Designed to crash.

Takano felt a bit embarrassed. The way Audrey talked… he kind of sounded like he cared? Takano hadn’t even gotten that growing up from his mom, how was he supposed to reply to that now?

“I….” he hesitated a moment, trying to collect even a stray thought in his blurry mind, “Yeah. Author was late with her manuscripts. I haven’t slept in a while,” he admitted, a yawn forcing passed his chapped lips without his concent.

He let his head fall on his hand as he kept talking, “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting very long to see if I’d message,” Takano mumbled, subtly showing the vulnerability of guilt. Normally, he definitely wasn’t the kind to apologize, but sleep fogged his mind enough to take down a few of his walls.

The author listened intently to the other’s words. He sighed as he heard that Takano hadn’t had much sleep - he almost felt protective over the brunet, although they barely knew each other. Needless to say, Audrey had a habit of caring for others even if they didn’t ask for it. 

Fuck! It’s ringing! Why is it ringing? Takano nearly dropped his phone when it started playing the marimba chime. He fumbled to keep it in his hands and lightly tapped the answer symbol on his screen.

The voice that played made his heart warm– as well as pound faster than the speed of light.

“Hah… I’m not that scatter brained,” he chuckled. His voice was heavy, drowned in exhaustion. It broke and cracked because he’d been barking all week and the toll was upon him now.

It suddenly became very clear to Takano that he hadn’t really asked anyone on a formal date in almost ten years. He gulped. What does one do? Should he just get right to it? He closed his eyes trying to think before finally croaking, “Uh… how’ve you been?”

Audrey let his hand pat the small head of his cat as he grinned with the look of a mad fool on his face. The expression faltered for a moment as he heard the other’s voice. Takano sounded tired. And as much as the author wanted to hold against the brunet the fact he made him wait... Perhaps Takano had had a week worse than Audrey anticipated. He gave a low chuckle as the other mentioned he was not that forgetful. In all honesty, ‘scatter brained’ was the last thing Audrey thought about the brunet. 

“I’m glad to hear you’re fine. Between you and me, I was slightly worried you might not make it in one piece home. Not that I would doubt your capabilities, but you could certainly colour me surprised when I see someone walking after that intake of alcohol. Anyway, I digress…” A small chuckle escaped Rylen’s lips, the charming and inviting smile never leaving the owner’s visage.

Sitting on the barstool next to the blond, the brown haired male decided to steer the topic of the conversation away from that particular evening, as it seemed to bother the other- if the flinching and certain pauses in the speech were any particular clues to go by. Plus, in Rylen’s opinion, it would be quite rude to continue beating a dead horse.

“What did you think of the band’s performance tonight? I heard they tried their new songs, they were attempting some another spin on the lyrics and vibe… Pity I had to miss it, really, but I remember we have a similar taste as far as it comes to music… Plus, who better to ask than a frequent lister?”

A shadow encompassed the blond’s features. The last thing he wanted was to be reminded of that night. And the owner seemed adamant on bringing it up. He took a sip from his drink and gave the other a disinterested hum. When the brown haired man sat next to him Ethan had to stop himself from directing an unfriendly gaze towards him. He was not in the mood for company but he couldn’t have denied the seat to the owner of the place. 

Hell week hit and it hit hard. Takano was surviving completely off of caffeine and he was basically barely awake. Once a month this was his suffering. Barking orders and pulling all nighters in an office full of men who he knew for a fact just wanted to go home. This was the part of his job he hated.

As a result over the next few days, not a word came from him over the phone, infact, it was most likely left at home.

On top of it, he knew his boss was coming. Dammit Ikawa what the hell could he possibly want? He knew the offices were busy right now, could he just bug off until this week was over?!

“Remember guys! This Saturday is the company party! You can’t forget!” Sang his boss before he left. The whole office became filled with groans. Kisa even hit his head to the desk. Great, so they didn’t even get to relax this weekend they had to put their game faces on and pretend to be charming.

And Takano needed to find a date for it.

Dammit he was really pissed.

This did provide an opportunity, though…

When he got back home, with bags under his eyes and his heart in his throat, he pulled out a napkin with numbers scribbled on it. Tapping it into his phone, he sent one text.

[TEXT: AUDREY 10:30PM]

“Hey. It’s Takano. Do you remember me?”

Audrey’s fingers moved nimbly as he typed in the newest chapter from the novel, a cat curled up in his lap and purring softly. He made a habit out of putting his phone on silent mode when he wrote in order to minimize distractions. An hour later, when he finished writing, he noticed he had received a text from an unknown number. His eyebrows were brought together in a curious expression. As he read the small letters, a darling smile formed on his lips and he released a soft chuckle. 

“Are you all comfortable in there? Too hot? Too cold?” Speaking to recently cocooned caterpillars? Yes, this is the normal. Him and these little creatures shared so much in common that he felt that they all shared the same brain wave length. Considering he has yet to have a failed cluster of cocooned caterpillars, he must be doing something right.

His attention, however, moves away from his new generation of children at the ding of an email. His eyebrow arches slightly at the title and it rose even more as he read over the email. Someone wanted to interview him? His fingers hesitate on a response for a moment, but the need to talk about his darling became too much and he quickly agreed to be interviewed, pressing send and leaning back in his chair as he waited for more information.

He raised from his desk with a sigh and the sleeping cat from his lap stretched, threatening to fall off. Audrey chuckled under his breath and caught Dior, carrying the feline with him towards his bed. He was about to get the book from his nightstand and continue his lecture, when he heard a notification going off on his phone. The email he received politely accepted his offer of conducting research into butterfly collecting. Audrey’s face lit up and he looked towards Dior as if the cat understood his excitement. 

Takuya was having a rather long and exhausting day. Being in these crutches was a bad idea today, but he had just refused to use his wheelchair to get around. Muffin, at his side, was ever patient with him. Her steps were slow as his, taking a couple steps forward before stopping and waiting for him to catch up.

A certain amount of guilt pinched at Takano’s side, mainly because oh, so many times was he the angry editor that was kept waiting by his author. At the same time, he wished the author’s editor would bug off so he could steal just a few more moments with this quiet, strange man.

Handsome?! Did– what did he say?! Takano felt his throat cramp completely and no words could leave him. What– what was that? So Audrey was flirting with him? Why did Takano even care? That man… oh that man!

Takano swallowed the lump in his throat and mustered together the most calm grin he could under his heart’s circumstances and waved his hand dismissively, “I wouldn’t want to be on your end if your editor is anything like me,” he lightly joked, pretending his blush was much more subtle than it really was. “Good luck.”

Still, he couldn’t stop his eyes from following Audrey as the enchanting man walked away. He allowed them to memorize his frame, the way he walked the way he carried himself, right down to his fingertips. Takano knew he wouldn’t forget him, after all his memory was immaculent. Even still, he didn’t want to risk it.

A jolt pulsed through his entire body when their eyes met, though. He cleared his throat and abruptly stood up, leaving the waitress a tip and bolting home as if he actually had somewhere to be.

He almost tripped as he looked back and saw the brunet still watching him. A blush decorated the author’s cheeks and he had to force himself to not smile. After his meeting with the editor, his life continued as normal. He didn’t see the brunet at the coffee shop anymore and he didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. Getting attached so easily to people couldn’t be good.