Chapter Text
No one’s POV
It was a rather dreary start to the day as Banana got ready for school. He had for starters, slept through his first alarm, being rudely awoken by the family dog scratching at his door whining. Banana grumbles quietly to himself as he pulls a basic T-shirt over his head, Esperanza at his legs, her tail thumping gently on the floor as she looks up at him and tilts her head slightly.
Banana smiles as he leans down, petting the mutt on her head, “Hi, Esperanza.”
The dog whines and wags her tail more, pushing her head into his hand. Banana laughs as he ruffles her fur a bit more before standing up again. He goes back to his closet to grab a hoodie, choosing a light yellow one for the first day back to school. He was a senior this year, he was going to be 18 this year and has honestly dreaded that number for a long time.
Banana glanced at his clock, he had 6 minutes to get outside and catch the bus, causing him to panic a little. Banana uses his hands to gently shoo Esperanza out of his room to shut his door after he grabs his backpack, causing her to bark and nip at his hands playfully, “Go, I have to go!” Banana whisper yells as he laughs softly.
As he locks the door behind him, he can hear the dog whining on the other side as she obviously doesn’t want him to go. Banana wasn’t watching where he walked, stepping directly onto the wet grass that had a mud puddle in front of it. He doesn’t care, thinking that he can just go around it, though he didn’t notice the wet clumps of moss. Banana yelps as he slips and falls into the mud, landing on his right side, “Fuck!-“ He sighs as he props himself up onto his hands, raising the rest of his body up as he looks at his clothes.
Mud dripped down his hoodie, ranging from his right shoulder down to his right knee in grossly wet mud. “Great..” He muttered, he felt anger gnawing at him, he couldn’t believe he’s not even at school and he’s already made a fool of himself.
“I would get a new hoodie but it’s too late.. Maybe I can try to get to the bathroom at school to wet a paper towel.” He mutters, crossing his arms to hug himself a bit, a comforting gesture he did subconsciously when he felt upset. “It’s gonna look like I pissed myself though if I do that — I could maybe blame the rain?..” he mutters softly, trying to muster up an excuse in his head if someone asked why his pants were wet. He decided he would just discard his hoodie, grimacing at the realization of the possibility of the mud staining it permanently.
Banana struggles while taking his hoodie off as his bus approaches him, trying to not get mud on his face as he slips it over his head. He folds it slightly so mud doesn’t get everywhere when he sets it down on the seat beside him in the bus.
The bus’ stop sign extends out once it’s come to a stop in front of Banana’s driveway, the doors opening with a sort of nostalgic creaking noise, ones from the crappy old buses that used to be the primary bus when he was little, though it was being muffled by the rain.
Banana walks across in front of the bus and grabs onto the handle bar as he steps inside, instantly feeling embarrassment nip at him as the mud stain becomes clear as day due to the lights being on overhead. Some middle aged kids point and giggle at his pants, others give a sympathetic look and go back to what they were doing prior to Banana boarding onto the bus. Banana goes to the very back where the high school section was, finding an empty seat, more specifically the very back left seat. It was a seat built for a single person, he always liked that seat more due to getting to sit alone.
If Banana was being honest, he didn’t have an extravagant amount of friends, just a close few that come and go and it was okay like he supposed. He did miss certain ones, some he would rather he had never met to begin with.
Banana sighs softly as his thoughts eat at him, letting his cheek rest against the damp window as he peers out of it, thinking of everything all at once. He wished he had that special person again, one that he could share everything with and not feel judged or shamed for what he does, thinks, or likes. The bus only becomes background music to him, muffled and coexisting, it was nice for Banana, it felt like home in a way.
————————————————————-
Bread messes with the thick ring around his left index finger, feeling nervous about his first day at a semi new place. He had been to this county's elementary school before but he had left early on and missed middle school and the first three years of high school. Being a senior and attending a new school was quite uncommon in Bread’s opinion, and most of the time they either get bullied or they are an outcast, which was fine he supposed. Being an outcast seemed much better than having to punch someone in the face and getting suspended the first day.
The bus pulls up and Bread steps up to the doors as they open, letting him board the bus full of… rather enthusiastic kids. Some screamed as they saw him, “There’s a new kid!!! What grade is he in?” Some kids said happily, others were not as kind… “The high school section is in the back past the last emergency exit window.” The bus driver says, giving a small wave before looking toward the road again and closing the door.
