Warning: Mild cussing
John stared at the girl sitting beneath the shade of a tree from across him. Her (color) hair framed her blank face, her legs splayed out and her nose in a book. She was quiet and never twitched a muscle as if a mannequin in a window display. The only sign of life in her was her eyes lighting up at every turn of the page.
John knows her. Her name is (Name) and she sits next to him in their classes most of the time. The both of them are friends for as long as he can remember and he never failed to make her laugh with his jokes and pranks. There was something bothering him about her right now.
One day, a day John can't remember, she didn't laugh at any of his jokes nor the pranks he pulled on his other friends. Hell, not even a twitch of her lips when she saw a bucket fall on Karkat's head and watched him scream profanities and threats at John.
It was odd coming from the girl who always smiled and laughed. For the next few days, John witnessed (Name) speak in hushed tones; keep a straight face on the whole day; and talk with brief sentences. The weirdest thing is that she doesn't open her mouth wide at all, unlike the times she would burst out laughing at every attempt he made.
Worry crept over his heart like vines, squeezing his heart whenever he failed to make a reaction out of her. She still hangs out with him and the others, but John missed her smile and laugh: the two things that made him feel light after a hard day.
"Yo, John. You're going to scare away (Name) with that stare of yours." An arm draped itself over his shoulder. John glanced at the owner of the arm. Dave stood beside him with his other hand shoved in his pants pocket. John, looking at him blankly, retorted, "I wasn't staring, Dave."
"It's worrying that (Name) hasn't shown an ounce of mirth on her face these past few days," Rose said, sitting beside Jade on the bench the four of them are around. Jade pushed her glasses up and pursed her lips. "Yeah. I wonder what happened? It's kind of making me nervous..."
John didn't know the answer to that either; and to think he was her childhood friend.
"Hey, (Name)." Said girl hummed, her attention shifting from her homework to John seated across from her. Both of them are sprawled on the floor, littered with books and notes for their Algebra homework. (name) lied flat on her stomach with her elbow pinning down one of her books as she solved the problems on a spare sheet while John sat cross-legged, writing with the paper on top of his book.
It's been a few days after the little conversation he had with Dave, Rose, and Jade about her, and it's been bothering John non-stop ever since. He kept thinking about it the whole time in class and it's making him sick with worry. What would make her stop smiling and laughing all of a sudden? No one had a clue, even Roxy, who (Name) trusted her every secret with aside from him.
His mind was clouded with doubt and fear, thinking of so many reasons why it happened. Thoughts like "Did I do something wrong?" and "Why isn't she telling me?" were the most frequent ones popping up in his mind. John never really thought much about it until then, and it's killing him that he might be the reason she was like this. So he gathered his courage and tried to ask her.
Keyword: TRIED
Once the (color)-haired girl looked up, his mind went blank and he blurted out, "Uh, can you help me with problem number 16?"
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" John mentally cursed himself, trying hard not to grimace at his own failure, as (Name) leaned closer and peered at his paper and started to teach him with her mouth barely wide enough for words. "That was the lamest excuse you can come up with, you derp!"
A week had gone by and she's still not showing a hint of a smile. This time, he was heckled by Dave in front of his locker. "Come on, you're just going to ask a girl a question. A question, Egbert."
"Not if it's the girl you like," John grumbled and glared at him, face devoid of emotion and eyes hidden behind his shades. He couldn't tell what was going on in the younger Strider's mind. Worse, he couldn't tell what he was planning under that stoic expression.
"Look, I tried and I always screwed it up. I don't know what's going on with her." Dave clicked his tongue, probably ironically with his face betraying nothing of his thoughts. John sighed, slamming the locker door shut with a loud bang. The sound was drowned out by students shuffling for the exit, since school ended, and their conversations echoing in the crowded hall.
"This ain't some rocket science shit being shoved down your throat, Egbert. You just walk up to her and ask," Dave emphasized the last word, to which John groaned and held his face in his hands. "Do you know what I'll sound like if I did?"
He cleared his throat and made wild gestures as he spoke in a high pitch, "Hey (Name), it's been a week now and I haven't seen you smile or laugh at all. I'm soooo worried and I just want to ask why the absolute hell are you blank, since I like you and stuff!"
Dave was suddenly smirking. He crossed his arms and leaned on the lockers beside John's; the hall clear of people who had gone home by now. The smirk unsettled John, and he was about to ask him, when he said, "About time."
