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ginawritesstories · 6 years

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blissful affliction, concept test

Genre: New Adult | Urban Fantasy Word count: 5,943 | Three Chapters | Incomplete Rating: Strong language and references to sexual content Summary: Insomnia and running his coffee shop is all Cameron knows until he’s thrust into the lives of two preternatural enemies.

Chapter 1: give me just one taste

Reese is starving. He’s withering.

His shop doesn’t open for another eight hours and he’s not sure he can survive that long. Normally he’d go to a bar and flirt, but he can’t get past the thought of how insincere it all is. It makes him gag just thinking about it.

He keeps his hands in his pockets as he pushes past people on the dark, city streets. He’s so dizzy that walking from street light to street light starts to look like a strobe light.

Then he hears a sniffle.

There are cars driving past, horns, chatter; the city is never quiet at night. Yet he hears the sniffle like it’s the only sound in an empty room.

He hates himself. He hates himself for being drawn to it.

He peeks into an alleyway and sees a man there, maybe about his age, it’s hard to tell in the darkness.

He’s wearing pajamas with a jacket thrown over them and Reese can feel the insomnia rolling off of him.

The man paces, breathing harshly as he tries and fails to fight back tears.

Reese starts walking toward him without realizing what he’s doing.

He’s withering. He can’t help himself.

The man startles as he sees Reese walking towards him. The man glances behind himself, suddenly aware there’s no other exit to the alleyway. “Hey, what‒what are you doing?”

The man takes a step back as Reese gets too close to him.

Reese considers saying something, but he’s so exhausted.

He catches the man’s neck in his hand, fingers digging lightly into the hair on his nape.

The man swallows, stays still. Reese can feel the man’s fear overwhelm his sadness, but the sadness is still there, echoing deep below the surface.

Reese breathes it in, presses his lips to the man’s temple.

The man doesn’t move and Reese thinks for a moment that the man is an idiot. A mysterious figure in tight jeans and tattoos curling past the collar of a worn leather jacket approaches him in an alleyway and the man doesn’t run or fight?

But Reese can’t really focus on the man’s poor judgement right now because as his lips touch skin, he’s overwhelmed. The sadness and fear and curiosity wash over him like a warm blanket.

Reese sighs, sated. “Thank you.”

He turns and walks away.

The man stands there, sniffles one more time, and watches him go.

-x-

Cameron hasn’t slept.

Or maybe he has.

He’s not even sure anymore. He stares at his reflection in the bathroom mirror and can’t quite bring himself to recognize the face looking back at him. Forgotten meals and fickle sleep tighten his skin. He brushes a hand through his jet black hair and wonders if bleaching it would make him look more alive.

He turns from the mirror and wonders why he even bothered to look.

Trudging around the street, he drinks his ironic morning coffee as he runs some errands before opening up his coffee shop.

The cafe is small, barely functional, but it’s his and he loves it.

He tries to keep fresh flowers on the table every morning so he zips his jacket to brave the cold, winter air and leaves his apartment before sunrise to head to the flower shop.

He’s not sure why the owner opens so early, but he’s not about to complain. It works for him and the flowers aren’t insanely expensive. It’s not a fancy flower shop, just like Cameron’s cafe isn’t a fancy coffee shop. He feels a sort of kinship to it.

He’s never really talked to the owner much. He should one day, but 5am isn’t a great hour for conversation.

Cameron makes it to the shop as the sky starts to gain some color, just a hint of it.

“Why have you been up since three?!” Cameron hears a voice float through the flowers. He peaks around to spot the owner frowning as he holds his phone to his ear and waters some plants. The owner spots him and looks up with a bright smile. “Morning! The usual?”

Cameron shrugs. “I don’t know why you call it the usual. You never give me the same stuff.”

The owner laughs happily, nods as he focuses on the phone call again. “Maybe I should just leave the hoodie there then if you hate it so much.” He giggles. “I’d tell you to wear it and feed you some line about red looking good on you, but we both know you look best in pink.” More giggling. Cameron smiles to himself. Love is cute. Even at 5am, love is cute. “Hey, I’ve got a customer here. I’ll talk to you later? Go back to sleep.” He hangs up and blushes as he meets Cameron’s gaze, shy after being overheard.

Cameron hesitates. “Sorry, I know I’ve been coming here forever but…I don’t think I’ve ever asked you your name.”

