Archive of Our Own ^beta

✧˖*·˚ ☾ ˚ˑ ༺ That is the spiral galaxy in Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It consists of one hundred billion suns. Now I think we are small enough. ༻ˑ˚ ☽ ˚ˑ *˖✧

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

There once was a small, cozy café somewhere in England, far away, hidden by the weight of the loud streets that were product of the modern world, that prided itself on its ability to shelter those in need just at the right moment. The world kept on changing, but for decades, the little coffee shop remained a mesmerizing mystery to those who were capable of finding it.

Genya, a young woman with a head full of dreams and a heart made of gold, always took delight in knowing she got to work there. To have the opportunity to witness so many wonderful stories every single day, all happening within the walls of the café. She had a mind often crowded by ideas and she was a firm believer in the power of wishing them into existence, so sometimes, just sometimes, she let her mind wander off and daydreamed about having a story of her own, thinking that, if she wished hard enough, one day her story would walk right through the door.

Genya saw him first in September. The first time, he was wearing a brown shirt and checkered pants. The first thing she noticed was his dark brown hair, and how he was kind enough to turn around once he entered the café to make sure the door was closed. The first thing they said was,

“Hello, I would like a cup of coffee with milk and no sugar.”

It took her a few seconds to react. If Zoya had seen the interaction, she would have teased her incessantly, no doubt. Genya was by no means a stranger to attractive people, heaven knows she'd dated them before, but still, the boy's deep brown eyes and his attempt at a polite smile that ended up looking more like a grimace had managed to give her some childish butterflies.

She asked for their name. David, they said. She told him to take a seat and rushed to make him his drink. Instead, he eyed the setting around him curiously, analyzing it, and Genya couldn't help but be reminded of the way some of the café's cats had looked during their first encounter with the place. She gave the cup to them, a smile on her face, intrigued eyes on his, as if he was analyzing her too. After a few seconds of awkwardness, they grabbed the cup and sat on the seat by the corner of the shop without saying a word.

He focused on the book he was reading as he drank his coffee, turning the pages and not bothering to look around. Genya found it strange. Most of the time, customers would look at other customers, gossip with their friends, or, at the very least, pet the fluffy friends that walked next to them. But David didn't pay any mind to the cats, even if they surrounded them. After they finished their drink, they got up, paid, and left without saying much. Genya couldn't help but wonder if she would see them again.

A week later, she did. The second time she saw them, they wore a green turtleneck and black trousers. Their hair looked just as messy and tangled as it had done a week before. He asked for the same drink and sat on the same spot, though this time he had brought a laptop with him, and she thought about the things they might be writing in it. Was he a mysterious university student who found the shop relaxing enough to do schoolwork at? Was he, perhaps, a tortured writer, struggling to work on his latest novel after the untimely passing of a loved one? What kind of projects were they working on? Some people would call her a hopeless romantic, say that she let herself fantasize too much, but that never stopped her from imagining all sorts of random scenarios about people she never met. This time, though, it was different. This time, she wanted to know, she wanted to ask them. David, that was the only thing she knew. She wanted to know who he was. Genya tried to focus on cleaning the counter, or attending to new clients, or restocking the baked goods they had on display, but her mind kept finding itself attached to him.

✧˖* ·˚ ☽ ☾ ˚ˑ *˖✧

The days soon bled into weeks, David started coming into the shop more often, becoming a familiar face for other regulars and employees alike, including Zoya, who had most certainly not missed the way Genya's face lit up every time they walked in.

It was a cold November afternoon when they arrived and sat down at his usual spot. Genya noticed the way he cleaned his foggy glasses and shivered as he entered the establishment. Over time, the cats had begun to gravitate towards him, always huddling by their side and purring next to their hands as they focused on whatever he was working on at the moment. Never paying them any mind. For a second, and just a second, she wondered if that was how he would react to her as well, if she ever got the courage to say something more than here's your order! and have a good day! It was thoughts like those those always prevented her from doing so.

Genya was not-so-slyly staring at them when she heard a voice behind her.

“Daydreaming about loverboy again, are we?”

Genya turned around, rolling her eyes at a smirking Zoya, who was rearranging her apron after coming back from her morning break.

“He's not my lover. I don't even know anything about the guy.”

Zoya let out an unconvinced hum as she put her raven curls up into a ponytail.