Even more confused, John stared at him with his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. He tried to ask him again, wanting answers, when another voice interrupted him. A whisper of an all-too familiar girl.
"Ask me that face-to-face, John."
"Holy crap!" John whirled around, eyes wide and cheeks dusted pink. (Name) clutched her books and coughed in her hand, (color) eyes never leaving his blue ones. Dave began to leave, the cocksure smirk still on his pale profile.
"I'll leave it to you two then." The sound of his sneakers squeaked in the halls and slowly faded, leaving them in silence. John was lucky enough that he blurted out the whole thing in a deserted corridor. He wasn't lucky enough for her to not hear it from his own lips.
Mortified, the glasses-wearing boy stiffly raised his hand to hide a cough and crooked smile. He was so embarrassed he couldn't think straight. In fact, nothing came to his mind at all. His question died out in his throat as (Name) said, "You really want to know?"
He nodded, quite surprised that it was this easy if he wasn't looking at her. Oh wait...
She mumbled incoherently, rendering John to prod her to speak louder. "Sorry, didn't catch that. What did you say?" A sigh left her lips and her cheeks flushed the slightest pink causing John to admire how cute she's being right now.
He shook the thought away and focused more on her, gnawing on her lower lip in anxiety. Blue eyes narrowed and caught a glimpse of something shiny on her teeth. An assumption sprang from this, but he waited for her to tell him. He did ask after all, and he didn't want to look like a heartless douche in front of a vulnerable (Name).
"I said," her lips trembled and John caught another glimpse of her teeth, showing wires and brackets wrapped in clear bands. "I have braces, that's why. I look stupid and I didn't want to show it to anyone."
Silence enveloped the two, an awkward tension in the air, as they stood still. John didn't know what to say due to his inexperience with comforting girls. It was awkward, yes, but he didn't want to leave her confession like this when it must've took a lot for her to tell him. It went on for a while when she suddenly added, "Especially you."
His body jerked in surprised, his stiff posture gone and replaced with a more shocked reaction. (Name) wasn't looking at him this time. Her head hung low, her feet shuffled nervously on the floor, and her grip on her books tightened with unmistakable embarrassment.
"Me?"
"Yes, you." She was trembling, shoulders shaking and her arms choking the books by now. John opened his mouth to ask more, but she interrupted him. "Let me cut to the chase here," she said, flustered at the turn of events. Her head snapped up to reveal red cheeks and a hardened glare as if this was difficult for her to do and blaming him for what's happening.
"I like you, okay? Like, like-like you. That's why I didn't so much as open my mouth because I was scared you would make fun of me for it. I knew you since we were kids and I definitely knew you wouldn't pass up an opportunity to joke, whether it's offensive or not." Without tearing her gaze from him, she continued, "And that's the reason why..."
John stared, shell-shocked and unable to say a word. It was ridiculous; it was unimaginable. Him, making fun of the girl he'd like for so long that he couldn't keep count of how much she appeared in his dreams? How worried sick he was when she wasn't showing any signs of amusement, happiness, and humor? Surprise after surprise, he wasn't sure on what to do. He couldn't help but say this in his defense: "You don't know me at all then."
A grin made its way to his face, reaching a decision, as his hand reached out to her who froze in surprise. Like all of the cheesy and crappy movies he watched, he made the one move he knew he can use without looking awkward and inexperienced. His hand pulled her head closer to him then his lips brushed her forehead, reddening from the girl's obvious embarrassment.
"You already heard me, didn't you?" John laughed his nerves off as he looked at a red (Name), her mouth gaping open in surprise. "I like you, and you look cute with your braces."
*************
Yes, I'm not dead XD This is the one I was talking about. I've been planning to make this months ago, but I lost my copy and ended up not writing it. As you can see, I updated with three Homestuck one-shots in a row, all of them from my deviantArt account.
This was inspired from my own braces. I remember how embarrassed I was because it was unexpected and I was sort of nervous that my classmates would make fun of me. Turns out they were fascinated instead lol.
My writing style changed now that I look back on it. I compared them to the ones I wrote when I was 12, and I still can't believe 3 years had gone by already (not counting this year). I still cringe at the cheesy and cliche ones, except the one about Natsu where I intended it to be cliche to see how far I can go with the cheesiness.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this :3 And I might come back with a Mogeko character one-shot hehe. Might.
Belated happy 413 to all the Homestuck fans out there~!