Paperjam was watching Fresh from across the library. He did this a lot, but Fresh was none the wiser. Paperjam found him rather endearing. Fresh was always in the library, smiling at the book that he was reading. Paperjam always supposed that Fresh was just another socially awkward nerd, but now he was feeling like Fresh was much more than it. Paperjam was intrigued by what he was reading that made him smile so much.
Paperjam was trying to do his essay on Ancient Greece for Mr. Nightmare, but he couldn’t concentrate. Fresh was distracting him. It was aggravating him because well… Fresh wasn’t really doing anything.
“Fresh, you do realise that THE Paperjam has been staring at you for the past five minutes?” His friend, Alphys, whispered in his non-existent ear.
“What?” He mumbled, blinking a few times as he tore his eye sockets away from the book that his mothers had sent him to peer around the silent library.
Alphys was right. Paperjam was indeed staring at him. His soul seemed to stop as he stared into PJ's pink and yellow eye lights. Fresh had never spoken to Paperjam in his life. Paperjam wasn’t the type of person he usually associated himself with – he was arrogant and Fresh was sure that he didn’t like him since he was a nerd. But even through three years of being at Underhigh along with Paperjam, the most communication they had both shared was this moment.
Fresh had noticed how recently Paperjam was looking as though he was under a great deal of stress. He was becoming rather thin, dark shadows hung under his usually bright eye sockets, and his usual dark bones were looking rather… rather grey.
Paperjam grinned at Fresh. It wasn’t his usual smug grin. It looked almost... Shy...?
The next day, Fresh was once again in the library. His mothers had sent him yet another book to read. And once again, Paperjam was in the library, at the same table.
Fresh cast a glance over in his direction and saw that he was staring, almost determinedly, at his History textbook.
“He’s staring at you again!” Alphys hissed. “What is his problem?”
Fresh shrugged, his eye lights flicking upwards to meet Paperjam's. He quickly looked away and Fresh sighed before returning to his book.
Fresh stayed in the library for another two hours – he was determined to finish his book and, even though he couldn’t really explain why, he wanted to see if Paperjam would also stay. Alphys had left and finally Fresh and Paperjam were the only people left in the library.
Fresh had finished his book long ago and stuffed it into his bag, knowing that he couldn’t pretend to read it any longer. He peered around, looking for the librarian. She was nowhere to be seen.
Fresh could almost feel Paperjam's eye lights on him as he made his way towards the Restricted Section for a book that he could pretend to read. Fresh wasn’t really sure why he was doing so, but he was pretty sure that it was because of Paperjam.
Fresh ran his finger down the spines of books, his brow arches furrowed in concentration as he read the titles.
And then suddenly, he sensed somebody’s presence beside him.
“Your name’s Fresh, right?”
It was Paperjam.
Fresh turned to meet his eye sockets. His breath hitched in his throat as he met those beautiful pink and yellow eye lights.
“Y-Yeah." Fresh stuttered. He was feeling rather nervous. He didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of him. “And you’re Paperjam.”
“Yeah.” he replied, his eye sockets were still staring into Fresh's. “What was that you were reading back there?” He enquired, his head titling to the side as though he was considering Fresh.
Fresh bit his lower jaw. He didn’t want to tell him he had been reading a romance novel. He was probably already conjuring several names to call him.
“Just this book that my mothers sent me.” Fresh muttered, not meeting the other's eye sockets as his shades fall off.
He seemed to have caught on and nodded slowly. He was looking apprehensive.
“I-I… I, erm...” He looked up at the ceiling. He seemed to be steeling himself. “You're… You are a…”
“A parasite, yeah.” Fresh admitted in a whisper. He took a quick glance in Paperjam's direction and saw that he was still staring at him. Fresh was rather surprised that he wasn’t calling him a name yet. “Aren’t… aren’t you going to...?”
“N-No!” Paperjam said quickly. “It’s, erm… I wanted to… It’s stupid,”
“Tell me…”
“Fresh, I’ve been watching you from across the library for a while now…” He said in a whisper. He was moving closer towards Fresh now. The light boned male instinctively stepped backwards. The back of his femurs hit the narrow desk the run along the length of the bookcase. His soul was beating so fast he were sure that it was in danger of exploding.
“W-Watching me?”
“You intrigued me,” Paperjam said slowly. “You don’t seem like all the other nerds. I can’t help, but feel like I… I like you.”
Fresh's breath hitched in his throat.
“But… but I’m a virus!” He exclaimed, looking at him, almost exasperated. “And you… you’re THE Paperjam ! You’re not supposed to ‘like me’! You’re supposed to say I'm a… You know. You are not supposed to even like me as a friend! You… You… You’re–”
Paperjam frowned and Fresh stopped talking immediately.
“Something about you intrigues me, Fresh.” He said, his boney hand cupping Fresh's skull gently. He felt as though he were about to have a soul attack. He could hardly breathe. “If my family knew what I was about to do…” Paperjam paused, his eye lights meeting Fresh's. “Asgore knows what they would do. But… but I can’t help it, Fresh.”
“What…” He gulped slightly as he felt his face heat up. “What are you about to do?”
Paperjam hesitated for a fraction of a second. Fresh's stomach arched with nerves as Paperjam tilted his head slightly.
“I’m going to kiss you, Fresh…”
And then he did. He gently clanked their teeth together. Fresh couldn’t quite comprehend it. THE Paperjam was kissing him.
It took a few seconds for Fresh to realise that he wasn’t responding. Paperjam was beginning to pull away.
“I’m sorry, I should–”
Fresh silenced him. His hands gripped the front of Paperjam's shirt, pulling him back towards him. His response was so immediate that Fresh was sure he had expected this. Their teeth clank together as Paperjam's hands moved to grab Fresh's waist, pulling him closer to him. Fresh was feeling so vulnerable by his actions. But he couldn’t bring himself to pull away.
“We really…” He whispered against Paperjam's teeth, his hands trailing from his shirt to run over his skull. “We shouldn’t be doing this… It’s… Forbidden. I’m a virus.”
“All the more reason to continue.” Paperjam replied before crashing his teeth to Fresh's once again.
Fresh was sure that Paperjam wasn’t allowed to be involved with someone like him, but the thought of doing something that he shouldn’t with the star quarterback pulled him in. He were sure that Alphys, Napstablook, and Papyrus wouldn’t agree with their relationship, but as Paperjam continued to kiss him, he honestly couldn’t care less of what people thought of him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Requested by Branch_and_poppy. Hope you liked it, sugar~~
