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pinkieriver · 10 days ago

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��…and @pinkieriver ‘s pre-TADC human AU concepts.” MEEEEEE???? INSPIRING SUCH A BEAUTIFUL AND FUNNY FANFIC?!!!!

this was so good to read that after writing this I think I'm going to reread it ten more times (even more than that). I LOVED IT, they're both so DUMB about each other, caine's awkwardness, pomni's nerves, the series of unfortunate events AND WHEN IT FINALLY HAPPENS- *explodes because I don’t want to spoil* 💥💥💥💥💥

this was amazing, thank you so much for mentioning me, believe me it was really nice to find this after a tiring day (but happy anyway)<3 NOW with your permission I need to draw this

EVERYONE NOW COME TO READ THIS 🗣️‼️

Murphy’s Law

Rating: PG-15 (Suggestive Dialogue, Swearing)

Word Count: 9,430

Pomni sets up an after-work get together to give her and Caine something to do that afternoon besides mourn their loneliness. Some crappy movies, and a dinner; nothing particularly formal.

Unfortunately, the day seems determined to go wrong at every chance it gets.

*partially inspired by @pikavani ‘s office au and @pinkieriver ‘s pre-TADC human AU concepts.

Read On AO3 (Iink)

Full text fic under read more.

February 14th. Valentines’ Day. Get cozy and romantic with your beloved, or drink yourself into a stupor trying to forget you don’t have one.

But for Pomni, it was just another day at the office. Another 9-5 shift making sure that everyone’s paychecks (including hers) would go out on time, and that they weren’t accidentally committing massive financial fraud. Boring, but it allowed her to space out a bit while on the clock— a nice breather from the environment of her cubicle, sterile despite the various paper heart notes some coworkers had left her from other departments.

When it finally hit 1, she could take lunch. She always chose the same spot, at the far edge of the break room where there was a window overlooking the street. Even if it was gloomy outside, she could use seeing the sky every once in a while.

It was only maybe 5 or so minutes into her break that she found herself distracted from the YouTube video she was watching, a figure pacing aimlessly in her right peripheral. It was Caine, moving about with a sour gait not quite like him. Pomni took out an earphone, and paused the video.

“Are you spending your smoke break just loitering around?”

He seemed surprised that she had even addressed his being there.

“It’s not my smoke break—I just needed to stretch my legs a bit.” he sighed. “This day has made me want to scream.”

Pomni swallowed another forkful of the ramen in front of her.

“Really? I’m shocked, I thought you’d be stoked about it being Valentines'. You said you liked decorating your office for this sort of thing.”

“I’m trying to, but this day’s just been…” he waved his hands about like he was attempting to throttle the air.

“My car’s getting the tires adjusted, so Abel had to carpool me up this morning— aka I woke up earlier than I’d ever want to and then spent most of the drive in an atmosphere so stifling it could kill someone. The shitty weather outside is playing with my mood, and to top it off I’ve been stuck on the same error message all morning, and I can’t figure out what changed between now and yesterday night when the program worked fine.”

“Ugh, I feel that. —not the program error message part, but the weather is definitely putting a damper on things.”

He reclined a bit on the centermost break room table, still occasionally letting up to pace a bit.

“-Oh! Actually, I had to change clothing like 15 minutes before work this morning because I spilled my coffee on myself. It still burns a bit on my lap.”

“What, are you trying to imply today’s cursed?”

“No, just wanting to share sentiment on the crummy morning bit.”

Caine laughed a bit at that one.

“Fair enough. But, you know, it’s just all of that, and then most of my work day is spent either in isolation or listening to other people gush about their plans and the people they care about—it’s enough to make someone feel really lonely, hah–”

“You don’t need to tell me that, I’m already mourning a wasted afternoon.”

“Yeah…I have no idea, either. Going out for something fun would help my spirits, but it’s too cold to do anything outside, and everywhere else I’ll stick out as a sore single.”

He said it with a laugh, but it didn’t muffle the disappointment in the words.

You could say it gave Pomni a bit of audacity. Delusional wishing, even. To be frank, the sentence slipped out faster than her mind had time to think over its implications.

“Well, if neither of us have any plans, maybe we could do a little get-together or something.”

He paused, forcing her to continue rambling on.

“Like, get some dinner, hang out at my apartment for a bit, watch some crappy Hallmark movies or something.”

She hoped her words didn’t sound as awkward as she felt.

“…It’d at least beat being mopey by myself. Lots of people do stuff with their friends on Valentines’ Day, I could even see if it could be a group thing—nothing too formal.”

A thick silence sat between them for what felt like forever, with Caine finally breaking it with an answer.

“So…you’re asking me on a date after work.”

“It’s not a date, just a dinner-movie-shitshow thing so that I can have some fun on a crummy holiday.”

A smile threatened its way across his face, his head turning a bit to where he was side-eyeing her.

“Mm-hm. Sure thing”

“—If you don’t want to do it, then don’t come! You were the one complaining about it.”

“-Hey! I never said no! I’m fine with having a little play-date or whatever–it at least gives me something fun for the afternoon.”

It was an uplifting feeling in Pomni’s chest, although it also felt like her heart was currently being digested in her stomach.

“So, you’re okay if I come and get you after my shift? I know your shift ends like an hour earlier than mine.”

“It’s fine. I’ll just clock off and do some cleaning for a bit–oiter in here if I need to. Yours ends at 5..?”

“Yup, 9-5 today.”

“Neat. Okay, I… I suppose I’ll see you then.”

His posture had relaxed considerably by the time he left, his walk regaining the usual bounce on his left leg.

Only once he was fully out of the room did she fully allow her heart to race the way it had been, and silently curse herself for offering the idea in the first place.

God, she had just asked him on a date. The guy she’d been lowkey crushing on for like… 6 months or so now. Just flat up asked, blunt as a sledgehammer to the forehead.

