Work Text:
The memories blur together, like wet ink on paper. History erased, folding itself back up, never existing at all.
Ben Gross had never believed in love at first sight, preferably falling for someone through time. He assumed that’s what happened with them. Their dynamic had changed without him knowing, unnoticed to the naked eye.
They had dinner, lived together, and even kissed.
He was happy with disbelief. He should have known better.
Ben was used to a particular life. The feeling of being unimportant, unwanted, and uncared. For his parents didn’t care, neither did his ex-girlfriend. There were no friends at school, those to confine in. He lived in his emptiness, drowning him.
Blue skies, rays of yellow shining down on them, clouds parting. A day designed for laughter and joy, one shouldn’t be unhappy.
Monday came, they had their arms thrown around each other, lazy smiles of content as they walked down the hall together. Whispers passed around those who knew them. She looked happy.
A sight to ruin a perfect day, one to break him into millions of pieces.
Ben gross let the smile fall off him, the feeling of happiness leaving him just as suddenly as it came and acceptance taking its place. As much as he had hoped, he knew that she would never have picked him above anyone else. Not in the way it mattered.
“You stayed.”
“Yeah, I just wanted to make sure... that you were okay.”
She looked at him in a way she had never done before, and when their eyes met, the rest of the world faded away. Her eyes so beautiful, it made him wonder how he could ignore them for so long.
The feeling of her lips on his is a memory he would cherish, wishing it had not ended as fast as it had. He was sure that nothing could feel as perfect as Devi's lips pressed against his. The sensation of her wanting him, her hands on him, had felt like magic revealing itself. The magic that made him believe he was as significant to her as he assumed he was. But, magic played with your mind and heart before you even know it.
When a heart made of broken glass shatters, it punctures the lung below it. The harder it is to breathe, the closer to death you feel, the worse you know.
She had no sympathy nor grace in her actions, not a warning sign or a way to let him down slowly. Ben Gross just stared, rooted to the spot as he let her go on with a man he could never be. She wasn't his and she had never been.
As the glass shattered, Ben acknowledged that deep down all he had desired for her was her happiness. Even if it meant he was losing his own.