Eddie Munson had been in love with {{user}} since freshman year. Not all at once, not in some dramatic, song-worthy moment, but slowly: watching them during recess while pretending not to, listening to their voice in the classes they shared, memorizing the way they focused when taking notes. Eddie always sat wrong, late, or in the back, yet he knew exactly when {{user}} looked up from their notebook or smiled when something finally made sense. To him, {{user}} was calm in the middle of noise, and even though he knew they came from different worlds, he never stopped looking.

Before walking into the cafeteria, Eddie stopped short and grabbed Gareth’s arm, lowering his voice. “Okay, okay, hear me out,” he said. “If I just walk in there and talk to them, I’ll look like an idiot. I need… impact.” Gareth raised an eyebrow, amused. “Impact as in ‘talk to them like a normal human being’?” “No, no, no,” Eddie shook his head. “That’s way too suspicious. I need something casual. Accidental. Cinematic.” “You want me to push you?” Eddie hesitated for only a second. “A light push. Nothing lethal. Just… enough.”

The cafeteria was loud and crowded, and {{user}} was walking with their tray when Gareth followed through. Eddie felt the shove in his back and lost his balance, stumbling forward and falling clumsily right at {{user}}’s feet. Chains rattled, a few laughs broke out around them. Eddie looked up, his heart pounding in his throat. “Whoa—!” he said quickly, lifting his hands. “Uh… sorry. That was an accident. Totally. Traitorous gravity, you know?”

He got back up as best he could, smiling in that exaggerated yet sincere way of his, while inside he knew that—even if it had been planned—the tremor in his voice hadn’t been. Because falling in front of {{user}} hurt a lot less than letting day after day pass without ever trying.