“Ok, so maybe I want to know the guy,” said the redhead.

“Genya, I love you, but your eyes have been following them like a lost puppy for two months now, it's becoming actually sad.” Genya huffed. “Fine, maybe not sad, just frustrating. Why don't you ask them out? Or, I don't know, talk? To them? You do still remember how to converse with another human, yes?”

Genya stared at her, an offended look on her freckled face. “Why don't you ask out the blond then?”, she retaliated, arching one eyebrow. She was very obviously referring to the tall blond regular who would often get on Zoya's nerves. Genya could swear she saw him gag after drinking his drink on several different days, so, why did he keep coming in, if he hated the coffee so much?

“I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about”, Zoya responded, completely expressionless. “I wouldn't ask out Nikolai if it was my last day on earth and kissing him would save me.”

Genya hummed, imitating her.

Zoya's lips curled into a smile and she went back to attend to the customers that were coming in. Genya did think about it, though. Maybe she would work up the courage to start a conversation.

✧˖* ·˚ ☽ ☾ ˚ˑ *˖✧

One thing she did know about David was that he adored routine. They always asked for the same drink, never had anything to eat, and always sat down on the same chair. She even realized his clothes all followed the same theme, earth tones and no complicated, extravagant patterns. So, when he came in and asked for a chocolate chip muffin along with his usual cup of coffee, to say Genya was surprised would be an understatement.

Zoya was too, which was made obvious by the look she gave the redhead when the boy turned around to go to his seat.

“Four months later, he asks for a muffin. Is he sick, maybe? Are we sure it's David and not just some guy that looks like him?”, she whispered. Genya nodded in agreement.

She didn't know why but, for some reason, she thought this may have been a sign from the universe screaming at her to finally try to talk to them. Four months had been more than enough waiting and, if they were stepping out of the routine they had fallen into, then so would she.

Thus, there she was, shaky hands holding a trail with a cup of coffee with cream and no sugar and a plate with a single chocolate chip muffin, in front of their table. David looked up at her, seeing her hesitation in putting down his order. And suddenly, the idea of her talking to him once four whole months had passed just because he decided to buy a muffin, didn't seem so bright. After a few seconds of staring at each other, she clumsily took the drink and food and set them down in front of him. She smiled and said,

“Here's your order!”

She was going to say something, really, she was. She had been practicing ten different conversation openers for the last ten minutes, but right there, looking into his eyes, her mind suddenly fell blank. The only thing she could manage out being,

“What are you reading?”

Surprise quickly overtook their features. They eyed her for a few seconds and then responded.

“The Promise of Space, by Arthur Clarke.”

“What is it about?”, she asked excitedly, only to immediately realize how stupid the question sounded. It has the word 'space' in the title, Genya, take a fucking guess, she said to herself.

“Space. The universe,” they explained, “Though I don't know if I am enjoying it so far. I am a bigger fan of the works of Carl Sagan or H.A. Rey. But that doesn't mean this one can't be good too, I suppose.”

Genya found herself to be a little speechless. That was the longest she had heard him speak in four months of wondering what his voice would sound like while stringing up an actual sentence non-coffee related – not that it had been a long sentence anyway.

“Well, I don't really know much about the universe, much less scientific books about it, but I guess getting a different perspective on the same topic can be helpful to avoid bias. And to learn more about it, which is the whole reason we read at all. I think. Difference isn't always a bad thing.” David didn't respond with anything, he just looked at her, something glimmering in his eyes, though Genya couldn't place it. “I'm Genya, by the way. I thought it was time I introduced myself. I know most of the regulars but I've never really talked to you.” Because you never talk to anyone here, she thought to add.

“Nice to meet you, Genya,” they said, their mouth turning into what might have looked like an uncomfortable smile to a stranger's untrained eye, but she could tell it was sincere.

“Nice to meet you as well, David.” Her freckled cheeks went up into a smile again, and she went back to work, stomach feeling fuzzy and nervous. She didn't catch his eyes following her around.

Zoya winked and smiled at her, having witnessed the interaction from across the shop. Progress.

✧˖* ·˚ ☽ ☾ ˚ˑ *˖✧

From that day on, Genya tried not-so-subtly to talk more to David. Granted, it was all small talk. She would ask how their day was going, if anything interesting had happened to them on his way to the shop. But she felt happy to finally be able to casually spend a few more minutes with him.

