#but like. ohh man. the idea of getting to walk around and write poetry and stories and meet new people is so romantic to me

[lighthouseas]

if only things did not cost money and i was also not a huge coward

[arthurflecksgirl]

Hello 💖

May I please have Arthur x Reader? They get into a fight and reader is so stressed that they get overheated and ends up passing out? Like their pulse is fast and out cold for a few hours. Thanks chu 💫✨⭐

Hiiiii hun, I missed you! ❤ Of course. Its always a pleasure. Here is the result and I reallyyyyyyy hope you like it.❤

Arthurs hand in yours felt warm and familar. It was the only thing to hold onto in this cold, dark world, especially here in Gotham city. Walking through those crowded streets usually wasnt fun. But today he was by your side. The two of you together. Hand in hand. There was nothing in this world you needed more. Even though it was just a regular day, there was that moment of pure happiness.

You just came back from Arthurs appointment with his new therapist and she seemed so much nicer than Dr Kane. She even allowed you to be present for the whole time, because Arthur was more than nervous about meeting her for the first time. He didnt had  any good experience with his former ones. Arthur wished for someone to listen. Now that he was with you, he always had someone to talk to. But he still wanted to go to therapy, he wanted to get better and he needed to go there,to get his meds.

Arthur was very toughtful with his medication. Sometimes he took one more pill in the hope to find some sleep, but besides that he was trying his best to take his meds like he should. He knew it was important to talk about his thoughts and he felt the need to do so.

The new doctor seemed nice and asked him to start a brand new journal. She thought it was time to let the old diary go. It was nothing more but bad memories of loneliness and with you on his side, his lonely times were finally over .  Arthur smiled when Dr. Tyler told him so. He liked the idea of a new journal. So you both went into the city to get him a new one.

Arthur sqeezed your hand while he held his new diary with the other. It was dark red, his fave color. "I`ve got lots and lots of blank pages now" he said.

"Yes, I bet they will be filled with some new jokes tonight?" you blinked at him, which almost made him blush. It was so easy to make him blush. He was so innocent at heart.

"Nahh I think I will write some poetry tonight, especially for you."

"Oh Artie, you`re the sweetest"

"Dont say that before you read the poems" he laughed.

"I know they`re going to be beautiful"

He pressed his new diary to his chest "I dont know....sometimes I think I`m not good with words. I mean, besides from joking. Its hard to put my feelings into words. Especially love. I mean. I feel it. I feel so much of it. Too much actually. Its so much it feels like the words and letters are too tiney to fit all these emotions in them because the emotions are like....endless... and....." he looked at you and  noticed the grin on your face "See? Thats what I mean. I am not good in this. At all."

"It was actually pretty impressive".

A shy smile crossed his thin lips "Thank you, honey".

You felt happy for him. Arthur appriciated the little things in life. Like holding hands or a brand new journal. A poem.

Life in Gotham was often overwhelming but hand in hand you both created your own little world. You made the universe as small as you wanted to.

You just crossed the street as you noticed a very small man being kicked by a puff looking dude. Arthur immediately noticed. He knew these kinda situations too well.

"Arthur look, what is happening over there?"

He let go of your hand and ran up to them "Oh my god, thats Gary!"

He was a fast runner and it was almost impossible to be as fast as he. The traffic got in the way  and for a second he was out of sight.

"Arthur?!"

He waved for you to come over.

He was kneeing down at Garys "Gary, my god, are you okay? Did he hurt you?" His workmate tried to get up "Its okay Art, I think I`m fine. Maybe a broken a bone or two".

"You are joking right?" Arthur seemed confused. Sometimes he couldnt tell if someone made a joke or not.

"His bones are not the only ones getting broken today" the muscular guy laughed.

"Excuse me, what?" Arthur got up but not before making sure Gary was able to walk.

"You heard me, you clown. Thats what you both are, right? Fucking clowns. I saw you working for HaHas."

Arthur took a step closer "So what?"

You took his hand "Arthur , I think we should go home right now"

Gary was standing right next to you, holding his arm, a painful look on his face.

