i love men, mostly fictional ones.

finn contains himself well around you, never being too obvious about his attraction. that's not to say he doesn't show it at all, though. he has a way of making you feel seen that others don't. every time you open your mouth to speak, he's looking at you with keen eyes and giving blatant nods every time you talk so you know he's not only listening, but actually hearing you. it's easy to brush his actions off as friendliness though unless you're unusually attentive and pick up on the little things like his clammy hands and lower lip drawn between his teeth whenever you're near.

as for around others, he's nowhere near as good at hiding it as he thinks he is. all his friends can see the way he looks at you. like a pearl within a seashell. special. not only that, but he slips you into any conversation with them like he's slick. saying things like, "oh, y/n told me about this spot. they said it was their favorite so it must be good." or even when he's writing lyrics, humming to his friend mindlessly as he picks up his phone to text you, "i think y/n would like that one... i'll have to ask them what they think about it." hell, gaten knows all your favorite things before he even gets the chance to really meet you. that's when all his friends know you're gonna stick around. the media feels similarly, from what little they know in comparison. shipping is inevitable, and while hate is the same, everyone regardless of... how much they like it... has a pretty good idea of your relationship with one another. maybe not official in any way, but that was also subject to change any day. that's as far as they know, though. many already think you're together even if nothing points to that. not that he's totally mad about it.

his confession comes with time. it's not rushed, but rather practiced. intentional. a few months into getting to know you and falling even harder for you, finn decides it's probably time after a lot of stalling and saying he'd do it soon. he was nervous! he tries to not to make it a big deal, but also not meaningless. you two are hanging out, probably on your way home from a hangout, and it's on your doorstep that he lets it slip. no pressure to say yes, all the opportunity to leave if you want. he's fumbling with his hands when he finally tells you he really, really likes you. that you make him the happiest he's ever been, and he'd love to take you out. romantically, that is. he's almost certain that you'll say no until you're leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek and nodding with a giddy smile. by the end of the night, he's walking back to his car with the biggest smile on his face and songs already in mind to listen to on the drive home.

mike wheeler ⋆˚ ࿔

mike falls hard fast. whether he's aware his feelings that fast is a different story. the first time he sees you, you catch his eye almost immediately. the first time he talks to you, he's practically keeling over to try and get your attention (even if he always had it). he sums it up as admiration. you're cool! funny. sweet. pretty. obviously anyone would wanna talk to you. lucas smacks his arm and teases him for his crush and he pushes back. but when he's thinking about it later that night, he thinks. it wouldn't be so bad to like you. if anyone, it'd be you. from that night on, he's sure in it. stubborn, still, especially around his friends. he's not one to admit they were right. but then they see the way you make him smile and his cheeks flush and they can only hope this goes somewhere so they can see that written all over his face for as long as they know him. and, between him and whatever gods were above, the first time you call him your paladin during a d&d campaign, he crumbled. that really secured it, albeit a joke.

mike shows his affection outwardly despite thinking he's being smooth about it. he's trying to be the stereotypical gentleman by offering to carry your bags or books between classes and holding the door open for you even if you're an awkwardly far distance away. what? his friends told him they'd see it in movies! and lucas even did all this for max. she laughed at him, yeah, but it worked, didn't it? so mike tries and tries. he bluntly compliments you whenever it feels right even if it always sound like he's blurting it out. whether your hair is styled differently or it's not, he says what he thinks even if he doesn't mean to sometimes. even if it warrants reactions from you that only fluster him more, such as, "but i wear my hair like this everyday? thank you though."

with all that being said, he doesn't hide his crush well at all around you. it's easy to pick up on because of how blatantly differently he acts around you. he treats you like a total angel in comparison to his friends, who he pokes fun at and calls names like it's nothing. you'll never catch him doing that with you, though. he could never. he's also so obvious because his friends are some of the biggest instigators you'll ever meet. dustin and lucas are constantly alluding to his crush on you in front of you. they want you to know! mike always has to apologize for them, telling you they're stupid and crazy and not to believe a single thing they say. it didn't take them telling on him for you to know. not when he's constantly telling on himself by turning bright pink, stuttering profusely, and praising you like you were crafted by the gods. show one sign of insecurity and mike is making sure you never doubt yourself again like it's his job to do so. you'll never have to wonder whether he likes you or not. he makes it pretty known, despite his tendency to be, well, avoidant. thankfully (or you think you're thankful for it), he likes you way too much to act that way and the thought of not having you nearby 24/7 physically pains him.

