Aris Jones X Reader One Shots

Unwanted Competition (AU)

Aris’s P.O.V

For as long as I can remember, everything has been a competition with my brother. No matter who it was towards, what it was for, and even who it hurt, if someone wanted something he had to get it first.

Even as a kid I pissed him off, because I never gave him anything to compete against. He really doesn't consider grades something worth keeping up with so mine don't matter to him. Or maybe he genuinely can't get higher ones than me. I don't know, and I don't care. I stay inside and read. I turn my lights off, open my window and sit near it while getting lost in the pages. I’ll put on earbuds and blast music until the only thing I can hear is the story of the song. I’ll close my eyes and think about what it would be like to live another life. None of those things are something that he could steal though, so my existence becomes more of a burden to him everyday. It's why I don't bring my friends over.

Because I had something once that he didn't. I had someone.

It was just a school project. We had the same English class, and neither of us had partners, so by default we were together. It was pretty simple. Read the book and make a poster. She would bring over some of the supplies while I got mine ready, and we would just get to work. While it started with conversations about it, that trailed off to small things until we forgot about what we were doing.

Even when we finished she came over daily, and I also grew to know her house as well as my own. That was my best friend. We’d do absolutely everything together, even if it was nothing.

When summer came she went on vacation with us. For once, I actually wanted to go. Things would be different this time. I would have her by my side.

From there, we would sleep at each other's houses, talking late into the night until we fell asleep by the window, gazing at the sky.

It was stupid really. The way I actually realized I’m in love with her. She wanted to go down to the creek so I went with her. We stayed near the water, just looking at it and listening to each other. Eventually though, when the sun started setting it was time to go.

All I did was stand up, but apparently my sneakers didn't have as much grip as I thought. I slipped right into the shallow water, and to my surprise she held onto my hand to try to catch me. She didn't though. She just fell in with me, getting her new summer clothes completely soaked.

She wasn't angry though. She just asked if I was alright too. When I said I was she wore this huge grin as she just sat in the water, letting it flow through her hands.

I just knew. I knew I was in love. So when she looked back at me it caught me off guard how close she was to me.

She didn't speak. Neither did I. We just leaned in and closed our eyes as we kissed, right there, soaked in creek water, in the setting summer sun.

I walked her home like always, holding her hand until she got to her door. Then, I went to mine with the dumbest lovesick smile. After all, there was no reason not to have one. She became mine, and I became hers. What more could I ask for?

The problem with all of this was that she never glanced at my brother. She acknowledged his existence, but she cared more about my mom than him. He was just too much of a show off. He drew too much attention to himself, and she just wanted to go exploring where nobody would be. Nobody but me.

I guess that was a problem. I had a love before him. I had a girl who only knew about him because of me, and that killed him. I wasn't supposed to have anything first. I wasn't supposed to have a kiss before him. I wasn't supposed to have that kind of friendship, but I did, and I didn't even care about that. I just cared about her.