Your Admirer | Idia Shroud x Reader

Butterflies | part 24

You walked into the arcade, and your nose was instantly attacked by the scent of cardboard pizza. A young child cut in front of your path, causing you to almost stumble into them. "So, you come over here-" Idia said softly, and you could hardly hear his voice over the blaring sound of alarms, voiceovers, and screaming kids. "We have to get our wristbands first." the retro carpet and LED lights made you feel weirdly nostalgic.

An employee dressed in a tucked, button-up shirt put a stamp on your wrist, then allowed you to enter the rest of the establishment. "Will anyone recognize me here?" you asked Idia, who was already leading the way to a game he'd set his bets on. The tips of his long, flaming blue hair poked out of his hood as he walked. He had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his black sweatpants, and you noticed that he flinched in fear at every stranger who came by. Without turning back to meet your face, he shook his head in response.

You stopped walking, for an idea came to you. "Where did I keep those things?" you rushed to open your bag. "Oh, here." your lips quietly moved in sync with your thoughts. "Idia, wait!" you called out, then sprinted up to behind him and stood on your tippy toes. "Wear these." you told him, before you put your pair of noise-cancelling earmuffs onto him. Now, he finally turned around.

The earmuffs were bulky, sure, but they'd protect what you assumed to be a sensitivity to sound. "Is it fine? Can you still hear me?" you asked, stepping closer without thinking. It was like being possessed by a superstition, but you couldn't seem to snap out of it. "Let me know if I have to adjust the tightness." you reached your hand past his widened eyes, completely ignoring the intense expression of shock plastered across his face. "Idiaa~" you tested to see if he'd react, singing right next to the muff.

Your nose discovered the a hint of cologne on him, and now you were just as frozen. A large gulp of saliva passed down your throat, as your every breath was cut off short. "Um." your lips kept shifting into different varieties of smiles, unable to choose one and stick with it. And when you finally stepped back, the first thing you did was make eye contact. For the first time, he didn't take his gaze off you. It felt like your heart was beating a mile a minute, and the room had become so swelteringly hot that you began to sweat.

".. Why are you being nice to me?" he asked, his mouth a little ajar. What did he mean by that? Were you not nice to him before? His compliment definitely dragged you back to reality- the reality that he was just some boy, and you were a famous idol.

"I just thought it'd help." you responded, and the tone of your voice had already returned to normal. You wanted to sever the ties this boy had with your heart. You had nothing to do with him, nothing to do for him. He couldn't offer you anything, could he? "Come on, let's go find a game." you broke the silence and walked past, taking a deep breath once your face was out of his sight. To be honest, you didn't really know what you were doing. He was supposed to lead the way, and now you were absolutely clueless at which direction a fun game would even be in.

The rest of the day was filled with activities, pizza, and exchanging prizes. You had no idea that Idia was so skillful at games, and he seemed to specialize in just about everything. To put it simply, he kicked your ass. "Look, a photobooth!" you spotted that heavenly box in the distance and began to hurry towards it. It was tucked into the corner of the arcade, and there wasn't a line. "Idia, we've gotta take a pic!" even the way you spoke was different around him, and you weren't sure whether or not it was a good or bad thing.

"O-Okay, okay!" he nodded his head rapidly, desperate to keep up with your pace. The two of you seated yourselves down on the tiny, uncomfortable bench inside. "How do we do this, exactly..?" he stared directly at the wide screen and took his finger to press on random, digital buttons. Your shoulder pressed right up against his, and instantly, a jolt of electricity raced through your bodies. He must've felt it too, for he glanced in the direction of his right to look at you.

You took a deep breath and tried not to pay attention to it, as you set up the camera. "So, it's gonna take four pictures, and we get to pose for all of them." your voice held no emotion, because it was too scared to show anything. You were too scared to show anything. "Okay, ready?" you asked, but then realized that at the volume you were speaking at, he probably couldn't hear you.

"1, 2, 3..! Snap!" for the first photo, it captured you reaching your hands toward him.

"1, 2, 3..! Snap!" for the second photo, your hands were lifting his earmuffs.

"1, 2, 3..! Snap!" for the third photo, you were removing them from his head.

"1, 2, 3..! Snap!" and for the fourth, the two of you were gazing into each other's eyes. It was time to decorate, but you couldn't turn your head away. It was like you were looking into pools of gold, and his hair was the most beautiful shade of sapphire that you'd ever seen. His lips- no, don't you dare focus on that.

"I- um. Um." the boy lost control of his stutters. The burning of his hair intensified, causing the whole photobooth to illuminate with the colors of blue and pink. His hand inched up towards his vest, where he began to clutch onto the tin badge of your portrait. "You're so pretty." he whispered, as you took the time to examine and admire all of the delicate features on his face. "B-But I'm sure you know that already! I bet a lot of uh.. people, remind you every day. I'm really sorry, this is all really weird, isn't it? just ignore what I'm saying."

You created a fist with your dominant hand, biting down on your tongue in secret. You wished that you could scream. You wished that you could tear this whole place apart. "It's not weird, don't worry." you mustered up the best smile you could, even though it felt like your brain was crumbling into tiny pieces. He made you feel something weird in your stomach, and you hated it. It was tingly and suffocating, so you just wanted it to stop. "Thank you, by the way." you said, then got up from your seat. "Let's get the photos and leave, okay?"

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authors note: hello!!! i hope you liked this part!!! no q&a because i don't rly know what to put :)

also, i've been listening to sooo much melanie martinez recently /pos. it's like all this knowledge was stored in my brain and is now resurfacing because i can sing every single song from her crybaby album word for word.

ALSO!! i'm freaking sick!! i woke up yesterday with a sore throat, and by the evening there was so much um.. phlegm?? that it was hard to sleep. it's not like affecting anything but idk i just felt like sharing that little fact.
8/27/23 thank you!