Yeah, yeah, they were friends, had been friends since she’d been hired, and Caine more or less forced his way into her good graces. But, she just asked that straight up. She’d offered to use her apartment! Her house! What kind of a first-date baseline was that?!

But she’d already said it, wooed over by puppy eyes and the opportunity to hang out with a guy she liked. The chance to make someone happy that she didn’t like seeing upset. Especially when he’d normally be doing that for her. She’d already asked, and he’d already agreed.

At the least, her afternoon would be fun, if she could hold her embarrassment until then.

“Hey, Raggie…”

The bright-eyed ginger poked up over the edge of her desk.

“Oh, yeah Pomni?”

“Do you…have any plans for this afternoon? I was thinking of doing a sort of get-together-type thing with dinner after work today, and I was curious if you’d be interested- nothing too serious, just watching some movies together and stuff with the others.”

Ragatha diverted her gaze down a bit and laughed nervously.

“Uh, I’m afraid I can’t..I’m flattered though! I just—you know, I’m celebrating Valentines’ Day with my family this afternoon. We’re having a nice dinner outing, and it’s been a while since I’ve gotten to talk to either of them…I’m really sorry.”

“No! No, it’s fine! It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, I a hundred percent understand you would likely already have other plans! I hope you enjoy your evening with your family!”

“..you too, Pomni.”

Damnit! There went one piece to make the whole thing less awkward. Not that she could share that intention—she didn’t need something like that spreading around the office. She could only leave at a ‘no’ and hope someone else was available.

As the day clicked on, she asked more and more, finally exhausting all avenues. Gangle and Zooble had dates they were going on (with who, they didn’t specify, but there was plenty of speculation to fill that gap), Ragatha had her family stuff, and there was no point in asking the married couple in the office. Jax claimed to have some romantic outings as well to attend to. Pomni was pretty sure he was lying about that, but at that point his being there wouldn’t have helped any, so she just left it alone.

It seemed this was her fate, and that she would just have to try to be normal about it, somehow.

It was fine! It would just be a casual thing. Just getting dinner, watching movies at her place, and chatting. That kind of stuff happens every day—she was just caught up in the whole ‘Valentines’ Day’ thing.

Life wasn’t a rom-com. She’d survive.

5:00 pm hit Pomni like some mix between a firing squad and wedding bells. She’d finally resigned to the events of the afternoon, logging off the clock and heading up towards Caine’s office. She knocked on his door, but after a second or two of not answering, she simply just opened the door and entered.

He had actually been getting up when she walked in, which embarrassed her a little, having more-or-less plowed into the room. It seemed he’d spent the extra hour attempting to organize his office—although he’d more ‘moved the clutter to different places’ instead of getting rid of said clutter. There seemed to be some new clutter as well– a stuffie was thrown dejectedly against the wall. Pomni went to retrieve it and sat it upright on Caine’s desk. It was a green and yellow crocodile(?), with a little hat that had fallen off somewhere between its trip across the office. It was cute—she’d never seen it before.

“You good to head out? I was thinking about calling some Chinese in. Some stir-fry sounds good about now.”

He spent a moment packing a duffel with the few things he had been using: a phone charger and his cell. Leaning up against the wall to keep himself from dropping his cane, he slung the bag across one shoulder.

“Hm. I can grab some as well. Would at least save you some money on gas.”

“Cool. We can call it in once we get downstairs.”

They left the office, navigating the fire escape staircase towards the parking lot.

“Wait. Should I use your phone to call in my order? Do I call in separately with my phone? I wouldn’t have put it up if I’d known that.”

“Oh, it doesn’t—it doesn’t matter. I thought we were going to call in separately but it doesn’t really affect anything.”

“We can’t call at the same time though—the line will be busy with whoever gets through first.”

“Yeah, and?”

“It’s just not very…ergonomic to split up the calls when ultimately we’ll have to go one at a time.”

“That’s a weird way to say you don’t want to get your phone out of your bag.”

Caine huffed with a stifled giggle.

“-Shut it! You know what I’m talking about!”

They made it out to Pomni‘s car, passing the phone back and forth to make dinner plans. When they finally finished, Caine leaned forward, looking up at the sky through the front windshield.

“It looks like it’s gonna rain.”

She was fiddling with the car’s aux cord.

“Shush. You’ll jinx it.”

When they pulled up to the Chinese Restaurant, he unbuckled his seatbelt, got his cane, and left the car before Pomni even had a chance to park. She hadn’t even had the chance to yell out, and he’d already ducked into the building, leaving her sitting by herself in the car.

She had half a mind to get out and follow him, but…the cold air that had shot through the briefly open car door convinced her otherwise. She’d just…keep the car warm. Pomni sat back in the seat, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.

“This fucking guy…”

It was so dumb. Caine worked in an entirely separate department from her, and they didn’t even get to talk that much. Whenever they did have a chance to talk, he’d incessantly yap for most of the conversation, almost speaking too fast for her to keep up with what he was saying, and randomly changing topics at a speed to break someone’s neck. With a crooked gait, an overtly eccentric personality, and a height that was even shorter than her own, there was nothing about him that should be enamoring in any traditional sense.

And yet, this guy…something was so hopelessly, heart-poundingly… cute about him. The endless chatter, the childish whimsy, the way that a grown man in the modern day referred to her as ‘miss’ for so many weeks until finally confessing that he’d forgotten her name…

It should be annoying. It was annoying. But the longer it went on, the more she realized that it wasn’t some joke that hadn’t let up. He was really that earnest—unapologetically who he was, for the best and the worst.

It was… endearingly sincere. It was…unbelievably charming.

It had started like that. A bit of banter here and there, him introducing her to a lot of the other coworkers she now considered friends. Little sticky notes that he’d left on the edge of her cubicle with drawings of bees on them. That little ‘crush’, that ‘interest’ had slipped beneath her skin without her noticing. Only a few months ago she’d finally concluded that that ‘interest’ was romantic.