Arthur focused the stranger "No. I mean, my friend was just attacked by this guy and I really want to know why".

A cruel smile formed on the attackers face "Because I felt like it, clown boy. I mean look at this freak" he pointed at Gary.

There was something in Arthurs eyes you havent seen before "Dont ever call him a freak again. He is my  friend!"

"Awwwww" the tall guy yelled "Sweet" and just as he said so, he punshed Artthur in the face. Bloods of drop dripped down his nose.

"Ohhh clwon boy got a red nose. How tragic!"

Your touched Arthurs cheek "Oh my god, are you okay? Baby?"

The attacker couldnt stop laughing "Baby! Hahaha. Yeah . Thats what he is" and his fist punshed Arthur right into the stomach. Arthur fell down on his knees, bending forward from pain. Gary whimpering in the background. This was all too much.

Arthur pulled his gun.

The stranger took two steps back "Calm down, pal."

"Leave now or you will see what clown boy can do" Arthur coughed while the blood was running down his nose.

"Arthur, don`t. He`s not worth it" Gary cried behind you.

You almost forgot how crowded this street was. But no one seemed to notice. No one ever seemed to care here in Gotham city.

The attacker turned around and ran away. Arthurs gun disappeared in his pocket.

Watching him pulling out his gun was too much for you.  You almost thought he would do something.

"Arthur you almost...." you felt the heat floathing your body. It was uncomfortable.

"No, I didnt. I only wanted to scare him. Its not even loaded."

His words should have camled you down but it was already to late for that. Your pulse was racing from stress. And the moment Arthur took you in his arms , your vision started to blurr.

The next thing you remembered was waking up on Arthurs couch. His huge, green blanket covering your whole body.

Arthurs curls tickeling your nose. The familiar smell of Prell shampoo and his cigarettes.

You were home.

How did you got here?

You tried to recall what happened.

Gary.

There was an attacker and Arthur got into a fight with him.

You tried to remember more but everything seemed like a dream you forgot the minute you woke up.

"Darling?" you said with a sleepy voice while you felt Arthurs arms tight around your body.

"I`m here, Y/N. I`m right here. You are home. Everything is okay."

"I cant remember...what happened....is Gary okay,too?"

"He is" Arthur whispered into your ear. You now noticed that quiet music was playing in the background.

He kissed into your hair "He got away with some scratches."

You turned your head to face him "You`re nose is hurt" you kissed the tip of his nose.

"Thats....nothing. I`ll be fine. The most important thing is how you feel. You passed out. "

"Ohh....thats why I cant remember anything...this happenes when I get stressed out".

Arthur stroke your hair "I`m so sorry, its my fault.I should`t have pulled out that fucking gun".

"You only wanted to protect Gary "

"Yeah...."

"Dont blame yourself,Arthur. " you rested your head on his chest "I cant even remember you bringing me home. "

"I carried you all the way home. You coudln`t walk."

"Oh my god..."

He pulled you even closer "Tell me if there is anything I can do...."

"Just hold me....and could you....could you please kiss my neck until I fall back to sleep? I feel like I need some rest...After I fell asleep you could start the first page of your journal and tomorrow you can show me the poems you wrote? That would be nice."

"Of course darling" Arthur placed his smirk right on the spot he knew so well, placing one kiss after another, one as gentle as the other.

You thought about the unwritten poetry and what he might write for you.

But for now his lips on your skin was the most beautiful poem ever written.

[axther]

Hi can I request a matchup?? I’m a 5’0 bi girl (preference for girls but guys are also cool!) i have short, dark hair and big brown eyes, and I never leave the house without trying to dress fashionably. I’m super bubbly and social, sometimes reckless and wild, I’m intellectually smart but a huge dumbass, and can’t help myself from smiling. I’m also depressed and hella self conscious so that’s fun! I like art, writing poetry and short stories, and theatre. Thank you so much!

Hi this took forever I am SO sorry. My ass Do be depressed and slow, and my brain said ‘haha writer juices EMPTY. WHORE’ so this definitely had me stumped   

#1 is...Neijre! 

