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“And they’re not usually hard to find – like, they’re everywhere. But these guys are very small and blend in with the soil, so it’s not easy to tell.”
Pugsley and Eugene have been walking through the forest for almost half an hour. If they haven’t had done this bonding activity a few times before, they would’ve been lost by now - mindlessly wandering in between the trees. Every other day, after their classes are finished, they walk side by side until sunset – most times. This has been ‘tradition’ since the first week the friendship was established – after the horrible incident with their zombie child and the consequential silent breakdown the Addams boy had.
Pugsley was the one who came up with the idea, bringing to the shed a bug he had found lying on a branch. It wasn’t one he recognized – which means it wasn’t one that Eugene had. Since the bee enthusiast mainly talks about the creatures he takes care of.
Eugene was more than happy with the ‘gift’, and took up on his offer to play explorers.
“They’re harmless for the most part. I mean, you can’t exactly have a good defense mechanism if your only threat is getting stepped on by other things.”
The shorter boy isn’t normally able to go this long without stuttering or fumbling over his words. Usually catching himself before he goes on a rant about his bugs, to not be deemed as strange for his obsession with them – stranger than strange that is. The duality of his speech capabilities when it comes to talking about insects, and anything other than, has been overly noticeable to Pugsley.
He won’t admit it, yet, but he’s separated a part of his brain for the purpose of storing information about Eugene that he picks up on.
“For the most part?” Pugsley questions, walking in the same pace as him. Eugene is busy looking all around the forest to see if he can spot new captivating creatures – meanwhile the taller one stares at him with the same look the other one has, full of interest.
“Yeah, well, they can bite – it’s just that you have a much higher chance of accidentally killing them before they get the chance to.” He pauses. “Ugh, I don’t even want to think of how many murders ive committed on accident.”
“I like thinking about that” The Addams boy says, earning a solid but gentle slap on his arm from the back of his friend’s hand – as well as an insulted look, both pausing in their tracks.
“Not bugs! Just in general – mostly people.” He stated in an attempt to protect himself from the potential silent treatment he could get for a grand total of two minutes. His words just get him another look from the bee boy – less insult in his eyes, and more... ‘what the fuck?’.
Nonetheless, the walk’s abrupt stop doesn’t last for very long. Eugene starts to move his feet again, and Pugsley follows suit, getting into the same pace as they were before – as if they’ve gradually, along time, both found the average between their speed. The orangey-pinkish sunset colors are starting to become more visible, which is, ninety times out of a hundred – a sign they’ll have to go back to their dorms and pick up this conversation another time.
There’s only been a couple of times where they’ve stayed past sunset, into the night. It’s not often – and was non-existent to begin with – since Eugene still has nightmares, he doesn’t like to be in the dark inside the forest.
The first exception was when they got lost, and Pugsley decided to calm the other boy’s stress by holding his hand. It was… awkward, to put it simply. But it didn’t take much convincing, since the contact did seem to calm Eugene’s nerves. Not totally though, he still had enough anxiety screaming at him to the point where the hand-holding was firm instead of unsure, like breaking the physical contact apart would make them lose each other inside the darkness.
Sometimes the extended stay was due to getting lost, other times it was due to losing track of time and going deeper into the woods by pure accident. Lately, Eugene has wanted to stay out late on purpose so he could, quote on quote, “find more bugs”.
He’s only ever successful when he finds an insect he either doesn’t have many of, or doesn’t have any of them, at all. Which are half of the times they purposely stay out late.
“The sunsets here don’t last long.”
The same phrase Pugsley says every time the sun goes down, and going back to the dorms hasn’t been mentioned yet. Both of them turn, locking eyes.
“I know.” The bee boy replies, the answer he gives most of the time – the one that tells the other that they’re staying out here alone together for however much longer.
Eugene turns his gaze downwards to their hands, interlocking them. It’s not dark yet, but recently the two have been holding on to each other’s palms even when there’s still light. No one’s complaining or pulling away, and the entirety of the moments where they do intertwine their fingers goes unsaid now. If anything, this only makes them walk closer together, occasionally brushing their arms. Both are afraid that mentioning it would curse it to stop happening.
“… do you know about any bugs that aren’t native to here?”
The shorter boy tilts his head at the question and sighs, as much as he adores bugs, there’s too many of them for him to know about each individual one. So, he mainly focuses on the ones he can get access to – with the few exceptions of the couple of rare species he’s probably destined to never find.
“Uh, not really. I mean, not in exact detail I guess…” There’s a handful of silence between them, yet Pugsley doesn’t talk – he can tell by the look on Eugene’s face that he’s thinking.
“…Oh! There’s this one called Emerald Ash Borer – I only remember that because the color looks exactly like an emerald, you should see it. They are beautiful.”
The Addams boy stares at the other, listening to his friend speak about his interests makes his irregular heartbeat start to correct itself. It’s something he wasn’t previously aware he could get addicted to. Hearing every word he says while simultaneously not focusing on what he’s saying at all is one of his new talents.