Every moment since then, the seconds they were alone felt as though there was an unresolved tension to them; she’d had a lot of daydreams to which she’d sooner die than confess.

But– that wasn’t his problem. He was her coworker and friend—anything beyond that wasn’t her choice to make.

Pomni’s wandering thoughts were pulled by the pitter of raindrops on the windshield, gradually picking up speed.

The restaurant’s front door finally opened again, and Caine stumbled his way back to the car, barely managing to hold onto both of their meals at once alongside his cane and wallet.

…wait a minute.

“Don’t tell me you seriously paid for both of us.”

“Why not?”

“—how much was mine?”

“I’m not telling you!”

He had the dumbest smile on his face.

“Caine, I have money, you don’t have to pay for me.”

“You’re driving me, I pay for food. Consider it as covering the electricity bill.”

It quickly became apparent that it was pointless arguing it any further. He didn’t even have the receipt—he likely chucked it before exiting the building, specifically because he knew she’d have this reaction. So off they sped, the rain turning to a delicate drum roll.

“Sorry to leave you sitting in the car for so long. Considering we were under the same phone number, I figured I could just pick up both.”

“It’s alright… I figured you just wanted me to keep the car running since it’s so cold out right now. I should’ve given you money before you ran in–“

Caine waved his hand, shrugging.

“What, I’m just trying to treat you! It’s Valentines’ Day—I can bear the expense.”

“But that’s like..a date thing! It feels like I’m obligated now.”

“Pomni, you’re speeding up.”

“-Oh my god.”

The rain had picked up to a substantial downpour, and she had lost some focus on the road. Thankfully, they hadn’t hydroplaned, although the thought briefly came to her that maybe it’d be better to crash and not have to continue the conversation.

“Jesus, the rain’s so thick you can barely see through it. Your apartment isn’t too far from here, right?”

He was trying to be lighthearted, but the car swerving just before had clearly left him a little rattled.

“It could be safer just to eat this stuff in the car and finish the drive there when the rain lets up.”

“We’re just like a few roads over, it’ll be fine.”

“Oh-Okay. By the way, do you have an umbrella in the back seat?”

Pomni almost slammed her head into the steering wheel, if not for the fact that might threaten the car to swerve again.

She did not have an umbrella in her car.

She’d left it at the office, bringing it in because of how stormy it’d looked that morning. But since nothing happened, and she’d gotten preoccupied with all of…this, it was still abandoned next to her desk.

“Nope. No umbrella. I’m afraid we’ll have to book it in—I left the damn thing.”

She pulled into the parking lot, not in a spot as close to her apartment as she would have liked, but not miles away at least.

“That’s fine– I don’t know if it’d help much in these circumstances, to be honest.”

They both unbuckled, Caine taking off his outer coat and getting the wrist strap of his cane on. Pomni reached into the back seat, bringing both of their bags to the front.

“Why did you take your coat off?”

“Figured you could put it over your head or something.”

Her confusion was palpable, and he picked that up from her facial expression.

“-you can bring the food in. You have the apartment keys, and I’ll be slower on getting up anyway. I can take our bags if you can’t carry both.”

“-I can carry them, it’s fine-“

“-But then you’d be the one carrying everything!”

Pomni ducked towards the door, hoping that he couldn’t see how frazzled she was.

This was all so corny! Giving the girl your coat, paying for her dinner…ugh! She was here to watch shitty rom-coms, not live through one!

She pulled the coat somewhat over her head, carrying the food in one arm and her keyring in the other. Caine gathered up the bags, hyping himself up to hop out the side door of the car into the pouring rain.

The experience could be described as no less than a torrential monsoon. Caine had been very much right in his assessment: an umbrella would have more than likely been inverted the second it was opened in this weather.

The coat, sweet of a gesture as it was, felt as inconsequential as a water balloon chucked directly into the sun’s surface.

Pomni tried to go as fast as she could to make it under the apartment awning, but the heels that were a part of the professional dress code meant she could only go so fast—lest she risk rolling her ankle and ruining all the food that he had just spent his money on. By the time she made it to said awning, she and the coat were completely soaked. The food not being completely drenched was a miracle.

It was freezing, and she was dripping, fumbling with her keys trying to open the apartment door, shivering all the while. The white blouse that was her office attire felt horrifyingly see-through wet–she needed to change into something else once she got inside.

Would that be rude? Changing into pajamas when you’re hosting other guests? Did she have extra clothes lying around that she could give him? What were the chances she owned any clothing that actually could fit him?

After what felt like minutes of fiddling, the key finally did its job, giving way to the quaint apartment space as she heard Caine coming up behind her.

“Should I…take off my shoes before coming inside?”

“There’s a bit of tile by the door, just leave them there. I’ll go get some towels and see if I have any dry clothes to change into.”

Pomni practically took out every towel she owned, with a particularly large beach towel getting some functionality it hadn’t seen in years. Caine loitered awkwardly by the door for a while, kicking his shoes off.

He finally moved onto the accumulating floor towels, taking a separate smaller one to dry off his head and feet. They’d left their shoes by the door—they both had to have been water-logged from sock to sole.

She continued digging in her room for any sort of spare clothing that she could have lying around. Unfortunately, living alone tends to mean most of the clothing there is in your size…and your size only. She’d changed into pajamas and new underwear, far more cozy than the soaking-wet office wear she’d already dumped into a laundry basket. She had something, surely…he didn’t deserve to stay on the floor all sopping and cold while she got to be nice and warm.

All she ended up being able to dig up was some pajama pants and a t-shirt that she’d gotten for Christmas a few years back, stuffed into the back of her bedroom dresser— she’d never gotten around to exchanging them for a pair her size, thankfully. She also got a bathrobe from her shower room. Just a little bit of additional comfort, considering she didn’t have extra underwear he could change into.

