I AM THE EYES

why can't you see me?

cheers for the prompt stephentries !! go check em out x

will and stephen were roommates (oh my god they were roommates) and you absolutely couldn't find a friendship closer than theirs. it was to the point where they'd hold hands, cuddle, pretty much if you looked at them from the outside you'd assume they were in a relationship, easily. but the latter of the friendship, stephen lawson, wanted something more. call it selfish, but over the years he'd known will, he had developed one of the worst crushes known to man.
why?
because how in hell was he going to let will know?!
the pair literally said 'i love you' to each other platonically almost everyday. in fact, stephen tried to admit sometime last year.

-flashback-

"i- uh, will? can i tell you something?"
stephen shuffled in his spot, the pair were currently stood outside on the balcony of their flat, marvelling at the night sky. well, will was, stephen was more so marvelling at how gorgeous will looked.
"of course you can mate, what's on your mind?"
"well- i uh- i love you."
"aw! i love you too man, i couldn't ask for a better friendship then i do with you. besties forever, yeah?"
"o-oh- i-"
stephen felt like he was choking on the oxygen he relied on most.
"y-yeah, besties forever.."
the pair fist bumped, will grinning his classic cheek of a grin, completely oblivious to stephens genuine confession.

-

yeah, it didn't go well. stephen felt like shit for that next month but never let on, it was another level of friend zone. but two years later, that crush of his had gotten no better, much worse unfortunately.
to the point where stephen was always thinking about will, and if he wasn't thinking about will, he was looking at him too, or talking about him to alex or george. he had become close with those two seeing as he started taking to them more often to try and find out more about will.
so far, he was happy to find out that will actually talked about him a lot too. always good things to say, george said. but what he never wanted to hear was when alex questioned will on his sexuality, just a casual question that came from him, seeing he was bi and all.
the answer alex got, word for word was, 'me? pretty sure i'm straight. yeah, not found anyone who's taken my fancy if we're talking about boys, but there is a girl i'm interested in. names mia, fuck alex, fallen head over heels for her.'

when alex told him that, stephen was pretty sure he stopped breathing for a few minutes. stephen had competition, very fucking unfair competition seeing as will was straight and he was already interested in a girl, not him.

back to reality, stephen was currently sat on the couch, scrolling through his phone as he waited for will to come home from going out for a bit. he didn't question it, because it was good alone time for stephen to think about how he could possibly flirt with will without him thinking it's platonic.
he tried saying i love you, that flew across his head.
he tried asking him out on a date, that he just thought it was a nice night out.
he tried admitting he was gay, that will just assumed was a joke to ridicule himself for never getting a girlfriend.
yeah, he didn't want one. he didn't want a boyfriend, he didn't want a girlfriend either. he just wanted will.
but his train of thought was cut in half by a wiggling of keys. stephen looked over to see a girl?

not any girl, just mia. fucking mia.
stephen knew it had to be her, will talked about her a lot to stephen, he pretty much knew everything he did about her.
will was soon to follow her into their apartment, will greeting him with a smile.
stephen was glad they weren't holding hands, because that meant he still had a tiny chance to slip and prevent this whole relationship from happening. hopefully.
"hey ste! you doin a'right?"
the geordie asked, grinning.
"good, yeah. you? and is this the mia you've been telling me about?"
will flushed a little red, hell did stephen wish he could do that. make will feel like that, that'd be so nice.
"it- it is yeah! mia, this is my mate stephen, stephen this is my mate mia."
stephen said hello and smiled, the girl did the same, tucking some rogue locks of her hair behind her ear.
"you don't mind if we all just watch some shit on the telly, yeah?"
"that's fine with me."
stephen smiled, but it was all fake. he wasn't happy, he didn't want mia, he wanted mia as far away as possible.
"scoot over then-"
will said as stephen complied, moving to the edge of the sofa as will for in between the two, mia on his left, stephen on his right.