The Toy Master Series: Behind the Scenes

ONE-SHOT: Future Friends - Part 2

Words: 8698

Couple: Ethan Auden/Kailas Patel

Notes: Here's part two of Ethan's oneshot, finally. Fuck I've been writing this for like a week or something so I'm really happy I finished. Just a little over 17k words all together. I really hope you guys like Ethan, because I have grown super attached to him. He's my new baby and I have put him through some major hell. Kk_Zoe is at least 30% responsible for all the angst and the pain Ethan goes through. Anyhow, please enjoy this last part of the oneshot, and please comment and tell me what you think of Ethan and his relationship with Kailas!!!!

Ratings/Warnings: vague mention of sexual content, language, angst, really sad shit, fluff

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I don't think Lailani liked me much. From the moment we first met and onward, whenever I was around she just gave me a side glance, focusing her entire attention on Kailas with an adoring smile. Her husband was the same way, doting on Kailas and greeting him enthusiastically but offering me a blank look when I tried to introduce myself, like he couldn't wrap his head around my existence.

He was a nice man in general, he just didn't seem to like me. He, Lailani, Arthur, all looked at me like I was an anomaly, a tumor attached to Kailas that needed to be removed. It was a weird feeling, but not entirely unfamiliar. I'd spent my entire life feeling like I didn't belong, like I was unwanted by everyone. The difference with this was that someone actually did seem to want me around. Kailas wanted me around, he said it to me more than once, and that's what I cared about.

That's what I clung to like a lifeline, his acceptance of me, and as the time passed I became more and more attached to him. Every day he seemed to get more comfortable around me, until he stopped flinching when I got close, tilted his head in my direction as if anticipating my touch on his face, the way I would trace his scar idly.

"It makes me feel more human," he muttered to me once, hiding his mouth and nose in his hands, which were hidden away behind his sleeves, "When you touch the scar I mean. It doesn't feel like a scar when you do that, it just feels like my face."

"Oh," was my intelligent response, my voice cracking, and I cleared my throat with a smile, "I'll do it more often then, but only when we're alone."

It was halfway through our first year in high school when I finally realized it, how much I cared about him. Though maybe I didn't plan it very well. I was sitting on his left at lunch, my head against the table and facing him, tired. I was emotionally exhausted, and I feel like Kailas must have picked up on it. He was incredibly empathetic after all, so much so that I worried about him for it, and I definitely didn't want him in pain because I was in a low mood.

My moods were almost never dark like this though, it was so rare for me to be this way, and maybe that was why he was sitting so close. From where I was lying my head, I could see through his bangs, I could see both his eyes and his scar, and the angle made him seem even prettier. It was the spur of the moment, a mix of me being low and Kailas being a ray of light still sitting close to me. The one person who ever seemed to want me, and I didn't want to lose him.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"Go out with me."

Kailas paused, a fork between his lips, and turned his head to stare down at me, looking confused, "What?"

"Be my boyfriend."

His eyes grew wide, cheeks darkening considerably as he pulled the fork from his lips and dropped it to his plate, hands curled into loose fists on the edge of the table as he opened and closed his mouth. He was clearly stunned, but this actually wasn't the first time we'd had moments like this, where I found myself falling harder and harder. I couldn't control it.