Oh my gosh, my longest one-shot ever! Yay! I actually quite like this for some odd reason. And yes, I wrote this right after The Bird Scene and am just now posting it, don't judge my laziness lol
Get ready for some "..." abuse, italics abuse, and total disregard for medical crap and how schools work sometimes (that'll make sense once you read this...maybe) Also, randomness in the Cat and Sikowitz department. For some reason Cat slips into everything I write, and I adore awesome!Sikowitz lol (and also evil!Rex)
Anyway, enjoys.
Robbie didn't just hate ballet. No, he loathed it. He hadn't even wanted to sign up in the first place…or in the second place, but the thought of Andre, alone, with all of those girls made his blood boil. And really, Andre was bound to get tired of those girls anyway.
Ballet girls were so…girly. And girly girls were usually petty, annoying, and more concerned about their hair and make-up than anything else. As the only other guy in ballet, Andre would want to talk to Robbie more once he got tired of the girls. Right?
Thinking back, Robbie realized his plan was far fetched and completely, ridiculously stupid. And then there was the fact that that plan went out the window when the whole class was filled with guys!
So now, there was only one girl in ballet and Andre was probably in love with her. Awesome.
Robbie was shaken out of his thoughts, literally, by Andre himself. He couldn't help but sigh once he caught sight of Andre's excited grin.
"Time for ballet class." Andre announced happily. "I really think Isabella is starting to like me."
Oh great, there was the confirmation. Andre liked pretty ballet girl. "I'm not going." Robbie said before he could stop himself.
Andre looked him over briefly, concerned. "What? Why?"
Robbie blanked, silently berating himself for saying that. Now Andre knew something was up.
"None of your business!" Rex snapped. Apparently Robbie's other half wasn't as tongue tied as his real counterpart.
Andre crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. "If you're going to tell me off, at least have the courtesy to not use your puppet."
Robbie almost smiled as the subject changed. "Puppet is an—"
"Offensive term, I know. But seriously, what's up with you?"
Damn it all.
"Ha! You should have known he wouldn't give up." Rex taunted.
Robbie's mouth dropped open as Andre eyed him curiously.
"N-Nothing's up." Robbie assured. "Let's just…get to class."
He turned to go, but Andre caught his arm. "Not until you tell me what's wrong."
Before Robbie realized what was happened, Rex was already blurting out, "He likes you, idiot."
Andre dropped Robbie's arm like it had burned him. "Is…seriously?"
Robbie grit his teeth and looked at the floor, then the ceiling, and then anywhere that wasn't Andre. "Yes." He answered in a small voice. "That's why I joined ballet. And then you liked Isabella and I…it sucks."
It didn't even seem like his words were registering to Andre anymore. He just stood there, his mouth hanging open as he stared at Robbie.
"My god you're stupid." Rex snapped at Robbie.
Robbie looked down again, hoping that maybe Andre would snap out of it and disagree with Rex or something. But, he didn't. Of course.
"I know." Robbie whispered pitifully.
This time, Andre didn't stop him as he walked (or rather, ran) away.
Robbie ran to the nearest bathroom. He had to get away from Andre. There was no way he could ever talk to him again, not after what he'd just said.
He struggled to hold back his tears as he locked himself in a stall and slid to the floor, not caring about just how gross the floor actually was.
There was no way he could cry now. It would make him seem even more pathetic, if that was even possible.
He was a closeted teenage gay, in love with his best friend, and had completely homophobic parents for fuck's sake. He was a poster teen for pathetic, clichéd existences.
"That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen anyone do." Rex said.
Robbie nodded miserably. "I know."
"You're never going to get to talk to him again."
"I know."
"He'll tell everyone."
"I know."
"Your parents will disown you."
"I know."
"You'll be an even bigger outcast."
"I know."
…"He hates you."
"I know, I know, I know! Shut up!" Robbie screamed, throwing Rex underneath the stall door so he wouldn't have to look at the stupid puppet anymore.
It was surprisingly easy to get mad at Rex, Robbie realized, burying his head in his arms. Rex was the part of him with no filter. He "said" everything Robbie was too scared to say. Or just the things that Robbie knew where fucking stupid.
Robbie was insane. He knew that. That's why he could say something through Rex before his brain caught up. That's why Robbie could voice all of the things he couldn't admit to himself.
Like just now.
