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Luminous blue hair clashed with the blinding lights from his pc monitors, or supposedly, holographic screens. Idia aggressively typed on his keyboard, paying no mind to any technical damage.
A certain tab took the majority of his attention. There was his, what he’d say, embarrassing search history. Absolutely NO ONE was to see any of it, not even Ortho was allowed to. Albeit, the humanoid could’ve broken through his system if he really tried, but that’s beside the point.
Idia had searched up topics from “cute anime cat girls” and “PREMO tickets for sale near me”, all the way to “how to get with an SS-tier extrovert” along with “how to NOT be awkward around your totally not crush but really good friend”. What a weird one he was, assuming everyone would agree with that.
One would take a glance at those very words and wouldn’t have a double take, unless they saw that first one though. Idia on the other hand, had to get everything in him to accept those very words staring right at him on the bright screen. If he thought too hard about it, he could only think about who they were about: A certain ginger, striking green eyes and everything that complemented the color. With that, a phone that he swore was always attached to the other no matter what, and of course—the tendency to always call himself “Cay-Cay”.
Because that’s right ladies and gentlemen, Idia Shroud, the introverted shut in king himself found himself to be in love with the well known Cater Diamond. The extrovert like no other, essentially a party animal if he had to think of a negative description. Idia could go forever talking about the guy.
Going from how considerate he was of his interests, seemingly getting ahold of some anime or gaming merch whenever he went out. Idia couldn’t complain about that. Dare he say he made his own awesome moves! There had been times he invited Cater over to just sit and ‘hang’. By that, he found out that the phone addict wasn’t as unbearable as he had initially thought. Rather, he was quite chill when it came to being together one on one.
Now, how should Idia situate this newfound friendship turned crush? Avoid it at all costs, DUH. Instead, there was something else that had a spotlight shining all over it in his mind: going to a collab café. More specifically, a café collabing with the hit video game (Idia’s favorite), Star Rogue!!! He wasn’t initially planning on attending, but Ortho, his amazing little brother, practically BEGGED for him to go. Besides, when would he ever get the chance to see his childhood in person again?
“Please, Nii-san! I’ll be there with you, and I even calculated the dates with the least reservations! We’ll just slip in during the emptiest hours-”
“I don’t want to go outside, Ortho! Er…it’s no use. I’ll just watch several videos about it, NP,” How convincing of him.
Why didn’t Ortho get it? PREMO, his favorite idol group, had performed near Night Raven College several times, yet Idia hadn’t tried to get a single ticket to attend them. What in the Twisted Wonderland would convince him to leave now of all times?
But Idia didn’t want to disappoint his little brother, he had to at least TRY and leave his dorm room for some time. Who’d want to be known for never touching grass? He surely didn’t mind before, but thinking about it now- oh sevens- he might blue-screen if someone ever calls him out on it.
“Ha…fine, Ortho. I’ll go. For your sake, of course…Don’t think that I’m not going to set up any precautions though! Whee hee hee!” Who did Ortho think he was? An ultra-normie who just left his room for casual hangouts? Absolutely not!
“What will I do with you, Nii-san…”
The regret of agreeing to Ortho overwhelmed Idia as he stepped closer to the vicinity of the café. He swore that he could feel the breath of other people overlapping his, and boy did he wish he just stayed in his room. Ortho would be sad though…And as a good older brother he will try all he can to make it through this cut scene. Either way, he brought his trusty jammer, making it so phones were practically unusable (only if it was towards him OFC! it’d ruin the fan experience otherwise.) One thing Idia was ready for, was to get that SSR-looking drink he saw on the website! Looked artificial as hell, but whos to say–
Wait. Who was that? Idia knew that look from anywhere. Like it was a new skin from an rpg game that infatuated him for weeks.
That signature orange hair with a ponytail in the front, free hair trailing down his nape and on the sides. Those green eyes that always seemed so happy to see Idia. The same ones that crinkled when he smiled and cried. Down all the way to that loud voice, the happy-go-lucky one that slightly slurred when tired. Idia would know, he paid far more attention to the guy than he should
Yes, that was Cater, Cater Diamond. You’d think that Idia would be ecstatic to meet his little “crush”, right? But oh, that was so, so, wrong.
‘WHAT IN THE WORLD??? I DIDN’T GRIND ENOUGH MATS FOR THIS!!! IF ANYTHING, I JUST CLICKED AUTO AND DIDN’T PAY ATTENTION. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET THROUGH THIS BOSS FIGHT NOW-!’
Idia swore that all eyes were on him. All thinking about how weird and silly he looked, with that blue hair (that was definitely turning pink by the minute), along with the excessive sweating.
He didn’t notice at first, but Ortho started looking at the older weirdly. Had he made the wrong decision of bring Idia outside? Surely it wasn’t him, right? Idia had seemed so distracted when the two of them were seated. Not only that, but a cute waitress handed them a menu to look over. However, he wasn’t paying attention at all! Rather, Ortho could tell that he was looking at something. What could be eliciting this reaction…
Ortho scans around the room, more specifically the direction that Idia kept looking back and forth from. And there, he found the culprit! Idia had searched up ways to make his feelings known to the other earlier. Surely, he was prepared.