As Bread made his way to the back of the bus he gripped the strap of his backpack a little harder as he maneuvered around middle schoolers that were out in the aisle. As he got to the back he halted as he peered at the single seat, there was another boy there. He was curled up with his knees to his chest, mud coating his pants. He had his arms around his knees with his head resting on them, possibly sleeping.
Bread adverts his eyes and sits in the seat opposite of the boy, glancing at him to try and see what his face looked like. He could tell the boy had glasses, they were hung on the front of his shirt. Bread's expression was mostly unreadable as he looked at the other boy..
Blond with dark brown at the roots and tanned skin, probably dyed hair if Bread had to guess. The boy seemed to be a loner from first glance, or maybe just liked the quietness of sitting alone.
Bread glances up as another high schooler appears and asks to sit with him, Bread hesitates and stands up, “You can have the window.” He says instead, getting shoved a tiny bit into the exit door as the teen rolls his eyes and slides into the seat.
Bread glares at the other person but adverts his attention back to the boy at the window. Bread feels attracted, he supposed. He doesn’t know this person but he feels that weird connection, something telling him he knew this person at one point.
Bread breathes out quietly and forces his gaze away for the final time, looking forward with his backpack at his feet, bringing his phone out of his pocket to scroll mindlessly.
•.•*•.•
The ride to the school was rather boring if you asked Bread, nothing eventful happened besides the elementary students being yelled at to quiet down. Bread had thought about what he needed to do once he headed into the school, preferably finding a faculty member like a teacher or the principal for directions once he got his schedule.
Bread pulls at the neck of his sweater, fanning himself a bit. He regrets wearing a T-shirt underneath his sweater, it was so humid from rain lately and he decided to make a bad decision. He had to look presentable for his first day though didn’t he? It was a crewneck sweater, it was a striped pattern of dark red with a slightly lighter shade of red accompanying it, making it a nice contrast to his overall outfit. His pants were a light khaki color, with a regular dark belt holding them in place around his hips. Bread’s shoes were.. not in the best condition, they were stained by dirt and a bit of mud near the bottoms, scuff marks and the fabric was stretched at the sides to show they were worn a lot but loved dearly. They were Sk8-Hi Vans, not anything fancy but they were comfortable and that’s all Bread really cared about.
Bread stands up as the bus comes to a halt, stepping aside to the other guy out who was also sitting in his seat. The guy does a small downwards nod towards Bread and moves, stepping out into the aisle and going towards the doors.
Bread glances down at the sleeping figure in the small seat, debating whether to wake them or not. Bread bites the inside of his cheek gently before he bends down a little to tap the boy on the shoulder, using his pointer and middle finger. The boy flinched under Bread’s fingertips, raising his head and blinking a few times before he brought a hand up to his eyes and rubbed them to clear the crust from his eyes. “We are getting off the bus,” Bread says, withdrawing his hand quickly, “Sorry to wake you.”
•.•*•.•
Banana breathes in sharply as he suddenly wakes up, flinching as he feels something on his shoulder. Banana breathes out and blinks sleepily, bringing one of his hands to his face to rub the sleep from his eyes. He glances up once he hears someone speak, “We are getting off the bus,” A rustle of clothing as the figure steps back a little, withdrawing his hand, “Sorry to wake you.” Banana’s eyes scanned the other's face, taking in his features with a strange wave of deja vu hitting him, “Thanks.” Banana reluctantly looked away and stood up, grabbing his backpack off the floor and went in front of the new person who lightly touched the back of his backpack as Banana bumped into him by accident.
He gets off the bus and through the doors, going through the metal detectors and line, opening his bag and setting it on the table for it to be searched through. The boy behind him does the same, taking off the rings that adorned his rather slim but bony hands as well, setting them in the small basket to be given back to him after he was checked. He sighs as the teacher checking his bag goes through each pocket and pilfering though his stuff, taking his time patting at Banana’s bag before he finally passes it to Banana. Banana instantly takes his backpack and heads to his locker to put his stuff away.
