aperturcs

── noah might be naive, but he isn't an idiot, okay? dante's smile is a little too wide, his gaze a little too lingering, and after he makes the assertion that he'd come to the store to look for him specifically a few days ago... noah understands what's happening. he has come to the realization that, for whatever reason, this guy is interested in him, and thanks to whatever chemicals aren't firing correctly in his brain, he just can't deal with that. it makes him want to tuck tail and run, save them both the trouble and the unavoidable failure of whatever this could turn into. except, his body and his brain aren't exactly on the same page, which is why there's a redness creeping up his neck, ready to flush his face all the way to the tips of his ears, thankfully camoglauged by his hair. "...no, no, i remember now," he says with a nod, as if the memory had only just come back to him. "i gave you a mcfadden. you liked it?" he shifts to the side, into the row of shelves that consists of the mystery/thriller section, assuming his customer will follow. "maybe try... feeney?" he motions to another author's section, their array of books. "sort of the same writing style. she's good." there's something about the way he says this that isn't exactly dismissive, but doesn't leave dante much wiggle room, either, and that's by design.

"oh yeah? do you?" a cocky smirk spreads over dante's mouth, his confidence lifted as noah's neck turns red. dante takes it as an invitation and takes a step closer, sticking an arm out behind noah's head to lean against one of the shelves. he's like a dog with a bone and he doesn't even know noah, but he's got these beady eyes that dante can't stop thinking about when he leaves and a way of sticking inside dante's thoughts in a near obsessive way. his thoughts keep spiraling over noah, thinking about how badly he wants to grab the mop of hair on his head, the way he wanted to pick noah's mind and find out everything about him. it wasn't a foreign feeling to dante; it was the only way he knew how to like someone - obsessively and all consuming - even if it was mostly created in his head. "sure." he's not really interested in the books this time, so he takes one from the shelf he followed noah to without so much as a glance. "so - what time are you off?" there's not a better time coming up and dante was starting to think (thanks to the stares he got each time he came into the store now) that he was running out of chances to coincidentally run into him.

                   it took him hours to pry himself away from the family reunion he was bamboozled into attending. one dinner had morphed into an entire weekend of family activities that made his head ache. he certainly didn't have enough social battery to play charades with loud elders, hell - bent on egregiously cheating all for the sake of bragging rights. nox is debating whether anyone would really notice if he went home ( as in, the quiet of his apartment ) when sudden timbre makes him nearly jump out of his skin. oh, great. " what the —— what are you doing here? "

crashing a family reunion that wasn't his maybe wasn't the best idea. it wasn't the first time he had done it and he didn't think it would be the last. they always had good food - sue him. this time it had nothing to do with the food. a few familiar faces spotted him and waved, giving him confidence as he walked around the space looking for the one face he was concerned about. "i was in town. didn't expect to see you here." lying already wasn't the best start to a reunion, but noah couldn't very well tell him that he had come looking for him. "you miss me?" he reaches out, poking a finger into nox's arm. "i'm here for a week. let's hang out."

                   " sure did! " chirps, not missing a beat. she didn't miss the other's desperate look, and if a pretty girl needed her help, tobi was more than happy to play princess in shining armour. " saw her all sad and alone and swept her right off her feet. " turns to meet her gaze. " right, honey? "

iris breathes a sigh of relief when the woman she pointed at simply went along with her ruse. "alright, alright. swept me off my feet might be a bit of a stretch." iris' mouth spreads into a smirk and angles her body towards the pretty stranger. "you might have to take me out one more time for all of that."

his stomach was doing flips, somersaults even now that he was standing in front of aubrey like this. he thought it was something he wouldn't do, something that he would just simply keep to himself. but, he just almost couldn't help himself. "for a long time now," he says, softly. "i guess i've accidentally blurred the lines of our arrangement, but i just can't help myself," he says. "you're so incredible, aubrey. you really just make my heart skip a beat every time i see you or every time you walk into the room."

confusion etches its way further onto aubrey's face, his lips parting as jude continues and practically spills his heart all over the tile between them. aubrey's got this cruel streak in him that almost makes him laugh. its not funny. he just doesn't know what to say when he had missed any signs completely. "for how long?" aubrey tries to match the tone that jude has, soft and gentle, but he's not quite able to. "you don't know what you're saying, jude. you've probably had too much to drink."

★ reichel (1G, 1A) speaks with the media following 6-1 W vs WPG || wpg@bos 03.19.26

── he catches it, that little stutter in taylor's breath, the way he hesitates, caught off guard. he's worried that he's gone too far, that their little game of back-and-forth might be over before it started, that he might've actually pissed taylor off enough to shove him off, to leave. as they both lean back to accept their drinks, though, he comes to a realization of the opposite: taylor hadn't shuddered because he was angry, but because he was flustered. and dean, with that knowledge in mind and taylor's can offer you killer head comment still ringing in his head, is wearing a shit-eating grin. "guilty as charged." he says this with both hands up in a mock surrender before letting one drop to his lap again, the other going for the shot he'd ordered himself; it's his third of the night, plus the couple of cocktails he's had. still, he's only moderately tipsy with a tolerance that's a little too high for his own good. "i can't help it, man. you just really pull off a helmet look." he says this against the rim of his glass, about to down the drink, before he pauses to extend his hand, glass held up for a cheers. "cheers to the game," he says evenly, but there's that twinkle still in his eye, the one that betrays his not being done. and he isn't. "...and to calling your bluff on that head you offered." clink.