She noticed him being less sheltered around her as well. Every day, instead of looking at the floor and fidgeting while waiting for their drink to be made, they would awkwardly wave at her once he entered the shop. He still ran his hands around his hair nervously every time she was around, and he stuttered every time they talked, but Genya deduced it was due to social awkwardness.

David was the kind of person who simply couldn't stay still. He was the kind of person who made exaggerated hand gestures when they spoke, he was constantly pushing up his glasses and he seemed to always be uneasy on his seat. Most people would have found them eerie, and she surely found them strange. But the good kind. The kind she could hear babble on for hours and never get bored.

In the short time they had been conversing, Genya found out David was an engineering student, which was why they were always drawing these strange sketches and blueprints she never understood, and writing so many long, detailed essays. He told her it was a draining career but that he couldn't see himself doing anything else. Sometimes they would try to explain one of their projects to her, which, of course, never worked. But she was happy to gaze into the spark in their eyes when he rambled about a thing he was passionate about. She also figured out he loved space. A lot. Especially stars, he would talk about them for hours on end, their face always being adorned by a lazy smile.

As for him, they learned she was majoring in fashion, and wanted to be a stylist or designer someday. They also learned she loved film, especially horror, which most people were surprised to find out about her, but he said it was surprisingly fitting.

Anyone who looked at them could see they made an unusual pair. But, Genya wondered if perhaps that was what made him so interesting to her in the first place. If the unlikeliness of their friendship was what made it so special.

✧˖* ·˚ ☽ ☾ ˚ˑ *˖✧

On one occasion, Genya was ranting about a horror classic she apparently loved and felt very disappointed by David not having watched it, when she suddenly realized David was staring at her and hadn't said anything for several minutes. She stopped her rambling. “I'm so sorry, I'm talking way too much and you probably don't care- Wait, is there something on my face?”, she asked, confused as to what he was looking at.

“No,” they said, chin resting on their hand, “I'm just looking at your freckles.”

Genya let out a sigh. “Yeah, they're sadly there. Can't cover them up.” Truth be told, Genya hated her freckled cheeks. Mostly because they followed no pattern, and because, if they looked closed enough, anyone could realize her face wasn't just freckled but instead a mixture of freckles and acne scars that carried years of insecurities with them. She often wondered if she would have liked them better if they had had a uniqueness about them, if someone had ever complimented them.

Instead, her mother always made her worry about having perfect skin. When she was little, she would always look at pictures of girls with spotless, mark-less faces and wonder why she couldn't have the smoothness too. She told herself they weren't a big deal, always undermining her own feelings about them, feeling worried that she was being childish to hate something that so many other people liked. But, as any other human, she couldn't help but be insecure sometimes. And it most certainly made a difference when this was the kind of insecurity she couldn't hide or cover up.

“I don't see why you should want to. They make your face even more interesting to look at than it already is,” they said, genuinely confused as to why Genya would hate anything about herself. She thought about explaining it to them. She thought, perhaps, if she tried hard enough she'd be able to put it into words; but she'd never been particularly good at that. Plus, he could never have understood. He could never hate anything about her.

If he caught her blush, he didn't say anything about it. If she stuttered a little in her response, he didn't tell. Genya was thankful for it.

✧˖* ·˚ ☽ ☾ ˚ˑ *˖✧

It was a Friday during the first week of January. The flow of customers was low, and it was Zoya's day off. The unlikely friends were having a casual conversation, when someone at the door caught Genya's eye. It can't be, she thought. But those shiny snowy locks would have been recognizable to her anywhere.

“Alina!”, she shouted and got up from her seat next to David to salute her old friend. The mystery person turned around at the sound of their name, immediately smiling when she realized who was calling it.

“Genya! Oh my god, I can't believe you're here! What's it been, like, six months?” Alina met the redhead in a tight hug.

“Just about! I haven't seen you since you left for uni! Why didn't you call to say you were back?”, said Genya, pulling away.

“I literally just got here a couple of hours ago,” said the shorter friend, letting out a big chuckle, “I wasn't even planning on visiting right now but, well, you know Zoya, she can be clingy sometimes,” she muttered, smirking.

Genya smiled and turned around, suddenly remembering the conversation she was having prior to her friend showing up.

“Alina, meet David Kostyk. David, meet Alina Starkov. They used to work here too before she went away to Ukraine for university,” she said very excitedly.

