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Dante knew you were a clumsy person. From the first time he met you— you had banged your head on your front door— even if it was a deliberate action on your end— you trip over the smallest things, and you spill things on yourself easily.
It happened in front of his eyes the first couple of times, and when he was able to catch onto your clumsiness, he became prepared. He would grab onto your arm before you would fall down, and he would throw a napkin or a towel onto your face before you could spill anything.
What drove him to do this? The first time you shoveled his driveway.
Dante had meant to clear the snow in his driveway a couple of days ago, but he got held up with other errands to run. And when he’s tired, he tends to leave tasks for tomorrow, which obviously does not work out for him in the end.
So imagine his surprise when he gets home and sees your figure shoveling the remnants of the snow left on his driveway. Instead of parking in the garage, he parks on the street.
You’re immersed in completing the task and he can notice your black headphones resting on top of your head. He’s sure that you’re blasting music— which he doesn’t blame you, he’d probably do the same.
He makes a move to walk up the driveway while trying not to slip. He carefully takes his step while also glancing at you.
You have been out here for how long now? About 45 minutes, you think. Dante had been diligent with mowing your lawn and shoveling the snow off the driveway. And you had noticed that he’s been a bit busier than usual, also most likely tired. So, you thought you could help him out with this.
But you’re not going to lie, it’s been a while since you have shoveled snow. Even with the music playing to motivate you, it’s getting harder to move the snow. And it’s getting colder.
You pause for a second, and then you push the shovel into the last patch of snow. And of course, with one push you realize why it’s the last patch of snow left. It’s stuck, it’s hard to move it.
You try again, this time though, you make a little progress, but your foot slips. You fall back, landing on your butt. Your headphones also fall to the ground— at least it wasn’t in the snow.
You don’t notice Dante, until he calls out for you, you turn your head to find him standing behind you, “You okay?” his eyebrows are furrowed, his cheeks are tinged pink— probably from the cold.
He grabs your headphones, “Oh my god, this is embarrassing. Did you see me fall?”
He laughs and that tells you everything you need to know, you hide your face in your hands and groan, “Don’t laugh at me!”
“Okay okay, I’m sorry,” he reaches to help you stand up, “Seriously though, are you okay?”
You take his hand, standing up, you rub the snow off the back of your pants, “Yeah, my butt hurts though.”
He has to stop himself from laughing, to which you click your tongue and smack him lightly, “Why the hell were you out here anyways?”
“I was trying to shovel the snow.”
“Yeah, I see that. But why? I told you I would do it.”
You sigh, looking away, “I wanted to do it. I know you’re busy and tired, so I thought—”
“Sweetheart,” he rests both of his hands on your shoulders, “Thank you, but it’s my job.”
The term of endearment doesn’t go unnoticed by you and despite hearing it from his mouth multiple times now, you’re still not used to it.
You nod slowly admitting defeat, he wraps his arm around your waist, “Here, let’s get you inside, it’s cold out here.”
The silver haired man thought it was sweet of you to do something like that for him. But after that, he never once let you do it again.
It was Friday today, and to his dismay you had informed him that you wouldn’t be able to hangout with him today as you were going out with a friend. He was a bit down upon hearing that and you of course noticed— you told him that you would make it up to him.
He missed your presence, usually you both would be laughing about something stupid, or watching some movie making cheesy jokes— mostly coming from him. He liked having you around more than words could express.
So here laid Dante, on his couch with his feet kicked up on the table. He had finished a box of pizza and was now half asleep.
He hears a ding on his phone, which he ignores, but fails at it because whoever’s texting him right now is blowing up his phone.
The said man sighs, grabbing his phone he peeks at the string of messages left by you.
Danteee
Hey you awake???
Handsome man
Babe
Answerrrrrr
His brows pinch in confusion, you never text like this. Yeah sure, you double text sometimes, but it’s never like this. Your words usually aren’t this exaggerated when texting him. And he sure doesn’t remember you being so bold with your words.
He’s about to reply back until another message pops up from you.
Pick me up
Please
♡
And then immediately pops up your location underneath that message. He wonders what the hell you’re up to, nonetheless he gives a quick response to your messages and is on his way to you.
You honestly hadn’t planned on drinking tonight— mostly because you did want to leave early and hangout with Dante. However, when your friend gave you one look, you didn’t even need to be convinced— you have no self control.
The topic of Dante came up randomly when you told your friend that you slipped on your ass in front of your neighbor.
Your friend laughs while smacking your arm, “Wait, the hot neighbor that you like?”
“Dante, yeah— wait hot?”
He laughs loudly at your confirmation, “There’s no way.”
His laughter only makes you do the same, “It was embarrassing!”
“You should’ve invited him out with us.”
You choke on your drink, “Hell no, that would be awkward.”
“I thought you said he makes conversation easy.”
“He does, but I don’t know if he would want to.”
He looks at you in confusion, “But he likes hanging out with you.”
“What makes you say that?”
He gives you a knowing look, “You guys literally hangout every Friday. You would probably be with him right now if I didn’t ask to hangout.”
You down the rest of your drink while listening to him intently and shrug, “You’re scared.”
“Huh?”
“You heard me, you’re scared. You have a crush on him and you think he doesn’t like you back.”
You feel your face heat up at his words, “It’s not like that. ”
It is like that, but you’re not going to admit that to him.