The owner snorts, fully energized despite the early hour. Cameron takes a moment to actually look at him for the first time. He’s cute‒Okay, no. He’s gorgeous. And much, much too happy for 5am. He wears a bright yellow sweater behind his dark gray apron. Cameron’s trying to decide if the fucker has naturally perfect hair or if he spends time styling it into the I-woke-up-this-way look when the man breaks him out of his stupor, “I don’t know if I’d call a few months forever. It’s okay. I’m Noah. Feel free to browse around like usual.”

Cameron hums, smirking at the jab. He sips his coffee as he wanders. He drags his eyes away. Noah really is gorgeous, surrounded by his flowers. Maybe Noah’s taken, but Cameron’s just looking. Looking is harmless.

Noah’s ideology regarding his shop is a little different than most flower shops. While people tend to give flowers specific meanings, Noah doesn’t believe in that. Not really. He thinks flowers mean different things to different people. He doesn’t like enforcing ideas onto flowers if someone is struck differently by them.

For fancy bouquets, he’ll help the customer define the feeling each flower gives them and he’ll include a personal flower meaning card based on their answers.

Cameron’s never said it out loud, but he really loves the idea.

He supposes Noah must be aware he likes it here. He comes every morning to buy flowers for the cafe. He wouldn’t be back if he didn’t like it.

Noah whistles to catch his attention.

Cameron blinks himself awake and looks up.

Noah laughs across the room. “You okay? Looked like you just fell asleep for a second.”

Cameron clears his throat. “Yeah, didn’t sleep well. Didn’t sleep at all.”

Noah hums apologetically. He moves toward Cameron. “I can pick some flowers for you today if you’re too out of i‒”

As he gets closer to Cameron, he suddenly freezes.

Cameron turns to him, curious. Noah’s eyes are locked on Cameron’s temple.

Cameron subconsciously itches at it. “Noah?”

Noah drags his eyes away. His voice is quiet, far away. “You smell weird.”

Cameron snorts nervously, “Thank you?”

Noah shakes it off. “I’m so sorry. I just thought‒never mind. Flowers. How do you feel about chrysanthemums?”

Cameron shrugs.

Noah laughs. “That’s what I thought. I’ll grab you a few different colors.”

When Noah passes the flowers to him, their hands graze. In the past, he’s barely noticed it, but for some reason it catches his attention today. Noah’s never been necessarily flirty with him, but he always brushes their hands like that. It reminds him of…he can’t place the deja vu.

Cameron walks out in a daze with the collection of flowers. Two blocks down is his cafe.

He unlocks the doors and flips the sign from closed to open. He turns on the grill for the breakfast sandwiches, powers on the espresso machine, fills up the vases with water. It’s a normal morning.

But his temple still itches with a phantom touch. Maybe he did fall asleep last night. He had some weird dream…

The morning goes on as usual. Customers filter in, get what they need, and go. A few sit for a while and it’s around 10am that Peyton comes in to help.

The lunch rush comes and goes but Cameron still can’t shake the mist in his mind.

Images of a man in an alleyway continue to flash through his mind, but like shadows being obliterated by light, the memory of Noah’s smile obliterates them.

It’s odd. It’s not that he has feelings for Noah, but there was something about his energy that perfectly negated the pain he was feeling. He’d never really thought about it before, just assumed it was how his emotions fluctuate as he wakes up and his coffee settles in. Now that he thinks about it, his mood has always drastically improved after seeing Noah.

A hand snaps in front of his face and Cameron blinks.

Peyton smirks at him, only a year younger than Cameron himself. He’s Cameron’s best employee so his promotion to manager nearly went without saying. “You seem more out of it than usual.”

Cameron makes a face at that. “I’m not usually out of it.”

Peyton laughs lightly, “You daydream a lot. You were muttering to yourself for like an hour yesterday with your brow furrowed.” He pokes between Cameron’s eyebrows. “I thought your face would get stuck like that.”

Cameron swats his hand away. “I’m just stressed. I haven’t been sleeping.”

Peyton’s teasing stops instantly. “Oh. What’s wrong?”

Cameron shakes his head. “I wish this place was bigger.” He looks around the cafe. It’s cramped, always has been. It was all he could afford when he bought the place, but it’s nothing what he dreamed it would be.

He imagined an open space, shelves of books and CDs, a stage for live music. He really wanted this cafe to be an artist’s haven, but he just didn’t have the money for that. He still doesn’t.

Peyton pats him on the back. “You’ll get there.”

