Novelette {Oneshots}

Varsity Jackets ✧ 𝙶𝚎𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎

So the next 7 of these are all part of an event I entered, where we were given a quote and a mood board to make a oneshot out of.

𝙳𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍

𝚃𝚆𝚜: -

𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚌: Day 1 of the writing event. Mood board above, quote was "What keeps you up at night?"

4k of mildly cliché sports/college au later...
Also, background Karlnap because yes.
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When the night gets colder, I pull my jacket tighter around me.

I smooth the green and blue fabric between my fingers, dwelling on the irony of the colours. Matching our school's, as all the varsity jackets do, yet I find myself amused by the idea of it symbolising something else to me, and possibly to Dream too.

It's his jacket after all, the name written across the back in silver evident of as much. A nice reminder to me, even if it's caused me to be sitting at an awkward angle so that nobody else will notice.

In some strange way, I almost want them to notice. Want them to see that I'm the one Dream lets wear his jacket, even if it's because of my shivering on these cold nights and nothing more. Embarrassing, maybe, even more so when I've reached the point of purposely leaving my own jacket back on campus so that I can borrow his, but the comfort it provides me is immeasurable.

And for that, I'll gladly embarrass myself, make up another excuse about being 'forgetful' each week just so that I can have his again.

At first, I always protest against it in the hopes it'll look more natural. Less desperate, so that he doesn't realise anything.

Maybe he already has, yet decides to lend me it anyway.

Maybe he likes it, secretly hopes I'll forget my own jacket so that he can lend me his. But that's imaginary scenarios, things I find myself wishing for despite knowing how slim the chances are.

He's just being a good best friend, that's all it is. If my clothes were big enough, I'd offer him them when he forgets his too.

Even if the meaning was different.

Even if I did it just to see another beautiful smile adorn his lips, have an excuse to stare at them. That alone would make it worth it, and maybe then it could go further.

It's wishful thinking, and a part of me wonders if it's now only because I'm fed up, driven myself so crazy I've become tired of this.

Tired of the endless nights of sharing a dorm room with him, trying to act normal while attempting to depict what exactly goes through his head when he looks at me. Knowing he doesn't get the same rush when our eyes lock, but helplessly hoping he does anyway.

He's like a puzzle, and I hate it. One that leaves you desperately searching for the right pieces, frustrated when none of them seem to fit where you want them to. When you're left with one missing, and you want nothing more than to find it or just forget about it, but you can't ignore it.

I've been wanting to disregard the situation I've gotten myself stuck in for some time now, but quickly realised that wouldn't work. Not when my thoughts are filled with him, him, him, the boy I'm forced to see every day and pretend to that I want nothing more than to be friend with.

I tried to convince myself that it's enough for me, but it's never stopped my blood from boiling when a girl looks at him in that way across the hall. He'll always notice them, laugh about it after, but even that has done little to comfort me.