Crush(es) | WinTeam | BxB | Boyslove

...to boyfriend

"Strawberry, really?" Win nudged a teasing elbow into Team's side. "I thought you would be a 'Rocky Road' type."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Team laughed freely.

With each stride toward the ice cream parlor, his guilt from terrorizing Win had dissipated a smidge. Before the frosty cold of the AC had washed over them, he had resolved to not return to his dickish ways as a defense mechanism. It relieved him nearly as much as the break from the heat.

"Y'know." Win grinned while he paid for them. "Dark, hint of salt, crunchy bits."

Team sucked his teeth at the jab and gazed down into his artificially pink ice cream perched on top of a waffle cone. He walked into that one.

"Well. You struck me as vanilla,"—Win's eyebrows raised—"Honor Student."

"Just because I get straight A's doesn't mean I'm—" Win shut his trap before he incriminated himself.

"Doesn't mean you're what?" It was Team's turn to nudge a playful elbow this time. He couldn't tell if Win's ears were red from the new piercing or whatever he almost said.

"Uhh... Look, a table's free!"

Win hustled away from the counter—and Team. He pointedly ignored Team's smirk when he settled into the neon-colored chair across from him. Win willed his nerves to calm down as he focused anywhere except Team's tongue flicking over his ice cream. But not even the pictures of glittery cartoon candies and sweets could fully distract him. Why did he think this was a good idea, exactly?

"Do you like it?" Team asked.

For a few heartbeats, Win froze, stuck amid all the possibilities of what Team could mean.

"Your ice cream? It's melting." Team's eyes darted to Win's neglected dessert.

Sure enough, several green, minty drops had trickled over the waffle cone's edge and onto Win's hand. He hadn't even felt the sticky mess forming.

"Oh, shit." Win swiftly licked the melted ice cream from his skin before attacking his cone, Team forgotten in front of him. "Mmm—Yeah. 'Sgood." Win answered Team's question between smacks of his lips, though his not-date had looked away. "So... Are you nervous?"

Team panicked. Win could tell?! Fuck, he thought he was successfully playing it cool—

"Swimming for a college team is a pretty big deal."

Right, swimming. The reason Win bought his ice cream, congratulations on Team's scholarship for swimming. Win watched him between licks of his ice cream, pink tongue tipped in green. If only Win knew what was running through his mind. Team shook his head to clear it.

"Me? Nervous?" Team scoffed. "Have I ever struck you as the nervous type, Honor Student?"

Is he going to keep calling me that? Win wondered.

Win shrugged, before attacking a bit of mint-flavored candy. "It's okay to be nervous. New school, new people, new coach. Larger crowds, larger expectations." Win drew his attention up from his ice cream, and a grimace stared back at him.

"Actually, I'm terrified."

The truth tumbled out before Team could stop himself. Win had successfully ticked off the fears Team had been bottling up. Had been ignoring or playing off with his "friends." The same "friends" who made themselves scarce whenever Team needed something. Today, for example. Concern etched a crease between Win's eyebrows. A thought struck Team—despite the past, Win was already more of a friend to him than the others. The ones he felt it necessary to hide parts of himself from.