Smoke Signals • EarthMix AU

CHAPTER 13: Sear

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• morvasu, violette wautier - home
• oscar isaac, vv - cheerios
• fiona apple - why try to change me now?
• seiichi - morning star

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Turning up unannounced to his boyfriend's workplace—with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, no less—is not something Earth is really used to doing. He stood outside the building where Mix works in for at least three minutes before he finally decided to climb up to the floor where the other said his office is located.

He walks over to the receptionist and deliberates for a second whether he should ask him where to find Mix. Sure, it's less than five minutes before he's out, but there's a huge possibility that Mix could be working late, like he does most days. Mix says he's used to the odd hours, which sometimes stretches to eat up what little time he spends in his apartment, even taking most of his weekends. So of course, Earth worries.

Still, he doesn't want to rush Mix.

But the trade-off is still way better than pacing restlessly inside The Curio, waiting out the hours until he could go and actually spend the night with Mix in his apartment. His friends sure will agree; they had to endure seeing him spend possibly the entirety of the afternoon pacing inside The Curio until Podd has had enough and agreed to let him take the night off.

"Dude, just go. We'd cover your shift."

He immediately lit up, smiled sheepishly and gave Podd an aggressive kiss on the forehead.

"The honeymoon phase is exhilarating and stupid, isn't it, Bright?" Earth caught his best friend smile despite himself. Bright laughs and bumps his fist.

"I owe you one," Earth finally says, looking at both men. He was out of there in less than two minutes.

"Ciize," A petite woman walks by and stops in front of him. She takes Earth's attention away from the memory of that afternoon and offers him a hand. Ciize asks who he's there for, glancing at the bouquet on Earth's hand, which made the man blush.

Earth shakes her hand and tells her his name before adding, "Mix Sahaphap?"

"Oh, P'Mix! He's at the rooftop with the others. It's on the 20th floor," Ciize excitedly tells him. Earth scans the whole floor again, as if waiting for Mix to manifest in a corner somewhere.

"You can come up if you want."

"Is that okay?"

"Yup, it's fine. I think he's about to leave anyway. Brought his bag with him when they came up." Ciize leads him straight to the elevator, not waiting for his response. Earth thanks her and watches the woman retreat back to the office, looking giddy.

Earth decides to wait by the stairwell, thinking how best to explain to Mix why he came out here. They're seeing each other when he gets home anyway. But it's exactly a month after that day on the beach and for some reason, he just couldn't wait to see his boyfriend.

'It is exhilarating AND stupid.' Earth thinks to himself, recalling Podd's parting words that afternoon. He smiles as he looks at the bouquet of flowers in his hand.

He sees people slowly filing out of the rooftop door. They can't really see him from where he stands, which gives him the perfect opportunity to surprise Mix when he finally comes out. He hears the door handle again and sees Mix emerge from inside. Earth lights up, quickly takes his phone out, and comes up from behind him.