Chapter Text
It was fucking crowded tonight Subz noticed after about ten minutes of waiting. Normally the line for the campus theater went halfway down the block but today everyone was sort of bunched up around the door in one big clump. And logically that should make it look like there’s more people there because of like… perception and stuff but Subz swore there were more than normal.
Maybe it was because this was the Valentine's Day themed show Subz mused as he surveyed the crowd. There was plenty of pink and red in the sea of people. On par with the theme of course. There was also a good portion of people in all black and significantly more goth-y clothes, Subz among them. Listen there were two ways that you could go for a Valentine’s Day themed event. You either threw on a random pink shirt and jeans or you dressed to the nines in all black leather and denim with enough jewelry to make a metal detector explode.
Subz was in black today. He wore a floor length maxi-skirt and a long sleeve fishnet top with bell sleeves. There were a few overlapping necklaces resting on his chest and lots of silver earrings in his ears. He would have put on rings too but those were easy to lose and gay people were like crows with shiny jewelry on the ground. The outfit still worked without them though. Was Subz giving goth girl? Yes just a little. But that was okay. He could work with that.
What he couldn’t work with was having no fucking friends here with him. His roommate was sick and his normal friends decided to pussy out. Those fucking cunts. He would have bailed too and saved himself the hassle but he really wanted to dress up tonight. Being alone was worth it to serve absolute cunt at eleven pm at night. Finding people to talk to could be a later issue though. Right now Subz felt pretty.
Or maybe he lied. It was super awkward standing here by himself. Subz scanned the crowd in front of him in hopes that he’d spot someone familiar. He would take someone who he knew only because they had once class last semester with! Just give him someone to talk with instead of standing here like a creep!
It was like a family reunion in the crowd with shouting voices and excited jumping. Someone had even brought a tiny Bluetooth speaker that Subz was unconsciously bopping along to. This was pretty much the unofficial pre-show hype up. And they still had twenty minutes before the show started. Which was crazy if you considered that everyone had been here for forty five minutes already. That’s how excited people were about this show.
But there wasn’t anything else like this on campus. It was a campus run show (which did mean annoying things like they couldn’t bring alcohol inside and vapes and cigarettes would get confiscated if they were out) and only students could perform but other than that there were basically no rules for what could go on stage. It was theater kid heaven for performing arts students and a free show for everyone else.
The free part was what interested Subz the most. And getting to see his friends perform sometimes he supposed. There was also the rush that came from being in such an excited crowd of people but that was a little too philosophical for now when there were people already throwing ass and yelling like they were at a rave outside the theater. Damn the crowd was excited tonight.
“Hey!” A voice snapped Subz’s attention outwards and to a tall guy standing in front of him. “I like your jewelry man!” He was standing shyly in front of Subz with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his low waisted jeans. It made his shoulders curl in a little bit but Subz could see that the shirt he was wearing was strapless and skintight. Well. Go to a theater show, see a gay man.
“Thanks” Subz responded. “I thrifted most of it.” (Some of it did come off of Amazon but that wasn’t a good conversation starter. So he’d leave that out.)
“Oh cool!” The guy perked up and brought his hands out of his pockets. “I got these earrings from the thrift behind the dining hall on campus but they were so not worth it.” The earrings that he pointed to were dangly lilac crystals that brushed his jaw every time he spoke. They complimented the deep birch color of his skin well. And his brown eyes. Hmm…
“The one behind the dining hall?” Subz asked as he bravely pushed aside whatever thoughts were bubbling in his chest about how pretty this guy was. “No that one sucks. It’s so expensive for no reason.” He subconsciously brought his hand up to one of the necklaces he was wearing and he fiddled with it as the guy started speaking excitedly again.
“I heard it’s a chain!” He said with his eyes wide.
“It’s a chain? I’ve never seen one before!”
“Me neither! But if you look it up it’s like, all over the country reselling overpriced and bad quality clothes.” The guy rolled his eyes and deflated again. Subz was gonna go ahead and categorize him as a performing arts major in his head. He seemed like the type.
“I swear to god they’re preying on the gay people!” The guy complained with a laugh. Oh win he was gay. It would be really hard for him to not be gay in an outfit like that but Subz could never be too sure. Moving on from that (and the way Subz’s heartbeat had sped up) he did have a really good point about that thrift!
