Hi. [a cody carson x transguy!reader fanfic]

ch. 1 - meeting

[a/n: before you read, read this please: anxiety will be a thing in this story, so be warned. also, luke(/reader) is 19 in this, while cody is 22/nearing 23. where i live that's legal, idk about any other places but y'know. here's your warning i guess. (you'll see why these ages are important later) okay i'll shut up now go read]

Luke doesn't like going out much. It isn't his thing and it never was, but when one of his best friends Brian invites him to go to an LGBT bar with him, he decides to agree for once. Maybe it'll be okay if it's an LGBT space.

So there he is, sitting silently at the bar with a beer in his hand. Brian had disappeared to God knows where, probably chatting with some dudes and forgetting about Luke.

He's surprised when someone sits next to him, there's still plenty of space that's not right next to Luke's spot. Another beer appears next to his own on the bar and he looks at it and inspects the arm and hand that's gripping the beer. A guy, probably. He doesn't follow the arm and look up, he already knows he wouldn't know what to say when faced with someone. So he just keeps staring at his own hands, head down a little bit.

[a/n: the italics bits are flashbacks/memories.]

Luke pulls on a beanie to finish up his outfit, Brian immediately pulling it off. "Dude, no! You're not wearing this grimy thing." Luke sighs, dragging his feet over the floor as he makes his way back to his closet, pulling out another beanie with the tag still dangling below it and showing it to his friend with a sarcastic grin. "This one isn't grimy." He tugs off the tag and puts it on. It looks the exact same as the older one, except that it had clearly been worn less often. "Fine." Brian rubs his face in light annoyance. "But no one will notice you like this. Why do you keep dying your hair if you're just gonna put on a beanie all the time?" "You can still see my hair, shut up. I like the way a beanie looks, alright?" And maybe it's for the best that no one will notice me like this, Luke thinks, but he doesn't say it.

Well, that sure didn't work out. Someone was sitting right next to him and it was giving him all the signs that this guy had noticed him. He still wasn't gonna say hi or anything. He was somewhat glad that Brian had fucked off, or he probably would've gotten several stomps by now to make him notice the guy that he had already noticed, just ignored purposefully.
"You're not gonna say hi to me?" The mystery man speaks. A small smile grows on Luke's face, but he keeps facing forward. "Correct." He holds in his chuckle. "Okay. Hi to you, then. You look like you weren't supposed to be alone here." Luke chuckles, then. "That obvious?" He decides to take a look at the stranger, his small smile appearing again when he sees strands of dyed hair. "Kinda is. Don't worry, me neither. My friend is probably off screwing someone... I'm Cody." He offers a charming smile and his hand. Luke stares at the hand for what might be a little too long after hearing the stranger's name.

"What about Cody? Cody's kinda cool. Cody or Luke." "Hmm... Cody is cool. But I like Luke." "Me too. I think Luke is the way to go."

"Nice name." Luke mutters with a hidden laugh. "I'm Luke." He finally takes Cody's hand and gives him a weak shake, his nerves now showing. He's learned to hide it mostly after a few years. "What're you laughing at my name for?" Cody raises an eyebrow. "Oh... nothing. It's a cool name, that's all." A shake enters his voice. Even if it isn't directly, talking about his transition makes him anxious. Definitely to a stranger.

"Right. Well, how are you and your empty beer doing?" Cody changes the subject, making Luke look at his hand still holding the bottle. "I... was just about to order a new one." He lies. "Other than that we're doing quite alright." He shrugs. Cody waves over a bartender and orders two beers. "You really don't have to do that." Luke mutters. "C'mon, let me buy you a beer, man." Cody replies, making Luke nervous. Okay, maybe he would've wanted Brian to have stayed. 'Just think about your methods, Luke.' He fiddles with his fingers as he tries to talk sense into himself. He has to just calm down.

"You're forgetting something." Brian says, getting some post-its from the infinite pile on Luke's desk and a small pencil, handing them to him. "I'll be fine." Luke shrugs. He doesn't need those anymore. "Take them, Luke. Just take them." Luke sighs, stuffing them in his back pocket.

He makes a mental note to thank Brian later, fumbling a paper and the pencil from his pocket. Cody is probably looking at him strange, but he writes anyway. 'I'm not gonna end up in bed with you.' He scribbles on the yellow note before sticking it to the bar next to his empty beer and getting up off his stool, heading to the bathroom.

Cody frowns and is tempted to go after the other, but he decides against it when he glances at the note. Is that what it seemed like he was trying to do? He never meant for that to happen. He wasn't looking for a one night stand, he just thought Luke seemed nice. And good-looking, but that's not why he approached him.

Luke stays in the bathroom for a little while, hoping Cody would read the note and leave, if his suspicions had been right, that was. He might've been wrong about him, but it just seemed so obvious. Small talk, my friend is getting laid, buying him a drink. He pulled a hand through his hair and texted Brian. 'probably going home soon. laterz. -luke'

When he's done texting, he walks back out there, immediately noticing Cody still in the exact same spot as before, holding a new beer and staring at it. Fuck. He walks back over with a feeling of dread in his stomach. He sits down next to Cody and takes the note, about to put it further under Cody's nose, but before he can place it, the other interrupts. "I'm sorry." Cody bites his lip and looks at Luke slowly, offering him a smile. "I didn't mean to make it seem like that." He says, making Luke pull back the note and crumple it up and push it into his pocket. "Okay." Luke whispers, but Cody can hear it. "Here's your drink anyway. I asked the bartender to keep the cap on. Y'know... So I didn't put anything in it." He chuckles a little. "Thanks." Luke lets the bartender open it now and he takes a sip. "I didn't think you would, you know. You don't seem that bad." Luke tries to joke. "Oh, but I do seem bad enough to just want to fuck you?" Cody laughs, luckily for Luke. He would've thought it was anger if he didn't. "That's not bad, per se. It's actually kinda normal, I guess. I just don't want it." He shrugs. "That's cool. I wasn't really here for that, anyway." They both laugh some more.

// [a/n: thats a time skip bc this chapter will be too long otherwise]

"Do you want another drink?" Cody asks. Luke shakes his head. "No thanks, man. I think I'm gonna head home, actually. This has been good, but I'm honestly exhausted." He gives Cody an apologetic smile. He would've wanted to talk more to him, he seriously seemed like a nice guy. "Oh, I get it. That's cool, but... let me give you my number? I like you." Cody offers and Luke's face lights up. "I like you too. You're cool." He takes out one of his post its and hands it to Cody together with his pencil. He writes out his number and sticks it to the bar in front of Luke, who smiles at it. "I'll talk to you later, then." He grins at Luke. "Yeah. Talk to you later, Cody."