Work Text:
Foolish stared at the ceiling.
Ever since Punz confessed things haven't felt the same. Not that anything really changed, they still talk to each other everyday as they usually did before the confession was even made, it’s like nothing ever happened. Things just felt different to Foolish for some reason. He would feel some sort of way inside whenever Punz would talk to him in his soft tone.
It was a feeling he couldn’t wrap his fingers around on, a completely foreign feeling.
He shifted his position so he was now facing his door. He stared at it and a part of his brain expected Punz to just open the door and enter his room with his soft intoxicating smile, no, not expected, he hoped Punz would open the door.
He grinned at that thought, Punz barging through his door unannounced and removing every ounce of tiredness he had. Foolish pulled his pillow closer to him and he buried his face in it. His stomach has never felt so warm and it’s annoying, but it’s a phenomenon he wouldn’t mind experiencing everyday.
He doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get what or why he’s feeling this way.
He closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to overtake him. It was a long process but eventually he did drift into the world of dreams.
—---
They did it.
Foolish, Punz, Tina, and Sam took the crown and coin home this Mcc. After weeks of Punz non-stop coaching them, it finally paid off. Foolish especially, who was practicing at the minimum 10 hours a day on his stream.
“Foolish, Tina!!! You guys did it!! Your first Mcc win!!” Sam cheered and the others in vc cheered and congratulated them as well.
“Wait isn’t it Foolish’s second?” Punz asks through the other eight people in vc and if it wasn’t for Foolish turning him up beforehand then he wouldn’t have heard him through the crowdy voices.
“It’s technically my first canonical win since Mcc pride isn’t canon apparently.” Foolish replies through the crowd of voices as well.
“Oh, right, good job on your first canonical win then!” Punz cheers and Foolish just starts barking as he often does.
“Thanks Punz! I wouldn’t have done it without you and your 1st individual!” Foolish says with sincerity with a wide grin spread across his face and Punz laughs.
“Foolish, don’t undervalue yourself, you got fourth, you’re fucking S tier now.” Punz says and Foolish aw’s, “Aww, shucks Punz.”
“Wait but that means we won’t be able to team with each other now,” Punz says in a complaining voice. “Foolish you need to throw in the next Mcc.” Punz adds.
“Wait no, why can’t you throw? Why me?” Foolish protests at that idea.
“Aww, don’t you wanna team with me again?” Punz says, making a faux hurt sound like he’s been stabbed in the chest.
“I mean, I do but-” Foolish was caught off by Punz.
“Aww! You do want me.” Punz grins and Foolish reddens.
“Guys we’re still here.” Dream deadpans the two.
Foolish makes an ‘o’ mouth shape, he’s completely forgotten others were in the call with them. He went back to talking to the others and Punz did the same, their attentions no longer directed towards each other but they would take every opportunity they could get to talk to each other without even knowing it.
Everyone eventually left the call and it was just the four winners in the vc. “So, what now?” Sam asks.
“Dude I don’t know, I’ll probably end stream and sleep now.” Tina says and sighs afterwards.
“What? Why? The night’s just getting started.” Foolish says and TIna groans in response
“I’m so sleepy, like I only had two hours of sleep and I’m exhausted after Mcc.” Tina says.
“Aww, okay, goodbye, great job this Mcc and goodnight to you.” Punz says and Tina thanks him before leaving.
“So…Sam wanna Valo?” Punz asks and Sam laughs before blankly replying with a no.
“Punz, I love you, but even my love for you won’t be enough to make me play Valorant with you and Foolish.” Sam lightly chuckles.
Love…
Foolish thinks about that word.
“Fine, Foolish hop on Valo right now.” Punz says and Foolish obliges, opening up the game and queuing up with Punz.
Love is something you feel for someone right?
—---
Foolish was currently on a night call with Punz.
Punz had just ended his stream a while ago and Foolish asked the other to call. Talking to each other has become a daily routine for them at this point, even when one of them’s busy they’ll somehow fit even just ten minutes of their day talking to each other.