“I went there once when I first moved here, then I saw they were charging twelve dollars for a secondhand belt and I have never left a store faster in my life.” Subz shook his head slowly as he spoke but couldn’t help keep the happy grin off his face. There was a really cute guy who had chosen him out of everyone in this crowd to talk to. This was like winning the goddamn lottery. If the lottery made you feel like you were standing a little too close to an open fire that is.
“Wait what year are you?” The guy asked with a curious tilt of his head that reminded Subz of a puppy. Cute.
“Sophomore.”
“Sophomore? Me too!” The guy bounced happily on his heels in front of Subz and tossed his hands up. Subz couldn’t help his eyes darting down when the guy's shirt rode up to reveal that the shirt was in fact a bodysuit. Okay. This guy was becoming more and more attractive to Subz every minute. What the hell.
“How have I never seen you before?” The guy was practically moping. He was so animated he had to be a performing arts major. He had to be. “I thought I knew every cute brown haired boy in our year!”
Pause. Rewind. Play at half speed. Pause…
Yes. Yes he just called Subz cute! Confirmed interest hell fucking yes. Subz had never needed to not fumble harder in his life.
“That’s kind of specific…” Subz blinked slowly instead of anything flirty back. Nevermind. He just remembered how god awful he was at flirting. Pack it up boys! No more tall pretty guy for Subz!
“I have a specific type!” The guy shrugged with a big smile on his face. “And you’re tiny too! Like- I have no idea how I haven’t talked to you before.” And he was tiny ? Okay that Subz did take offense to. He was a nice five foot six thank you. But… maybe when a cute guy said it to him in a flirty way…
“I’m only letting you call me tiny because you’re pretty.” Subz deadpanned in a joking way. Please please please please.
“Awww!” The guy clasped his hands in front of his chest excitedly. His earrings bounced again and brought Subz’s attention to his hair which was short and fluffy. Ohh Subz wanted to run his hands through that.
“You think I’m pretty?” The smile on the guy's face was practically blinding. Suddenly Subz really really needed a golden retriever boyfriend.
“I mean-“ shit Subz was fumbling. “You have really nice eyeliner.” That’s not what he meant to say but it worked. Complementing a piece of someone’s appearance that they put together themself was always a good play. Okay fine whatever. Maybe he didn’t fumble.
He especially didn’t fumble when the guy hummed excitedly and reached into his back pocket with his eyes sparkling. With a flourish he pulled out a sleek black eyeliner pencil and showed it to Subz with a grin. That fucking smile. God fucking damn it this guy was adorable.
“I can do yours! If you’d like?” Oh he could do Subz in a multitude of ways but-
“Sure.” Subz shrugged and stepped forwards as he painfully ignored his cheeks heating up. If this guy noticed and said anything then Subz would have to kill him on the spot. Until then though Subz would try to calm his heartbeat and the warm feeling inside him. “You’re the master here” Subz added awkwardly.
The guy giggled almost uncontrollably and grinned at Subz through cracked eyes. Well Subz did not intend that double meaning but he wasn’t backing down now. Fuck it. He was already feeling a little like he was going to throw up. Fuck it.
“Uhuh” Subz said quietly as the guy uncapped the eyeliner with his teeth and reached for Subz’s face. Hot. No Subz meant- what? Nevermind. The guy's mouth curled further into a smile at Subz’s words then his thumb on the corner of Subz’s eyes prompted him to close them. Subz could stay calm. Definitely. He totally wasn’t feeling like he was going to explode into a thousand heart shaped pieces.
“My name’s Vitalasy by the way” Subz almost jumped at the guys voice so close to him. Breath on his face startled him too but it certainly wasn’t unpleasant. He just wished he could have his eyes open when Vitalasy was this close to him. Because um, pretty guy. But of course there was an eyeliner pen dragging across his eyelid that he very much did not want in his eye. So his eyes stayed closed as he replied with his own name.
“Subz.” Wait for it….
“Subz” the guy responded quietly. “That’s. Are you-“
“Shut up” Subz cut him off quickly. “…yes.”
Vitalasy cackled and Subz ventured his eyes open for just long enough to see his smiling face. If Vitalasy got to see him blush like hell then he got to see Vitalasy lean his head back and laugh. He quickly recovered though and shooed Subz’s eyes back closed.
“That’s so funny” Vitalasy laughed. “Your parents labeled you!” He moved on to Subz’s seconds eye and Subz was surprised at how fast he was. But that was a compliment for later. For later and for when Subz wasn’t absolutely sure that anything that came out of his mouth would be complete nonsense. Yes he got the question a lot. But he didn’t get it a lot from pretty guys in hot clothes and good eyeliner! Subz took a subtle deep breath and willed his face to not be bright red. Okay okay. Focus.
