I'm listening to some sad songs so... heads up... because it will affect my writing.
I don't own anything.
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Orson went back to stalking Galen. He had stopped doing it for a little while after Galen talked to him but then he started doing part time two weeks later. Now he was doing it full time.
One thing he noticed was that Lyra and Galen shared a lot of classes together. Even though Lyra was only two years older than Orson, she must have been a junior - the same year as Galen, causing her to spend a lot more time with Galen than Orson was pleased to see.
One day Orson was watching Galen from behind a marble column holding up the building. He noticed that he didn't see Lyra anywhere, though from the information gathered from the past few days, he knew she went to class with Galen here. Suddenly, he was grabbed behind. Orson spun around and his fist came in contact with Lyra's jaw. She staggered backwards, then punched him in the stomach, smashing him into the column. "What the hell?!" She shouted.
"Sorry!" Orson gasped. "I'm so sorry! I though you were someone else!" It was partly true. He didn't know it was her but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a guilty pleasure of punching her in the face, though it cost him a punch in the stomach.
"Yeah, well you might as well have broken my jaw if you aim wasn't terrible," she growled, massaging the injured side of her jaw.
Orson stood up, refusing to let Lyra see the pain he was in. She had hit him too high for his stomach and his ribs took most of the blow. "What do you want?"
"I want you to stop stalking Galen. It's creepy and he knows you do it."
"He'll tell my himself. He won't send his asshole friend up to tell me," Orson growled. He turned away.
Lyra seized him by the collar and slammed him against the column. Orson was pissed off that even though she was just a little over seven centimeters taller than him, she was a lot stronger. "You listen to me, brat. Galen doesn't like you. He's only playing you because yore too vulnerable to go running around trying to beg him for his love. Your blindness would lead you to be killed. Galen realized that and he tried to help you, but instead he only made the situation worse. Now you're even more likely to get your neck broken the way you are around him. So if I were you, I would call off the relationship before you get killed."
Orson tried to push Lyra off him but was unsuccessful. "That's not true! Galen loves me!"
"Keep telling yourself that. You'll have your heart shattered in millions of pieces when you find out you're wrong."
"It's not true!" Orson screamed. "Stop it!"
"I'm telling you the truth, kid. So I'm trying to make it easy for you by telling you now before Galen admits it."
"I'm not a kid!"
"Then start making decisions like an adult." Lyra released him. She turned away and walked off. Orson slipped to the ground, unable to hold back his tears. Lyra was lying! She had to be! Galen loved him! But as Orson began to reflect on everything he and Galen had done, he realized Galen had shown very little affection to him except for that one night about a week after they first kissed. Orson curled up with his back against the column and cried.
"Orson?" Orson looked up to see Quint staring down at him. Quint bent down so he could see the teen eye to eye. "Hey, what's wrong? Is school frustrating you?"
"Do you think Galen loves me?" Orson asked. He bit his lip as soon as he said it. Why did he always say the stupidest things?
Quint looked slightly surprised. "Oh. A relationship issue... what happened between you two?"
"L-Lyra... whatsthename t-told me he d-didn't..." he whimpered.
Quint looked slightly confused. Then he signed and said "I should ask you this. Do you think Galen loves you?"
"Yes!" Orson exclaimed. "Wait... maybe? I don't know!" Now Orson was scared. Did Galen love him?
Quint sat down next to him. "I know Galen talks to you. Does he show affection to you? Is he controlling in anyway? Does he take you seriously or are you a big joke to him? Does he listen to you? How about telling you important things that only you would know? Or wait, how about inviting you somewhere special?"
"Yes, no, seriously, yes, yes, yes," Orson said.
"Then I would say Galen likes you, for sure!"
Orson didn't feel convinced. He wanted real confirmation from Galen but now he was too afraid to speak to Galen. "I dunno, Quint," he moaned, hugging his knees while burying his face in them.
Quint sighed. "C'mon, Orson. I'll bring you back to the dorm. I think you need a little rest."
"I still have classes this afternoon."
"I'll come up with some damned excuse to why you weren't there. Probably the old stomach-flu excuse." He hoisted Orson up.
Orson smiled a little. "Thanks Quint." The two began walking when Orson heard his name called. He turned around and saw Galen running towards them. Galen looked worried.