that just means that everyone around the two of you knows about his crush before the either of you do. nancy notices him wearing things more intentionally rather than throwing whatever's somewhat clean on. less wrinkles and more color coding. will realizes mike is trying to ask more about you without meaning to, given will knows a fair amount about you already. you two were friends, after all. dustin and lucas tease him for spacing out when you walk by him for a few seconds. max playfully smacks the back of his head to get his attention with a smart, "don't stare, dork." so, yeah, he isn't good at hiding it one bit around you, let alone everyone else around him. it's a disaster waiting to unfold, he's sure, but he does love the idea of everyone knowing he's totally invested in you. even if he isn't actually with you, there's a sort of intimacy and closeness that comes with others knowing and validating his feelings. or maybe he's crazy. yeah, probably crazy.

mike doesn't plan some coordinated, romantic confession. it's messy and awkward and, well, him. it happens a month or two after realizing his feelings because it all crumbles under the weight of just how deeply he feels for you. in his (finally clean) room, you two are "studying" for an exam that neither of you really intend on studying for. mike's smart. you're smart. neither of you need this to pass. it's just an excuse to see each other outside of school without anyone else there to take you away from him. mike just has to mention something... love related. he can't even remember what it was he said when you're staring at him so hard he could've sworn you just saw a ghost. you get just as awkward at the mention of romance because it brings into question whatever you two are and he totally loses it and leans forward to kiss you. his lips find yours and he's hating himself for doing it until you actually kiss back and he's sure he's never been happier. so no, you don't get a real confession. you find out when he's actually jumping to kiss you and mumble about how badly he's wanted you and how sorry he is for letting you find out this way. he just... couldn't take it anymore. the waiting game. he was always too impatient for his own good.

ziggy katz ⋆˚ ࿔

ziggy is a love at first sight person and he falls for you within moments. maybe you walk by him in the halls at school or he sees you at lunch with your friends, but either way, he's hooked and he's sure he has to have you. he's asking people about you to find out your name and trying to internalize your schedule as best he can just so he can find a way to see you. none of the times you see him are accidental. it's always him making himself seen. it's a level of determination you have to admire, albeit quite sudden that this all starts. just from one look.

he shows his affection in every single way he can. you're getting compliments on the daily, he's gently brushing his arm against yours in class or when he walks by you in the halls, he'll offer to do your work for you when you're particularly busy, and he'll be the one you can go to when you need someone. what's there not to love? he makes himself easily consumable. he's catering and appealing to you specifically, even if he loses parts of himself in the process. if it means hopefully getting you closer to him, he doesn't care one bit. he'll even write songs. songs. whole songs. about you. about the person he can't stop getting distracted by in class because their beauty reflects off every surface. the person that spares him a glance everyday like a reward. he hopes you know they're about you. subtlety isn't his goal, thankfully, because it's also not his forte. you're getting declarations of love minus the confession itself that actually says "i love you" and he writes it off as affection. so, again, not subtle at all.

ziggy doesn't hide it from you well, except he's not trying to. he's bold and unabashed and he wants you to know that he's interested in you. why else would he have written every song and went out of his way to do all of that for you? that's not platonic. he does expect his good deeds to work in that way, even if that's not exactly the best mindset to have... anyway, like stated earlier, he gives declarations of love casually just to try and get you to understand his intentions. telling you that he loves being around you, loves your personality, your wits, talents—he just loves everything about you! he thought that'd be enough of a confession in and of itself, but he supposes even that could've been read platonically. he just makes it more and more obvious with every passing comment. you're stuck in a loop of confessing without the actual confession until you either reject or accept it. or until he breaks and says it outright. whichever comes first.

