BUGBOY | DORBYN [DISCONT.]

07

"what if it falls?" daniel's eyes were trained on the orange, fiery bug that stood on the bridge of corbyn's nose, transfixed in corbyn's demeanour toward the creature.

so far, daniel remained astonished at how corbyn managed to continue working under the pressure of butterflies. the insect's wings spanned out, blocking some of his vision as he couldn't entirely focus on his notes. another sat on the corner of his textbook. they loved his company.

"i try to be as alert as i can, obviously, but they're not as bad as you'd think..."

his eyes raised, meeting daniel's with a momentary simper, "you can have her, if you want."

before daniel could protest, corbyn's fingers gently nudged the butterfly's feet, having them crawl upon his index and soon passed over to daniel's knuckles.

it was a start, of course, and daniel brought his hand a little closer to his face when the butterfly was stable.

she was a painted lady, apparently, although daniel originally thought she was a monarch. according to corbyn, butterflies could sometimes be gendered by the shape of their forewings and abdomen.

the males were slimmer, with triangular forewings. females had rounded, plump torsos and sometimes rounded wings.

"so, what's that one?" daniel gestured to the contrast of black and neon green, bouncing off the white background of their biology textbook. corbyn's brows furrowed upon studying it, lips pursing momentarily.

"i think this is a malachite, it may be a dido though."

the painted lady took flight, going off on some other adventure as daniel was soon startled by another large butterfly just near his head. the flutter was quiet, but he ducked a little anyway, not wanting to disturb the gentle insect.

his eyes were immediately on corbyn, staring intently to find out where they were. what if he was to raise his head and completely crush them? he didn't dare move a muscle.

said butterfly didn't hang around as long, so corbyn gave a small motion that he could move when they excused themselves.

"so, we're doing this?"

daniel's gaze circled the room, the friends, the fruit (even if he couldn't eat it), the pond just a room over; everything fit as pieces of a puzzle. even corbyn seemed to belong here, and that was a little surprising considering how out of place he was at school.

"yeah, we're doing this."

later that night—after the partners had split up—daniel's phone began to buzz wildly in his hands, mindless scrolling interrupted.

mr. henderson🤤🥵🥴
leon💥, juul🦨, livvy🍄... and 2 more

answer                              decline

"dani-boy! i knew you'd pull through," leon's voice was enthusiastic and loud, phone propped up on the toaster in his kitchen. "how was your date?"

"it wasn't a—" daniel's lips pressed together in frustration, seeing freya's face fill in a chunk of his screen.

"o-m-g! dani! how'd it go?"

then came julian, "yeah! how was your date?"

everybody joined in one after another, all buzzing to find out what happened after they heard of daniel actually getting corbyn's number.

"everyone quiet! i can't tell you if you won't shut up, for god's sake."

ethan snickered at that, but the call quieted besides any background noise being made. daniel finally let out a breath, explaining firstly that it was not a date.

"he showed me around the building, and we're doing our project on the butterfly exhibit since we can actually interact with their ecosys—"

"shut up with all the boring stuff! does he like you yet?" freya was far too impatient, and olivia was quick to point it out.

"it's been what, three days? bugboy wouldn't talk to anybody unless he had to, i can almost bet on twenty that nothing happened."

of course, a bet was involved.

"let the man speak! he was probably getting to the good part, shut up already." leon's head was on his palm, eyes practically burning through daniel's screen.

"actually, olivia's right. he's not really talk—"

"told you!"

"shut up, woman! he can't get a fucking sentence in." julian slapped his desk, startling everybody from the sheer loudness produced from their phones.

"thank you, julian."

"anytime, d."

"corbyn only talked about bugs, i couldn't get anything else out of him, really. it's not surprising, though, it'll just be more challenging."

"did someone say rom-com? i'm hearing free entertainment for the next month." ethan had this wicked smirk scribbled across his face, and if daniel was there in person, he would've had an even greater urge to slap it off than he did now.

"ooh, it's like a drama, i'll get the popcorn!" freya's keenness was matched with a roll of her shoulder, hands clasping together before her.

this is gonna take a little longer than you thought, leon.

EXTRA NOTES
-may not be for a few days until i update again
idk 🤧 my teachers are piling on a bunch of
stuff for report cards and i hate it here 😀

-n e ways my tests went okay ! all that's left now is to write an essay and fill out any missing notes i have 😼 (still gross tho i'd rather be writing this /: )

EXTRA EXTRA NOTES
-IF U SAW THIS NO U DIDNT K