Lake.

He was right back to taking over every part of Cree's cognitive thinking. Not thinking about him didn't last long.

Cree was standing at the edge of a soccer field filled to the brim with people. The soccer field where he and Lake first became friends.

Cree tilted his head up into the stands. The two soccer teams that had been playing were rallying with them, and so were a good deal of the people watching. Their small march had quadrupled in size, and everyone was cheering as loud as they could. People were pulling over their cars and joining in, hearing their noise from the street, but Cree couldn't hear any of it.

He was screaming, but he couldn't take notice of the chants he led. He knew he believed every word he was saying with all his heart, but his heart was somewhere else. His heart was up in the stands being stomped on by everyone. He was up in the stands.

It was eighth grade. Cree was new to town and finding it hard to make any friends. For a number of reasons. He was so miserable, but then a cute blonde boy came up to him one day and asked if he wanted to work together for math that day.

After that day, Cree started noticing more and more about that boy. How his eyes lit up whenever he talked about something he loved, like the ocean itself was in them, making tidal waves just for him. Or how whenever he got in trouble he would get really quiet and bite his lip as he apologized under his breath. Or how whenever anyone would smile at him he would smile back this wide smile, like nothing in the world could bring him down. Cree lived for that smile. Everything about Lake fascinated him. All his quirks were adorable. He was adorable.

The two never really became friends until the soccer game though. The two came to watch a soccer game, both rooting for the same team, and neither had any idea the other would be there. Cree couldn't keep his eyes off Lake that day, and every time Lake would so much as glance his way he would blush all the way up to the tips of his ears. Which meant he was blushing throughout the entire game because neither boy ended up watching the game much, they were too busy talking to each other. From that day forward they became inseparable.

Cree tore his eyes away from the stands to see Daanish looking expectantly at him. He must have said something. "What?" Cree asked, confused. Daanish laughed.

"I said you look like you're in your own world. Whatcha thinking about?"

"Oh."

"I mean obviously you don't have to tell me, you just don't look like you're entirely here." Daanish rushed. Cree paused and glanced up in the stands again. His eyes flickered over to Daanish. He sighed.

"Have you ever loved someone so much that you can't stop thinking about them no matter what you do? All you ever want to do is hold their hand and kiss them and just tell them how much you care about them? You want to hear every little detail of their life, you could listen to them talk for hours and hours but you would never get tired of hearing their voice- that kind of love that makes your chest feel so full and warm that you're sure it's going to burst open any moment, spilling all your feelings everywhere?"

Daanish looked at Cree thoughtfully for a moment. "I have," he finally answered. Cree looked over at him, but Daanish was no longer looking at him. "My girlfriend," Daanish paused laughing to himself. "I love her so much. We've actually been together three years in two days, and she's going to propose to me. I actually asked her to marry me about a month ago and she said no because she had this huge proposal planned out, and being the stubborn woman she is wanted to propose to me instead of the other way around. I honestly think that's amazing of her." Cree smiled.

"She sounds wonderful," he said.

"She is," Daanish replied, and Cree could see the overflowing love in his eyes. That was the same look Lake had in his eyes the day he told Cree he loved him. Cree missed him so much.

"Hey, idiots!" called Casey, running over to them.

"We're packing out now," finished Meg, trailing close behind Casey. "Onto the next location!"

"Hopefully we'll get even more people there!" added Casey. She then turned to Meg. "Race you to the front?"

"You're on."

As the two girls took off, Daanish and Cree started their own way through the crowd. "Where are we going next?" Cree asked.

"The Graffiti Park," Daanish answered, yelling to be heard over all the people.

The Graffiti Park.

The place where Cree and Lake simultaneously agreed more than once they wanted to have their first date. Not together of course. Well, Cree had wanted his first date to be with Lake, but Lake hadn't known that. Plus Lake had been hung up over some girl at the time.

"And the last location?"

"You know the outdoor roller rink?"

Yes, Cree knew the outdoor roller rink. That was where he had his first slow dance. More than that it had been with Lake.

"Yeah."

The roller rink was converted to an ice rink in winter, and sometimes events were held there. Three years ago after telling Lake that he had never been to a dance before, Lake became determined to take Cree to a dance. They ended up going to the town dance in the outdoor rink, which was the equivalent of prom for freshmen and sophomores.

Cree remembered the huge proposal Lake had planned out for him. He did it in front of the entire grade during lunch. Lake got the cheerleaders to do a routine and at the end, they held up signs reading: Will you go to the dance with me? All the while he was singing Temporary Love, which he knew was Cree's favorite love song, into a microphone that was hooked up to portable speakers. Though Lake was no Ben Platt, he could definitely sing, and everything Lake had done for Cree made him woozy. Lake then came over to Cree, got down on one knee, and held out a ring pop asking if he would go to the dance with him. Cree had pulled Lake up to his feet and pulled him into the most bone-crushing hug he could muster. He was aware of every little inch of their bodies that was touching, and as soon as he pulled away it took every ounce of his strength not to kiss Lake- it was at the moment he realized that he was head over heels in love with the most amazing boy in the entire world.

Cree and Lake spent the rest of that day telling people that no, they weren't actually dating, they were just friends and it was a long story that they didn't feel like explaining why Lake had asked Cree to the dance. No one really believed them, though looking back on it Cree realized it was probably because they had been holding hands almost all day. Looking back on a lot of things, Cree also realized that he should have known a lot sooner that his love was requited.

The night of the dance, Lake picked up Cree and gave him a corsage as a joke, but Cree wore it all night anyway. They drove together listening to the most cheesy love songs Lake could find.

When Lake asked him to slow dance, Cree almost said no because there was no way in hell he was going to be able to handle being that close to Lake for that long without giving away all his feelings. But before he could say no, Lake dragged him onto the dance floor and as the song went on they only closed the space between them more and more until they were almost nose to nose. Lake smiled at Cree and he almost died right on the spot. Then Lake nestled his head onto Cree's chest and Cree was sure his heart leaped right out of his body. He remembered looking down at Lake and not being able to help but press a kiss to his soft hair. Lake looked up at him, and Cree panicked. He had just kissed his friend. Who he was technically on a date with, but at the same time, it wasn't a real date so-

But all his thinking was cut off as Lake pressed his lips gently against Cree's cheek. Cree's entire face immediately flamed up. Lake's face was just as red. The two boys stared at each other for what felt like forever, and Cree was almost sure he was going to get his first kiss. Then Lake lowered his head back onto Cree's chest. "I'm glad we did this." he had whispered, pulling Cree closer to him.

Cree only started falling harder than he already was.

***

A/N: Who ordered cotton candy with cloud sauce and an extra side of fluff? Ah, you sir? Yes here, I hope you enjoy your food.

Thank you all so much for reading it means a lot! If you liked this chapter please consider leaving a vote/comment!

-Sunny <3