5 out of 5

Liam

He called it Airport Roulette. Most customers were easy trips to nearby hotels and most of the time, they didn't even speak to Liam. That part stung a little when he first started his job as an Uber driver. Usually, he made friends wherever he went, so the coldness of strangers in his own car threw him off the first few weeks, but he got used to it. At the same time, some were overly friendly and that was actually worse. And some were lonely. Those customers always left Liam's car with a smile and a big tip because he knew how to cheer them up. Sometimes he got cursed to bits for traffic he hadn't caused. The job had its ups and downs, but overall, it was a fine side gig.

Liam lived exactly seven minutes away from the airport, which made it easy to pick up extra cash when he had the time. Freelance work was stressful, but making his own schedule gave Liam the freedom he'd craved his whole life. Still, the cost of living was rising, so even on days he swore he would "take off" to recharge, he usually grabbed an Uber request here and there to pad out his bank account.

All the friends he'd made since moving to the city five years ago were also musicians, of one type or another, so they all drove Uber for extra cash, too. They had a weekly wager to see who could make the most money in tips, and the winner got free drinks for their Sunday meetups. It was an excellent system to keep them motivated during what felt like a never ending grind to make ends meet. La Vie Bohème, right?

Liam had a secret weapon that he didn't bring out too often. It was a well maintained, pristine black 1980 Mercedes SL that he'd inherited from his grandpa, along with the small nest egg (which vanished quickly) that set him free to pursue song writing in the first place. He babied that car, but it was meant to be driven, so some days, he used it for work. Only during the daytime, though. Didn't need club kids getting sick in the backseat at 3am. That happened far too often in his other car.

This week, he was in second place in the race and determined to win. It was his "day off" that he'd scheduled for himself, but he struggled to sit around his shit apartment and do nothing all day, so he decided to have a little lucrative fun. Earning tips could be entertaining, if he looked the part.

Thanks to an awards show he was invited to last year, Liam had a well-tailored suit that fit him like a glove, and he knew he looked hot in it. That was where the last of his nest egg had gone, so he chose to see the suit as a long-term investment to justify the price. When the tips competition (or money) got tight, he'd throw it on and tell his clients he had just left a wedding, then flirt his tip rate to the max. It worked almost every time. Second place would not do, and it was his last day to take the lead. He hadn't won in a month; it was his turn!

Once he pulled up to the airport pickup, a ride request caught his eye. What kind of person wants to go from the airport to a one star sushi place in the middle of the city? Liam was intrigued, so he snatched the job up before someone else could. Not that normal drivers would want to go all the way to the city to drop someone off in the rough part of town.

Turns out, the kind of person would like to do that was... well, incredibly attractive.

The man walking toward Liam's car wore bulky headphones, a simple black t-shirt with jeans, and a plain red backpack, but there was nothing ordinary about him. Aside from his unfairly gorgeous eyes that held the glow of a lifetime full of untold stories, he had this aura about him. Confident, unbothered, yet somehow still present and grounded. It was like he had no fucks to give but wasn't a jerk about it. Beautiful and rare combination.

Oh, and he was absolutely dripping in the most intricate, detailed tattoos. Liam had a respectable collection of his own, but nowhere near that many. Some lucky person out there probably got to spend hours looking at them every night. Liam hoped that person knew how lucky they were to have such a stunning collection of art to drift off to dreamland on. Liam could just imagine smooshing his cheek against the guy's chest and... fuck, Liam really needed to get back in the dating pool. Stat.