( ɪ. ʙᴜᴛ ɪ ᴄᴀɴ’ᴛ sᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴏᴀᴅ ɪғ ɪ’ᴍ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sɪɢɴs )
KIT DOESN’T KNOW WHEN—OR EVEN HOW—IT STARTED. But one day, as he’s walking to work, the twenty-year-old college student suddenly takes notice of the strange window floating above a woman’s head, a TWO neatly typed in bold, block letters across the screen (and listed directly below it are her points and abilities, starting with STR, strength, and ending with CHA, charisma: all-around average in everything, which isn’t entirely surprising.)
What is surprising is that he’s privy to her stats at all, the unusual set-up reminding him of a video game.
Too bad he’s never been all that good at playing games.
What to do, what to do.
Should he look away, pretend he never saw it, or—Crap, she’s looking this way. If she didn’t notice his staring before, she definitely has now. Worse, she doesn’t look too happy about it.
A bit of an understatement, given the sour expression adorning her thin, careworn face. “What’re you lookin’ at?” She snaps.
Suppressing a grimace, Kit merely shakes his head and picks up his pace, determined to ignore the glaringly obvious, floating windows following people around like a litter of curious puppies. No use trying to explain about his random but newfound game-like ability to see levels and stats. (Because that’s not weird at all.)
Unfortunately for him, the night doesn’t get any less weird.
“Five?” He mutters to himself, his brows coming down into an analytic frown. This is the first person he’s seen marked with a five. And judging from the way the businessman carries himself, with drooping shoulders and eyebags that look permanently etched onto his face, it’s unexpected. He absentmindedly finishes ringing the man’s purchases, not realizing that he hasn’t once looked away from the window. (A window no one else can see.) So when the recipient of his curiosity awkwardly clears his throat, Kit gives a start, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips. “Right. Sorry. That’ll be eighteen dollars even.”
And there goes Five, slinking away like a fox caught trying to sneak into the henhouse. Taking with him what could have potentially been the start of an exciting night…maybe.
He heaves a soft sigh, drumming his fingertips against his pants leg in boredom. It’s been a slow night for the most part, with a whopping, grand total of six customers. Each with their own level and title, CIVVI and RANDO being the most common—although Five had the most interesting title: Keeper of NUMBers. Could be an accountant. That kind of job is certainly boring enough to warrant a title like that.
With a snort, he reaches for his phone, deciding to pass the time playing one of his more favorable word finder games. It’s both mind-numbing and addictive, just the thing he needs to get through the rest of his shift with his sanity intact.
It works…a little too well.
(Until it doesn’t.)
Not even fifteen minutes later, the bell above the door rings, and he glances up from his phone, ready to greet the new customer—only for his hazel eyes to widen when he catches a glimpse of the man’s window. He squints at the ???, wondering if his ability is broken. Defective. Then he raises his eyes to the ADMIN displayed above the question marks…Yep, definitely broken. Has to be.
“Excuse me,” the man interrupts Kit’s inner monologue, a gentle smile touching the corners of his lips. Wow. Even his voice sounds attractive; clearly a perfect match for his looks—tall, dark, and ADMIN appears to be in his mid-twenties, with thick, curly dark brown hair and unusually pale blue eyes that seem to hold all the answers of the universe in his gaze. It’s a little unnerving, actually.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to peek at someone’s level without their permission? I think the proper term for it is…peeping tom?”
It takes Kit an embarrassingly long minute to realize the pretty man is talking to him—and an even longer minute for the words to sink in, bringing his thoughts to a screeching halt and sending a rush of heat to his neck.
“Uh—I—Sorry—What—”
A flicker of amusement crosses the other man’s features, the skin around his eyes softening as he casually invades Kit’s personal space, leaning over the counter until his face is practically buried in Kit’s neck; in fact, Mister Admin is standing so close that his nose very nearly brushes against his flushed skin. Kit’s heart flutters at his close proximity, and then it starts to pound when that attractive voice flickers through his mind like a stray thought—
“You should at least buy me dinner first.”
Okay, what.
“Y’know, on a date? I’m not terribly picky.”
No. Seriously. What.
Kit chews on his lower lip, vacillating between uneasiness and bemusement…and maybe a little interest. “W, Who are you?” He’s not ashamed to admit the pretty man makes him nervous. And honestly, with good reason.
“Dominic.” The man’s tone hangs somewhere between confident and eager. “I’m so very pleased to make your acquaintance, Kit. Now…how about that dinner?”
Wait a minute. Now he knows his name? Does that mean Kit is now maybe, possibly in possession of his very own window…and can this man only see it because of his mysterious title?
Oh, god. He’s been exposed.
“Dinner?” Dominic prompts, long, warm fingers touching his hand.
“Huh?” Kit blinks, unconsciously turning his hand over so the man can interlace their fingers, marveling at the uncanny yet soothing sensation of holding hands with a virtual stranger. “Oh, right. Sure, whatever.”
Dominic’s face lights up with a beaming smile, and he leans forward to press a gentle, chaste kiss to Kit’s temple.
Kit blinks again. Because, wow.
“It’s a date then.”
original prompt from writing-prompt-s.