Cameron nods, eyes staying closed a little too long as his lack of sleep catches up with him. “You’re okay by yourself, right?”

Peyton smiles softly. “Yeah, Cam. Get some sleep. It’s past the rush. I’ll be fine to close alone.”

Cameron grabs his stuff and leaves without arguing.

His head feels heavy, so he takes a longer path home than usual hoping the cool fall air would help clear his mind so he can actually fall asleep when he gets home.

His feet stop moving.

There’s this weird feeling…he can’t place it.

He turns and looks out at the street but sees nothing.

He looks in the other direction, into the storefront he’s passing. It’s a tattoo shop.

The door chimes as it opens and he nearly jumps out of his skin at the sudden sound in the quiet street.

A young man is smiling, face red and absolutely smitten as he says goodbye and leaves the shop. The man throws Cameron a weird look and then gestures at the shop. “If you’re thinking about a tattoo, no one’s as good as Reese. He’s a good guy and he’s talented on top of that.”

Cameron blinks as the man walks away. He looks into the shop through the window and his eye focuses on a man in the shop, standing still and staring at Cameron with wide eyes.

A feeling of dread swirls in him as he focuses on the man’s silhouette.

It’s the man from his dream.

He touches his temple, steadies himself, and walks into the shop.

Chapter 2: if you’re lying i’ll listen

Reese tries to act casual, “Hey, looking to get a tattoo?”

Cameron doesn’t say anything. He uses the opportunity to get a good look at Reese.

He wears dark jeans with a black t-shirt that he cut the neck deeper on. His hair is a smokey lavender. He’s not as intimidating in the daylight as he was in the alleyway.

The first thing Cameron can manage to say is, “That wasn’t a dream.”

Reese smiles, “What wasn’t a dream?”

Cameron narrows his eyes, still tired and confused. He taps his temple, “You kissed me. Why?”

Reese laughs and throws a weird look at Cameron. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir. I’m just running my shop. Thank you for visiting.”

It almost works. Cameron starts to doubt himself. Maybe this man just looks like the man in his dream. Maybe he really is losing it.

But then Reese makes the mistake of glancing over at the chair in reception. A worn leather jacket is hung over the back of it. Cameron follows his gaze and sees it, sure of himself now. He shakes his head. “No, it was you. It was definitely you.”

Reese sighs, defeated, “Did you feel better after?”

It takes Cameron a moment to catch on as Reese actually acknowledges their interaction. “What? Better?”

Reese turns away from him, tidying up his shop, “Yeah, you were crying. Did you feel better?”

Cameron supposes he did kind of feel better. “Well you scared the sad out of me so sure.”

Reese frowns. “But you wouldn’t say you felt better?”

Cameron watches him, tries to analyze his expression. “Are you asking for a yelp review or something? Why the fuck did you walk into an alleyway and kiss a stranger?”

Reese's hands clench into fists. He turns to square up to Cameron. “Did you feel better or didn’t you? Just answer the question.”

Cameron cowers a bit at the intensity emanating from Reese. “I sort of felt nothing. All my stress evaporated for a bit. I think I managed to sleep for about an hour.”

Reese latches onto that. “So it helped you sleep?”

Cameron can’t keep up with the emotion shifts, “Well if I did sleep I was fucking restless about it and I still feel like shit today so no. No, it didn’t fucking help. Now tell me why the hell you did it.”

Reese's eyebrows raise. “No need to get defensive. Wow. You curse a lot.”

Cameron huffs, frustrated, “You just admitted to cornering me in an alley and kissing me. So yeah, I’m a bit fucking defensive.”

Reese shrugs. “You’re cute.”

Cameron narrows his eyes. “Is that a statement or some bullshit explanation?”

Reese smiles, eyes squinting it’s so wide, “Both.”

Cameron watches him, studies him. He expected something else, but…“So you saw me crying and decided you should just kiss my forehead? Who the fuck raised you to do that?”

Reese gasps, offended. “Don’t talk about my mothers like that.”

Cameron pinches the bridge of his nose. “Whatever, just leave me alone.”

Reese scoffs, “You’re the one who walked into my shop.”

Cameron grinds his teeth. He lets out a breath and releases the frustration he feels. “Whatever.” He turns and leaves the shop without another word.

As the door chimes to announce Cameron’s exit, Reese relaxes. His smile falls away.

He looks at himself in the mirror he has hanging in the front. He looks as weak as he feels.