“Or they predicted” Subz added with a hopefully playful smile. Vitalasy laughed his cute little laugh again and Subz realized that because Vitalasy was right handed and he was doing Subz’s left eye that he was directly in front of Subz’s face. It made Subz’s face heat up even more and his stomach flip. If Vitalasy noticed then he was being an absolute godsend and not saying anything.
A hum from in front of him brought Subz’s attention back to Vitalasy and he realized the eyeliner pencil was no longer on his face. Was he done already? Damn. Subz was about to open his eyes when his heartbeat was shot in a rocket to the fucking moon all because of soft lips on the corner of his mouth . Holy fuck Subz was being kissed. (Well not exactly because corner of the mouth didn’t count but it was the flirting version of kissing. Definitely still worth a holy fuck.)
Vitalasy pulled away with a laugh and a cheerful “done!” but that didn’t change the way Subz was about to spontaneously combust. He was basically just kissed by the prettiest guy he’d seen all year. Hello? Subz spluttered and surely blushed even worse than he did before. The actual nerve of this guy… Subz needed to kiss him back immediately. Vitalasy was laughing at Subz’s blush but that was cut short when Subz yanked him down for a revenge kiss on the cheek. The kiss had opposite effects on both of them when Subz blushed some more and Vitalasy gasped excitedly. He slapped a hand over where Subz kissed him and bounced giddily.
“You’re so cute!” Vitalasy exclaimed as he tucked the eyeliner pencil back in his pocket. The only reason Subz wasn’t burying himself in the ground right now was because Vitalasy was also blushing. There was a cute little flush on his cheeks that Subz was going to die about. Or something.
“What’s your major?” Vitalasy asked. “I still can’t believe I’ve never met you.”
In the next ten minutes Subz learned that Vitalasy was a fashion merchandising major (surprisingly not a performing arts major like Subz guessed). And at least half of that time was Vitalasy excitedly asking about Subz’s sculpture major. Subz’s pulse was in the stratosphere thank you for asking. He was just not built to be around pretty boys for this long! Sorry not sorry!
Vitalasy seemed fine though which was endlessly upsetting. He only seemed to get nervous when a person came out of the theater doors and announced that they would be opening soon. They went through the whole spiel: no labeled alcohol, no vapes or cigs or blunts (who the fuck would bring a joint to an indoor theater?), don’t leave any empty seats, have your campus ID out, yadda yadda whatever. Then the doors opened and the crowd pushed forward with scattered shouts and cheers.
Subz looked to his left but Vitalasy was gone. What. No- where the fuck did he go? Subz was a little looking forward to pressing unnecessarily close to him in the crowd. Well! There could be another day for that. Except- fuck. Subz never got his number. God fucking damn it. Subz was going to crawl into the sewers and never come back out. Are you kidding? They talked for like half an hour! Subz kissed him on the cheek! He did Subz’s makeup! That’s like- the gayest thing ever. Literally they were like the lesbian makeup meme and Subz didn’t get his number.
Whatever. Whatever whatever whatever. Subz would live. Not having that guy's number was fine . He would live.
Okay- but Subz didn’t know where he went. He could be back? Maybe? There’s no reason for him to stand in line all this time only to disappear when the theater opened. Unless he like- sprinted in there the second they opened. Subz rolled his eyes. No he would have noticed that.
It didn’t matter. Vitalasy didn’t matter anymore because Subz was about to get lit with the theater kids. Which would be hell if it was happening anywhere else besides at this show. (Do not ever party with theater kids. Subz knew from experience.)
The seat that he found was around the middle of the about one hundred person theater. It was a pretty good seat if you asked Subz. But it was always easier to find a seat as one person than as a group. … Subz’s traitorous mind drifted to Vitalasy and he had to bat it away like a bird with a broom. No! Bad brain! Don’t think about how we fumbled literally the most attractive guy at this school! Don’t do it!
Subz scanned the audience but didn’t see Vitalasy’s ginger hair or bold eyeliner. Not even the smallest sight of that strapless bodysuit! Genuinely where the fuck did he go? Subz was more confused at this point than anything.
Nope. Nope nope. Focus. The show was starting and Subz needed to stop being upset. He needed to calm down.
He was still upset.