She more or less chucked them to him as she carried her own wet clothes to the dryer.

“Dry clothes! I can at least put the stuff you have on in the dryer..? Is that weird to offer?”

“Uh- Should I use your bathroom?” He balled up the clothing in his hands.

“…These aren’t yours, right? I don’t want to accidentally stretch-“

“—Never worn! Feel free to.”

He awkwardly shuffled himself off to change, while Pomni began unpacking the contents of their food. Because of the TV's placement in her living room, she usually just used the coffee table to eat. She took off some of the couch pillows and got more from the guest room to gather on the floor. Surely that wasn’t too bad? Sitting on the floor while eating is custom in some places…not just a habit of broke recent college grads.

In hindsight, giving him extra clothing was probably the strangest decision she could’ve made. It had been a spur-of-the-moment idea, more just her thinking about being able to tumble their clothes for a while during dinner, but– that wasn’t a thing most friends just casually offered each other, was it?

Caine emerged, with the pajamas surprisingly fitting him quite well. If anything, the pants seemed a little long on him.

“...Is it alright if I use your dryer for my office clothes?”

“Yeah, I’m tumbling my own. That was kind of the thought with the extra clothes.”

He seemed comfortable enough with that, dropping the bundle of wet into the dryer alongside hers—even going back to grab his socks he’d left by the door and throw them in as well.

“I’m surprised that those clothes actually fit you.”

“I’m surprised as well—and they’re very soft.” He chuckled. “Perhaps I should buy pajamas from the women’s section from now on.”

Pomni took the unpacked Chinese food from the kitchen, spreading it out on the coffee table.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, the sizing in the women's section is atrocious. The pants are weirdly tight sometimes, too. I’ve had to return so many pajama sets because of that.”

“-as in, tight on the upper leg, or the waist?”

“Suffocating on the ass. Like the thing’s trying to turn itself into a pair of underwear.”

He nearly keeled over with what sounded more like a violent coughing fit.

After a minute or so,Pomni found herself laughing as well—the atmosphere was infectious.

Warm clothes, good laughs, and (hopefully still) hot food…the evening was shaping up to be enjoyable.

They finally got around to eating, clicking through the romance section of every streaming service she had. Caine wrote down the most notable ones on a napkin so they could go back to them later.

“Why is a movie called ‘Bigfoot Comedy Cruise’ in the romance section?”

Another scribble down on the napkin.

After not finding the specific breed of awful they were looking for, they turned to Bollywood categories, and general B-movie selections, even googling on the side for the absolute worst of the worst to see if they could play it. They could barely focus on eating, with one or the other almost breaking into giggles every couple of minutes over a dumb movie title or recognizing the same actor from a bit of browsing ago. Finally, the napkin was covered practically front to back in jittery handwriting, with the only remaining duty being narrowing down the comprehensive list.

A loud crack of thunder made Pomni jump. The lights flickered briefly in turn.

“I think we should watch every Hallmark movie with a shared actor and gradually make the convoluted story of this man’s life.”

“I’m still gunning for ‘Bigfoot Comedy Cruise’. It’ll have to be a strong argument to convince me otherwise.”

Caine clicked the pen shut, pointing at a series of movies written on this list.

“Okay, so this one has the guy as a construction worker, it seems to be Autumn. But in this one, he’s a toy maker-Wintertime. But, next winter, he’s the bad guy–anti-Christmas CEO. Something happened between these two films.”

Another bright flash of lightning cracked outside her window, followed closely by the bang of thunder.

“So the story is that a guy gets a bunch of odd jobs while hooking up with dozens of newly single women?”

“The most romantic plot you could ask for.”

Suddenly the room was plunged into an absolute pitch-black state. You could hear the rain continuing to pour outside. The TV had also clicked off, and Pomni could hear the dryer come to a halt.

He struggled to hold in another fit of laughter.

“Did the fucking power go out?”

“Of course it did. Why wouldn’t it, Pomni. This the day we’re having.”

She stood up, blindly navigating around the living room and making her way back towards her master suite.

“There’s a big camping flashlight in my closet somewhere. I’m going to try to find it.”

“Do you want me to use my phone as a flashlight back there?” Or just open the curtains a little?”

She didn’t answer, already busy trying to figure out where exactly her closet was.

She’d lived in this apartment for how long now? Of course, this had to be the first time she’d ever had a power outage. She’d just have to keep rolling with the punches as they came—it wasn’t like the rain had let up any.

Seemed it was going to be an ‘awkward sleepover’ kind of Valentines’ Day.

After digging around a bit, she finally hit the handle working her hand around the bins. She went to flick it on and nearly blinded herself with the beam that practically reflected off the wall with how bright it was. She clicked it off again, not particularly enjoying her eyes hurting.

“Found it!”

She got up and went to make her way back to the living room.

“This thing is stupid bright, it should kee- fUCK!“

An ear-splitting pain shot through her left leg, sending her spiraling to the floor. In the moment, she couldn’t help but scream—at least from pure shock. She’d twisted her damn ankle on the doorframe to her bedroom.

“Pomni? Are you alright in there?” She could hear Caine get up in the other room, shuffling around in the dark. Meanwhile, all she could do was lay on the carpet, stretching her ankle.

“Did you trip on the bed frame or something?”

His silhouette was visible at the end of the hallway, making his way over.

He stumbled slightly, decking his shoulder on the entryway with a yelp of pain. He tried catching himself, but in trying to grab at the wall, had dropped the cane, leaving him crumbling under the weaker of his legs.

He barely managed to not land directly on top of her, instead falling a couple of feet away from where she was lying.

He cursed a bit through gritted teeth.

“Ow—it seems that my leg twisted a bit there.”

Now they were both on the floor in pain, and the realization of it all made Pomni break down into a fit of exasperated laughter.

“Well, we’re both on the floor now. Did I end up chucking the flashlight down there when I tripped?”

