Chapter Text
Awoken from your thoughts you turned your head to look for the person who called your name, not surprised to see your friend already at the other side of the hall waving for you to come over. You ignored the slightly annoyed faces that people gave the two of you and waved back, silently signing she could go on without you. You would catch up later, when she was throwing back a steaming hot coffee in the museum’s restaurant and when you had seen all the pieces that were there to see.
The museum here hosted a monthly exhibition featuring local art students. It was a small museum, you had to admit, but it was one of your goals to be invited for such an exhibition yourself. Maybe it was a slightly selfish thing to hope for, but it felt good when people appreciated the things you spent so many hours working on. The exhibitions both struck you down and helped you climb further – the pieces that filled the hall made you feel self-conscious about your work but also gave you motivation, making you determined to continue improving.
When your friend disappeared out of sight you turned your attention back to the sign you had been reading before being so loudly interrupted, and a soft chuckle escaped your lips. She was great, honestly, but she could work on subtlety. Oh right, the sign. An Audiovisual piece by a guy named Arthur something was about to start in a couple of minutes on the other side of the door in front of you, so you quickly went inside and sat down. His other works that were displayed had captured your attention, had moved you, had made you lose sense of time as you kept staring, kept thinking, kept feeling. If his silent pieces already had this effect, you were almost scared of what added sound might do to you.
You weren’t disappointed.
After exiting the room you just stood there, trying to calm yourself down from whatever it was you had just experienced. There were so many emotions twisting inside of you, fighting for dominance, that it left you completely frozen to the ground.
“I think I’m in love.”
You didn’t know you had said that out loud until you heard a chuckle next to you.
“Liked his work?”
You blinked and turned towards the guy to whom the voice belonged. His attractiveness made you lose your ability to speak for a second, but you soon remembered what you had seen and heard only a minute ago and words came flooding back.
“I -it was... I have never experienced anything like before. The music, the work itself in total, just – everything! I don’t know whether I want to cry until there are no tears left or if I want to laugh until my lungs give in. I – I think I felt my actual soul being moved just now. I would say I am utterly speechless but you can kinda hear that’s not exactly true because here I am, flooding a total stranger with incoherent sentences. I must sound horribly pretentious, rambling on about art this way.”
“Nah, the crying kind of balances it out. Makes it look sincere.” Another chuckle.
“Crying?” You lifted your hand and touched your cheek. “Oh.” You quickly wiped away the tears and let out a chuckle as well. “I guess my body decided on crying first. Don’t judge me if I suddenly start lauging.” You immediately wanted to hit yourself for how stupid that sounded, but to your surprise he actually laughed. God his laugh was adorable.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m not really one for judging. I’m Josh, by the way.”
You shook his outstretched hand and gave him your name, not able to break eye contact. His smile was contagious and you quickly copied it.
“So you like his works as well?”
“Yeah I think it’s pretty good. I know he could do better, though.”
You frowned. His comment struck you as pretty mean and conceited. If he was an artist himself, then did he insinuate that his work was better? You doubted it was possible. Maybe just as good, maybe in a different way, but your opinion of the works of this Arthur guy was too high to be able to surpass. Apparently you showed exactly what you were thinking on your face as his eyes grew wider and his hands rose in defence.
“No, no, that’s not what I meant! Ah that was stupid of me, wrong choice of words, sorry. Arthur is a good friend of mine, and I know he can be a bit lazy sometimes. I think he could improve if he just spend a little more time on his projects, you know? Instead of being a typical guy all day long. He sometimes just needs a kick in the ass. ”
The bluntness of his statement made you laugh involuntarily. You were relieved, really, that he wasn’t a vain prick but just a guy that cared about his friend. You sort of trusted your instinct with people, but for a moment you had doubted if you had been right about him or if you had been compromised by his dark hair, lean figure, and beautiful eyes. God, you really needed to stop thinking about that or it was your speech that would be compromised. Luckily for you, he continued.
“I can introduce you to him sometime, if you want?”
“That would be – wow, that’s... That would be amazing! Do you think he would mind?”
He let out another of his wonderful short laughs, causing his whole face to light up and making his eyes sparkle in amusement. “No, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mind. Especially not when he gets to meet someone as charming as you.”
You could feel your cheeks getting warmer and you let out a chuckle. “Real smooth. So do you come here often to fix a date?” You pulled up your eyebrows in smug accusation. His grin was just as smug.
“I guess you’re the first.”
Oh.
You just stood there, staring at his face, completely lost for words as your cheeks grew even redder than they already were.
“You wanna... Walk around the halls?”
He seemed unsure, and you realised he was probably just as nervous as you were - just as comfortably uncomfortable. You quickly nodded and hoped you didn’t seem to eager, but it was worth it as you saw his confidence bloom on his face in the form of a disarming smile. You swore you felt your heart skip a beat.
