Sweet Little Birds (BxB Romance, Completed)

Chapter 5: Half a Dozen Donuts

With a half-full box of donuts, Robin walked across campus. He couldn't erase the last image of Tyler's smile from his mind. Each flash of those pearly white teeth and twirl of blonde curls made a rocket filled with flurries launch in his chest.

As the highlight reel from the recent tutoring session kept playing on repeat, Robin barely paid attention to what was going on around him. He walked on autopilot toward his dorm room.

And that's how he found himself suddenly standing under a rainbow banner with "Vale U LGBTQ society" written in bold letters. Robin stared at the banner. It spoke to him. He wished he was as bold as those letters.

Every year, the LGBTQ society arranged a Pride Event on campus. Robin had watched the last one from his window, with longing eyes and a lonely heart. He envied the happy students marching together among rainbows and love. They seemed so free and sparkling. Not stuck and dull like him.

He could never be like them. Or could he? The recent questions that wreaked havoc on his mind made him dream of breaking the cage that surrounded him. The possibility seemed impossibly scary, and yet also marvelously exciting.

"Hi." A girl with pink hair, piercings in both eyebrows, and a t-shirt with a rainbow-spewing unicorn approached Robin. "Do you want a pamphlet?"

Usually, Robin just shook his head and avoided eye contact when someone unknown tried to engage with him. It just took too much effort out of him to try to hold a normal conversation.

But this time, he didn't avoid the encounter. Instead, he looked up and took the pamphlet. "Thank you," he mumbled, attempting a smile. The girl smiled back. He experienced a brief moment of recognition and belonging.

"Do you want a gift bag too?" she asked, perhaps sensing his curiosity and longing. "We hand them out to anyone who wants one."

Robin nodded. The response came automatically, without him even telling his neck muscles to move.

Soon a rainbow-patterned bag was handed to him. "Thank you," he mumbled again.

"You're welcome!" the girl replied. "We have meetings every Wednesday after school if you're interested."

A meeting sounded like a place that would have a lot of people. That sounded like too much for Robin right now. Just grabbing the bag was a huge step for him. He took a peek inside the colorful treasure trove.

Rainbow pins. A t-shirt. Stickers. A couple of chocolate bars. A small pamphlet about sex. A couple of condoms and a small tube of lube.

Robin's cheeks blossomed red as he registered the content. His heart rate sped up. It was too much. Too much too fast.

He wanted to throw the bag into the bushes and run home to hide.

Then the loop on repeat played in his mind again. A sweet smile. Blonde curls. Green eyes.

Robin didn't throw the bag. Instead, he continued his trek through the campus with the rainbow bag dangling in his left hand. In his right hand, he balanced the precious donut a certain boy had gifted him.

When he got home, he sat down on his unmade bed. A random show played on the TV but he didn't even know what he was watching. Contestants ran around frantically along aisles of groceries, shoving stuff into carts before time was up. Robin watched shopping carts clank into each other and groceries fall, with no clue what the rules or objective of the game even was.

His mind was as frantic and cluttered as the action on screen. Every aisle stocked with thoughts was suddenly scrambled beyond recognition.

His phone rang again and again. He ignored it each time. Because he knew it was his mother and couldn't deal with her right now. A sweet smile and a pair of hidden green eyes had thrown him into a personal crisis.