Damn it's been a while, hasn't it?

I'm really sorry. I've explained this on the wattpad version, but I got self-conscious about my writing for a while and I kinda lost interest in doing it. I felt that it looked kinda bland to read. I wrote this oneshot in December, but I thought it was silly. I figured I might as well post it anyway, can't let it go to waste.

I don't know when I'll get started on your requests, guest, but I'll figure it out - I hope you don't mind waiting a while, you did give me a lot of good ideas.

Anyway, enjoy.

OOH also I'm done with the lady, I just gotta type them now. Hope that turns out well.

Everybody had a fear, even the strongest people on Earth. Eddy was afraid of breaking his glasses, Zach was afraid of losing his status as the coolest guy ever, and Ivy was afraid of failure. It was easy to look at the people of this school and imagine them having a fear. Like, even though Rocky was the sweetest girl you'd ever meet, you could still get behind the fact that she was scared of something, or perhaps she had major insecurity...not to be offensive, but it would probably be about her weight. Then again, nearly all the girls with an unbelievable status worried about their weight. Queen Bees, as the cliche label went.

Cleo...she was tough, super tough...she must be scared of being weak or worthless.

Bernie was small and nervy, smart and wise. He must be scared of...being bullied? No, Zach did that already. People did have a fair amount of respect for him, so he could have a fear knowing that any day, that respect could disappear.

Ollie was ultra manly, charming, outgoing, and the bravest kid around. What was he scared of? Nothing. Nothing could get under his skin, nothing could make him shake in his boots…

That was what he would say if Ivy were to straight up ask him. He had plenty of tactics to shield his ego from being injured. Using common sense, she wouldn't believe it. Out of anybody, he must've had tons of fears and insecurities. Why else would he brag about himself so often?

It wasn't any of her business. Like, he didn't know what she was scared of, so why should she know what he was scared of? No matter how hard she tried to ignore it, it was merely a subject that wouldn't leave her mind. What was he scared of? What were some of his weak points? He wasn't popular, but he wasn't unpopular. He's dorky, but he's also athletic...well, athletic enough to where he could climb a rope and do three push-ups. He never gave away any signs that he was insecure, even with his huge ego. Perhaps being a jerk was a part of his personality.

Ivy forgot about it after a while when she realized that it was a waste of her time. Why did it matter to her what the dork was scared of? What would it benefit her? Sure, it could make a good laugh, but she could always get that from watching Magna fall in the hallways.

It happens a lot more often than you'd think.

But yeah. She didn't need to know, she didn't want to know. It would remain a mystery.

She found him in the janitor's closet late in the morning, his arms hugging his knees,and was shaking more than a hyperactive child on thirty bags of sugar. At first, she was going to close the door, thinking that it was that new guy...Bernie's cousin, wasn't it? He looked like he was jacked up on sugar the first time she met him, maybe he was having another sugar high. But upon second glance, she caught hints of thicc red hair, and the only person she knew with thicc red hair was…

"Ollie?" she murmured as she flipped on the light switch, surprised in her voice. The redhead tensed at the sound of her voice, a few rays of light peeking through his fingers. Was that Ivy?! Like, his crush Ivy?! He scrambled to sit up as he held back a sob, rubbing his eyes to the point where they became irritated. Still, itchy eyes were better than letting her see this pathetic display. He couldn't read her face very well since the tears blurred his vision, but he could imagine that she was annoyed.

"H-hey, Ivy!" he choked with a smile, playing everything off like things were okay. Yet, one look in his eyes, and she could tell that something was off. She wasn't annoyed or disgusted or anything, just awkward. She never dealt with people who cried. Not because she was insensitive - she had a soft spot for crying - but because she was never too good at calming people down.

"Hey...I just came here to...get some towels," she explained quietly. Some kid spilled lemon kool-aid all over the floor.

"C-cool, that's cool," he was still shaking, she could hear it in his voice. "I was, uh, looking for...a broom."

They both spotted a conspicuous broom on the floor.

"Not that broom...a different broom."

A red broom that was chilling out in the corner fell flat on its face, making a loud, clacking sound.

"Not that one, either. It's a rare, t-tall blue broom that I'm looking for...hehe."

A blue broom rocketed itself from the ceiling, landing in between them and leaving a crack in the ground.

"Oh, there it is!" Ollie lied, picking up the broom with shaky hands. They were awfully pale, and she knew that it wasn't because of the lighting. "I was gonna sweep up the place, y'know? I-it's really dirty in here. And cold. Is it cold in here to you?"

"Um, no."

What was he feeling? It was hotter than the devil's nutsack in here, and he thinks it's cold? Was that why he was shaking?

"Ohhhh...must be me then, s-silly...silly old me. Say, didn't you come here for towels?"

She hasn't seen Ollie cry since kindergarten, only six years ago. She herself was the cause of his tears - she kicked him in the stomach because he tried to kiss her hand - and back then, it was satisfying. But now, they were a little older, they were matured, young adults. Seeing him this distressed now was honestly upsetting. So upsetting that it made her forget what she came here for in the first place.

