We're Just Friends: A Boat Boys Fanfic

The Laugh That Makes Me Smile

(Art is by falconearring)

Joel's Perspective-

This is fine. Joel thought as he got on the bus.

He always sat next to Etho on the bus, so he was panicking.

You're just going to be sitting next to your crush. Just act like you always do!

Joel sat down next to Etho, and they both smiled and waved at each other.

They both turned away, trying to hide their blushing faces.

How did I act?! How could I talk to him so normally?!

"So...er- do anything over the weekend?" Etho asked.

"Nope! You?" Joel answered quickly.

"Uh- no." Etho smiled nervously.

"Well... I did actually go visit my cousins on Saturday." Joel said slowly.

"How was that?" Etho asked, looking relieved and happy that they found a topic to talk about.

Joel shrugged, "Okay. I never really speak with them, but it was alright."

Etho nodded.

Joel continued to talk about his cousins when out of nowhere, Etho pulled the strings on Joel's hoodie, causing the hood to cinch up and cover up Joel's face.

Joel froze, confused for a moment before he heard Etho's laugh.

He blushed, his heart fluttering as he heard Etho's laugh and smile.

Joel uncinched his hoodie and saw Etho laughing, blush on his face.

"What was that for?" Joel asked.

Etho shrugged, smiling, "I don't know, your conversation was boring."

"Wowwwww, thanks." Joel said, rolling his eyes, "Good to know I'm a boring person to be around."

"No, no, no! Not like that." Etho laughed.

Joel rolled his eyes and then said, "Well what did you do over the weekend?"

"I told you, nothing interesting."

"You had to have done something."

"Well...I mean I talked with Cleo on Sunday."

"About what?"

Etho flushed red, "I- about our friend group. Apparently Bdubs likes someone and I wanna find out who."

Joel's heart cracked a bit when hearing Bdubs's name, "Don't...don't you like Bdubs?"

Etho looked a bit stunned, "What? No! Where'd you hear that from?"

Joel shrugged, "I don't actually remember."

"Nah, people mostly ship us together." Etho laughed nervously.

Joel blushed a bit, "Yeah, I heard."

"It's so stupid and annoying. We're just friends, why do they not believe that people can just be that way?"

Joel shrugged again.

"We're just friends!" Etho's voice echoed in his head.

Joel got lost in his thoughts as his heart ached.

Just friends. He thought, looking at his hands. Nothing more. Just friends.

"-and then- Joel? You alright?"

Joel snapped back, "Huh?"

"Are...you just spaced off for a couple minutes and I was wondering if you were okay."

"Yeah!" Joel nodded, putting on a smile.

Etho didn't look convinced, but Joel tried to glaze past at what happened.

"So what were you saying?"

"Oh yeah, I think Bdubs said he likes a guy named Doc." Etho said, pulling out his phone.

Joel watched as he scrolled through his many texts with Bdubs.

"Yeah," Etho said nodding, "Bdubs likes Doc."

"I don't think I've ever seen Doc..." Joel muttered, thinking.

"He's in our Spanish class." Etho said.

"Is he?" Joel asked, thinking.

Etho nodded, "Yeah. He sits near the back."

Joel hummed and they fell into silence.

Just then, Joel's phone started ringing.

He saw it was Grian and picked it up.

"Yeah?" He asked, answering the phone.

"Uh- Joel...so something may have happened." Grian muttered.

"What? Is something wrong?" Joel asked, concerned.

"No, no, no!" Grian said, "It's nothing like that. It's just- Timmy will you shut up!"

Joel heard Jimmy laugh in the background, and he chuckled.

"Spit it out Gri, what happened."

"I- er- I kind of..."

"Grian has a date with Scarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." Jimmy shouted before breaking down in laughter.

"Oh! Congrats!" Joel said, earning a confused look from Etho.

"But...what's so funny?" Joel asked.

"I don't know." Grian said.

"Yes, you do Grian!" Jimmy shouted, stealing Grian's phone.

"Ah! TIM!" Grian shouted.

"I'm laughing because Grian's face is so red! Hurry up, where are you? I wanna tell you what happened."

Joel rolled his eyes, though he was still smiling, "I'm still on the bus, chill out."

"Are you almost here?"

"Uh- almost. Bout three more minutes."

Joel then said goodbye and hung up.

"What was that about?" Etho asked, "Hearing your side, I was very confused."

Joel chuckled before explaining what he heard.

"Scar? As in Bdubs's older brother Scar?"

Joel shrugged, "I don't know much about Scar besides what Grian tells me."

"What's Scar's last name?"

"Clocker."

Etho nodded, "Yeah, that's Bdubs's older brother."

The bus then stopped at the school and Etho and Joel walked off.

"Well, congrats to your friend," Etho said, patting Joel's back and winking at him, "I'll see you later!"

Joel blushed and froze at Etho's wink.

"Y-yeah." Joel stuttered and watched as Etho walked away.