Now I’m probably gonna key in on the reckless and wild part here

Because y’all met at a party probably!! 

Now we all know that Neijre is popular. 

Blunt but popular. 

So one day y’all are at someone’s ‘my parent’s aren’t home and I’m pretty sure that if I replace the vodka with water they won’t notice’ party. 

It’s going great!! 

People are wasted and Lady Gaga is blasting and the friend you came with ran off with a Ketsubutsu student 

You’re kind of tipsy

Tipsy enough that you don’t have the cognition to think through decisions 

So you’re standing next to this blue-haired cutie who you’re pretty sure you’ve seen before 

When someone bursts through the front door, screaming bloody murder about the police 

Naturally, they have everyone’s attention when an officer that definitely already called the paddy wagon 

So someone from the upstairs balcony hollers ‘scatter!!’ and you grab the hand of the first person you saw

Which was the blue-haired girl! 

And she seems surprised but she runs with it (literally)!! 

You two go upstairs, almost cornered, before hopping out a window 

You two are falling when she uses her quirk and helps your landing 

And then y’all make tracks for the fence line. 

By the time you two have ditched the house, it’s almost midnight 

And you guys are wandering around town 

The blue-haired girl’s heels are hanging off of one hand 

And the silence is filled with babbling between the two 

A gas station is the decided pit stop before you two part ways 

And you walk in to get some waters 

As you two sit on the curb, watching idiot light cigarettes and try to peel out of the station, she glances over

 There’s something magnetic about you 

And she can’t quite pin what 

But you’re always smiling 

And it’s the opposite of getting on her nerves

She wants to see it again and again 

She’s staring at her drink, thinking, before you present her with a handful of chicory flowers 

She realises that you must have picked them from the side of the road 

She’s bright red because, with all of her social expertise, she doesn’t even know your name. 

She doesn’t know if you’re into girls, if you’re trying to ask her out, if you’re just being nice…

She takes them, and before y’all know it, you’re both leaning in

And as she takes the flowers from your hands, you two kiss

Someone mumbles from one of the pumps that it’s just turned midnight 

Out of nowhere 

Your phone goes off 

And that’s when you jump out of the kiss, and your face falls into a mix of shame, fear, and sheepishness.

‘Sorry,’ you murmur. ‘This is my friend, she was at the party. I probably have to go. Are you going to be alright?’ 

Neijre can only mutely nod, still awestruck 

You begin to walk away, your friend audibly hollering at you from the other end of the line about bail

You look back every couple steps or so to make sure that Neijre is okay before you turn and walk out of sight 

And this begins something for Neijre that makes her hold her hands in her cheeks with a bright red blush 

The problem rises the next morning though

When she wakes up in her bed with a headache, she realises that she has no literal idea who you were 

So when she goes to class (because real thugs party on weekdays) she’s hugging the chicory flowers to herself 

She tells her story to Mirio 

Who tells it to Midoriya 

Who tells it to Ochako

Who tells it to Aoyama

Who tells it to-yeah, you get the idea 

So by lunch, the entire school is talking about Neijre’s Cinderella story, and about her kiss at midnight 

And what do you know? 

You hear it in your friend group from 1-D that Neijre got into a cop chase with a dashing stranger who she made out with on a bridge before being cruelly dumped 

And you’re just like ‘?????’ before asking where to find Neijre. 

They answer but don’t put two and two together that maybe you were the dashing stranger 

So later that day you go to the road to pick more chicories and add some speedwells in there, before going to hunt down Neijre. 

You’re standing at the entrance of school the next morning 

And it’s FAR too early for this 

But that’s what love does 

But anyway

You’re standing there

 With the flowers in hand 

And you stand there 

And stand some more 

And you’re standing there for two hours 

And you’re contemplating just bailing and finding her another time 

When you hear the loudest gasp 

You look up

And she’s standing there, hands covering her mouth and her eyes wide 

‘N-No way! It’s you!!’ 

She looks positively elated, and before you can do anything more 

She leaps forward and kisses you smack on the lips 

Sure people are staring 

But she just covers you in kisses, grinning giddily the entire time. 

