꧁𝙴𝚅𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚄𝙰𝙻𝙻𝚈☆ - AN AUL FIC (REWRITE)

FIVE || ROSES

First things first: FOUR! HUNDRED! READS! I cannot thank you guys enough. I'm so glad people actually want to read about the gay space beans! Thank you so much, truly. 

So, the fanfic writer curse has officially befallen me cause in the same day my throat tried to murder me (I got a mild cold) and my dog tried to run away. I say TRIED because I dragged him back from under the railing (traumatic experience fr I almost cried). ANYWAY

On Veteran's age— canonically, Captain went to 14 years of flight school and you have to be 16 to get in so he's at least 30, so I thought I'd make everyone around the same age. 

For you plateran and gentlecheese fans, there's a bit of both in this chapter. Oh, one more thing:

You might want to get a few tissues for this one

Word Count: 5152

THIRD-PERSON VETERAN POV

The storage room by the Cafeteria was a goldmine, Veteran soon discovered. He had no clue whose idea it was to stock so many boxes of ribbons, balloons, and the like, but Veteran would kiss them if he ever got the chance.

"A little bit to the left," Player called from below. Veteran leaned to the side, keeping a firm grip on the ladder as he moved the banner. He could practically hear Player's frown. "It's still crooked. Just a little more to the left."

"Ask me to lean any more to the left and I'm gonna fall off this ladder, kid," Veteran warned. He trusted that Player was holding the ladder, sure, and he knew his friend would try to catch him if he fell, but from this height and with how Mr. Egg had insisted on baking his birthday cake if only he tried some of each flavor... he was afraid he'd crush Player, to tell the truth.

Player sighed. "Alright, forget the banner. It looks fine. I mean, it looks great!" he corrected when Veteran glared at him from above.

"Incoming." Veteran climbed down from the ladder, clapping Player on the back gratefully before stepping back to squint at the banner. "I don't know what you're talking about, it looks perfect to me."

"Yeah, 'cause you hung it." Player settled next to Veteran and tilted his head at the banner. "Huh. It actually does look great from here! Maybe I was just looking at it wrong."

Veteran nodded. "Things always look weird when you're standing too close to them. Sometimes you just gotta take a few steps back to realize you did a good job." He turned to smile at Player, then frowned when he realized Player was staring at him. "What?"

Player shook his head slowly. "You have these weirdly philosophical moments sometimes. It's... I never see it coming."

Veteran shrugged. "It's a gift."

"Yeah..." Player's eyes still lingered on Veteran, which quickly stopped being weird and started being nerve-wracking. He felt self-conscious all of a sudden, heart pounding. Was there something stuck in his teeth? Did he smell alright? Was there something wrong with Veteran's face? He'd always considered himself to be average, maybe a little above it when it came to looks, but maybe he was wrong. Player was way cuter than him, after all, with his brown baby doe eyes and his dimples and the mousy brown hair under his beanie that was always messy enough to be cute without it being weird. Veteran really didn't look like much compared to him, so why were Player's eyes gleaming with what looked like admiration?

Veteran's face felt warm. Why'd his face feel warm? Player was just a friend, wasn't he? He was just a friend...

They both jumped when the doors to Cafeteria opened side by side, revealing a gleeful Mr. Cheese and The Gentleman not far behind.