tell me you want me , don't say that you might

🧩 what tiny habit of the other do they find unbearably adorable?

okay, sage loves making him flustered. she genuinely thinks it's one of the cutest things about him. the way he gets all red and wide-eyed when she says something outrageous, or how he'll occasionally stumble over his own words when she catches him off guard. i think part of the reason she enjoys it so much is because she still can't quite believe it works. she'll look at this handsome, quiet, grounded man and think to herself, there's no way this guy actually gets nervous. and then he does every single time. so naturally she keeps pushing and pushing…usually with the dumbest questions imaginable.

"are you cheating on me with a flight attendant? i heard pilots always hook up with flight attendants.""how come you're so patient with me?" "be honest...how long were you just looking at me before i noticed?"

or she'll be standing in front of her mirror getting ready, turning around to look at herself in a dress before casually asking,"when you see me in this dress do you think, 'hmm, i want to make love to her all night', or more of a 'bend her over and slut her out kinda thing going on?' "

and then she'll just stand there waiting for his answer like she didn't just throw a grenade into the conversation. other times it's something completely different. "what do you think my most toxic trait is?" "do you wanna do ecstasy together and see how many rounds you can last?"

the funny part honestly is that half the time she doesn't even care what the answer actually is. she just likes watching him try to answer. she likes watching that brief moment where he loses his footing and has to figure out whether she's being serious, joking, flirting, or all three at once. and if she manages to get him a little flustered? she's thrilled. because honestly, sage thinks it's kind of sexy when he's accidentally honest. when something slips out before he has time to really think about it. when she catches a glimpse of whatever he's trying so hard to keep tucked away. the irony is that after she's spent ten minutes making him blush, she's usually the first one feeling bad about it. suddenly she's kissing all over him, climbing into his lap, hugging onto him, and telling him she's sorry while looking very pleased with herself. she's probably smoothing her hands through his hair, calling him cute, telling him he's perfect, and acting completely smitten because, in her opinion, flustering sebastian is one of the most adorable things in the world.

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💔 what’s the one fight that almost ended them?

omggg, i think sebastian is so quiet and reserved and sage is kind of chaotic and has trust issues. i think him disappearing for a little while makes sage immediately think there's somebody else. so when he finally comes back around, she's already closed herself off. it probably starts with an easy-going text from sebastian and sage just leaves him on read. a little time passes and maybe he tries calling her instead, only to be met with an attitude the second she picks up.

"have you eaten yet today?""no.""why don't we go get dinner somewhere? aren't you hungry by now?""not really.""really, you don't want anything at all? not even something sweet." which, is quite literally her weakness. "don't you have anyone better to ask?"

and i think that throws him off immediately. it probably hurts his feelings a little too because he already gives off the vibe of somebody who's terrified of being a burden.

"sage, what do you mean by that?""i said... don't you have anyone better to ask?""like who?""like your other girlfriend...your real girlfriend""what? what are you talking about? i don't..."

and before he can even finish, sage is already crying. her voice cracking, everything she'd been bottling up spilling out at once.

"you're such a liar. that's why you always leave. you have someone else... just leave me alone."

and then she hangs up.

one of sage's worst traits is that she'll decide how something ends before there's enough information to actually know what's happening. she convinces herself she's the other woman. convinces herself she's being stupid. convinces herself she isn't important enough to be chosen. and that's really where all of it comes from. deep down, sage just wants to be somebody's favorite person, so it hits a nerve every single time. the worst part is that there isn't even any real proof. it's just old trust issues mixed with the distance between them. sebastian keeps people at arm's length naturally, and sage fills in the blanks herself. her mind starts wandering. maybe he has somebody else. maybe he already gives that emotional intimacy to another woman. maybe somebody else gets the version of him she's been waiting for. somebody more important than her. so now sage thinks she's the other woman. sebastian thinks he's bothering sage, and the whole thing becomes a complete mess. and even though she was being snarky and defensive on the phone, i think sebastian still hears how sad she sounded underneath it. really hears it.

so they both go quiet. no social media games. no passive-aggressive stories. no lurking. neither of them really seem like those people anyway. just silence. and honestly, it's probably killing sage. she's thinking about him constantly. stuffing whatever hoodie he left at her place to the bottom of her laundry basket because even catching a hint of his cologne sends her spiraling. she's probably out drinking with friends when they finally ask her for an update.