She seriously had doubted that you would appear, ever again

And that midnight would seem like a summer dream 

Mirio would have to usher Tamaki with him inside because of how long it takes for you two to part 

It becomes the Cinderella story of U.A.

#2 is...Tooru! 

Listen 

This may be sad/punny 

But you make her feel seen 

You always make her feel involved

She understands that because of her quirk there is a bit of an obstacle in trying to involve her 

So whenever you look over and ask her opinion 

She feels really giddy!! 

It makes her blush, and for once, she feels grateful for the invisibility; you can’t see her light up like a Christmas tree. 

She daydreams about you a lot, and to be honest, it’s always really domestic. 

Yes, she may be a cuddle bug, but she wants to go grocery shopping with you and complain about how expensive milk has become 

And sometimes her daydreams will evolve into actual scenarios, including arguments. 

Every time it shifts, she gets kinda spooked and semi-avoids you for about an hour afterwards

The first time you guys really interacted was at the Sports Festival, during the race 

She was lagging a little bit behind because her quirk doesn’t really help 

So at one point, she gets tripped up (she has her uniform on, remember!) 

And she’s pretty sure that he knee is scraped 

But then this sweet little lady stops and notices Tooru holding her knee for a second. 

Tooru’s confused when the young woman looks around, before placing a hand over the wound. 

Tooru’s about to freak out before realising that the wound is gone, but instead, it’s on your knee now 

You give her a thumbs up and carry on, limping a bit now 

She can her Present Mic talking about it loudly, but she’s too busy getting back up and running to pay attention 

She makes it into the top ten (if I remember right) so after you congratulate her!

 With a high five!! 

She’s really giggly throughout the entire encounter and tries to subtly ask if you’re single 

Note that subtly is not really subtle 

So you have an invisible cutie coming for your kneecaps!! 

To kiss them better!! 

After you two begin to chat more

And she invites you to a lot of the extra 1-A outings! 

All the girls are super supportive of it and do their best to make some sort of shoujo situation out of it. 

If it rains then conveniently Tooru left her umbrella at the dorms!! Oh no!! 

Oh? Ochako has an extra that’s big enough to cover the entire class? 

Well then!! You and Tooru have to share 

(bakugou also forgot his umbrella, but as much as he complained to everyone else, he didn’t say a word to you and Tooru) 

The boys (like Bakugou) are a bit less wing-man-y, but they certainly are rooting for you! 

If Tooru wants to know your favourite colour, then chances are, Midoriya’s got it in his brain somewhere. 

If she needs help cooking your favourite meal, then Bakugou will bitch and whine while making sure she measures flour properly. 

And if she’s going on her first date? You bet your ass that Aoyama will be there, styling her. 

So when they see you two kiss for the first time (Tooru wore lipstick to make it easier to aim) everyone went ballistic. 

‘Fucking finally!’ 

‘Go Tooru-chan!!’ 

‘Congrats, kero.’ 

#3 is...Todoroki! 

j

Jealous boy 

He wants to be popular 

He noticed you after the sports festival (of course) 

And sees that you’re a little social butterfly. 

He wants what you have

You have all these people that flock to you for friendships, and you’re always smiling and goofing off

And yet you have fantastic grades 

So with a determined huff, he decides 

He’s gonna ask you to coach him in being a young socialite. 

So when he approaches you he feels really daunted 

You’ve got this crowd of people around you (in his eyes) 

And he thinks that you wouldn’t even notice him, probably 

However he forgets 

He is a half white half red angsty bastard who everyone saw and instantly parted like the red sea for 

So all you guys see is him glaring down at you

And you’re like ‘😰  whoop guess this is where i die” 

Someone’s asking if they can be in your will when Todoroki starts talking 

‘You’re loud. And friendly.’ 

Everyone’s expecting him to blast you to the moon for being loud 

When he goes into a ninety-degree bow

‘Please teach me, sensei.’ 

Everyone’s like the pic i sent you of Bibble 

It’s just AWESTRUCK

And  you’re like ‘ohh, you don’t wanna kill me? Dope!’ 

