Dark Hearts

[sugakookie]

Matt is about to say goodnight but the call ends. He closes his open mouth and moves his phone away from his ear, looking at it. He finds himself blushing. A date. They were both jokingly calling it a date, but nevertheless, that's what it felt like. Matt goes to sleep that night with his heart pounding and a big smile on his face. It takes him an hour before he falls asleep.

 

[Dragongal]

Come morning, the old florist woman who owned the shop, Mathilde, got to a point where she asked Emmalia why she was so cheery. And, honestly, she had been oddly cheery all morning. Despite knowing that her date was a hitman, she was looking forward to seeing Matt. When she got a break around eleven, she took the time to change into an emerald green light sweater and black slim-cut jeans with her favorite whiskey-colored combat boots, then went to wait in the cafe. 

 

[sugakookie]

Mason had called Matt in the morning asking to get breakfast again before Mason went for practice, but Matt had to decline. He said he was getting coffee with the cute girl from yesterday. Needless to say, Mason teased and giggled before he let his brother go.


Matt gets dressed in an olive green t shirt, black bomber jacket, skinny black pants, and white sneakers. He drives his BMW to the cafe and walks inside it, looking around and hoping Emmalia didn't ditch or forget. When he sees her, he smiles and fixes his hair before walking over. He was tall. His shoulders are broad but not too much, and his overall structure was firm. "Hi, Curious." Matt says teasingly with a bright grin and a wink.

 

[Dragongal]

Em's heart skipped a beat when she saw Matt. He looked... good. Ahe grinned at his joke and gestured to the open chair. "I can't believe you remembered that. Hi, Matt."

 

[sugakookie]

"Don't underestimate me, I remember everything," Matt smirks and sits down. "You look nice for our date." He watches her face to see her reaction. He allowed himself to admit that he loved her voice last night, now he can finally see her talk more in person.

 

[Dragongal]

So he was trying to use that on her now? Good luck. She smiled and shrugged a bit. "Thank you. You look awfully nice too, if I may say." How far could dating him go,t hough? If he already had a girlfriend, no matter how much they hated each other?

 

[sugakookie]

"I'm kidding about the date thing, by the way," Matt says with a slight smile. "How was your morning?" He asks sweetly but has a peculiar glint in his eye reminiscent of mischief. 

 

[Dragongal]

Why was he looking at her like that? He had to have been planning some kind of joke.... "My morning has been pretty nice. What about yours?"

 

[sugakookie]

"Awful, I woke up with you on my mind and had to wait another 3 hours to see you," Matt says. The waitress comes by and Matt tells her what he wants with a charming smile and a kind thank you.


On the other side of town, Mason is sitting alone in a restaurant to order breakfast. He's slightly pouty because he has nobody to eat with, but is mostly just hungry. He gets seated and is given a menu. The hostess tells him his waiter will come soon, so Mason calmly waits and looks at the menu, though he already knows what he wants.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia chuckled. He was witty, that was for sure. "Only three hours you've been up? Ah, the college life must be a treat and then some. I've been up since seven and I couldn't get the sound of your voice out of my head." When the waitress came, Emmalia just ordered some tea.


Eli had been on shift for about an hour when Mason walked in. He glanced at his customer, then paused. He knew him from somewhere.... Ah, yes, the papers. The customer was the Olympic runner Mason Savage. After giving Mason a minute, Eli walked over with a glass of ice water. "Good afternoon, Mason. Just water?"

 

[sugakookie]

Matt grins at the words and as soon as the waitress leaves, he says, "I only wok up later than usual because I fell asleep later than usual. Had to get some... frustrations out of my system," Matt hums and nonchalantly turns the ring on his pointer finger with his thumb. He hoped she understands what he's trying to say.


Mason looks up, not really surprised at hearing his name but surprised that he was recognized so quickly. Another thing that surprised him was how attractive this waiter was- and Mason wasn't even gay. He found himself stuttering. "U-uh... ye-yeah.. I mean.. no, I, can I, can I get cheese i-in an omelette?" He meant cheese omelette, but it came out messed up. He silently cussed and blushed. What the fuck, Mace? Get your shit together.

 

[Dragongal]

Em chuckled again and raised an eyebrow. "You're an open man, aren't you? Well I hope I wasn't the cause of your... frustrations." She knew what he meant. But she wasn't going to be squeamish about it. 


Eli blushed slightly, realizing he had called Mason by his name. "I'm sorry, I read about you in the paper and all and I thought it was really cool that you're in the Olympics and such a good athlete and all and... yeah. But I'll put in that order for a cheese omelette right away. You only want water to drink, right?" Eli felt he ought to reiterate that question. 

 

[sugakookie]

"Your hope is lost, then," Matt says and smirks, then laughs. "Sorry. You're gorgeous, but you know that, right?" If he couldn't date her, he was going to take her to bed.


Mason is frozen stiff and nods a little, then immediately shakes his head. "Coffee.. black, please." He seemed lost and his body suddenly felt like all of it was blushing and hot. He imagined for a split second clearing the pretty wooden table underneath his arms and slamming the pretty red-haired boy on it. Mason blushes more and his eyes dart away from Eli's face. "I'm... used to people recognizing me." He adds quietly, managing not to stutter.

 

[Dragongal]

Thoigh she rolled her eyes, Em was smiling. "So I've been told before. Thank you, though." He could try all he wanted to bed her, she would make him work hard for it. 


