Chapter Text
"Smile!" Eiji, holding his camera ready to snap a photo, tried to cheer up his friend, who always seemed to either way have a resting face, either way be super angry for not getting any tip or constantly getting picked on by Yronica for being the shortest guy in the Mist. Yes, you guessed it right: Eiji was trying to cheer up Jack. Right now, the shorter boy was just sipping on his noodles, while staring at his friend with his usual emotionless expresion. He was also wearing some different clothes from the work outfit everyone knew him in:
A black sweater with a few rips and slight unwounds at the end of the sleeves, alongside a white undershirt, sage green baggy jeans with a white belt, a pair of sneakers barely visible under the pants, a chain around the neck and long, unbrushed brown hair kept down.
"Sorry, but I do not feel like smiling. If you ask me, I actually NEVER felt like wanting to show any smile in front of any-" Jack got interrupted by Eiji when trying to say the word 'anyone'.
"Wait, so... YOU actually smile? Like ACTUALLY?! Then I'll try to make you do it!"
"Challange accepted. If I win, you have to... Uhhh... Let me think... Oh, I know! You have to break up with that overgrown dog. Believe me, he seems a bit dangerous to me... If you win, then I'll have to confess to my crush. But I warn you that making me smile will not be easy!" The smaller one spoke, with a somewhat halfhearted smile.
"Silly Jack... You already failed the challange, y'know? You just smiled!" Eiji was somehow telling the truth, nodding his head and chuckling at the thought of already winning this, and in such a fast and easy mode.
"It doesn't count! We didn't even start! And it was a fake smile, anyway.."
"You really did trick me.." The raven-haired sighed, looking at the brunette in front of him with a frown. "And you have a crush? Oooh, who are they?" The slightly taller one asked, with a smirk on his face. Dumbfounded, Jack got a bit closer and whispered:
"Its Elijah.."
It could be readed on his face how embarassed he was of telling his secret to Eiji, one of his best friends. Seeing the guy next to him like this, the raven-haired boy promised:
"Don't worry, I won't tell at anyone. Including Elijah. Now be calm, because the challange just started!"
"I'm gonna make you lose!" The brunette exclaimed, trying as best as he could to not smile at the thought of winning. He wasn't ready to tell Elijah the words he had all those years in his mind to tell him..
And also, he considered the wolf man dangerous, despite him not wanting to hurt anyone. Jack thinked that, if Eiji breaked up with Cole, then the dark haired boy would never be putted at risk again, while Jun and himself would not have any other reason to worry about anymore. While thinking at this, the pizza boy tried to keep the same face he had until now, because that thought made him happy and he didn't want to show it.
Eiji didn't want at all to break up with Cole, so he had to win this at any costs. And a very big bonus would be Jack finnaly getting togheter with the man of his dreams.
He started off by pulling out some very funny faces, but the only reaction from the delivery boy was a yawn.
Then, the raven-haired decided to do some pranks, for example, a banana peel on the floor. Jack actually fell for that, but he hit his head so bad he needed Arlo to fix him up. The man also had to wear the contacts until he got a new pair of glasses (𝘏𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵) because the old ones shattered, all thanks to that unsalted joke. And Eiji, instead of earning a laughter or at least a small smile from his friend, he got a pissed off groan.
"Are you even trying?" The green-eyed guy asked, in a very bored tone, at the end of the day. (𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺?) "And never EVER to that thing with the banana peel again!"
Eiji sighed in disbelief. Jack was right. This was harder than our photographer thought. He needed some help. And luckily, he knew who to ask for that.