Take Foolish right now for example, he’s on the plane, on his way to Florida to stay with Punz for a few days, and despite him seeing Punz in person again in a couple of hours when the sun’s up he still needed to call the other, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
“Oh yeah, you’re gonna sleep on the same bed as me since I don’t have anything else sleepable on” Punz says.
“Why’s it everytime we meetup we somehow end up sleeping together one way or another.” Foolish laughs.
“I think the world’s trying to tell us something.” Punz says and Foolish could hear the smirk behind those words, making him flustered for a second.
“Tell us something like…you should get more furniture?” Foolish says slyly and Punz scoffs.
“It’s not my fault IKEA’s literally like an hour away from me.” Punz huffs.
“I can drive if you’re too lazy to drive.” Foolish grins.
“We are not going to IKEA and waste an entire day furniture shopping there when you're here.” Punz says.
“I’ll be there for a week, unless you have plans for us to do for an entire week then I think wecare going to buy you some furniture.” Foolish states again.
“I don’t have a plan but I’d rather not spend an entire day looking at furniture, a week isn’t long enough…” Punz mutters and Foolish’s stomach starts to feel warm again.
“We can still have fun while looking at furniture you know?” Foolish says and Punz mumbles. “How?”
“I mean, I’ll be there with you, it’ll be fun somehow.” Foolish says softly.
“Fine…I’ll see you later then, I’ll sleep now so I can pick you up when you arrive.” Punz mumbles.
“Goodnight to you.” Foolish grins behind the phone.
“Bye Foosh,” Punz says softly before leaving the call.
Foosh
A nickname a lot of people call him, but for some reason hearing it come from Punz felt nicer, it’s like a completely different new nickname when it comes out of Punz.
Foolish stows his phone back in his bag and he grins with eyes closed, his stomach feeling warm again.
Why do I feel so giddy?
He doesn’t get it.
—---
It was 10pm when Foolish arrived in front of Punz’s house. Besides Punz hugging him and flirting with him the moment they saw each other in the airport nothing else eventful happened.
Punz opens the door and enters, Foolish following from behind. Punz gave Foolish a short tour of the house since it was his first time there. It was your average house minus the lack of furniture and clear decor.
“Looks like we’re gonna have to go furniture shopping sooner than later.” Foolish snickers and Punz rolls his eyes.
“Are you tired from the flight?” Punz asks and Foolish nods.
“Rest sounds great right now.” Foolish yawns and drops his bags on the floor..
“You know where the bed is, have a good sleep.” Punz smiles at him. Foolish smiles back before walking off to where the bedroom is.
Foolish opened the door to the bedroom, flopping down on the bed and toeing his sandals off. He smiles in the pillow, the smile Punz gave him made him feel giddy inside for some reason.
Jeez, what’s happening to me?
—---
Foolish ended up sleeping through the rest of the day. But in his defense, he streamed for 18 hours the day prior to his flight.
Foolish slowly rouses from his sleep, shifting in his bed and blinking at the room around him.
Right, Punz’s house.
Foolish wipes the sleep off his eyes before getting up.
Punz isn’t there.
Foolish slightly frowns but comes to the conclusion that Punz is probably awake already. He trudges his way out of the room, opening the door and the first thing he does was look around for Punz.
Foolish opens the door to Punz’s streaming room. Punz was there, sleeping on his chair in front of his table, his desktop still open on Valorant.
He smiles at the sight, carefully walking towards where the other was sleeping. He shut off the computer and carefully removed the headphones off Punz’s head so as to not wake him up.
Punz wrinkled his face and moved slightly in the chair before he was sleeping again. Foolish glances quickly at Punz’s sleeping face but before he knew it he was staring, the soft sleeping smile, the way his brows looked so carefree, his chest steadily going in and out, his lips looking so plump and red.
God, I want to kiss him.
Foolish’s eyes widened at that thought and he quickly shook his head.
No I don’t.
He looked away and quickly paced back towards the door, closing the door before walking off and into the kitchen downstairs to get breakfast.
