Moon Knight Imagine 3

84. steven grant and a meet-cute in the gift shop

He notices you right off the bat because you look a little lost.

Also, you're intimidatingly attractive and he feels like a dork, but he's hyping himself up to talk to you because this is his job, he's a gift shop-ist, he's supposed to sell you stuff.

Of course, you turn around and wave a cartouche necklace at him. "Hey, do you know what any of these things say?"

He thinks to point out that the names of the corresponding necklaces are kinda hidden behind the ones above them on the revolving stand, and you could find them by moving the necklaces out of the way, but he realizes that's a bit convoluted.

He steps around the counter to read the one you're holding. "That one says Melissa."

You look surprised, and it makes him way too overzealous.

"How do you know? You read hieroglyphics?"

Steven loses his train of thought while looking at you, and awkwardly tries to reel it in. "Oh, uh- yeah, a bit."

You smirk, and it makes his heart lurch up into his throat. You point at another one on the stand, "And what about that one?"

Steven squints at it. "Lauren."

"I don't even know if you're making this up or not."

Steven smiles a little bit as he leans forward and moves aside the charms hanging above the peg. The name Lauren glares out from between the cartouche charms in black and white.

You laugh, and the sound makes Steven feel warmer than it probably should. "Well now I just feel silly."

Steven rocks back on his heels. "Nah, I think I'm just a book nerd. Been telling the management they ought to fix this rack, nobody can ever find their name."

You hum, and there's a few seconds where you analyze the contents of the rack like the weight of the world hinges on it. Then, you reach forward and push a couple of the cartouches aside before picking up one off the peg that's labelled Steven. "I think I'll take this one."

[cue kill bill sirens in Steven's head]

"I don't suppose your name's Steven, too?" he asks as he takes his place behind the cash register. "I mean, you don't look like a Steven. I would know."

He taps his name tag with a smile and inwardly cringes at himself.

You look decently amused, regardless. "No, I just collect things that have the name Steven on them. It's kind of a running gag. I have a mug that says 'Steven' on it from Epcot."

Steven laughs as he wraps up the necklace for you. You've got to be kidding. "Really?"

"Yeah. You should come have tea some time, you'd be the first actual Steven to use it."

He can feel himself choke as he looks at you, dumbly searching for a response to that. "I- uh- what? Are you asking me out?"

"If you want."

Steven clutches your packaged necklace in his hands, and then thrusts it awkwardly at you. "Yeah! Uh, yes. I mean, I'd love to. Sometime. Whenever you want?"

You grab a pen from the cup beside the register before jotting your number down on the little paper package with the necklace in it. You reach forward and tuck it into Steven's shirt pocket.

"Go ahead and text me whenever you want to give me my necklace back, yeah?"