(y/n pov)
"Hi?" Grayson asked. The girl at the doorstep, struggling to hold the box she was holding smiled at him.
"Hey-- Grayson?" He frowned but nodded.
"And you are?"
"Delilah?" she asked. He raised an eyebrow. "Y/N's roommate from college?" Grayson's eyebrows flew up in realization.
"Oh! Come in-- come in," he said, moving away. She shook her head.
"Oh no, I've got to get going-- I'm meeting my fiance for breakfast," she said with a smile. Grayson nodded. "Is y/n here?"
"She's still in bed, I can go wake-"
"Oh no, don't worry about it," Delilah said with a smile. "I was just cleaning out my old stuff and found this box, but all of its y/n's," she told him. "I talked to her and she said I could come later today, but I thought I'd just stop by on my way." Grayson nodded.
"Oh, I'm sorry, she doesn't get up until, like, ten," he said with a laugh. He took the box from her and set it on the kitchen table. "Thank you, though, I'll let her know."
"Yeah, no problem." Grayson nodded. "Congratulations, by the way, for the wedding and everything-- sorry I couldn't make it." He shook his head.
"Thank you, and don't worry about it." She smiled.
"Y/N's a pretty good roommate," she said with a smile. She headed down the steps of the porch, "But I guess things are different when you're married, huh?" She winked. Grayson blushed and scratched the back of his head.
"Well--"
"I've got to get going, Grayson-- bye!" Grayson waved as she pulled out of the driveway.
Shutting the front door behind him, he walked back into the kitchen, looking at the cardboard box. He decided to wait for you to wake up to tell you and carried on with his morning.
And just as he was about to come to wake you up, seeing as it was getting late, he heard a shriek come from the bathroom you shared. A frown on his face, he headed up. He opened the door and found you standing on the bathroom counter, crouched as you let out another scream,
"What? What happened?" Gray asked, worried. You pointed to the wall by the door. He turned and sighed. "Y/N, it's just--"
"Kill it!" He sighed.
"That's not vegan, y/n, wait." He headed downstairs and grabbed a glass and some cardboard. He heard you scream again and sighed, heading up faster.
"It moved-- it's on the door now!" Grayson chuckled and pushed the door closed and crouched down. You gasped as he trapped the centipede between the glass and cardboard. He showed it to you. "You take that thing as far away from this house as possible, got it?" Grayson laughed and headed out.
When he returned, you were still on the counter. "Good morning," he said with a smile. You sighed.
"Good morning." He waited, hands on his hips. "Can you get me down please?" He chuckled and walked over, pulling you off of the counter, arms around your waist. "Thank you," you whispered.
"You're very welcome." He leaned against the doorframe as you began to brush your teeth. "Your roommate came by," he said. You turned, toothbrush in your mouth.
"Hm?"
"Roommate-- Delilah?" Your eyes widened.
"Oh-- she brought my box?" you asked, mouth full of foam. He laughed.
"Yeah, it's on the table downstairs." You nodded and thanked him. "Uh-- yeah, that's all, she came by."
"Well, thank you," you said with a smile. He nodded and walked out of the bathroom.
It wasn't until a lot later that you got around to opening the box. You grinned. "Gray!" You pulled out things from the box, setting them on the counter.
"Hm?" He sucked peanut butter off of a spoon and walked over. "What is it?"
"It's just a bunch of stuff from when we were little!" you laughed, pulling out a little shoebox. "Oh my god, Gray."
You opened the box up and smiled. He leaned over your shoulder. "Is that us?" he asked. You laughed, picking up a picture.
"From that zoo trip in like, third grade," you laughed. "Look at my hat, oh my gosh," you said with a smile, flipping through the stack.
Gray reached into the box and pulled out an envelope. "You kept these?" He asked, pulling out little pieces of paper. You looked up to see what he was holding.
"Oh!" You put your box down and took a slip of paper from him. "Oh my, Gray, look at this-- all your letters are backward."
"When was this?" he asked, reading through the notes.
"Probably when we got lockers?" You asked. "I started it; I was putting notes in your guys' lockers-- I kept all the ones you wrote back," you said with a smile.
"Damn," he muttered, reading the back of a flyer for some dance. "I really couldn't spell." You smiled.
"Still can't."
"Oh, shut up."
You looked through some more pictures together. Polaroids from when you'd gotten older, souvenirs from the places the three of you'd gone together. "Is that you or E?" You asked, picking up a picture.
He leaned over and stared at the picture. "That's me," he said with a smile. It was a maybe, six-year-old Grayson, hugging you.
"We should put this up somewhere," you whispered, putting it to the side. He smiled and you went back to the box, dumping the rest of its contents onto the table. You put the box on the ground and turned to see Gray pick something up.
"What's thi--" You grabbed it from him. "I wanna see it--"
"No, no, no," you laughed. You walked away with the notebook and flipped it open. "Oh my god."
"What is it?"
"Some stupid journal from--" you paused to flip to the front for the year. "Seventh grade? Eighth?" Gray shook his head and opened another box of pictures.
"You really kept a diary?" he asked. You rolled your eyes and he went back to the pictures. "Why did you print all of these out-- they're sticky on the back, ew."
