- Chapter 89 - Pride Month Surprises and Cupids' Schemes -
Warnings: Nothing bad (: just tons of fluffy fluff
Modern AU
Third Person POV

Albert loved his roommate.

And by loved, he didn't just mean as a friend/brother.

It had been that way for a while, but hormones, feelings, and all that other fun stuff said "Oh... you should fall for him."

And not just off of his bed.

They decided he should fall, not just down the stairs, but off of a cliff of pinning for Elmer.

Elmer Kaspzrak.

That was his roommate's name.

Elmer had darker brown hair, pale skin, brown eyes that looked like chocolate, a smile that melted Albert's heart, freckles all over his face that looked like chocolate chips-

Yeah, you get it.

Albert does too.

Because he's been pinning for this boy for over a year, since they moved into their shared dorm.

Albert slams his head down on the table in front of him.

Race looks up from his phone, taking the lollipop out of his mouth. "Someone's whipped for Elmer." He comments, before sticking the lollipop back in his mouth and looking back at his phone.

He was sat in one of the chairs in his dorm, his legs propped up on his bookcase as he leaned back and scrolled through Pinterest.

Albert groans. "As if you aren't for someone as well." He shoots back, lifting his head up to look at the blonde boy.

Race's cheeks redden. "No." He answers quietly.

He heard a click.

Race looks at his best friend.

Albert turns his phone to face him. "Not that I couldn't figure this out on my own- I'm lazy- but Spot, Jack, Davey, Elmer, Crutchie, Mush, Specs-" he stops when there was another ding, looking back at the phone for a moment, before back up at Race. "And now Knobs and Romeo, who are apparently together right now, say you're lying."

Race reaches over and smacks him in the back of the head with his hat. "I hate you." He mutters, leaning back again. "Did you tell them what I said?"

Albert shakes his head. "Even though we all know you're Gay for Spot Conlon- except maybe oblivious Mike and maybe Mr. Conlon himself- though that one is a long shot- I wasn't going to out you like that." He responds. "Especially not to your crush."

"Ain't Gay for Spot Conlon." Race grumbles, propping his feet up on the bookcase again. "But thanks." He whispers.

Albert rolls his eyes, looking over at him. "So you're Pan for Spot Conlon?" He asks.

Race takes the lollipop out of his mouth again. "Is that how that works?" He asks, his eyes squinted skeptically.

Albert shrugs. "I'd ask Romeo that question." He responds.

Race shrugs.

The two stay there in silence for a moment, Albert going back to his math homework.

"Hey, Race," Albert starts.

Race hums, not looking up from his phone.

"What's the answer to number ten?" Albert asks, tapping his pencil on the desk as he looks over at Race.

"X = 72, so X is greater than Y for that one." The blonde boy answers, his lollipop still in his mouth.

Albert nods. "Thanks."

Race nods.

Albert writes the answer down. "How do you remember that off the top of your head?" He asks curiously, staring at his paper.

"Numbers are easy." Race answers, looking up at him. "You just remember the rules and formulas and they make sense." He states. "I guess my brain just pieces them together and all of the answers from my past math problems float around my mind." He explains.

Albert looks at him. "Your brain makes no sense to me." He states.

Race shrugs, a goofy smile on his face. "It doesn't usually make sense to anyone." He responds.

Albert laughs.

Race joins him.

Spot walks into the dorm room. "Morning, boys." He greets, pulling his hat off of his head.

Race stares at his hair for a moment, before looking away, his cheeks puffed out slightly and pink.

His hair was messy and Race thought it was adorable when messy.

Albert looks up at the brown haired boy. "Afternoon, Spot." He greets.

The exaggeration of 'afternoon' made Spot roll his eyes.

"You've been spending way too much time with Race." Albert mutters, writing his name on his paper.

Albert DaSilva.

His teacher would throw it away if his name wasn't on it.

Spot stares at him. "We're roommates, idiot." He responds, using an obvious tone of voice.

Albert looks back at his paper. "And they were roommates..." he mutters.

Race giggles to himself, sticking his lollipop back into his mouth.

Spot rolls his eyes, smacking Albert in the back of his head with his hat and handing Albert's back to said redhead Newsie that owned it.