“You can find them here now but they’re native to Asia, still, I haven’t gotten my hands on any yet… They are invasive though, so, I probably wouldn’t want to put all my other pets at risk – even if I would wanna keep it.”
Eugene glances at the taller boy when he stops speaking, he does this every time he’s done talking about a certain bug. Pugsley’s unsure if it’s to check if he’s listening, or if it’s something to do with the uncertainty on whether or not he actually cares. Either way, any small trait or mannerism – subconscious or conscious – He notices. Everything, every time.
A small part of Eugene is convinced that actually no one could give a fuck less for his insects – it’s not hard to believe when no one other than his moms have shown the slightest bit of admiration for his hobbies. However, holding the pair of frozen hands seems to for whatever reason throw him off – causing him to forget even the most common facts of whatever creatures he’s on about at the time.
“You know a lot, it’s impressive” Pugsley admits as he gives the other his usual grin.
“Really?” The bee boy questions, with such sincerity in his voice. It’s not uncommon at this point to get complimented by him on his knowledge. It’s simply surprising, he’s not sure he’ll ever be convinced that someone could appreciate his obscene amount of love for bugs.
“Yeah – And before you ask, I do like listening to you talk.”
Eugene smiles at him with bright eyes, he sometimes asks if he’s being annoying or ‘too much’ when yapping about his insect friends. While the words he just heard aren’t an exact answer to either of those questions, he gets the sentiment – as well as a giddy feeling deep down in his chest.
Every so often, he becomes hyper aware of the contact between the two. It’s not a big deal, nor does it get noticed when he’s ranting about insects, which is why he tends to repeat things already said earlier – to distract himself. But when he can’t find any other fun fact to say as the clock ticks, it gets harder and harder not to wonder about it.
“Thanks… In case you didn’t notice, I like when you listen to me talk.”
Both of them could very well be in their dorms by now. And Eugene’s not stupid – he knows why he asks the taller boy to stay out longer, even when a month ago he wouldn’t ever dream of being here at this time. However, not focusing on the ‘why’ of the stuff he does makes life easier.
“I've figured as much.” He pauses to decide his next words. “But… it’s nice to hear you say it.” Pugsley flashes a smile at the other boy who was watching him as he spoke. Neither of them turned their heads to face forward, prolonging the eye contact.
Eugene looks to the floor momentarily, letting a heavy sigh escapes. Looking back up at the other, mentally deciding if trying to stir the conversation in this certain direction is a good idea. “Why do you think i'm really out here with you all the time?”
“…bugs?” Pugsley replies after a few seconds of careful thinking, giving the other a quizzing look.
Bee boy then rolls his eyes. “Well, yeah, but. It’s not the only reason...”
Pugsley moves to stare at the ground, furrowing his eyebrows as if he’s trying to solve a riddle. “Is it because I’m an awesome friend?”
He takes a deep breath, deciding to backtrack on this poor excuse of a confession. “you know what… sure dude, sure it is.” The shorter boy exhales, nodding at his own words – failing to convince himself of them too.
“…I get a feeling it’s not?”
“Don’t worry about it, let’s just go back.” Eugene says, circling the other so they can turn around to walk back to the dorms while not having to let go of the physical contact. Except Pugsley anchors himself to where he was standing, not letting the bee boy walk away – as they refuse to let their hands fall apart. “Oh come on, tell me.”
Now face to face, Eugene shrugs, exhaling. Spilling the words out before he can curse himself to not say it ever. “…I like you …a lot.”
“As in… friends?”
“More. As in more than friends.” Eugene admits, causing him to feel his heartbeats inside his ears. Never in his life would he have thought he’d actually confess his feelings to someone – much less to who it was being confessed to.
Pugsley swallows. “oh – uh… I like you too.”
They stand and stare – as if they are pouring their emotions into the other’s eyes, the only audible thing being the croaking ravens and wind swinging the tree leaves.
“…okay… so-” And before the shorter boy can say anything else – or ask what the hell is supposed to happen now, he gets interrupted.
“Can I kiss you?” The Addams boy says while inhaling a single breath, eyes widening more than usual – as if he didn’t know what he just asked.
The bee boy’s eyes are the same – also widened. Looking at the other’s lips for a millisecond, quickly forcing his gaze up to his eyes. Starting to nod his answer before the actual permission comes out. “…yeah.”
Yet neither of them move for what felt like hours. Until Eugene took a step closer, causing Pugsley to lean down – connecting their lips. Every other sound gets tuned out, as they both tighten the handhold. Although the kiss was a short, it was gentle, and enough to convey how deep their emotions truly went.
They separate soon after. Eugene lets out a small laugh at the other’s expression – which looked like the kiss had just confirmed he met the love of his life. Pugsley grins at the sound of the other’s laughter. “Are we going back now?” The taller asks.
“…We should go to the shed first, then we can go back.” He replies with a smile, starting to drag him in the desired direction – the shed is a much more private place than the great outdoors.