A monster. This is a monster of a fic and unfortunately for me, there will be Part 3.3. Pagod na ko.
Thank you for all the reads. Last time I checked it's at 6k++ for Discovery.
Thanks also to sereace, most of those reads would probably be due to the credit in Koda. As requested, andito si R3.
As usual disclaimers go, I don't own nor am I associated with the characters implied here. Song is still Love Story from Taylor Swift.
---
In Which This Love Is Real
So I sneak out to the garden to see you
We keep quiet cause we're dead if they knew
So close your eyes
Escape this town for a little while
"Huy R3! San ba tayo pupunta? Mapapagalitan na naman tayo ni Papa. Maaga pa ako bukas." It's been a couple of days after the episode where Kuya Baste went to the mansion. It was a really good episode, mainly because I saw him again, in the flesh this time. He was even more handsome than I remember, even more than when he was onscreen. We didn't really get to talk because we had a script to follow. And my three titos dressed in drag were coming in and out. It wasn't even like how it was with Mama and Papa's episode. We were not left alone at all. I kind of know why. And if you're asking if Papa made a cameo then? He didn't.
"Chill ka lang ate." Hay, bakit ba hindi na lang ako naging only child? Why do I have to have an annoying brother? Out of nowhere he stopped the car. "Wait, bababa lang ako, bibili lang ako ng coffee."
"Wag mo ko iwan dito!"
"Eh mas lalo namang di kita pwedeng isama. Do you want to cause a stampede? Mas lalong magagalit si Papa."
"Okay fine. Buy one for me too, please. The usual."
"Oo na, sige na. Palagi na lang, daig ko pa ang PA. Sana kung may sweldo ako kagaya ni tito Dean." He left the car while murmuring his woes which I didn't pay attention to. I lost track of where we were. When the car door suddenly opened.
"Ang bilis mo na-- Kuya Baste? What are you doing here?"
"I heard you ordered coffee. The usual right? Here." He handed me the drink but all I could do was look at him. Is this real life?
"Thank you, but...why are you here? Baka may makakita sa'yo. Baka isumbong ka ni R3."
"R3 knows. That's why you're here. Because I asked him." I take back what I said. I love my little brother.
"Okay. Nice to see you again, kuya. Sorry I was rude kanina.'
"It's fine babe. I know nagulat ka. I wanted to surprise you. How are you holding up?"
"I'm good. But if you're asking about all the attention and KS2, well...I'm still trying to grasp all of it. It's confusing."
"Confusing?"
"Yes. No. Maybe weird and awkward are better terms? Because, I've known you all my life. You've known me from the moment I was born, really. And now us being in this love team is sort of twisted don't you think?"
"No I don't."
"Hmp! You've always been a good actor, that's why. Sorry naman, I'm a noob."
"Thank you for the compliment but I doubt that I'm that good. I wasn't acting babe."
"You're goo- what did you say? You weren't acting?"
"It was never acting from day one, Charm."
I can't remember the last time he called me by my first name. It was always babe. I never asked him why he calls me so because it's been that way ever since. I've always thought of it as an endearment. Like how Papa calls me princess sometimes. Or that calling me that was like a joke for him, since he kissed me when I was a baby and all, as Ate Ry said.