Albert packs his papers up. "I'll leave you two to chill and hang out together." He tells them, his eyes mainly focused on Race as a smirk starts on his lips. "Or talk, if you need to..." he adds smugly.

Race shoots him a not subtle glare.

Spot seemed to notice this exchange, a smirk tugging at his lips.

Albert leaves the room, heading back to his and Elmer's dorm.

He passed Blink and Mush kissing in the hallway; Blink pinning Mush against the wall.

He also passed Knobs and Specs outside of Knobs and Boots' dorm, studying for their upcoming Assessment in their Math High Honors class.

He also passed Finch and Henry teasing Tommy boy as Tommy boy tried to escape into his and Buttons' dorm.

It was crazy how many of them he could run into just walking the five minutes from his dorm to Race's dorm and the other way around.

Albert opens the door to his room. "El?"

Elmer runs over to him, stumbling slightly and catching himself on the door. He looks up at his redheaded roommate, grinning. "Hey, Al!" He exclaims.

Albert chuckles. "Hey, El." He greets.

"I did things!" Elmer exclaims, grinning.

Albert raises an eyebrow at him. "Oh?" He starts. "Like what?" He asks, slightly curious.

"I baked in the Home Ec. Class with Ro, with the teacher's permission, and made something with Jack and Crutchie for you and me!" Elmer exclaims.

Albert smiles, holding his books to his chest. "That's really cool." He tells him genuinely.

Elmer takes his books and homework out of his hands, placing it on the desk next to the door, and grabs his arm.

He pulls Albert into the room, closing the door behind them and pulls him into a side hug. "See?!" Elmer exclaims, still grinning as he points to something on the wall.

On their wall, half on Albert's side of the room and half on Elmer's side, was a banner.

One side of the banner had the Pansexual flag and Albert's name above it and the other side had the Bisexual flag with Elmer's name above it.

"Oh my gosh..." the redheaded boy whispers, staring in awe at the banner. "It looks like Hotshot and Dice's banner."

In Hotshot and Dice's room, they had a banner like this.

Hotshot's side had a rainbow flag with his name above it and Dice's side had a Non-Binary flag with his name above it.

Elmer grins at Albert. "Do you like it?" He asks him. "I asked Race your sexuality, cause I wasn't sure if you had changed it."

Albert smiles at him, Elmer's arm still around his shoulders. "Still Pan." He tells him. "I love it, El." He whispers, pulling him into a hug.

Elmer grins, tucking his head into the crook Albert's neck as he wraps his arms around Albert's neck.

"Now," Albert pulls away. "What did you bake?" He asks.

Elmer was a relatively good cook, especially when working with JoJo.

Elmer grins, grabbing a platter of rainbow sugar cookies and rainbow frosted (the frosting tasted like chocolate) brownies.

Albert chuckles, looking from them into Elmer's eyes. "Someone's excited." He comments.

Elmer rolls his eyes playfully. "It's Pride Month, let me be excited." He responds.

Albert chuckles, taking a brownie and taking a bite out of it.

Elmer giggles when sprinkles spill out of the middle of the brownie.

Albert chuckles as he looks at the sprinkles. "Really, El?" He looks at the younger boy. "Did you seriously pick out all of the other colors to make this a Bisexual brownie?" He asks.

Elmer giggles, picking up another brownie. "Other ones have other ones!" He exclaims, taking a bite out of the brownie.

Albert chuckles.

Sprinkles of the Lesbian pride flag escape Elmer's brownie.

Elmer giggles, looking at it. "I think the brownie is trying to tell me something." He comments.

Albert chuckles.

A knock on the door shakes them out of their amusement.

Elmer puts the platter of cookies down on the table, opening the door.

JoJo stood in the doorway, a soft smile on his face and a present-looking bag in his hands.

Elmer grins at him, looking at him for confirmation.

JoJo nods, his smile growing.

Elmer hugs him, before taking the bag.

JoJo leaves.

Elmer places the bag down.

Albert looks at him in confusion.

Elmer pulls out a cupcake, red velvet, Albert's favorite.