ziggy lets others know but pretends like he didn't mean for them to pick up on his little (huge) crush. he's asking about you nonstop then backtracking when they accuse him of being totally, irrevocably obsessed with you. he's all, "i didn't say that! i can't just be friends with someone? geez. don't make it weird! they're just... cool. really cool. they just get me, okay?" so defensive and even more of an over-explanation to go with it. the perfect combination! then, in the next breath, his head is turning to catch a mere glimpse of you walking by the window of the classroom. how secretive he is. when he's more open about it, he's embracing his adoration for you with his friends. they tease and ask if he's given up on you yet and he's starting this whole spiel about how stupid of a question that is. "why the hell would i give up? i'd never give up on them. seriously. they're the one, dude. they get me more than, like, anyone else i've ever met. sorry not sorry." he lifts his hands in mock defensiveness before laughing and shaking his head like he just heard the stupidest question. because, to him, he did. the last thing he'd ever be is ashamed of how much he likes you once he crosses the bridge of admitting it to others.

he makes a big deal of confessing to you. it's critical to his plan that he makes you feel like the only person in the world when you're with him, and that means making a big deal of spilling his heart out to you. as for how long that is after this all began... try a good two weeks. tops. he'd say he just knows what he wants, others would say he rushes into things way too fast. that doesn't change the fact that he's singing you a song he wrote just for this moment, sitting on a park bench like this was the most romantic scenery ever. once he's done, he's looking over to you and gauging your reaction like you hold the weight of his world in your eyes. the littlest of silence has him filling it with incessant rambles, claiming, "i-i just thought you'd like it, since it's your favorite genre of music, and i know you thought some of those metaphors were kinda cool in the other lyrics you heard—" interrupt him and tell him that you feel the same. please. unless you wanna hear him try and save face for the next hour. and then go on to kiss him, not to shut him up, because he'll already be rendered speechless by the time you do, but just to hear the little whine from somewhere deep in his throat and to feel him melt beneath your fingertips. hypothetically, of course. hypothetically, he'll like it a lot.

richie tozier ⋆˚ ࿔

richie falls for you hard and fast, but don't get it mistaken for being rushed. he only develops such a big crush on you so fast because he's drawn to you and therefore crowds you in every way he can. you can't escape him for heavens sake. he's at your door everyday and inviting you everywhere just to drag you out anyway if you aren't in the mood. he's surely responsible for his own feelings because if he weren't this persistent, they wouldn't be such a big deal. it takes more or less a week or so for him to understand what he's feeling for you is attraction and not just some really intense friendship.

he shows it most by wanting to be around you all the time. quality time, if you will. as mentioned above, he's dragging you out all the time and showing up to your door like clockwork. your family sees his bike pull up in their driveway and immediately know to call you down before he repeatedly knocks (bangs) on the door like always. he loves spending time with you at places he loves. he takes you to the arcade like it's the most intimate thing ever, because that's his place in his mind, and he's involving you in it. trusting you. playing against you and letting you win is his specialty, though he'd never admit it to a soul, let alone you. he's not weak! but he does have... weaknesses. he also teases you an insane amount out of everyone in the losers club. he's poking fun at you and making silly nicknames for you, forming inside jokes that'll only solidify your growing bond. he is that boy that picks on the person he has a crush on because he thinks that's the best way to flirt. just mix in some unexpected compliments when you make him weak and him sitting right up against your side with the claim that you're just warm. he can be sickeningly sweet when he wants to be. until then, you're getting playfully poked in the rib daily.

you can pick up on his intentions if you read between the lines, but only if you do so. otherwise, you might as well think he hates your guts, or sees you so much as a friend that he teases you like one. but no. that's just how he acts on the surface. when you two are really alone, he's opening up about stuff he doesn't tell a soul and letting you read past what many may consider the childish, almost bitchy facade he puts on. he lets you ride on the back of his bike and wrap your arms around his waist yet tells all his friends to walk if they don't have their bike. you're different from them, you soon learn. he'll tease you around them like it's some sort of defense mechanism, but that teasing falters when there's no one to convince that you don't mean anything to him. he loves when you touch, compliment, and spend time with him. he loves when you pay attention to him. he loves when you remember something he said before. he honest to god blushes when you reassure him his new haircuts cute and not ugly and too messy like he claimed. you like it messy. he remembered that for every haircut to come. so yeah, he may not scream it from the rooftops, but he sure as hell acts different around you because he feels different around you. better, even.