Still, it was nicer to be mad at a puppet than himself. It disconnected him from the real world and took his mind off of whatever he was upset about, at least for a short time.
But now, with his puppet halfway across the bathroom, Robbie couldn't blame a puppet for the frantic thoughts running through his head. He couldn't stop the onslaught of vicious comments that were coming at him, full force from his brain.
Robbie started to breathe heavier, unable to get enough oxygen in. Unable to concentrate on anything other than how fucked up he was.
His chest started to hurt, lungs demanding air that Robbie couldn't manage to suck in anymore. White lights exploded behind Robbie's eyelids.
Briefly, he wondered if this was what it was like to die.
But that was his last thought before he slid into unconsciousness.
.:.:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:.:.
It took Andre a few minutes before he was able to absorb everything Robbie had thrown at him. By the time he was even able to say something moderately intelligent, Robbie was nowhere to be seen.
"Of course he's gone, all you did was stare at him like an idiot." Andre muttered to himself.
But…Robbie liked him. Liked him, liked him. Geez, how was he supposed to react? He liked girls! He'd had plenty of girlfriends over the years and…and he had signed up for ballet in the first place because of them.
Still, there was the way that his heart beat just a little faster when Robbie told him that he wanted to take the class too. And the way his breath caught in his throat whenever Robbie aimed a smile at him. Or the way that nearly everything Robbie said made him smile.
He'd sometimes caught himself watching the other boy as he laughed, or in the middle of class, or well, anytime really. He certainly didn't do that with Beck, or any other guy for that matter.
Looking back at all of that, Andre realized that he acted like a girl that was crushing on someone. Maybe he did like Robbie. Either way, he had to talk to him.
Andre finally went to ballet class – really late – but Robbie never showed up. And he didn't even look twice at Isabella when she giggled and batted her eyelashes at him.
Next period was Mr. Sikowitz's class, and Robbie still wasn't there.
"Where are Robbie and…it?" Sikowitz asked curiously. "They were here earlier. Right?" He looked to Jade for confirmation and she nodded. "Right! So where did they…he go?"
Everyone except Andre shrugged. Andre simply looked down.
Cat then raised her hand.
"Yes Dog, what is it?"
She looked horrified. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Mr. Sikowitz looked confused. "What?"
"Her name is Cat." Jade snapped.
"Oh. Alright. Cat, what do you need?"
"Can I go to the bathroom?"
"I sure hope so."
"No, can I go to the bathroom?"
Mr. Sikowitz looked at her oddly. "…Yes?"
"Yay!" Cat jumped up and ran out of the room.
"Where is she going?" Sikowitz asked.
"The bathroom!" Jade shouted.
"Oh. Why didn't she just say so? Anyway, drive-by acting exercise…"
Andre found that he couldn't concentrate and stumbled over his words and actions. For the first time, he didn't participate in the exercise.
A few minutes later, Cat burst back into the room. Mr. Sikowitz unconsciously covered his head and ducked.
"I found Robbie!" She announced.
The look on her face made everyone realize that this was not a good thing. Andre felt sick.
"Something's really wrong with him!"
"What do you mean?" Tori asked.
"He's not waking up!" Cat yelled, looking like she was going to burst into tears at any moment.
Everyone was shocked when Mr. Sikowitz went into serious adult mode. "Cat, where is he?"
"B-boys bathroom."
"Why were you in there?" Jade inquired, not terribly concerned about the whole Robbie business.
"I got confused, ok?" Cat snapped.
"Alright, enough. Beck, get the nurse. Tori, watch the room. Cat, calm down. Andre, you're with me."
Andre followed Sikowitz out of the room, confused. "Why am I—"
"Despite me class Andre, you are a terrible actor. Something happened with you and Robbie." Sikowitz was almost running, cursing the fact that the bathrooms were so far away.
Andre struggled to keep up. He kept tripping over his own feet, his mind elsewhere. "Yeah, he practically told me he loved me."
To his surprise, Sikowitz started to laugh. "Excellent. He's a better actor than you, but I still figured it out eventually. I was wondering how long it would take for him to tell you. Why is him loving you such a problem?"
"Why is that such problem? Why wouldn't it be a problem?"
Sikowitz simply looked at him strangely as they arrived at the bathroom. He went in first. "Robbie?"
There was no reply.
Andre held back as the teacher looked for Robbie. But, when he heard Sikowitz gasp, Andre rushed forward.