“I don’t know-“

He crawled around a bit, passing his hands over the floor and along the bottom of the walls.

“I can feel my cane, I’m practically sitting on it…oh!”

He lifted the flashlight, holding it above his head in celebration.

“Found it!”

He turned it on, blasting Pomni in the face with the military-grade beams. She didn’t even have time to shield her eyes.

“Jesus Christ, watch where you’re aiming that thing!”

“O-Oh my god, I’m so sorry—“

“That thing could kill a small child with how bright it is.”

They both were falling over themselves with giggles.

He pointed it up to the ceiling, using the ambient glow to find the cane he’d left discarded. Pomni finally clambered to her feet, with them both returning to the living room (and their meal).

The thick flashlight lit up the whole living room when pointed up towards the ceiling, the warm light contrasting the hum of the storm outside.

“Stuck in a coworker’s apartment due to the sudden onset of a torrential downpour, two singles find themselves in the middle of a power outage on Valentines’ Day—“

Caine’s theatrical ‘movie trailer’ voice couldn’t help but make Pomni snicker a bit.

“—It’s like its own shitty Valentines’ film. Call it ‘Murphy’s Law.’”

He ate a few more bites of lo mein.

“Hey, I haven’t gotten food poisoning, so that’s going well.”

“Why the hell would you say that? Now you’ve jinxed it.”

She could barely make out his doofy smile at her comment.

He bounced his right knuckle against the coffee table.

“Fine, fine, knock on wood.”

They sat in silence for a while, just focusing on eating the food that had now gotten slightly cold. The gentle roar of the rain outside was hypnotic—Pomni felt herself growing more sleepy by the minute.

Caine leaned back against the base of the couch, looking up at the flashlight casting on the ceiling. His expression was so gentle…it made her emotions flutter up inside her stomach. She supposed his comment earlier was right. The whole thing just continued to play out like a silly rom-com. But, that was just a joke; she wasn’t going to overstep a boundary like that just because of a series of coincidences.

But it all had started to feel less like coincidences, and some of the stuff that made her the most flustered wasn’t coincidental at all.

“I…I guess you’re right.”

“Hm?”

Pomni finally spoke, just to stop marinating in her thoughts.

“You’re right—It could be a lot worse. I mean, looking back, I could’ve crashed the car and we would’ve had to walk back here in the rain.”

“You almost did. Scared the bejesus out of me when you swerved like that.“

She picked at the little that was left of her food. Her hands were certainly shakier than they had been earlier.

“-Oh, but if we’d crashed, we could find ourselves lost in the rain, and stumble upon a dimly lit manor, with no choice but to wander inside for the night~”

“And then we get killed by an evil doctor with a chainsaw?”

Caine tilted his shoulders, snickering a bit to himself.

“Mmm…one of us would be seduced by an evil doctor, and the other Frankenstein’s monster. Then, after a night of scandalous rendezvousing, a pair of aliens kill the doctor and creature—leaving us abandoned in lingerie at the side of the road.”

Pomni blinked slowly.

“…did you make that up on the spot, or is it a movie reference I’m missing?”

“Oh, come on!” He slapped the table lightly. “You invited me over to watch crappy B-Movies and you’ve never seen Rocky Horror?”

“What kind of horror movies are you watching?!”

“it’s Musical theatre!!”

The argument quickly devolved into cachinnation from there.

“That has to be the stupidest movie plot I think I’ve ever heard in my entire life-“

“-The music is good! Who cares about the plot when a CD of the soundtrack is this good?”

“You have the soundtrack burned on a CD?”

“I did it when I was like 15-16, don’t knock me that hard! Don’t tell me you don’t have any weird songs or posters lying around from when you were a teenager.”

“No, no, it’s just that—I dunno, the plot just seemed really raunchy for something you’d have burned on a CD in your house somewhere.”

“It’s not that bad! —well. It is that bad. But! There’s a really good song sequence during that!”

“..I can’t believe that you of all people would be trying to convince me of the fidelity of a film with musical number sex scenes.”

Caine emitted a sound somewhere between a laugh and an exasperated sigh.

“Pomni, I swear to god; when the power comes back on I’m showing you Rocky Horror. I’m not leaving before you see this movie, you are going to know what I’m talking about-“

A loud crack of thunder cut him off. He looked around a bit and slowly came to his feet.

“What is it?”

He rubbed his hands together.

“Don’t you think it’s gotten kind of cold in here? I mean, the power went out how long ago?”

“Oh.” It had gotten pretty nippy. “Yeah, it’s definitely colder than before the lights shut off.”

That wasn’t much of a surprise—the heater must have gone out with the power.

“Do you have any blankets in a closet or something? If you’re done with eating, we can move the coffee table and get some pillows and stuff together and make a nest of sorts.”

“..a nest.”

“You know! Like a pillow fort you’d make as a kid.”

“I mean, I could grab the chairs in the kitchen and just try to make a fort.”

It was a silly proposition, but it had also been a very silly night. Caine’s face lit up at the sentence.

“-Really? Like, actually? I was just being comedically defensive, but..I haven’t done something like that since I was little-little.”

“Yeah- we could stack up the couch cushions and use the kitchen barstools. I have some old quilts and winter ‘just-in-case’ blankets lying around, and I could steal the remaining pillows off the guest bed. Might have a few extras in the closet, I dunno.”

Pomni looked over near the doorway, remembering her work bag.

“The power might be out, but my laptop’s not dead; I could try streaming movies with it since the TV doesn’t work.”

“Ah–oh, okay! That’s cool! What closet is everything in?”

“There’s only four doors in the hallway– the closet’s the door that isn’t the bathroom or the bedrooms.”

He shot a furrowed gaze back towards her.

“Well, okay—when you put it like that-“

She couldn’t hold in her laughter at the faux pouty expression.

