(A/N: I tried so hard to make this good enough, and now because of that, it's the longest chapter. I really need to stop saying that, honestly.)
Although word spread around town that Raeger and Fritz had argued, nobody knew what had happened, until the next day when Fritz walked into the restaurant after finishing up with his daily work.
Raeger was excited as this was the first time Fritz had been a customer at his restaurant since their original argument.
Fritz had planned to make an order, but Raeger said, "Sit down and wait. Soon, you will be eating like a king!"
"Wh- what are you saying?! I can't afford that!" Fritz panicked.
"This is a welcome back meal. Do you really think I'd make you pay for it?" Raeger replied, pushing Fritz along and forcing him into a chair.
Fritz sat and waited, and Raeger cooked up a storm.
The other customers watched, shocked to see Raeger and Fritz getting along at all.
When the food was ready, Raeger served Fritz a feast.
But Fritz stayed still, instead of immediately diving in to eat like Raeger expected. Worriedly, Raeger looked at him closer.
"Are you… going to cry?" Raeger asked.
"I- I don't think I've eaten a proper meal like this in years," Fritz sobbed.
After that day, everyone in town knew Raeger and Fritz were friends again. Fritz visited the restaurant often, and Mistel was not pleased about it.
At first, it didn't bother him. Raeger had reconciled with Fritz. That was fine.
But over the days that followed, Mistel noticed how much calmer Raeger seemed. He smiled so naturally when he was around Fritz.
Mistel started to wonder if Raeger had really been that worried about his fallout with Fritz all this time, or if he was just relieved to have someone else to spend time with.
Mistel hardly ate when he stopped by the restaurant now. He would push his food around with his fork and, most of the time, glare at Raeger.
Eventually, he muttered one day, "You look so happy now that you're friends with Fritz again."
"Do I?" Raeger replied.
"You know, it's nearly the two year anniversary of when we became friends. We didn't do anything last year! I bet you didn't even remember!" Mistel snapped.
"But… did you remember? Anyway, why does that matter so much to you?" Raeger asked.
"I knew it. Our friendship is as good as doomed," Mistel sighed.
"Wait, what did I do?!" Raeger exclaimed.
"As long as you were as horrible as me, I thought for sure you'd never make any other friends! How could I have been wrong?" Mistel wondered.
"That's what this is about?! Mistel, just because I'm getting along with Fritz doesn't mean we're not going to be friends anymore," Raeger said.
"You say that, but it's only a matter of time until you realise how much more you like him compared to me. You'll spend all your time with him instead. He'll be your best friend again and I'll be back where I started. Well, maybe you'll keep me around because you pity me, but that's it," Mistel said, hopelessly.
"I would never abandon you like that!" Raeger began, but he didn't know what else to say.
He knew he wouldn't say he liked Fritz more than Mistel, but he also wouldn't say he liked Mistel more than Fritz.
He didn't want to upset Mistel further, but he wasn't sure how to approach the situation.
Finally, trying to be as honest as he could, Raeger continued, "I don't like one of you more than the other. But… it's not that I like you equally. It's just different with you and him. I like you both, in different ways, for different reasons."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Mistel asked.
"It's… it's just different!" Raeger replied.
"What a pathetic excuse. You're not even trying! I can already tell you're ready to forget all about me," Mistel said.
He tossed his fork aside, got to his feet, and angrily strode out of the restaurant.
Raeger shook his head and sighed.
If Mistel was going to be this upset about it, Raeger couldn't just ignore the issue. He had to think about it, and figure out how he really felt about it all.
And so, later that night, when he'd closed his restaurant for the day, Raeger headed upstairs and sat at the edge of his bed.
He had decided, he was going to think about it all. Really think.
Mistel had told him he looked happy now that he was friends with Fritz again, and Raeger knew this was true. He felt happy seeing Fritz smile.
But he used to not be able to stand him!
Fritz was annoying, and he didn't seem to have changed much. But Raeger didn't mind it like he used to.
So Raeger knew it must be him who had changed.
What made him change? The only difference in his life was Mistel.
Raeger had chosen to be honest with Mistel when he hadn't been able to with anyone else before.
And now… well, being honest with Mistel made him finally able to be honest with himself.
Raeger didn't bottle things up inside like he used to. He could admit things he could never before.
And because of that, he could see the truth when it came to Fritz.
Fritz was annoying and wouldn't shut up, while Raeger preferred to keep to himself.
But Fritz was also kind and helpful where Raeger was selfish and cruel.
Raeger realised now, he had been annoyed by Fritz's bad qualities and jealous of his good qualities.
Fritz's bad qualities didn't bother him anymore because… Raeger was able to move on from that point in his life.
Raeger sighed. He'd figured all that out, but it didn't help him with his current problem.
Mistel was worried that Raeger would one day stop being friends with him because he cared more about Fritz.
What was he supposed to tell Mistel? What was he supposed to do?
He thought about it more.
Raeger felt so comfortable with Mistel, like it was so easy to be honest, but Mistel seemed like he was still struggling with that.
And then, with Fritz, it was… different.
