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𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗠𝗘

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
and I became hypnotized by
freckles and bright eyes, tongue
tied

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REAL LIFE

AS MUCH AS Luna wanted to march across her front yard right after that, Foolish was still in the middle of streaming — MCC, no less. She wasn't sure how barging into his streaming room with a declaration of feelings while he was playing Grid Runners with his team in front of thousands of people would go, so she held herself back for now.

Luna had taken some time to freshen up to fill the time. She had gotten in the shower, washing all of the dried tears off of her as the warm water soothed her head. Luna got changed into a pair of comfy clothes, which was just black leggings, the red crewneck she had kept from cleaning out her closet, and black slip-on shoes.

As Luna brushed her wet hair out, she got to thinking. So, yeah, maybe she was completely and utterly stupid. The messages through the window, the gravitating towards her after a fight, the note left on her pillow, the stars he let her draw on him to calm down, the attention given to her, the kiss he initiated . . . there was no way Foolish didn't like her back. Call her dumb, call her whatever, but she had just been to blind to see it until now because she had only been focused on Mary Jane. And possibly the fact she couldn't fathom how someone like him could actually like her back.

Whatever. Sue her.

Out of her entire life, there was absolutely no one that made her feel the way he did. Foolish literally made her forget about all of her troubles just with a smile and a laugh — especially the laugh that got so high pitched it made Luna laugh until she struggled to breathe. He made her heart race and her stomach get all fluttery just by looking at her to the point where she forgot her own God damn name. Luna could feel the blush on her face every time he pushed his long hair out of the way, because even though it was getting very long, it managed to suit him. And just with one simple hug with stars traced on her back, he lifted her spirits and made her calm.

Foolish was energetic most of the time, but somehow, he was the only person who made everything in her head go quiet when it got loud. He wouldn't interrupt her when she was rambling and wouldn't try to make her stop crying, he would just let her deal with whatever emotion she had until she was ready to move on.

Not to mention that one simple kiss made Luna feel like everything around her faded away. She wanted to do it again — she wanted to do it a million times.

After drying her hair, Luna tied it back into into a low ponytail — of course with her bangs framing her face — and put a red bow on it. She then opened up the Twitch app on her phone and saw that Foolish wasn't live anymore. Slipping her phone into her back pocket, Luna let out a deep breath and looked at her reflection in the mirror, smoothing down her shirt with shaky hands.

It was now or never, right?

"I'm leaving, MJ," Luna called as she left the bathroom, heading down the stairs. "You know where I'll be . . . unless everything goes wrong."

"Nothing will go wrong," Mary Jane reassured her from her spot on the couch, eating a pint of ice cream. "Everything's gonna be fine. Have faith."

Luna nodded. "Got it. See you."

"Bye, Princess. Good luck."

Luna left her house, shutting her front door behind her. She crossed over her front yard — the very same path that she had taken so many times, including the one where she had run away from Foolish crying last night — and walked up his steps. Luna stopped at his front door, staring at it for a moment and letting out another deep breath.

She could do this. She had to do this.

Luna reached up and knocked thrice. She then lowered her hands and clasped them behind her back. Her heart raced rapidly against her chest as she stood there in the chilly air of October, waiting for the boy on the other side of the door.

It was only a couple moments later when the door opened, letting the warm light from inside spill out onto Luna. Foolish stood there, almost like he had been expecting her to show up — which, she did run away from him, so he probably wanted an explanation. He was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, which was a backwards hat and black and red shark hoodie. Luna's eyes trailed across his face for a moment. He looked tired, and the rims of his eyes were a little red. It could've just been from staring at his computer, but Luna knew it was probably from something different.

"Hi," Luna breathed out, all words suddenly leaving her.

"Hi," Foolish replied, leaning against his doorway and putting his hands in his pockets. "If you're here for your stuff, it's still in the kitchen."

Luna blinked — she had forgotten she had left her guitar, songbook, and headphones here. "Oh, I'm not here for my stuff. I'm . . . here for you."

Foolish nodded and stepped to the side. "Come in."

Luna walked past him into the familiar house and took off her shoes, her skin igniting from how their shoulders brushed even through the clothing they were both wearing. She had replayed this moment so often in her mind, but know that she was actually here, Luna had no idea what to say. Luna kept her hands clasped behind her as she walked further into the house and turned around to face him. Foolish had shut the door and was following her, but still keeping a safe distance.

