A/N: i copy and paste the following author's note to all chapters of all of my stories, for complete transparency. most of my writing is done on my phone and while i try to be sure my grammar, punctuation and the like are on point, the majority of my writing is in entirely lowercase letters! because i'm putting this disclaimer here, any and all comments about this aspect of my writing will be ignored. if it bothers you, please just don't read my work. thank you!

here's the fic that starts my little headcanon storyline of how louise and jessica come to start dating. this one takes place 4 years in the future; when louise is in 8th grade. a quick 'i love you' to anyone who notices the song reference in this - you rock.

synopsis: louise absolutely isn't falling for jessica. no way. never. not in a million years. ...right?

louise lied stomach-down on the floor, her arms folded out in front of her, and sighed. her eyes were fixated in no place in particular under the coffee table. her cheeks were dusted with blush. the thirteen year old groaned, and turned her head downwards so that her face was buried in her arms.

tina took notice. "what's wrong, louise?" she asked. "and don't say nothing. i'm the queen of groaning. i know it's not nothing."

louise rolled onto her back, and her hands clung to the flaps of her hat. she pulled it down over her eyes. "it's not nothing. but i don't wanna talk about it. it's gross and dumb."

gene spoke up over the joystick clicking on his game controller. "gross and dumb is our middle name!"

"sure," replied louise, "if 'gross and dumb' is spelled G-L-O-R-I-A."

"or R-U-T-H," added tina.

"'gloria' and 'gross' both start with G, so checkmate," gene argued.

louise groaned again, and now crossed her arms over her eyes. the blush on her face glowed ever so slightly redder.

"come on, we're your sisters, you can tell us anything," tina tried to reason. gene giggled. "we won't say anything about it to anyone. promise. sibling oath."

"SIBLING OATH!" gene shouted.

louise groaned a third time. she was quiet for about thirty seconds, contemplating the offer. she turned back onto her stomach and resumed her previous position, arms crossed in front of her. "...okay, fine. sibling oath. but i'm boosting the consequences; if you break the oath i get 3 free sucker punches each as well as a hard slap each upon finding out you blabbed."

"deal," tina agreed. gene nodded, his eyes still fixated on the TV screen.

louise let out a deep exhale, but it took her a minute still before she was actually ready to start talking. as the minute passed, her cheeks slowly grew redder and redder.

"i don't... like-like jessica, right? of course not. right? she's my best friend. of course i don't like-like her.

"she's just sweet and funny and she makes me smile and laugh, but that's just all friend stuff. i.. get a really strong urge to cuddle with her any time she stays the night. but friends can be affectionate, right?"

"hell yeah," agreed gene.

tina shrugged. "you're plenty affectionate with rudy."

"right. right! exactly," louise exclaimed. "so there's nothing wrong if i do the same with jessica." she laughed a bit to herself. "i'm not in love with her. of course i'm not in love with her.

"i hate crushes and stuff anyway. i spent the last few years seeing you two stuck in triangles and miscommunication and whatever with courtney and jimmy jr and whoever else. i hate crush culture as a whole. it makes me wanna spill my guts out. it's so gross and manipulating. leading people on and hopping from person to person. it's just the worst.

"of course i'm not a part of it."

tina glanced at her youngest sister for a moment. "are jessica's eyes the only thing you ever want to see?"

"yeah. why?"

"can you see yourself spending your life with her?"

"i think about running the restaurant with her when we're older sometimes, yeah."

"tell me about her hair."

"oh, my god, it's so soft, and it always smells like cinnamon and it's the color of a sunset and i wanna run my hands through it so badly."

"do you get butterflies anytime she touches you?"

"and moths. and beetles. all the insects."

"do you... do you wanna slap her?"

"i-" louise stuttered, "i... no. i just..."

"...how about kiss?"

louise gulped. "...yeah. ...i think so. but- but that doesn't mean anything, right? it can't."

"in my experiences, louise, those are all things i felt when i was in love with someone. but that's just me," tina said.

"i'm not in love with jessica. i'm not," louise replied grudgingly. "i can't be. i..."

louise's mouth shut. the only sound in the room was the clicking of gene's joystick and the noises coming from his game. tina turned her eyes back to the page of the book she was reading.

"oh, my god," said louise finally. "...i'm... i'm in love with jessica."