Work Text:
Jeric's hand twitched slightly on his pen, the ink bleeding through the paper of his notebook. The teacher droned on about a topic he wasn't really listening to, since his mind was elsewhere.
Adam, specifically.
The teacher hadn't placed the two too far apart, but they weren't sitting together. Instead, the athlete was sitting next to Eniego and Alexis, two of Jeric's other classmates. He didn't care. Why would he? They were just friends after all.
But, he couldn't help getting distracted, and fixing his gaze on the three boys. He watched as Adam sat close to Eniego, his arm over the boy's shoulder, talking to him playfully. The two laughed about a joke Jeric didn't quite catch.
His gaze narrowed, before he forced himself to look back at the board. But, even when he did, the writing seemed to blur and contort, and he found himself staring at Adam once again.
Adam was now finished with his notes, something Jeric now remembered he had to do, or else Sir Karl— the advisor of his class and also the one teaching math— would be pissed. But, every time he tried to focus, he always found his eyes drifting back to the two men. The way Adam seemed so.. Comfortable. The way he smiled whenever Eniego said something.
And Jeric hated to admit it, but something hot and ugly pricked against his chest, begging to escape. He tried to push the feeling down, but there was no denying it. He was jealous. As he stared with furrowed brows, someone cleared their throat above him.
"Jeric." Fuck. The student jumped slightly, before looking at the teacher looming over him. He felt all eyes land on him, and felt a sting of embarrassment that Adam was seeing him get humiliated in front of the entire class.
"Hindi ka na nga hindi natapos sa mga notes... nakatitig ka pa sa kung sino man sa likuran mo sa buong oras ng klase." Whispers started to emerge from the students around, names of different girls being listed in the gossip as they murmured about who Jeric must've been staring at. He felt a familiar sense of shame drift through him, knowing that he wasn't interested in any of them.
"A-ah, hindi po sir, I just.. Got distracted at something." He was technically telling the truth, as the math teacher raised an eyebrow, but didn't push further.
"Itapos mo na yung notes before recess. " The teacher warned before walking back to the board. His cheeks heated up in embarrassment, before he swallowed hard, and continued writing where he left off. His hand writing was quick, but didn't exactly look pretty.
He didn't intend for it to be anything but fast anyways, and he finished the notes in a few minutes. And, right on cue, the lunch bell rang, and the teacher ordered everyone to get in line to go outside. Jeric grabbed his lunch bag and tumbler, before getting in line behind the man he'd been thinking of all period.
Jeric swallowed hard, clutching the lunch box tightly to his chest. He tried to not touch him when the line started to move, afraid that if the athlete would notice him, he'd be disgusted at the fact his best friend was acting this way.
He was lost in thought, not paying much attention to the excited voices around him, getting ready to eat and talking about usual highschool drama. He was off balance, a single push would probably send him face-first into the marble of the classroom floor.
Which is why, when the line finally progressed outside, a careless bump of a classmate overjoyed to leave to the canteen sent him straight into Adam. He yelped like a stereotypical anime girl, and, by instinct to NOT break his nose, he grabbed Adam by the waist, steadying himself on his shoulder.
A warm feeling traveled up his skin, right to the tips of his ears as the line broke, students going about to different places to take their lunch, while he and his crush best FRIEND were still standing in the same spot. His arms were stiff around Adam's waist, his face burning.
The scent of him was incredibly apparent now that he was near. He felt something weird shift in his body, but he tried his best to ignore it, quickly pulling away, face still red.
Only then did the athlete finally face him. He was hot decent looking, a smirk forming on his lips as he let out a chuckle. "Pre, parang babae ka, eh?"
Jeric sighed shakily, but he chuckled as well, trying to downplay the way he felt his heart leap to his throat. "Sorry na, Pre. Do you wanna eat lunch together?" He asked, already half knowing the answer.
Adam smirk widened, but he nodded yes, walking to his side, putting his arm on Jeric's shoulders. They talked on the way to the benches where they usually ate, Adam teasing the other boy, and leading to his exasperated sighs and pouts.
The two finally reached the benches after what was probably just a minute, but felt like an hour. The two sat side by side, Jeric pulled his lunch box out of his bag and onto the table Infront of him, whilst Adam watched quietly. Just right about when he picked up his utensils, Adam scooped them right out of his hands.
His mouth was halfway-opened to say something along the lines of "What the hell are you doing??" — but he was cut short when Adam pressed a spoon to his lips, a grin plastered on his stupidly charming face. "Say ah!"
Jeric felt his heart leap, his mouth opening momentarily as he considered it, but he regained his senses. "What if someone sees us? This feels so wrong. We're just friends." The thought made him pull away, he shifted away uncomfortably, looking away at a random leaf in the distance.
In the edges of his peripheral vision, he saw a look of what seemed to be confusion, before.. disappointment? No, he must be imagining things. He didn't know what to say, or do. How would he respond to an something like that??
After an awkward while of silence, Adam broke it with a tone that sounded like it was trying to be funny. It failed spectacularly, Jeric knew him too well to know when he was just faking. "Haha.." He let out a dry chuckle that sounded it took force to let out. "Joke lang." Jeric didn't respond.
He felt weird, he was a guy. A man. Men wouldn't— shouldn't do this. He looked anywhere but where his friend was sitting. A empty water bottle thrown aside haphazardly, a boy and a girl holding hands...
Sometimes, Jeric wished Adam were a girl.
So it wouldn't be wrong to feel this way about him.
The silence stretched on, before the sound of him placing the utensils down and the shuffle of his pants as he stood up made Jeric suddenly snap his head back up, the sheer panic of the gesture exposing more than he wants to show.
"Where are you going?" He said, trying to hide the slight tremor in his voice. He felt his hands start to tremble, hoping that he was just going to the bathroom—
"I need to go somewhere," Adam replied, immediately crushing all hope Jeric had. He felt a sudden, compulsive urge to reach out and beg him not to. To beg him to stay and that he was sorry for making it weird—but he stayed silent, frozen between want and what was right. What he was doing WAS right.
Adam took the silence as acceptance.
He moved between the small space of the table and bench, before leaving in a haste. Jeric's eyes fixed on the retreating figure of his best friend, and an overwhelming sense of grief crashed over him. His shoulders slumped, and he couldn't bring himself to eat. The lingering scent of his best friend made the regret sting more.
"if only—" he thought. " if only I hadn't made it weird."
He stayed in that slumped position for a long time, losing his appetite. The sounds of students playing, and having fun just nearby, seemed to mock his current mood. He scraped at the still-full Tupperware, the food looking disgusting. He couldn't bring himself to eat.
When the lunch bell rang, Jeric only stood up and packed his things. He felt like he was on autopilot, dragging himself to the classroom. He knew he was going to get scolded for being late, but he couldn't bring himself to quicken his pace.
When he got in line— similar to the line before recess— he deliberately stood far away from his "friend". The line; being arranged from shortest to tallest, he decided to stand on the tips of his toes to avoid having to face another interaction he'd mess up. His toes ached after 4 minutes, but he stayed in that position.
When the door to the classroom opened, he deliberately waited for his... classmate, to go to his seat first. He then made himself deliberately smaller, trying to avoid the piercing gaze of the other— person. Yes, person.
He felt disgusted with himself. He never felt this way with any other girl in his section before. Why only with his best FRIEND did he feel like this?
Jeric needed to distance himself from Adam, and it would start tomorrow morning.