Chapter Text
“You ready?”
Riley looks up from what Zoey affectionately calls their “Gendo Ikari pose.” “No.”
Zoey smiles, bright and free, and she can see tension leave their shoulders. “It’ll be great, Riley. You did a great job setting this up.”
“You’re pretty confident about this, Zo.”
“Yeah, I know you.”
Riley cocks an eyebrow. “You say that like you wouldn’t be more nervous than I am if it were you.”
Zoey offers a hand. “Yeah, but I’m not you. And you did everything right. You just need to spend the night doing what you do best. If anything, I should be nervous. I’m the one with a table.”
“I still think I should’ve set up something bigger, gotten actual tables or something—”
Zoey sighs slightly and places her hands on her partner’s shoulders. “Riley. Babe. This is a casual night. It’s just a time for people without a big platform to talk art, show what they’re working on, maybe sell a couple of things. You did great. It doesn’t need to be more than it is.”
Riley smiles. “When did you get so confident?”
“Oh, I’m not. I’m just good at suppressing my panic when I need to help someone else suppress theirs.”
“My hero,” Riley deadpans.
“Come on, let’s…”
Her sentence is interrupted by a knock on the door. “Riles, you good?” Zoey groans. Leah always picks the best times. Riley lets out a sharp breath and stands up, opening the door to the bar itself. “Oh, hey Zoey.”
“Hi Leah.”
“Leah, I’m kinda in the middle of something.”
“Yeah, you’re in the middle of panicking that the event isn’t good enough when you should be in the middle of making someone a drink. Just let loose! It’s fine. You gotta stop stressing so much.” Riley glares, but Leah remains unfazed. “Oh, Zoey, by the way, people were looking for you. Something about ‘burning down the bar’?”
“What?!”
Leah grins. “Relaaaax, I’m kidding.” The grin drops immediately. “But actually, people are looking for you out there, you should go deal with that.”
Zoey hazards a glance at her partner. “Go ahead, Zo,” Riley says, “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“There you go! I knew you had it in you.”
“Leah, shut the fuck up.”
Zoey takes a deep breath and walks into the bar. It’s a small event, just a few tables taken over by artists, herself included. But a few people are clustering around her table, and she can immediately feel her blood pressure spike. “Hey guys!”
It’s only three or four people, and she’s seen most of them around before. And yet, her body is telling her it’s several thousand critical eyes.
“Hey!” Her spiral is interrupted as it starts by a shorter woman she’s seen around. I think… Suzie’s partner? Maybe? “It’s good to meet you. I’m Abigail. Or Abby.” Yeah, okay, Suzie’s girlfriend. Got it. Not completely lost.
“Oh, yeah, it’s… good to meet you too.”
Abigail smiles, and Zoey practically freezes in terror. She’s about to say something bad, she’s enjoying watching me suffer— “I know a lot of people comment on your style—which they should! It’s really distinctive and looks really cool—but I wanted to say that you really have a good grasp on character writing. It’s hard. I’ve tried some writing before, and making everyone sound distinct while still sounding like people is hard. But whenever someone says something off screen, I can practically hear the voice in my head. It’s impressive.”
Oh. She misinterpreted the smile. It wasn’t Abigail being menacing, it was… kind? This is a new feeling about her art. “Oh… thank you. That… that means a lot.” She releases some of the tension in her body. “I’m not the best at character writing, much more of a visual artist, but I’m trying to get better at it!”
“Hey, you’re more than just trying. You’re pretty good at it already. And I’m sure you’ll just keep getting better.”
“Thank you, that’s… really nice of you.” She looks down and a smile just breaks through the anxiety. “But uh, don’t let me keep you, you should go see other people, they’re—”
“Actually, if it’s okay, I’d love to talk more about this stuff.” Abigail sits at the booth across from Zoey. “I’ve always been curious about… drawing and art and stuff, and I’d love to hear more from someone who knows what they’re doing.”
Zoey blinks. “Uh… yeah, sure. Sure.” She continues to try to process the sequence of events. It’s not working particularly well.