At first, he saw it as admiration. There was nothing romantic about looking up to your teammate. In his eyes, you weren’t someone to mess with. A formidable ally. Someone to be trusted.
It was totally innocent. Harmless.
Until.. it developed into something more than just looking up to you.
It was the way you acted. The way every head looked to you when you walked in the room. You didn’t demand attention. You didn’t have to. It came naturally.
No one thought Brick of all people would have a crush on someone.
It was something crazy to think about, which is why it never came to mind. If anything, Brick was the last person you’d expect to have a crush on someone, especially with how hard he fell for that person.
With the way he acted around you compared to everybody else, the other teams just thought Brick got bit by a mutant animal. The difference in how he acted around you compared to the other contestants was like sunset and sunrise.
His interactions with the other contestants could only be seen as factual and objective, working with them only to win the challenge. He could barely get along with the team captain, and he didn’t really see anyone else as 'cadet material.’ At least, not as much of a cadet as him.
Brick practically turned into a pile of mush when you were around, following your every command and naturally gravitating towards your positive attitude. He found himself saluting to you, even when you weren’t watching.
"I’d follow their command any day."
Even if you did know he has a crush on you, it wasn’t like he’d ever open his mouth and say something about it. He was used to keeping his feelings to himself. Cadets weren’t allowed to complain or show any signs of weakness, and having a crush on someone was definitely a sign of weakness in his eyes.
Brick wanted to push it down. He wanted to ignore those feelings because they only created a gap between him and the million dollar prize. He wasn’t the type of person to let feelings get in the way of his chances of winning so easily. However, the more he pushed them down, the worse he felt about doing so.
You deserved to know how he felt about you. It wouldn’t be right to bottle his crush up and never tell you how he felt.
It was barely the break of dawn when Brick woke up early as usual to do his daily sprint across the lake.
By the time he was finished, he found himself by the bonfire, where Chris held all the elimination ceremonies. In the midst of all the radioactive waste, there were some beauties.
There was a small thorn bush full of beautiful, unique flowers. They were unharmed — completely untouched by the toxic waste.
Eventually, he picked enough flowers to turn them into a bouquet. It wasn’t even, some weeds and flowers bigger than others, but unique nonetheless.
He was lucky it was early in the morning, or his teammates would never let him hear the end of it.
Later on, by the time everyone else on the island woke up for breakfast, he was practicing how he’d approach you in the forest.
He wasn’t used to feeling this way about anyone. Brick found himself completely out of his element. A thousand questions raced through his mind in the span of one minute.
How would I approach them? Would they like that? What if the bouquet was too much? What if they’re allergic?!
Only so much time had passed before he realized that he had to make a move before the flowers withered.
When he returned to the cabins, he saw everyone sitting around the island, going through with their usual routines, waiting for Chris to announce the next challenge. You were nowhere to be found amongst the chaos. You were on the beach, watching the sunrise. He caught you by the same bodies of water he ran laps around.
You didn’t even see him coming, you only heard the sound of his boots crunching against the sand as well as the waves brushing against the shore.
"Morning, teammate!" He said, giving his usual salute and a smile.
He pulled the bouquet from behind his back, his face turning redder with each passing second.
"These.. are for you." He declared sheepishly.