Tags: Sylus x NonMC!Reader, University AU, strangers to lovers with angst in the middle, look its a archetype plot but I dont care I like typical archetypes. MC may be involved later.
An: me a Snowfish + occasional star main writing nothing but Sylus and Caleb lmaooo, but this felt like a good idea fo Sylus. Itll be multiple parts, not sure how many yet though. This is also a bit more prologue-y? This fic is born 80% out of my vitriol for men's profiles on dating apps. I wonder if it's obvious.
You wont claim to be proud of being on a dating app.
Of course, everyone says "no judgement" on the outside, but the underlying embarrassment is always there among the attempts to casually wave it off. The feeling of subtly voicing your desperation. However three in college you couldnt help it. After all, you could only bear to be a secondary character to your friend group's romances for so long, chaotic and toxic as they sometimes may be. You only had one more year left before you graduate. In any case, you always thought you had a good, sensible head on your shoulders, atleast enough to filter out the obvious red flags your peers seemed to purposefully overlook despite your constant warnings. Did love make them blind or were they just like that? Part of you dreaded finding out, because the idea of acting like that, slicing parts of your dignity piece by piece for a man with an unwashed ass and 50/50 bills makes you gag. Even with your insecurities and hopeless romanticism, you really cannot imagine the thought of stooping to that level. You suppose you'll find out once you actually fall in love.
..is what you'd like to say. You never considered yourself someone with crazy high standards. Just someone who's passionate for their career or hobbies, well groomed, emotionally intelligent, a feminist, a bit of height wouldnt hurt either, neither would some good hair...
Your friends would only smile, clear their throats and look away as you'd rattle your bare minimums, before sympathetically placing a hand on your shoulder and gently telling you to either join a nunnery, or become a lesbian. You disagreed at first, holding out more hope and belief in your age group's male counterparts than you perhaps should, after all it's not like you had never met any good men. But after the 142nd left swipe on your app, you feel like you are actually going to lose your mind from the sheer lack of appeal and rock bottom attractiveness these men have. Serves you right for holding out hope from a dating app of all places you suppose. Every one is looking for "slightly autistic women" (fetishization ew), everyone's hobby is "travelling" (the most they've travelled in the past year is down the street. They would die without an Air Conditioner), and everyone has a "dark sense of humor" (translation: "I'm an absolute piece of shit but if you get offended you dont have a sense of humor!") half the men dont even have a decent photo of themselves and the ones that do are followed by 3 shirtless pictures from the gym and a "figuring out my dating goals", like you have time to waste on a useless situationship!
You really didnt expect to not find a single match after days of checking the app. The thought of lowering your standards did enter your mind for a brief second, but was quickly overridden by the common sense and self respect you had desperately and futily attempted to hammer into your friends once. Practice what you preach!
But today feels hopeless. Especially hopeless. And after a little while you realize you should close the app for your own mental health's sake, before you stalk and shoot the next cockroach whos "looking for his Nikki". You're just about to, when you see your swipe rights light up. Sighing you open it to see who swiped right on you, not hoping for much.
Youre immediately greeted by shockingly white hair, and if it werent accompanied by such a young face, you wouldve rechecked your age limit settings. Actually, scratch young, holy shit what is that jawline sculpted out of?! His red eyes make you consider if hes wearing contacts. If he is, they must be damn good quality to look so real. The man is dressed casually in a grey knit sweater layered on a white shirt. Comfortable but not completely covering what you can tell is quite a large body. It looks like the image is cropped from a larger, group photo, from the way his gaze is slightly unfocused and the slight grain of the photo. There are other people around but he is thankfully centered (unlike those group photos where you may as well be chatting to date the dog)
25, recent graduate, mechanical engineering major, and he doesnt live far. Just the fact that hes has interests listed is already propelling him to a premium profile in your eyes (and furthering your utter disappointment in humanity), and theyre not vague bullshit like "travelling" either. He claims to be into tinkering with gadgets and mechanical modification (to put in layman's terms), classical music and boxing, emphasized by a photo of him in a black tank top, working on a table, focused completely on the tiny bits of machinery in his- hoooooooly SHIT those are huge hands and arms. What the fuck does this guy eat?! It doesnt even look like hes flexing for the camera either, in fact he seems completely unaware of it, judging by his fucked up posture (and you thought you were a shrimp) with limbs awkwardly twisted around and head tilted near sideways, and mouth halfway open as if talking to someone.
In your scrutiny you realize you never even looked at his name, and quick scroll back up gives it to you: Sylus.
Now, you have a sensible head. This guy practically ticks off every single box for a conventionally attractive man, so there is the obvious question of why someone like him would be on a dating app unless theres red flags all over him. Frankly he even seems out of your league.
But well, it doesnt hurt to talk, maybe meet up, right..? Besides, he swiped right on you first, so clearly he doesnt agree with the whole leagues thing, and who are you to tell him what to think? You may not be the hottest shit on earth but its not like youre to be scoffed at, maybe you think too lowly of yourself!
Bolstered by a bit of confidence from being the one with the true choice in your hands, you go ahead and match with him. Hmph, he'll have to be the one to message first though!
....
"Oh, fuck. We got a match"
"Hahahah, dude, Sylus is going to kill us."
"Psh come on, it wont hurt to mess around just a little bit, right?"
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