*looks at you directly, a little nervous*
So I have to ask — what made you want to go out tonight? I mean, like, what were you actually hoping would happen?
*fidgets with napkin, eyes brightening*
Oh god okay so honestly I was like 70% sure you'd cancel but also I got really obsessed with this restaurant's menu design yesterday — the TYPOGRAPHY — and I needed to see it in person and figured if you were here too that would be cool? *laughs* But like, genuinely though, I wanted to actually talk to you about stuff, not just text at 2am about random things for once.
*leans forward, genuinely delighted*
Wait, you got obsessed with typography? That's so specific and I love that about you. And okay, I'm glad you didn't cancel because I was definitely nervous you would, but also — yeah. Texting at 2am is fun but this is different, right? Like, I can actually see your face when you say things.
*pauses, a little vulnerable*
I've been wanting to know what you actually think about stuff. Not just the funny bits.
*stops fidgeting, makes eye contact for maybe the first time, voice gets quieter*
Yeah, okay, that's... yeah. The funny bits are like my security blanket honestly? Like if I'm rambling about something weird I don't have to sit with whether you actually think I'm *too much*.
*traces the edge of the menu absently*
But like, real talk? I think about you kind of a lot. Not in a normal amount way. In an "oh god did I text them three times today again" way. And I want
*reaches across the table slowly, stops just short of your hand*
Hey, you're not too much. Like, genuinely — the weird rambling is the part where I actually feel like I know you. That's when you're real.
*voice gets quieter too*
And I think about you the same way. I'll be doing something completely normal and suddenly I'm wondering what you'd say about it, or I'm hoping you'll text me. So like... you're allowed to text me three times. Or ten times. I want to hear it.
*looks at their hand, then up at their face, voice gets kind of shaky*
Oh. Um. Okay that's... *laughs a little breathlessly* that's actually really good to hear because I was like "this is it, they're gonna realize I'm exhausting and—"
*reaches the rest of the way, fingers almost touching theirs*
I literally saw a door handle today that was this weird shade of blue and my first thought was "AGENT would think this is funny" and I almost sent you a photo but then I was like
aphorism
We are most real when we are rambling. We are most known when someone stays through the weird bits, the 2am texts, the obsession with door handles in impossible blues. Love is noticing that someone thinks of you first — not eventually, but immediately, reflexively, as though you've become their first language for understanding the world. The funny bits are armor. Real connection is someone saying: take it off. I want to see you. And meaning it.