The two of you slowly strolled from piece to piece, quietly enjoying each other’s company for most of the time, the comfortable silence only interrupted by soft discussions of the works in front of you. He shared your opinion on most of them and you grew more comfortable as the two of you talked and talked. You moved your gaze between his hypnotising eyes and his well-formed lips as he passionately spoke about one of his favourite works in the halls, sometimes even forgetting to pay attention to what he was saying - but then quickly catching up with his story and drinking in all the words that his alluring voice produced.
You sometimes caught him sneaking glances at you from the corner of his eyes, giving you a hard time getting your cheeks back to their normal colour.
You learned that he was an art student as well, a year above you, and that he had seen you walk around the halls. The only thing that surprised you was that he had actually noticed you, amongst so many others, and that you couldn’t recall seeing him. He blamed it on the fact that you often looked like you were lost in thought, which you couldn’t deny even if you wanted to, and you chuckled an apology.
“Don’t apologise for thinking. I wish I could join you in these imaginary worlds of yours.”
You weren’t sure what he meant, and when he noticed your slight confusion he laughed shyly. It was adorable to say the least.
“I’ve seen your work. Not in a stalker way,” he quickly added, “I just happened to see you work on a piece when I walked by and I guessed that the other works around you were yours as well. I couldn’t help but think that I would like to see where your inspiration comes from, because I think the things you make are beautiful. And the way you’re often daydreaming just made me wonder, you know?”
His cheeks had grown a lightly darker shade as well and you felt your stomach twist in wonderful ways.
“Thanks, it really means a lot.”
Your gaze locked with his for just a couple of seconds too long, making you both look away quickly - the atmosphere around you now slightly awkward. You couldn’t stand the tension and you tried to lighten up the mood a bit.
“But because of your stalker-y actions,” you gave him a playful grin to make sure he didn’t think you thought of him as an actual stalker, “you kind of have to let me see your own works now. It’s basic code of conduct amongst artists. A thought for a thought, a work for a work.”
He laughed and all awkward tension was gone, his broad smile plastered to his handsome face. You gladly copied his ear-to-ear smile.
“You have already seen it.” His eyes grew slightly wider. “I mean, probably, as we go to the same school. There must have been at least one occasion when you’ve seen one of my works.” It was as if he tried to correct his earlier statement.
“But I didn’t know it was you who made it, if I ever saw one of your works to begin with. You still owe me.”
Another sweet chuckle. “I guess I do. Next date, maybe?” His eyes held a glimmer of insecurity, as if he was afraid you would say no. You gave him your warmest smile.
“Sounds like a plan.”
You had reached the end of the halls and you could see your friend sipping her latte macchiato – luckily she hadn’t noticed you yet, but you knew it wouldn’t last much longer.
“So do we, eh... Do you want to exchange numbers?”
“Sure, just a second.” You fished your phone out of your pocket, unlocked it, and traded it for his. After putting in your numbers you traded a second time and his hand accidentally touched yours - the butterflies in your stomach suddenly went feral, making you purse your lips to keep it from showing. You watched his fingers slip his phone back in his pocket, slightly afraid to look him in his eyes.
“Are you free this Saturday?”
“I am.” You couldn’t keep your gaze averted, and when you noticed how intensely his eyes were focussed on you, you could feel the heat rising to your face once again. Containing the butterflies seemed like an impossible task. “Shall we grab a coffee, o-or something, before you show me your work? There’s this lovely place down the street and the stuff they have there is absolutely delicious.”
“I know which place you’re talking about,” he smiled shyly, “does 11 sound good?”
“Sounds great!” You could see your friend in your peripheral vision, staring at the two of you with her mouth slightly agape, but before you could sign to her that you would be there in a second you heard a name that immediately caught your attention.
“Hey, Arthur, You comin’ or what?”
Both of you turned towards the sound. You were almost hoping they were calling the Arthur that had moved you through his work, and that you could catch a glimpse of him. Not that it really mattered if you didn’t, Josh would introduce you to him anyway. When you found the guy who had yelled you felt your heart suddenly stop – he was looking directly at the two of you. No, scratch that, he was looking directly at Josh.
“Just a second!”
He turned his attention back to you with a sheepish grin, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. Something in your mind clicked and your heart sank through the ground – and you kind of wished your body would follow.
”He’s a good friend of mine.”
Josh was Arthur.
”Do you think he would mind?”
"No, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mind."
Arthur was Josh.
”You have to show me your work now.”
”You have already seen it.”
You had literally cried about a work right in front of the freaking artist. You had praised him into the heavens right in his face.
Oh God.
”I think I’m in love.”
Oh. God.
You had actually confessed your love to him. Without even knowing. Well you couldn’t blame yourself, right? You wouldn’t have said it if you had known the actual freaking artist was standing right next to you, so it was kind of his fault, right?
There was no way you could talk your way out of this, or out of the hole you had unknowingly dug for yourself. But this also meant that the Arthur liked your work.
You were not going on a date with Josh. Josh didn’t exist. You were going on a date with Arthur.
And while realising all this you had just been staring at his face, eyes wide in something close to shock. You could see he was having trouble holding back his laughter, his shoulders shaking lightly.
“See you Saturday.” He winked, and walked away.