Chapter Ten

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I had never really thought much about sexuality. Mine, or even anyone else's in general. 

Growing up, my parents had given me the bliss of forming my own opinions and beliefs. So when it had come to it, I hadn't been surprised that I liked Ace. He had been my best friend since ages. Of course, I liked him, and he liked me enough to still remain friends even after so long. The difference was, lately, I had come to think that perhaps my feelings for him went deeper than that. 

Ace wasn't the best at expressing his emotions. His defensive outer shell made him rude and cruel sometimes. But his little surprisingly thoughtful actions always hinted at the person he truly was underneath everything. He knew how much I love dogs, and that's how he decided to cheer me up. He didn't ask me what had happened in the subway, he didn't chide me for being an absolute moron and he didn't tell me 'I told you so.'  And all of that meant more to me than even I could ever express. 

The next week, I spend a lot of time at his place, trying to revise and also helping him to study for the exams next week. I was glad that for once, he seemed to be paying attention, although I caught him dozing off a few too many times. He had been overworking himself like always, and it was super hard to get mad at him when he would cocoon himself in his blanket and gaze up at me from within the sheets; just his eyes and scruffy hair visible. 

One evening, as we were trying to cram the formulae for calculus, my eyes fell on the soft board on his wall. A new addition since I had never seen it before. 

"What's that?" I asked as I slowly rose to my feet and walked over to it. Ace looked up warily from his notebook and rose to his feet, walking over to join me. On top of the soft board, a sheet of blank paper was pinned. Scrawled on it in his atrocious handwriting that I somehow always managed to decipher, were the words, 'To see'.

Below it was a number of things. I read them as he stood silently beside me.

aquarium
dolphins 
penguins
̶m̶e̶t̶e̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶e̶r̶

A little below the list of things were two words, highlighted and circled multiple times. 

northern lights 

"Stuff you want to see before you die?" I asked softly, gazing at him. 

He shrugged, shuffling his feet. "Basically."

"Oh." I couldn't understand why it was so strange to me. Ace was always aloof, getting into trouble, making a list like this seemed so...out of character for him. Like an innocent child making wishes. I turned to him and said, "I'd love to see penguins too." 

He chuckled, but it was forced. I could tell by the way his smile didn't quite reach his eyes which were the colour of the ascending night. Dark. Hiding some ravishing mystery in its raven shroud. 

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