you if she didn’t.”
“See, that’s why I ask you.”
“Because I tell you what you want to hear?”
“No.” Jai nudged his shoulder. “Because you’re smart.”
Pik looked away before Jai could notice how much that affected him.
“You should ask her out.”
“Yeah?”
Yeah.”
Jai smiled.
It was the same smile that made saying no impossible.
“You’re seriously the best.” Jai said as he proceeded to give Pik a side hug, squeezing him tightly and pressing his cheek against Pik’s.
Pik knew whenever Jai spoke affectionately, it was never meant the way Pik wished he was.
Jai held on for a second longer than necessary. Pik hated that he noticed things like that. Hated that a simple hug could stay with him for weeks.
When Jai finally pulled away, there was something unreadable in his expression.
“Honestly,” Jai said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
The words settled heavily between them.
“Probably make worse decisions.”
Jai laughed.
“That’s true.”
The joke landed, but something about it hurt anyway.
The words were there, ready to leave his mouth.
Three words.
Three stupid words that had followed him for months, years maybe. Words he had buried beneath jokes, advice, late-night conversations, and every “I’m happy for you” he had ever said.
Jai was looking at him, so sweetly, like he always does. Waiting patiently for what Pik has to say to him. He always listens to Pik the most.
That was the worst part.
Jai listened.
Whenever everyone else talked over him, Jai listened. Whenever Pik had a bad day, Jai listened. Whenever he rambled about something nobody else cared about, Jai listened.
Jai always listened. Just never to the things Pik truly wanted to say.
The rain tapped against the shelter around them. The bus stop felt strangely quiet. For a moment, it felt like the whole world was waiting for Pik to speak.
His heart was beating so hard it almost hurt. Mybe this was it. Maybe he was tired of pretending. Maybe he was tired of being the friend giving relationship advice. Tired of hearing about every girl or boy Jai liked. Tired of wondering what would happen if just once, Jai looked at him the way he looked at them.
He imagined saying it. Just three words.
Nothing would change about them. They would still be standing at the same bus stop. The rain would still be falling. Jai would still be looking at him.
And yet everything would change. Because Jai would know. Because Pik wouldn’t have to carry it anymore. Because for one brief moment, he could be honest.
When Pik still didn’t speak, Jai decided to talk.
“I really don’t want to mess this up with her.”
The words hit harder than they should have, like a door quietly closing. A reminder that this moment never belonged to Pik in the first place.
Jai trusted him. Jai had spent the last hour talking about someone he liked, asking for advice, asking for reassurance. Confessing now would be selfish.
Maybe it wasn’t, maybe he deserved to be honest. But looking at Jai, nervous and hopeful and terrified of getting hurt, Pik couldn’t do it.
Not to him.
Never to him.
He swallowed his confession.
The words tasted bitter going down.
“I hope this time, you found someone you truly love.” Is all Pik could say. He meant it. He wanted Jai to be happy with someone, even if it wasn’t him. He just hopes Jai will stop being a player.
For a second, something flickered across Jai’s face. Guilt or maybe regret. Pik couldn’t tell.
His smile faded.
“Yeah,” Jai said quietly.
The bus finally arrived.
“Let’s go.”
“Oh, I remembered I have something I need to do, I will get a later bus.”
Jai frowned.
“What? We were running through the rain for this bus.”
Pik only shrugged.
Neither of them mentioned that the next bus wouldn’t come for another hour.
And with that Jai got on the bus alone, leaving Pik standing beneath the shelter. He sat by the window but never looked back. If he did, he might have heard the words he already knew were coming.
As for Pik, he was alone at the bus stop, realising he has spent his time helping his crush pursue someone else.
The taillights of the bus disappeared into the rain.
Maybe that was the tragedy of them.
Jai had always been good at running. Running for busses. Running through rain. Running from awkward conversations and difficult truths.
And Pik had always been a little slower, not because he couldn’t run, but because some things couldn’t be outrun.
Least of all his feelings.
And no matter how fast he moved, he never quite managed to catch up to Jai.