he actually hides it fairly well from those around him. in some cases because he represses and internalizes it, but others because he's just straight up embarrassed to be caught in a position of weakness. when he likes someone, he wants nothing more than to be with them forever, being all lovey dovey and getting to kiss them like a dork. he's more than certain that eddie or bill or stan would tease him for it if they ever found out he wanted that. don't even get him started on beverly. he's sure she'd tease him the most, albeit probably with the purest of intentions just because she knows the topics new territory, but still. she'd tease. so he keeps everything to himself, including you, as much as he can. nobody knows that he holds pinkies with you in private as you read a comic book together in the losers clubs hammock. they don't need to know the way he lets you fix his glasses and patch up his knee when he falls off his bike, an already embarrassing feat for someone that rides it daily. let it slip that you kissed it better and he thinks he'll die, but it really did make him feel better. for that he thanks you.

...that's not to say they never find out. they're nosy, and when they find out, they're immediately trying to force him to tell you. well, right after teasing him for being a lover boy, that is. they basically have to force him though for you to ever actually find out. and that they do. you go out with the losers club around the neighborhood and eventually end up on the cliff lookout over the water. but when you do get settled, they're all quick to board their bikes again and have beverley take richie's, just for good measure. he's immediately calling them names and calling out at them for it, having been switched up on. he didn't know they were gonna do that! but he knows exactly why they did. when you ask what the hell that was about, richie knows he can't play it off. even if he did, it'd only happen again. so richie does what he's best at. he over-explains and rambles and plays it down like it doesn't matter when he's actually mortified. when you reach over to hold his hand, though, despite him not even being done, he stops. it doesn't quite register to him what that little gesture means until you lean over and press a small kiss to his cheek. holy shit. the losers are never gonna hear the end of this.

boris pavlikovsky ⋆˚ ࿔

boris falls fast and easy, but it's hard for him to register that he's actually fallen for someone and make this distinction from prior encounters. not just a quick fuck, not someone that he gets high and loopy with, but someone that he craves to be around all the time. someone he misses the presence of when they're not there. he realizes all of this once he's gotten you in his bed a few times and he finds himself wanting to talk to and cuddle with you in the afterglow more than he has with anyone else. it hurts so much to watch you go but he can't quite fathom why that is. he'll just wash it down with more drugs and pretend it was never there, even if he knows deep down that you're different to him.

boris, at first, shows affection the only way he knows how. through diligent, intentional thrusts turned sloppy in the heat of the moment. it's his lips on yours, sucking your tongue and tasting your mouth like it's his dying wish. but even more than that, it's what follows. he's always used to putting his walls up after intimacy, but you learned how to tear them down. carding a hand through his dark curly hair as your nails scratch at his scalp, resting your head against his bare chest, shotgunning smoke with him just to kiss him without any heat behind it afterward. it all makes his chest ache because fuck, why do you challenge him so much? but he lets you because the opposite would be never having you at all. he knows better than to fuck this all up. he's learned from his past mistakes. god, has he learned. he doesn't express it in kind words or through soft hugs and warm kisses, but he does what he can to let it out. even if all that is is selfishly asking you not to leave him at the end of the night because that's when you're the softest, wrapping around him like a teddy bear and falling asleep with ease.

you don't realize how much you mean to him until he lets you in on the fact. he has control over how much you know. it starts slow when he's teaching you new words in russian. you've always been insistent on picking up vocabulary. when he first taught you love, you're sure your mind spun for hours afterward. him, teaching you the word love? you used it against him long afterward, just as he wanted. hearing you say it in that cute accent made him smile every time. that's only one example, too. over time, he's started inviting you over without the intentions of hooking up, kissing you without that charged, intense fervor behind it, and truly caring about your feelings like it pained him to see you hurt. he's always cared to an extent. but one day you came to him after a shitty day and he tried to do and say anything he could to help. he lets you in when he wants, so obviously he wants you to know you mean something to him. definitely not nothing.