Usually he can get by for a day or two after seeing a client, but he used up a lot of his ‘back stock’ from his encounter with Cameron and it leaves him needing more.

He sighs angrily, grabs his jacket, and switches the sign from open to closed as he locks the shop and goes out to a bar.

-x-

The loud alarm taunts him as Cameron forces himself to wake up from another night of barely any sleep.

He follows his normal routine: makes his coffee, heads to the flower shop.

Except, when he gets there, Noah’s not flitting around the store like usual. He seems to have been waiting for Cameron to get there.

Noah frowns as soon as Cameron walks in, itches his nose.

Cameron blinks. “Uh, is something wrong?”

Noah nods. “You smell weird again.”

Cameron blinks. “It’s not like I have new cologne. How can you even smell anything surrounded by flowers?”

There’s something in Noah’s tone, like he’s offended. “Have you met anyone new lately?”

Cameron’s thrown, remembers his confrontation with Reese yesterday. “I don’t know if I’d say it was something so civil as meeting.”

Noah cuts to the chase, “Who was it and where are they? I know I sound crazy, but it’s important.”

Yeah, he does sound crazy. “All this cause I smell weird?”

Noah’s resolve falters. “I know we don’t know each other well, but can you just trust me? It would take forever to explain.”

Cameron sighs, pinches his nose again. “I’m starting to feel like I’m not even awake, just hallucinating from insomnia. Whatever, some asshole. He works at a tattoo shop nearby.”

Noah nods, thinks about that. “A tattoo shop. Okay.” He shakes it off and suddenly his normal, cheerful smile is back. “So, what can I get for you today?”

Cameron shrugs and lets Noah change the topic, “The usual: whatever you feel like giving me.”

Noah smiles, nods to himself. “Sure. I’ll get that right out.”

Noah’s calm and peaceful as he rings Cameron up, but as soon as Cameron’s out the door, Noah takes off his apron.

He locks up his shop and searches on his phone for tattoo shops nearby. He makes his way to the closest one.

It’s 6am so it’s closed, but Noah figured no one would be around this early. He still gets the confirmation he was after: this shop reeks of a Toru. He definitely owns the shop.

Now that Noah knows where the Toru is, he just has to decide what he’s going to do about it.

Chapter 3: i’ll swallow your poison ‘til it runs through my veins

Reese doesn’t even realize what he’s doing before he finds himself in the alleyway he met Cameron in at 3am.

The entire time walking here, he was caught in a mantra telling himself that stories from his customers and flirting with strangers was enough, but there was something in Cameron’s eyes…

Reese is startled out of his stupor as the apartment door opens to the alleyway and Cameron walks out in sweatpants and an oversized cardigan. He’s holding a mug of tea and it steams in his hand.

He nearly drops it as he makes eye contact with Reese. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Reese says nothing as he tries to decide how to defend himself or if it’s even worth lying over.

Cameron’s expression hardens. “Look, it’s flattering that you think I’m cute, but I fucking live here and I don’t know you so this is stalker-y and I’m gonna call the cops if I see you here again.” He turns to go back inside.

That spurs Reese to say something, “No, wait!”

Cameron hesitates. He hates himself for thinking Reese looks beautiful in the moonlight. He’s a creep. A beautiful creep, but still a creep.

Reese covers his face with his hands. “I don’t sleep well either.”

Cameron blinks, hopes Reese has more to say than that.

Reese clears his throat. “I didn’t walk by that first time looking for you or anything. I was just going for a walk. You’re out here cause you can’t sleep, right? That’s all I was doing. I was sleep deprived and you were cute. This is my usual insomnia route. You just happen to be on it.”

Reese can see Cameron’s defenses drop a bit at that. “That’s…almost fair, but you weren’t walking just now. You were standing there in the alley like you were waiting for me.”

Reese curses in his head, but tries not to reveal how flustered he is. “I felt bad. I paused. I know I freaked you out. I wasn’t waiting for you. I’m just as surprised as you are. I mean, do you come out here at 3am every morning? That’s quite the schedule you’ve got for your insomnia.”

Cameron lets out a long breath. He studies Reese's face for a long time before he says anything. “Fine. Fucking fine. Sit and talk with me for a bit then. Maybe if I can see you’re not a freak, I’ll sleep better at night.”

Reese scoffs, “Wow, so you’re blaming me for your insomnia now?”

