Alphabet AU Challenge

J is for Jewelry Store: It Complements Your Eyes (Kellic)

hi okay so this is sort of ridiculous (like a lot of my other one-shots in this series tbh) but idgaf once again it's based off of an au post and this one is the "i'm the employee and this is the first time ever i've met you but you buy me a necklace saying the gem complements my eyes" au so have fun i love dying and being dead

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Working in a jewelry store isn't that bad, but sometimes, Kellin just gets sick of all the gender roles and heteronormativity.

He doesn't understand why there is a need to specify that certain pieces of jewelry are "men's jewelry," and he certainly doesn't understand why the pictures in advertisements always show a man proposing to a woman, as if straight relationships are the only relationships out there (and also as if women can't propose to men, as his coworker, Tay, once pointed out). He's constantly surprised by the number of people who will point out certain pieces of jewelry and ask whether it's intended for a man or a woman, and if he says that he doesn't know (or doesn't care), they get snippy with him and ask to speak to the manager. Every single time. Straight people terrify him.

This is what he's busy thinking about when a Really Hot Dude walks in (Kellin feels as though the phrase would be capitalized to show just how amazingly hot this dude is). Kellin stops what he's doing almost immediately to gape in openly queer fashion at this guy, which is unfortunate, because at that moment, the guy glances over and stares right at him.

Kellin bites his lip, his face heating up. Part of him wants to look away and act like he wasn't just drooling over a potential customer, but he knows it's too late for that, so he just kind of watches as the guy briefly looks him up and down, a faint smile on his pretty lips as he nods to himself. Then, without a word, the guy turns around and focuses his attention on the jewelry displays.

Tay pops up on the other side of the counter—she's walking around and trying to help out customers, while Kellin works the register—and raises an eyebrow. "Did that guy just, like, eye-fuck you?"

"I'm not quite sure," Kellin says slowly. "I'll, uh, get back to you on that one."

Tay shrugs. "I'll go see what he's up to," she says, heading over to him and cheerfully welcoming to the store while asking if there's anything in particular that she could help him find.

The guy shakes his head, his gaze flitting around the store. "I think I'm just looking."

He makes his way around the store before heading up to the display right at the counter that Kellin's working at. "Um," Kellin says, trying to sound professional, "so, have you found anything that you like?"

The guy looks up, that stupid, tiny smile back on his lips. "Oh, yeah. There are a few things here that have caught my attention."

Somehow, Kellin doesn't think he's talking about the jewelry.

"Well, that's good," he replies, his mouth forming a smile of his own without his permission. "Have you decided on something, or are you just window-shopping?"

The guy walks down the counter and points to a necklace near the end of the display, with a nice blue-green gemstone hanging from the center. "This one, please."

Kellin nods and promptly pulls one out, heading back over to the register with the guy following him on the other side of the counter. "Is that all?"

"Yeah, that'll be everything," the guy says, still staring intently at Kellin, who totally doesn't love it and who totally doesn't want to just ask this guy out right here and now. "Oh—the name's Vic, by the way."

"Vic," Kellin repeats. "I'm Kellin." Then he realizes that Vic probably already knew this, considering that he has a name tag, and if he wasn't blushing before, he definitely is now.