"Looks like you need some more than I do," she remarked snidely under her breath as she reached for a shelf.

"What was that?"

"Yes, I-I said yes."

Nobody made a sound after that exchange; Ollie swept the floor as promised as Ivy searched for the towels. His eyes constantly went to his eyes, it was clear he was still crying, and...man, the last time she dealt with this dork crying, she laughed in his face. Not her proudest moment. If she said something about it, there was a chance that he would remember, and that would bring on more, unwanted tears. But it would be mean if she kept quiet and left. Nobody like him could think that far back anyway.

He sniffled.

He didn't look too good. Adding up all of those symptoms she noticed earlier was making her think that he saw a ghost.

"Ollie, are you alright?" she asked as nonchalantly as she could, grabbing what she was looking for. Wisely, she ignored her first mind to walk out. One incident that happened when they were mindless kids couldn't haunt her for the rest of her life. Not like it deeply bothered her. She felt bad for kicking Ollie, but it wasn't like she was going to go into an external crisis over it. His head shot up, puffy around the eyes.

"Yeah, I'm good...why?"

"Because you're all…" she motioned to everywhere on his face. "That, a-and people only come in here to cry."

His brown eyes widened as he dropped the broom, "W-wait, I'm still crying?"

"So you were crying?" she caught his slip-up with a raised brow.

"No! I-I got something in my eye, and it was burning!"

"It must've been burning for a hell of a long time, then," she didn't mean to, but she let a smile crack as she pointed to a fresh tear. She wasn't laughing at the tear, honest...more so at her own, witty joke.

Yeah...wasn't very funny when she saw the less-than-amused expression on Ollie's face. With a sigh, he kicked the broom to the other side of the room. "Alright, fine! I was crying, okay? You saw a 13-year-old boy crying, good for you. What, do you want a medal for it? Teasing rights? Go ahead, maybe I can cry so much that I become dehydrated and I can skip class." he collapsed against the shelf, pulling his knees up to his chest, wrapping one arm over the other. "O-or better yet, have a hearty laugh about it." he hid his face before another tear could fall.

He remembers...she thinks. Maybe he was being sarcastic. Sheepishly rubbing one arm, she didn't know what to say. He wasn't crying-crying, but one wrong move could totally change that...it's been so long.

"I'm not that mean, Ollie, everybody cries."

He heard the sound of something being pushed aside, and her voice was suddenly a lot closer.

"Crying's fine...except for ugly crying. If we were younger, I would've laughed at this... But we're older now, okay? I don't care if you cry. I don't mean it in a weird way or anything, it's...it's fine, simple as that. It's not like we all didn't see Kevin wailing over a watch last week. I just...wanted to know what's wrong with you. How'd you even get in here?"

"It's stupid," he grumbled, his words muffled into his knees.

"I'm used to it."

"Come again?"

"Joking, I'm joking!"

He lifted his head again, his eyes on the ground as he straightened the cuffs of his jeans. "So...um...I was in Mrs. Morris's class, a-and she put on this documentary about geese...I was gonna sleep through the entire thing, but...I don't know, I guess it was too much, so - so I left."

"Geese?" she asked, confused. Wasn't that woman a math teacher? And what did he mean by 'too much'?

He gave a short nod. "Yeah."

"What about geese? Why did you leave…"

The shaking, the crying, his unnaturally pale skin...it finally hit her.

"Are you…?"

"Yeah. I'm scared of geese," he admitted shamefully, taking extreme cautions to avoid eye contact. "I'm afraid of a bird...I told you it was stupid."

The teenagers shot up, taking the time for the news to settle in. Being scared of a bird seemed pretty silly from the surface. It was a bird. But Ollie looked genuinely afraid, and it was bad enough to have him quivering. How long was he back here suffering like this? Even now, he was pretty shaken up.

"It's not, really."

"Yeah, it is."

He was ashamed. She didn't know if it was because he revealed the secret to her...she hoped not. He had no reason to be flustered - plenty of people had anatidaephobia, famous people, she bet. Everybody had a fear...everybody.

"I'm scared of failure."

He finally looked her in the eyes, his brows knotted in uncertainty.

"Like, failing class?"

"No, like failing. Letting people down, or losing respect from my parents or professors. I don't wanna mess up."

Boy, that took a lot of guts. Nobody knew about those insecurities except, well, herself. That fear never bothered her too much unless she had too much on her plate at once. It wasn't a bad thing as long as she stayed in control of things, which was why she never brought these emotional conflicts up to anybody. It didn't kick in unless she messed something up. On second thought. She regretted telling Ollie something that huge.

"Basically," he wiped his nose with his wrist. "You're a perfectionist?"

"Not a perfectionist...it's hard to explain. I want to be a good person...like, not a Mary-Sue, just respectable."

"And...and you feel like that every day? Like you're not good enough?"

Like you're not good enough.