•.•*•.•
Bread fumbles with his padlock, the rotation continuously getting stuck as he turns it. Bread grumbles as he finally gets it open, the door rattling loudly as the bell rings overhead, signalling that any students not in their designated class were now tardy and would be written up. He curses under his breath as he grabs a pencil and a notebook, quickly slamming his locker closed so he could rush up to the second floor.
As he walks into Biology the first thing he notices is the layout was quite different from his old school. The teachers desk was at the very back with all the desks facing toward them. Every student looks back at Bread the second he walks in, causing what self confidence he had to deflate like a balloon. Bread swallowed the lump forming in his throat and sat at the back of the class, trying to avoid the people obviously commenting on him being new and his looks.
A few weeks had passed since then, Bread had finally adjusted to the school's layout and rules, though he tended to ignore some of the stupid ones (most of them). Like the phone policy for example. No student is legally allowed to carry their phones on their person from entering the school to leaving the school. He had frankly scoffed at that information when he first got in trouble for having it out during lunch. In his defense, he was sitting alone at a table with no one to talk to. What else was meant to entertain him while he waited for the bell?
Bread stops in the hall as he sees a poster hung up, eyes skimming the words. Gaming club? He thought as he skimmed it over, considering the opportunity. He didn’t find an interest in many of the clubs that had been offered so far, seeing as one was just straight up a Black Jack card game club. He reads the room number he would need to go to so he could register; room 297. He decided he would stop by that room during his trip to his history class.
As the day passes by his sixth period finally comes around meaning he can stop by room 297 to sign up for the club. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t sure if he would actually dedicate himself to attending the club, hell he might even get kicked out of it.
He walks into the room and the first thing he notices were computers lining the walls on desks, cheaper looking setups that would at least run a handful of games on them. Next, he notices the teacher, standing at his desk and explaining something to a student. Then he notices the student the teacher was talking to. The boy from his bus. Standing there like a deer in headlights as he tried to pay attention most likely.
The teacher notices Bread and waves him in with a smile, “Hello there! Are you interested in joining the Gaming club?” Bread nods as he makes his way to the desk, standing beside the kid from earlier, “Yes, I am actually.” Bread gives a small smile back. The teacher smiles and reaches out his hand to shake, Bread locks their hands together and gives two firm shakes before letting go. “Nice meeting you, you can call me Mr. Matthews or Coach Matthews, option is yours. You are?” The teacher, Mr. Matthews, says as he hands Bread a paper to sign with the fee to join on it as well. “Bread, nice to meet you Mr. Matthews.”
The kid beside Bread blinks a few times before his eyes widen slightly, “Wait, Bread?” catching Bread's attention as the tone of the other voice seemed shocked and confused. “Yeah?...” Bread mumbles, an eyebrow raised as he glances away from the teacher, making eye contact by accident. “Have you gone here before?” His voice sounded like held back excitement and hope.
Bread frowned slightly, did he know this person before? He knew he had a best friend in elementary but it's been so long and all he remembers was the name, Banana. “Yeah, to the elementary. Why?” The other suddenly broke out into a large smile, “Holy shit! I never thought I’d see you again.” He laughed out while rocking back and forth on his heels in held back excitement, “I’m Banana, by the way, if you don’t remember.” He suddenly says, a hand going to the nape of his neck to rub sheepishly as he realized how confused the taller must’ve been upon his burst of excitement.
Bread took a moment before it sunk in, a small smile creeping onto his face. “Sorry but can I hug you?” Banana asked, fiddling around very antsy. Bread nodding, “Sorry, I honestly have no fucking clue how to respond to this, it’s nice seeing you again though.” Bread laughed a bit, opening his arms as Banana suddenly crashed into him, arms over Bread's shoulders in a tight hug, knocking the air out of both of them in the process. The sounds of the teacher laughing quietly came into ear shot, causing Banana to back off. “Sorry.” Banana says quietly, barely audible. Bread shakes his head with a smile, a silent way of telling the other it was fine.
