oneshots | skephalo

lovelorn (f)

Darryl stays sitting on the couch for a moment, collecting his wide range of thoughts. He decides to get up, and the faint smell of cigarettes trails to his nose. He turns towards the stairs, and couples rush up the brown staircase, hand in hand. Where could Zak be? As people pass him, Darryl gets a feeling he's never experienced before. Instead of "right place, wrong time" He feels like he's in the wrong place at the right time.

It isn't fair how everyone seems to like Zak. Sure, he's attractive, sweet, and considerate, but it isn't fair. Darryl can't help but want to have one moment of silence with his best friend. It does make sense that so many girls like him, though. If Darryl was a girl, he'd for sure want Zak.

He would want Zak?

Something had gotten into him that night. Darryl would never think these things about Zak. Someone must've put something in his drink- there's no way he would ever feel this way. And even if he did, there was no way in his right mind that Zak would feel the same way. He's literally off with some girl right now. He almost feels as if he's lovelorn.

Darryl feels like he's half going to fall asleep, and half going crazy.

He walks towards the back of the house, where the back porch lies. This is a big mistake. He's probably going to find something he doesn't want to see. All of this is going to blow up in Darryl's face. He needs to calm down. He's just going to go talk to Zak, not tell him how he feels.

Tangerine lights lead Darryl out to the porch, and there's a few chairs surrounding a moonlit swimming pool. There he sees Zak and Maddie. They're talking, and she's starting to lean into Zak. Darryl jogs up to them before she gets a chance to do anything else. The brown haired boy gets a sense of deja vu, almost as if he had done this exact thing earlier when the two were on the couch together.

"Zak, I need to talk to you." Darryl suddenly says to the raven haired boy that stands a few feet in front of him. The words leave his mouth involuntarily. Zak whips his head around and Maddie stays in place, frustrated expression on her face.

"Yeah, of course. C'mon," Zak's face lights up as he talks to his best friend. Maddie scowls.

"What? I thought you were staying with me." She says, eyes lowering and hands folding across her stomach. She raises her eyebrows at the boys.

"I'll be back, I'm sorry." Zak looks at her apologetically. Darryl pulls him towards the other side of the yard. The greenery is covering them, and luckily, for Darryl, Maddie hadn't followed them.

"Darryl? What are you doing? Are you okay? Why do your clothes smell like smoke?" Zak asks. His words blend together as Darryl sighs heavily.

"Why did you go with her?" Darryl looks the other in the eyes, serious expression blanketing his face.

Zak laughs. The necklace around his neck sways with each sudden move he makes. Darryl can't help but notice his best friend's jawline, his face, his neck—

"Why are you laughing? I'm being serious." Darryl says, agitated.

"You're acting so jealous." The four words cascade easily off of Zak's tongue.

"I am not jealous, that- that is ridiculous. I am not jealous." Darryl repeats himself, as if Zak didn't hear him the first time.

"Alright, well I'm going to go talk to Maddie now." The black haired boy warns.

"No- no, no, no. Why would you talk to her? What's she gonna tell you?"

Zak laughs slowly and waits for Darryl to say something else.

"She's rude and cocky." Darryl spits out. He'd never say something cruel about someone, but this was just straight up facts

"Alright, you have a point there."

"Yeah. So ignore her."

"Rude and cocky." Zak mimics, laughing.

"Yeah. She probably stares at herself in the mirror all day."

The two stop chatting for a second as Darryl thinks about what he should say next.

"Well I don't want you to like- talk to her out of the blue."

"What do you mean? I can't talk to her?" Zak raises an eyebrow and looks at his friend, scanning his emerald eyes.

"Just—I'm not jealous, okay. But I want to talk to you. Spend time with me. Not her." Darryl's face reddens at the last words. He didn't necessarily mean to say that, but it wasn't a lie.

"Darryl" Zak looks at Darryl. They're the same height, but that doesn't change the fact that Darryl's name leaving his best friend's mouth sent a shiver down his spine.

"I don't want you to start liking her. You'll have another girlfriend, and when you're dating someone you don't spend as much time with me, and-"

"Darryl,"

"It's not fair how she's so pretty. She's practically perfect for you. I don't know how—" As the brown haired boy breaks down, sharing the thoughts that once haunted him in a locked vault, Zak pulls him in.

"Darryl." Zak's cold and clear voice stops Darryl immediately. As if Darryl's words are fire, and Zak's putting them out.

"I don't like her, okay. You don't have to worry about that." Zak takes his time in the moment. What he's about to do might blow up in his face. He's going to take a chance.

It could be a huge mistake.

"But you talked to her for a while out here, what did you ev-"

Soft olive hands find their way to Darryl's cheek. Before the brown haired boy has a chance to react, Zak has placed his soft velvet lips on Darryl's. It almost feels like nothing, the touch is so soft.

The music genre has changed to pop from inside of the house. Faint lyrics are drowned out from the boys' ears as they take each other in.

Darryl becomes hyper aware of the ground beneath him, of the hands on his cheek, on the boy so close to him, on lips that rest on top of his.

And as quick as the kiss happens, Zak pulls away. Darryl's embarrassed to say how surprised he was, he lets out a gasp at the shock.

Zak grins and smooths his white shirt on his chest. He puts a hand on Darryl's waist.

"Is—is this okay?" Zak softly asks the boy in front of him. His hands feel perfect on Darryl's waist, almost as if they belonged there.

"More than." Darryl smiles and the black haired boy grins as he pulls Darryl close once again, taking in the feeling of his best friend in his arms.

Darryl sets his rosy lips on Zak's. The two are heating up. Zak brings both of his hands up to the other's face, and Darryl holds his own hands on Zak's waist.

The kiss is slow. The moment is slow. They want to take it in, admire each other. This moment almost feels like it was scripted. Like it's some kind of art piece.

Zak's never kissed a boy before. He's never kissed anyone quite like Darryl before. It feels better than he would've ever imagined.

They pull away, staring deep into each other's eyes. The two are filled with deep want. Deep desire.

"You're way prettier than she could ever be." Zak's voice rings through Darryl's ears. The sweet sentence making him want to scream, move, kiss Zak, do anything.

The response Darryl comes up with is a shy smile. He takes Zak's hand off of his cheek, and holds it in his hand.

It's darker than ever. The sun has set by now, but somehow there's still a glow of light coming from the boys' eyes. And in this moment, they share a feeling of knowing.

—
thank you for reading!!
word count : 1997
published 1/22/24