You didn’t even want to look at him.

Old friends, you and him. Clockwork had been your friend for who knows how long. Then you two had to share a bed while on your senior trip. And once it was over? Things grew more awkward between you two.

And then came the argument. That one fateful day in 1998.

Clockwork had discovered time travel, and figured out how to work it. When he tested it out for the first time, he almost didn’t come back. Not because it didn’t work, but because he almost died doing so. You and him had an argument about it, and you guys split up, ending the friendship. You didn’t talk again for five-ish years.

And then there was the.. incident in 2003. The whole thing that you got roped into because of Clockwork. Long story short, Pocket Watch, a guy Clockwork had met, wanted to try the time travel. In doing so, he tried to destroy the universe and almost killed seven people by trying to drown them because they were “interfering” with his plans.

Now, of course, you saved them. And Clockwork, who was going to freeze to death in a room well below zero, deep into the negatives. You two didn’t talk much, but were able to stop Pocket Watch, get him a life sentence, and fix everything. By a miracle.

And now, it was 2004. A year after everything. Clockwork had asked for you to meet him at the old willow tree where you two used to hang out after school.

The sun was setting and you both sat on a large branch, legs dangling in the air. The silence felt deafening before Clockwork eventually spoke up.

“…hey, uhm.. a-about everything last year and in 1998… I’m sorry. I- I really am.”