desire [ art donaldson x patrick AU ]

V.

V.

[party]

.・。.・゜✭・.🔪

╰┈➤ ❝ [𝐍𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐚, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡.] ❞

𝑂𝐶𝑇𝑂𝐵𝐸𝑅

<art>

𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 a noticeable divide between Art and Patrick. There was a wedge, there was tension that grew overtime. It was inevitable. They'd slowly grown apart, and it wasn't as discernible at the start of the year as it was now. Art was spending a lot of time outside of the apartment, and he knew that Patrick was getting far too curious for what exactly he was doing. Art went to work, then returned home, and straight to the gym. Art was missing out on weekends with Patrick, preferring to ditch a night of drinking and partying.

When they first moved into the apartment together, Art and Patrick knew they were on the last crutches of their longstanding friendship. Art was ready to move on from the bachelor life, and hadn't been as immature as he was perhaps five years ago. Art wanted more for his life, and he felt the yearn for a transition, for a different path that wasn't so predictable of him for a young guy his age. But he was closer to his thirties now; Art was twenty-six, turning twenty-seven soon. So what the fuck was he doing with his life, wasting his weekends on making dumb decisions and ruining his liver, which was a little unbecoming when he was close to thirty now. And not to mention, Art was done with hitting and quitting girls he knew, girls he barely knew, and girls that he couldn't get over—his ex-girlfriend, in other words.

With Mal now in the picture, his neighbor that he had shared a kiss with over a month ago now, Art felt like the tides were turning. It felt like there was a shift happening. And he hadn't known, the instinct in his gut, telling him that him and Mal were fated to be together, was only his gut telling him otherwise. For if they were meant to be fated for a little bit, it was going to end in tragedy.

So when it was Halloween, the night that Art and Patrick set up a party in their apartment, their mutual silence felt a tad hostile. Mal seemed like an unspoken secret, a topic untouched for the past two weeks or so.

Art took note that Patrick hadn't mentioned Mal to him at all. He hadn't made any crude remarks, which was rather new for his best friend. Patrick made comments about Mal's beauty and body any chance he got.

It sort of made Art nervous.

The initial nerves, then turned to fury, when Patrick mentioned Mal seemingly out of nowhere. Art stiffened and bristled. A prickly anger and jealousy overtook what little patience he had left in setting up the apartment for the party.

"I invited Mal Maria over."

"What?" asked Art, in disbelief. He sounded a little defensive, even.

He felt cheated, like he had been beat to the punch of asking Mal to the party. Art was working up the nerve to talk to her, to invite her over despite not speaking to each other for a solid month. After their kiss, Mal had stopped going to the gym completely, and whenever Art passed him by either in the hallway or in the lobby, she acted as if she didn't know him at all. It didn't seem like she was doing it with malicious intent; she looked guilty, ashamed, but all Art wanted to do was kiss her again. He craved like he hadn't craved another woman before.