Pomni gathered all the pillows for the most part, taking 4 from the couch, 2 from the guest room, and 3 more from her bedroom. The couch cushions made for a nice ‘corner’ setup, using the chairs to box in the two cushions on the sides of the third. A blanket draped over the chairs above, and a plethora more gathered up in the little nook—it was a pretty comfortable spot.

It was also…fairly cramped. She sat wrapped up with the computer in her lap, pulling up the streaming apps like she had on the TV. But now, Caine was more or less leaning into her, propping himself up with a hand on the ground behind her back.

It was enough to make a girl scream. Hell, they were sharing a blanket or two. If there was more company present, like Ragatha, or Gangle, it would have had a cozy ‘childhood sleepover’ sort of feeling. But just being alone like this, it felt rather…

“So you actually got internet on this thing still. Hm.” He tilted his head, amused.

“Yep. Oh…kay, I’ve got all the stuff from earlier back up on here.”

The arm that Caine had been propping up on curled about Pomni’s side, gesturing to the screen. She flinched a little, with his hand barely grazing her waist.

“So are we doing Rocky Horror first, or original plan first? I’ll probably need to find that napkin I wrote everything down on-“

He looked over, seeing that Pomni was still trembling somewhat. The little touch had sent a sharp shiver up her spine, and she tilted the screen down, hoping that that would mask the vermillion that shot across her face.

He lowered his hand back down and tried leaning around, just a little closer to her.

“…Pomni? Are you..okay?”

“Yeahh yeah yeah yeah yeah I’m fine, sorry! Just had a little ghost chill there-“

He pulled his arm back around to his lap, changing stance so that his shoulder leaned into the couch base. His expression had gotten a bit downtrodden.

“I’m not making you uncomfortable, am I? Forgive me, uh- I’m not too good at reading people’s emotions sometimes. I’ve upset more than a few people because I kept going after not picking up on their subtleties, and I’d rather not do that to you as well.”

If she could picture it, Pomni imagined that her blush had just shot up three times in intensity. Her fingers shook at the edge of the laptop, just barely holding it in place.

“No, no—not at all! It’s very sweet that you ask that, but I’m… fine-“

Words continued to just fall out of her mouth, like the most embarrassing leaky faucet.

“-I’m fine, it—it’s just that, uhm…well, it feels a little..funny. Y’know, it’s Valentines’ Day and all, and we’re kind of…kind of snuggled up like this, and you’re really close to me and I’m really close to you-“

Caine’s eyes widened slightly, and he scooted himself an inch from her—not that he had much of anywhere to go. His pupils darted from her to the floor, and back up at her. Pomni could feel her stomach plummet through the apartment floor.

“Oh! Oh- okay, I- I get it, I apologize, really— truly, sincerely. I wasn’t meaning to give you the implication that I was...I’m sorry, you must think I’ve been super creepy. You didn’t mean for this to be a romantic thing, and- I’ve probably been giving you that implication. I’m so, so sorry.”

His eyes just pointed down towards the ground, occasionally flicking over towards her, him wringing his hands in his lap.

His hands seemed shaky as well, and each breath had grown staggered and heavy.

She gently sat down the laptop, kneeling over to plant her face in her hands. It was frankly shocking that her cheeks didn’t burn a fever temp with how mortified she felt.

‘You never meant for this to be a romantic thing’ but she did! She wanted it to be and was trying so hard not to make it like that! It ‘wasn’t a romantic thing’, but god, she wished it was.

Maybe it was? Was that statement a confession, maybe? He’d covered her meal, gave her his jacket to run out in the rain, went to check on her when she’d fallen in the hallway—had proposed this stupid little fort thing that had put them in such close proximity. And now that she’s brought attention to it, he’d entirely shifted, a lighthearted and extroverted demeanor immediately turning inwards and nervous.

Was it? Was it just her being delusional? Wishful thinking? Or was all that intentional—even orchestrated to put her in this exact circumstance? He’d been the one who came in during her lunch break, moping about having no plans for the afternoon and generally having a downer of a day.

Was it presumptuous to think that maybe… he’d agreed to this with the same thought process that pushed her to initially propose it?

It felt like her palms might start to collect drool. The pang of each heartbeat made her head shake.

Caine leaned over slightly, pushing himself up in almost a crawl, trying to look over at her face.

“…hey…pompom? Are you— are you alright…are you upset at me? If you...if you need me to leave, I’ll leave. I don’t-“

She lifted her head slightly out of her hands, and the light of the laptop cast enough of a glint on her face to make out the pink crossing her cheek and brow. It was only visible for a second; she immediately shifted her face back away from him, covering it further with her hands.

She swallowed loudly.

“You’re such a moron, Caine.”

He could feel himself break out in a near-immediate fever, sitting fully up.

“…huh? W—huh? Wait, no, nonono..”

All he could manage was a collection of stuttered noises, each less resembling a word.

“Ah,, but..that’d—no, that’s..”

Pomni finally turned back to him, dropping her hands from her face.

He had moved more to sitting on his knees, almost covering his mouth with a hand.

His eyes darted off when she tried to make contact, the usually bright blue and green of his retinas subdued in the room’s darkness. In the dim glow of the laptop, it was clear he was also blushing—it was worse than how she looked.

She reached up, taking his wrist and pulling the hand away from his mouth. Raising forward to her knees, she pulled closer to him, gathering both of his hands in her own.

He was the quietest she’d ever seen him, barely whimpering out a few words.

“…you can’t be-”

She closed her eyes, turning her head just slightly. He was breathing heavily in staggered gasps—his breath slightly brushing against her face.

“-you can’t be serious.”

She let go, leaning forward and taking his jaw in both hands.

“..I’m serious.”

She fell into him. Or he fell into her. Either way—there was now an overlap in their bodies where there had been none before.

Caine’s balance fell back with how her weight had shifted into him, his back slamming into one of the propped-up couch cushions. It almost made the chair it was propped on topple over, with him grabbing the bottom rung to stabilize himself.

