I believe you

I understood?

"Last year," he began quietly; the soft yet cold shift in his tone was enough to make Iso squint with deep concern and fiddle with short grass strands as they listened intently.

"God, we were all just shitty hormonal teenagers in 10th grade. Desperate to feel older." Lyser smiled through a muffled laugh. Iso could tell by the way his gaze softened and he swifty plucked at grass that something warm had embedded itself in his thoughts.

"Did I ever tell you about Bee?" The question seemed rhetorical, judging by the way Lyser rolled his eyes, yet Iso couldn't help but a mutter a 'no' against the wind.
Their interest peaked as they continued.
"Pretty little rabbit, she was. Best friend since  9th grade- yeah, she transferred to this school that year and we stuck ever since."

Lyser's gaze lowered and fluttered, flooded with a mix memories and what Iso assumed was gratitude as they searched through it.
"She kind of reminds me of you- in the- least weirdest way possible." He choked, covering the short act with an unimpressed 'tch'.

Iso chose not to overlook it, narrowing their eyes and muttering a simple "Go on," to urge him on as they brushed the strange, dispensable comment aside.

"Well, my dumbass caught feelings for Bee, and.." Lyser's posture stiffened, and Iso unintentionally mimicked his frozen hands as his voice darkened. Silently, Iso noted how dark it was actually getting as their gaze briefly travelled along the horizon once again.

"Everything kind of went to shit because of it. For myself, for us.."
His voice seemed to trail away, yet was quickly found again on a passing gust of chilling wind.
"As you could imagine, she reacted poorly. Didn't feel the same, obviously." Strangely enough, a smiled pulled at the corners of Lyser's mouth. It looked cold. Iso's stare faltered into a lazy glance before closing.

"I get how you feel, kind of." Lyser concluded quietly. "I never got to feel the warmth like you did, but god.. I wish I did." his voice thickened as desire clung to his lungs. "I can almost feel warm embraces and the vibrant touch of intimacy if I try hard enough." he admitted.

With closed eyes, Iso could vaguely imagine soft hands and light compliments littered with genuine affection. It felt so, so warm.

"Same," Iso exchanged through a murmur, opening their eyes only to be greeted by Lyser's troubled looking stare. "What does that make us, simps or depressingly lonely incels?" Iso scoffed loudly; they were proud to see the mood-lifting remark met with a genuine smile from the other.

"I'm just an incel." Lyser announced confidently amongst a short blurt of laughter. "You're a simp."

Iso managed a short chuckle in response, but for the most part remained stilled. Joke or not, the comment made them contemplate what they already knew.

"I love Rez." Iso confessed, perhaps a bit too loudly. They lowered their tone with a quickly input cough. "Seeing him hurts- even thinking of him hurts. It's so.." Iso couldn't even find the words to describe the shadow which looked over them everytime they ever thought about Lez.
Their mind drifted as they stared into the grass, searching for a conclusion which fit.

A soft, feathered touch which wrapped itself around Iso's clenched and grass-filled hand seemed to answer it for them.

"Cold?" The whisper seemed to cut through their thought process, and they almost let out a gasp.

Normally I'd melt into his touch, flooded with the same warm familiarity of adoration and love. It was a sensation I tended to chase; I was addicted to it and had no intention on coming clean any time soon. It was heated. It was surreal. It was scary, yet I loved every second of it. But now, despite my hand meeting his, which now seemed to shiver at the strange sensation, I felt nothing but ice under my touch. It was unrecognisable. Even his unreadable stare was enough to freeze me into place.

The sheer cold seemed to fade as quickly as it came, washed away by something much more..nostalgic.

Iso couldn't pull a smile, no matter how hard they tried. The realisation was too much to mask.
Their vision was glazed with a painfully familiar wetness which they'd grown to despise, especially lately.
"Very."