Red Notice (2021 Thurber) Oneshots

Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Nolan Booth has developed feelings for the Bishops. Scared because he's never been loved before, he runs in fear. Also, cause he doesn't do, you know, feelings.

He doesn't realize that the Bishops aren't letting him away that easy.

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Making sense of things in weird ways to substitute for feelings was Nolan Booth's forte.

Using humor as a shield, working alone. They were both excuses to not deal with feelings.

Nolan wasn't great with that, feeling, he'd never had been. He had struggled ever since the whole watch thing. Besides, he wasn't a people person, and typically, he didn't let his guard down, not with anyone.

And then John Hartley and Sarah WhatshernameidontknowBlack? weaseled their way into his life. He was extremely confused about his feelings toward them.

He hated them, admired them, and had this strange feeling in his body that he couldn't quite place. It become more abundant when he started to notice himself doing stuff he'd never had before.

After several weeks of these signs and many Google searches/book checks, he concluded:

He liked the Bishops. Not like in the friend way, but as in the romantic, I want to suck your faces off as we make out the way.

When he finally placed it, he should've felt this great feeling of relief, but no, he had a massive feeling of dread instead. As if a looming doom was waiting overhead, ready to strike.

This made Nolan question himself, and in return, all that came along with that was fear.

He'd never been with someone romantically before. There had been one-night stands at bars if he was feeling lucky when he got a little too drunk, but he always left before the other person he'd slept with woke up.

But he was more terrified of this because it was real, and he didn't know how the Bishops would take it. They already had each other. Did they need another person? Did they want him?

Sure, they'd had grown into their partnership, kinda becoming friends, but Nolan had an active fear of rejection.

So it was simple, right? He won't tell them, ignores the feelings, and simply moves on.

Yeah, that's what he thought. Because he'd never allowed himself to have any real feeling for anyone, that meant he'd never had a crush in his life.

Which meant, of course, that he didn't know how to handle himself.

Over the next few weeks, he tried to ignore it. He did, but it was hard because of one small fact.

They live together in a relatively small apartment. Yes, it was spacious, but not enough to not run into each other.

He was already an idiot, now he was worse.

You'd think that given his background, a rich, handsome, devilish playboy like him would never have the crushies.

Think again.

Nolan wasn't a rich boy anymore, he was a thief. Yeah, he made a lot of money, but that wasn't the point.

Being a thief and working with two other extremely attractive thieves meant feelings.

God, he couldn't even sit in the same room as them without almost breaking something, or making a clumsy move, that made him want to break something. His humor was even worse than usual, too.

Midway through the third week after discovering his feelings, he had an idea come to him. There were a couple of bars nearby; why not just go there?

That's what he did. He'd slip out of the apartment each night, dressed in dark clothes, and head to a bar. He'd order a drink, spot someone checking him out, wink, and then return to sipping his glass of whatever he'd gotten.