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Cater grabs a broom and starts to sweep around the Heartslabyul kitchen, anything to help calm the gnawing feeling in his heart. He felt the light in his eyes shift rapidly. Was the text he sent to you earlier too risky? He contemplated as he moved the stick back and forth, practically only sweeping one area of the whole kitchen. A blush arose on his face as he thought of his earlier message, all he did was send a simple:
Cay-Cay: Hiii! :) Can we meet for coffee later this afternoon? I have a secret to tell you after school. ;)
But that was enough to get his heart pounding, pounding at the thought of you reading his text and taking time out of your sacred day to reply. But who is he kidding? Someone as perfect and put together as you wouldn’t spare a second for a wannabe social media star like him. You could rival Vil in terms of the aura you gave. Cater pulled his phone from his back pocket to quickly retract his last few messages, starting to feel the cringe and embarrassment of sending such a flirty text.
All he needed to do was unsend them and then he could go rot in his bed for the rest of the day. After all, it was his favorite pastime nowadays. With nothing consuming his thoughts but you, all he could do was lay in his bed and kick his feet like a schoolgirl, and think of scenarios of you and him if you were to say yes to his confession.
Before he can power on his phone, the device does it for him and shows a single text from you:
Prefect <3: Yes! I’d love to, I’ll see you at X Cafe at 5?
Crap.
Cay-Cay: Yeah! See you there!!
This day was not going to go as he planned. Yet, his eyes gleamed with a small hope that everything was going to turn out ok.
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After squealing in his pillow for the past 10 minutes, Cater finally decided to get ready for his “date”, or what he likes to call it. A nice shower and a good brushing of his hair will do the trick. He then started to apply eyeliner, seeing no need to draw on his signature diamond. They’re going to be out of school, so what’s the problem with switching it up a little bit? After a good 5 minutes of drawing to match the other side, he was finally ready. Adorning a beige cardigan over a dress shirt and jeans, he tried his best to look as casual as possible in the mirror, and after a good selfie or two, he slung a messenger bag over his shoulder and raced to the mirror chamber. He was NOT going to be late to his first date with you.
“Ace, you fucking-! You freaking jerk!”
Speeding through the halls, Cater didn’t bother to spare a glance at the sight of Ace and Deuce fighting over the last tart again. He swore he heard a plate crash to the floor when he escaped the kitchen. He sweat at the thought of Riddle finding out that another piece of fine china was broken, again. That will be a problem for another time, he guessed.
“Hey, Cater!” Trey leaned against the wall next to the exit. “I have a question for you, what do you think Prefect would like for-”
“Sorry, Trey! No time! Don’t go to the kitchen! TTYL. Bye!” The sheer force of the door slam caused the green-haired man's glasses to nearly fall off. “Okay, maybe another time then!” He politely yelled through the window.
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The ginger checked the time on his phone once again. It was a minute before 5 and no sign of his crush in sight. Starting to get nervous, he slowly started to fidget with his hair while nursing his slightly watered-down chai at the table he had selected for the two of you. It was an hour before closing, eyes darting across the place, he definitely didn’t want to catch the eye of any disgruntled baristas for overextending his stay.
“Cater!” You ran to the table where he was seated and a faint red bloomed on his face. You looked stunning. Although you were wearing only a black dress shirt and some shorts, he believed you were the most gorgeous person in all of Wonderland at the moment. And he even noticed that you were wearing the hairclip he gifted you on your birthday! This surely was a sign from the Great Seven that you felt the same way as he did.
Taking another sip of his drink, he waved you over and gestured for you to sit across from him.
“Thanks for meeting me here today!”
‘Thanks for meeting me here today?’ This isn’t some job interview! Cater get it together!
You smiled sweetly as always. “No problem! So, what did you want to talk about?”
“Oh, yeah.” He laughed nervously and held his hands together in front of him. “...I just wanted to thank you. Thank you for being such, such a good friend. I never got the chance to ever be this open to someone about how I truly feel and you’re the only person I feel where I can totally be myself around. I’m really glad you’re in my life.”
“Aw, Cater! Thank you. You’re a really great person to be around as well. When I first came to Twisted Wonderland, I felt so… lost. And when I visited Heartslabyul for the first time, you were just so kind to me despite being, haha, sort of an alien to this world. Thanks to you, I got to meet a ton of new awesome people that I probably wouldn’t have talked to if you hadn’t pushed me out there.”
“I’m happy you feel the same way!” He fidgeted with his thumbs. “I also wanted to tell you another thing that’s really important to me… I- I- I think I…”
His lips refused to move. Oh no. Oh Sevens, what was he doing? What was the point? You wouldn’t accept his confession anyway. You probably think he’s annoying. He’s probably-.
He felt your hand envelop his. Letting out a small whimper, he looked into your eyes. You looked so, concerned. Something he’d never seen so largely before in the presence of Night Raven College. “Cater. You can tell me anything. I won’t get mad.”
The bells of the door chime as his pupils widen, a cheerful melody suiting someone as divine as yourself. You are an angel. His angel. And he’s going to make sure of that.
Taking a deep breath, he regained composure but didn’t let go of your hand. “Thank you.” He squeezed tighter. “But Prefect, I think I like-”
“Hey, guys. What are we up to?”
“TREY?” His pupils contracted. “Trey!” You said in joy.
“How are you, Prefect?” Jumping up from your seat, you go and hug Trey. “Great, how about you?” “I'm doing good as well. I got you something.”
Presenting a piece of paper from his crossbody bag, your eyes sparkled as you saw the little heart drawn on it. “I didn’t know what to get you for our anniversary, so I thought a letter of my admiration would do the trick.” He scratched the back of his head.
“Thank you, Trey. I love it.” You kissed him on the cheek with a sickeningly sweet pucker.
…
Blinking back tears, the light in Cater’s eyes started to flicker. His brows furrowed, with his irises fading into a dull, envious green.
“Sorry about the interruption, what did you want to say Cater?” You elbowed Trey to force him to apologize. “Yeah. Sorry, Cater.”
One blink later, and he was once again a vibrant green.
“Oh, nothing! Maybe I’ll tell you another time? It sort of slipped my mind when Trey came in.” He jokingly laughed as he wiped at his eyes.
“Alright.” You said still concerned. “If you need anything just text me, ok?”
“Yeah, of course!”
“Now that Trey’s here, do you think he could join us for some tea?”
Cater looked at his half-empty cup. “...I think I’m done for today.” He got up from his booth, refusing to look back at the couple. “I’ll see you guys later.” He dismissed them with a simple wave of his hand.
“Wait- Cater!”
“Everything is good. Everything is all good.” He whispered. The bell chimed once again and Royal Sword Academy students started to flood in at once causing the ginger to disappear into the midst.
A friend. He was just a friend to you. And that’s all there ever would be to it. He should have realized that sooner.
Muted eyes looking down at the counter, he pulled out his wallet to buy another drink before leaving. Maybe something refreshing to post on Magicam for a couple hundred likes or so.
“I saw what happened.” The barista said. “That’s rough buddy.”
“...Shut up.”