The Best of Friends | ✔

four

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The blinding light from the window teased me, but it failed to make me crawl out of the bedsheets. I really, really didn't want to move. Not when Roger was completely alert, wide awake, sitting on his loveseat in a pensive mood, rubbing his sexy goatee. Heat rushed up to my ears.

Fuck, why... ?

"Dan, I know you're awake. You're too obvious, too easy to read," Roger suddenly blurted, looking at nothing in particular. "When are you going to say it? I know what you're thinking."

Fine. Fine, Roger. "I'm weird, right?" I mumbled, hiding my face in the sheets.

I heard a velvety-toned chuckle. "You were already a weirdo before this; you followed that one girl, Ane, everywhere she went, and you only stopped because you moved up north. Who the hell does that but a creep?"

A nervous giggle found its way out of me. "I... I guess so."

"If you ask me, the stalking's much more concerning than being bi or LGBT or gay or who knows what you want to label yourself. You used to take pictures of her, and as soon as they developed, you would just... stare at them. Heck, you went so far as to steal some of her things to keep them in your safe, too. Do you remember that?" I couldn't bring myself to do anything but stare. "I can't even count the times I worried over you kidnapping her. Maybe sticking to guys is a good thing, to keep your mind off that obsession." Is it bad that I miss her, that I want to see her again, to see how she's been for the past few years, even as I lay on Roger's bed, downright naked and glowing after a steamy night with him? "You still have that safe, don't you? Let me guess, the code's still her birthday." My face flushed far beyond my limits and Roger caught on quickly, laughing dryly. "Jesus Christ, Daniel."

"To be fair, most of the things I have she intended to throw away."

"That only makes it worse, but whatever man. I don't wanna talk about it anymore." He stood up, taking a couple of steps while chuckling to himself, before bending down to face me. "Well? When are you going to say it?" I lost myself in his irresistible gaze, in his soft, alluring eyes. They filled my heart with warmth, they sprinkled bits and pieces of all that is sweet and bubbly into the gentle flames of my soul. He leaned in close, rubbing off some dried saliva from my cheek with his thumb. Probably his own.

"Why... ?" I mumbled, panting after realizing I had failed to breathe for a minute. It was no longer a joke, how he could take my breath away. "Why did you go that far with me?"

"Because you're you, Dan. Simple as that." His hands lingered on my face, sometimes rubbing my cheeks, and every time he rubbed them, I felt a new high. "Got curious and carried away by the heat of the moment, too, but I have no regrets. I'm just... mind-blown. It was... it was really hot, Daniel. I can't stop thinking about it." A soft smile crossed his face. "We were in the dark, and yet, I've never felt so... seen."

I felt another giggle build up within me, and once it came out, Roger followed with his own. "We've definitely crossed a line that friends just don't do."

"We, we don't have to be like anyone else, we can be our own thing── something else, something more than that, Dan," Roger said rather breathlessly, with his eyes twinkling. "Let's give it a shot, doesn't hurt to try."

Is he trying to give me a heart attack?!

"Don't give me that, I'm not dating you, I'm not risking what we have for a couple of k-kisses!" I felt my face flush with just the thought of that. "Love's a gamble I don't want to lose you on. I... I love you far too much for love, Rogelio Israel Robinson. I legitimately don't know what I would do without you."

"Wow... okay, wow," Roger breathed out, slowing down, rubbing his temples, pursing his lips. "Here I am, suddenly finding you cute as hell, questioning myself, confused, w-with my heart racing every time your eyes... uh, and I asked you out and then you tell me that... that, uh── a-and... you turn me down, and... shit." He sighed, quickly pinching the tip of his nose to recollect himself. I watched his chest rise and fall a couple of times as I thought back on how hot it felt against mine last night. "I'm flattered, Dan. You're too... considerate. I really, really don't deserve you." In the hopes to keep itself calm, Roger's hand rested on my hair. It continued trembling. "Well, you're right, Daniel. We've... crossed a line. What are we, if we're not to... together?"

Sorry not sorry, Roger. "Um, dear friends? Each other's halves? Intimate soulmates? Intimate friends of the soul?"

Roger spit out some titters, still outwardly shaken. "That all sounds gay as hell!" A smirk began to form on his lips, but he quickly swallowed it down after seeing my face. "It's almost perfect, but something's missing."

"What's missing?"

"I don't know... just something like friends, but suggestive."

"Roger that's gay as hell," I said in a monotone voice, but I couldn't keep it up for long before bursting out in laughter. "What am I, your booty call? You need to fix that wording a bit, dude."

"A bit, he says." Roger scoffed playfully, shaking his head. "Shit, I have to fix everything!"

And so we never came up with a proper word or words for what we were, but that was fine with me, and fine with him. In its own puddle of ambiguity, multiple possibilities, and the grand scheme of things, it was better that way, but in the eyes of others, we were each other's devoted confidants, the best of friends.

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The End

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Author's Note (A/N):

Hello there my wonderful peeps, I'm Indigo Ivy── the author of this story!

This short story works as a stand-alone, but it's associated with my story Ego's Trap. If you would like to enhance your experience here, feel free to check it out, but trust me this short story is good on its own and needs nothing else, too, so seriously no pressure!

There are two songs that resonate with the feelings I mean to portray here in this story: "The Way I Feel" by Remy Shand (perfect lyrics, but too positive), and "Love is the End" by Keane (perfect lyrics, again, but too dark). Together they work in harmony, and as one they're what this short story is all about, emotionally.

I really, really love how this short story turned out! Even after reading it over a dozen times, I still gush over the things I wrote here. I hope you enjoyed it too~

For the people who read Ego's Trap: Did you see this coming? Did your thoughts on Daniel and/or Roger change in any way?

;)