David's eyebrow quirked, “Ukraine? Why so far?”

“Oh, my family's from there. My parents moved here when I was a child. I guess I just wanted to be closer to my relatives,” she explained. “I came here to spend some time with my favourite people in the whole world. We have so many things to talk about and catch up on!”

The two old friends started chatting casually, David just observed.

“Oh, I want to check out that new place they've opened a couple of streets from your flat. I'm pretty sure it's that one guy's, the tall brooding blond that's friends with Nina. Anyway!” Genya smiled, happiness overwhelming her due to seeing her friend so excited, “There's so many places I wanna go! And, speaking of, our anniversary is coming up soon, are we doing something special?”

Neither of the other two saw, but something shifted in David's expression.

“Yes! Of course, how could we miss it? Zoya promised she's coming this year too, we have to ask her. Though I fear a tall blond with a posh accent might be trying to steal her away,” said the redhead.

“You absolutely need to tell me about that later,” said Alina, equally surprised and amused, “Great! So, I need to run to Zoya's and get my stuff sorted out and everything. I'm staying with her while I'm here. But I'll text you, ok?”, said Alina, hugging the girl once again, saying goodbye.

She also bid farewell to David, who nodded tightly, sitting with their arms crossed on the table. His gaze followed Alina until they exited the place.

Genya smiled at her friend as she left the shop, glad to have them back. She didn't miss, however, how David didn't really speak much for the rest of the day.

✧˖* ·˚ ☽ ☾ ˚ˑ *˖✧

A couple of days later, she was casually eavesdropping on a conversation between Zoya and the blond.

“Stop being so mean to me, Zoya, or one of these days I might fall in love with you,” he said while resting his head on his hand on top of the counter.

“Has anyone ever told you you have the charisma of a damp towel?” He dramatically raised his hand to his heart, as if what she said had physically injured him. She was ignoring him, or at least pretending to, while cleaning up some stuff behind the counter.

“You wound me, my beautiful Zoya. Some day I'll stop coming here and betray you for some Starbucks coffee, and then you'll miss me.”

“Oh, I will certainly miss your money. You, I could do without.” Zoya didn't truly believe that. Genya knew her well enough to tell that much. She chuckled, careful not to make any sound to disturb the lovebirds.

She was busy smiling sheepishly at the two when suddenly David came in through the door, looking a little more on edge than usual.

Her inquisitive gaze fell upon them as they walked to the counter.

“Hi.” He kept fidgeting, touching and playing with the hem of his jumper.

“Hey. The usual, I'm guessing,” she said, grinning from ear to ear, heart throbbing in her chest. The usual had changed during the previous months, and the chocolate chip muffin had become a daily occurrence.

He nodded, a little unsure. Genya thought to ask him if something was wrong, but decided against it, feeling too afraid to overstep. Instead, she settled for some smalltalk, seeing as David was staring at her, which they usually did when they thought she wasn't looking. Not when she was right in front of them.

“So... Have you got any plans for the weekend?” she asked. The pitch of their voice went up as they hummed.

“Uh, I was thinking about borrowing some books from the library and doing a reading marathon. Do you have any plans?” the girl raised an eyebrow at the intonation of the word you, but said nothing about it.

“Yes, actually!” David couldn't help but look mesmerized as her eyes lit up, clearly excited about the event. “I'm going to have dinner with Alina and Zoya on Friday! Zoya and I haven't seen them in so long, we're so excited to catch up and hear all the stories she has about Ukraine and uni and her life now.”

She kept rambling a little bit further about her friends, not paying attention to the boy who was looking at her every move, and doing his best to keep control of his nerves and work up the courage to ask her what he had been meaning to since he met the silver-haired girl days earlier.

“Are you and Alina dating?” David blurted out, Genya's eyes going wide. She was almost certain he was joking, but he remained expressionless, completely serious. She then recalled the brief conversation they'd shared in front of David in the past, and how the word anniversary was mentioned, making her burst out in laughter.

