Mates (BBS One-shots)

Krii7y/I'm Not Nobody

Mrs. Petalin, the free writing teacher, had chosen three students to read something they wrote to the whole school at the next school assembly. She chose Craig who was reading a horror story, Ohm who wrote a beautiful poem for his recently dead dog, and Smitty. Smitty was going to read something special for someone special that he loved.

Ohm agreed to go first and his poem was super sweet, he even teared up a bit while everyone clapped. Everyone was dead silent and intrigued by Craig suspenseful horror story. Finally, it was Smitty's turn.

The small omega boy took off his multicolored sunglasses and scanned the crowded stands for a moment, locking eyes with his best friend who sat on the edge of the first bench, closest to the doors, but unlike usual, John didn't have his hood up or his headphones on. John looked back at Smitty and gave a sad smile and supportive thumbs up that Smitty almost cringed at. His friend had been going through a particularly rough few weeks, and Smitty was doing his best to help John through his depression, but lately he was just being pushed away. Which hurt.

Smitty leaned closer to the mic, cleared his throat, and began to speak, not needing to look at the crinkled paper clutched tightly in his left hand, just staring into confused blue-ish green eyes.

(Free Audio-I'm not nobody) Imagine Smitty saying this^

'Hey, um.."  John began nervously. Smitty looked up from his homework to glance at the phone even though he couldn't see his friend's face because it was a normal late night phone call. It was Wednesday night and Smitty had a lot of homework, but he'd gladly push it aside for John. The bleached-haired alpha  was having one of his down days, and even though he was an alpha and they were supposed to be tough with hearts made of steel, Smitty (who was supposed to be a weak omega) was John's rock.

"Go ahead, I'm listening."  'I always am.' Smitty said and thought softly, setting down his calculator and math sheet to pick up his phone and hold it close to his face, the contact picture was of John holding him on his shoulder and grinning while Smitty held up his hands and laughed. Their friend, Fitz, had taken the picture, and Smitty could still remember himself screaming "This is what it feels like to be tall!" and he couldn't stop his warm smile.

"Promise you'll just listen to me? I don't need to hear any of that cheesy "It's okay" shit. My parents say it enough." Smitty frowned a bit, knowing this was going to get dark, but he knew John needed someone who could just listen.

"I promise." He nodded, though John couldn't see it.

There was a pause as John took a deep breath, then words started to flow out.

"Nobody wants me. Almost everyone has someone, Craig has a girlfriend, so does Tyler, and Anthony, and Marcel, Scotty, and pretty much all of our friends. Who do I have? Nobody!  I can't blame anyone though, who would care about me? Nobody. I'm ugly on the outside and there isn't anything better on the inside because I'm fucking stupid. I'm in the lowest classes in everything and my own parents only pity me. Even I hate myself. "

Smitty really had to bite his lip, trying to obey John's wish to just listen.

"I may be stupid, but I know one thing. I know that there is no such thing as true happiness, no such thing as love. Happiness is just a temporary feeling of satisfaction or content that will be gone before the next sunrise. Nothing ever stays. No one ever stays. Love is a bunch of bullshit because just when you think you've found your  mate, just when you think start believing that love can last, they'll leave, or cheat, or maybe they never liked you back in the first place and just needed someone to fuck for mating season! Love is fake."

That left a burning feeling in Smitty's chest, it felt like he was being stabbed because John felt like that. He was biting his lip so hard he tasted blood, Blood and the salty water from his tears.

"Sometimes I-no. More than sometimes, ways more than sometimes, I want to stop trying and stop feeling. I wanna stop breathing, stop writing this lame ass story that is 'The Life of John Keyes', because nobody wants to read it! Nobody wants anything to do with me, and I don't want to keep living like this. It sucks. There is no such thing as love or happy endings. Just endings. Shitty ones, like mine will probably be."

Smitty couldn't stop his sniffle, the ache in his chest was too much, and he couldn't stop the sob that followed his sniffle. He tried to smother his sounds by covering his mouth and tried to cover it up by coughing, but he just ended up choking for a moment.

"Smit? Smitty, I-......" "No, John, I'm sorry! I just had to clear my throat and I-" "I'll see you at school tomorrow." John cut him off then hung up. Smitty frowned  and he couldn't hold back the body shaking sobs as he buried his face in his pillow and thought about his friend's words.

When did he become 'Nobody'?

~

As Smitty neared the end of his writing, his vision blurred by tears like everyone else in the gymnasium, he thought of one of his favorite moments.

"Only blind people can't see what's in front of them."

-

John's grandmother had always been one of Smitty's favorite people. The 82 year old alpha female lived in a beach house and John's parents would take John,and sometimes Smitty, to visit the woman every weekend. Grandma Keyes did some things that normal grandmas did like baking cookies and giving presents to her grandchildren(and grandchildren's best friends), but she also smoked, drank wine, listened to modern rap music, and played video games. Grandma Keyes had two small fluffy dogs named Bosco and Studley who loved to chase John and chew up  shoes.

It was easy to forget how old Grandma Keyes was, she was always so lively and cheerful, but her days of smoking caught up with her in the end. On her last day, she laid on a hospital bed with all her loved ones surrounding her. That included Smitty, who she saw as a second grandchild.

As she gasped out words of goodbye and smiled through the pain, John cried into Smitty's shoulder, hugging his best friend.

"Jaren, buttercup," Smitty looked up when he heard the nickname he loved from the woman he saw as his own grandma. "John doesn't understand, but I do... Love.. is a strong thing, Jaren... not all know that... I love you, honey.. Just know that.. fairytales aren't the only things with happy endings. This is the happiest ending I could've asked for. Remember.. only those who are blind can't see what's in front of them.."  She leaned towards Smitty so only he could hear, "In that sense, John desperately needs glasses."

Smitty choked down the lump in his throat and nodded. "I love you, Grandma..." The dying woman smiled one final time at the teen's response. "Oh, buttercup. I love you all.." she whispered, peacefully closing her eyes. Even though it was also the saddest day of his life, it was also the closest he'd ever felt to someone. John's grandma had always understood him, saw what others couldn't, and she accepted everyone(no matter what rank) and treated everyone as equals. She got the deserved happy ending.

-

"So don't say you're not wanted when somebody wants you.. cause that's what you'll get." he finished. For once, his emotional omega side was showing while he wiped his face on his baggy sleeve and swallowed. There was a moment of silence, everyone, even the adults, trying to collect themselves and dry their eyes. John was the one who was crying the most, and he didn't even try to wipe away his tears, not worried about people calling him weak. He never realized, all this time, that Smitty did love him back, that the omega loved him so much. He was always trying to bury his feelings, too scared and too angry at the world to admit it. Now all he felt was guilt and shame about how blind he'd been.

While everyone began to clap and whistle and cheer, John got up and ran onto the stage, picking up the small omega, spinning him, then pulling his hood over his head and side of his face to cover their connected lips. While Smitty kissed back, the students cheered even louder. The whole town probably heard the commotion, but neither of the kissing boys cared. They were to busy loving each other.