There was just something about him.
Aksel's breath hitched in his throat as their call connected. His heart skipped a beat as he glanced at his monitor, which pertained a second more of darkness before an array of light appeared, and in that light was the very cause of all of his problems, worries, and wildest hopes.
"Hey dude," came the pitchy voice of his Hispanic friend, a smile soon folding its way over beautifully toned skin.
That smile was immediately mimicked; Aksel had already captured it a million times in his mind but he still adored seeing it every time that he did.
"Hey," Aksel replied in his lower tone of voice, sitting back in his chair to catch his breath. He didn't know when the whole 'short-of-breath' part came around to this whole act but it had been happening a lot lately and he'd learned to control it.
"One second." Alex mumbled after their greetings were through, clearly going through something on his computer. Aksel watched his webcam feed patiently, studying every inch of the other boy and his surroundings until he spotted a light shake in the camera, as well as a soft motion coming from the corner of the screen.
"Feeling giddy, Alex?"
There was a soft pause from the other. The kind so sudden that everything fell to pure silence for at least a couple of seconds.
Then, that beautiful smile broke out with more teeth and more enthusiasm. Aksel could almost see stars form in Alex's warm brown eyes, the kind that made him melt into a puddle of his own enjoyment for the other's every whim. He hated how easily the other had control.
"Yeah!--"Alex replied, looking back up towards the webcam and facecam area. "--Aren't you?"
The Estonian man couldn't even begin to describe how excited he was. Well, that was of course, without getting all sappy and gross on his poor friend. So instead, he opted to tone down his overpowering emotions and speak upon his more tame ones.
"Fuck yeah, dude. It's only been, what, like six years?"
Alexis let out a cute little laugh and dear god if Aksel's heart didn't nearly beat right out of his chest. That laugh.
That was what got to him the most over anything else.
"Six years that have felt like decades!" Alex chirped back, his giddy grin evident and his leg tapping feverishly under his desk.
"Six years and somehow we're still putting up with each other," Aksel tsked, shaking his head softly, playing with his glasses.
The other giggled again, clicking away at something else on his screen, clearly half distracted as usual while he responded. Aksel didn't mind. This meant that he could continue to observe Alexis without a problem in the world.
"Yeah, which is kind of surprising considering how much of a stupid idiot jerk you are."
Aksel snickered and let out a breathy chuckle.
"I think you've got the wrong guy, maybe you used the wrong left to point him out."
There was a moment of realization in the other's face that the Estonian wished he could capture forever.
"Hey! Shut the fuck up!"
Aksel laughed more and Alex joined in, assumingly minimizing his tab due to the sudden dimming of light as he sat back in his chair and looked up at Aksel's facecam and a little into the camera.
He knew he couldn't wasn't looking directly at him, but the stare was enough to fill him with a warm, fluttery feeling in the pits of his stomach.
Alex's smile suddenly became much more tame and careful, as if it were a secret shared only between them and Aksel swore to take it to his grave if that was the case.
"Six years of living a painful amount of miles away from the only best friend I've ever had," Alex said quietly, so genuinely and honestly that it almost threw his friend for a loop.
Aksel's smile faltered cautiously--he scanned the other's facecam for any other emotions, assured that he'd spotted one of a more dreary tone.
They both sat in silence, but it wasn't unbeknownst to both that their minds were simultaneously racing.
"Don't get upset now, Alexis. We're so close. I'll see you in less than forty-eight hours."
The words leaving his mouth felt so surreal even to him and he had to wonder if he'd even convinced Alex.
"I guess you're right," the Hispanic one breathed, looking up at the camera from a lower perspective that made him look like an angel, "there really isn't long now. Better be ready to have your stupid face punched the heck out of."
He breathed in a sigh of relief, his own smile returning to his pale face.
"Oh whatever, I'll cream-pie the shit out of you," Aksel joked.
Then Alex went that shade of awkward and innocent that he tended to do whenever things got too sexual, giggling like a child at the joke from their game, Toontown.
It was so painstakingly cute and even moreso, confusing.
Each of them had a momentary silence, heads down, minds wandering to times far away from then and there.
"Can you believe we met on Toontown?" Alex was the first to break the silence.
"Honestly, these days, it feels like it was in a whole other life."
The other boy nodded in agreement, playing with the drawstrings on his hoodie, looking down at his lap.
The two were both lost in memory of their first meeting, back when they were between the sweet ages of 12 and 14.
Oh, how they were much simpler times, running around Toontown acting like the children they were. Back before Aksel's brain caught up to his heart and he realized that there was something there for the other boy that had previously lied undetected, hidden under a layer of misunderstanding.
"You should probably get some sleep, Aksel. It's late for you and you've got an important and long flight to catch."
The Estonian snapped his head up slowly, a small pout on his lips. It wasn't very often that Alex would discourage him from staying up but he had a good reason to this time.
"I guess you're right. Don't wanna miss it, after all," he hummed, a small smile laying dormant.
"You fucker! You better not miss it!" Alex whined with a lace of panicked hostility.
Aksel just chuckled in response, hovering his mouse over the 'end call' button.
"Please, Alex. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
They each shared caring goodbyes and left the call, and for some reason, it felt like the slowest period of time the universe had ever thrown at them--and the following hours were no better.
Aksel laid in his darkened room under warm and comfortable covers, but alas, he could not rest. His mind had never been so unenticed by the promise of nice sleep and comfort.
I'm meeting Alex soon. I'm meeting Alex soon. I'm going to step off a plan and get in a car and we're going to be in the same place. We're going to see each other.
Aksel's heart skipped another beat to the song of excitement.
We're going to hug and laugh and act just like we did when we were dumb and young and barely spoke reasonable English.
Aksel's face was beginning to hurt from his own happy thoughts.
A Twitter notification broke him from said thoughts.
It was Alex, of course, talking about how restlessly excited he was.
The Estonian smiled as he unlocked his phone and replied to the tweet, asking Alex to check Discord, where he had sent basically the same message a few minutes before.
After a few stupid Twitter interactions, Alex begged him once more over Discord to sleep, and perhaps it was all of the excitement that finally wore him down or much more calm thoughts of what was to come, Aksel finally drifted off, imagining what it will be like when he finally feels the boy he has loved for so long held tightly in his arms.
|| A/N: Hi all! Hope you like this dumb little short fanfic; will probably have 2-3 parts! Comments and votes are appreciated. <3 ||