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Abbacchio was never a man of many words.
Sure, he had his opinions like any other person, could hold a conversation (albeit, mildly) but for the most part you found yourself steering the metaphorical ship whenever the two of you were together. And most of the time, you didn’t mind it at all.
It was a little awkward at first, one your first date your anxious nerves ended up causing you to babble about so far into the evening that you were afraid you scared Abbacchio off for good. It wasn’t until you received a text the next morning about when the two of you were going to meet up again that your breathing shifted from fast distressed gulps of air to almost non-existent as you froze in under bewilderment at his continued interest in your relationship.
Now here you both are, three months later in the early days of September, spending a free afternoon catching up with one another over coffee. You both sat on the same side of the booth, tucked in the back corner of the coffee shop as he kept a casual arm around your shoulder. Like usual, when the two of you weren’t just taking in each other’s presence, you did most of the talking.
It was simple things: work, interests and the like. Abbacchio kept most of his job related affairs private, only ever going into detail about the non-work related shenanigans he and his colleagues would end up on their many business trips. Thankfully, those don’t seem to be happening as often as he accepted an offer to keep a more, permanent residence here in the city.
As long as he was happy about it, and more so that the two of you could spend more of each other's time together, there were no complaints on your end.
However, something started to bother you as the two left the coffee shop, the small bell chiming allowed, signaling your departure as you began walking the city streets. Abbacchio was a lot more quiet than usual, responding in shorter, softer words than you were used to when you asked his opinion or awaited a response. It hadn’t bothered you at first, but now… it felt off.
The most words you managed to get out of the goth was a casual “It’s this way. Down the stairs, back of the plaza.” He points to the staircase hugging the side of the small shopping district. Right as he’s about to take the lead, he turns around and offers you a hand before you can even touch the metal railing yourself. “The stairs are pretty steep. Here, watch your step.”
You nod, eagerly taking his offer and working to keep up pace with him as you both descended the stairs to the man’s hidden sanctuary, obscured by trees and buildings alike, leaving you wondering just how he managed to find the place.
The small shop in question was an old record store, like something out of the eighties. From what you could tell, this place had long since expanded, now including cds along with a rather large collection of music paraphernalia. Guitars, drums, T-Shirts along with sound equipment you’ve never even heard of lined the walls. You couldn’t help but stare as you walked inside, like a child trapped in a state of wonder, until you realized just how much you’ve missed out on all these months the two of you have been together.
You turn around to playfully chastise Abbacchio over how he kept such an amazing store all to himself, but find that he is no longer by your side. No, he had already found himself by the records, without speaking a word, a pair of headphones on his head as he listened to the sample track in front of him.
Seriously?
You didn’t mean to get upset, but you couldn’t help but feel a bit ignored. He ditched you without a second thought, or, at least it's what it felt like.
Whatever, you weren’t going to get hung up on it. Instead, you make your way over to him, picking up a handful of buttons from the nearby display case to make fun of the cheesy designs. The first one that immediately caught your eye was a button that saids, “The Beatles” with a couple of real life beetles on it. It was dumb sure, but you placed in front of Abbacchio’s face in order to get a laugh out of it.
No such luck.
Not even a chuckle or one of his patented scoffs in annoyance. He just gave a light nod and moved onto the next sample album. Completely ignoring you.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” you grumble in disappointment.
That was it.
Maybe you had let your anger get the best of you, but you just had to know what was so important he had to listen to instead of even giving a little response at all. In a bold move, you take the headphones right off the goth’s head, ignoring his annoyed remarks before placing them on your own ears. And then you waited.
What you heard was not something you were expecting, in fact, it came right out of the blue.
It was a love song, a little soft for your usual liking but this one was special. It was after several dates that the two of you spent an evening together, having dinner at your place and playing records throughout the night. You can’t place a finger on how many records the two of you went through in that single evening, but this one was special.
This was the song the two of you danced to, hand in hand, swaying to the sound of the music. Funny enough, due to both of your specific tastes in music, it was a miracle a song like this one had even shown up on that night.
You slowly removed the headphones, immediately hit with a twinge of guilt as you turned red faced to your partner. “I…”
Abbacchio shrugged and placed his hands in his pocket. “I couldn’t remember the name of the song, so I had a buddy of mine track it down. Considering most of your records got stolen a few weeks back, I wanted to replace them… this song just…” He stopped and ran his fingers through his hair, almost as if he was embarrassed to admit what he was about to say.
“Look. I usually hate this kind of sappy music. But this track kind of grew on me… probably because it reminded me of you.”
“Uh…” Dammit. You couldn’t think of a way to respond. It was just so... sweet. “It reminds me of you too…”
Abbacchio gave a small smile and took your hand, swaying along with the music as he hummed along to the beat. As he pulled you in tighter, he interlocked his fingers with yours. “I was trying to find a good way to ask this…”
Ask? Oh god, what was he going to say? It was something he had to think about, you didn’t know what that was supposed to mean.
You quickly gulp down some air before asking, “A-ask what?”
Well… not that I will be working from home for the foreseeable future. Would you… would you like to move in with me?”