the next step au's

bad timing (trittany)

when two people are in love, whether they know it or not, you can see it in their eyes, you can tell it in their voice, you can read it on their face, and you can tell by they way they act around each other.

and boy, were those two in love with each other.

sure, whenever someone, anyone really, would bring it up, they would both deny it automatically, as if their life would depend on it, but one could actually tell by the change of their persona, that they were in love.

now, those things are the ones you just cannot deny. no matter how many times you say you're not into someone, your eyes are going to betray you, and exactly show everyone else the truth.

and even if you don't know yourself, it's a fact that can't be altered.

being in love is one thing. timing is another one.

when those two met, one of them was already in a relationship with someone else, the other one was not. yet that didn't stop them from liking each other from the first moment on they met.

they labeled it as a friendship at first, being too naive and inexperienced to know the difference.

but as the months passed, and that tiny little feeling, that grew bigger and bigger each day, seemed to be unbearable, they knew they had to do something.

the one that was in a relationship, ended things with their partner, feeling as if it wasn't fair to them, to have this growing feeling for someone else, and still making them hold onto the idea of a relationship. while the other one tried their hardest to talk themselves into the feeling only being platonic.

people around them talked, almost everyone was supportive, but that didn't stop the doubt that was building up in one of them.

what if it didn't work out? they had to see each other everyday, act as if they're in love, for the cameras. she couldn't do that. she wouldn't do that.

so she lied to him. to everyone. for years.

despite everything he did, every time he would try to convince her otherwise, that there was something between the two of them that was in no was platonic, she didn't want to hear it. it was too risky.

that's how another year passed, and another one. and so on.

until it ended.

they didn't have to see each other everyday anymore, they didn't have to act as if they're in love anymore, even if that wasn't so hard.

and that's when she thought that maybe it could work out. just like he did.

they went out on a date. everything seemed perfect. everything was perfect.

then they stopped talking.

they were both busy with their new jobs, their schedules didn't line up anymore.

one day, soon, we are going to continue where we left off; that's what they told themselves.

that day didn't come.

she met someone. she fell for that someone.

not as hard as she did for him, but hard enough to imagine being with that someone over him.

he fell for someone too.

not as hard as he did for her, but hard enough to imagine being with that someone over her.

you can still see it in their eyes when they talk about each other. but timing is everything. and it wasn't on their side.