Break

Brooke had given Pascal a whole new life.

He’d expressed his gratitude for her help many times before, back when he had been hired by Victor and was given a chance to live with them in their wacky mansion.

So she knew he didn’t exactly dislike her for that, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy. Doubts were surfacing in her mind, plaguing her every thought with a twisted sensation in her gut.

For a couple of months now, he’d been avoiding her and she didn’t understand why.

Every time she so much as greeted him, in her usual jovial voice, tensions would square his shoulders and he’d go stiff with caution. As someone who was rather open with casual touches, if she were to even try slinging an arm around his shoulders, he’d go rigid, with this weird grimace souring his face, before politely easing away from the gesture.

Brooke would never admit it out loud, but it hurt a lot whenever he did that. Even when she tried to be playful or kind with him, Pascal would only increase the distance in between them in response. She didn’t know what she was doing wrong and it ached her heart every time she thought about this.

One night, she decided to gently confront Pascal about the problem. There was no point in denying it any longer, there was an issue on the table and attention had to be brought to it. If he really did dislike her now, for whatever reason, then she’d just have to accept it.

Though she had planned to be brave about this, and she’d done way more exhilarating stuff before in her life, she couldn’t help but feel tears budding in the corners of her eyes and a heavy weight pressing down on her throat. It built up within seconds, adding onto her stinging misery.

So when she approached him, with blurry vision and all, she couldn’t help but speak in this broken and watery tone.

“Do you hate me?”

Pascal could only stare at her with wide-blown eyes, watching as devastation consumed Brooke from the inside out. The tears were gushing down her face now, sliding hot across her cheeks in sloppy streams.

“No.” Immediately, his shock subsided, only to be replaced with an explosive panic. “No, no, I would never—“

“Then why?” She could barely get the rest of her question out, even her syllables were fragmented from the stress of it all, but he should’ve known what she meant by now. “What did I do?”

“Brooke, I . . .”

After a moment of hesitance, Pascal went quiet before slowly bringing his hands to her shoulders. He still couldn’t look her straight in the eye, but the way that he tried to console her in that delicate tone of his was enough to remedy the pain, even for just a second.

“I do like you.” As he said this, there were tears shining in his eyes now. “But I don’t think I deserve to.”

It hurt to hear that.

Before Brooke could say anything in protest, however, she heard a soft sob burst from him. He was crying, his shoulders quaking from the intensity of his emotional turmoil.

She’d never seen him cry before.

While she would usually speak her mind, she bit back her tongue and decided to wait instead. Now wasn’t the time.

“I-I appreciate you so much,” he continued, a nervous crack to his words. “You mean the world to me and I th-think you’re amazing. You’ve done so much for me, and if I hadn’t met you, I probably would’ve been dead by now.”

Brooke really wanted to object to that, but still kept her mouth shut. He was practically baring his whole soul to her. She could only imagine how difficult it was for him to even admit this.

She desperately wished she could wipe his tears away, he was an agonizing sight to behold, but she still didn’t know if it was okay to touch him. She knew that it should’ve been, but all of his jumpy flinches and awkward grimaces prior to this moment held her back.

And then, her whole world shattered when he spoke his final words.

“I love you.” Pascal gripped her shoulders with a squeeze, his arms now trembling. “I love you more than I should, I-I can’t just see you as a friend anymore and that’s how bad this is. I-it’s disgusting, you’ve only ever been so nice to me and I just—I just screw that up. As much as I want to continue being friends, I just ruin everything with these dumb stupid feelings.”

Tremors racked his voice, punctuating his words with even more stutters and stammers. Slowly, he retracted his hands away from her, as if ashamed to even touch her any longer.

He turned his face away. “I’m sorry—“

All of her restraint snapped.

Before he could even have time to finish, Brooke wrapped her arms around him in a crushing embrace. She clung onto him and didn’t let go. Not now, not ever.

She felt his glass horns resting underneath the crook of her neck in a slanted angle, felt the dampness of his tears seeping through her hoodie, as she tried with all of her might to snuff out his devastation with her hug.

They stayed like that for a while, with Pascal frozen in what must be confused silence, until she finally spoke up.

“I‘ve always loved you too.”

Even though she couldn’t see it, since Pascal’s face was buried in her chest, she could feel the heat of an incoming flush radiating off him. She witnessed as the tips of his pointed ears burned bright red.

Slowly, he brought his arms up to hug her back. In response, she squeezed him even tighter, a new set of tears flooding her eyes.

And then, with determination nudging her forward, she pulled back for just a second, only to cup both sides of his face with her hands. His golden eyes were staring into hers, wide with alarm. While tilting his chin up, she leaned down and narrowed the gap of space in between them. As the distance between them shrunk, Pascal could only open his mouth in surprise before their lips clashed.

Brooke didn’t hold back.

It was an aggressive kiss with clanked teeth and bruised lips, but it was still perfect in their own way. Pascal had echoed a muffled yelp at first, only to melt into her touch after realizing what just happened.

He couldn’t help but let out a content hum into the kiss, with his eyes sealed shut and his body pressed into hers even closer. The heat of her passion overtook him, conquering every fiber in his being as Brooke’s movements transitioned from desperate and hungry to straight up puppy love. There were insistent pecks peppering his entire face right after that, followed by the sound of his sweet laughter as Brooke trailed lower to his neck.

She’d been wanting to touch Pascal for so long, to hold him in a way that she wouldn’t with anyone else. She would dream of it in her sleep, crave it during her darkest moments, and now it was finally a reality.

There was nothing that could stop her now.

“H-hey, enough.” Before Brooke could question what he meant, she noticed a heavy blush dominating his entire face and neck area. “If we continue this, it won’t be good for me. I, um, feel like I’m going to pass out.”

Her heart was clenching in so much awe right now. She couldn’t believe that anyone could be this fucking adorable.

“We can take it slow.” With a hand caressing his right cheek, Brooke planted a loud smooch on his forehead. “I promise.”

Pascal still looked absolutely starstruck. His hair was a tousled mess, since Brooke had repeatedly ran her hands through it as she gave him all those kisses, and his lips were a bit puffy now too.

That was all her.

She made him like this.

With that in mind, she couldn’t help but feel her heart soar with joy.

And for the rest of their days after that, they’ve been a lot happier ever since.