#mperik

Valentine's day, before C.E got home @mperik

It wasn’t a date.

It really wasn’t a date and he knew it, but, deep down he hoped that it was. It wasn’t a date, but the thought of spending such a socially meaningful day with him had something fluttering in his chest in such a peculiar way. It was all he could think about; what they’d eat, what they’d talk about, what he’d wear and what he’d bring… what he would do and what he would wear, what he’d think of him.

He caught himself right there. It was a foreign and familiar thought at the same time, coming slowly and all at once, caught in the wave of heat rushing to his face. How silly of him. It was no use trying to fight what he was sure was a raging blush, so he took a deep breath and finished his shift at the shop. The day had gone by incredibly fast and painfully slow at the same time, and the walk home turned out to be the same. His mind kept drifting and there was no erasing the excited grin he wore so proudly at the thought of spending time with his best friend. 

They’d already spent countless days together before, but not a single minute felt boring. Maybe that was the magic of being friends.

He’d gotten home in record time and he wasted none of it. He showered, dried his hair (that was perhaps getting a bit too long, but he made no effort to cut it yet) and felt the crushing weight of picking the right outfit. It wasn’t a date so he didn’t want to be too dressed up, but he wanted to show he’d put in thought as well – it was a push and pull between his excitement and nervousness that had him take out half his closet in an attempt to figure it out. 

It was too much in the end, and in an effort to not give up, he called the only person he could call in his time of need other than his best friend. “Just relax, glowstick! I know he’ll like anything you decide to wear.” Kaya’s familiar voice groaned from the other side of Carter’s phone as he held up options so she could help him decide. “That’s not the point here, worm.” He sighed and threw the shirt and jacket on his bed…where the rest of the clothing pile was. “Just wear something you love. I gotta go now, send me pictures~!” Maybe she was right? His eyes quickly shot to the time to make sure he wasn’t running late before digging through the mountain of clothes he’d built in a matter of minutes, looking for that one black, gray and white knit sweater he’s had for years and the comfiest pair of black trousers he owned. He looked like himself, and maybe that was enough. 

Carter checked the time again and rushed to gather the things he’d gotten for their ~~date~~ meet up. It was useless to tell him gifts weren’t needed, that’s just who he was, and he’d thought about it for a long time. Most people were easy to get gifts for, but Erik was different; he knew what his best friend liked, sure, but this couldn’t be just any gift, this one had to be different. Meaningful. They’d been friends for so long, and he’d kept journals since before they’d met, so it was naturally the only choice, except this one was special. 

As a token of friendship, of course. 

Once that was safely tucked away in his bag, he grabbed his coat, the bottle of wine he’d gotten for the night and the single red camellia he’d gotten as an extra after Kaya had told him to the day before, triple checking everything before taking a deep breath and heading out. His stomach felt funny, ticklish almost and each step he took to Erik’s apartment felt cloud-like. The walk was thankfully short, and the way to his friend’s door even more so. 

It was time.

for the cute bestie @mperik

‘There it goes…’

Carter sighed, sorting through the new books in his arms and arranging them on the shelves. The usual darkness under his eyes seemed to have deepened in just a couple of days as sleep had been harder to come by – school, work, and unpleasant memories plagued his mind during most nights, with the occasional text message keeping him company through the brunt of it all. 

“Man…” He grumbled after he yawned for the fifth time in a row, just after putting the last book away. Thankfully, it was a slow day with not many people coming in and not many of his colleagues around. He loved them, he truly did! They were all lovely and his boss too, but it was during hard days that he appreciated the silence of the shop. Well, as silent as it could be with him around.

He’d been texting his best friend who was somewhere around the world for a while now after what felt like the longest pause between them. That exchange was, ironically, the only light he saw at the time. “Sorry but didn’t feel like typing.” He beings, his thumb securely pressing on the ‘record voice message’ button. “Anyway, it’s been… alright. We’ve never really slept much so, I’m not too bothered by it. How have you been, though? You took a while, I was almost worried.” Carter knew Erik was probably just fine, but he couldn’t help but feel a pang in his chest whenever they went a couple of days or even weeks without talking. It was a heaviness that he wrongly called worry that had a strange fluttering following right after. It must just be that they hadn’t talked in a while, right?

Carter rolled his eyes.

The question was rather absurd. Why wouldn't he know? They spent enough time together to know what they each did in the morning, they knew their favorite drinks and favorite foods, it wasn't hard to guess how they'd say goodbye through text or that they just never stopped a conversation for that long to even bother typing the words. Erik was always there for him, and Carter was there for him in return.

"You should be worried if I didn't." There was warmth and the faintest of chuckles laced in his voice. Carter was holding him, letting him just lean on him for as long as he needed while guarding his drink with one hand; the scent and warmth from the coffee cup didn't feel foreign, though, and the starboy smiled thinking of how much it went matched with the reddish brown in Erik's hair.

Oh dear--caffeine and little sleep amid a busy performance schedule was certain to cause tension among the crew, indeed! She was not one to tell another god how to run things, but she did wish to have a word with Apollo regarding this information. Self-care was important! And a well-rested crew was a happy crew, less irritable, less of a chance to make a mistake that could lead to injury (or missed cues!).

Shit.

How the hell did he end up here? His bad habit of drinking have a good grip of him once again and he stumbled into this bar without even thinking about it. The moment he realised that there was a theme party ongoing, he was truly considering changing the location - maybe to a nightclub - but decided against it in the end. He was pissed because of a certain woman to no ones surprise and just wanted some peace time alone. So sitting at the bar obviously not being one of the theme party guests he hoped would grant him some alone time.

for the birthday boy <3 @mperik

It was the first birthday of Erik's that they'd be able to share since the day they parted, and to say Carter was excited would be the biggest understatement of the century. He already knew he would've missed his best friend back then, but when the months started passing by, his absence screamed louder than the silence that followed whenever they'd hang up the phone. Erik just had a way of being that filled in the gaps of Carter's life, quieted it down and made it safe with their late nights and donut days, so returning the favor was something he always wanted to do.

He promised dinner and presents, the latter already wrapped and set up nicely in his living room with the cutest wrapping paper he was able to order in last minute; one was a large box and the other a small envelope, both with matching yellow paper with Erik's favorite pokemon sprinkled on it. Carter felt proud of himself for finding that one.

Dinner was the only thing left and every single ingredient was already laid out on the kitchen counters. Luckily he knew what Erik liked, so he got to making his favorite foods; garlic bread sliced into small pieces, fish and chips with the chips salted to perfection, and mini donuts for dessert in all their favorite flavors. It took him a while, but he loved cooking and baking -especially if it was for Erik- so he didn't mind the wait and the mess.

He got ready right after he set the donuts to cool off and cleaning the colorful disaster in his kitchen - his usually messy hair with a pair of black jeans and a gray sweatshirt with a tiny moon embroidered on it, it ought to be fine, something nice and comfortable seeing as Erik seemed to like that on him. Either way, dinner was about his best friend. Once he double and triple checked everything was set, he grabbed his phone.