Pomni hung her arms sleepily over his shoulders, gripping a part of the T-shirt with a white-knuckled grip.

His mouth was warm, her tongue barely pressing through his parted teeth. His hand hovered just above her waist, fingers twitching.

He was leaning into her fully, trying to recenter his weight—she could feel his heartbeat pounding with each pulse against her chest.

She pulled out of the kiss, just barely, taking one hand out from behind him, setting it on his, and guiding it the rest of the way into her waist. Their eyes opened a little, but only half-way at most.

“..what is it? Are you scared to touch me?”

Her fingers lightly tapped on his hand, which was still shaking where it held.

Caine sat up a little and leaned forward. His eyes were almost black with how dilated they were; his head nodding lazily like he was too drugged to keep it upright.

The hand he’d been using to balance came up, snaking under her shirt, tightly holding just below her rib cage. He pressed forward into her, lifting on his knees slightly to put his head above hers. It was forcing Pomni to lean back, almost in a dip position with how her spine bent.

Full force, no hands barred. As if he could tear her open and make himself home. A bit of overexcitement, breaking the skin on her lower lip with bit-down teeth. Not letting up, even as blood entered his mouth. It was aggressive, almost unlike him—desperately pressing and pulling at any part of her he could reach.

She grasped tightly on his hair, elbows crooked about his neck and forearms leaned against the back of his head.

It must’ve only been a minute, but it felt like several hours. Just held there, in the gentlest of hands, which nervously curled over each inch of skin. She imagined that she must’ve stopped breathing, just falling deeper into his body—even her mind had gone completely quiet.

Possibly, for the first time in her whole life.

He suddenly pushed off, breaking away from her. He even scooted back, awkwardly scrambling to his feet. He cupped one hand in front of his mouth.

Pomni could feel her heart sink, the blood completely leaving her face.

“Caine? What’s-“

He staggered over, eventually propping himself up on the kitchen counter.

She could feel the start of tears welling up somewhere behind her eyes, slowly coming to her feet and walking over.

“…Are you alright? Was I- was I too forward, did I misinterpret-“

His eyes were atom-thin, gripping his chest.

“No, no I’m- it’s nothing with you. It- my heart feels like it’s beating so fast, it’s making my ears ring. It doesn’t...I don’t feel-“

He pushed forward, practically shoving her to the side.

He’d gotten up for a reason. Kneeling over, he threw up into the bin.

Pomni rushed back towards the bathroom. There were still some small hand towels she hadn’t used up earlier.

She ran one under the sink, wetting it and wringing it out.

He had sat down next to the trash can he’d thrown up in, clutching his knees.

“Here” she handed the washcloth over to him. “To wash your face off. If you need, I can get another to put on your neck-“

“..yeah, if you could.”

Go back, get another. There was some mouthwash left in the medicine cabinet, she brought that back as well. It took a couple of minutes for him to finally move from his spot, rinsing his mouth out in the kitchen sink.

He went back to where they’d been earlier, sipping water while resting his head on her shoulder. He was avoiding her eyes.

He sighed.

“I feel the need to apologize again.”

“You’re the one who threw up—I understand. So much for the no food poisoning bit, though.”

“No, that wasn’t—“ he took a deep breath.

“I was just…so nervous.”

Pomni looked over, seeing his eyes cast down to the floor.

“I don’t think I’ve actually kissed anyone before. Not seriously, not like..that. I really had…I’d come to grips with the fact that I wasn’t going to be attractive to other people. Not physically, anyway—probably not emotionally, either. And then, I’m proven wrong…maybe.”

“What..? Why maybe?”

“I don’t know. Just a sinking feeling; maybe Jax put you up to this, or something like that. I just know that I’m not anybody’s first choice, usually.”

She glanced down at his hands, folded neatly in his lap.

“I liked it. It felt good, even. Really good. I could’ve stayed like that forever. But that thought kind of hit me—it felt wrong that I should be here, doing that…with you.”

“-So you see me as out of your league?”

“I…guess that’s how you’d word it. That feeling made me start to think I was- that I was having an experience that wasn’t mine to have. That I was unsightly, even. Disgusting with how much I wanted to stay in that feeling. Like I was committing some unforgivable sin, and that any moment, the hammer would come down. Death row, gallows, the whole nine yards.”

“And that-“

“—I panicked. I didn’t want to, but it felt like every inch of me was firing off a million miles a second, and I could hear my heart pounding in my head faster and faster and faster. It was so nauseating, that…I guess it made me physically sick.”

They sat in silence for a minute or so. Pomni reached over, and took one of the hands in his lap, intertwining her fingers with his own–letting their arms droop to the small space between them.

After a few seconds, his grip tightened around her hand.

“You haven’t done anything wrong, and nobody put me up to this.”

He lifted her eyes slightly, matching hers.

“…this has…”

She took a deep breath, almost laughing out of sheer nervousness.

“…this has been going on for easily a couple of months now. Every time we were alone, every little gift and compliment that was thrown my way, made me feel like I was breaking out in hives.

I wasn’t going to be the one to ‘ruin’ a perfectly good friendship—one that you likely didn’t have interest in being anything more than that. So… I tried to keep every reaction subdued as I could, to pretend that I didn’t crave anything further whenever we were by ourselves.”

His fingers tapped lightly on the back of her hand.

“I was dreading this whole afternoon. Being stuck with the person that I couldn’t say anything to, couldn’t act on any impulses, for fear of ‘ruining’ it.

And then, you…you said that I probably wasn’t meant for this to be romantic. That, you were probably giving that kind of implication. And you apologized for it. For…making me feel cornered in a romantic situation when all I ever wanted was to be in that corner.”

After a brief silence, Caine snorted a bit, laughing through his nose.