he doesn't have much of a community around him to notice when he's acting differently, let alone about someone. he feels like he's disappointed everyone that stuck around, so he's not sure who cares enough to pay that much attention to him anymore. that just means he's only really got one person to manage it around: you. that's a load off his plate, right? unless theo decides to question him. not that he'd bother to hide it from him. he'd brag and brag about you like he's already got you, knowing damn well you could still leave one day and he couldn't do a thing about it. maybe if he pretended that wasn't a possibility, it wouldn't feel as likely anymore.

you find out on a random friday night when you're lying in bed with boris, still exhausted and glowing from what you two just engaged in. boris lets you lay right on top of him and bury your face in his neck even though every part of him can't take the sight and feel of you anymore. but tonight, instead of pushing you away or going quiet, he welcomes you. his arm wraps around your bare back and he rests his head against yours like it's natural. he brings the light, surely cheap blanket over your bodies like a warm hug. it's unfamiliar in the best way possible and it's hard not to let it get to you. he notices your expression, riddled with that unfamiliarity. boris finally murmurs, lacking that certainty he always has, "y/n?" once he has your attention, he swallows and says, like it's the most casual thing ever, "я тебя люблю (i love you)." you recognize that word. love. even if the rest isn't familiar, you falter and freeze and your heart damn near stops for a moment. he almost takes it back, pulls away, runs, because that'd be easier than confronting this weird feeling in his chest at the unknown. but then you're mumbling back that you love him and burying your gentle face back into his skin like you belonged there. he's far from fluent in english, but he understood. he really did. this time, he can't ruin it. he won't let himself.

miles fairchild ⋆˚ ࿔

miles is infatuated the second you walk through the door. he's intrigued, curious, and wants to know everything about you no matter what it takes. he attaches to you quickly, becoming someone you can't quite get rid of because he's always there. and if that's just right off the bat, at his most constrained, then what will it turn into after enough time passes? time will only tell.

miles has unconventional ways of showing his fondness for you. he's making sure there's never a moment that you go without him there. every corner you turn, every room you enter, every hallway you traverse down, he's right behind you. at least you never feel alone, right? even in your sleep, when you wake up with this eerie feeling that you're not alone. that's because in the dark of your room, he's perched in the darkest corner waiting for you to fall back asleep. must've been paranoia, he'd brush it off in the morning. he also becomes increasingly touchy, starting slowly as if conditioning you not to question it. a brush of the shoulder. his hand resting atop yours. soon enough, he's coming up behind you and pressing his chest to your back as he tries to peer over your shoulder and watch whatever you're doing. he blurs the lines on purpose because he wants you to start seeing him in that light without him ever having to truly say it. everything he does is intentional and it always gradually intensifies over time. miles doesn't know how to love normally.

while miles is awfully confrontational and everything described above is blatantly obvious, it's also important to note that you may not realize what it all means at first because he's simply different. he's weird and he acts it. nobody really knows what goes on in his mind or whether or not his vigorous interest in someone is of hatred or intrigue. but one day, when you're lying in bed fighting to fall asleep, you hear it. the creak of a door and the chill of the hallway flooding in alongside it. shivering under your covers, you keep your eyes tightly knit shut. out of fear, maybe? or maybe because you wanted to know who this was that's been haunting you every night. when you heard their feet padding closer to your bed before stopping right beside you, you could barely breathe. it smelled like him. the air of cigarette smoke, earth, and an underlying sweetness. mint, maybe? god, you'd never know. all you knew was he was the one coming in to watch you at every hour of the night and you're not sure you looked at him the same again. when did he sleep? could he not? your concern for him made you realize that maybe you do care for him more than you originally thought. hm...

nobody around him pays enough attention to really realize that he's acting differently around you. they sum it up to him being creepy and obsessive and call it at that. not that there's many people in his circle anymore. flora, maybe. his little sister that he cherished more than anything in this twisted, fucked up world. she doesn't pick up on anything though and she's the closest to him and the only one to pay him any mind. if not her, then who? certainly not kate. he'd never let kate in enough for her to see him at his most vulnerable. so there truly was no one.

