Work Text:
Zoey turned the lights off, before turning over the ‘OPEN’ sign, closing the glass door and locking it. She looked left and right before starting to walk down the street, her bag slung over her shoulders.
The streetlights illuminated the rain that had hit the roads and pavements a few minutes ago. She got distracted by it, thinking of how beautiful it'd be as a drawing. A small smile formed on her face.
Suddenly, something blocked her. She'd assumed she'd bumped into a wall or lamp again. She looked up. A person.
They had short, curly hair. They were seemingly wearing what looked somewhat like a work uniform, but it was too dark to see. The main thing she noticed was that they were holding a cigarette and a lighter. The person stared down at her.
Zoey began to spiral. Would they hurt her?? Were they mad?? What were they doing?? Would they light her on fire??
Outside of Zoey’s spiralling thoughts, Riley stared down at the cute girl who was currently frozen with her eyes wide. The girl was a little shorter than them, just enough so that they had to look down at her. They had just came out of work at the bar they owned. They often resorted to smoking to relieve stress, aka what they were doing.
Zoey began to hyperventilate. She was terrified. She hadn't had a good experience with strangers before. She was clumsy and often accidentally bumped into people, often leading to her crying after being shouted at or occasionally hit. She covered her face with her hands, her nails digging into her hair line.
Riley realised what was happening. She was having a panic attack, by the looks of it.
“Hey, uhh.. What's your name.. Oh, uhm, Zoey.” Riley read the name tag pinned to Zoey’s uniform, that she still had on. “Uh.. It's.. It's okay, y’know..”
But when Zoey panicked, she became unaware of what was happening around her. She could hear their voice, but wasn't processing it. It was like trying to feed food to a fish that was dead.
She collapsed to her knees, gasping for air. Tears poured down her face as she curled into herself.
“Oh-Oh shit..” Riley muttered, before kneeling besides Zoey.
“Hey, uhm.. I'm not like, mad or anything.”
They gently put their hand on her shoulder. Zoey seemed to relax a little, just a little. Like, about as much cake that adults ask for at parties.
“P-please.. I'm.. Hhghk..! I'm.. S-s.. Sorry.. I'm.. Sorry..” Zoey gasped out, not able to breathe right. Because she was hyperventilating, duh.
Riley had like, no idea what to do. So they did the worst idea possible. They tiled Zoey’s head up with the hand under her chin, and kissed her.
And it.. worked? It shocked Zoey so much that she stopped panicking.
When Riley pulled back, Zoey’s eyes were wide, her mouth agape. Had this really fucking handsome person jsut kissed her???
“I.. You.. What..?” Zoey stammered, embarrassed and shocked.
But another feeling washed over her. Why stop?
Her hand went to the back of Riley’s head, smashing their lips together. Riley didn't protest at all, like it was completely normal to be making out with someone they just met in a sketchy alleyway.
And then they scissored OK bye