Notes: Garu and Ernest are a little younger this time, around 13-14 years old. Also AU, they are just normal kids.
Ernest could never help it when he was around Garu. Every time he looked at the boy he could feel his cheeks grow warm, and now he had a small habit of running away shortly after he talked to him. He thought Garu must think he hated him or something.
"Ernest! Hey, stop spacing out on me." Garu lightly patted the boy on the head.
"Ah, umm, I'm sorry, Garu." He always tried to keep his embarrassment down but sometimes it was so hard around the other boy.
"Don't worry about it, Ernest. But what were you thinking about before?" he questioned, smiling cheerfully.
He felt his heart racing at the sight of Garu's warm smile, and felt his face growing darker with each passing second. "Sorry, Garu, I, I have to get going." The blonde quickly got up and then ran back towards the school, leaving a very confused Garu behind.
Ernest was lucky. He sat closer to the back, so he could watch Garu, who sat towards the front and was always chatting with his friends. But sometimes Garu would catch him staring and wave to him during class, which always made Ernest blush and hide behind his textbook, again leaving Garu puzzled.
As the school term passed Ernest's behavior around him continued to worsen. Garu was getting slightly annoyed by it as well, especially when he tried to talk to Ernest and he just blushed and ran away, as if Garu done something wrong to him the past couple of months. He didn't understand it at all, and he was going to make it his mission to get to the bottom of this problem.
Ernest was talking to his friend Tune when Garu walked up to him.
"Ernest, I really need to talk to you," he said, his tone very serious.
"Sorry, Garu, I have other things to do, maybe another time." His blush was still there as he began to walk away.
Garu grabbed his arm. "No, now, Ernest!" He then began dragging Ernest into an empty classroom, standing in front of the door so Ernest couldn't escape this time. He could still see the light blush on the blonde's cheeks. "Ernest, for quite awhile now you've been avoiding me, and I'm wondering if there is something I've done wrong."
Ernest looked down at the floor, fidgeting slightly, and softly said, "You haven't done anything wrong, Garu."
Garu didn't look convinced as he walked closer to Ernest. "Then there has to be something wrong, because you've been avoiding me too much. And what's with all the blushing every time I talk to or look at you?"
Ernest wanted to run but he couldn't since as Garu was talking he had taken hold of Ernest's hand. "I...I can't tell you, you'll hate me forever if I tell you."
"I think I have a right to know. I'm your friend, aren't I?"
Ernest closed his eyes for a moment and then looked back up at Garu. "Then...this is why!" Without a second thought he wrapped his arms around his friend and very lightly pressed his lips against Garu's.
The other boy was in total shock, but he did not reject the kiss. After a moment, Ernest pulled away, his face a very deep red now, and whispered, "I love you, I have for awhile now."
Well, this wasn't what Garu had expected. First a confrontation and then finding out that his best friend was in love with him had really put him on the spot, and then feeling his own face become slightly red from the confession just made him even more uncomfortable.
"Well, at least you told me the truth," he said turning away as he blushed.
Ernest was surprised. He thought Garu would completely reject him, but instead he found his own best friend blushing and happy he'd told him the truth. "You're not angry about me kissing you?"
Garu had to admit to himself that he didn't mind the kiss at all. He lifted his hand to touch his lips slightly, Ernest moving in closer to him. "Garu, are you okay?"
This made Garu jump slightly but he smiled. "Yeah, I'm okay. Don't worry, Ernest." The other boy smiled back at him in relief.
"Well, I think we should get going now, Ernest, before classes start again," he said, beginning to head towards the door, but Ernest stopped him.
"Garu, are you really okay with me loving you? I really don't want to lose you." He looked really upset and was hoping for the best.
This made Garu blush more and he looked away. "I'm alright with it. Just don't kiss me at school again; if you want to kiss me, you can ask when we're alone. Now let's get back to class." He walked past Ernest and opened the door to the room. The blonde smiled again and followed after him, knowing somewhere that he had taken the first steps to slowly winning Garu's heart.