Cameron rolls his eyes. “I blame stress for my insomnia and you’re adding to it, so yeah.”

Reese hesitates as Cameron sits on the steps to his apartment building. “I don’t even know your name. I gave you mine.”

Cameron’s eyes are droopy, but Reese can feel the stress that he talked about seep out of him. “Cameron.”

Reese sits on the step beside him. He wants to sit close and touch him, but he doesn’t push it just yet. If he’s right, then waiting for the right moment will be worth it.

They sit in silence for a long time.

Wind blows through the alleyway pretty strongly and Reese is glad for his leather jacket.

He glances at Cameron’s thin sweatpants. “Aren’t you cold?”

Cameron shrugs apathetically.

Reese's bored. He doesn’t like this slow game he’s chosen to play. It’s easier with customers. He only gets a little at a time from them, but they’re there for a long time so it ends up being worth it.

He’s hoping Cameron will be the opposite. It was a lot the other night, so he’s trying to bide his time as he chases the high. It’s just so boring. “You have any tattoos?”

Cameron snorts. “That’s the best conversation starter you could think of?”

Reese nods. “Tattoos are good conversation starters. There’s always a story behind them.”

Cameron laughs quietly, it’s cute and low. He holds his mug with one hand and reaches back to push the hair up from around his ear. Right behind his ear Reese can see the word ‘forward’ written in script. It’s a beautiful, simple tattoo.

Reese nods. “So what’s the story behind it?”

Cameron tsks, “Tell one of yours first.”

Reese glances down at himself, hums as he thinks of where to start. Cameron has a small tattoo, so he tries to think of which of his small tattoos has the best story. “Ah.” He holds out his left hand and pulls his sleeve back, shows the inside of his wrist.

The tattoo looks like a doodle a kid would draw. It’s like godzilla or something, with fangs that drip blood.

Cameron snorts. “You got that shit tattooed onto your skin?”

Reese hums. “Yeah, I had this diary growing up and some kid at school found that drawing and the entry I wrote around it. It was this angsty teen thing where I called myself a monster so he started calling me that to tease me. Kids are awful, aren’t they? So you know, as a kid does, I told him I’d get it tattooed onto me cause it was a cool nickname and he laughed and didn’t believe me. I was fourteen but my friend had an older brother who had a tattoo shop and he seemed to agree it was a worthwhile investment. So I walked into school the next day with it. You should’ve seen his face. That kid never spoke to me again after that.”

Cameron’s eyes go wide through the story but at the end he snorts and controls his expression. “Wow. That’s some dedication to teen angst.”

Reese smiles widely. “Your turn.”

Cameron shrugs. “It’s not a fun story.”

Reese tsks, “My story was rooted in self hatred. It doesn’t have to be a fun story to be a good one.”

Cameron snorts, but he doesn’t seem to really be laughing. “It’s nothing cool. Whenever I stop moving I just feel useless, pointless. The world crashes down on me as soon as I feel like I’m not improving somehow so I just remind myself to keep moving forward.”

Reese hesitates. He wonders if this is his moment.

He reaches out a hand hesitantly. “Can I see it again?”

Cameron glances at Reese's hand and then at his face, judging him again before answering. “Sure.”

Reese moves his hand to brush Cameron’s hair back. At the end of the motion, he finally lets his fingers brush Cameron’s skin.

It’s as addicting as he remembers it being.

Cameron’s heart is a buffet.

Usually a casual touch like this doesn’t incite a reaction, but Cameron’s emotions are so rampant that he can feel it as they start to leave him.

Cameron jerks away from him. “What the fuck?”

Reese smiles, energized. “I told you I’m a monster, didn’t I?”

Cameron’s guard goes back up again. Reese can see it in his eyes. “What the fuck was that?”

Reese taps his own heart. “Do you feel lighter?”

Cameron tries to control his expression, but Reese can see confusion and fear in his eyes.

Reese holds his hand out, palm up. “The longer you hold on, the lighter you’ll feel.”

Cameron’s not sure what to do with that sentence. “What does that mean?”

Reese wiggles his fingers. “One way to find out.”

Maybe it’s because it’s 3am, but Cameron eventually reaches out and lays his hand on top of Reese's.

The stress and anxiety tormenting his mind seem to fly away from him. Reese breathes it in.

Cameron pulls his hand away again. He stares at Reese, stares hard. Reese can tell he’s trying to rationalize what just happened, but can’t. “That happens whenever you touch someone?”

