Perfectly Imperfect [Neel X Malang] Campus Beats

Prologue

Life is full of surprises beta, his father used to say. Neel recalls with a wry smile. Only if little him knew exactly how much it'd make sense to him years later.

"Good afternoon passengers. This is the pre-boarding announcement for flight 89B to Rome. We are now inviting all the passengers to begin boarding at this time. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready. Regular boarding will begin in approximately ten minutes time. Thank you."

"Hope I'm making the right decision this time,"

Neel sighs at his phone screen as it goes to sleep, their young, carefree smiles rouse another pang of sadness in his gut. Rihaana would never forgive him. He thumbs the black screen where her smiling face used to be. What an excellent choice he's made indeed.

"Gonna miss you guys..."

He switches hands to get a hold of his carry-on baggage and tucks his phone inside his jacket to grab his passport and boarding pass. The line to the checkpoint is not long but still crowded enough to piss him off on his better days. Well, what were his better days anyway. The days he was amped up with adrenaline and danced his aggression away, making trouble, bullying the helpless, winning competitions? Or the days he spent pining over a wide-eyed boy, confused and giddy with feelings he cannot place for hope?

A sudden laugh bubbles out of his throat. If the people around him noticed they do not say anything.

He should be angry, or mad... those were the only emotions he knew for the most part of his life. But now, nothing feels rawer than these feelings burning inside of him, piece by piece and devouring him whole. A feeling that is more than loneliness, a feeling that is more than sadness. A bittersweet nostalgic avalanche that seizes his gut with its cruel fingers. Malang has quite literally gotten under his skin.

"How are you so sure that it is love... Please teach me because I just can't seem to crack it..."

A strange noise escapes his lungs.

Malang.

This little pipsqueak... so lovable and innocent, barely 110 pounds and can never stand up for himself stood up for bullies twice his size, and Neel for his friends... Malang who could never look Neel in the eye but demanded him to compete in the competitions... Malang who stood by Rihaana till the end even when she kept kicking him away like useless trash... his Malang who taught him a broken heart could still give away selfless love, that that such selfless heart could forgive someone like Neel...

Somebody should have told him not to try so hard.

The strange noise keeps buzzing in his ears. Neel roughly brushes his face and stares at the wetness on the back of his hand in shock. With a start, he realizes he's crying.

Strange how his life, and his family have crumbled before him but all he keeps thinking about is how Malang broke his heart instead.

You could have at least said goodbye...

Neel envisions Malang's innocent eyes and his little bashful smile.

He'd underestimated Malang from the beginning, hadn't he? It's only fair he learned his lesson with a metaphorical nail to his thick skull in the end. It's been a lost cause from the beginning for both of them. Only, Neel had been too self-centered and blind to see that. Malang had seen it but had given in to him anyway because he's a damn pushover. The idiot. He hadn't rejected him when Neel literally roared at him that he is gay. He hadn't rejected him when Neel said he has feelings for him either. No, the idiot has the most terrible sense of self-preservation Neel has ever seen in his 21 years of life and his need to put others' feelings before his own is bad to the point it is self-destruction.

Neel chokes out a laugh. It's a broken little sound, but it is nothing but fondness.

He loves this idiot. He realizes this too now. Had he been pining for that long? He thinks of Malang's carefree laugh, how his face lightened up unlike any other while they sat on that trampoline. His little giggle of pure joy, just openly being himself in front of Neel. Not the timid loser Malang everybody knows. Not the sparky dancing machine M.A.D knows. Just Malang. Amazing Malang who doesn't know the impact he has over people. A sunshine to a gloomy, resentful soul like Neel's own.

Neel shakes his head at his choice of words. Amazing. Sunshine. The gobsmacked look on Malang when he said as much. Neel's been too much. Honestly, the caresses, the touches. With his eagerness to shower love, Neel had forgotten what a skittish thing Malang actually was. Too soon. Too intense. It had taken him months to realize his feelings. How on earth is that fair for Malang in any way? Malang shouldn't even have been so accommodating to his feelings in the first place.

Could the circumstances have been any different if he handled the situation differently?

Probably. Probably not.

"Neel, for someone so mature you suck sometimes..."

Rihaana was right. At least about that. Nevertheless, Neel sighs crossing the last few steps in two strides to get to the counter. He had made his decision, as had Malang. It's too late for them to do anything about it. Malang would get over it. Neel would too, albeit difficultly, with time... when he finally gets tired of recalling all the memories of Malang, and what little time they had together, the good and the bad, both.

Until then...

Hello, if you are here, thank you for checking this fic out! Votes and comments will be very much appreciated. Any Neel x Malang fans? My lonely little fandom T-T

Next up, Neel meeting Malang. 

Keep in mind the plot deviates time to time to make up for the missed scenes between Neel and Malang (like Malang's dancing classes as a Ruthless after his audition.) So yeah, heads up for mature content! The plot progresses with canon bullying to boyslove scenes!

Thank you!