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"DANIEL SIT YOUR BUTT down and stop being dramatic." eben glared at the blonde sitting besides him, shoving a pile of uno cards into his hands.
"no, that's so unfair!" the boy protested, "you guys cannot all pull plus 4's on me! that's" the boy scrambled for the right words, "that's bigoted!"
"bigoted? really?" jonah raised an eyebrow at the whining blonde, "do you even know what that word means?"
"yes. it means what you guys are doing to me right now and i am so not here for it." daniel grumbled.
in the past months or so since daniel had arrived, the blonde had been fitting in, perfectly. he'd found his spot in the friend group, the blonde never failing to make a visit in their daily library visits, their weekly game days, their random lunch dates. the blonde was there for all of it, wanted for all of them.
his and eben's bond got closer as they commonly stayed up well past 5 am watching movies and writing silly lyrics to use in songs they might write someday. he'd manage to become somewhat of an older brother to jack and zach, never failing to rub it in jack's face, the small but there, age gap between the two. zach was as persistent and annoying as a little brother but daniel couldn't say he didn't love that about him. him and jonah became best friends over night, the two always standing off to the side as they watched jack and zach manage to draw eben and corbyn into their petty arguments.
speaking of corbyn ... the brunette never left his mind.
like ever.
he was all that filled his thoughts. corbyn would be the first thing he thought about in the morning, the last thing he thought about at night, the only thing he thought about during the day, the common thing distracting him from his duties. it was driving him absolutely insane, but he wouldn't do a single thing to change it.
him and corbyn had formed a bond easily stronger than any of daniel's in the group. they hung out after class, every single day. on the days the boys didn't have a class, they'd meet up for coffee or ice cream when they had a free period. when the duo didn't have anything to do in the evening, they'd stay up well into the late hours of the night facetiming one another.
daniel could tell he was falling, and he was falling hard.
"daniel, c'mon. play your cards right, you can bounce right back in." corbyn tried cheering the boy up, nudging his foot underneath the table.
"i shouldn't have to play my cards right. i shouldn't be ambushed like this. it's very oppressive. i'm very off board." the boy whined, resting his head on corbyn's shoulder, "they're being mean to me, c."
"you poor baby." the brunette cooed, patting daniel's cheek patronizingly.
daniel shot up, gently pushing the boy away, "i don't deserve this."
"you do." zach argued, a teasing smirk plastered on his face.
"leave me alone, zachary." daniel grumbled. "i don't wanna play anymore."
"absolutely not, no quitting for you just because you know you lost, you big baby." jonah scolded, "it's a game, d."
"this game," daniel gestured to the cards scattered around the table, "is evil!"
"okay, d. you can go refill the snacks since you want to quit." jack piped up, handing the boy the empty popcorn boy, wiggling it around in his face a little.
daniel scoffed, narrowing his eyes, "yeah alright make the bi guy do it. blatant homophobia in this day and age." the boy sniffled, snatching the bowl from jack.
"daniel.." jack laughed at the blonde, "literally none of us are straight."
daniel furrowed his eyebrows at that, "like all of you?"
"all of us." eben confirmed.
the blonde's mouth fell open in surprise, looking towards jonah for confirmation, "i'm pan."
the boy met eben's eyes, "unlabeled."
"bi." jack snickered at the boy's expression next.
"homosexual." zach smiled.
"i already told you i was gay." corbyn smiled.
"wait, you guys mean to tell me i can't use the homophobic card on you?" the boy's voice was almost a whimper, looking lost at the group around him.
"unfortunately," jack teased, "now shoo, go fill us up bi boy."
daniel pretended to hit the brunette atop of the head with the bowl, jack yelping as he fell back into zach's side, cowering underneath his hands. the blonde stalked off to the kitchen, grumbling under his breath as he ripped open another pack of popcorn.
the boy glanced over once he felt a chin nestle into his shoulder, his hand coming up to gently pat the top of corbyn's hair, fondly. "hi, c."
"hi, d." corbyn's words came out sort of muffled as his chin movement was restricted by daniel's shoulder.
the boy absently messed with the stray strands of hair framing corbyn's face, wrapping the brunette locks around his finger, "i should be mad at you, know that?"
"and why's that?"
"you didn't defend me!" daniel pouted, "i was left alone to defend myself against that act of hate earlier."
corbyn giggled at the boy's dramatics, "hey, remember when we first went and got ice cream?"
daniel nodded in affirmation, pouring the packet of popcorn into the bowl before heating up another one.
"d-did you like," corbyn shrugged his shoulder best he could from his spot against daniel, looking down at the floor, "mean what you said? l-like look at y-your schedule." the boy mumbled. daniel turned around, corbyn now facing daniel's chest as he quickly stumbled back to put distance between them, "s-sorry."
daniel had to physically resist the urge of pulling corbyn into his body, peppering kisses all of over his cute little face, to hear his perfect giggles ring out into his ear.
daniel blinked down at the boy, trying to remember the conversation the duo shared that had the brunette in front of him all blushy and stuttering. "what do you mean?"
"a-about, um, s-spring break."
oh. spring break. daniel didn't particularly have anything to do. he'd just left his family, he could definitely go spring break without visiting them, at least this once. besides, he'd get to go home with corbyn, meet his family, get a little bit closer. this was pros piled atop of pros piled atop of pros. he'd be an idiot to decline.
daniel leaned in to whisper into corbyn's ear, "i meant every word." taking the popcorn bowl back to the main room, leaving corbyn besson a blushing mess, once again.
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wc. 1176
(: writing this at 6:20 am . 5 in a night i am proud (:<
i drank a coffee tonight n its very yummy
yea okay buckle up asf
IM APPLYING FOR JOBS AND NONE OF THEM ARE GETTING BACK TO ME ??? pls i cant do this rn
