"Thud!" One of the paper balls flew in as Willow opened the window, hitting Adelia squarely in the face.
"Oww..." she winced in pain as she rubbed her nose. "Who the hell is crazy enough to throw these in the middle of the damn night—" She leaned down, trying to see who the psycho with too much time on their hands was. "Oh, it's you. Of course, it's you."
"Who is it—" Willow didn't need to continue as he too saw the person below. His eyes lit up as he looked at the boy downwards, someone he hadn't seen for a long time but had thought about almost every day all the same.
He couldn't help but cheerfully wave at him. "Hey! Charlie! What are you doing here—"
"Will!" Charlie cried out, his hands cupped on his mouth to make his voice louder. He picked up a board off the ground, holding it out.
"Good luck!" There was a smiley face at the end, a little sloppily made, but cute at the same time.
"Oh, Charlie..." Willow didn't know when his eyes started watering. Maybe it was the cold. "You didn't need to do this! It's freezing out there!"
Charlie was prepared with another board, as if he knew that was exactly what Willow was going to say.
"I wanted to do it! Let's do our best tomorrow!"
"...Thank you," Willow's voice was soft. He was sure there was no way it could've reached Charlie from so far up, but the boy below smiled as if his response couldn't be clearer. His breath was fogging and his face red, making Willow wonder just how long he had stood there. He even felt guilty. He could've opened it sooner...if he had listened closely enough, Charlie wouldn't have had to wait so long.
"You dummy. You could've just told me in school..." Willow muttered to himself, not expecting an answer.
"I just...I guess I just wanted to do it."
He almost jumped when he heard Charlie's voice. Adelia was smiling, her outstretched hand holding the phone right by Willow's ear.
Willow looked at her in surprise. She just showed him a thumbs up before handing him her phone. "There's tech now, you know, lovebirds. Although medieval is very sexy and romantic, don't forget that times have advanced since then, alright?"
Willow chuckled wryly before accepting it, not forgetting to mouth thanks before turning to the boy below.
Their gazes were on each other as they talked on the phone, the whole scene strangely enchanting.
"You really...that was so unnecessary!" Although Willow said that, there was a bright smile on his face, contrasting rather endearingly with the dark circles.
"...Nothing that makes you happy can ever be unnecessary or too much trouble for me," Charlie smiled. "Besides, I wanted to wish you luck. And maybe...see your face once?"
"You could've just done that in school!"
Charlie awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, his actions not unnoticed by Willow's gaze. "I just—I just felt this was the right thing to do," his tone turned worried as he continued, "Wait...did I wake you up? Oh my god, I'm so sorry—"
"You dummy!" Willow's voice cracked. "T-that's not it." All this effort Charlie put into their relationship made him feel even more guilty, as if he didn't deserve him. A tear dripped out of his eyes as he desperately wiped it away, praying the other boy wouldn't notice. "You're standing out there! In the middle of the night! For what? Just for wishing me luck. It's so cold! What if you get sick, huh?"
Charlie knew he shouldn't feel happy for worrying Willow, but he couldn't help but be elated at hearing his concerns for him. He said simply, "That's a small price to pay for your smile."
"Wow, this guy can sure be smooth. As expected of a male lead," Willow thought, a watery chuckle at his words and said, "Let's see how much of this sappy shit you'll be able to say when you're down with a fever."
"I'm not worried about that because..." Charlie looked down shyly. "You'll take care of me. You will, right?"
Willow laughed before nodding. "Of course. After all, you got sick because of me."
Charlie wasn't happy with the response. "Well...I don't want that."
Willow was surprised by that. "Hmm? What do you want then?"
"I...I want you to take care of me as your boyfriend, not as someone who got sick because of you. I'm selfish and am doing this so you'll take care of me even when I didn't get sick because of you. Is...is that going overboard?"
Charlie really never changes. Willow laughed yet again, having laughed more in the past ten minutes than he had for weeks when he avoided Charlie. "No, you're not. And even if you were, I wouldn't care. You made me love you so much that I don't even think any of your demands will ever appear as 'overboard' to me. I'm kind of worried about the future of the lovestruck me, haha," he joked.
Charlie, who used to get flustered at things like these, was used to it by now. He just smiled, "Don't worry, Will, because I too am just as head over heels for you. We can both be idiots in love."
"Aren't we that already?"
"Yes, you're right. Then, we can be even bigger idiots. The biggest lovestruck fools in the world."
"...I know that's not exactly an ideal future plan, but still, it doesn't sound half bad to me."