Fluffy Jeffmads Oneshots (Modern)

11 - Gentle

A/N: College AU

Editor: ButterySalt

Thomas opened the door to his dorm which he shared with his best friend, James. Blood was dripping out of the corner of his mouth and a black eye was beginning to show.

"Hey, James," he said quietly, hoping his friend wouldn't hear the irritation in his voice.

"Hi, Tommy!" James responded, giving Thomas a quick glance before looking back at his laptop where he was writing an essay. It took a second for him to realize what he had just seen, and he quickly turned back to the taller man who was struggling to take off his leather jacket.

"Thomas! Oh my god, what happened?!" James forgot about his work and immediately rushed over to his friend.

"I, uh...got into a fight..."

"With whom?!"

"Hamilton..." Thomas muttered sheepishly.

James gave him a confused, yet worried and -at the same time- irritated look. "What? Why? What did you guys do?"

"Nothing important...he just talked shit again, as usual."

"If it was something 'usual' it wouldn't have ended in a physical fight," James stated, rolling his eyes. He didn't want to continue questioning him because he noticed that Thomas didn't seem to want to talk about it. He let the subject slide this time. "Okay, I'll take you to the nurse's office."

"No," Thomas said quickly, "Hamilton is probably there already and if he sees me, he'll realize I'm in worse shape than him. Then, he'll be proud because I already told him earlier that he wasn't hurting me with his blows and he would have this shit-eating grin on his fucking ugly-ass face and- "

"Okay, okay!" James finally cut him off, lifting his hands up in defeat. "I won't take you there, but that doesn't mean I'm leaving you in this state. C'mon." The smaller man guided Thomas to his bed and gestured for him to sit down while he was getting the first-aid kit from the bathroom. He rushed back and set the kit down next to Thomas, pulling out a tube of ointment first. He squeezed a bit of the crème on his finger and rubbed it onto the other man's knuckles, which were slightly bloody.

As James took care of Thomas, the latter looked away from him, ashamed that his friend felt that he needed to nurse him. His thoughts trailed back to the fight he had. The reason why Thomas had punched Alex wasn't "nothing important" like he'd told James. In fact, Hamilton insulted the smaller Virginian whom Thomas had a crush on for God knows how long. His words made him want to punch anything nearby. So, it was Alex who had to pay for it. Serves him right, Thomas thought.

He looked back at James who was now bandaging his hands gently. Gentle. James has always been gentle, no matter what he did. Even his expressions showed rarely anything other than that.

The man was now looking up at Thomas. "Okay, I'm gonna put some ointment on that cut on your cheek and then I'll get you some ice for the eye," he said, carefully leaning closer to his friend's face.

"Th-thank you, James." Thomas was more flustered than ever, realizing how close the two of them were now. He looked into his dark brown eyes. God, he'd never noticed how beautiful they were since he had never been so close to him before. After a while, James moved his eyes up to meet Thomas'. Neither of them could look away and they barely even realized that they were moving closer and closer.

Their lips were almost touching as James paused and spoke. "T-thomas..." he said with a shaky voice, eyes still half open, as well as Thomas'.

"Yes?" the other murmured.

James pulled back and opened his eyes fully to have a better look at his friend. He backed away further and stood up, rushing towards the front door.

"James, wait-" Thomas called, now standing as well. His friend's hand was already on the doorknob, but he didn't move. He eventually turned his head back to the other, but his eyes were full of tears.

"James, what's wro- "

"Don't play with me, Thomas!" the small man yelled, now turning his full body towards him. "Don't you fucking dare do this to me like you did with everyone else!" His hands balled into fists.

"What do you mea- "

"What I mean? What I mean, Thomas?! Every week I see you with a new partner around the campus, maybe even caught some make out sessions! You dumped all of them within a few days, and now it's me?! Do you have any idea how much this hurts? How much it hurts to see you around with others?" Tears were now streaming down James' face. Thomas couldn't believe what he had said. Was he really that obsessed with trying to forget his feelings for his friend?

"You're so selfish! You didn't even think about the pain the others must have felt, did you? And even though you're an asshole, I can't hate you. I can't hate you because you are my friend and because you mean so much more to me than just that! Y-you're smart and handsome and funny and sweet and- "

He hesitated for a moment. Thomas stood there in shock for the whole time, not knowing what to say.

"God, Thomas!" James took a deep breath. "I-I love you!"

All was silent, the shouting was over. It took a while for Thomas to process that. He then rushed over to James and kissed him on the lips, passionately, the latter melting into the contact.

After they pulled away to catch their breaths, Thomas spoke. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I've done this to you. I'm sorry I've hurt you. I'm sorry I've made you feel this way..." He was almost crying now. "I-I didn't know what to do. I've been in love with you since 10th grade, but I always thought you would never like me back, so I tried to forget my feelings for you by seeing other people. It never worked, though. I'm so sorry..."

James just stared at Thomas before responding. "...10th grade? You've loved me for 5 years and I didn't even realize? For so long? How could I have been so stupid?"

"Hey, hey, you're not stupid! Maybe I'm just a great actor," Thomas joked, trying to lighten up the mood a little. That must have worked as he noticed James chuckling and wiping his tears away.

"You're such a dork," he said before wrapping his arms around the taller man's neck and kissing him again. Thomas smiled into the kiss.

(1110 words)