"So . . . how was MCC?" Luna asked, although she immediately wanted to slap herself in the face.

Foolish looked like he wanted to talk about anything but MCC. "It was fine. We got seventh. I hope we could've done a little better, but . . . Tubbo was drinking, and I was distracted."

Luna felt like she just got punched in the stomach. "Oh."

"Lunes, come on." Foolish, for the first time, looked frustrated at her, most likely because she wasn't getting straight to the point. "I don't want to talk about MCC, I want to talk about you and me. Because last night we kissed, and then you cried and ran away from me, and I don't know what's going on anymore."

"No, no, you're right." Luna paused for a moment and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry for running off. That definitely wasn't fair to you, but I just didn't know what to do. It all got so much so quick, and it kind of just . . . freaked me out. Not because it was bad or anything, just . . . the last thing I wanted to do was hurt MJ. But we talked, and everything's good now, so . . . I guess I can say what I've been holding back since we met."

Foolish crossed his arms across his chest. "Okay."

Luna's heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest, but she continued. "Ever since the day we've met, I've just stepped back, letting you and MJ figure everything out because all I wanted was to see her happy. But at the same time, I just kept thinking that you would realize that you belong with me instead, which made me feel so shitty because that was my best friend, you know? It got even worse after you two broke up, but I kept pushing everything away as best I could."

"This whole time?" Foolish questioned.

Luna nodded slightly. "I've been here all along." Her voice got a little quiet, running her hands down her shirt nervously. "Um, I ran away from my parents because they never cared about me. But you care about me, and I don't want to run away from that like I did last night. That wasn't my best moment." She let out a small laugh, her smile widening a bit as Foolish chuckled with her. "But seriously. I like you, Noah. I always have."

"I don't regret anything either." Foolish met her eyes. "I like you too, Luna. I'm sorry it took me so long to realize."

I like you too, Luna. Wow, it was strange how just five words could make her feel like she was fucking flying. This was basically everything she had wanted for the past couple of months, finally coming to light.

"Do it again," Luna blurted out.

Foolish tilted his head, looking like a lost puppy. "What?"

"Kiss me," Luna clarified, watching as his eyes widened. "Do it again. I won't run away this time."

The air around them crackled with the same electricity as it had the previous night. Foolish stared at her with a look in her eyes she couldn't quite place before stepping closer to her. Luna suddenly felt very small as he stood over her. She tilted her head up to keep their gazes locked, feeling her face probably get as red as the shirt she was wearing.

"You promise?" Foolish inquired lowly.

"Promise," Luna whispered, swallowing nervously from how close he was — so close that her eyes automatically went to those freckles that she loved, dusted across his cheeks and over the bridge of his nose.

Foolish let out a breath. "You don't know what you do to me, Lunes."

What are you doing to me now?

And then he dipped his head down and kissed her again.

Luna's brain only short-circuited for a moment before processing what was going on. His lips somehow slotted perfectly into hers, kissing her gently. Luna unclasped her hands from behind her back and reached up, resting them on his sides over his hoodie. Noah then moved his hands up to rest on either side of her face, and on an instinct, his thumbs started to trace back and forth against her cheeks.

And Luna — well.

Luna fucking melted.

She sighed into him, moving closer so that her body pressed up against his. His body heat, or perhaps just him touching her, made her feel like she was on fucking fire, but in the best way possible. Luna even pressed up onto her toes so she could get even closer, if that was even possible — it was hard to tell where Luna started and Noah ended.

After many, many long moments of kissing later, they both pulled away from each other for air. Luna's eyes slowly fluttered open to look up at his bright ones. Noah was grinning widely at her, his thumbs still running back and forth on her skin. Luna smiled shyly at him before ducking, pressing her face into his chest. He laughed slightly at her and wrapped his arms around her frame, tucking her in close to him. Noah then leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and thank God he was holding her up, because Luna was sure she was about to melt into a God damn puddle on the floor.

This was it. It was everything Luna had hoped it would be, and it was fucking fantastic. Noah finally belonged to her.

-ˏˋ ♥̩͙♥̩̩̥͙♥̩̥̩ ˊˎ-

AW YAYYYYYYYYY I LOVE IT

also I will take ANY opportunity to mention his freckles