Just a simple guy

@prettyxcrystals

The last customer had shuffled out of Merlotte’s and Lafayette had finished in the kitchen finally leaving Sam and Fred alone. He slid along the bar over to her, leaning in to kiss her. The sharp snap of static electricity halted his affection. “Sorry, was that me or you?” He asked with a smile. “Guess you can’t say there’s not a spark,” Sam joked as he gestured a little between them.

Fred looked back up at him, gaining courage from his words that weren’t turning her away. “I don’t know, Sam, I told you I was once a vessel for the return of a God who carved me out and I somehow manifested again and you took that in stride,” she pushed her glasses up her nose a bit, eyeing him curiously, “I also lived in a hell dimension for a while, I’d wager I’m pretty well versed in a lot of things most others might call insane. Like, you’re not eatin’ people, are you?” Her brow furrowed, Angel didn’t drink blood but Spike did, though to her knowledge it was only ever pig’s blood when she knew them save for a few soulless events, “I suppose that’s not even that much of a dealbreaker, I mean I guess if they offered? Willin’ and all..”

She looked down at their connected hands before looking back at him, not pulling her hand away from his but her free one definitely continued to fiddle with one of the spare screws, “I thought maybe you might’ve liked me like that, like the kind of like that involves kissin’ and carin’ about one another.” The blush returned and she glanced back down at their hands, “if it’s just the carin’ bit, that’s fine. I just thought that maybe it felt different, maybe I was readin’ into it, or maybe I’ve gone and gotten all weak in the knees for someone who was just bein’ nice again. It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s had to let me down easy, I promise, I’ll bounce back just as chipper.” It wouldn’t stop the embarrassment from rolling in hard, however.

“Well why would you have?” Fred pointed out, stomach dropping a bit as worry started to creep in. He’d kiss her back but what if it was just out of shock and surprise? “I try sometimes to internalize my thinkin’ so I don’t just go chatterin’ in the background when it’s socially unfair to fill the air with workin’ stuff out for myself. I-I was, have been thinkin’ about things lately and I just thought that maybe..” she shook her head, feeling like she was back in that clueless place again. Dopey Fred, could be smart about smart things but when it came to matters of the heart, of course she wasn’t. “It’s fine, I probably should’ve asked permission or somethin’ first,” she smiled at him before moving to distract herself with the tools on the counter.

Fred pressed her hands to her cheeks in an attempt to cover the blushing, nevermind the fact that by doing so she was actually drawing more attention to them. “If it explodes, I apologize in advance but I’m pretty sure nothing’s changed with the electrical current,” she rattled off a bit, moving her hands from her cheeks to play with the ends of her hair as she tried to manage the nervous energy coursing through her body. Her gaze snapped to his, her head shaking before any words came out but they quickly followed, “no, no, of course I –” Fred caught herself, narrowing her eyes at him and smiling a little, “see? You’ve got me goin’ again. My brain turns to jelly and I can’t remember how to speak but you still look at me like I’m not talkin nonsense.”

Sometimes it felt like she had absolutely no control over her body when her mind got away with itself. One second she was excitedly hopping over a minuscule success, something anyone else would’ve seen as tedious and been bored by, but she was proud of the breakthrough she’d made - they’d made. The next second, she’d kissed him, turning bright red in the process but sinking further as he didn’t push her away but instead returned the favor. She melted. Then her mind caught up and she panicked, hoping she hadn’t made a complete fool out of herself. Oh Fred, not again. “Sorry! I–” she shook her head, backtracking already, “not that I’m sorry for–” again, she backtracked, “it was nice- good- er I mean, that was wonderful, but I didn’t mean to uh-” she blushed harder, her words scrambled in her brain, “I– I told you I could fix the toaster.” After multiple tries. Kissing him might’ve given her away.