you find out, truly find out, when miles is finally alone with you and can't quite find it in him to hold back anymore. he told you how he couldn't sleep a wink because his room was freezing, asking if he could stay with you that night. it felt wrong to decline such a request when he never asked too much of you anyway. as you lay there together, he'd stare. he'd stare and ask you questions while his eyes traced the curves and crevices of your face that he couldn't see until he was this close. it's when you finally ask why he's so fascinated by you that something in miles snaps. maybe it's the glint in your eyes that could be mistaken as a challenge, or the way you don't seem all too worried by the otherwise concerning statement. just... curious. like why the sky's blue or the grass is green. miles took it slow when he leaned in, your faces barely inches away. he took caution for once in his life. then, he did it. he pressed his cold, plush lips against yours and removed them just as quickly as he did so. a rare moment of uncertainty from him. when you leaned in next and initiated the next, miles was certain this was a dream. but part of him always knew you were just as fascinated by him as he were you. it was mutual, and that's all he wanted. to be able to do this.

chris tian ⋆˚ ࿔

chris becomes your friend before ever considering you in a romantic light. it's after a two or three months of friendship, specifically. he has to know someone a little before developing a crush on them, albeit he's always been able to acknowledge your beauty, he never wanted to base his interest off that alone! but then he discovered how funny you were when joking with him and how sweet you were to the campers and he was sent into a spiral over how much he simply adored you. he always got in his head about how bad he felt for falling so quickly for you, feeling like he had some ulterior motives behind his friendship as if he wasn't one of the most genuine guys you'd ever met at camp pineaway.

chris shows his affection for you in inarguably the sweetest ways possible. acts of service is probably the biggest one. he doesn't overly compliment you under the impression that it may seem shallow to only focus on your looks, but he will praise your actions and personality. he also doesn't want to make you uncomfortable by touching you a lot past the casual brushes of hands and play fighting in the lake. all in all, he just loves spending time with you and helping you out. that means taking on jobs for you around camp so you can go hang out with your friends, switching tasks with you when you don't wanna do yours, grabbing things for you, and more. he just loves taking a load off your plate and watching you light up at the assistance. it makes him feel so good! he'll trail after you like a puppy, too, always making his presence known by assigning himself to work alongside you and hanging out with you during his free time. you two are always sat next to each other at the campfire.

his advances could be mistaken as friendly because he's such a kind guy, but he's in no way trying to hide his interest in you. he's trying to get it at it subtly without making you uncomfortable in any way. you pick up on it one night when you're sneaking in his cabin to watch a scary movie together despite the promise of no electronics at camp. you just wanted to watch one so bad and how could he say no to you? so he brought an old vhs tape and got it hooked up to the one box tv he found in storage. that alone was insanely sweet. then, you two cuddled up in his chilly room while he rubbed your back and let you lean against him completely. it was so intimate, even though he'd promised he wouldn't do anything. just cuddling! nothing weird. and he meant it. but when he pulled you close after the worst jumpscare in the movie, your hearts racing together, you saw it. the concern written on his face and his keenness to protect you from a screen. this wasn't just friendly to him, but neither was it to you.

everyone calls him a simp from the get go. he grabs your shoes for you one time so you don't have to get sand stuck to your already clean feet after rinsing off and bobby is immediately poking fun at him for it. he's definitely not the only one, either. he doesn't entertain everyone's teasing remarks, telling them that he's just being a good friend and taking care of you. that not every guy is trying to flirt with someone when he's doing something nice. he doesn't want you to get uncomfortable with their comments so he shuts them down before they even get the chance to begin, even if he doesn't mind them much himself...