"I had them on the walls, I'd, like, rotate them out-- it's probably tape residue," you told him with a smile. His eyebrows raised as he held another up of you and him. You pointed to the little pile you had forming. "I want to put them somewhere." He smiled to himself and you went back to your journal.
You kept flipping pages to find something interesting to read. But every single entry was about Ethan. You walked back into the kitchen and to the fridge, holding the book open with one hand, the other opening it. You sighed, flipping to the next page, a frown on your face.
You grabbed a box of strawberries and laid the notebook out on the counter as you opened it and read at the same time. "Wha-t-" You turned to see Grayson reading over your shoulder. You shut the book, face red. But he'd already read it.
"Gray!" you gasped. He let out a long sigh and shook his head, turning back. You swallowed and shook your head, turning back to your fruit. "Would you like some?" you asked him.
"No," he muttered. He was staring at some pictures of you and E now. These were in a box on their own. He crumpled one up unintentionally, from holding it too tight. "Fuck."
"You okay?" you asked quietly. He put the pictures down and moved over. "Gray?"
"Fine." You looked back at the journal, still where you'd shut it.
"Grayson, I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" he asked. You sighed, reaching up to rub his shoulder but he turned away. "I'm going upstairs," He muttered.
"Wait-- Gray--" He began to walk off. "We still have so many to look thr--"
"I don't want to." You sighed, crossing your arms.
"I was like, twelve, Grayson." He looked at you. "Grayson, what do you want me to do about it?"
"I don't know, y/n." You swallowed. "It's just nice to be reminded that the girl I married was more in love with my brother than she is with me." You closed your eyes.
"Grayson."
"It's fine." You sighed, opening your eyes. He was red now, fists clenched. "It's just not fair."
"What's not fair, Gray-- how is that my fault?" You rolled out your wrists. "How is this not fair for you--"
"Y/N, don't you fucking get it?" You closed your eyes again. "I married the girl that just happens to be obsessed with my fucking twin."
"I'm not obsessed with him, Grayson!"
"You clearly were," he said, throwing his arm in the direction of your stupid journal.
"Grayson-- that was from years ago!" He stared at you. "Years ago, why don't you fucking get that?"
"You were in love with him up until a few years ago, weren't you?" You let out a frustrated sigh. "The only reason you had to stop was that you married me, right? The closest you could get to hi--"
"That wasn't even my fucking idea, you're the one who said we could go through with it!" you yelled. You pointed at him. "You're the one who would've had to say no, Grayson, you're the one--"
"I don't know, why couldn't you just like me instead?" he asked. Your shoulders dropped. "Why did you have to like him, wh--"
"I couldn't have just forced myself to like you, Gray!" you yelled. "I don't know why I didn't like you-- how would I have known!"
"Well, I'm forcing myself to love you now, aren't I?" You stepped back. He shut his eyes, squinting as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look--" He opened his eyes, but you'd already passed him and gone upstairs.
---
You sighed as you passed by the mess the kitchen counter had become. You'd seen Grayson start the fire up in the backyard about an hour ago from your window, and he was still there.
You pulled the door to the side and stepped out. Head in his hands, fingers gripping his hair, he was sitting there in front of it. Fire had always comforted Gray, and he'd had this little thing in the yard to remind him all of the nights he'd sit in front of the fireplace with his own dad. He'd hoped he'd have kids of his own to sit here with someday.
"Gray?" Grayson looked up at you. "It's supposed to ra--"
"I'm sorry." Your mouth fell shut. "I'm sorry I said that-- I shouldn't have said that," he whispered. You didn't say anything. "It wasn't your fault, you were just-- I'm sorry I yelled."
"Gra--"
"No, no, you're gonna say that it's okay, and it's not, it's not okay, and I'm sorry." You looked down. He stood. "I promise I'm not forcing myself to love you, okay?" You looked up at him. "I do love you."
"Grayson." The fire was dimming out now, it'd been up for a while now anyway. Gray glanced at it before nearing you. He held open his arms and you walked into them. He hugged you.
"I'm sorry," He whispered into your hair. You wrapped your arms around him and he pulled away just enough so he could see you. You looked up at him and he gave you a small smile. You returned it and he pressed his lips to yours just as it began to drizzle.
He pulled away and looked up. "I was trying to tell you," you whispered. He chuckled and hugged you again, the fire extinguishing on its own.
You stood there for a moment and that's all it took for it to start raining hard. "Fuck," he mumbled, pulling his t-shirt away from his body, only for it to fall back into place and stick. You smiled.
"Let's go inside?" you asked. He nodded and took your hand back into the house. He wrapped his arms around himself, palms running over his biceps and you smiled, closing the back door behind you. "Now we're all wet," you sighed, pulling at your own shirt. He shrugged.
"Oh well, it's just water." You smiled and stood there for a moment.
"That's what I came down to tell you-- that it was gonna rain." He smiled.
"Too late." He stared at you some more and you looked up at him. He opened his arms again and you walked in. "I'm so sorry," He whispered, squeezing you.
"It's okay," you whispered back, looking up at him. "I forgive you." He kissed you on the head and pulled you back into his chest.
"Do you wanna look through those pictures some more?" he asked. "I'm sure there're some cuteass ones of us we haven't seen," he said. You smiled, arms around his waist tightening.
"Let's stay like this for a bit."