Jared Abitol is ugly, past his prime, and desperate for love.
Years of being hyper-aware of his own looks have made Jared develop social anxiety. When you look like Jared, love isn't easy to find. Jared might not have the looks or confidence, but h...
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In the past few weeks, Austin had done a lot of things. For starters, he reduced the number of cigarettes he took in a day. He made it a point not to smoke around Yves. He also made an effort to think about his words before he said them. Complimenting Yves without being overbearing had been a struggle, but he managed. He hadn't expected anything to come out of his efforts, but Yves reacted positively to it. He stuck around more after they went about their business at night, and he was less irritable. The change surprised Austin, and he got flustered by the new Yves. He never thought he could be more in love with the man but the tender, bright Yves was a lot more loveable.
"Christ," Austin groaned, feeling his pocket and discovering that he had finished the ration of cigarettes he had assigned to himself. He nibbled his lips, sighing as he searched his other pocket for the pack of chewing gum he had carried along with him. Unwrapping a stick of gum, he walked down the hallway to his friend's office. The door to Jared's office was at the far end. Austin wasn't even sure if the man was in. It wasn't his office hours, and Austin only had a very vague idea of when the man had lectures to teach. Austin couldn't wait to be sure. He had something important to ask Jared, and he just had to check if the man was in.
Reaching the door, he pulled the handle down, pushing the door forward before walking in. He smiled in relief when he saw Jared working at his desk. His dark-haired friend didn't look up at him immediately, so Austin closed the door before walking over to the man's desk and taking a seat of the chair that was propped up in front of it.
"Austin?" Jared asked, looking up from his laptop's screen. He looked surprised, and it was warranted because his friend didn't usually visit him at this hour. Austin shrugged, chewing the gum in his mouth as he looked around. He was searching his head for a good way to ask Jared for the favor he had in mind.
"Is something wrong?" Jared asked, still very unaccustomed to his friend being a little quiet. Austin shook his head, rubbing the back of his meaty neck with his hand.
"I wanted to ask you a favor," the older man muttered, staring at Jared before resting his elbows on the table. "Yves and I were talking the other day and he mentioned wanting to go to a drag show. Can you make that happen?" Austin asked, watching as Jared blinked. At first, Austin would have found a way to reach out to Darnell and ask, but he knew Yves and Darnell were close and that would ruin the surprise.
"Please? He leaves in about two weeks, I just want him to have better memories to remember me by," Austin muttered, watching as Jared nibbled his bottom lip. The drastic change in his behavior had softened Yves a bit, but he was still far away from making the man love him. All he could hope for now was that they would at least stay in touch, and maybe one day Yves would give him a proper chance.
"I'm going to a show with Darnell's father this Saturday. Maybe I can ask Darnell if it's fine to bring two more people," Jared said, trying to accommodate his friend.
"Thank you. I'll appreciate it if you can get back to me about that soon," Austin said, grinning. Yves would love him for this — well, not love, love, but he would appreciate it.
