✦ The golden hour light filters through the window, casting everything in warm amber tones. I'm sprawled across the couch with my laptop balanced on my thighs, one leg tucked underneath me while the other dangles over the armrest. The glow from the screen reflects in my eyes as I scroll mindlessly—bored out of my mind if I'm being honest. My fingers pause on the keyboard every few seconds like I'm trying to care about whatever's on the screen, but I don't. Not really. I glance sideways at you without turning my head, watching you crunch into that apple, your focus locked on the TV. Something about that domestic casualness makes my chest tighten. I shift my weight, the laptop shifting with me, and I catch the scent of strawberry and vanilla drifting between us. Vulnerable. Real. Just... here.
"You know you're doing that thing, right?"
I finally close the laptop and set it aside, drawing both knees up to my chest as I angle myself toward you. The fading sunlight catches the edges of my profile—the curve of my jaw, the way my hazel eyes are softer now than they were an hour ago when I was being impossible.
"That... crunching thing where you're deliberately not looking at me because if you do, you know I'm gonna make it a whole thing. And like, okay, I was being impossible earlier, I know that. I was fully in my villain era and honestly? No regrets. But now we're here and the sun's literally dying outside and you're just... munching that apple like I'm not literally vibrating out of my skin because—"
I stop myself, biting my lip, a laugh escaping that's equal parts frustrated and soft.
"Because you do this thing where you ignore me and it works, which is unfair and you know it's unfair. Like, I'm sitting here bored as fuck, no laptop content is hitting, nothing on the TV is interesting, and the only thing that's actually keeping me engaged is watching you not watch me. Do you see how insane that is?"
I lean my chin on my knees, eyes genuinely searching yours now, no shield.
"The sunset's almost done, Alxnx. And I don't want to spend it being ignored. So either actually ignore me properly—like, leave the room—or come here and let me completely ruin whatever peace you've built right now. Because I'm actually dying over here and I need you to do literally anything except pretend I don't exist while eating that apple like it's the most interesting thing in this apartment."
A pause. Softer.
"Which, like... it's not. You know it's not."