Chapter One: Confession

  "I like you. I always have". He paused. "Even if you don't feel the same way, would you like to at least give it a try?" 

  Syne shook his head.

  He sounded stupid, as far as he was concerned. He looked intently at himself in the mirror and then gave a smile. At least he looked cute. His long black hair was tied at the back to give his neck some fresh air and he even wore his glasses to cover his eyes– he'd been told his eyes were quite expressive.

  He'd dressed up well tonight for a reason. He needed to confess his feelings before he'd combust. He knew that he probably wouldn't be able to get the person that he wanted and that was because of a lot of things. One of them was the fact that his crush– if you'd call it that– was his aunt's boyfriend of six years.

  "Six fucking years", Syne muttered.

  He knew it was none of his business,but he always wondered why they'd dated for that long and we're making no attempts to get married. Marriage wasn't compulsory or anything, but they didn't even seem happy either. No interest in kids, no engagement, no obvious showcasing of love, just…there. He couldn't count how many times they took a 'break' from their relationship. Seriously, who the fuck does that?

  A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.

  "Who is it?" He called.

  "It's us!"

  He groaned silently as he heard the voices of his twin siblings, Jayne and Kayne.

  He walked to the door and opened it to reveal the smiling faces of his identical younger ones. Black hair all over the place and faces dirty with…paint?

  "Yes?" He asked impatiently.

  He wanted them to leave his presence as soon as possible. They were never up to anything good.

  "He's here!" They chorused.

  He winced at the loudness of their voices. Sometimes he wished they'd just shut up. 

  "What's up? Who's here?"

  "Your crush", Kayne whispered, quirking a brow at him.

  Syne's face went aflame when he realized what his siblings meant.

  "I wish I never told you guys", he muttered. They teased him too much about it for his liking.

  They just laughed and told him to hurry up.

  And hurry up, he did.

  He was incredibly panicked and had to be calmed down several times by his dad who took it upon himself to make life easier for him by giving him unsolicited advice. His mom, however, was standing by the side laughing her head off.

  Syne forced himself to walk down the stairs, followed by his parents. His hands were sweaty and his heart beat seemed to have escalated.

  "Good evening, Syne", the beautiful man in front of him said, a smile on his face.

  "Good evening, Mr– " 

  "Chris".

  "Chris", Syne whispered.

  It felt like his throat was dry, so he settled for a smile instead of saying more. He didn't want to make a fool of himself.

  Chris rested his tall frame on the side of the door and smiled at Syne, satisfied with Syne saying his name.

  "You look good".

  Syne felt himself go tomato at such a simple compliment. Was this man joking? He was the one who looked so fucking gorgeous with his button down shirt and pants. Simple but so fucking hot.

  "Should we go now?"

  Syne nodded eagerly. "Y– yeah. Let's go".

  "Have a great time!"

  Syne almost screamed as he heard his mother's voice so close by. 

  "Of course, Mrs Patrick". Chris smiled. "Good evening by the way".

  Syne's mother seemed to be charmed by him because she gasped softly at his smile. He couldn't blame her, he did too, though silently.

  "After you", Chris said, opening the car door for him to enter.

  Syne forced himself not to blush. This guy was being awfully gentlemanly despite being a guy like him. It was sweet.

  *****

  "So", Chris said, a bright smile on his face. "What's up?" 

  They were seated at a table waiting for their order. The eatery which was new, was gradually gaining popularity in town, especially for their pasta. Syne wasn't willing to talk yet until he had some distractions– that is, pasta.

  Syne kept avoiding Chris' gaze, leaving the poor man confused on what he'd done to deserve such a reaction.

  The reason Syne couldn't look into the eyes of the man that he liked was simple… he liked him. Another reason was the fact that he felt he would lose himself in the beauty of Chris's eyes if he wasn't careful enough.

  "Syne?" Chris called. His brows furrowed in worry.

  Syne knew that the  poor guy probably didn't know whether to shake him by the shoulders to check if he was alrightt because the last time their fingers brushed, he kept fidgeting.

  Chris sighed softly as he looked at Syne sitting in front of him. 

   Honestly, it almost felt like this was a date and from the way Syne was acting, he knew that something serious was on his mind.

  A few seconds later, Syne raised his head to look at him. But he quickly broke eye contact when he saw the waitress coming to their table with their food on the tray.

  She smiled briefly at Syne, to his confusion before dropping their food and walking away.

  "It seems she likes you", Chris teased.

  Syne rolled his eyes. Yeah, right. How could she look at him when someone as hot as Chris was sitting with him on the same table. Either she's blind or just crazy. He was gay anyway, it's not like he'd feel anything if she were attracted to him.

  "This looks good", Chris said joyously. "I didn't expect it".

  Syne nodded, his mouth already filled with food to Chris's amusement.

  He watched as the other man was eating carefully, seemingly enjoying his food, and gulped. He was so sexy, honestly.

  He'd called Chris over to confess his feelings for him and then forget all about it later on– pretty impossible though. The fact that he even had the guts to ask him out, instead of simply telling him on the phone was ridiculous to him. It was crazy.

  One of the reasons he even chose the place was because one of his friends, Dave, was living a few blocks from the eatery. At least if anything bad happened, he'd run away to his house and cry.

  He decided to take a drink of his water and placed the cup back on the table.

  Clearing his throat loudly, he looked at Chris, who was looking back at him.

  "So… I don't want you to freak out or anything".

  That seemed to grab Chris' attention fully because he dropped his fork on the table.

  "I'm listening".

  "I've been planning how to tell you this", Syne said, voice quivering a bit. "You probably won't like it but, I feel it's important for me to say, for my sanity at least".

  Chris nodded. "Go right ahead, Syne".

  "I– I really don't want you to get mad".

  Chris frowned in confusion. "Get mad at what? Syne, I'm hardly ever angry at you. Just tell me what's on your mind".

  "Okay". Syne closed his eyes and intertwined his fingers. 

  "I'm waiting", Chris urged.

  "I'm gay", he said.

  There was a brief silence.

  "I'm not homophobic, if that's what you're worried about", Chris said. "I don't mind".

   That was actually a relief. Not the main point though.

  "And… I like you", Syne added  softly.