the biggest 'ok hear me out' yet (what if Shiro ran a daycare?)

When Cute Meets Cute

Oh, no. That was Adam, wasn't it? Oh, god. Keith had sent in that note. Oh, lord. Adam had definitely seen it. Oh, Christ. There's no way he wouldn't have.

Keith glanced over. He still looked somewhat upset, but he had perked up a bit after hearing the doorbell. "Is that..?" He asked, implying that it was the cakes. I shot him a look saying, 'Stay over there.'

I took a deep breath and walked toward the door. It was now or never. I grabbed the doorknob. It was cold. Too cold. I slowly twisted it. I was scared. Why was I so scared?

I finally opened the door, and my heart dropped. Keith was dead wrong. Adam wasn't "extremely cute." He was smoking. His hair was tousled perfectly, and I couldn't help but notice how attractive he looked in his uniform. But that wasn't all. He seemed more confident today than usual, the look in his eyes saying, 'I know I'm awesome. You should know it too.'

I caught myself staring, so I cleared my throat. "Uh... thanks," I said. "Yep," He smiled, "Special delivery, just for you." So he had seen the note. I tried to respond, but my voice suddenly evaded me. I nodded instead.

"Here, I didn't want to carry all eight boxes, so I put them in this wagon." He explained. I nodded again and took all of the cake boxes out of the wagon. I opted to place them on the floor.

"So, uh... how much is it?" I asked, getting out my wallet. I opened it. Huh, that was weird. There was almost $400 missing. My first thought went to Keith, but I couldn't ask now.

Adam told me the price, and my eyebrows raised. "Well, that's what happens when you order eight cakes." He joked. I laughed nervously and handed him the money. He was about to leave when I called out his name. He turned back around.

"Uh... about the note." I began, "That was Keith. He, uh-- he thought it would be funny. Sorry for all the trouble." I told him. Adam smiled, "I figured something like that had happened. But, hey, I'll never mind delivering to someone as cute as you."

My heart skipped a beat or two... or ten. Did Adam just call me cute?? I could feel my face heating up. Adam just called me cute. Me! I kept hearing the words replay in my mind, a constant reminder of what had just happened. I mean, me!

I zoned back in. How long had I been out? "Thanks for the compliment-- for the food, not the... thanks for both." I finally figured out what I wanted to say and smiled. Smooth.

Adam laughed, "Anytime." I didn't know if he was talking about the food, the compliment, or both. Surely he was talking about the food. That compliment was a one-time thing, right?

Adam walked back toward the door but stopped right before he left. "Oh, and Keith? You have great taste." He said before walking out the door. I turned to see Keith standing behind me. He shut the door for me as I was still frozen from earlier.

"Hey, everyone! Cake's here!" Keith shouted, picking up half of the boxes and taking them toward the kitchen. All the kids ran past me, but I was still frozen. On his way back, Keith nudged me gently.

"Shiro, wake up. The whole 'being frozen' thing was cute at first, but now it's just sad." He picked up the other four boxes and placed one in my hands. I blinked a couple of times. I still couldn't get over what had happened. Surely I was dreaming.

I put the box under my arm and pinched myself. Ow! I was definitely awake. Which meant that Adam, in this universe, had actually called me cute. Maybe I was high. Maybe he had actually said, 'I'll never mind delivering to someone,' and ended it there. But there was no denying the fact that he had said it. I could try to convince myself all I wanted, but he had, in fact, called me cute.

"Shiro!" Keith called from the kitchen, "I'm serious! Snap out of it! It's getting depressing."

My mind broke free of the fog that had been placed over it. Had I been standing there for a while? Surely I had if Keith was yelling at me to snap out of it. I could hear him talking to everyone else, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.

I entered the kitchen and set the cake box on the counter. All of the kids were staring at me. "What?" I asked. No one answered, so I asked again to no avail. Finally, I said, "If someone doesn't explain what's going on, I'm going to take away all of the cakes."

"You LIKE someone!" Allura shouted. I did my best to control my surprised reaction, but I didn't do well enough because all the kids started laughing. I looked at Keith. He was already seated, leaning back in his chair with his legs propped up on the table. He smiled at me, and I knew he had told everyone.

The weirdest part to me was the fact that it wasn't even true. Sure, Adam was attractive, but I'm allowed to find people attractive and not want to date them. That was normal!

But he called you cute. A little voice in my brain seemed to say.

That was actually a fair point, except for the fact that people are also allowed to find me attractive and not want to date me. It was a mutual feeling, then. A mutual feeling of thinking the other was attractive but not wanting to actually date them.

So Adam found me attractive?

I noticed the kids had gone quiet. I looked at them all. They were staring at me again. "Are you okay?" Coran suddenly spoke. "Yeah... you seemed to zone out," Hunk said. "Oh, me? Yeah, I'm good. I was just thinking about... something." I smiled.

"You were thinking about him, weren't you??" Asked Pidge. All of the kids mumbled to each other in agreement. "No, I said something. I was thinking about something." I said. "Then what were you thinking about?" Lotor asked. I went quiet. The kids all exchanged glances. "So you were thinking about him!" Lance exclaimed. I sighed. There was no getting out of this one.

"Okay, sue me." I held my hands up in surrender. The kids started excitedly chattering with one another, but I held up my pointer finger to quiet them. "But just because I was thinking about him doesn't mean anything. He was just at the door. Of course, he'll be on my mind. Whatever Keith told you about me 'liking him' is false."

They stared at me blankly before Hunk spoke. "But Keith didn't tell us anything?" I stopped. What? I looked back at Keith. He looked as if he could burst into laughter at any moment. I realized that Keith had played me again, tricking me into thinking he had told everyone about Adam. In reality, he hadn't mentioned Adam to anyone but me.

I turned my attention back toward the kids. They were still looking up at me, expectantly, waiting for an explanation. The problem is, I didn't have one.

The silence seemed to stretch on forever until Allura responded, "So you do like him." The kids looked over at her and then back at me. I sighed. "No, kids. No. I don't." I sounded tired, even to myself. The coffee seemed to be wearing down, sending me toward a terrible crash added to the sleepless night. "I'll be in the living room if you guys need me," I said, placing the box of cake Keith had gotten me in the fridge. "Don't eat too much cake, okay guys?" The kids nodded and ran to the dining room.

I made my way to the couch and laid down. I only needed a couple of minutes, and then I would be fine. Just a couple of minutes lying down. I could feel my eyes start to close, and I didn't fight it. I shut my eyes. I was just getting a few minutes of rest. That's all. Just a...

few...

minutes...