“So you were dealing with that all evening? I’m surprised you didn’t crack sooner.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“…I know you usually split 50/50 on meals. I know that it isn’t unusual for friends to spend Valentines’ together. I know that it’s a silly movie trope to give a girl your jacket so that she doesn’t get rained on. To change in somebody’s bathroom. To hang out at someone’s apartment like this.”

He smiled, although a bit sadly.

“I just…wanted to tease you a little, I guess. Poke at the hypothetical apple of good and evil I knew I couldn’t have. Play along, pretend a bit—Like that you knew about my feelings already, or that this was always a romantic thing to begin with.”

“And then the power went out and you threw up in a trash can after making out with the girl of your dreams.”

“…yeah.”

Pomni laughed lightly, raising her arm to look at their clasped hands.

“Is all that why you reached around me when I was doing stuff on the laptop?”

“..no. That was accidental, actually.”

She spun her head to him, who looked like he was on the verge of cracking another smile.

“Seriously? So you ‘accidentally’ brushed my waist there? And didn’t realize how close you were getting to me? You were practically cheek-to-cheek with me.”

“My personal space understandings aren’t the greatest. Is there such a thing as a physical Freudian slip?”

She sighed.

“…Caine, you really are a moron. I just hope you know that.”

“I’m aware. The most aware I’ve ever been, actually.”

They had cuddled up together over the course of the conversation, with one of the blankets now wrapping both of them. The laptop had long since been shut and sat to the side—she couldn’t think of when that happened. Maybe when they were making out?

His gaze drifted gently across the floor.

“Well...what now?”

“..? What do you mean, what now?”

He lifted her hand in front of him, now clasping it in both of his.

“Like- is this..are we ‘a thing’ now? The kiss, confession, everything, was that a ‘last-ditch-confession-before-I-never-see-this-guy-again’ kind of deal or an ‘it’s-Valentines-day-so-sure-I’ll-humor-it’ kind of thing..or genuinely a serious ‘please-will-you-be-my-boyfriend-soulmate-whatever’ scenario? Just so I…don’t get the wrong idea, moving forward.”

“-Do I need to ask you formally? I thought the relationship thing was..kind of clear. Considering everything I just said, at least.”

“…Is that a yes?”

“I would literally make out with you again, right now, if you hadn't vomited less than an hour ago.

Does that answer your question?”

Wow–he really did blush easily. Add another item to the list of his best qualities.

Was it only with his guard down that he could get flustered like this? She was a bit disappointed she hadn’t gotten to see something like this sooner.

“Really? But- why? Why? I mean, I’ve kind of already gone over it, but…I have the charisma of a semi-truck, I have a hyper fixation on old cartoons that barely even exist anymore, I can’t shut up if someone had a gun to my head, I have the soundtrack for Rocky Horror Picture Show burned on a CD somewhere in my house!

I was too nervous to make the first move in any sense of the imagination, I have this stupid fucked-up leg that I have to carry a mobility aid everywhere with me because of it, it just…why? Why on all of God’s green Earth would you choose me? Me, of all people, to hopelessly pine after.

For Christ’s sake, I have a brother in the same building as me with a better build, more money, who actually knows how to talk to people without sounding like a total crackpot!”

“—It’s because you have the charisma of being hit with a bus, and the fact that you can’t shut up. You have this light-hearted gait—I’ve practically memorized what you sound like coming down the hall from your footsteps. You’re just—

…you’re warm. You’re funny, even when you’re not. You’re so sweet, just- bending over backward constantly for people who never asked you to, me included. You want to see people smile and do so much to try to make that happen. It’s so easy to be happy around you, to be comfortable, to feel…safe. Your blind optimism is infectious, and your laugh makes me want to laugh with you.

I genuinely feel happier when I’m around you. It feels- it feels good to be right next to you like this. It makes me feel warm— warm and fuzzy.”

Caine paused a bit, eyes wide. The smallest of smiles fleeted across his face, and he sunk into this charmed expression. ‘Stupidly infatuated’ was the only way Pomni could think to describe it.

The power suddenly kicked back on, the lights clicking to life–akin to staring directly at the sun. She stumbled over to the light switch, squinting, and went to turn off the lights again. They’d been in the dark so long that she was used to it now; plus, it gave a little cozy romantic atmosphere to everything.

She was happy to hear the heater hum to life again, though.

Caine had gone back to laughing like he usually did, having briefly screamed when the lights blinded him.

“Keeping the lights off?”

“Yeah, and turning the dryer back on. It’s more ambient.”

He stood up, putting her laptop back in the bag.

“Guess we can continue with the evening then? Crappy movies and all?”

“Crappy movies especially.”

Well past one in the morning, they had worn down for the night, collapsed on the couch cushions spread across the floor, and curled up into each other. It had shifted from a play date to more of a date date, but the atmosphere more or less remained the same. They were still the same people, she supposed—just people that had made out one time. And probably would again. Hopefully.

Caine ran a hand through her hair, brushing his thumb along the curve of her ear. He was on the verge of passing out himself.

Pomni was barely awake, head against his chest.

“…This has probably been the best Valentines’ Day I’ve had, you know. And it’s your fault…”

He barely opened his mouth to speak, the words coming out as mostly a whisper.

“It’s probably the worst Valentines’ I’ve had as well. Funny how that works.”

She tilted her head a little, planting a kiss against the bottom of his jaw.

“..Thanks for making this the best-awful Valentines’ Day of all time.”

She squeezed him a little bit in a hug.

“‘Mm-hm.”

“I love you, sweetheart.” He shuffled a bit, his hand pausing on its course. “...I feel like I could say that until my throat gives out. And then I’d probably still keep trying to say it. Good night, dear.”

She moved, tucking her head against his neck, and pushing a leg between his two.

“…Good Night, Caine. Happy Valentines’ Day.”

#tadc showtime #showtime tadc #showtime shipping #showtime ship #showtime #pomni x caine #caine x pomni #tadc #the amazing digital circus #not mine

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