Why did I think that? I think I need some coffee.
—---
“Wait, we’re actually going to look for furniture??” Punz exclaims, eyes wide and confused as Foolish grabs the car key.
“Yeah? Your place literally looks deader than a funeral home.” Foolish crosses his arms before opening the door and walking towards the car.
Foolish stared at the door, he was worried for a second, does Punz actually hate the idea of going furniture shopping that much? The creeping worry was washed off him when he saw Punz walking out the door and locking it.
He watched as Punz opened the door to the driver's seat only for Foolish to be there. Foolish grinned at him and Punz closed the door.
“I’m only going because I want to spend as much time with you as possible.” Punz mumbles with a smile and closed the door of the passenger seat.
“Aww,” Foolish chirps before starting the car, his stomach beginning to feel warm again.
He doesn't get it.
—---
They ended up buying a couch, an entire bed, decorations like weird abstract paintings and plants. So now it was dinner, dinner outside because they spent way too long looking at furniture than they should have.
They ate at a fancy restaurant, but as all fancy restaurants go the proportions and serving size were small and by the end of it Foolish was still hungry.
“Wings?” Punz asks when he hears Foolish’s stomach growl.
Foolish embarrassingly nods and Punz orders wings on his phone. They were chilling on the bed since the furniture they got will still arrive a week later.
“So…stream day tomorrow or we just chill?” Punz asks, tilting his head over to look at Foolish.
“Uhh, stream day so I can feed my content deprived viewers.” Foolish giggles and Punz chuckles. “We can finally play it takes two together.” Punz says and Foolish shrugs.
“It takes two stream it is.”
—---
Punz started stream and Foolish grins as he watched the viewers roll in since he knows most of the Punz viewers are also his viewers, he didn’t announce he’ll be with Punz for a week, so chat will only be surprised when Punz turns his cam on.
“Hey chat, as you can see from the title, I’ll finally be playing it takes two with Foolish.” Punz says before muting his mic again, the screen still on his starting soon screen.
They eventually opened the camera and Foolish was there, sitting on Punz’s chair with Punz nowhere to be found.
“Hello everyone! Welcome to my stream!” Foolish grins at the camera.
“Yes chat, Foolish is moving in.” Punz enters the frame and Foolish looks over at him with a grin.
Foolish knows it’s a joke but the thought of moving in with Punz makes him warm again.
He doesn’t get it.
He doesn’t get why everytime Punz would say anything flirtatious or suggestive towards him during the stream it would feel more…personal? It would throw Foolish off balance way more than it did before, faze him more, make him flustered more.
Why does it feel so different now?
It’s starting to get pretty annoying for Foolish, not the ‘I hate it” kind, but the ‘I wanna know why’ kind. He wanted to know what was so different now, is it because Punz confessed to him a while back? No, that can’t be it, the confession was so long ago, why would it only affect him now? He wasn’t like this a week after Punz admitted to liking him, nor was it three months after.
He wants to know why Punz was on his mind 24/7.
But that's a task for tomorrow, for now he wants to sleep, but easier said than done when his stomach felt so hot with Punz next to him, hugging him like he was a pillow.
So he’s a pillow hugger huh?
Foolish closes his eyes and gets comfortable.
Nothing wrong with hugging a friend right?
He wraps his arm around the other as well and smiles softly as he waits for sleep to take over him.
—---
It was 12am and Punz was in his streaming room playing Valorant so now Foolish was left alone in his bedroom, waiting for Tina to pick up the call so he can talk to her about why the fuck he feels so weird around Punz lately.
“Hello?” Tina finally picks up.
“Tina!” Foolish grins through his phone.
“That’s me! Tina! Anyways, what do you want?” Tina asks and by the sound of her voice Foolish knew she had just woken up.
“So, we’ve been friends for a pretty long time right?” Foolish starts and Tina slowly replies a yes.
“I can talk to you about my problems right?” Foolish says and Tina nods her head behind the phone. “Of course, we’re besties aren’t we?”