"i think we're done." and everyone's immediately confused. "wait, what happened?""i think he has a girlfriend."

everyone sits there listening to her rant, letting her connect all these invisible dots until she's finally finished.

"didn't you say he was a pilot or something?""yeah...""alright, sage. where exactly do you expect him to be? it's not like he can text you while he's working.""are you sure? it seemed like you both were pretty into each other.""i mean..." and suddenly she sounds a lot less certain. "i think he has a girlfriend?"

and everybody knows exactly what that means. sage got into her own head and started spiraling. they're all staring at her because they know her. they know she's fully capable of sabotaging a good thing before it has the chance to become something real.

"do you always get like this when he's working?""uh... kinda, i guess."

she paused, "either way, not like he reached out. i guess we're over." and they're all looking at her like she's lost her mind. "sage, he's probably terrified of you."

and the second they point out how harsh she's been, how quickly she jumped to conclusions and shut him out, the guilt settles into her stomach like a stone. suddenly she feels sick. so in the middle of the night she calls him. her voice is soft. small. worn out from crying.

"were you sleeping?""not really.""can i see you? please?"

and next thing she knows, sebastian is picking her up so she can sleep in his bed. the entire car ride is quiet. neither one of them really knows what to say. sage sits in the passenger seat stealing little glances at him every few minutes while he keeps his eyes on the road. when they finally get back to his place, he's leaning against the counter watching her because he can tell she's trying to work up the courage to say something. eventually she breaks.

"you really promise you don't have anyone else?"

and sebastian just looks at her. looks around the apartment. then tosses his hands in the air like the answer couldn't possibly be more obvious. he picked her up at two in the morning on a friday night so she could sleep in his bed. clearly there wasn't anyone else.

"i'm sorry i was so mean to you."

and suddenly she's sinking into one of his chairs, burying her face in her hands because she's trying not to cry again. probably just overwhelmed more than anything. all those emotions she's been carrying around finally catching up to her. and i think that's the moment sebastian realizes how sensitive she actually is. how closely she's been paying attention. how she's studying every little mannerism and trying to understand him piece by piece. so she starts rambling. telling him how insecure she gets when he disappears. how she's not used to having feelings for somebody with so much distance between them. how she didn't mean it when she told him to leave her alone. how exhausted she is. how she can't sleep.

i feel like there's definitely been a time tony glanced at luca's phone and accidentally saw a string of texts from sage."where are you? i thought you said you'd be here hours ago.""you could've just cancelled on me.""i spent forever getting ready to see you." and for a second, it annoys him. annoyed with sage. partly because he's irritated with his brother. partly because he's a little jealous. but underneath all of that, there's a part of him that genuinely feels bad for her. it didn't take tony very long to realize sage is a lot softer than people think she is. she feels everything. she gets excited about people. and more than anything, she just wants to be somebody's favorite person. so after staring at those texts for entirely too long, he reluctantly reaches out. acts like he doesn't know anything. "what are you doing?""you hungry?" that's it. no mention of luca. no mention of the fact that she was obviously left hanging. they just end up grabbing food somewhere quiet. sage still dressed in the outfit she'd spent way too much time putting together, tony pretending not to notice even though he absolutely does. neither of them brings up why she's suddenly free, and somehow that almost makes it worse. hours pass without either of them realizing. they eat. they drink. they talk about everything and absolutely nothing. sage starts laughing again. tony starts forgetting why he was annoyed in the first place. and by the end of the night, they're both lingering a little longer than they need to, neither entirely ready for it to be over. by the time he's dropping her off, sage is looking at him like she doesn't want him to leave. they wake up the next morning in the same bed. what else is new? lmaoooo

