second to him | g.d.

f i v e

third person's pov :

"so... about lannie."

"what about her?" grayson chuckles, throwing a chip in his mouth and wiping his hands on his grey sweatpants. "what? you wanna throw a surprise party for her or something? or..."

"no, no! her birthday is so far already, idiot." ethan groans

grayson chuckles in response and quirks his eyebrow up. replying with a, "touché."

"anyway, you like her?" ethan asks

jesus, that was bold and straightforward.

grayson's cheeks become flushed and his eyebrows furrow in confusion and worry. he lifts his hand up to rub the back of his neck and he chuckles nervously at ethan's assumption.

"that was a delayed response. you do like her." ethan smirks, throwing up his hands as "VICTORY ROYALE" shows up on the tv screen

"ya, but she doesn't like me." grayson thinks, glaring at the marble desk that's placed in the center of the living room

"why are you so shy about it, gray? i don't mind, just asking." ethan laughs, wrapping his arm around the couch and averting all of his attention on his brother

"i don't wanna talk to you about it though." grayson murmurs, bringing his hands up to up his face

"why not?" ethan asks in worry. he immediately goes back to his previous position and scoots closer to grayson, rubbing his back in comfort. "you ok? what's up?"

as much as grayson wants to curl up to him and rant out his feelings, he can't. he made a promise to elena and he said he wouldn't tell a damn soul.

even if it hurts him.

"n-nothing. it's ok. i'm just going to go to my usual spot ok? i'll be back before you know it but don't wait up for me." grayson rushes to grab his keys and runs to the front door but not before giving his brother a sympathetic smile. "i'm fine. go to bed." he says, shutting the door afterwards and leaving ethan with worrisome thoughts

—

"i-i don't know lannie. it's been like... five hours and he still isn't back." ethan mutters, his leg shaking anxiously while he stutters

elena gently places her hand on ethan's thigh to prevent him from shaking and gives him a reassuring smile, resulting in him taking a deep breath and placing his hand on her's; in need of comfort.

"thanks. i needed that." he chuckles

she nods, still not saying anything and looks over at grayson's bed, staring at his childhood stuffed animal, mister bear. it was sitting up crooked in the middle of his bed where grayson's weekly book was sitting.

he told elena and his family that he would read a book every week to try to help with his dyslexia, which warmed elena's heart in an instance.

he used to carry around that bear everywhere since he was little. lisa even told elena that he would drag it across the concrete floors of their elementary school to catch up with ethan and elena, while they were yelling at him to join them on the swings.

it brought a smile to her lips and she immediately turned back to ethan, furrowing her eyebrows.

"did he tell you where he was going?" she asks in a whisper

"he said something about his 'usual spot' but i didn't ask where that was. i was too caught up in my thoughts and everything was just flying over my head."

she nods her head to his response and abruptly gets up, resulting in ethan giving her a worried and confused expression also.

"i know where he is. i'll get him back, ok? don't worry, e. promise he's alright." she smiles, giving his hand one last squeeze and she drops his hand, rushing out the door