Foolish chuckles. “Yeah…so it’s about Punz.”
“Did you guys fight or something?” Tina gets up from her bed, now sitting cross legged on the bed.
“No! No, it’s not something that happened between us exactly.” Foolish says and Tina listens attentively to what he’s gonna say next.
“I just, I’ve been feeling weird when I’m around him lately, like it started a while back but it’s gotten worse now.” Foolish says and Tina hums in thought.
“Hmm, define ‘feeling weird’?” Tina asks.
“Like, he's basically on my brain 24/7 and my stomach would feel warm whenever he’d do or say something like, nice? Like when he smiles at me it makes me smile as well and when he talks to me in his soft voice it would make me feel giddy. I’d also get way more flustered when Punz would say things that count as flirting or something even though it didn’t really affect me that much before.” Foolish explains and a squeal was heard from Tina.
“Tina? What happened? You okay over there?” Foolish asks, concerned.
“Dude, you’re in love!” Tina squeals again and Foolish was taken aback by that conclusion.
Love
“Huh? There’s no way, he’s a guy!” Foolish exclaims, confused.
“Have you thought that maybe, just maybe, you’re not exactly straight?” Tina clasps her hands together.
“That can’t be it, this has to be just a platonic feeling or something. I’ve never felt this way to anyone before, I’ve never had a crush on girls, or guys, my entire life.” Foolish says with a small nervous chuckle.
“And that’s exactly why you might not be straight! If you’ve never had a crush on girls before then you can’t say with certainty you’re straight, even if you haven’t crushed on guys before as well.” Tina says and Foolish understood what she was trying to say.
That’s not right though, I’ve jerked off to women before, even now I still occasionally do it. Foolish wanted to say what was in his mind so bad, but he decided to keep it PG.
“If you’ve never had a crush or ever felt in love with anyone before, then as someone who has, you need to trust me when I say what you’re feeling is love.” Tina says and Foolish stays quiet.
“I’m sorry if this is a lot to take in for your small hetero heart but it’s true. He makes you warm and giddy inside, what else does that mean?” Tina finishes.
“That it’s just platonic…?”
“If it’s just ‘platonic’ then tell me, have you felt like that to our other friends? Karl? Sam? Dream? Me?” Tina asks and Foolish once again stays quiet, slowly giving up in defending himself as he slowly sees and agrees with what Tina’s saying.
“Exactly, you don’t, you only feel that way to Punz and Punz only, not us, not your old classmates during highschool or whatever, and not to random people you see, just Punz.”.
Foolish groans and grabs a pillow to hug.
Great, I’m questioning my sexuality now, thanks Tina.
“I’ll take your silence as a victory for my case.” Tina softly cheers with a small laugh.
“Fine, I guess I do love him, now what? How do I get rid of it?” Foolish mumbles.
“Do you want to get rid of it?”
Foolish stays quiet.
“You know you can just confess right?” Tina says and Foolish opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out.
“C’mon, I’m sure he secretly loves you as well, maybe, I mean, you guys spend a lot of time together, I see you guys in vc all the time at like 2am.” Tina says.
“You know what, maybe I will confess!” Foolish grins, remembering that Punz did confess to him before.
“Wait what- really? That easily? You’re not gonna protest and say ‘noo he won't feel the same’ or something like that?” Tina asks, taken aback by Foolish’s sudden confidence.
“Nope! I feel better now, thanks for talking to me about this!” Foolish exclaims with a grin.
“Okay then…goodluck with your confession I guess, I’ll go back to sleep now byee!” Tina smiles behind the phone before leaving the call.
“Ouch, she didn’t even let me say goodbye.” Foolish leaves the call as well and gets up from the bed, putting his phone back in his pocket and making his way towards Punz’s streaming room where he is.
I’m gonna confess now, Punz has to accept it right? He did say he loved me before.
“Punz!” Foolish opened the door.
“I’m in a game right now.” Punz was quick to answer.
