Work Text:
Izzy sighs as he sinks into the train seat. After hours of answering emails from moron coworkers and sitting through endless meetings, he’s glad to be on the way home for the weekend. The thought of cuddling up on the sofa with his dog whilst watching old crime dramas has been the only thing to get him through today.
Izzy puts his headphones on, blocking out the sounds of other commuters as the train starts to fill up. The soothing sounds of classical music ready to soundtrack his ride home. That’s until he feels a small tap on his shoulder, he looks up to find a blonde man in a sharp teal suit standing in front of him.
“So sorry, there’s no other seats left, may I?” The blonde asks, gesturing to the seat next to Izzy where his backpack currently sits.
“Fine.” Izzy mumbles, moving his backpack to the floor so the blonde can sit down.
He goes back to staring out the window, watching as the train departs from the station. He’s lost in thought when suddenly a pack of Werther’s originals are being thrusted at him. He shakes his head, refusing the sugary treat, hoping that will be the end of it.
“I’m Stede.” Izzy hears above the music, giving a name to the annoying man who’s disrupting his peaceful journey.
Izzy takes off his headphones ready to tell the man to leave him alone, shocked when instead he introduces himself. “Izzy.”
“Nice to meet you, Izzy.” Stede replies with a grin.
Izzy curses himself, now he’ll have to interact with the man until one of them gets off the train, he just hopes the blonde’s station is one of the first.
“Been to work?” Stede asks.
“Is it that obvious?” Izzy asks sarcastically.
Most people would be put off by his attitude, but it seems to just have the opposite effect on Stede who just laughs and smiles at him. Somehow finding Izzy’s demeanor as an invitation to keep talking.
Stede starts to tell him all about his work and some funny thing one of his coworkers did today. Izzy wants to say that he didn’t actually ask, but he bites his tongue, not entirely sure why he’s doing so.
He occasionally sneaks glances at Stede as he continues to chatter on about something or other. A stray blonde curl falls onto Stede’s forehead, Izzy’s fingers twitching to brush it out of the way. But of course he doesn’t, that would be ridiculous. He starts to feel a little warm, blaming the overcrowded carriage for his condition rather than the hot blonde next to him.
Izzy finds himself confused as to why he’s not more irritated with this man who’s talking his head off, normally he would’ve snapped by now. But there’s something different about Stede, he feels almost drawn to him, yes he’s annoying and talks too much, but there’s something else there as well. Something warm, a flame, and Izzy is a mere moth drawn to a little bit of kindness.
When Izzy next tunes in, Stede has somehow moved onto talking about flowers, he must’ve been daydreaming for longer than he realised. Stede must mistake Izzy’s look of confusion for one of disinterest as he suddenly stops mid sentence.
“I’m sorry, you don’t need me wittering on, you were probably hoping for a quiet journey.” Stede says with a small laugh, but Izzy can hear the slight self deprecation.
He was, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell Stede to stop. “No it’s okay, tell me more.”
“Really?” Stede asks, obviously not used to others actually showing an interest.
“Yeah why not.” Izzy answers with a shrug.
“Okay then,” Stede grins, continuing his lecture on flowers and their meanings.
He only stops talking again to inform Izzy that they’re nearing his stop, Izzy feels a small pang at the idea of the man leaving. He never thought he’d enjoy an interaction as much as he has, and now he’s going home to an empty house. But it’s better this way, not getting attached to people, he knows all too well now that ends.
“Right yeah, bye.”
“Goodbye Izzy, it was nice to meet you.”
Izzy watches as Stede gets off the train and makes his way along the platform, not taking his eyes off the blonde until the train starts to move again. It feels almost too quiet again now, he finds himself hoping that he sees Stede on the train again.