ONE WAY STREET ─ unORDINARY one-shots.

i - [🌷🌸] to the grave.

premise: in which blyke and remi are in a relationship, and isen's resentment towards being the third wheel is more three dimensional than it seems.

characters: isen, blyke, remi, john. 

posted on ao3

~

It was disgusting. Their goodbye kisses and their shared boba. The glances they exchanged and the soft hand touches. They thought they were so slick–they should've known him better than that–they thought he wouldn't notice. He had always noticed. From the moment his jealousy started creeping up on him, all he could do was watch. He was fucking possessed. All Isen could do was psychoanalyze. All he could do was long for what they had. He found himself, as the three had movie nights, paying attention to Remi lying in Blyke's lap rather than the actors on screen. And all he could do, all he could fucking do , was joke about being the third wheel. It was so, so, so unfair. He hadn't been sleeping, staying up at night just wondering what he had done wrong.

I thought I had a chance.

From the day they had met, Isen had felt something. It wasn't just a silly crush. It was different from all of his past relationships that had failed. Everytime he looked over, he felt his heart give a little buzz. His palms would get sweaty, and he would blame it on anxiety but it wasn't anxiety he was just so smitten.

He didn't even mind being a third wheel. He just wished it was with anyone else. He couldn't handle any more of Blyke and Remi's puppy love. Isen was exhausted. It was adorable, yeah, but it hurt so bad. He was suffocating.

It was a Monday afternoon and the three of them were at the mall. Isen walked behind, staying rather quiet. God, he hated this. At least when they weren't dating there wasn't a constant reminder of how Isen would never get together with–

"Isen, what do you think?"

"Huh– what?" Isen snapped out of his trance and proceeded to look at Remi with a confused look.

"The idea we were talking about?" Remi added, which was no help whatsoever. "For the Safe House."

Isen, despite not knowing what the hell was happening, responded with a "Oh yeah, totally," and almost went back to tuning out the conversation.

"Hey, dude, you okay? You seem off." Blyke questioned, paired with Remi giving his statement a little nod.

"Oh– um, yeah," Isen mumbled. "I'm just... a little worried about an article," he explained, scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh, well, I'm sure the article will be great!" Remi announced cheerfully, and Blyke shook his head in agreement. Before turning back around, Remi gently slipped her hand inside of Blyke's without a word, and the three proceeded to walk through the mall.

Isen wished it was an article that was on his mind.

* * *

Rain drizzled downwards, catching in Isen's hair. It was Tuesday afternoon and the only thing he could possibly think of doing was run. Run away from everything as music blasted in his ears and sweat drenched his back. The air was humid and suffocating, but he still ran. His breathing was unsteady and he felt a lump in his throat begin to form as he took the time to think. He knew he had no chance, so why couldn't he just feel happy for them? The two fit together so well– even Arlo agreed.

It was just a dumb crush. It was a stupid, stupid crush that didn't mean anything. It meant nothing. In a few weeks, it would fade away and everything would be normal. The small voice in Isen's head replied with, wouldn't you want them to break up in a few weeks? causing feelings of guilt to cascade over him. No, his friends were happy, and he wasn't going to ruin that over a silly little crush.

A

silly

little

crush.

Isen began to run faster, the rain now pouring. His hair was wet and his clothes soaked, along with his cheap earbuds which were now starting to produce glitchy audio. What did he do wrong? Was he not enough? Where was the line between friend material and boyfriend material?

It wasn't a silly little crush. It was so much more. His own stolen glances and fantasies of soft touches. His heart was on fucking fire and he had no idea what to do.

He wasn't running anymore. He was standing in the courtyard of the boy's dormitory, in the pouring rain, like an idiot. His playlist wasn't even playing and for some reason Spotify had started playing German Hamilton. His breaths were shaky along with his entire body. Isen entered the dorms in defeat.

As he was heading towards his room, he passed Blyke and John's. He stood outside of Blyke's door.

Maybe we could hang out. Maybe this is how I start ignoring it.

"You look rough."

Isen turned around to face John. "Yeah, I know," he sighed. "Have you seen Blyke?" he quickly asked. A part of him didn't want to knock and find out.

"Uh, no. I think he's out with Remi," John responded.

"God," he muttered under his breath, before wiping some of the rain off his face. What did he expect? He disconnected his earbuds and shoved them in his pocket, and began to leave the hall before he heard John go–

"That must suck."

Isen turned around. "What?"

"You like her?" John raised his eyebrow.

"Remi?" Isen sputtered.

"Yeah, it's kind of obvious," he offered. "You seem annoyed whenever you guys come to Blyke's dorm."

"I don't like Remi," he retorted, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You sure?"

"John, listen to me," Isen stepped towards him, "I don't like Remi ."

~

word count: 925