Wishful Dreaming

18: Epilogue

Even throughout all their time in the huge city, they have never found another normal human being there. It made Mono feel like that he and Seven were the only ones left that hadn't been twisted by the world, which Seven refused to believe, knowing that they can't be the only ones left, and that there had to be more outside the Pale City. Mono thought that Seven could be right, since the boy knew some other kids in his time at the Maw, but he didn't think about it much, already happy with just being with Seven.

If they were to ever find another person, Mono wondered what they would be like. He knew that he would probably never get attached to them as much as he did Seven, but he couldn't but think about what it would be like to have more people. Seven often thought about it too, sharing his thoughts with Mono, talking about how cool it could be if they started their own little town in the forest. Mono would hum along with a small smile, humoring those thoughts with ideas of his own.

It was always like this. Mono and Seven never went a day without talking to one another, never having run out of things to talk about, whether it was about their day at the moment or a random thought they had. They were comfortable with one another, never needing to feel like they had to hide anything from the other anymore. They told secrets from the past, sensitive memories, things that would never be said otherwise. It was nice, and everything they both wanted.

Yet, Mono couldn't help but feel like there was something more that they were missing. In all the books he read, they mostly ended up with a happy ending, or two characters falling in love. He was mature enough to know that real life didn't work anywhere near like the stories did, and that most of them were fiction, but he found some similarities between the piece of written work and himself and Seven.

Such as how whenever Seven hugged him now his heart would pick up and his stomach would swirl, which never happened until recently. He could also find his thoughts being focused on the other boy, his brain having trouble focusing on other things, especially if Seven was around. Whenever Seven smiled or laughed, Mono couldn't help but grin stupidly. He thought it was incredibly endearing when Seven was confused or super excited for exploration. All of these things were getting increasingly worse too.

Mono didn't understand what was happening at the beginning, when his stomach started to swirl when Seven gave him all his attention, but when all his thoughts were on the boy, he sort of had a realization. If all the books were correct, then Mono had fallen in love with Seven.

It scared Mono at first, and he tried to hide the fact he was starting to love his best friend more than he should. He didn't want to have a chance to lose Seven, as he was the only person Mono truly cared about, more than his own self. He tried everything that the book characters did, such as distancing himself with Seven. That obviously didn't work, since him and Seven were practically attached to the hip. Then he tried to tell himself that those feelings were all in his head, that he was just going off of a book. That couldn't be farther from the truth.

Mono knew that he couldn't keep his growing feelings for the other boy to himself forever, as he was bound to accidentally spill something eventually. Which came to the next thing Mono felt, acceptance. He accepted the fact that he loved Seven more than just on a friendly status, and that there was a slim chance that Seven actually liked him back. By slim, Mono meant practically nonexistent, because there was no way that a boy like Seven could ever want to become anything more with somebody like Mono. Sure, they got along well, but that didn't mean Seven liked him.

This made Mono become slightly curious, if not a bit hopeful, and he started to try and pay more attention to Seven, trying to see if he saw the same signs of love that Mono had.

This didn't help much, and maybe had made his crush for Seven even stronger. Seven was never as physically affectionate as Mono, but when he did hug or cuddle with Mono, it made Mono struggle to keep his cool. All the while Seven seemed unbothered by it, even becoming more physically touchy recently. About the increased heart rate and constant thoughts on the other, Mono couldn't tell. Although he did notice how Seven asked him about his day more often, which was odd considering that they spent a majority of their day together.