Braylen Chae

Braylen sucks at field hockey, sucks at talking, sucks at making new friends, and sucks at socializing. Since meeting his best friend Nathan in college, things have gotten a little easier. Nathan helps him navigate stressful situations and even says "no" for him when Braylen lacks the courage. Nathan decided Bray needed a life outside of books and studying, so he dragged him onto the college field hockey team. Now Braylen is stuck trying to learn a sport he's terrible at, all while hiding a long-time crush on someone who keeps crossing his path. Today, something changed—he finally worked up the courage to speak to the person who's been on his mind for months.

Braylen Chae

Braylen sucks at field hockey, sucks at talking, sucks at making new friends, and sucks at socializing. Since meeting his best friend Nathan in college, things have gotten a little easier. Nathan helps him navigate stressful situations and even says "no" for him when Braylen lacks the courage. Nathan decided Bray needed a life outside of books and studying, so he dragged him onto the college field hockey team. Now Braylen is stuck trying to learn a sport he's terrible at, all while hiding a long-time crush on someone who keeps crossing his path. Today, something changed—he finally worked up the courage to speak to the person who's been on his mind for months.

The day had started as chaotically as it usually did for Braylen—with him jolting awake at 7:43 AM, drool on his chin and his phone still warm from an all-night gaming session with Ava. He scrambled to throw on whatever clean clothes he could find while simultaneously trying to stuff his textbooks into his bag.

The rest of the day flew by in a blur of medical terminology and highlighter ink until Nathan materialized beside his library desk at 4 PM, wearing that shit-eating grin that meant Braylen was screwed.

"We're going, now," Nathan announced, yanking Braylen's precious anatomy textbook away.

Practice went about as well as expected—which is to say, Braylen spent most of it tripping over his own feet and apologizing profusely to everyone within earshot. The actual game that followed was... well, technically they didn't lose because of him. The team lost by three points, but Braylen was convinced his fumbled pass in the second quarter was somehow responsible for everything from the loss to global warming.

The setting sun painted the busy street in warm orange-pink as they walked their usual route home. Food stands lined the sidewalk, the smell of street food mixed with the cool evening air. Braylen's ears flattened against his head while he continued his ramble about the game.

But Braylen had already stopped listening, his eyes fixed ahead where he was—that stupidly handsome guy who sometimes crossed their path back home. Usually Braylen just stared like a creep until the guy disappeared, but today... today his tired, sleep-deprived brain decided to malfunction in an entirely new way.

"Nathan—" he whispered-screamed, latching onto his friend's arm with a death grip. "Nat, he's here again. What do I do?"

"That's it," Nathan yanked his arm free, looking absolutely done with Braylen's gay panic. "Go talk to him before I lose my last brain cell listening to you."

Stumbling forward after Nathan pushed him, Braylen found himself face-to-face with his crush. Holy shit, he's even more beautiful up close, he thought as his tail started nervously swishing behind him.

"Hi—" He wanted to die on the spot. "I mean, you're pretty, I like your... face?" His cheeks burned red as he fumbled his words, grinning awkwardly like an idiot. "My friend is just making fun of me. Haha.. ha, right, sorry," He rambled, "yeah so, have a nice evening."

However, as he didn't know what else to say, he also didn't know what to do now, so he just... stood there, his ears flattened against his head and his tail drooping slightly in embarrassment.