And that’s where his lessons begin 

You start off with telling him that his resting face made him look either constipated or pissed 

So he starts working on making sure that people know he has no ill intent 

And slowly but surely 

People approach him with invitations to parties for he himself to go to, not as a Todoroki, but as Shoto

And he’s absolutely ecstatic

He thanks you endlessly

But naturally this leads to something or the other for him

Because you gave him the chance he needed to be a teenager, for once 

And gradually he realises 

That’s he’s gotten a crush on you 

Now 

He’s a bit afraid, because he’s not had any good role models in terms of love

And baby boy doesn’t want to lose your friendship and trust if it doesn’t turn out 

He does get jealous 

But doesn’t say anything 

He just stares 

And at one point, after a cute Support student tried panning over their number, you notice todoroki staring at the ground, looking angry

You go up to him

‘Hey, are you okay? You look kinda upset.’ 

His head snaps up and he’s blinking down at you 

And he just feels really conflicted 

Because he assumed that it would be better if you just remained as friends for right now 

And that the best route would be just to keep you in his heart 

But when you look at him like that, he snaps 

‘May i talk to you in private?’ 

‘Sure. Is everything alright?’ You’ve got a nervous smile on your face as he drags you outside 

And once out there he just spills his heart out 

‘I understand that you and I are friends, and you are one of my closest friends. However, I’ve found myself feeling...different around you. I want to hug you, and ward off anyone that tries talking to you with romantic interest. When I first met you, I was jealous that you were so popular and kind, and that everyone loved you for who you were. But as you showed me more and more about how to be normal, I started getting jealous of everyone else, that they could be-’ 

And he goes on this speil and the entire time he is this 🤏 close to crying 

And he starts talking about his mother and how he’s scared he’s gonna end up the same way if he dates you 

You don’t want to cut him off

But he’s going on and on and on pouring out his emotions

So when he takes a second to catch his breath, you pop in 

‘I’m glad you’re talking to me, but I like you too. Hopefully, you’ll stop stressing a bit.’ 

And todoroki short circuits. 

He takes a second 

Blinks

And then blinks again

Before smothering you in a hug as he lets a tear or two fall onto your shoulder 

And you two stand there for definitely longer than you should’ve 

Present Mic actually comes looking for you two because classes started again

And from behind Todoroki’s back, you give Present Mic a thumbs up before gesturing to your other hand rubbing his back and then his gently crying 

Present Mic gives a big ol grin before turning a corner, waiting for you two to be done 

(you’re lucky it was present mic, or else you two would’ve been physically ripped apart) 

@deer-skull2319

[slusheeduck]

Complementary

Wit’s been mentioning the other best Rivera son lately, so I figure it’s time to share this thing I wrote for her birthday, where Teto meets his lovely wife Jasmine.

               This was pointless.

               Teto huffed to himself as the thought ran over and over in his head. It really was the most pointless thing, going on a date. This would be the…third? time he’d been set up on one, and each one went exactly same way. “Are you related to Tío Héctor?” Yes, that was his father. “Are you a musician like him?” No. “Are you visiting from New York?” No, that was his brother. “So what do you do?” Business mostly. All followed by a few niceties and an assurance that his date did, in fact, have a lovely time, and she’d give him a call next week. (There was never a call, and he was always secretly relieved.)

               He fiddled with his glasses before checking his watch. He’d been waiting for fifteen minutes now, and he was more than certain he’d gotten stood up. Which, again, was kind of a relief. Sure, it was a bit of a pain to get all the way to this café without anything to show for it—he was behind on the Rivera Zapatos ledgers, and he’d arranged a meeting with a campaign manager tomorrow that he really needed to mentally prepare himself for—but a quiet lunch in a nice part of the city certainly wasn’t the worst thing he could endure.

               He checked his watch again and glanced around for his date—not that he knew what she’d look like, he realized—then pressed his lips together before reaching down into his bag and pulling out a notebook and his pen. If he had some downtime, then he could indulge a little bit. He flipped through the notebook and got to a half-finished diagram of a mechanized nailer for shoes. As much as he liked Tío Oscar and Tío Felipe and loved their inventions, they tended to take their time in the actual shoemaking department. But if he could put this together, then they’d save at least two hours per shoe, and his tíos could spend more time designing rather than nailing.