As soon as he caught sight of Robbie he froze again. Robbie was lying on the floor, passed out and even paler than normal. "Is he ok?" Andre asked worriedly.
Mr. Sikowitz nodded. "He'll be fine. My guess is that he had a panic attack and must have passed out. Thankfully."
"Thankfully?" Andre gaped at his teacher.
"It's hard to panic when you're out cold. He's breathing again." Sikowitz replied simply.
"Oh." It still didn't alleviate Andre's worry. He dropped to his knees beside Robbie and grasped his hand, not even thinking about what exactly he was doing.
Soon after, the nurse burst into the room, shooing Andre away gently. Andre was forced to go back to the classroom while Sikowitz stayed with Robbie and the nurse.
When he got back to the room he was bombarded with questions about Robbie. All he did was hug a frantic Cat and mutter, "He's fine." Then he collapsed into a chair and ignored everyone else.
Halfway through the period, Sikowitz returned. He called Andre out to the hall. "I've convinced your parents to let you see him. He's at the hospital. Your mom is waiting in the office to drive you there."
"No. I can't'…"
"Go." Sikowitz urged.
Nauseas, Andre finally nodded and headed towards the office.
Sikowitz smiled and walked back into the classroom. "Hello again class, where'd I put my coconut?"
Andre paused as he reached the door to Robbie's hospital room. His mom squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. She didn't ever seem bothered by the fact that her only son had refused to say a word to her the whole way to the hospital, or that he had barely acknowledged her existence until now.
"He'll be fine. He's only here because they wanted to make sure of that."
After a moment, Andre shook his head. "I know but…can we just go?"
"No." Andre's mom smiled at him. "You need to talk with him. I'm a mom, I know these things."
Reluctantly, Andre stepped into the room. Robbie's parents both turned to look at him but even though Robbie was awake, he refused to.
"Oh. You're Andre then?" Robbie's mom asked.
Andre nodded silently.
"Right. We'll go." She smiled at Andre briefly before tugging her husband out of the room. He looked like he didn't want to leave, but a glare from his wife kept him from protesting.
Robbie's parents shut the door behind them, effectively trapping Andre in the room with him.
"Hey." Andre greeted lamely.
"Hi."
"Look Robbie—"
"Don't say anything. Just go away."
"No! I—"
"You're only here because you feel guilty. I don't need you to apologize. I'm fine."
"No, you definitely aren't—"
"And I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean to tell you all of that stuff, just forget it."
"But was it true?"
"Why? What difference would it make?"
"It—"
"Don't—"
"Stop interrupting me!" Andre snapped.
Robbie finally looked at Andre. "What could you possibly have to say right now?"
"A lot! Starting with this. I like you too."
"Don't you dare play with my feelings right now." Robbie glared at Andre.
"I'm not! It was just a lot to take in before. Once I started thinking about I realized that…"
"That what?"
"That I think I have a pathetic, Disney princess-like crush on you."
Andre sat down in the chair that Robbie's mom had been in before. Robbie watched him, stunned.
"What does that even mean?"
"It means that I'm desperately in love with you, and I have been for awhile, I just…hadn't realized it before. I've never actually been in love with anyone before, much less a guy, so I didn't really think about it until you said all that stuff."
Robbie laughed softly. "Seriously?"
"Duh."
After a moment, Robbie smiled widely at him. Andre's breath caught, like it always did. Except this time he noticed it.
"So, are we good? Was that apology ok?"
"Technically it's only an apology if you say sorry."
Andre rolled his eyes, smiling. "I'm sorry I stared at you like an idiot when I really should have been doing this." He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Robbie's.
It took a few seconds for Robbie to realize what the hell was happening, but when he got it he eagerly returned the kiss.
Andre pulled back after a few seconds, resting his forehead against Robbie's. "I love you."
"I love you too. But…"
"But what?"
"What about my parents? I can't tell them."
"Then don't. We'll keep this a secret and just take everything as it comes. Who knows, maybe we'll hate each other in a week."
Robbie punched Andre in the arm.
"I was kidding!" Andre defended, laughing.
"It wasn't funny."
"Oh whatever. I'm awesome."
"Yeah, I know." He replied, pulling Andre in for another kiss.
Oh yeah, he could get used to this.
Ending sucks, but whatever. Review please!