Nice Posture Nonsense | One Shots

Letters (Ausdrew)

<Andrew's POV>

One Year Ago

I walked towards my locker, tons of hearts adorning the bulletin boards on the walls. It was Valentine's Day, the day of sappy love letters, the day of chocolate hearts, and the day of unrequited love.

I glanced at Austin as we walked towards my locker, my heart fluttering. His once pink hair had faded to an orangey color, looking like a sunset almost.

Austin already had his books as we stopped at my locker so I could put my bag and coat away. I took a deep breath, and opened my locker.

Like the past two Valentine's Days, a decent sized pile of cards lay at the bottom of my locker. "Is that more than last year?" Austin wondered aloud.

I shrugged. "Maybe. I can't tell."

I rummaged through the pile of cards, looking for any with chocolate. I successfully grabbed several chocolate candies and popped one in my mouth. "Mmm... raspberry filled, my favorite."

"C'mon, let's head to English. You can sort through your fanmail later." Austin said, poking my shoulder.

I closed my locker and turned around. I saw people staring at me. A few had given me cards. "Thanks for the cards!" I called out, waving to the girls. They gave me weird looks and turned away. I brushed it off as girls just being weird.

The same thing happened with a group of guys, except they snickered as they gave me weird looks.

I continued this pattern the rest of the day, thanking people I recognized that had signed their name on a card, them staring or just not acknowledge my presence. I kept slaking it off as people being weird.

~~~~

Present

My footsteps echoed loudly as I walked down the empty hall, the sign awkward and bulky as I walked with it. The English teacher had given me permission to put my project in her room since it wouldn't fit in my locker. I turned down the hall with the teachers room and a few dozen blue lockers, including mine.

I stopped as I fully turned the corner, then darted back around and poking my head out. Austin was kneeling in front of my locker, about halfway down the hall, with a stack of Valentine's Day cards next to him and some in my locker at the bottom.

My cheeks went hot. It had been Austin the whole time? He had been the one giving me the cards all these years?

I slowly turned around and went towards the bathrooms and waited for Austin to leave. Once he did, about 10 minutes later, I put the sign the room and headed hurriedly back to Austin and I's normal meeting spot at the front of the school. "Hey Austin, what's up?"

He looked up from his phone at me. "Oh hey buddy, not much."

We continued this mindless chatter until it was time to go to first class.

Lunchtime rolled around, and my heart was racing. I was going to confront Austin about what I'd seen.

I set my lunch down next to Austin's, who was in the bathroom. I stepped outside the lunchroom and bumped into Austin.

"Oh, hey. Didn't see you there." Austin said, stepping away from me.

"Um, I was wondering if I could talk to you real quick before we ate lunch."

"Sure, what do you need?" He asked, with a curious tilt to his head.

"Uhm, er, I... never mind let's just go back and eat." I mumbled.

Austin gave me a weird look before turning and walking back into the lunchroom with me following him.

By the end of the day, I had convinced myself to just go up and kiss him before leaving. No embarrassment if I wasn't there to see his reaction.

I caught up with Austin as he was walking out the door.

"Oh, hey buddy! I thought you-"

I quickly pecked him on the lips, mumbled a quick thank you and ran towards my house.

I was about halfway there when pounding footsteps made me turn around. It was Austin, gasping for breath. I had slowed to a walk not long after I'd started running, but Austin looked like he had ran the whole way.

"Oh, hey Austin..." I said cautiously. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. I mean, he'd ran all the way here for a pretty good reason, right?

"W-why did you.. uh... you know..." Austin mumbled awkwardly staring at the ground.

"I just wanted to... um... say thanks for... you know.... putting all those cards in my locker all these years... andmaybeIkindalikeyou?" I rushed out.

Austin stepped closer to me. "What was that?"

I fumbled over my words, trying to get something coherent out as Austin leaned closer and closer and our noses were brushing and my breath hitched and he was kissing me and it was amazing.

He pulled away after a moment and pulled something out of his pocket. "Happy Valentine's Day."

It was a small card, handmade with slightly worn edges. I opened it and read the words. 'Be my Valentine?' it read. Austin looked at me, and spoke up. "I've had that card since the first Valentine's Day I knew you. I just never worked up the courage to give it to you."

My eyes widened. We'd known each other since our first day of middle school, over 5 years ago. I rummaged around in my backpack a minute, and pulled out an equally worn card. "Me too." I said, handing the card to Austin. A light blush dusted his face as he read the sappy note my 11 year old self had written 5 years ago. This time I leaned in a pressed a kiss to his lips. "I'd love to be your Valentine." I whispered.

just under a thousand words. it's Valentine's Day and I couldn't resist writing Ausdrew for this.

see ya later everyone