👀
Ahhh thank you so much for the ask! ❤️
This snippet is from my upcoming Are You The One? AU called The Perfect Match, the completion of which will be my first fic goal of 2022. For some background, Are You The One? is an MTV reality dating show where they invite a bunch of young, hot, single people to a mansion and have them take a bunch of compatibility tests before arriving. Based on the results of the compatibility tests, each single is assigned a secret "perfect match" of somebody else on the cast. The pairings would typically be M/F, but the most recent season of the show was made exclusively up of people who identified as either bi or pan, so their perfect matches could be anybody on the cast, and this is the format I'm using for the fic. The cast competes in challenges and get to know each other over the course of the season, and they're periodically told how many matches they have correct. If they can all correctly figure out their perfect matches by the end of the game, they collectively win $1 million. But if they can't, they leave with nothing. The game is essentially one big logic puzzle, so I'm writing it in such a way where readers can play along and try to figure out the perfect matches in addition to following along with Buck and Eddie's burgeoning love story!
This snippet is from the first night of the game. The show's thrown a big MTV-style rager for the cast to help them mingle, and our beloved Eddie is painfully out of his element 😂
Eddie liked to think he was a pretty self-assured man. Or should be, rather. Star athlete in high school, Silver Star recipient, father of the best kid ever. And not to toot his own horn, but there had never been any shortage of women willing to show romantic interest in him, even when he was married. And now that he had finally come around to embracing this long-repressed part of his sexuality, he was finding the same was true of men. But all it took was five minutes of this party for his confidence to be shattered and send one thought reverberating through his head:
I am way too old for this.
Okay, maybe this wasn’t true in the literal sense. He was a couple of weeks away from turning thirty-one, still squarely in his prime. A quick scan of his newfound housemates told him most of them were mid-twenties, but there were a few who could be his age or older.
He wanted to talk and mingle with all the stunningly attractive people, he really did. But Eddie had always taken a more traditional approach to dating. He liked the slow burn of going on dates and getting to know someone, and not jumping right into sex right away. For him, the emotional connection almost always preceded the physical one. But it was becoming increasingly clear that that wasn’t everyone else’s speed.
Between the sloppy dancing and the gratuitous binge-drinking, he had already seen three couples making out, and it was barely two hours in. He had even seen the door to the Boom Boom Room — the name of which sent disgusted shivers down Eddie’s spine upon learning it — slam shut, presumably to christen it for the season.
He knew he needed to put himself out there. Winning the cash prize at the end of this experience depended on it. But he just didn’t know how.
He stood uncomfortably behind the kitchen counters on the outskirts of the dance floor, contemplating his next move, when somebody shoved a full glass into his hand.
Lena stared at him expectantly until he raised his eyebrows in question. “Vodka soda," she called over the pounding bass. "My special mix.”
Eddie took a sip and tried to resist the urge to spit it back up. Nope, that definitely wasn’t a vodka soda. More like straight rubbing alcohol with a hint of lime. The show was somehow able to rent out a mansion in Hawaii for over a month, but couldn’t splurge on anything top shelf? His face instinctively screwed up in disgust, and he hoped it wouldn’t offend Lena, but that ship had probably sailed. “Did you put any mixer in this?”
“What do you think’s special about it?” Lena replied, with a casual shrug.
Eddie set the glass down on the counter. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”
She rolled her eyes. “Come on. You need something to help you loosen up. Not gonna lie, you standing here all alone is bumming me out a little.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“I think a nun watching porn would look more comfortable than you do right now.” She glanced over at the dance floor. “I mean, I like people-watching as much as the next guy, but this is just sad.”
Eddie smirked. “Guess I’ll just keep all the gossip to myself, then.”
“Fine. I take it back, you’re not sad. Twist my arm, why don’tcha?” Lena rolled her eyes. “Spill.”
Tagging @halsteadsass because she wanted updates on this particular one ❤️
Send me a 👀 and I'll post a snippet from a WIP!