Foolish walks over to Punz and hugs him from behind, because of this Punz missed a shot and died.
Punz sighs but looks behind him anyways.
“What?” Punz asks, trying to keep his annoyed face but just couldn’t, not when Foolish was looking at him with soft eyes and a soft smile.
“What?” Punz asks, with a soft smile this time.
Foolish hums. “I’ll tell you later, just win this game for now.”
“That’s gonna be hard when you’re literally acting like a clingy boyfriend.” Punz says and Foolish grins, untangling his arms around Punz to let him finish the current match.
Boyfriend…that sounds nice.
Foolish kneeled down, head resting on the table as he watched Punz play with a smile plastered across his face. He found it all endearing, Punz’s expression, the way his face frowns like a sad puppy when they lose the round, the way he brightens up and grins when they win a round, the way he would occasionally look over at Foolish with a smile.
He finally gets it.
Who knew everything could change with just one simple phone call with Tina, the way he looks at Punz now is already so different. If this was his old clueless self he would probably question why he’s mesmerized by Punz right now. It already felt like they’re a thing already, or maybe it only feels that way now that he knows that he does in fact love the blonde man in front of him.
“What?” Punz chuckles when he looked over at Foolish after he died.
“You’re cute.”
Punz’s face turns red and he giggles, “okay?”
The next round starts and Punz shifts his attention back to the game.
The match ended in defeat, thankfully for Punz it was only unranked.
“What is it Foolish underscore gamers?” Punz snickers at his own joke and Foolish found that endearing as well.
Foolish gets up and holds Punz’s hands, making him get up as well.
“Punz, what do you think about me?” Foolish asks and Punz was confused.
“You’re cool?” Punz answers unsurely.
“What do you feel about me?” Foolish rephrases.
Punz turns a little red as he looks away. “You know what I think of you.” He mumbles.
“Huh? What was that?” Foolish puts his hand on his ear, leaning closer to Punz.
“I still like you okay? Jeez…” Punz mumbles.
“Like? Like me? Or do you love me?” Foolish continues to tease.
“I still love you…scumbag.”
“I’m the scumbag? You’re the one who's been making me fall without caution .”
“What does that me-” Foolish cuts him off when he cupped his cheeks and pulls him in for a kiss.
Punz’s eyes widened but he soon closed them and melted into the kiss, wrapping an arm around his neck as Foolish pulls him by the waist.
They eventually pulled away and Punz opened his mouth to say something but was once again cut off by Foolish.
“I love you too, scumbag.”
—---
The rest of the week was spent with them being domestic (as if they weren’t already acting domestic before.) On stream however, nothing ever happened, they would hold back the itching urge to just hug each other and be affectionate, not on camera, never on camera. Not for now at least.
The final day of Foolish’s stay arrived and hanging dread was looming in the air. Foolish and Punz were snuggled in bed, not saying a word and simply basking in each other's arms, enjoying the remaining time they have left together. But just like all good things it had to end, eventually Foolish had to get up and get ready for his incoming flight.
Punz took hold of Foolish’s hand to stop him from getting up. “Your flight’s still in a few hours…” Punz mumbles, face looking like it’s about to burst into tears.
Foolish took a deep breath in and exhaled, not liking the atmosphere in the room he decided to lighten up the mood a little. He pulled the other’s arm and swiftly carried him in his arms, bridal style.
And surely enough it made Punz giggle, “Put me down you bozo.”
“I’m gonna bring you back to Ohio with me.” Foolish grins, running around the house with Punz in his arms, laughing, almost tripping and getting into an accident on the stairs. But that didn’t stop Foolish from continuing despite Punz yelling at him to put him down before they actually get into an accident.
“If I get into an accident then you need to take care of me and I get to stay longer here!” Foolish says slowly before grinning and running faster.
“The only place you’ll be staying at is a fucking hospital bed next to me, put me down now!” Punz continued to laugh, lightly punching Foolish’s arms in an attempt to make his partner put him down.
“Sounds like a win to me!”
“Foolish!”
