THE REASON
(Eugene/Curly | K+ | Romance)
Why me? Eugene thought to himself as he sat with his head buried in his hands, Stinky's hand on the small of his back and Helga's cruel 'you-are-a-dead-man' gesture playing out in the back of his mind.
Bad luck, he decided in the end. It wasn't an unfamiliar concept to him.
But then, everything changed and the truth came out. Curly got a month's detention, while his parent's got a heavy fine and stern letter about their son being out of control. Eugene got his freedom back and an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach every time Curly looked his way, eyes brimming with anger.
Why me? Eugene wondered as he lay sprawled on the floor. Curly quickly retracted his foot from the middle of the aisle and Eugene blinked away painful tears.
Karma, he figured. All stemming from that one stupid pencil mishap and now Curly would never ever let him live it down.
He sighed and pushed himself to his feet, letting out the usual 'I'm okay!'. And he was okay. Eugene glanced back at Curly, wondering if the other boy even cared whether or not he'd caused Eugene any permanent damage, but Curly had resumed construction of a small idol made from twigs and erasers that seemed to almost resemble a certain female classmate of theirs. It even had small strands of inky black hair tangled through it. Eugene's smile faltered a little bit as he made his way back to his desk.
Why me? Eugene silently asked the air as he tried as hard as he could to tear his eyes away from Curly's short frame wrapped in white. Eugene may have only been nine, but he knew what the small, frantic pounding in his heart meant. He wasn't stupid.
Poor taste, and he had to stifle a laugh at that. Who falls for the one person in the world that wishes you were dead?
So he buried it the best he could, because he was nine and Curly hated him and loved Rhonda and that's just how things go. Eugene put on a smile and kept moving forward, because that's who he was. And if along the way he let his eyes linger on the back of Curly's head or if one day he wondered if Eugene Gammelthorpe sounded better or worse than Curly Horowitz, well then he only had himself to blame.
"Why me?" Eugene asks aloud one day as Curly wipes away grime from the side of one of his planes. Curly grunts and lifts his goggles to squint at Eugene, his eyes rimmed with lines of dirt.
"Eh?" He asks, as he rubs a hand along his jeans in a futile attempt to clean them. Eugene smiles at him, as he makes his way to Curly's side. Once there he wraps his arms around his husband's neck and kisses him softly on the lips. Curly responds by pulling him even closer, wrapping him up in the tightest hug Eugene has ever known.
"Why me?" He whispers again and Curly grins in that same crazy way he used to in their childhood together and Eugene feels his heart begin beating a mile a minute. It's like he's nine years old and newly in love again. Only this time Curly isn't tripping him or framing him, just holding him.
"God, what a stupid question, 'Gene." Curly laughs at him. "It wasn't like I had a choice, y'know? I mean, I was crazy about you since the fourth grade."
Eugene raises an eyebrow at him.
"You were madly obsessed with Rhonda in the fourth grade." And Curly throws back his head to laugh wildly into the air.
"Yeah, well I was a bit crazy about everyone back then I guess. Or maybe I was just crazy." He rubs his chin with a dirt-covered hand. "Come to think of it, I'm still a bit out there, eh? I mean, I ended up with you." He grins. "I hated you. And you still owe me a pencil. Anyway," he pulls out of Eugene's arms and turns back to his planes, while Eugene hops onto the hood of one of the smaller airplanes. "Why me? I didn't exactly make your life easy, babe."
"I think it was fate." Eugene decides, while Curly chuckles at him. "No, really. I mean, not in the same way that Helga and Arnold getting together was fate, but still. You tormented me and I just wanted to be your friend. Also, you looked really good in that wedding dress."
"Probably looked even better out of it." Curly said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at Eugene who just laughs, light and happy. The laughter throws him off balance and he topples to the ground. Curly's about to head over to help him up, but he stops him by throwing out a hand.
"Don't worry, I'm okay." Eugene assures him and Curly sighs.
"You're a hot mess, Eugene. Really." He pauses then and shakes his head. Then he lays down his cloth one more time and moves towards Eugene again. He bends down beside the fallen man and presses a hand to the side of his cheek. "I'm sorry that I was an unbearable kid. I love you."
Eugene wraps his fingers around Curly's hand and smiles brightly at the man of his dreams.
"Yeah, love." He agrees as he closes the gap between their lips.
Love, he knows. Love is the reason why.
And that's all that matters in the end.
