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On most occasions, Scara would be sleeping in, waking up late in the afternoon, and binge watching whatever seemed interesting with his best friend, Mona. After all, this felt like the best way to spend the day when classes weren’t in the way. But this Friday in particular, wouldn’t be the one of the run of the mill usual routines. Today, Scara had agreed to go on a date with a certain ginger jock. The two of them had picked out a relatively small, but well-known diner relatively nearby campus.
“What about this???” Scara frantically tossed a jacket across his room and tried on a flashier one. “This one, right?.. No.. He’ll think I’m some freak.” Scara unbuttoned the jacket and tossed it aside, continuing to go through his wardrobe to frenziedly select an outfit for his date.
“No offense, Scara,” Mona stated in a dejected tone, “But I literally do not care.” Mona snacked on leftover popcorn kernels the two had eaten while watching a movie. She stood up from Scaras bed and took a look inside of Scaras closet. “Do you wear anything besides oversized jackets and baggy pants? That's all there is in here. How hard could it be to just pick if they’re all practically the same.” Mona smirked and flopped back onto Scaras bed.
“Sh-Shut up! It really does matter, but I see maybe you wouldn’t care because the last guy you saw ran away after you foretold his arm breaking.” Scara giggled while Mona shot him a death glare. “It’s not my fault that he wanted to know about the future. He said and I quote, "All I see in the future is me and you, and I simply corrected him.” Mona offendedly crossed her arms and looked away while Scara started limiting his clothing choices down.
“Wait here, I’m gonna try this one on.” Scara folded a set of clothes together and hurriedly ran to his bathroom. In the meanwhile, Mona picked up the pile of clothes he had left all over his room. Suddenly, the bathroom door creaked open. “Uhm.. I think this is it. Can you confirm with me..” Mona stood in front of the bathroom door and mumbled yes.
“O-okay..” Scara opened the bathroom door all the way revealing his final outfit choice. He wore a black hat and wore a navy blue toned semi-zipped jacket. Underneath was a white shirt and she wore baggy torn-up pants. “W..well?..” Scara said worried. Mona tilted her head left and right before looking up into Scaras eyes. “Yeah. You look like yourself, this is it. Just remember on the date, my best advice to you is to NOT be yourself.” Scara weakly smiled and Mona rushed him back into the bathroom to do his makeup.
Meanwhile…
“Ajax. Ajax. Ajax. Wake up.” Zhongli repeatedly shook Ajax who was fast asleep. Zhongli yelled out his name several times but to no avail he wouldn’t wake up. Eventually, Zhongli decided to shove him off of his bed.
“G-GAGAH!!!” Ajax in shock shot upwards in a fighting stance before relaxing seeing Zhongli. “Zhongli? Shouldn’t you be tutoring right now? What’re you doing here?” The ginger boy found his nearby shirt and slipped it on. “I don't tutor on Fridays, Ajax. but more importantly, all you’ve been able to do all week is talk about Scaramouche. You’ve especially bragged about your date today which is starting in,” Zhongli looked over to a nearby clock, “7 minutes.”
Ajax's eyes shot over to the clock and he screamed out in panic. “Sh-shoot!” He scrambled over to his closet to pick out decently smelling clothes before washing his face and quickly brushing his teeth. All the while Zhongli stood in his doorway not feeling surprised in the slightest. “Don’t always rely on me to be your personal alarm clock, Ajax. I’ll be outside waiting for you, I suppose if I don’t give you a ride you’ll be late.” Zhongli left Ajax to his panicked mess.
Zhongli waited in his car outside of the dormitories as he watched the rushing Ajax pulling down his sleeves to his blue varsity jacket layered over a white tank top. He wore a basketball hat and long jeans as well. Slamming the car door, “D-drive! The diner is near your favorite coffee place!!” Zhongli sighed in disappointment and began to be on his way.