The teacher smiles at the two of them, “I’m guessing I’m going to have two chatters in my class this year?” He asks, no malice behind his words. Banana glances away and messes with the hem of his shirt while Bread nervously picks at his nails while a small embarrassed smile comes to his face, “We won’t disrupt, Mr. Matthews.” That was a lie…
They had gone about their day, eventually having to leave each other but they had caught up a lot, exchanging their phone numbers so they could talk later without the limitations of school hours. Which also led to them calling after school, talking for hours on end without a moment of uncomfortable silence. Within those hours of talking Bread had noticed small things with Banana verbally. When he gets excited about a topic he tends to go up a few octaves, stutters, and tends to fidget. Bread found those small traits endearing, but he shouldn’t think anymore than that of his straight friend should he? Bread had pushed those arising feelings down once he realized Banana more than likely didn’t swing that way.
•.•*•.•
Banana was excited a lot more now, seeing as he found out he shared his lunch period and club with Bread via a few days after they met each other again. Banana was quite hyper around the other which made people give them strange looks, seeing as how before they recognized each other, Banana was always quieter and hardly interacted with many people. Banana giggled quietly as he and Bread had talked in the back of their club that day, seeing as today was club day: Students would report to their club rooms and stay there for a few hours.
They had scooted their desks together, chatting quietly while others played games or practiced for a tournament for the club. Banana was smiling the entire time, enjoying getting to be with his friend. He found Bread to be an amazing person, he was quite nice to Banana, more than other people had been to him. Banana gasped slightly as he thought of something, “Hey, do you have minecraft?” He asks, hoping the other did. Bread laughed softly at Banana’s excitement, “No, I’m sorry. I watch a lot of Minecraft though.”
“I’m buying you Minecraft then!” Banana said a little too loudly, causing everyone to glance at them including the teacher who signaled to them that they should tune it down a little. Banana swallows nervously at the outburst, muttering a quiet “sorry.”
Bread snickered at him softly, causing Banana’s face to flush in embarrassment. Bread’s hand lightly nudged Banana’s, “You're all good,” He says quietly, a slight hint of reassurance as he watches Banana’s face turn red, “I’m sure they don’t fully mind. But…. You can buy me Minecraft if you want.” Bread finishes, a smile on his face. Banana smiles back, the embarrassment fading back into excitement.
The bell rings and everyone in the class audibly sighs in disappointment whilst Banana and Bread just smile at each other, knees brushing as they stand up. “Wanna go to my locker?” Banana asked as they went to grab their stuff. Bread nods before a playful smile suddenly comes to his face, grabbing Banana’s notebook and pencil. “Hey!” Banana laughed out, reaching for his stuff. “Nuh uh, mine.” Bread laughs, holding it above his head as Banana huffs. He turns and walks out the door, “You coming?” He asks Banana who is just staring like a deer in headlights.
“Yeah – My bad.” Banana says, catching up to Bread, “Can I have my stuff back?”
“No.”
•.•*•.•
The two tended to call almost every night, if not they would text at random. Either way laughter would commence in their comfortable atmosphere. Soft goodnights and loud mornings, always motivated to go to school even if they were sick just to see the other. Eventually high fives leading to quick hugs. The connection deepened every time they saw each other, feeding off the other's mood like leeches. Banana started to take a hug anytime Bread offered, treasuring the weight and comfort like it was his entire reason for living.
Eventually there was a Halloween event at their school, they could dress up and pick a class to go to so they could watch a movie, obviously the two met up and discussed which movie sounded more enticing to go to, to have a common ground on what they liked and didn’t like.
“We have like… three choices? I think. For movies anyway. More events are after the movie.” Bread says, “208 has Caroline, 235 has Hocus Pocus, or Frankenweenie in 118.” Banana hums, “Which one do you like?” He asks instead, letting Bread choose. “I’m fine with any of them.” He shrugged, “Hocus Pocus sounds good?” “Yeah! Race you there?” Banana asks, a smile on his face. “Before you bolt we have to get food and a drink from the concession stand near the office, and secondly I would beat you, I have longer legs.” Bread says, a sly grin on his face at the end of his sentence, poking fun at Banana’s height.
Banana playfully glares at the taller man before he starts to walk in the general direction of the office, tugging at Bread’s wrist, “Jesus, hold on! I’m coming –” Bread says as he walks a little faster, Banana still holding his wrist without much thought. They walk side by side down the crowded hall with Bread glancing down at Banana’s hand sometimes before he lightly shakes his arm, trying to get Banana aware. Blackmail. Bread thinks as a teasing grin comes to his face. “Banana? Are you going to let go or do you want to hold my hand instead?”
