Chapter Text
“Well, it’s over for you, my dear friend; you’ll have to accept your destiny.” Matthew said triumphantly.
“Oh, God”, James said. Thomas was doomed.
The Merry Thieves were at the bar, playing cards and instead of money they were choosing truth or dare. The key being that you need to alternate between them, and the last time Thomas lost he had picked truth.
He was starting to regret it; it would have been easier to take a dare from Kit (the last winner) than a dare from Matthew. That was another rule, the winner was the one who came up with the question or the dare.
The blonde put his hand under his chin, thinking. He scanned the room, it was mayoralty occupied by college students. Some of them were drinking, some of them doing assignments, some of them doing both at the same time. That was what college life meant, anyway.
Matthew’s green eyes brightened. “Oh, I know, I know,” he said and made a dramatic pause “you have to go to a table and ask someone for their number.”
“What?"
“You heard me, Tom, any table.”
They all started to scan the room, some tables had 4 or 5 students, in others just 2 people but to Thomas’s bad luck, there wasn’t a single one with just one person. So Thomas would humiliate himself in front of at least 2 people. He immediately knew that 2 people were the best choice and he saw two boys in the corner, 2 girls chatting animatedly, a boy and a girl were in other table and at last he saw a single girl at one table. It was the perfect choice but he wouldn’t go to a girl, like yes, it was just a dare but he wouldn’t want to play with a girl when there wasn’t the slightest chance that he would call the girl.
“Perhaps that guy over there, blue backpack on the floor.” James suggested.
It was the boy with the girl. Thomas had thought he could be an option. He didn’t want to go with the two boys. The boy in question had dark hair and dark olive skin. He was really handsome and Thomas saw him smiling before sipping from his soda. Thomas knew he was his best option but suddenly he panicked. Humiliation was worse if the guy was cute.
“We don’t even know if he’s into guys. I don’t want to just go and scare people.”
“It’s just a number, and you’re not going to be forcing anything, just ask, he’ll decide. And for the record I’m sensing he might be interested.”
“Are we just going to trust in your radar with a person that is at least 15ft of you?”
“Has it ever failed?” Matthew said smugly.
“I want to point out that no, it hasn’t.” Christopher said, always stick to the facts.
“There you go.”
“Right, but he’s with a girl.” Pointed out James
“They’re just friends. I’m 99.9% sure.”
Thomas raised one eyebrow at him, took a sip from his beer and started walking towards the boy. When he arrived to their table, both of them were reading something on the girl’s notebook.
“Excuse me.” He said, and then two pair of eyes were glaring at him. But only one pair made him nervous again. His eyes were dark, he assumed that even if he came closer to him it would be hard to tell where his pupils began.
Those eyes were filled with curiosity and amusement. Oh, God, they were beautiful.
And if Thomas weren’t occupied daydreaming he would have noticed the slight movement those eyes made, as if wanting to absorb the entire picture that was Thomas.
“You were saying?” The boy said.
That got Thomas back to reality where he had to ask this handsome guy his number. Damn it, Matthew.
“Hi, I— I was wondering if you could...if you want, of course, if you will give me...” the boy kept staring at him waiting for the full sentence. This wasn’t working. “Look, my friends and I were playing cards and I lost, so I was dared to ask for your number, and I know it’s pathetic but—”
“Dares with cards?” The boy asked
“Truth or dare with cards, yeah.”
“Never heard of that. You should have picked the truth, though.”
“I couldn’t, rules are rules. I’ve already picked the truth.”
“Give me a slice of paper.” The boy said to the girl. Oh, man, it was happening. He was going to give him his number. That was when Thomas realized that he didn’t even think about bringing a napkin or a pen. And that his smart friends didn’t either. Idiots, idiots, idiots.
The girl had long hair and kind eyes, she was pretty and was watching them with a barely contained smirk. She ripped one of the pages and handed it to the boy.
“I’ll take it that you’re not very good at that game.”
“I’m not, but it’s fun...most of the time.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to be the reason you’re not having fun.” He looked him straight in the eye and then he started writing something in the paper.
“You can fake one, it—” Thomas began to say.
“I didn’t.” He gave the boy the paper along with a wide smile. “I can do that if that’s what you want.”
Almost imperceptibly, Thomas moved the paper away from Alastair’s reach.
“I think I’m going to keep it.”
Thomas stood there awkwardly. The silence fell between them until the dark haired boy talked again.
“I’m Alastair, by the way. And given that you already have my number, will you at least tell me your name?
Thomas’s hand went to the back of his neck. How many things could he forget?
“I’m Thomas.” Then he realized that it was rude to keep ignoring the girl. “And you are?”
“I’m Ariadne, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Indeed. Hope we can see each other again.” Alastair said.
“Yeah, I know where to find you.” He shook the paper. “See you, guys.” He gave them a tiny smile and Alastair smiled back.
Alastair and Ariadne watched him return to his seat, even though they already have known where he was seating. Thomas and his friends weren’t subtle when it came to talk about people.
“Stop drooling.” Ariadne said.
“I am not.”
“Please. You’ll leave a stain on the table.”
“Whatever, he’s cute.”
“So cute you gave him your number.”
“What do you want me to say? I had to, it was kind of like a public service.
“Poor Alastair, he’s always doing good deeds.”
“Someone has to.”
They burst out laughing.
“Well, you had your fun. Now, keep going.” Alastair said gesturing to Ariadne’s notebook.
***
When Thomas returned to his table he saw three faces in need of gossip.
“So?” James asked
“I got his number.” He showed them the paper.
“I told you.” Matthew smirked knowingly. “Don’t ever doubt my power again.”
Thomas wasn’t going to say he actually had to tell the guy about the game to get his number. It wasn’t worth the risk. He decided he wouldn’t go through that hell again.
“So, how was it?”
“I went to the table, I started talking, I stopped talking and then I asked for his number and he gave it to me.”
“Did he flirt with you?” Matthew asked.
Thomas hesitated.
Did Alastair flirt with him? He wasn’t sure what just happened.
“Maybe.”
“I knew it.” Matthew said triumphantly
“So, when are you going to call him?” Kit asked
“What?”
“I think he should wait a few hours or even until tomorrow.” James intervened.
“What?” Thomas repeated “Nobody said anything about calling him, I thought I just had to ask for his number.”
“Yeah, but you liked him and he...”
“I didn’t—”
“You giant liar.”
“Come on, Tom, we saw you, you rubbed the back of your neck, you do that when you’re nervous.” Matthew said accusingly.
Sometimes Thomas hated they had grown up together. They knew everything about him.
“Well, the whole situation made me nervous. And that’s precisely why it was a dare. Now, come on, boys, we are not gonna let Matthew win again, are we? You’ll pay for this, Fairchild.”
Matthew was already shuffling the cards.
“I don’t know, Tom, from the looks the guy is still giving you my guess is that you’ll be thanking me.” He winked at him.
Thomas refused to turn around.