i think sage has probably done multiple embarrassing things in front of tony. like, genuinely embarrassing things. the kind of memories that randomly pop into her head at three in the morning and make her want to throw herself into traffic. she's actually pretty reserved around luca. unless she's annoyed with him or she's getting on his nerves, she usually tries to keep herself somewhat together. tony, unfortunately, gets the full chaotic experience. part of the problem is that sage has a hard time talking to tony when she's really in her feelings and completely sober. so instead, she gets drunk, texts him, and somehow ends up doing the dumbest shit imaginable. i'm talking about confidently insisting she's perfectly fine and then immediately face-planting. waking up the next day with a scraped knee, a mystery bruise on her shoulder, and absolutely no memory of where either one came from. meanwhile tony witnessed the entire thing. or she'll get way too drunk in his passenger seat and start accusing his driving of making her sick. not because he's actually driving badly. she's just completely plastered and looking for someone to blame. tony's trying to be careful while also keeping an eye on her, and she's over there dramatically going, "pull over. i'm gonna be sick." then the next morning she acts like none of it happened. "i wasn't that bad." meanwhile tony spent half the night dealing with her. honestly, if sage had a top ten list of her most embarrassing moments, i think tony has personally witnessed at least two of them. maybe three. and the worst part is that he never lets her forget it when she starts getting a little wild or pretending she's never a problem.

they honestly don't go out together in public very often. most of the time they end up doing what they've always done, hanging out at one of their places, getting stoned, watching an entire season of some random show in a single weekend, and completely losing track of time. every now and then, though, they actually leave the house. never anywhere close to tony's side of town. never anywhere that feels like it could cause problems. and every single time, somebody assumes they're together. it'll be a waitress just handing tony the check. some random stranger making a comment about them being a cute couple. somebody asking how long they've been dating. and suddenly both of them forget how to act normal. sage gets weird. tony gets weird. they both immediately become way more suspicious than if they'd just answered the question. "what? we're not dating.""uh yeah, we're just friends." except they're saying it while sitting way too close together, sharing food, finishing each other's sentences, and looking exactly like a couple. the funniest part is that neither of them can ever seem to let it go afterward. they'll leave and spend the next twenty minutes pretending they weren't affected by it while secretly thinking about it the entire drive home. because as much as they avoid being seen together in public, the second somebody mistakes them for a couple, neither of them knows how to act about it.

cleo absolutely loves angelo's sense of style. the way he dresses, the way he puts outfits together, the way every piece somehow feels intentional. she thinks it's this weird combination of sexy, iconic, and just eccentric enough to make him impossible to ignore. when they were together, she was constantly finding things that reminded her of him. a jacket in a store window, a pair of sunglasses, a ring, a vintage watch. if she saw something and immediately thought, angelo would love this, it was basically over. cleo comes from so much money that gift-giving is almost second nature to her, and sometimes she has a tendency to accidentally buy people's love without even realizing she's doing it. she just likes seeing the people she cares about happy. with angelo, though, it was probably jewelry more than anything. she loved finding pieces that felt like him, little things she could picture becoming part of his collection. honestly, half the time she'd walk into a store looking for herself and walk out having spent more money on him than she did on anything she bought for herself.

i think they originally tried to keep it as a no-strings-attached thing. he's the rockstar boyfriend, all leather jackets and bad decisions, and cleo is this bubbly rich girl with an entire wall dedicated to chanel bags. on paper, they don't really make sense. not because either of them isn't attractive, but because they're so different from one another. i think that's actually what got them. they were both surprised by how drawn they were to somebody who lived life so differently. so it starts casually. they're hooking up, having fun, not putting any pressure on it, and somehow that turns into becoming completely obsessed with each other. the funny part is that everything works when there's no label attached to it. it's the second they become exclusive that things start falling apart. suddenly they're arguing over the dumbest things imaginable, taking too long to text each other back, overthinking every interaction, and convincing themselves they should probably break up. now they're stuck in that awful space where neither of them has actually moved on. they're constantly orbiting each other, trying to make the other jealous, acting a little toxic, acting a little ridiculous, and somehow still finding reasons to stay in each other's lives even though neither one has managed to cut the cord completely.

