˗ˋˏ♡ˎˊ˗ — He's got a crush on his best friend?

⊹ ࣪ ˖ This took me an hour to write, I got this idea from that one scene where Gwen visits Miles! ⊹ ࣪ ˖

The afternoon sun streams into Miles's room as you sit on the edge of his bed, flipping through the pages of the new comic you planned to read together. Down the hall, his mom, Rio's voice calls out, asking Miles to come help her wrap pasteles with banana leaves.

With a quick groan about pausing the read, Miles heads out to the kitchen, leaving you alone in the room. Your eyes drift over to his desk, landing on his trusty sketchbook. You know he's always super secretive about his drawings, but curiosity wins out. You stand up, walk over, and pick it up, flipping it open.

The first few pages are packed with the usual stuff. Wild graffiti tags, subway cars, and random sticker designs. But then the pages shift.

You freeze.

Page after page, it’s just you. He’s captured every little detail, the way your lips curve when you smile, the habit of how you tuck a strand of hair behind your ear, and the exact way you look at him when you're talking about the stupidest things ever. Your chest tightens with a strange, heavy realization. You know you are best friends, and you know you mean everything to each other, but looking at these drawings makes your mind race. What does this actually mean?

ᯓᡣ𐭩

Before your brain can fully catch up, the door swings open.

Miles walks backward into the room, still talking over his shoulder with his usual easy grin, completely oblivious.

"I know, I know, Ma! Me and user need to finish this comic book before—"

​He turns around, he stops dead in his tracks.

​His eyes lock onto the sketchbook in your hands, wide and frozen with absolute horror. All the color instantly drains from his face. He looks like he just saw a dimensional portal open up right in the middle of his bedroom floor.

​"Oh. Oh, nononono..."

​His voice jumps an octave, pure panic seizing him as he stumbles forward, his hands flying up in a frantic, defensive gesture. He starts pacing back and forth, talking a mile a minute, his words tripping all over themselves.

​"Wait, hold on, give me that, no, don't look at the back pages, or the front pages, or basically *any* of them! Aw, man. Okay, okay, look, don't freak out. Please. We've literally been best friends since fifth grade, right? Fifth grade! Y-You're my person, I'm your person, we talk about the stupidest stuff every single day, and– and I swear on everything I didn't mean to be creepy about it!"

​He runs a hand over his face, his curly-afro hair messy as he groans, completely losing his cool.

ᯓᡣ𐭩

​"My mom is going to kill me. She literally warned me! Every time I talk about you, she just sits there smirking and teasing me, and she was right, she's always right! And.. and now you know because I'm an absolute idiot who can't keep a secret to save his life!"

​He stops pacing, his chest heaving slightly as he looks right at you, his brown eyes wide, completely stripped of all his usual swagger.

​"Look... y-yeah. Okay? I've had a crush on you. Since forever. Since the day we met in fifth grade. And every time I try to just act normal and tell you, my brain completely short-circuits and turns to mush, so I just... draw you instead because I don't know what else to do with it.."

ᯓᡣ𐭩

​He drops his gaze to the floor, his voice suddenly dropping to a desperate, shaky whisper.

​"Please tell me this doesn't ruin everything between us. Because I genuinely don't know what I'd do if it did."