“Awh man, I'm the worst date ever… He’s gonna hate me, dude!” Ajax complained all the way to the diner while Zhongli grumbled in response. “If you had simply planned out your nap then you wouldn’t be facing this problem, would you?” Ajax looked down to the ground, as if he was getting scolded by his father. Ajax pulled out his phone and began texting Scara.
“Hey buddy, I might be a little late, why don’t you go inside and take a seat? Thanks cutie~” Ajax simply saw a “read” appear under his text, with no response. He sighed to himself and looked up and down from his phone, thinking of how he would apologize to Scara. Ajax saw the diner and rushed upwards, bumping his head on the roof of the car. “GYAGH!! Agh.. a-Thanks Zhongli!! I’ll call you when I’m d-done!”
Ajax practically jumped out of the car, overhearing Zhongli cursing under his breath and ran towards the diner. He opened the door, sweaty and frightened the worker in the front. “H!!! A-aaum.. Hello.. Uh, do you have a reservation?”
Ajax looked to his side taking a look at Scara. To Ajax, Scara looked completely adorable. Like a doll that he could keep to himself, but he quickly got his head out of the clouds and turned back towards the worker. “Y-yeah I’m with him.” Scara stood up from his chair and looked down to the ground. “T..took you long enough…” Ajax softly smiled and held his hands out in front of him like a prayer. “I’m real sorry!~ Won’t you forgive me?” Scara blushed, and immediately looked away. “Y-yeah right..”
A waiter came along and escorted the two to their table. “This is unfortunately the only booth we have left, is this okay?” Scaras face was full of abject horror, as he looked upon their booth which was connected into a circle, unlike regular booths that sat dates across from each other. Ajax, on the other hand, only saw this as an opportunity to get closer to Scara. He chuckled while Scara groaned, and reluctantly nodded.
Scara sat down on one of the ends, putting his bag down and sighing in disbelief. He looked forward and realized Ajax had sat intentionally scooted towards the middle of the booth, instead of the end across from Scara. “Hey, buddy, aren’t cha gonna sit here?” Ajax pointed to the spot next to him. Scara heated up instantaneously and his face was full of utter shock in both Ajax’s confidence and completely obliviousness.
“U..umm.. Alright then..” Scara stood up and sat closer to Ajax. Ajax, simply by nature, wrapped his arm behind Scara and pulled him closer towards him by his waist, keeping his hand there while reviewing the menu items. Scara let out a slight squeak as he was pulled closer to Ajax. He looked downward towards his leg and realized it was touching Ajax’s. Scara turned completely red and hid his face behind the menu, almost looking like he couldn’t read.
Multiple alarms were going off in Scara’s head. He was shocked by the booth, shocked by Ajax, and then shocked by the fact they were actually touching each other. He was completely flustered and incapable of forming words, briefly turning to look at Ajax who looked like everything was completely fine. Scara had suddenly remembered the dating training magazines they bought and tried to recall any of what it said.
He couldn’t remember.
“Hmm.. This looks good.. What’re you getting Scara?” Ajax looked over to Scara’s menu, completely confused as to see his menu was upside down, but he returned back to look at his own, deciding not to question it. Scara snapped back to reality and squinted at his menu for a second, before flipping it the right side over immediately. “U-uh.. did you say what I was gonna get? Um… I think the pasta looks…. Okay…”
Thoughts raced through Scara’s mind. “What do I say? What should I do? What will he say? What should I say? What will he do? Am I overthinking this? No. I'm overthinking this. No. Wait. Yes. No. Wait.” He realized that dates are typically meant to get to know a person better. “U..uh.. How were your classes today?” Scara set his menu down onto the table and looked to the side, towards Ajax.
“My classes? It was really nothing interesting, all I could do was think about spending some time with you, cutie~ What about you?” Ajax chuckled and placed a hand under his chin and got a good look at Scara, and smiled even more. “Sh-shut up!!... I..um..I guess something happened in class today… I told you a little about this one person the other day and…” Scara began actively rambling and Ajax seemed to enjoy every second of it.
