you and me, always

1

Up until a few months ago, Fang really thought him and Buster will only remain friends forever.
But then, there's been these.. sparks, whenever Fang looks at Buster.

It's been like this for a few months now. And that lingering feeling, that Fang may be in love, has not left him. Just when Fang finally thought he's finally coming to terms with the fact that he's straight! Even when Janet is around these days, a girl that he crushed on for who knows how long, he doesn't feel anything for her anymore! Was he just getting over her when they broke up, or is he going insane?

It's stupid, really. Falling for your best friend sure is very cliché. But.. Fang isn't lying when he says Buster is attractive. Even if it were platonic, no, it never was, he's always found him hot.. to a certain level, atleast.

As for Buster? Yeah, it's not easy either.

For him, Fang felt like a very balanced mixture of hot and cute. Seeing Fang geek on about Karate Kid, Fist Fight or Kung Fu Panda was cute, yes, but going with Fang to his martial arts training and seeing him fight real-time? His toned legs and chest? His sleeper build? That was.. another level of hot. Buster has always been sure that he's gay, and this? This just confirms it even more.

But Fang.. Fang's been avoiding him lately.

He doesn't know why, but they just haven't been talking like they used to. Though, that girl Fang was swooning over... He's also dropped that topic too. Did he find a new girlfriend?

Buster found that suspicious.

Ring! Riingg!

Class was finally over.
Buster walked towards his locker, which was conveniently placed in the hallway he was in, and got his chemistry book for his next period. Chemistry with Mr. Byron... This sure isn't going to be fun.

"Buster! What took you so long?!" Fang shouted, running towards Buster and jumped onto him, hugging him very tightly.

Suspicious.

"Oh, hey man. Ya know how Ms. Rosa is, always draggin' on lessons.. She's nice though." Buster gave him a faint smile and hugged him back, then layed down his backpack and shoved it into his locker. "Whatcha' doin' here, bro? Thought ya had history with Mr. Ruffs."

"Well.. to put it short, we had a substitute and I skipped class with Edgar, Colette and Chester. Then I looked everywhere for you, man! You were nowhere!" Fang said, taking out a popcorn bag from his backpack, "You want some- Oh! Wait, do you wanna come over and study math with me? The exam's tomorrow.."

Buster shrugged and nodded afterwards.

"Great! Meet me at the school entrance then! Byeeee!" And with that, Fang waved and ran to his classroom, slowly dissapearing from the frame.

The whole deal does seem suspicious to Buster, but he'll see.

-

It's 13:20 PM.

Buster waited infront of the school, opening a packet of cigarettes he found in his backpack, taking one out and lighting it up.

Marlboro. Maybe he should buy more of that sort. It's nice.

He waited and waited, until Fang suddenly appeared behind him.

"Boo!"

Buster spit out his cigarette and started coughing like an asthmatic, desperately catching for air but failing to do so.
Fang bursted out in laughter before helping him up.
"Not cool, man! Not cool! I could've died, ya know!" Buster snapped at Fang, "Don't do that again, bro. But anyways, let's get goin'."
Fang did feel bad, but it was funny as fuck.

On their way to Fang's home, Fang and Buster catched up, talking about their teachers and such.

Nothing particularly interesting.

But it's nice to catch up like this, after Fang avoided Buster completely.

It's.. nostalgic, too.

The more they talked, the more time passed. And suddenly, they were already there.
Fang lives alone; for a highschooler, he's suprisingly coming by very well. Buster thought clothes and unwashed dishes would be lying everywhere when Fang first moved in, to be fair. But he's also glad Fang isn't living with his abusive parents anymore.

"Sorry if it's messy" Fang scratched his head, opening the door to his room (which is usually locked) and grabbing the lock on the door, stuffing it in his pocket. "I didn't have time cleaning up before I left for school."
"You're all good, man" Buster said, reassuring Fang. "Looks more tidy than I expected, ain't gonna lie."

Fang angrily pouted at him before pulling out a small foldable table. He layed his backpack on the floor, took out his pencil case, placed his math textbook next to the pencil case, then threw his backpack into some corner next to his bed. Buster did the same.

And so, they started studying for a while before giving up.

"So!" Fang clapped his hands together, "Tomorrow's our math exam. And we both haven't studied shit!"

Buster knitted his eyebrows together as he stared at the equations in the textbook.
"Bro, what the fuck are they even trying to teach us here?" Buster pointed out an exercise in the book.
Fang stared at it for 5 minutes, before shrugging.
Minutes pass, and they've done nothing but look at the book pitifully.

"Can you even study in those shades?" Fang asked Buster, breaking the silence between them.
"Honestly, no." Buster replied and took them off, placing them next to their books.

Oh fuck. He's pretty. He's really pretty.

Yeah. This was Fang's final straw. He's definetly gay for Buster.

Buster's eyes were a hazel brown. He had pretty long lashes, but due to his hair color being ginger you can't see them really. But fuck, he was majestic.

Fang, not realizing he's spacing out, glanced at Buster for a hot minute before Buster panickingly reached out for his glasses.
"Is something wrong.. bro?" Buster said, grabbing his shades.
"Wait! No! No! Nothing's wrong! Yeah!" Fang blurted. "You look fine without those shades too, bro" he added, before pretending to solve the math problems on the textbook, hiding his embarrassment.

He really hoped Buster wouldn't take offense in what he did. And that he wasn't offended for scaring him while he was smoking.