Those words struck a nerve. He didn't mean to hurt her, but they did. He wasn't lying; she did feel like that every day, but there was this huge wall preventing her from realizing it. Or possibly, there was no wall, and she had been dealing with that feeling for so long that she's gotten accustomed to it. It felt numb when she said it, but it was a whole new meaning coming from someone else.

"Um...I guess."

"Ivy, t-that's awful!"

He spoke to her with pity, and pity was the only thing she despised with every fiber of her being. She didn't want pity. She didn't need pity. The pity was dumb. Pity was pathetic, even more so than Bernie. She had no clue how this conversation became completely oriented on her. It was Ollie who was sobbing on the ground, not her.

"It's fine, Ollie. It's my motivation to do better in life, in a weird way," she explained in a way that made the most sense - to her, anyway. Ollie still wasn't getting it.

"Being scared of making mistakes is your motivation? That's still awful! Everyone makes mistakes, why should it matter if you trip up?"

"Let me ask you this," Ivy began, "Are you doing well in every class?"

"Nope, failing all of them."

"Are you a representative for any teacher in this school?"

"Thankfully, no."

"Does your mom expect the best out of you?"

"Well, she doesn't expect the worst-"

"There's your answer. I'm not bragging, but I've been doing well for so long that I've set up this flawless, hardworking reputation for myself. People think that I never fail at anything school-related, including my parents. If I fail, then not only do I lose respect from those neanderthals out there, but I also lose respect from my parents. It sucks, but it's life."

"But...it's bad! Really bad, Ivy, that's not healthy!"

Why was there so much genuinuity in his voice? Did he actually care about somebody other than himself?

"So?"

"So, I'm right! Being afraid of your own parents-"

"I'm NOT afraid of my parents!"

"Then why are you terrified of letting them down? Did they threaten you? Do they hit you?!"

"What?! NO - what the - can we get back to your fear of geese?!" she huffed, ending the argument. He had one wild mind, thinking of such an inhumane possibility. He watched her curiously, and it was clear that he had plenty of questions. But, not wanting to set her off, he let it go.

"Can...we not talk about that, either?"

"It's that bad?"

She knew it was a silly question. Of course, it was bad, why else would he be crying? His tears were long gone since they exploited her anxieties, but it didn't prevent a wince from striking across his face.

"Yeah, i-it is," Ollie said, lightly scratching his head. "It's not worse than yours, but it's bad."

"Okay."

"'Kay?"

"Mmm-hmm."

They sat there, side by side, their eyes averting one another and only daring to move when it was necessary. A hell of a lot happened in this closet over the span of twenty minutes. For a pair who's known each other ever since kindergarten, those deep secrets came off as a huge surprise. Ollie hated geese, Ivy hated mess-ups. It was strange, to say the least. Even a little sad, in Ivy's case.

"Are you okay?" the brunette asked after two minutes of well-needed tranquility.

"Yeah, I am now. You?"

"I'm good."

"Are you sure?"

"Ollie…"

"Just making sure, you kinda had me worried there for a sec," he grinned, showing off the gap in his teeth. "But if you're okay, I'm okay."

"Same to you," she confirmed.

It fell quiet for what felt like the millionth time, both struggling to find the right words or actions to say/do.

"Ivy?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for staying. I was really close to passing out."

The next thing he did completely caught her off guard. Those arms of his carefully wrapped around her neck, like he was scared of hurting her, before pulling her in with the same gentle spirit.

A dork was hugging her. It took a while for her mind to process that, and when it did, some sirens went off. They were tiny, quiet sirens that were easy to ignore, but it was enough to make her temporarily freeze. A boy is hugging you! A BOY was hugging you! Those were the main messages the sirens were attempting to get across. She couldn't find it in herself to shut him down. If she had told this to any other boy, they would've done something obnoxiously manly or force her to tell them more. Ollie understood her. Or maybe he didn't, but it was clear that he made an effort to do so. And he stopped pestering her when she asked him to. This dork, who she once thought to be an egotistical goof, wasn't that bad. Actually, he was being kind of sweet? It was a strange straight to associate Ollie with.

"No problem."

He listened. He didn't try to cut her off and twist her thoughts around to make them more positive, he listened. She couldn't push him away after all that they've been through.

She hugged him back, ignoring the faint blush across his face. She'd come to regret it later when the emotional adrenaline wore off and she was stable, but that was later. No need to fret over it now.

The atmosphere in the closet was peaceful, so peaceful.

Of course, freaking Bernie of all people had to ruin it.

"O, are you - Woah!"

She shoved the redhead off of her, pulling the wrinkles out of her clothes."Bernie, you're here! How magnificent…"

"I was checking on Oll, but from the looks of it, he's fine," his eyes dropped to Ollie, who was now on the floor.

"I'm alright, Bern, just a little jittery," Ollie assured, giving the blonde a thumbs up. "As long as the movie's over, I'm good!"

"Glad to hear that, Ollie, we were worried about you," Bernie said, relieved. He glanced at Ivy questioningly.

What did she come in here for, again?

"Towels! I-I was looking for some towels."