The waiter came to their table and took out a notepad. “Are you two ready?” Ajax nodded and looked back down to his menu “I’ll get your finest cheeseburger~ and a side of fries! Oh, and don’t forget my milkshake!” Ajax slammed the menu down, feeling proud of himself. Scara looked up from his menu and looked down, towards his legs. “Uhm.. Can I have.. This pasta? I’ll have a milkshake too.” The waiter jotted their orders down but looked at Scara, worriedly. “Sir, you don’t look well.. Do you need anything?” Scara, shocked, felt his face and the warmth of his cheeks shocked his palm and he looked up towards the waiter embarrassed. “Uh- No thank you.. Sorry..” The waiter apologized and walked away.
Ajax looked over to Scara with a worried expression across his face. “Are you okay? Are you sick, my dear?” He let go of Scara’s waist and felt the side of Scara’s forehead “Ah! You’re burning up! Are you sure you’re okay?” Scara became unresponsive from being called “My dear” and fell deeper into his thoughts. “..Scara? Scaraa?” He waved hush and in front of Scara’s face and became more worried. “A-ah.. Y..yeah I’m okay.. It’s just.. Maybe I'm… I don't know… cold?..” Scara realized it made literally no sense that he was burning up because he was cold, but Ajax instantly reacted.
Ajax held the two parts of his buttoned jacket and suddenly tugged it open, causing the buttons to instantly come undone. He stood up and took his jacket off, and delicately placed it on Scara’s shoulders. “There we go, is this better?” Scara looked up towards Ajax as he held his sweater. “Thank you, Ajax.” Scara locked eyes with Ajax and smiled.
The waiter came back with their food, but Ajax and Scara looked confused as they set only one milkshake down onto the table. “I’m afraid there was only one milkshake left. Enjoy your meal!” The waiter put two straws next to the milkshake and walked away, leaving Scara internally screeching and Ajax completely confused. “One milkshake… two straws… and…uh…”
Ajax munched down on his cheeseburger while Scara could barely even eat his pasta. He looked back at the milkshake now with two straws. Ajax and Scara at the same time took a sip of their milkshake, making eye contact. Ajax smirked and Scara choked on his milkshake for a second. “Haha, are you okay Scara?” Ajax got a tissue and wiped his mouth. As Ajax became more and more confident, Scara slowly became more and more flustered.
The two finished their food as they talked more about school and about themselves. “Ah.. right, the payment.” Scara reached into his bag to find his wallet. “Woah there, I was super late, let me pay buddy~” Ajax wiped out a card and slammed it down onto the check. Scara looked at Ajax with a shocked expression. “R-really?... I could really pay for what I ate..” Ajax cupped Scaras face “Don’t worry about it~” Ajax effectively paid for the meal after causing Scara to malfunction.
As they stepped outside they both walked to a nearby park and sat down on a bench. The day had turned night and they sat under a bench illuminated by a nearby park light. They both sat their shoulders and legs touching each other again. Ajax placed his arm over Scaras shoulder and Scara scooted in closer, feeling the warmth of Ajax’s body. “Ajax,” Scara laid his head on Ajax’s shoulder, “Why did you ask me on a date?... There’s so many girls around you all day… boys as well… couldn’t you have done better than me?..”
Ajax looked surprised, and he looked at two nearby racoons rummaging through a park trashcan. “How else do I put this… you’re just you. Sure, I could date a popular person… but none of those popular people are you. You’re adorable, how else am I meant to explain that?” Scara looked at the racoons as well before intertwining hands with Ajax. “Thank you for tonight, Ajax.” Ajax smiled and closed his eyes. “Of course, my dear.” Scara closed his eyes as the glimmering moonlight shone and the stars danced across the sea of the night sky.
A nearby bush rustles as an astrologist and studious boy with a ponytail high five.