The sentence pulls the shorter out of his thoughts, causing him to go wide eyed and stop in his tracks, quickly letting go as his cheeks turned a light hue of red, “Sorry –” Bread burst out into quiet laughter, “You’re all good dude, I’m just joking around.” “Shut up, Stop laughing at me!” Banana whined out in embarrassment. Bread smiled lightly at the other, no malice or teasing, just happiness, “Come on, before they run out of food and shit.”
Bread walks up to the stand and grabs them both two small bags of popcorn and water, going back to Banana and offering it over. Banana takes the items, causing their hands to brush together by accident. Neither says anything, only a small look at each other before Bread clears his throat, “Soooo.. Movie?”
Banana nods and smiles awkwardly, turning around as Bread follows behind him.
Once they enter the room they both stop to take in the ridiculous amount of people in the room. “You sure you want to be in here?...” Banana asks in a quiet tone, suddenly feeling very sheepish at the large crowd. all of which were famous kids in their school, which were also assholes.
Bread considered it for a moment, there were no desks available to sit at either. “Well, do you still want to watch this movie?” He asks instead, looking over at Banana. “Not really - most of the people here are assholes and I don’t feel like listening to them gossip.” He responded, voice quieter as he explained himself.
“Alright, no one’s probably watching Frankenweenie. Want to go there instead? It’s a stupid but cute movie in my opinion.” Bread comments, lightly nudging Banana to turn around so they could leave before teachers yelled at them to pick a room and stay there. Banana takes the hint and quickly backs out of the door with Bread, “Sorry.” He apologizes, which ultimately gets a weird look from Bread who shook his head, “No apologizing? It's not your fault there were assholes in there.” He shrugged, not taking Banana’s apology. Banana takes a few moments to glance at Bread, his stomach feeling odd, but not in a sick way, rather an endearing way?
Bread takes Banana’s sleeve into his hand and tugs a bit as he walks towards the staircase to go back downstairs,in the process of doing such he causes Banana to nearly fall over his own foot as he stumbles to keep up with the other, letting out a strangled sound as he tries to keep his balance.
•.•*•.•
Banana hums, trying to stretch with what little room he had to do so. Somehow, he had ended up with Bread's head in his lap, and the two of them had settled into one of the corners of the room. Banana’s back was cramping a bit where he had been sitting for so long on a tile floor, though he didn’t want to disturb his friend. Well - Banana didn’t think friends did this but.. That's past his judgement, he didn’t want to make it weird for the other. It could be a platonic thing or even just a simple action of trust? Banana didn’t know, his head hurt thinking about it. Bread’s head was resting on Banana’s left thigh, the rest of his body curled up slightly due to his height and the closeness to the wall. His phone was now on the tiled floor, the red case facing up.
Banana glances at Bread’s phone before reaching to gently take it away, his own phone had died a while ago. Bread usually let Banana have his phone to watch youtube so he wouldn’t mind it if Banana was just watching youtube, right? No, Banana thought. Banana slumped back a little, resting a hand onto the back of Bread’s head to not accidentally drop the phone and have it smack onto his head, talk about rude awakening..
Banana has lost track of time, though he did sometimes glance up at the movie playing on the projector screen he mainly focused on a speedrunning video he was watching on Bread’s phone, being rather interested in speedrunning minecraft videos in general, sometimes ones about 2b2t. During that time Bread had shifted every now and then, most likely being waking up sooner or later.
Bread's breathing halts as he opens his eyes a tiny bit, slowly letting his vision adjust to his surroundings. He turns his head to glance at his friend only to find the other with his phone with his face stuck in it pretty much. “Banana?” He asks, voice low with sleep. Said person peers over the phone before turning it off and laying it down beside his leg on the floor, “Hi!” Banana smiles, shifting again as he rests his hands onto the floor.
Bread smiles lightly before shifting to get closer to Banana, “How much longer is this movie?”
“Ugh.. I think like - 23 minutes maybe? Do you want to actually eat your popcorn now?” Banana asks, nudging Bread’s small bag of popcorn into his line of sight.
“Sure, not really hungry though.”
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