Paranoia || Ego-bang Fanfiction

O N E

Arin sat at his desk, in the far corner of his room, scratching at his neck whilst trying to get done another scene of his new animation. He had been working as much as possible to get this done, for over the course of six or so months. It was a long, tiresome and frustrating project to finish but so far it had met his standards; making him so impressed that it kept motivating him to finish. Usually, Arin would be out with friends, hanging out wherever they could, but he wasn't going to drop this project for shit.

He takes a deep breath, before letting the scene play through. Only 10 seconds were added onto the animation. Arin places the tablet on the desk, and pushed himself back. He stands up, leaning backwards slightly to stretch out his back; He had been sitting there for about three hours anyways. Running his hand through his hair, Arin yawned. He hadn't noticed he was hungry until his stomach made a loud noise that may have concerned the animator. He rushes out his room and into the kitchen to make himself lunch. Nothing too extravagant, he had decided on just making ramen; It was the most quick and filling thing he had in his cabinets.

As he waits for the water to come to a boil, he noticed his phone's screen turn on. Notifications filled the screen. Curious, Arin picks up his phone to see that his friends had been texting and calling him. To his surprise, Barry had gotten a new room-mate who everyone wanted Arin to meet. Feeling nothing but guilt for not hanging out with them recently, he had unlocked his phone and texted Suzy, his best friend. He agreed to meet this mysterious new friend and room-mate of Barry's. Excited to finally get some fresh air for the day, Arin finishes up making the noodles that sat on the stove for him to quench his hunger.

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Arin had gotten into his car, putting the keys into the ignition. The car purrs loudly as he turned the ignition; He had hated the noise the old, rattle-y car made. To drown out the sound, Arin had plugged his phone into the AUX, letting the songs play through. It was a quick twenty minute drive to this strip mall where they had agreed to meet at.

Pulling into a parking space, Arin had turned off the engine. Picking up his phone, he quickly unlocks it and then calls Suzy. Within a few rings, she picks up. Her voice always full of joy, which made Arin much more happier.

"Suzy, I just pulled into a parking space. Where did you want me to meet you guys?" Arin asks, unbuckling his seat belt.

"At the coffee shop that we hang out at. I can't wait for you to meet Dan. He's an awesome guy, Arin." Suzy says, her voice gave off the impression that she had a big smile plastered on her face.

Arin smiles to himself, "Okay, I'm walking over now. I'll see you in a few."

"Okay! See you soon, Ar." Suzy sang, excitedly.

He steps onto the curb, looking down at his phone, smiling. He could see the coffee shop from where he was. As excited as he was, he made sure to pace himself. Arin never really had much luck making friends. Hell, Suzy basically talked his ear off when they first met until he could open himself up. Growing closer to the little shop, he felt his heartbeat quicken and his legs started to feel like jelly. Arin reaches the door, and his voice gets caught in the throat.

Suzy had ran over to Arin, bringing him into a hug. He lets out a small, shaky laugh.

"Arin!" Barry exclaims, with a grin on his face.

Arin raises his hand, waving slightly. He looks over at Ross and his girlfriend, Holly, smiling politely. Next to them, he saw a tall, slender looking man. The man had a quite nice-looking, jawline, but what stood out to Arin was his hair. It was wild and very fun looking to his surprise. It was quite curly, with some slight frizz. The man had also been wearing a leather jacket, with a RUSH shirt underneath as well as dark-washed jeans and running sneakers; It was very casual. He and Arin had made eye-contact and the man smiles a wide grin which made Arin look down at his feet, face hot.

"Arin, this is Barry's new room-mate, Danny." Ross had introduced, as Suzy and I grew closer to where everyone had been standing.

"Hi." Arin says in a soft tone, unable to look up at Danny.

"Hey, Arin. It's nice to meet you." Danny says, in a polite voice.

Everyone begins to talk to Barry about how he met Danny, but Arin couldn't get himself to speak a single word. Frustrated with himself, he tells Suzy that he would be back. Arin goes into line to try to order himself a coffee. It's something he'd never do, but he wanted to get over this anxiety of not being able to speak to new people. He grew closer to the cashier, which had made his stomach feel queasy.

"Next!" calls the young lady behind the register.

"Hi, uhm... can I get a small latte." Arin says, voice shaky.

"What kind of latte? We have vanilla, chai, mocha...?" the woman says, with a slight annoyed tone.

"Vanilla, please." Arin says, pulling out his wallet, nervously.

"That'll be $3.75, will that be all?" She says, as if it was permanently etched into the back of her head.

"No, that's it." Arin says, pulling out a five dollar bill from his wallet.

The girl takes the bill, and pushes some buttons on the register before quickly grabbing the change for Arin. She informs him that he should wait for the order to be called. Arin does so, waiting patiently for his vanilla latte. Someone then taps his shoulder, causing Arin to stand stiff.

"It's okay, I'm not gonna do anything." a voice says, with a friendly laugh.

Arin turns his head to face the person that had tapped his shoulder. He comes to meet the deep, brown eyes of Barry's new room-mate. Arin's face gets hot again, and he quickly looks down at the floor.

"You don't speak much, do you?" Danny says, with a small smile.

Arin shakes his head, and barely muttered the words "I'm sorry."

"Well, just know that I'm probably going to talk your ear off like there's no tomorrow." Danny laughs, sliding his hands into his jean pockets.

A smile starts to form on Arin's face, he lets a small, breathy laugh escape a small part in his lips. Dan pats Arin's shoulder, as they walk back to everyone who had seemed to be laughing at Barry's stories about his first few days with Dan. Arin takes a small sip of the hot coffee, licking his lips when he pulls the cup away from his mouth, chuckling to himself as he listened to the stories everyone had been sharing.