It had rainbow frosting on it, along with a sugar Pansexual flag and a pink, yellow, and blue wrapper.

Elmer holds the cupcake out for Albert. "This one is special." He tells him. "You have to take smaller bites."

Albert slowly takes the cupcake, looking up at Elmer, slightly confused.

Elmer gestures for him to continue.

Albert takes a small bite of the cupcake.

He looks back at it, seeing a paper in it.

Albert's eyebrows furrow.

He sets the cupcake on the plate that had the cookies and brownies.

Albert noticed Elmer impatiently and nervously bouncing on the balls of his feet as he opened the paper.

Dear Al,

I really don't know how to say this and I'm really worried that I'm going to ruin our friendship forever and I totally get it if you don't want to be roommates anymore, but-

Right. No rambling. Sorry. JoJo is telling me to be calm, but I don't think I can.

Albert's eyebrows furrow.

Let me just get to the point.

I like you.

Please don't ever leave me.

Love,
Elmer

(P.S. We could totally be boyfriends, who like hold hands and do cute stuff, if you're okay with it.)

Albert looks up at Elmer, his face flushed and his mouth gaping.

Elmer's cheeks were slightly pinker than usual.

"Wow..." Albert whispers, still shocked. "When rambling to Race today about having a crush on you and how cute you were, I never imagined that you'd like me back." He mutters, trying to process this.

Elmer squeals, grabbing Albert by his shirt and kissing him.

Albert's eyes widen, but he melted into the kiss.

Elmer quickly pulls away, his face bright red and his eyes wide. "I'm so sorry!" He exclaims, covering his mouth. "That was so impulsive- and- and I should've thought! I was just excited, but I totally should've asked!" He scolds himself.

Albert cups his cheeks, calming him down instantly.

Other than his cheeks.

Elmer's cheeks were bright red.

"Sorry." Elmer mumbles, looking at the floor. "I've been hyper since I've had a lot of sugar and JoJo convinced me to confess to you and it went well and we kissed, and I'm pretty sure there are butterflies in my stomach that have been banging around inside there and I think I gave them concussions, and I'm so sorry." He rambles nervously.

Albert chuckles. "And this is why I fell for you." He whispers, tilting the Polish boy's head up slightly.

Elmer's cheeks redden further. "Wow-" he breathes. "Your lips look really kissable and I did just kiss them, but I'd kinda like to do it again and it's not helping that I'm staring at them and-" Elmer catches himself, covering his mouth.

Albert chuckles.

There were no words to describe the color of Elmer's cheeks now. "Why can't I ramble in Polish?" He mutters to himself. "If I'm going to ramble excessively, why can't I do it in a language that no one will understand?" He whispers, embarrassed.

Albert chuckles again. "Would you like to cuddle the embarrassment off?" He asks.

Elmer nods vigorously, grabbing Albert's hand and pulling him onto his (Albert's) bed.

Albert looks at the bed. "Is there a reason we landed on my bed?" He asks, an eyebrow raised.

Elmer grins up at him. "Smells like you." He answers, pulling the blankets up to his chin as he cuddles against Albert.

Albert chuckles, cuddling with him.

A few minutes later, they fell asleep.

JoJo peaks his head into the room, grabbing a brownie and a sugar cookie.

He leaves the room, handing the brownie to Romeo.

Romeo takes a bit, Trans. Colored sprinkles leaving the cupcake.

He giggles to himself. "The perfect cupcake for me." Romeo comments.

JoJo smiles. "One ship down, one more to go for tonight." He states.

Romeo nods. "Do you know where our boyfriends are?" He asks.

JoJo shrugs, biting his sugar cookie. "Probably in one of our dorms, waiting for us and hanging." He answers.

Romeo giggles. "They know we're scheming and playing Cupid's." He comments.

JoJo giggles.

"Now," Romeo starts. "Albert and Elmer were oblivious, in ways, but not as much as Race is." He states.

JoJo nods, looking over at him as they walk down the hallway. "Spot knows, right?" He asks. "You talked to him earlier today?"

Romeo nods. "Spot knows." He answers. "Now, we just have to give them a little extra push." He tells JoJo.

JoJo nods.

The two boys continue down the hallway.

2290 Words