Eli noticed Mason's blushed and just softly smiled. By his figuring, Mason was just embarrassed that he'd stuttered. "Alright then, I'll get that for ya right now." Eli walked off and dropped off the order to the chef, grabbed the pot of hot coffee, and brought it over to fill the empty cup on the table. "Anything else you'll need?"

 

[sugakookie]

"How come you don't have a boyfriend?" Matt asks. He frowns. "You don't have some kind of contagious disease, do you? Should I not touch you?"


Mason gulps and his throat suddenly feels dry. "What's your name?" He asks.

 

[Dragongal]

Not his best joke, to say the least. "I just haven't found anyone I liked enough recently and I don't mind being alone anyway. I don't have any diseases, though."


Was that supposed to mean that Mason needed his name, or was the runner just that awkward. Well, it was a cute kind of awkward, so Eli smiled again. "I'm Eli."

 

[sugakookie]

Matt looks very unecessarily relieved. "Oh, good. You had me worried. I was ready to bolt." Matt shifts his feet and notices how she says she hasn't found anyone she liked enough. He ignores it, thinking it shouldn't be an issue because he can't be with her anyway. Matt's coffee and Em's tea come then.


Mason smiles a little. "That's a nice name." He says quietly. His breakfast goes smoothly and less awkward than before, then Mason asks for the bill. Eli brings it and hands it to Mason while picking up his plate at the same time. "Thank you," Mason says and reaches out to take it as Eli looks back at him. As Mason's hand touches the little leather folder, his finger gently touches Eli's. That same moment, Mason sees something weird. He sees... himself? As if he's looking through Eli's eyes, or someone else. It only last for a moment. Mason jerks his hand away and the folder falls. His eyes are wide. What the hell just happened? He remembers rumors of people experiencing something like this, but he always thought they were crazy. "What the fuck?" Mason whispers in a rushed voice.

 

[Dragongal]

"Over a little thing like that? Brave young sir, aren't you?" She smiled slightly and quietly said what she had been pondering since she'd met him. "I don't know why I like talking with you so much. Your voice... I don't know."


Eli saw exactly what Mason had seen in reverse. He somehow could suddenly see himself from Mason's perspective. This was something he'd never heard of. From the expression on Mason's face, he had no clue what had happened either. Confused and a bit scared, Eli stuttered, "I-I don't know. You saw that too? When we touched?"

 

[sugakookie]

"Maybe you like talking to me because you like me, no?" Matt smirks. "I mean, my voice is sexy, so I don't blame you. I can keep talking, if you'd like." He was sure now that he wanted to get her in bed at the end of their little outing.


"Y-yeah... I saw... me." Mason looks freaked out and reaches out to touch Eli's forearm with his finger, but it doesn't happen again. "That's so weird..."

 

[Dragongal]

Em scoffed. "I like ya, sure. Sexy voices don't affect my liking people." Her tone made it clear that she meant like as in the proper term, and not love. 


Eli nodded quickly in agreement. "Yeah, uh... that... that is not something I've ever experienced... to say the least...."

 

[sugakookie]

"Hmm... what a shame," Matt says sips his coffee. "What are you doing after this?" He asks, watching her hand and then looking up at her face.


"I'm, um, I'm gonna Google it," Mason says. He's sure someone must have written something about this phenomenon if he's heard about it before. With a little bit of typing, a click, and a scroll on his iPhone, he finds it. Scientists explain this event as "soul greeting." Not all pairs of people have this happen to them. In a study, 20 people met and shook hands with 20 others and only one pair saw this view-switch happen. People who claimed that this happened to them were interviewed, and many say that their significant other is who they saw it with. Their significant other who they have been married to for so many years, have children with, and so on. This study has gone on for generations, with only one logical conclusion. Soulmates. Mason reads out loud. The article goes on, but he stops reading. Looking up at Eli, he blushes. "I don't believe this shit for a second. I'm not gay." Lying- he was lying. Not about being gay, but about not believing. He was confused, he didn't know what to believe.

 

[Dragongal]

It was clear what he was trying to do, and Emmalia had no intention to go along with it - but she would act like she didn't know. "I have to be back at work in two hours. Yourself?"


Soulmates? Eli barely knew Mason. Sure, he was cute and seemed really nice and attractive, but... soulmates? Maybe Mason was right, it was shit. Especially if Mason was so adamant that he was straight. All Eli could think of to say was, "Well, I, uh... I don't quite know. But if you're straight, then it must be BS, yeah?"

 

[sugakookie]

Matt doesn't waver. "Nothing, I have nothing else planned for today. Do you want to go do something else before you get back to work?" Matt asks smoothly. Well, he thinks he's clever.


"Of course, it doesn't even make sense." Mason laughs, feeling a little bit better. "It was just some weird hallucination. We're fine," Mason says. That's the only explanation he could really think of.

 

[Dragongal]

He was blunt and somewhat overconfident, to say the least. "Do something? Like walk through the park or see a short movie? Sure thing!" 


Eli quickly nodded again. "Yeah, we're fine - just fine. Um, anyway, here's you bill, uh.... Yeah...." Suddenly everything seemed just a bit more awkward about Eli.

 

[sugakookie]

Matt is about to agree, but a part of him says no. "Ah, what I meant was... do you want to go back to my apartment?" He asks and tilts his head rather cutely.


Mason picks up the bill that fell and pays in cash, leaving a generous tip for Eli and handing the folder back. "Um... you're not gay either, right?" Mason asks kind of awkwardly. If he says no, Mason might not have this guilty feeling stuck on him anymore. If yes, then he will feel very, very bad.