Ren stared at the boy who was sitting two desks in front of him in the next column. He sighed as he watched Iskall talk with the girl sitting next to him. I wish I were her. He thought bitterly.

"Good morning, Ren," Doc said, sitting down in his seat next to the mopey brunette. "You know staring at him won't do you any good," he added when Ren didn't acknowledge him.

"It's not like I can just go over there and talk to him," he complained, turning to the hybrid.

"And why not?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's like you've never seen me talking to him. I always trip over my words around him,"

"I thought you were a smooth talker," the dark brunette laughed.

"Yeah but not with people I like,"

"Fake it 'till you make it then," Doc shrugged.

"Is that how you are for your boyfriend Bdubs?" he teased, trying not to focus on Iskall anymore.

"He's not my boyfriend, who told you that?" the tall hybrid immediately became flustered, crossing his arms. Ren simply laughed, unaware that Iskall was looking at him.

"See you later, Ren," Doc said as they exited the class. Not a moment later a short, tan brunette appeared from around the corner, with a wide grin on his face.

"Hiya fellas!" Bdubs said cheerfully.

"Hi Bdubs," Ren smiled, glancing over at his friend.

"Hey," he mumbled, clearly avoiding eye contact with both of them.

"I'll see you guys around," the brunette with sunglasses gave Doc a little pat on the shoulder before walking away. Glancing back, he laughed to himself as he watched the freckled boy take Doc's hand, making him blush.

Not watching where he was going, he bumped into a boy in a green hoodie.

"Sorry!" he immediately freaked. "You okay, Iskall?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about it," the shorter male laughed.

Ren fiddled with the sunglasses clipped to his shirt, trying to stay cool.

"Since we have the same class next, want to walk together?" he managed to say.

"Why not?" he smiled, shrugging.

Ren ended up taking Doc's advice and acted as chill as possible while talking to his crush. He managed to go the whole week without tripping over himself while talking to Iskall. Then on Friday afternoon, he was invited out.

"I'm going to the arcade tomorrow with a couple of friends around noon, would you want to join?" he asked.

"Sure, sounds fun! Who else will be there?" the taller brunette asked, his heart jumping for joy.

"Just Mumbo, False and Stress," he listed off.

Ren's heart sank at the mention of the female brunette. Every time she was around, it was like Iskall couldn't even take his eyes off of her. He always felt compelled to look away from them, feeling as if the more he looked the more it would hurt.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then," he plastered a fake smile on his face, before leaving the school.

Spending time at the arcade was more fun than Ren expected. False and Stress spent most of their time at a Street Fighters machine, with False winning pretty much every round. Mumbo was killing the racing games, jumping to different ones when he got bored with the one he was on. Ren found a cool Star Wars game and dragged Iskall to play it with him.

"I honestly had more fun playing that than I thought I would," Iskall admitted when they stepped out.

"Yeah, blowing up the Death Star was pretty fun," Ren laughed as they walked around, looking for something new. The shorter male tugged at his arm, making him blush.

"Look at this claw machine!" he gushed. "There are so many cute animals!"

"Ah, sweet!"

The brunette in green turned to him, his eyes sparkling.

"I'm going to win you something," he promised.

The taller brunette had to turn away, trying to suppress his blushing face. When he glanced back over, he saw the claw drop, a small brown dog in its grasp. Picking it up from the tray, Iskall handed it over.

"Here ya go!" he smiled, pressing it into Ren's hands.

"Thanks," smiling softly, he admired the plush in his hands. He got this for me.

"So um, Ren," Iskall began, clearing his throat. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you,"

"What's up?" his heart began to race as he noticed his crush blushing. Is there hope for me yet?

"This is uh, kinda embarrassing to say but," he looked over his shoulder, at where False and Stress were.

The man in red's heart dropped. He tried not to show the disappointment in his face when he realized; He's going to tell me he likes Stress, isn't he? He gripped the plush in his hands, bracing for those dreaded words.

"I really like you, Ren," he blurted out, staring at the ground.

He was completely dumbfounded.

"I-I thought that you liked Stress," he admitted, scratching the back of his head. Iskall looked up at him, cracking a smile.

"Bro I'm gay,"

"Wait, really?" Ren awkwardly laughed in disbelief.

Before he knew it his shirt collar was grasped and he was pulled down. Closing his eyes, he melted into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Iskall.

Suddenly, they heard cheering from behind them, and a; "Yeah Iskall!" from Stress.

Pulling apart from embarrassment, the two brunettes immediately became flushed. False and Stress ran up to them, Mumbo right behind.

"Finally!" Stress patted the shorter male on the back, before looking to Ren. "You have no idea how long he's been talking about you. It started to get annoying," she teased, Iskall covering his face.

"And then Stress would complain to me. Now don't get me wrong, I'm always here for my girlfriend it's just I started to feel her pain I was also getting annoyed," False whined.

Mumbo simply laughed, shaking his head. "Yeah, Iskall would constantly tell me how-"

"Haha, I think that's enough!" the shorter brunette exclaimed. "We're gonna go over here now," he took Ren's hand, pulling him away from their friends.

"Have fun you two, don't wait for us!" Mumbo called after them, the three laughing.

Once they were completely out of view, Iskall groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"That was so embarrassing,"

"Maybe, but I thought it was cute," Ren chuckled, making the boy blush even more.

"Hey, do you think we could hang out again tomorrow? Just the two of us?" the shorter brunette asked, peeking out between his fingers.

"Like a date?"

"Yeah," Iskall lowered his hands, smiling. "Like a date,"

Ren sandwhiched his hands between his own and grinned. "I'd love to!" Leaning down, he kissed the boy on the cheek.