He smirks, rolling his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, deny it all you want. I’m sure he has it just as bad.”
“I need another drink.” you say resting your head down on your arms.
“Say less, bae.” your friend says while ordering another couple of shots for the both of you.
Now you’re drunk, half of your body weight is resting on your friend— who is in fact in a better position than you.
“How the hell am I supposed to get home?” you ask him while giggling.
“Here,” he reaches out for your phone, “I’ll get you a ride.”
You hug him, “Awww, you’re so sweet, thank you.”
“You’re real touchy when you’re drunk, you know that?”
You only offer a laugh in response. You turn your attention to the TV which is playing music videos, while your friend’s looking for Dante’s name in your messages. He smirks immediately when he finds it, he puts his fingers to work, typing out the string of messages to Dante and instantly sending them one by one.
He slides your phone back to you, “There, your ride should be here soon.”
You frown, he watches as your eyes get glassy, “You’re so nice, thank you.”
He flicks your forehead, “Don’t cry, you baby.”
You sit down quietly sniffling. Now both of you wait for your so-called ride.
By the time Dante’s there, you’ve drank water, but you’re still pretty drunk.
You’re sitting facing the bar, with your back to the door, it’s not until you hear the sound of your name being called. Thinking your friend called out to you, you look at him, “What?”
He smiles sheepishly, pointing to your left. You turn to see Dante and your eyes widen. You immediately turn around and hide your face in your arms.
Your friend laughs nervously at your actions, he leans a little close to Dante, whispering, “Uh, she’s a bit drunk,” he holds out his hand introducing himself as your friend. All the while Dante doesn’t look too amused at the scene, he didn’t realize you were hanging out with a guy friend.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, I convinced her to drink and then I texted you from her phone.” he explains.
You raise your head at that, “ You texted him?!”
“Oh, would you look at that,” he raises his phone, “My uber’s here,” he gives you one last look, “I’ll see you next time!”
You scoff slightly amused at his lame excuse. Dante clears his throat, you look at him sheepishly, except you’re not able to meet his eyes.
You chuckle timidly, “I— sorry. I didn’t know that he— you didn’t have to come.”
He waves you off, “You needed a ride, it’s all good.”
Dante watches you, not letting his eyes off your form even once. He can tell you’re nervous, you’re not meeting his eyes and you keep fiddling with your phone and wallet, “You ready to go, sweetheart?”
“Yeah, sorry.” he once again waves off your apology, instead he tries to get rid of the jealousy that he’s feeling.
Stepping outside makes you wish you brought a jacket instead of this thin cardigan, gosh was it cold. You wrap your arms around yourself, holding the cardigan tight. The bar wasn’t too far from your apartment— it was walking distance, but the cold was starting to bite at your exposed skin.
You walk a step behind Dante, as he leads the way, while still looking back to make sure you’re there.
“I’m glad you— your friend texted. How were you planning on getting home?”
“I didn’t have a plan.” you say trying to keep your teeth from chattering.
You look at the various buildings as you walk by, which is why you don’t notice when Dante stops walking, making you bump into his back.
He turns around to look at you and sighs, still feeling a little dazed, you don’t notice when he takes off his coat. What you feel is the heaviness and warmth of his coat now resting on your shoulders.
Just at the sight of you, he forgets the jealousy, anger— whatever he was feeling when your friend was around. He gives you a look over in his coat. He thinks you look good like this— in his clothing. He wishes he could keep you in his pocket.
Putting his arm around your shoulders, he continues walking with you. However, what stops him in his tracks is the sound of your sniffles.
Peeking down at you, he lets out a laugh, “Are you crying?” His thumb runs over your cheek, “You are! Why are you crying?”
“You gave me your coat,” you hiccup, “And it’s so cold— you’re probably cold too.”
He can’t help but let out another bark of laughter at you. You smack his chest in response to his laughter, you start walking without him, “You’re so mean, I shouldn’t even feel bad for you.”
“Ouch babe, that hurts.”
You stop to look at him in concern, until you realize he’s still joking, you walk back to him to flick his nose this time, “You’re such an asshole.”
“Alright alright, I’m sorry babe,” he wraps his arm around your waist this time and falls back into step with you, “I’m not cold, don’t worry.”
You grab his arm and put it around your shoulders, mumbling something along the lines of, “This feels warmer.” To that, he happily complies.
Dante asks for your key when you make it to your apartment door, and you hand it to him readily. You step inside your place and look back to see him standing outside, “What are you doing?”
“I should go home.”
“You don’t want to come inside?”
“Nah, you should probably sleep, babe.”
You pout, “Are you sure?”
“Do you want me to come inside?”
You shrug shyly, “I was hoping to watch a movie or something.”
He’s silent, perhaps he didn’t want to stay , “It’s fine if you don’t want to—”
He’s already inside, kicking off his boots, “Only if I pick the movie.”
You roll your eyes, “You always pick them anyways.”
“You always end up liking them.” he grins.
You walk to the couch, falling onto it. Dante also sits down next to you, peeking at you— his coat is still around your shoulders and he doesn’t have the heart to ask for it back because you look adorable drowning in it. Plus, you look quite comfortable.
Dante plays some movie, and as always your head ends up resting on his arm. He feels a sense of deja vu, because he knows that once again words will be left unspoken while you fall asleep on his arm.
He wraps his arm around your form, pulling you into his chest. For now, he’s quite content like this.