David felt something explode in his stomach right then and there. They had been laughed at before, he knew the feeling of shame far too well. He didn't want to feel ashamed around her. They kept their eyes on Genya as she laughed for a little longer and then started explaining,

“Gods, no! Alina's aroace and very much not interested in romantic relationships. We're good friends, we've been for a long time. I mean, we did try at some point.” David's brow furrowed and he tilted their head a little in confusion. “To date, I mean. Before Alina realized they didn't want that sort of relationship with anyone. Everyone told us how good of a couple we'd make, and how we had so much chemistry and everything. It just didn't work out, we work better as friends. That's what they meant by anniversary. We celebrate the day we broke up, it's like an inside joke for our friends, we get together and watch a movie or something.” David nodded, brow still furrowed, apparently satisfied with the answer.

“So, are you dating anyone else?” he blurted out.

Genya abruptly stopped making their drink, almost throwing the carton of milk she was holding to the floor. Pink rose to her cheeks and she cursed herself for it, clearly not having expected that question.

“No–“ she cleared her throat– “No, I'm not seeing anyone at the moment.”

“Oh, good,” responded David, so nonchalantly she almost thought she had dreamed the entire interaction. “See you.” And with that, he just left the store.

He didn't even take his drink.

And Genya had no way of explaining what had happened.

✧˖* ·˚ ☽ ☾ ˚ˑ *˖✧

Zoya thought she did, though.

“He likes you, you idiot!” it was now the last week of January, they were cleaning up the café before closing and Genya had finally decided to tell her best friend about the encounter with the brunette a few weeks earlier. Genya was making knots on the trash bags and sweeping the floor behind the register while Zoya cleaned the counter with a cloth.

“You don't know that! He could have just been curious, you know?” she responded.

The raven-haired girl just blinked, willing herself to not murder her favourite person.

“And why would he be curious if he doesn't like you?”

“I don't know, ok! David's curious about a lot of things. Like a cat. He always wants to know everything, it's sort of sweet.”

Genya let out a loud ouch! as Zoya suddenly smacked her nape with the cloth. Genya chuckled at Zoya's visible annoyance.

“Listen, I love you, but this whole will they-won't they is getting to be kind of infuriating. We've been at this for months, Genya! The guy very clearly has feelings for you, anyone with eyes can see it. And you're into him. So get it over with and ask him out already.”

✧˖* ·˚ ☽ ☾ ˚ˑ *˖✧

It was a Wednesday a couple of weeks later that something happened again. It was Genya's shift, and the flow of customers was low, so she spent most of the day behind the register, watching the clients and making up stories about them in her head, and allowing herself to spend a bit of her free time daydreaming about a certain person, once again.

And, speak of the devil, or think the devil into appearing , she thought, David showed up that same afternoon, with shaky hands and biting his lip. Nervousness had always been a part of his character, but this time it stood out enough for Genya to notice. He had something on his mind.

She made them their coffee, and took advantage of the low flow of customers to sit and chat with them for a while. If anyone had seen them, they would have noticed they were far too close to each other, sitting almost in front of one another. But Genya and David would have just said it was part of the unlikeliness and strangeness of their friendship.

It was after about fifteen minutes of talking that Genya noticed the clasp of David's necklace was sitting next to its Star of David charm, and so she shifted on her seat and reached to fix it, making David immediately shut up in their rambling. He looked at her, though she was too focused on their necklace to notice, oblivious as she always was to the spark in their eyes whenever he looked at her. Adoration . Right when she was about to be done, he blurted out in nothing but a whisper,

“Andromeda.”

She looked up at them, slightly frowning.

“Sorry?”

“Your freckles. The ones on your right cheek,” he explained, “They look like Andromeda.”

She stared at him again. Adoration .

“The constellation?”

He nodded, a smile forming on their face.

“Down to the light intensity of the stars. It's actually quite fascinating,” he paused, thinking whether or not to continue, “You. You're quite fascinating.”

She saw something different in his glance right then. It might have been a trick of the lights, it might have been her own imagination, but in that moment, she could have sworn he lifted the wall in front of their eyes and let out their emotions with them.

Genya couldn't help but break into a smile too, feeling the heat in her cheeks. She didn't know where she got the confidence from, but she asked,

“Would you like to have dinner with me sometime? This weekend, maybe?”

Neither of them was whispering, but there was a softness in both their voices, as if there were an unspoken agreement between the two, as if they were sharing a secret only they were aware of.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, and then his smile got a bit wider.

“Yeah. Yeah, I'd really like that,” he responded.

They might have thought they were sharing a secret, but to Zoya, there was no secrecy in the giggles they let out afterwards, or the stolen glances from across the café when they thought nobody was looking. That day, she smiled too.

