Glorybringer AU ☆the fault in our stars☆

[5] Vulnerability

☆Glory☆

Vulnerability.

One of the things that brought me and Deathbringer closer was vulnerability.

People tend to be drawn to each other when they are vulnerable. And thankfully, we both covered each other's scars and bruises. We both took care of each other, loved each other like brother and sister.

The thing is, though, the ones that hurt you the most are the ones closest to you.

The closer you get, the more vulnerable you get.

Maybe I had known my love for Deathbringer before he started a relationship with Greatness. Maybe I had known, deep down, how much he mattered to me, both as a friend and partner.

As they say, you realize stuff like that a little too late.

But I was also cautious of Deathbringer- I had seen him throw girls away like mere objects, enjoying their attention and tossing them away from him when he was finished. It wasn't his best trait, but I understood why he did what he did. But we'll get to that later.

Friendship with Deathbringer was a big risk. One wrong move and the entire thing will crack in half, leaving nothing. That was why you had to plan your moves very carefully- and that was one of the things I liked most about being friends with him.

Bringer of death and glory. They somehow matched. In order for there to be glory, there was a need for death. Because for someone to rise, someone needed to fall.

That was why we matched. We understood each other- death and glory. But holding onto each other was a big risk for all of us, because one wrong move will leave us falling apart.

As much as I understood Deathbringer, I couldn't understand him fully. Because even if you know a person better than you know yourself, there is still a part of that person that you will never be able to know.

Friendship is a beautiful thing. And the stronger it is, more fragile it is. One right move can make it stronger, but one wrong move and it can bring everything apart.

The three little words I wanted to tell him- I love you- could end up with him turning his back over me, deciding that he didn't want me, realizing that I was like the other girls- the ones that fell for his beautiful and dangerous trap. I planned to figure out a way to make him fall in love with me, to be so desperate in need of me that he would never throw me away.

But I was too late.

Because Greatness, she was a step before me. And it hurt, seeing him with another girl, watching him fall in love. Watching them laugh in lunch, watching them hold hands in the hallway, watching them grin when their eyes met in class.

That was probably why, when a girl named Tsunami offered me to sit at her lunch table a few days after Greatness and Deathbringer started dating, I immediately accepted.

☆

Tsunami was the kind of a girl that you hate at first sight, and then like immediately after.

The first time I met her, I immediately hated her.

The first two things I noticed when I first met her: she was tall, and she had frightening blue eyes.

The thing that made you cautious of her was those bright blue eyes. They signaled dangerous the moment you laid eyes on them. They made you feel overwhelmed and made you look away, afraid.

She moved to our school at the beginning of high school, and she immediately slid into the group of theater geeks. I had met her once or twice on the hallway, but the thing that brought us together was me joining the Theater Group.

Tsunami was the leader of the group, despite having joined it for a short time. Nobody complained, though, because you could see that she was a born leader.

I joined the Theater Group a little before Greatness and Deathbringer started dating. I guess our friendship was doing pretty good then, and he was even jealous when I told him I was joining the Group- he was protective of me then.

"Glory."

"Here," I said, raising my hand.

Tsunami nodded. She stared at me for a second, and I could just see her mind passing over the thought, leukemia. But her gaze turned to the person behind me after a few seconds. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Starflight? You're here?" Tsunami gasped in pure surprise. "Not the math bowl or some scientific group that studies the end to viruses? Not a group made of Harvard professors that makes you solve a complex math problem and talk about the ways to solve the Pytagoras Theorem?"

The boy named Starflight sighed, waving his hand. He was wearing a eyepatch over one eye, and his other was rolling in annoyance. "Yes, Tsunami, because unlike your very narrow thoughts, intelligent people don't always sit by their desks wondering the different ways to prove how the width square multiplied by the length square of a right triangle results in the length of the hypotenuse squared. Because some of us actually enjoy having a hobby of acting like other people in a stage front of PEOPLE WE DON'T KNOW. STOP ACTING LIKE YOU DIDN'T FORCE ME TO DO THIS." The black haired boy shouted, then sighed as Tsunami moved on innocently to a different name.

Tsunami finished taking attendance, and grinned. "Are you ready kids?"

I heard someone behind me whisper, "Aye, aye, captain," and snorted.

"Our play will be something spectacular- absolutely heartbreaking and deep at the same time!"

I tapped my foot and stared at the hanging on the opposite wall of the stage. Ten minutes left.

"Gone with the Wind!" A girl beside Tsunami said. She was short and a little chubby, her golden hair shining in the lights. "A romantic tragedy that ends in a hopeful sunset for a better future- just what we need!"

"A classic!" Tsunami added, her voice getting louder. She linked her arms with the smaller girl beside her, who seemed even smaller next to Tsunami. They whirled around the stage like mad women, shouting, "tomorrow is another day!!"

That was the moment I decided that I liked Tsunami.

☆