Cigarettes and Friendly Faces//Ryan Magee x Reader

Company for the Lonely

     As you walked out of your apartment you were faced with the almost complete setting sun. With just a sliver of light left out, the golden glow covered the streets. You followed the small cracked sidewalk around to the side alleyway of your building. For an alleyway, this one wasn't nearly as creepy as others. You could almost call it peaceful. It was mostly clean with the occasional pieces of trash littered around and the few and far between, hypodermic needles.

So you slid down the side of the wall and sat there on the ground for a second, admiring how the light bounced off the tall buildings surrounding your apartment, and how even though there were still a good amount of people walking down the road, it was peacefully quiet. The low chatter of people walking by added to the aesthetic of the moment.

As you sat on the ground you pulled a simple black lighter with the words "don't linger" engraved on it, from your bag. You could tell that it was almost empty, but the thing still had a few good lights left. So with that in mind you grabbed a cigarette from the box and neatly placed it on the ground next to you. You placed it in-between your lips and struck the lighter, proceedings to hold it to the cigarette.

Taking a long drag off of it you let out a sigh. You ran your empty hand through your hair a few times before taking another drag. You repeated this cycle and before long, it was half way gone.

     You paused, and put your head against the warm brick behind you. Closing your eyes you thought about almost nothing. Your mind was at peace for a short while and before you could take another second to relax, your peace was interrupted by a low male voice.

"Hey, you got a light?"

You opened your eyes and looked up at a pretty tall man. He stood above you with cigarette in hand, looking at you questioningly. The man had medium length hair covered by a dark grey beanie. His eyes were a deep brown and his skin was a pale tan. He was a little heavier set but this just added to his soft-edgy-boy-look™.

He was cute.

     Though the moment you saw him, you didn't register this. What you thought to yourself was along the lines of 'hey, that's a friendly face.'

Not wasting anymore time observing him, you grabbed your lighter from your pocket and handed it to him, not saying anything. You weren't really in the mood for talking.

"Thanks."

You simply nodded in response.

He came around next to you and leaned against the wall. Like you he put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it.

     Before he gave it back though, he looked over it. Examining it like it was some interesting or foreign to him. Although, you couldn't see the interest, it was just a lighter. Yeah it was special to you but you didn't see how it would interest him.

   "Hey, this is pretty nice. I mean, like...as far a lighters go." He said with a small smile evident on his face.

     After he was done examining it he sat down next to you and handed it back.

     Normally if some random stranger were to sit down next to you uninvited, you would have said something or gotten up and left all together. Though for some reason you didn't want to. You just wanted to sit next to him for a bit in a comfortable silence. He was company for the lonely.

So there you two sat, two peas in a pod. Though you liked the silence, you just randomly thought about something. So you broke the silence.

"If you had a cigarette on you, then why didn't you have a lighter?"

He paused for a second and blew away the smoke from his lasts hit. "My roommate, Matt. He grabbed it from my coat pocket without telling me and didn't return it. He's out right now and I didn't bother asking where it was so I just kinda..." he paused "came out here anyway. It was just luck that you happened to be here and that you had a lighter you were willing to let me borrow." He turned toward you a bit, trying to engage more. "By the way, I'm Ryan." He stuck out his hand a bit for you to shake. A little corny for the situation but you obliged and took his hand in yours.

His hand was a good bit bigger than yours which made for a very comforting hand shake.

"Well hello Ryan, I'm y/n."

After breaking the handshake you placed your hand in your lap, raising your other hand to finish off your cigarette. Taking one last puff you smudged the remains in the ground, effectively putting it out.

You pat your hand on your legs for a second before speaking, "So..um," you ran a hand though you hair, a nervous habit of yours, before continuing, "I'm all done here sooooo I guess I'll see you around?" You started getting off the ground. "I'm guessing since we just happened to be in the same ally we probably live in the same apartment complex." You suggested, gesturing to the building you were just sitting against.

"Yeah, I guess I do live here." He glanced at the wall and let out an awkward laugh. Wow that sure is a laugh.

"You know, you don't have to leave yet. We can just kinda..talk?" He said, more phrasing it as a question than a statement. "Plus, I like having company, it may deter the 'druggies' and the 'Mings'."

You, yourself, not wanting to leave quite yet took him up and sat back down next to him. "Ok don't get me wrong, I know what a druggie is but, what the actual shit is a 'Ming'?"you laughed, making air quotes around the word Ming.

"Oh, you haven't met her yet? Well I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. You'll find out." His smile was so stupid but some how, it got you to smile along.

You sat back down next to him, this time purposely getting a bit closer to him. "So now that I've said a little, why don't you tell me about you? Maybe tell me why you're out here. If there's a reason, or like, if this is just your normal thing. I come out here a lot so I'm guessing it's not the latter cause I feel like I would've seen you before today."

You smiled, he was right. You weren't really an avid smoker, only coming out to relieve stress on the off occasion.

So after taking a moment to decide what you wanted to tell him, you proceeded to tell the story of your shitty day.

And little did he know, that he was the sole reason that today wasn't the absolute worst.

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Alright so that's two chapters done. I'm looking to put out one a week but that might change depending on circumstances. Hope you're enjoying it so far.