✧˖* ·˚ ☽ ☾ ˚ˑ *˖✧

On Wednesday, Genya might have been calm and confident, but by the time Saturday came around, she was an insecure, indecisive mess again.

As she laid on the floor of her room, mountains of clothes surrounding her, the sun still peeking through the window, she thought about asking Zoya for help. Then, she remembered her friend was already occupied with someone else that night, and so she called Alina.

They were over by her place within ten minutes. She looked around Genya's room, then at Genya, then at the room again, and their face finally softened when Genya looked up at them too. She smiled and sat down next to her friend. Genya's glance went back to the ceiling.

“I feel like I'm going crazy. None of my clothes look good anymore.”

“Love, you have a bigger wardrobe than most people in the 1%, you'll survive.”

“All of my clothes are suddenly ugly, nothing looks good, I don't look good, my hair looks absolutely awful today which is almost painful because it looked so pretty yesterday and I'm a stuttering mess and I'm gonna have to cancel,” she said, covering her face with her hands in exasperation.

“Look at me,” said Alina. The redhead sighed and stood up to sit next to her friend, then looked at them. “Your clothes aren't ugly and you don't have to cancel. Don't try to self-sabotage.”

“Excuse me?”

“Genya, I love you, but you always do this to yourself. You find something good and you get scared that you'll end up hurt because of it, so you sabotage it, that way you don't find out if it will eventually damage you.”

Genya didn't respond, at first.

“It's easier that way. Fantasizing is fun but, compromise almost always ends terribly,” she said.

“No, it's not, and we both know that,” they stared at each other, Alina tilted their head, “It doesn't always have to be awful, you know. I know you're convinced it always ends badly, but it doesn't have to. Good things can come out of it too. Don't deprive yourself of them out of fear. Besides, he's gonna love you. Stuttering mess and all.”

The redhead didn't say anything, she just wrapped her arms around her friend, the silver-haired head resting above hers. The two stayed in comfortable silence for a while. For most of her life, Genya had felt a need to talk whenever she was with someone. To keep them entertained, to keep them engaged, otherwise they would notice the boredom forever intertwined with her presence and decide they no longer wanted to keep her around. Alina never made her feel like she had to be anyone but herself. Alina always appreciated all of her. Including her silences.

“Was it terribly awful not having us when you were away? Because it was terribly awful not having you,” she said. Alina laughed.

“It was rather boring, yes.”

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

Twenty minutes later, Genya was out the door, a beautiful flowery blue dress resting on her skin. Alina had helped her do her makeup and hair as well, and when she looked in the mirror before leaving, a genuine smile popped up in her face. She looked beautiful, and for once, she knew it.

✧˖* ·˚ ☽ ☾ ˚ˑ *˖✧

At first, the only way to describe dinner was awkward. Neither of them knew why. They'd been friends for months at that point, and almost never had had an uncomfortable conversation. But there was something different in the air that day, in the way David didn't try to hide his staring and Genya didn't look away at the first hint of eye contact. It all changed, however, once David made a really bad joke in a poor attempt at breaking the silence –it really wasn't funny, but the way he laughed uncomfortably afterwards definitely was–, and it just so happened Genya was taking a sip of wine, resulting in her spilling it on her dress. They had apologized profusely, of course, and she had laughed it off, saying it didn't matter. From then on, they fell into a comfortable chat as always. If nothing else, they both knew they'd never run out of topics to talk about.

As the night progressed, they were both blushing and giggling messes, completely mesmerized by each other. Genya listened to David ramble about anything and everything, and every once in a while he'd get so distracted by her looking at him, they would lose track of what they were saying and have to start over again. Genya would then look at him more intensely, head resting on her hand, to further mock them.

They ended up in a park bench, and right when they were about to leave, both already a little tipsy from the wine and the hour growing quite late, they realized it had started raining. David glanced over at Genya, who looked –apart from stunning– like she would freeze to death standing in her sleeveless dress, and so he decided to take his jacket off and hand it to her. It wasn't really a romantic gesture, more practical than anything to him, they didn't even put it on her, they just handed it over with a light smile, and the worn out black denim contrasted her flowery blue dress, but Genya still found it sweet.

And so, they ran in the rain together, rushing to find shelter. One of them would occasionally slip –either from the rain or the alcohol– and the other would catch them. They laughed and they screamed even though it was too late and they were most definitely annoying people in nearby buildings who were trying to sleep. Neither of them cared.

