Smoke Signals
Fandom: Friday Night Funkin'.
Category: F/M.
Relationship: Garcello x Female Reader.
Type: One shot.
Words: 1,629.
Summary: Stumbling upon a smoke-filled alleyway at dusk, [Y/N] learns that sometimes, one can find warmth in even the darkest of places.
Chronology: None.
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It was late in the afternoon that day, the sun had already started setting over the city. [Y/N] was making her way back to her apartment, mindlessly strolling down the streets with her headphones on, until her nose picked up on a rather odd smell.
Is that... the smell of cigarette? But...
While plenty of people would smoke around her neighborhood and the smell would become recognizable in an instant, that particular kind somehow caught her attention.
The young woman looked in the direction of the odor, which seemed to be emanating from deep within an alley; for some inexplicable reason she could not quite justify, she felt compelled to follow the smell, her steps a little hesitant as she braved the darkness and walked away from the lively, vibrant streets.
Why am I not going back home like I was supposed to? What am I even doing right now? I probably shouldn't be here... Especially for something as trivial as some weird smell...
But before she could find any answers to any of her questions, she paused her movements the moment her eyes, having adjusted to her dimly-lit surroundings spotted a man sitting down on the ground, his back to a wall. A cigarette trapped between his lips, he exhaled a slow, green cloud of smoke.
Then, though his eyes remained hooded by his hat, what |Y/N] could see was his head turning to look up at her.
"... Hey there." He casually said, a smile on his face, his tone friendly.
Too friendly. She thought.
"H-Hello, sir..." She said in response as she slowly took off her headphones, letting them hang around her neck.
He could hear the uncertainty in her voice, and he could see it, as well: out of fear, or perhaps simply out of instincts, [Y/N] clutched her purse a bit tighter against her side, her eyes not leaving the mysterious man's face, still half concealed.
Noticing the slight, almost imperceptible movement, he let out a chuckle, the sound surprisingly reassuring to hear.
"Easy there, little lady. No need to be scared, I'm not gonna hurt you." He told her with a smile as he puffed out more smoke. "And why the 'sir'? Do I really look that old now?"
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you in any way." She explained herself, feeling extremely awkward at the unexpected situation she had found herself in. "It's just... I live in this neighborhood, and I've never seen you around here..."
And yet... He doesn't actually look like such a bad man, on closer inspection.
[Y/N] allowed herself to take a good look at him from where she was standing: from what she could see through the dark enveloping him, she could tell he seemed to be relatively tall and strong, though that might have been in part due to his baggy clothes hiding his true figure. Moving up to his face, she had to admit he, indeed, did not look old; probably not enough to be called 'sir' by a 23-year-old woman.
He must be in his early- to mid-thirties, at most. She estimated.
But although he was shrouded by smoke and shadows, there was something about him that convinced her he was kind, that he would not do anything to her.
The man could feel her eyes roaming over his form, he could feel she was undeniably inspecting him from head to toe. And that made him chuckle once more, the situation amusing and almost entertaining to him. Undisturbed by her gaze, he let her carry on with her examination with a gentle smirk, following her eyes as they briefly flicked to his lips the moment they puffed out yet another cloud of smoke.
"... Then again, it's not like I roam these alleyways often." She added in a softer, slightly quieter voice, her eyebrows raising for a split second. "... I suppose I wouldn't know what's going down here most of the time, nor who lives here."
He hummed thoughtfully, bringing his cigarette back up to his lips as he listened to her.
"You got a point." He said with a shrug, his mouth still leaking green smoke. "But that makes me curious, little lady. If you don't usually hang around this corner of town, why is it you're here right now?"
That sense of awkwardness was back, only this time it brought embarrassment along with it.
"W-Well... To tell you the truth, it's your smoke that drew me here. Or, rather, its smell, I should say." She admitted truthfully, but for some reason felt bad about it. "I was walking down the streets, on my way home when I smelled it... and decided to trace it back to its source, I suppose."