his confession to you is absolutely not a spur of the moment decision. he plans it out in his head and asks for opinions from his friends because he really wants to it to be perfect, even if you don't reciprocate, because he's sure you'll remember the gesture regardless. it's sweet when the evening comes. everyone's around the campfire across camp, but you two are lingering on the dock by the lake with your feet dangling in the cold water. his pinky gently intertwines with yours on the wood of the dock and that's when he finally gets the courage to speak. c'mon, chris, remember your lines. and he doesn't. he rambles and stumbles over his words but the second he lets out the phrase "i think i love you" he realizes just how unromantic this all went. so far from the vision he had in his head. he begins to apologize for how he let that come out but you're just laughing. laughing at how serious he's taking this. and you, honest to god, kiss him. you cup his cheek and kiss him. he's not sure there's a world where he deserves this, but he'll definitely accept if it's this one.

trevor spengler ⋆˚ ࿔

trevor is a total lover boy. for him, that means falling slow yet deep. he realizes it a little more with every look and smile you direct at him and accepts it with open arms. he'd love to love you, and so he does. there's no one defining moment for him, nor is there a day and time he could give you if you were to ask when this all began. it started from the moment he met you and has grown into what it is since the last time he saw you and it will continue to do so until the last time he sees you. how romantic, trevor can be. all despite being an otherwise reckless young adult. hell, he's a ghostbuster. what about him is rational and careful? it's unexpected but welcome.

his affection is shown in every which way. he'll compliment you when you do a good job, whether it be on a mission or something else, but he'll also compliment you when you simply look nice. you don't have to do much apart from exist to warrant a compliment from him. he's also the type to rest his hand on your lower back when walking beside or behind you like a reminder that he's there, especially if you two are doing a mission together and you're particularly spooked or shaken. with that being said, he's always with you when he can be. you never have to feel alone because he's always around. it's a comforting presence. and don't even let him do things for you, because he's doing absolutely everything. he remembers growing up and helping around whenever he could and the reactions it got from people. naturally, he started doing that with you. whether it be helping you move something heavy or protecting you from a particularly punchy ghost, he'll do whatever it is he can to watch your lips curl up into that pretty smile of yours.

trevor makes an effort to hide his crush on you because, well, he's scared of what you'd think. as would most people with a crush. he really cares what you think, especially about him. despite him doing all of that to show his affection for you, he doesn't think he's being obvious. i mean, maybe you pick up on the fact he has a bit of a puppy crush on you, but you can't be certain, right? wrong. he's horrible at acting normal around you. he's blushing like a madman when you compliment him back or hold onto his arm to stay close. god, he can't get you out of his head! he's spaced out for the rest of the day, and he expects you not to notice? he's obvious despite thinking he's very chill and discreet about you.

...some people that know him very well pick up on the gradual changes in behavior. his younger sister, phoebe, loves to joke about it when you're not around. making witty, deadpan comments that are teasing him about something he said to you that day, "so. they looked good, huh? just good?" otherwise, he has friends that pick up on it and make some similarly teasing comments but don't quite pry like she might. he's not very secretive, he just doesn't go out of his way to make it known, either.

trevor accidentally lets it slip in a random situation and there's multiple ways this could happen. here are a few. one, you two are on a mission and you're almost certain you're in the worst danger you've ever been in. the both of you doubt you'll even make it out of this one with how powerful the ghost is. it's when he thinks you two are about to die that he blurts it out. "god, i love you, okay? okay? did you hear me? please don't make me say it again—" and yeah, you did hear him, but you're more distracted by the way phoebe finally manages to bust the ghost when it's distracted with you two as bait. you two will have a lot to talk about when you get out of here. two, when you're trapped together in a confined space and he's rambling your ear off because he's not sure how long you two will be here but he can't seem to calm himself down. it's then that he finally just... runs out of things to say and mumbles, "you know i really care about you, right? more than anyone else, i think. you mean a lot to me. i'm glad i'm stuck here with you." you seem to catch his drift when you scoot over to rest your head against his shoulder. either way, he's confessing under pressure, and without himself really meaning to. that doesn't diminish how much he means what he's saying, though. not at all.

a/n — i'm soo sorry if some are shorter than others, i didn't wanna drag out some and make it feel forced lol 😭 long post wowow a whole 40 hcs in total i think im in motivation heaven!! hopefully this gets me #writing more now that i got this out of my system. not a req but i rly needed smth with variety to get me out of writers block i think ....

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