Finally, they stopped in their tracks when they reached Genya's apartment. They looked at each other again, neither of them wanted to say goodbye. They felt so comfortable in each other's presences, like they knew the other was the only person in the world who'd never judge them for what they said. Genya sighed and just wrapped her hands around David, burying her head into his neck. They didn't know how to react at first, quite surprised by the gesture, but eventually wrapped their arms around her too.

“Thank you for tonight,” she whispered into his neck.

“Thank you, too,” he responded.

After they bid farewell to each other and Genya finally got home, she allowed herself to slide down the door rather dramatically, smiling like a teenager with a crush. She looked at the jacket that she was still wearing, which looked too big on her and didn't match any of her clothes, and she giggled. She didn't know much about the world, or relationships for that matter. Picturing the feeling had always come easy to her, but it always came in romanticized images and idealized dreams, so much so that she'd always been afraid that reality would fall flat next to her mind. But she knew then, sitting on the floor and laughing like a kid, cheeks still rose-tinted from the wine, butterflies in her stomach; that was what love felt like.

David didn't go to the café the next Monday.

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“He hates me.” Genya was growing worried. Almost two weeks had passed since their date and he hadn't appeared around the shop or made any attempt to contact Genya whatsoever, so now, she was pestering Zoya with her overwhelming thoughts that varied between David hates me and Maybe he's had a medical emergency and they're dying at the hospital and I'm a horrible person for assuming they don't like me, what if he has bigger issues?

Zoya was on the verge of crying out of frustration. She'd tried to comfort her friend several times as best as she could, but none of her attempts had made a difference in the redhead's mood.

That same day, the raven-haired girl finished her shift earlier so it was up to Genya to close up the shop. She'd been feeling down all day, not knowing what to make of her lover's disappearance. She closed the café and started sweeping the floor before going home, she figured she would buy herself dinner and watch a movie to cheer herself up. She was planning the rest of her night when she heard a knock on the glass of the door which, quite frankly, scared her so much she jumped.

She came closer to see who it was and, to her surprise, her eyes met David's brown gaze out the door. She opened the door but didn't let him in.

“Hi,” the only thing that could be heard was the faint sound of the wind and buzzing of the streetlights nearby.

“Hey.”

More silence.

“You're really dumb, you know,” he nodded.

“I know,” they pursed their lips, “I'm sorry.”

“You could have just told me you didn't like me and be done with it. It didn't have to be this awkward.” He frowned.

“That's how you think I feel about you? You think I disappeared because I don't like you and I didn't know how to tell you?” The way he worded it made it sound like a question, but the way they pronounced it made it seem more like they were genuinely confused at the girl's reasoning. She didn't say anything. “Genya, I'm so sorry that I made you think that.”

“How... How is it that you feel about me, then?”

He sighed. Not in frustration, but as if he was finally letting out something they had been keeping in for far too long.

“I think I might be in love with you. No, I definitely am. And that's terrifying, isn't it?” He waited, almost like he was waiting for her to answer. “At least it terrifies me. Being close to you. I usually run away from things like that. I'm afraid I won't understand you, or you won't understand me and I'll end up hurting you. I don't understand a lot of things and it scares me. That's why I disappeared. It's terrifying. But for once, I don't mind it. Sorry, I'm rambling again, does all that sound insane?”

She stared at them, completely dumbfounded.

“I think I might love you too.”

“You do?”

“I love that you're kind, and funny without trying. And I love your rambling and watching you step over yourself every time you walk. I love making fun of you and I love hearing you laugh. I think I might love all of you.”

And with that, they both broke out in a grin, laughing at their own stupidness for not saying any of those things sooner. With their laughs dissipated their awkwardness, and the two unlikely lovers hugged.

“I missed you,” said Genya.

“I know, I'm sorry,” answered David.

She pulled back, hands still on David's neck, and kissed him, them immediately kissing her back.

He then helped her clean up the café, and they both ended up going back to her apartment, night spent eating takeout while tangled between blankets, laughing at each other's worst jokes, David tracing and kissing each freckle on her face.

It was insignificant moments like those that made them fall for each other in the first place, how they only wanted each other for the sake of wanting, the way they knew the other would never ask for anything from them but sweet nothings.

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