Reese nods. “It does.”

Cameron doesn’t mean for the words to slip out, “Sex must suck.”

Reese laughs, lips quirking up, “It does not.”

Cameron barely remembers to put his mug down as he leans forward and presses his lips against Reese's hungrily. It’s stupid, stupid, stupid, but Reese is gorgeous and he makes the crazy die down and Cameron needs it.

It’s just a few seconds and they pull away, but it’s an opening. They stare at each other, waiting to see what the other will do. They could laugh it off and part ways or…

Reese is shocked that Cameron’s the one to break the silence. He was just waiting to make it seem like he wasn’t desperate, “I’m gonna break every rule about talking to strangers but do you want to come inside?”

Reese has Cameron pinned to the wall, mouth on his neck, inside of his apartment and for some reason Cameron’s first thought is I forgot my mug outside.

The rest of the night is kind of a blur.

When Cameron wakes up, it feels like he’s still dreaming.

He blinks at the ceiling.

He forgot what it felt like to be well rested.

A loud snore bursts his bubble as Reese tightens his hold on Cameron’s waist, leg thrown over him.

To say the sex was good would be a massive understatement, but Cameron’s still surprised at himself.

Just hours ago he thought Reese was a creepy stalker and now they’re tangled in bed naked, reeking of sex.

The light coming in the window seems weird too. For a moment he wonders if his eyesight has improved from actually keeping his eyes closed at night for more than an hour or two. Then he realizes just how bright it is. “Oh fuck.”

He forces Reese's arms off of him as he reaches for his phone. It’s 9am.

He tears himself from where Reese is reaching for him again and shoots out of the bed. “I’m fucking late for work. Fuck.”

Reese whines at the cold air as Cameron gets out of the bed.

Cameron’s tugging on clothes quickly, more energized and awake than he’s felt in years. “Don’t go back to fucking sleep. I’m not an idiot. We just met. You’re not staying here. Even if it makes me later, I’m locking the door with you outside of it. So get the fuck up.”

Reese rolls onto his back and pouts at Cameron as he puts his belt on. “Can’t we just have sex again?”

Cameron snorts. “No, I have to open my cafe.”

Reese raises an eyebrow. “Your cafe? If it’s yours then you can’t be late. You’re not gonna fire yourself, are you?”

Cameron glares at him. “No, and this apartment can’t pay for itself either. I’ve already lost three hours of revenue.”

Reese closes his eyes again. “I changed my mind on your forward mentality. It sucks. Don’t go forward. Stay in bed and have more sex.”

Cameron throws Reese's clothes at him. “Get dressed or I’ll drag you out of here naked.”

Reese sighs heavily. “God, you’re not fun when you talk. I thought you were boring for not talking while we fucked but thank god you didn’t.”

Cameron doesn’t even respond as he darts out to the kitchen. He’s on cruise control to make himself some coffee, but then stops.

He slept for five pretty decent hours. He puts the coffee beans back down and decides against it. He doesn’t need it today.

He’s glad when Reese grumpily walks out of the bedroom. “I’ll walk with you. I guess I can open my shop too.”

Cameron lets Reese follow him out and locks the door.

When they get out on the street, Cameron glances around a moment before he finds his mug from last night and picks it up. Then he pushes Reese in the direction of the tattoo shop. “You already know where I live, I don’t need you to know where I work.”

Reese groans. “Why are you so paranoid? I thought we bonded over tattoo stories. Besides, you already said cafe and you’re walking there so it wouldn’t take me long to find you if I wanted to.”

Cameron seethes for a moment, but he really doesn’t have time to waste. “Do whatever the fuck you want.” He takes off toward his cafe and Reese follows behind him, curious and bored more than anything.

He was also absolutely right about Cameron. He could go into isolation for a week right now and still feel sated.

Reese keeps talking to Cameron as they walk even though they’re not side by side. Reese can’t help it. He’s so hyper. All of the borrowed emotions buzzing around in his head are exhilarating. As much as Cameron feels lots of stress, there’s a quiet burning passion in him and it leaves Reese floating on cloud nine. “Can this be a regular thing?”

Cameron glares over his shoulder. “What, you stalking me on my way to work?”

Reese laughs loudly, confidently. “No, the other thing.”

Cameron shrugs without turning around again. They don’t talk again until Cameron’s unlocking the shop.