cleo loves her sleep. she could probably sleep eight or nine hours every night without any complaints, while angelo seems perfectly content surviving on a few hours and staying up playing music. i feel like there have definitely been nights where she wakes up, realizes he's missing, and immediately goes looking for him. she'll wander into the living room half asleep with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a little burrito, yawning as she finds him sitting there with his guitar. "can't you just come back to bed?" or "it's too cold in there to lay in that bed by myself." she's never really complaining, though. she just misses him. she's kind of a lovebug like that. and when he inevitably doesn't stop what he's doing right away, she probably gives up and curls up on the other couch instead, wrapped in her blanket while listening to him play. there's something weirdly peaceful about it to her. she loves hearing him play music, loves having him nearby even if they're not doing the same thing. honestly, it probably doesn't take long before her eyes start getting heavy again and she falls asleep to the sound of his guitar, completely content just being in the same room as him.

i feel like they probably met because one of korede's friends dragged him to a show he had absolutely no intention of going to. he showed up mostly out of obligation, already planning how early he could leave without being rude. and then he saw love behind the drums. honestly, that was the end of that. there was just something about it. the confidence. the talent. the way she commanded the entire room without seeming to ask for anyone's attention. korede likes competence in general, but watching a beautiful woman absolutely destroy a drum set? yeah, that got his attention immediately. suddenly the night became a lot more interesting. the funniest part is that when they finally met, he tried so hard to play it cool that he accidentally friend-zoned himself. instead of flirting, he probably started asking thoughtful questions about music, complimenting her technique, and having an actual conversation. meanwhile everyone around them could tell he was interested except him. love probably walked away thinking, what a nice guy. and korede walked away wondering why he'd spent twenty minutes talking to the prettiest woman in the room like they were networking at a law conference. by the time he realized what he'd done, it was way too late to suddenly start acting smooth, so he just had to sit there and suffer through being her friend while having the world's most obvious crush.

love is probably the only person on earth who can get korede to leave work early. if she calls and says she wants to see him, he's already grabbing his coat. if she needs something, he's rearranging his schedule before she's even finished asking. this is the same man who routinely works through lunch, forgets what time it is, and treats eighty-hour work weeks like a personality trait, so the fact that love can pull him away from the office at all feels borderline miraculous. his colleagues absolutely adore her for it. every single time she shows up or calls, there's probably a collective sigh of relief somewhere in the building. "thank god." "he's leaving." "we might actually get to go home at a reasonable hour." because korede has a tendency to work everyone as hard as he works himself, which is to say: entirely too much. the funny part is that he doesn't even realize he's doing it. love does, though. she's one of the few people who can look at him and immediately tell when he's been carrying too much, when he's pushing himself too hard, when he's trying to solve problems that don't actually belong to him. and somehow she has this way of pulling him back into the real world without making him feel guilty for needing a break. i think she makes him softer in ways most people wouldn't notice right away. not less ambitious. not less driven. just more understanding and more patient. more willing to accept that not everything needs to be perfect and not every problem needs to be solved immediately. before love, korede probably viewed downtime as something you earned. after love, he starts seeing it as something that's necessary. she reminds him there's a whole world outside of courtrooms, deadlines, and billable hours. and honestly, the people around him are probably just as grateful for that as he is.

sometimes korede drunkenly calls her just to hear her talk. he'll be sitting alone after a long day, a couple drinks in, and suddenly he's calling love with absolutely no agenda beyond, "tell me everything about your day." and he means everything. the funny part is that he genuinely wants all the little details. not just the important stuff. "then what happened?" "okay, keep going." "what did she say after that?" "give me every detail." there's something about her voice that quiets his brain. for someone whose mind is constantly running a hundred miles an hour, listening to love ramble is probably one of the few things that actually relaxes him. if she's had a bad day, it's even worse. the second he hears it in her voice, he's immediately asking questions, hanging onto every detail, trying to figure out exactly who annoyed her and why. meanwhile he's already putting his shoes on without even realizing he's made the decision. next thing she knows, he's showing up at her place. and then he lets her tell the whole story all over again. he's listening, asking follow-up questions, making little comments to get her laughing, doing whatever he can to pull her out of that mood. and by the end of it, when she's finally smiling again, he's probably leaning back on her couch like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "you wanna take a couple shots and forget about it?" and somehow, she usually ends up feeling a little better.