“Fine, fine.” Foolish slows down before coming to a stop and lowering Punz.
Punz stands up, posture upright and Foolish forgets just how tall the other man is. Punz met eye to eye with Foolish. Foolish beamed and Punz scrutinized Foolish, looking him up and down before smirking.
“Why are you smi-” Foolish was caught off with a squeak when Punz lifted him off the ground.
Foolish instinctively grabbed onto Punz’s neck and Punz smiled slyly at him, almost innocently.
“Punz, put me down.”
“Hmm, no.” And with that Punz began running around the house, purposely almost tripping over to scare Foolish like the menace that he is.
But despite Foolish’s protests of telling Punz to put him down, deep down inside, he was enjoying it.
The bliss the two were feeling was enough for them to forget that Foolish was gonna eventually have to leave. But of course, Foolish’s set alarm went off and they both remembered that Foolish’s flight was still a thing. Punz’s euphoric expressions slowly faltered as he slowed down before coming to a full halt. Foolish smiled at him.
“It’s okay! We’ll see each other soon, don’t worry!” Foolish grins and Punz gives a weak smile, lowering Foolish and letting him go so that he could get ready.
The car drive to the airport was quiet, neither of them saying a word to each other. It was only when Foolish was getting off the car did Punz speak up.
“Don’t leave.”
Foolish stops his movements and looks at Punz. “Punz, I already paid for the flight.” He giggles, deep down he wanted to take Punz’s words at heart and stay with him.
“Please, stay with me, just for another week!” Punz begs, his voice starting to croak as Foolish saw his eyes getting watery. Foolish went back in the car and immediately pulled Punz in a hug, whispering gentle hushes to calm his partner down.
Punz quickly calmed down and Foolish pulled out, cupping Punz’s cheeks and wiping the tear streaks off his face.
“I’ll be back before you even know it, we can keep talking to each other in Discord as we always do before until then.” Foolish smiles warmly and Punz gives a weak smile.
“Promise you won’t lose interest in me until then. Promise me you'll love me forever.” Punz says and Foolish chuckles, “what?”
“Promise me.” Punz repeated and Foolish stops chuckling, intertwining their pinky fingers together.
“I promise.”
Punz gives a more genuine smile now, “God, this is so corny.”
“Yeah…but if it makes you feel better then I’ll gladly get lost in a cornfield.” Foolish grins at his stupid joke.
“I swear to God, Ohioans and their cornfields..” Punz mutters with a small laugh. Foolish rolls his eyes before pulling away from Punz and getting off the car, Punz getting off the car as well to assist Foolish with his two duffel bags.
He told Foolish before that he should get an actual luggage bag so he could stay longer next time. Foolish said he’ll think about it, Punz is more than willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a luggage bag and ship it over to Foolish.
Punz stands in front of Foolish and Foolish gives him a grin before looking away and walking towards the entrance.
Punz waves at him with sad eyes.
Foolish eventually got in line and that was Punz’s cue to leave. He looked back at his car and weakly made his way back to the driver's seat, his head hanging low.
But what he wasn’t expecting was for him to be lifted off the ground in a hug just as he was about to open the door.
Punz looked behind him and saw none other than Foolish.
huh?
He opened his mouth to say something but Foolish cut him off when their lips once again met.
It was a quick and chaste kiss, but it was more than enough for Punz.
“I forgot to give you a goodbye kiss.” Foolish smiles shyly.
Punz leans in again for another kiss, the kiss lasting a few more seconds before they both pulled away.
“And that’s my goodbye kiss for you.” Punz smiles back.
Foolish’s stomach felt warm and he pulled away from Punz, waving him goodbye before rushing back to the line and the bags he haphazardly dropped on the ground.
Dumbass,
Punz chuckles and enters his car, watching as Foolish waited in line before he actually entered, Punz eyeing him inside and trying to keep track of where he was in the middle of the crowd. He eventually lost sight of where Foolish was in the crowds of people and that was his cue to leave.
See you soon…Noah