Reese follows him in and Cameron glares again. Reese holds up his hands defensively. “What? I’ll buy a coffee. That’s the least I can do for your three hours of lost revenue, right?”

Cameron wants to kick him out, but the business part of his brain won’t let him lose a sale. “Whatever.” He puts his mug under the counter since he didn’t want to take it back upstairs.

Reese laughs and sits at a table while Cameron moves around quickly, turning all the lights on. “You say whatever a lot, but it doesn’t suit you. You care too much. Your whatevers are fake.”

Cameron ignores him.

Reese just keeps talking, unbothered by Cameron’s silence now that he’s adjusted to it. “It was good last night, wasn’t it? I thought it was.”

Cameron relents since it’s clear Reese won’t stop even if he doesn’t respond. “Yeah.”

Reese whistles. “Wow, the enthusiasm. I think we should do it again.”

Cameron focuses on getting a pot of coffee ready for customers in a rush. “You said.”

“No, I asked if you wanted to do it again. You never answered.” Reese gets up and stares at the premade pastries in the display.

Cameron watches Tae, suspicious and curious as he always is. “I don’t really hook up.”

Reese laughs. “Well you did last night.”

Cameron wants to say Well that’s different but he doesn’t want to fluff Reese's ego. It was different, but he’s not sure what was so different exactly. Reese hinted at some power, and Cameron’s not sure if he wants to acknowledge it or pretend nothing happened.

Reese puts a ten dollar bill on the counter. “I’ll take a mocha latte and a pain de chocolat.”

Cameron snorts, grinning. “We call them chocolate croissants here but sure, be fancy.”

Reese nods. “Thanks. I will be.”

Cameron rings him up. He warms up the croissant without asking. He figures Reese likes to indulge. He got that sense from him last night with the lingering kisses and teasing touches. It was intense, but it was slow. They took their time.

He makes the latte in silence.

When both items are ready, he puts them on the counter.

Reese smiles, “Thank you.” He takes them and sits down.

Cameron raises an eyebrow. “I thought you were opening your shop.”

Reese talks around a mouthful of croissant. “Don’t usually open ‘til 11. Besides, this place is cute. Dunno why I’ve never been before.”

Now there were a lot of things Reese could’ve said that Cameron would’ve played off and made up some bullshit excuse as to why Reese should just leave.

But Reese complimented his store…

“Thanks.”

Reese smiles. “You’re really proud of it. Why don’t you talk about it more? You can brag.”

Cameron shrugs. “It took a lot of hard work. Not much else to say.”

Reese narrows his eyes. “I don’t believe you.” Reese holds up the pastry and the drink. “These are fucking delicious and I get the feeling you could make both of these from scratch with your eyes closed. This place is your baby.”

Cameron blushes. It’s soft and vulnerable and Reese can practically taste it from here. “Yeah.”

Reese whines and leans back in his chair. “Oh, come on, really? My dick was inside of you. How do you still not trust me enough to say more than that?”

Cameron takes a deep breath in, closes his eyes as he does, and then lets it out. “Look, if you really wanna talk, come back at 5 when we close, okay?”

A bell chimes as a customer walks in with a wide grin, “Cameron, what happened? You never open late.”

Cameron’s eyes glance over to Reese, but his expression betrays nothing. “Mental health day. Haven’t been sleeping. Sorry, Claire, I should’ve posted a notice on the door.”

Claire shrugs and sits at the bar. “Take care of yourself, man. That’s good to hear actually. You’re here practically all day. I was starting to worry about you.”

It’s strange.

Cameron falls into an easy rapport with her.

The conversation itself isn’t strange, but Reese's reaction to it is.

Maybe it’s the borrowed emotions still buzzing around inside of him, but he never quite felt like this before.

He’s jealous.

He’s jealous that Cameron is speaking easily with someone else.

He’s confused enough by his own internal conflict to throw out the paper from his croissant and take the rest of his coffee to go.

Cameron doesn’t even wave goodbye.

It’s strange.

Reese feels and it’s strange.

To make matters worse, Reese's caught off guard at his shop.

A blonde man stands out front, scarf pulled over his nose like he smells something rotten.

Reese can relate.

He’s never seen this man before, but his hackles raise with one whiff of him. He lowers his voice, deep and threatening. “What’s a fucking Ataeru doing in front of my shop?”

Noah glares over his scarf and lowers it to spit out, “Nice to meet you too, asshole.”

What did you think?

#prose #writing sample

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