Immediately, Orson squirmed out of Quint's grasp and began running. "Hey!" Yelled Quint. Galen pushed past Quint and chased Orson. Quint chased Galen.
Orson ran through the facility, never looking back. He ran until he tripped and fell on his chest, his chin ricocheting off the ground as well. Pain shot through his body and he lay there, unable to get up.
A few people around him stopped walking and hurried over, but none of them were as fast as Galen, who was at Orson's side immediately. He flipped Orson over so he was on his back and quickly eyed whatever damage he could see. "Orson? Are you okay?"
'No,' Orson thought. He saw Quint push through the small gathered crowd and bend down on his other side. Orson didn't say anything, out of fear that he was going to do something he would regret for his life.
"Let's bring him to our dorm," Quint murmured to Galen so the spectators couldn't hear. "He's had a pretty rough day." Galen nodded, gingerly picking up Orson bridal style and carrying him off, Quint leading the way.
Inside the dorm, Galen placed Orson on his bed and gently pressed on his chest. Orson winced, but it didn't hurt as badly as before. It was just a dull pain now. Galen then checked his jaw, which Orson had found hurt more than his chest did. He felt like he had dislocated it or something (not that he had ever dislocated a joint before and knew what it felt like). "He seems to be okay," said Galen. "No broken bones, no dislocations that I can see. But I think he should still visit a doctor or something. "Um... Quint, why don't you go get some ice?" Quint nodded and ran off.
Once he was out of the room, Galen sat down next to Orson. "What happened back there?"
'Lyra said you didn't love me!' Orson wanted to say. But instead he said "Nothing..."
Galen didn't believe it. "That's not an answer. Something happened and I want to know what."
"I ran, tripped, and fell," Orson mumbled.
"Orson..."
Orson took a deep breath. "Galen? What is love?"
"What is love?" Galen paused for a moment to think. "I would say it's an intense feeling of deep affection. Or a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone."
"I don't want a dictionary answer!" Orson snapped. "I want your answer! How would you define love?"
Before Galen could answer, Quint returned with the ice. He gave it to Galen, who asked Orson if anything hurt. "The base of my ribs," Orson said. 'Where Lyra punched me.'
As soon as they had the ice on the area, Quint said "I'm gonna go back to class. Get better, little dude," he said Orson before leaving.
"Little dude?" Galen chuckled.
"I don't like the nickname," Orson said. "It makes me feel short."
"Ah, you're not that little," Galen said. "You've gotten a lot taller since the beginning of the school year."
"Yeah, like five centimeters!"
"That's still quite a bit."
"I suppose... so? Do you have any answer for my question?"
Galen went back to thinking. "Well... love is... love is like... making a sacrifice to please the significant other. For instance, I love science so I sacrifice my sleep time to work."
Orson nodded a little. He wondered if Galen loved him. He tried to think of a sacrifice Galen made for him, but couldn't really come up with one. "Galen..?"
"Yes, Orson?"
"Do you love me?"
Galen paused. The silence was only a few seconds long but to Orson, it felt like an eternity. The hesitation made Orson worry what Galen was going to answer. "Is this what the running was about?" Galen asked. "Were you afraid to ask if I loved you?"
"Well L- I mean, someone told me you detested me and were using me."
The sad expression on the scientist's face hurt Orson's heart more than his injuries. "Orson... you can't believe everything you hear. That's not true, and I would know because I'm the real Galen Erso." He took Orson's hand and squeezed it. "I love you, Orson. I really do. And I doubt those feelings would change any time soon."
Orson smiled. "I love you too, Galen," he said quietly. He then realized that Galen had sacrificed work time to be with him and Orson couldn't be happier. Galen really did care.
Galen leaned forwards and kissed Orson's forehead. "I'm not that good at showing my compassion sometimes so I'm sorry if that lead to confusion." He stood up, adding "I should probably get back to class myself. I'll see you later."
"See you," Orson said. Galen kissed him again before he left. Orson was so happy. Galen had said 'I love you!' He let out a fanboy squeal, followed by some 'Ows!' from his bruises. "I can't said to hear him say it again and again!" Orson squeaked. "I'll say it every day to him and I hope he does the same!"
What Orson didn't know was that not only was it the first time Galen said 'I love you,' but also the last time he would say it for a very long time...
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Well, Galen and Orson finally confessed their feelings and Lyra's a little b!tch.
Please review!