               He’d just written out some notes on the nailer’s size when a flurry of movement startled him. He looked up to see a woman letting out a huff as she quickly tried to pull off her coat.

               “Perdón, perdón,” she said breathlessly, shaking her head as he started to get up to help her. “I came here as quickly as I could. I made the terrible mistake of questioning my professor while being a woman, and the argument went much longer than I wanted it to.”

               Teto blinked. “What are you studying?” Mentally, he kicked himself—that kind of small talk came after the introductions, but she didn’t seem to mind.

               “Mathematics,” she said simply, brushing her short hair back into place. “Probably won’t find a way to use it outside of balancing checkbooks for the rest of my life, but I love the logic of it. Even when professors are less than logical about it.” She blinked as she looked up at him, then gave a small, embarrassed smile. “I’m sorry. I should at least wait until the second date to complain about school.”

               Teto returned her smile with his own small, unsure one. “I wouldn’t know.” He paused a moment, then added, “But then, I’ve heard that you’re not supposed to mention how bad you are at dating until the third date.”

               Her eyebrows rose, and she laughed, making Teto instantly relax, before she held out her hand for him to shake. “Jasmine Flores. And yes, I know it’s unfortunate.”

               “Can’t be worse than Teto,” he said as he gave her hand a shake.

               “Your parents named you Teto?”

               He grimaced and shrugged. “Well, no. It’s a nickname. A rotten one, but it’s easier than introducing myself as Héctor Rivera.”

               Once again, Jasmine’s eyebrows rose. “You have the same name as…”

               “Tío Héctor, sí.”

“Wow.” She gave a little smile as her eyes brightened. “I’m sure you get this a lot, but are you…”

Teto sighed, cutting her off. “Related? Yes. He’s my father.” He pressed his lips together tightly, then leaned forward, clasping his hands together. “Look, Jasmine, you seem really sensible, so I’m going  to lay out everything right now so we don’t waste our time. No, I don’t play any instruments—I run the business side of my tíos’ shoe company. Yes, Rodrigo Rivera is my brother; no, I don’t talk to him often.  I’m not going to take you to a concert or a movie set for our second date—or, really, any date, because movie sets are off-limits and concerts give me terrible migraines.” He swallowed as he sat up. “I’m very sorry you wasted your time coming out here and that I made you rush from school, but I figured we could save about three hours of pointless chit-chat.”

               He watched her quietly, waiting to see her reaction. Would she be angry? Or maybe she’d just get up and leave. That’d be ideal. Worst case scenario would be her insisting they kept the date going despite her obvious disappointment.

               He was not expecting her to sink in her seat and let out a sigh of relief.

               “Gracias à Dios! Ay, all this week my friends have been teasing me with ‘Minita, we’ve set you up with someone related to the most ROMANTIC man in México!’ I’ve been terrified.”

               “Terrified?”

               Jasmine nodded, sitting up straight. “I thought I was going to walk into serenades and poetry. I don’t have the patience for that.” She looked up as Teto snorted.

               “Serenades? No, no. I have far too much respect to do that to you. A date’s bad enough without me wailing sweet nothings at you.”

               “They’re terrible, aren’t they?”

               “The serenades?”

               “No…well, yes, but I meant dates.” Jasmine shrugged. “I mean, you just put on your nicest face and hope that’s enough for someone you only halfway like to call you again.”

               Teto nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes. Exactly! And you just get all worked up for it to mean nothing. I could do so many other productive things instead of talking to someone I have nothing in common with.”

               “Exactly! And then I have to stay up late with my homework because I had some bore talk my ear off for three hours.”

               “Or had to answer stupid small-talk questions that neither of us really care about.”

               “Or go see some film I never wanted to see in the first place!”

               Teto groaned as he sank back in his seat. “I had one girl insist we see my father’s latest movie.”

               “No.”

               “Yes. It was awful.”