"Heh, I sorta had a hunch that's what it was." He tilted his head to the side in response as he spoke.
For a moment, he held his silence as his gaze began to jump from one part of her body to another: his eyes were still completely invisible to hers, tucked away in the shadows of his hat, but she could still feel their weight on her.
Then, his smirk widened and out came a deep, throaty chuckle; one that strangely made her hold her breath.
"... Still, I wouldn't have bet on the smell of smoke catching the interest of a girl like you." He stated, his left arm now resting over his knee. "... You a fan of cigarettes, little lady?"
"Not... necessarily, no." She answered honestly.
But if I really am honest, why does it feel as though I should have answered him differently?
"It's more so because of the smell itself..." She added, stubbornly continuing to try to find his eyes. "I know what cigarettes smell like... Hell, a few friends of mine smoke pretty regularly. But the odor of yours... is kind of odd... I've never really smelled anything like it before."
[Y/N] watched the smoke leave the cigarette in his hand and float upwards, its green hue slightly glowing amidst the dark.
"... And I guess I kind of just got curious when I smelled it and wanted to know what it was exactly." She finished with a shrug.
Only then did it hit her.
"I didn't mean to intrude or disturb you- I'm sorry if I've bothered you by coming all this way-"
"Woah, there." He interrupted her, his head slowly shaking from left to right. "You don't gotta be so quick to apologize, you're not bothering me one bit by being here."
His voice echoed within her, his words resonated inside her mind: just like that, with only a sentence and a smile, he had managed to make her feel reassured.
"Really, you're all right." He added, hands gesturing, smoke swaying in the air from between his fingers. "If anything, I should thank you for the company. I appreciate it."
... God, this man looks lonely.
She could not bring herself to smile, no matter how warm and comforting his tone sounded: she felt a great deal of pity for him, at the sight before her.
I feel so sorry for him... yet I don't even know who he is. He seems so kind, so good... so deserving of something more than this, something better than this...
Thinking back to his words, still bouncing around her brain, her gaze turned downward, the green cloud leaving her sight for the first time that evening.
He really does appear to have no one by his side... I know you're not supposed to talk to strangers, especially if they're a shady-looking man smoking in the corner of a dank alley in the early evening... but, maybe, it's not so bad I ran into him... or, rather, that he ran into me.
Clearly, he could tell something had ticked in the young woman.
"Feeling alright, little lady?"
But he already knew the answer.
Having died out after one last inhale, the dry cigarette butt came crashing down on the musty concrete, the stranger letting it drop after he had pinched it with his fingers; he was quick to pull another one out, wasting no time to place it between his lips.
"You're looking kinda distressed." He continued, his words accompanied by the click of his lighter.
His tone was light as he spoke, his expression still gentle, yet it sounded as though the worry he felt for her was genuine.
It took some time, but eventually his words reached [Y/N]'s ears and pulled her out of her thoughts. She blinked rapidly, as if to redirect her focus back to him.
"I'm fine..."
The words slithered out of her mouth, almost like they were instinctive for her; she shook her head, slowly, once, twice, her eyes closed, her thumb and index finger on the bridge of her nose.
"But thank you for your concer-"
Her sentence was abruptly cut off by her own eyes opening to an unexpected sight.
The man's arm was extended, his hand within her grasp, his fingers offering her his cigarette.
"You look like you could use a smoke." He said, the corners of his lips still turned upward into a smile. "It'd help you relax."
The warmth of his tone matched that of the mist that slowly, gently rose between the two of them, its green coloring still as mesmerizing to the young woman. His hand was immobile, frozen in mid-air as he held the stick of tobacco and patiently waited for her to make a decision.
And then, he uttered words that would forever alter the course of her life; words that would forever mark her; words that would forever symbolize a new beginning, for both of them.
"... Why don't you sit down with me and have a drag?"