...Sometimes, Raeger would sit across from Fritz and just count the freckles on his face… That stupid face. And that laugh! It was so annoying.
It grated on Raeger's nerves, but once he'd started thinking about it, he couldn't stop.
And he didn't really mind. It grated on his nerves, but he didn't mind.
What does that mean? Am I in love? No, that's ridiculous.
Raeger had made that mistake before. But… maybe? No. Anyway, it was FRITZ!
He started shaking his head back and forth, trying to clear his mind a little.
He leaned backwards and almost knocked his head on the wall, but caught himself just in time.
After that, he got up off the bed and started pacing, restlessly.
Raeger thought again how easy it was for him to be honest with Mistel, but how Mistel still didn't seem to feel the same way.
He wondered, did that mean something? Was one of them acting strangely, and which one was it?
Raeger thought it might be him. Maybe he was making Mistel feel uncomfortable.
Did Mistel know what he was thinking and the words he kept on the tip of his tongue? Did he know how much Raeger held back from him?
Not that it would matter, if he knew or not. Mistel liked Annie. Raeger knew that.
Mistel could only ever have eyes for one person. And Raeger doubted it could ever be him.
He rubbed his forehead with one hand, then both, then buried his face in his hands and sighed. He didn't even want that! He was happy with what they had now!
Raeger didn't want anything to change with their friendship. So surely his feelings were just of attachment. They didn't mean anything more.
"What is wrong with me?" Raeger muttered to himself. He really wondered.
He wished he was someone else, someone better. He wished he knew what the right thing to do was. Because he couldn't just leave things as they were.
Many days passed by, peacefully. But Raeger knew he couldn't stay in silence forever.
Fritz headed towards the restaurant one afternoon, as Raeger had asked him to drop by the other day. He noted as he entered the building that there were no other customers inside.
"So, you wanted to see me?" Fritz asked.
"Yeah, uh… just a second." Raeger walked over and flipped the sign on the door from open to closed.
"Why are you doing that?" Fritz asked suspiciously.
Raeger closed the door and walked over to him, saying, "I don't want any interruptions. I have something very serious to talk to you about."
Fritz braced himself. This didn't sound good.
"I'm sure you noticed but… when we were friends before, I never talked about anything. I was… afraid of being honest. But now… a lot has happened. I'm… I'm finally able to accept myself, to accept my flaws, instead of bottling it all up and pretending everything is okay. And now… now I can see what I did then, how I treated you, was wrong. I can admit that I was wrong, and… you deserved better." Raeger paused from his speech to take a deep breath in.
"So that's why you apologised to me after all this time… It took you awhile to realise," Fritz said.
"Well, I… It didn't take me that long but… I didn't think you'd be able to forgive me," Raeger mumbled.
"...You were way more worried than you needed to be," Fritz said.
"Anyway, I'm not finished yet. I've thought a lot about what happened then and because of it all… because of you, I want to change. To be a better person. I want to make up for what I've done in the past. I… I want to become the person I should have been in the past. I want you to have a reason to forgive me," Raeger said.
"When I said I forgave you, I meant it. You get that, right?" Fritz asked.
"You're too kind. You can forgive me too easily. I want to give you a real reason to. Maybe… I need to be able to forgive myself," Raeger sighed.
"Geez. You're really serious about all this, aren't you?" Fritz murmured.
"Yes, of course I am. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't care about this at all. But… well, you're kind, you're gentle, you're everything I'm not. And you're so, so, so annoying. I never thought I'd miss that. But I do. You dug under my skin every day and I guess, even after we stopped talking, you never really left me," Raeger said.
Fritz crossed his arms and frowned at Raeger. He couldn't tell if Raeger was really trying to compliment him or not.
But Raeger continued, "I want to become a person that you can forgive, and truly like as well. Because I… I'm in love with you. And I hope, one day, you might feel the same way about me as I do about you. I'm willing to do anything to make that a reality! I'll never stop trying to be a better person, okay?"
Fritz couldn't hold it in any longer. He started laughing.
Raeger's face fell. "Okay. Go ahead and laugh," Raeger sighed.
Fritz tried but failed to get a hold of himself. Through his laughter, he said, "I'm not laughing at you. It's just so weird… Youare begging me? This… this is a joke, right? Or a dream? Yeah, it's probably a dream."
"It's not a dream! I'm serious. I love you," Raeger said.
Fritz slowly stopped laughing and processed everything Raeger had said. Eventually, he mumbled, "You know, maybe you talk too much now. I don't feel like I can turn you down."
"No, that's okay! If you don't like me back, don't worry. I already said I still have to become worthy of you," Raeger said.
"You're ridiculous! You're already good enough for me… And anyway, you can become a better person while you're dating me," Fritz said.
"Are you sure you want to accept me? I mean… I thought you said you didn't feel that way about me anymore?" Raeger murmured.
"Well… I guess you rekindled all that with your speech," Fritz grumbled. He actually felt completely ecstatic, and he didn't know how much longer he could try keeping it hidden.
As for Raeger, he was grinning now. He reached for Fritz's hand and entwined their fingers together.
