Catfish (Minizerk)

Chapter 30

Josh's POV:

Simon and I had been sat in silence for five minutes now. It was starting to get uncomfortable.

"You love me?" He whispered.

"So much." I nodded, voice quiet.

"And you're not going to up and leave me? Nobody put you up to this?" He bit his lip.

"If you forgave me right now, I'd never leave your side again. And no, nobody put me up to this. I'm here because you're not okay, neither am I, and I know we need each other. I was awful to you, Simon, truly awful. I made you believe you were just a joke to me and that you were weird. But I hope, if you'll let me be in your life again, that my actions from now on will do nothing but make you feel loved, cherished, happy, and safe." I took his hands in mine.

"I'd ask you to promise, but I don't know if a promise would be enough for me to just start trusting you again." He frowned.

"What about a pinky promise?" I smiled. "I'm just kidding, I know this is serious. But Simon, that was our last exam today. We're not in school anymore. The only person I'm doing this for is us."

"Why would you want to be with me? Even after you've seen how I can be sometimes?" He bit his lip.

"Because that's a very small part of an illness you have that's being treated, that doesn't define you in the slightest. You're not just a schizophrenic. You love rap rock, you love destiny 2, you make a fantastic teacher, when you blush your ears go red, you love being called cute more than you admit because you tell me to shut up every time. You're so much more than your illness." I whispered, stroking the back of his hands with my thumb.

"Thank you, Josh." He smiled, and this time, it seemed a lot more genuine.

"You know what we're gonna do? This summer, I'm gonna take us on holiday. I'd been saving to go with Ethan and JJ since it was the end of high school, but fuck them. I want to go with you. We can have a week together, on our own, nothing else mattering besides us. I'll take you out for dinner at night, we can spend the whole day making memories. And I'll spend every second of it showing you just how much I really love you." I smiled.

Simon grinned, and I could see that I'd finally earned his trust back.

"You really want to do that with me?" He beamed.

"That's just the beginning of what I want to do with you because now we have our whole lives ahead of us, a life I hope we'll spend together." I held his face in my hand, watching as his cheeks and tips of his ears turned red.

"Josh, I forgot to say it earlier. I love you too."