maybe we can fix each other - Ricky Bowen x Ej Caswell (HSMTMTS)

I. Confusion & Melancholic Thoughts.

"Really? Well, unless it's a family emergency..."

"My parents are splitting up... For real" Ricky says, interrupting Miss Jenn while she was talking. she looks at him with an empathic and concerned look, all of the frustration leaving her face in each sylabe he spoke.

"I'm so sorry to hear that..." she answered, in a very low tone of voice.

both kept in silence for a few seconds before ricky broke down. at first, it was easy to control his emotions, but when he told Miss Jenn, the words echoed through his head and made it even more real, making him realize what was going on. next thing he knew, he was crying on her arms as she whispered onto his ear.

"do you want to go home early and stay with your family?" she asked in a soft voice, and he nodded. he wiped his tears, grabbed his backpack and made his way to the bathroom, making sure to avoid eye contact with anyone he knew. he arrived at the bathroom and realized he wasn't the only one there.

the moment ricky opened the door, he saw Ej facing the mirror and jumped in surprise, unsurprisingly getting the same reaction from ej. they both hate each other, and at the same time they make each other intimidated by their presence - although they'd never admit it. ej was twice as confused as ricky was, both just stood there in awkward silence.

"what?!" ricky said, trying to maintain a threatening tone but failing as soon as his voice cracked.

"are you... okay?" ej asked, squinting his eyes at him.

"no, I'm not! why would you even care anyway?" ricky yelled at first, but toward the end he just mumbled the words.

"jeez, I just asked! no need to yell at me, alright? whatever, I'm leaving."

"Ej! wait!" ricky called for him. he turned around and stared at him, waiting.

"s-sorry for yelling..." ricky began. he sighs deeply after continuing.
"I'm just... mad at everything. I didn't mean to take it all out on you, sorry", he continued in a soft tone.

"oh, really? I didn't even notice you are mad," Ej said sarcastically while crossing his arms. Ricky looked at him dead in the eye and scoffed.

"are you always like this or what? you know what, forget it. just tell Miss Jenn I went home, she'll know what I'm talking about," Ricky said, about to leave the bathroom.

"ricky, wait. can we have like... a few minutes of civilized talk for goodness sake?!" Ej said, before sighing.

both find themselves surrounded by a tense but awkward silence, hearts pounding at the unaware tension that rose as they were arguing. they took their time to catch their breath before saying anything. the truth is that they don't know how to act around each other when they're not arguing or yelling at each other.

"so... is something wrong... or whatever?" Ej finally spoke, breaking the silence.

"why would you think that I'd trust you? especially after what you did to nini," Ricky replied.

"okay, take it down a notch. if you knew what I go through every single day, you would understand... and besides, Miss Jenn is right. Troy and Chad are best friends, and we can't stay near each other without arguing and making Nini and the rest of our friends mad at us. I know you still like her, and I like her too but let's just forget that for a while and act like normal people," Ej said.

"not as much as she's mad at you, though," ricky said in a teasing voice.

"really, bowen?" Ej stared at him dead in the eyes, arms crossed and walking toward him, threatening. ricky's eyes widened a little at the sight of a mad Ej walking toward him, which didn't help but fuel Caswell's ego.