Then, Raeger made a request; "I know I've still got a long way to go. So please tell me if I ever upset you, so I can improve and become a better person!"
"You don't need to worry about that. I definitely plan to keep my eye out for any and every mistake you make," Fritz replied, and grinned.
That made Raeger feel a lot more worried than he thought it would.
Fritz reminded Raeger that they wouldn't actually be officially dating until one of them made a ring.
They had then argued over who would make the ring. Raeger was very eager to do anything to prove himself, but Fritz told him it would be faster if he did it instead. In the end, Fritz made a ring first and Raeger had no choice but to concede.
Most people in town didn't learn they were dating until then.
Mistel was one of the few who had learnt earlier, and he was alarmed when he found out.
The next time he saw Raeger, he was very fidgety.
"What's wrong?" Raeger asked him.
Mistel laughed nervously for awhile, then mumbled, "I wanted to say… I'm sorry I got jealous of Fritz. I didn't realise you felt that way about him."
Raeger watched as Mistel buried his face in his hands, and he realised just how humiliated Mistel was.
"Don't be so hard on yourself! We're friends. It makes sense that you'd get jealous," Raeger said, hoping to alleviate Mistel's concern.
"No, it's not okay! For me to compete with him for your attention; that's degrading and despicable! In fact, now that I think about it, even if you weren't dating him, my behaviour was still embarrassing," Mistel said.
Raeger fought hard to stop himself from grinning. He cherished the moments when Mistel was embarrassed, but if he said that out loud, he knew Mistel would not be pleased at all.
Mistel looked away and resumed his fidgety stance. After being uncomfortably quiet for too long, he said, "I must admit, I'm upset you didn't tell me. I did say I would help you if there was someone you liked. I wanted to help you..."
"But you did help! If you didn't get jealous, I would never have realised how I felt about him," Raeger replied.
Mistel buried his face in his hands again. Oh yes. That makes me feel SO much better. Knowing that my throwing a tantrum helped you realise how much you preferred Fritz to me, that's exactly what I wanted to hear, Mistel despaired, but he kept that all to himself.
"Not to mention, if we had never become friends, I would be in the same place I always was. You helped me to grow as a person. So thank you," Raeger said aloud.
Mistel looked up to see Raeger looking back at him, smiling sincerely.
Raeger had never wanted to get a point across so much. He had never been so grateful for anything before in his life. Mistel could see it just by looking in his eyes.
Mistel breathed in deeply, trying to remain composed as he replied, "You helped me too."
He couldn't handle more words than that. And those words were all he needed.
After that moment, they both became awkward. Neither of them knew what to do.
"So, uh, anyway…"
"Yeah…"
And they didn't speak to each other again for the rest of that day.
On another day not too long after, Nadi was visiting Fritz's house, and he said to him, "So, I heard you're dating Raeger now..."
Fritz could only think of one thing that would happen next. Nadi was about to mock him. Fritz shut his eyes and prepared for the worst.
"Seriously? Why him? You can do way better!" Nadi said.
Fritz opened his eyes, surprised, and after awhile, he breathed a sigh of relief. Nadi was looking at him oddly, so Fritz explained, "I kind of thought you might laugh at me or something."
"Huh? That's ridiculous. We're friends! And you're so happy. That's all that matters," Nadi replied.
Fritz grinned at that.
Nadi then added, "Anyway, I have to go by the restaurant today, so I'll probably talk to Raeger."
Fritz jumped and said, "Wait, what do you plan on saying to him? Don't go over there just to say he doesn't deserve me or something!"
"I'm not going to waste my breath saying stuff like that… And even though Raeger's got problems, he was really protective of you, so… I guess he cares," Nadi replied.
He smiled at Fritz before walking out the door, and Fritz was reassured he meant no harm.
Later that day, when Nadi entered the restaurant, he made his order and sat down at the counter.
Raeger had been about to head to the kitchen to cook, but he paused.
"Don't you usually eat outside?" Raeger said.
"Yeah. Not today though," Nadi replied.
Raeger slowly returned to his work, but he was suspicious. After serving Nadi his meal, he waited.
"So, um… uh… How's Fritz doing?" Raeger mumbled.
"He's fine," Nadi answered simply.
Raeger's nerves increased tenfold. Now he wasn't even sure if Nadi even knew about him and Fritz yet.
Nadi still hadn't started eating, so Raeger asked, "Um, so, what are you thinking about?"
"Oh, I was just recalling how you got into a fight with me because of Fritz," Nadi said, smirking.
"Th- that?! Do you have to bring that up? Can we, just, forget about that?" Raeger pleaded.
"What were you thinking? Trying to be his knight in shining armour or something?" Nadi asked and burst out laughing.
Raeger was startled by the sound, and then realised that this was the first time he'd ever heard Nadi laugh. It was nice to know this side of him existed.
Raeger thought he would easily be able to get along with Nadi now. But still…
"You eat outside until you learn some manners," Raeger said, pointing to the door.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Nadi said, and tried to focus on his meal, but he still couldn't stop laughing.