               “Oh, and they’re such sappy things. I mean, no offense…”

               “No, they are! They really are. And I could practically hear her waiting for me to call her ‘Mi alma, mi vida’ at some point on the walk home.”

               “Ohh, pobrecito.” Jasmine leaned forward to pat his hand. “Well, don’t you worry. I won’t put you through that.”

               He looked up at her and smiled, then leaned forward again. “So, since we’re on the same page, let’s just call the date off.”

               Jasmine gave him a wide smile as she leaned forward as well. “That is the best date idea I’ve ever heard. We’ll let this die without a fight. Deal?”

               “Deal.”

               They stayed put for a moment, both grinning in triumph at the other at their grand idea. But Teto blinked, and Jasmine sucked in her lips as they didn’t move. It wasn’t…awkward—Teto had had enough awkward moments to know what that felt like—but something in him wanted to stay right there with her. After all, it seemed like such a shame to leave one of the few people he’d ever been on the same page with. But, well, he didn’t want to be a bother. He raised his eyebrows as Jasmine cleared her throat.

               “So, um, yes. Date’s cancelled,” she said, as she settled back. “But…well, it seems a little bit of a waste to come here and not have lunch.”

               Teto bit the inside of his cheek before he slowly replied, “It does, doesn’t it?”

               Jasmine sucked in her lips again, then nodded down at his notebook. “Is that for your business?”

               “More or less, yes. I was writing some notes when you came.”

               “I’ve still got my math book in my bag—I wasn’t kidding when I said I came straight from school.” She shrugged. “We could at least get some work done.”

               Teto nodded. He bit at his cheek again, then leaned forward and quietly asked, “I hope you don’t mind if I stay here. It’s a little crowded, and I’d feel awful taking up an extra table.”

               A smile curled at Jasmine’s lips, and she nodded. “I’d be glad to share a table with you. To work on. Not a date.”

               Teto grinned. “Definitely not a date.”

               The next hour was surprisingly lovely. They both mostly worked in silence, aside from the odd comment on the quality of their food or Jasmine asking Teto to double-check her work. Finally, they agreed they’d overstayed their welcome at the café and made their way out. (Jasmine still staunchly insisted that she needed no help with her coat, and Teto didn’t fight her.)

               Once they exited, they stood in an expectant, but strangely not uncomfortable, silence. Teto shifted back and forth, and Jasmine took a breath before fixing her dark eyes on him.

               “That was nice,” she finally said.

               “Very nice.”

               “And I think I’d like to do it again.”

               Teto blinked. Oh. He wasn’t prepared for that. “Would you really?”

               She smiled and nodded. “You’re a very good work-partner. Seems a shame to just say goodbye and miss out on more not-dates like this.”

               He blinked again, then gave her a slow grin. “It’d be an awful shame. Finding someone to not-date is outrageously hard.”

               She grinned, then pulled a paper from her bag and quickly scribbled a phone number on it. She hesitated, just for a moment, before pressing a kiss right below it. “I’m the only girl at the university who wears this color, so you won’t forget who it is,” she said as she handed the now-marked paper to him. “Give me a call when you get the chance, all right? Or don’t. I don’t want to—”

               “I will!” Teto said quickly, then cleared his throat and smiled. “Like you said. Seems a shame to just say goodbye. I’ll call you Monday.”

               Jasmine smiled. “Then I’m looking forward to it, Héctor.” As his eyebrows rose, she grinned and pat his chest. “Someone needs to stop calling you that awful nickname. It may as well be me.” She lifted her face to look up at him for a moment, dark eyes sparkling, then quickly turned to walk away, hand raised in a goodbye. “Talk to you Monday, Héctor!”

               Teto stared after her for a moment, a blur of strange emotions bubbling up in his chest and rooting him in the spot. Finally, he broke from his trance to look down at the paper in his hand, noting how the lipstick stain curled up at the corners in a smile.

               He wasn’t a sap. Dating was still stupid, and he and Jasmine were definitely not about to start going through all the fuss that dating ensued.

               But for the first time…well, maybe he could see the appeal.