boreo oneshots ✨

2

butterflies 🦋

theo was thirteen the first time he felt those butterflies. the ones he would grow to dread, and for lack of a better word, hate. it was when he saw her. the girl with the red hair, in the museum.

he thought he'd never feel those butterflies again. but he was wrong. he felt them a second time with boris. the boy with the messy hair and bruised skin. he didn't believe it at first. he refused to believe it. he blamed it on anything he could — the booze, the drugs, the fact they had been spinning around at the playground. but the butterflies kept coming back. every time he was with boris, they'd appear. at first, just a small flutter, but soon they'd grow into a feeling he couldn't hide or deny, and he faced the truth.

he was in love.
theodore decker was in love with boris pavlikovsky.

he didn't know how or why, he couldn't explain it for the life of him. maybe it was the way boris always made him laugh, or that he didn't have to hold back with him, or maybe it was even the drunken nights they had together that made him feel this way. all he knew was he couldn't hide it anymore. he had to tell boris.

the conversation started out innocent enough, the taller boy running to his friend as they always did, an excited look on his face.
"potter! you'll never believe it!"
theo rolled his eyes playfully at the boy's statement, he had a tendency to overuse the expression.
"am serious! i have wonderful news!"
"i have some pretty good news, too."
"you go first."
"we could go to the playground first. if this news is so exciting maybe i need to be sitting down!" theo tried to make time, the butterflies coming back once again.
"sounds good!"

boris began walking, the boys had agreed to hang out at the abandoned playground that day. where theo had felt the butterflies for the first time. he tried to think of more ways to stall time, anything else to talk about. he could always suggest they go shoplifting, or try and find some more alcohol at his house, but neither of those seemed good enough to fool boris.

they arrived, the two boys sitting on swings that looked like they should've rusted off years ago. theo felt the butterflies getting more intense, and he tried to calm himself down, nothing working. boris tossed him a much needed cigarette as they slowly started to swing, theo thinking of how to phrase his confession since ' hey guess what, i'm in love with you!' didn't sound too good.

"i'm in love." boris suddenly blurted, his excited eyes trained on theo's face.
"what?" theo asked, his heart sinking, "i mean- that's great! who, though?"
"she's amazing — she's my dealer, is 18! i call her kotku, well pretty much everyone does.." boris continued to ramble as theo's focus fell down to his feet, not being able to bring himself to listen to boris talk about the girl.
"so what was your news?" boris said softly, noticing theo had gone quiet."
"oh. um. i saw some butterflies! they were here but.. now they're gone i think. they were really pretty. i just wanted you to see them."

and just like that, the butterflies were gone.