“Nii-san, perhaps you’re busy looking at Cater Diamond over there? I do recall you doing some research earlier-”
“Quit it, Ortho-! I didn’t prepare for this moment- just- order something you want, or something…I’ll catch up,” and to think this was the same guy that built the humanoid.
“I can’t eat, Nii-san…Ah! I got it! How about you make your move now? I’ve heard from other students around campus that coincidental situations always got them to utter something to their cru-”
“NO! I mean- ugh- no, Ortho! Don’t you know? Confessing to Cater-shi would be like doing a random quest from an NPC after being forced to talk to them in the main story-! I’d rather my PC crash on me mid-battle than have to do that!”
It was no use, Ortho supposed. His brother was really just going to keep this new friend of his away from him as long as he can, huh? That is, until these “feelings” of his find a way to disappear…
‘Y’know what, mayB Ortho inviting me out to this café wasn’t so bad! The waitresses are like so chill so my social battery is at a good high! I’m so glad that this isn’t some RPG where an enemy just attacks out of nowhe-’
“Now this is just so camable! Ids out in the wild touching some grass? I might caption this one- hold on! Did you have to bring your jammer with you again? Such a pity too…I was so going to use #lookwhofinallylefthisroom.”
'Oh he’s talking to me...
Oh nononono- I DIDN’T WANT THIS!!! DEAR SEVENS, TELL ME, WHAT DID I EVER DO TO DESERVE THIS KIND OF PUNISHMENT?!' It was right to say that Idia looked horrified, yet continued to stare at the green eyed.
“Idia? You good there? Prob not used to this kind of environment, huh? Haha! DW, Cay-Cay’s got your back if you need me pronto!” And it wasn’t hard to tell that Cater, despite the weeks of him and the blue haired interacting, clearly didn’t get the memo. For Ortho, seeing his own brother panic around, who he supposed, was his crush, was a pain. What was he supposed to do besides just watch? Leaving Idia to fend for himself would’ve been rude, and poking fun at him IN FRONT of Cater wasn’t an option either…
“Hello, Cater Diamond! Do not mind my brother please. He’s uhm…He’s been going through with some burnout lately.” Sure, maybe that was the best excuse he could give.
“Oh is that so? Well you should’ve told me sooner, silly! You know Cay-Cay is always down to chat. I’ll leave you be for now, though. Come find me if you’d like!” Oh sevens, could Idia not stand that attitude. In the end, he decided to stay put in his seat.
So what if Idia couldn't resist constantly looking over to Cater's table? What if he was curious about his order? Not like that's a problem, a good meal or drink is well, a good nonetheless! Staring at that excited face that had dragged along some Heartslabyul(?) students had nothing to do with it. None whatsoever.
Safe to say, the interaction between Idia and Ortho continued to be limited afterwards. What was he supposed to say to his brother now??? Full on admit that he's acting like a dating sim MC and can't muster up the courage to confess to his bias? How's that conversation going to go, huh? At best, he gets the man that has been stuck in his head 24/7. At worst, he makes a fool out of himself in front of several people in PUBLIC no less. They might even call him weird, or annoying, or pathetic, or, or-
"Nii-san!!! Cater Diamond seems to be leaving with his friends soon! I know it sounds like a lot, but seeing you dote on him isn't the most pleasant."
"He won't like me back anyway, Ortho...gah, you wouldn't get it!!"
It was no use. Idia really was going to be a loner for life, wasn't he?
Ortho could take a second to analyze over Cater's stats, and he, someway or another, would find that bit of him that requited Idia's feelings. He just knew it. Saying so, he has done that! In the past at least, Ortho took some time hovering around the two of them whenever they hangout in Idia's room. Ortho could 100% say that Cater was indeed fond of his brother the same way he did for him.
Why couldn't he just get that?
No one would be able to explain to Ortho how Idia ended up shooting out of his seat the minute Cater got out of his own. The SPEED he saw the older go out was quite impressive! Vargas would approve!
Unfortunately though, it seems that doing the physical task ultimately lowered his social stats from 50 all the way to 0.5...
Cater was confused himself! He knew that Idia could get bursts of confidence every now and then, but right now? Could this be true? The man he has been more comfortable with every time they interact, could they really be something more?-
"Sorry to break it to you, Cater-senpai, but we gotta get on the move! Don't want to have our heads rolling now, do we?"
"Aw man, we can't even let Idia finish his little bit?" Cater just wanted to see what would happen. Who knows? Maybe this would be a camable moment: "js bagged the ignihyde housewarden" would be a dream come true.
"You can talk about it again some other time, I can't risk getting collared because you wanted to go to some café and had no one else to go with..." Tsk, tsk. Ace, ruining the fun like always.
On the other hand, Idia was panicking. How was he supposed to make this kind of move ever again?!? He's confirmed DOOMED now. He lost that 50/50 and is never going to grind enough to win it.
Reluctantly, Cater waves the downcast man a goodbye. They'd definitely hangout again soon. Maybe then, their feelings would finally be shared to one another.
To not seem rude or disrespectful, or anything of the sort, Idia simply waves back. Much more subtle though. In the end, the message is sent.
'Ha...I'm done for...'