"its the way my hair kind flips out, huh? just really does it for you? you know that's why i keep it like that." taylor takes a beat, panicking at how that sounded before rushing out, "i mean, not for you but so people think i can pull of a helmet. gotta help this nose where i can, right?" a self depreciating laugh fills the space between them, just a little too hollow. taylor recovers quickly though, reaching his shot glass out to dean's until the glass clinked against his, quickly taking the shot - and almost spitting it out all over dean not a moment later. this time he can't recover as quickly, eyes wide and staring at dean, nervousness lacing every word that he still manages to get out. "i never bluff about head, dude."

Maia Reficco

CHASE INFINITI 📹 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party

maybe dante was right — he didn't want to go unnoticed, especially by the one person who he wanted to notice him more than anyone. ever since he got that text message a couple of weeks ago, the other had been on his mind more than ever. not that he wasn't ever off of his mind, but it seemed to have gotten worse. "not my fault you were playing at a bar i frequent." elias takes another sip of his drink before turning to look at dante — really look at him. there was that familiar ache in his chest when he did. god, he missed him and it felt suffocating, especially now. "you sounded good though. i missed hearing you play."

dante's lips pursed together tightly at elias' claim. he didn't have any proof to the contrary, but one look around the place and the grimy walls were the first, but not the only, reason that dante didn't believe him. "yeah, cause this looks like your kind of place, dude. i never saw you in a dive bar the entire time we were hanging out." careful not to call it dating, because he hadn't ever been sure that it was. something weird and in between friends and together that had never really been labelled. dante's eyes shift away awkwardly at the compliment, even though it makes heat shoot down his spine, but less than a second later and his eyes are meeting elias', challenging "obviously, i'm amazing. must suck to have lost hearing it all the time, huh?"

"that van somehow always smelled, too," colby groaned, remembering the smell that seemed to linger in that thing. he had bought the van off some guy when rebel youth were first starting out. him and dante had been discussing joining together so they could both get the fuck away from their respective households. one thing lead to another and colby, dante, kellin, luke and braxton had become a band. it was dodgy the first year or so while they played any and every gig that they could possibly get their hands on. whether it paid or not. it was something to get them noticed eventually. even now after being a band for an entire decade, colby still found himself pitching himself mentally to prove this was happening. that he got to live his dream out with dante and some of their best friends. "it was all worth it, though, wasn't it? do you ever wonder, like . . . what would have happened if our agent didn't walk up to us that night? i still don't even know how he was there."

"yeah, and i still blame you and that sandwich you left in under the seat that one time." all the smells in the world wouldn't have convince him otherwise though. he hadn't even been able to hep colby pay for it. not because he didn't have money, but because any money he had, immediately had to be used taking care of his siblings. and yeah they "took care of each other", but the load had never been even, with too much of it falling on dante at a young age, pushing and building pressure around him until he had cracked. it always felt like colby had a better handle on life, while dante had struggled and fumbled his way through. its why dante can't answer the question that colby gives him. he knows what his life would have ended up like. not too far off of the way his was now. he would still struggle with too many things, would still fall back on his crutches, only without their band, he wouldn't have friend or money to fall back on. "don't even wanna imagine it, dude. not really the life i want to think about, you know?"

a laugh pushed out of niko before he could stop it, low and amused as he straightened a little against the counter. the guy looked wrecked in the way people only did at good parties — sweaty, glassy-eyed, and still riding whatever song had been shaking the floor a few minutes ago. most people either got weird around him once they recognized him or tried WAY too hard to act like they didn’t know who he was at all. this felt easier than that. honest. kinda CUTE, too, if he was being fair to himself. “damn, that bad already?” he teased, dragging his thumb along the rim of his cup. “you don’t even know if i’m famous or just heavily tattooed and annoyingly confident.” his grin tilted sharper after a second. “niko dyer. twitch streamer. professional asshole online, APPARENTLY.” dark eyes trailed over taylor again, lingering on the damp hair stuck to his forehead. “and for the record, i’m hopin’ it’s both. fan and drunk. better story that way.”

"no, no, no not bad. really good, actually." taylor was buzzing in the best way - it likely wasn't true, but he felt invisible here. not in a way that made him feel bad, but that he was part of something bigger. when most of his days were spent spending time with a team that he barely knew and wasn't accepted on, a party where people weren't glancing at him sideways was a welcome solace. fingers tug through his messy hair as he tries to smooth it out - and fails, suddenly so acutely aware of the appearance that he hadn't been paying any mind to. taylor's eyes grow bright at the sharpness in his grin and returns it with his own smirk. "hey, either way, its working for me. i'm bound to find your insta either way." his phone it out and in his hands, typing out the name with little difficulty, despite the slight sway to the room. "taylor abbott. really nice to meet you, bud." he kinda like that this guy doesn't seem to know who he is, so he doesn't bring any attention to it. "you'll have to hit me up later to find out." taylor hadn't seen any of his streams (or any streams for that matter), but he was more looking for an excuse to force a second interaction. "the suspense of it all."