What are you going to do, steal my phone?
I’ll do whatever I have to do
Robin frowned, that sounded ominous. Switching back to his DM’s his eyes widened and he groaned.
why am I being told to leave you alone?
Do you really want me to? :( :( I thought we were having fun?
Your friend told me to stop bothering you.
They said you were just messing with me :(
Did you really set your friend on me, or is some rando pranking me?
Please Robin, what’s going on?
He felt a weird twist in his chest seeing Decal use his name, not that it wasn't public knowledge, his birdsite was under his own name, and had plenty of photos of him modelling the clothes he’d designed, he’d even tweeted about starting his dream job, but he didn't post anything specific, like the name of company, or anything too personal.
Sorry, he’s really protective of me, but I didn't ask him to.
Is he your boyfriend?
Hell no! Just a good friend
But you’re not denying messing with me?
What do you expect, you’re messing with me, I’m just returning the favour!
I’m not messing with you.
Really?? I don’t believe you. Prove it.
Okay, how?
Send me a photo of your face.
… I can’t do that.
Then I don’t believe you
Anything else, but I can’t give you anything that would identify me, I have to keep this separate from my work life, for obvious reasons.
Robin chewed his thumb, why was he still talking to this guy, why was he trying to keep him talking? His heart raced each time he saw a new DM from him, what was he doing?! Briar was right, he was getting too involved and was going to get hurt if he didn't walk away now.
Guess you can’t convince me then, so we might as well stop all this.
He wanted to add, ‘before one of us gets hurt’, but he couldn't bring himself to admit it, that was what the ass was trying for surely?
… do you still hate me?
He chewed his thumb more, did he?
No.
Then don’t block me, please, I’m begging you.
Robin huffed, he was starting to feel flustered and miserable, this had gone from being kind of exciting to something that could actually upset him.
What do you even want from me?
He didn't get a reply so he locked his phone and tossed it on the other end of the couch, deciding it was bedtime.
He didn't rush as much getting ready the next morning, not bothering to check his phone at all, too nervous that there would or wouldn't be messages from the ass. Either was bad and Robin couldn't work out why it was bothering him so much. He hadn't even really been flirting, had he? He hunched as he walked to work, staring gloomily at the ground and avoiding the other people on the street, where normally he would be bouncing along and smiling at everyone. He’d unconsciously dressed down today, wearing tight black dress jeans, a soft grey sweater, and a darker grey dress jacket, not even a small hint of colour added to his outfit. He arrived dead on 8am at the office door, and marched swiftly to his desk, dropping his black satchel on it. Hollis hadn't been at the reception, so he had to assume he was still early compared to the others, but Devon looked like he’d been here all night, unshaven, dull eyed and stifling a yawn as his eyes snapped to where Robin was standing next to his desk.
“You’re here early,” it sounded like an accusation.
“You said not before 8am, it’s 8 now, so I’m not early, I’m on time.” It came out snarky, but Devon didn't react.
“You can take these folders,” he pointed to a pile next to him, and went back to what he was doing, ignoring Robin.
Robin stalked over, snatched the folders, and retreated back to his desk, diving into the work as the ultimate distraction for how he was feeling. The work was more demanding this time, and once again he lost all track of time, having blocked out the world around him. Being shaken lightly by the shoulder made him snarl, until he realised who was shaking him. Devon was standing beside him, an eyebrow raised at the growl that had escaped Robin.
“It’s half one, you need to take your lunch break.” Devon removed his hand and walked away before Robin could collect himself enough to reply.
Huffing under his breath he left his work where it was and escaped to the break room, his phone a taunting weight in his pocket. He was surprised to see lemon cheesecake among the goodies available for lunch and quickly took a slice and a cup of coffee before retreating to one of the large couches and curling up feeling miserable. His phone vibrated as he took his first sip of coffee and he sighed, pulling it out, no longer able to avoid the inevitable. It was Briar, groaning, he answered it.
“What? I’m at work!” he tried to sound indignant, but he felt it just came across tired.
“You haven’t answered any of my texts, I thought you might have died!” Briar’s flair for the dramatic was showing.
“Hardly,” he rolled his eyes, “I just been ignoring my phone, after you accused Decal of harassing me it got weird, and I felt bad about it.”
“I’ll say it got weird, that’s why I've been trying to get hold of you! Decal went off the deep end, and deleted his account.”
Robin felt his heart drop, and muttered a quiet, “oh.”
“Oh? Is that all you can say? You broke an internet celebrity Robin!” Briar was almost screeching down the phone.
Robin sighed, “no, technically that was you, if you hadn't interfered …” he trailed off, feeling his chest tightening with sadness.
“Oh My God Robin, you do NOT get to blame this on me! I was protecting you and your fragile heart from that terrible man!” Briar was going to rant about this for weeks, Robin slumped further into the sofa and mumbled,
“I've gotta go back to work, bye,” before hanging up on his best friend.
The phone vibrated again as Briar tried to call him back, but he declined it, instead going to look at birdsite to see the truth for himself. There were two DM’s, both from Decal. He opened them hesitantly, expecting the worst.
I want anything you are willing to give me. I've never felt like this about anyone before. I know I've stuffed this up every step of the way, but please, give me a chance to prove my sincerity.
I’m going to delete my account here, to prove to you that I’m serious about this, I don’t know what more I can do. My number is XXX XXX XXXX, call me.
He stared at the two messages, his heart beating wildly inside his chest. He didn't know what to think, was Decal pranking him, or was he actually serious? Why him? He shook his head, and against his better judgement added Decal’s number to his phones contact list. His finger hovered over the call button, but he couldn't bring himself to press it, instead he started typing a message.
He wrote and deleted several variations finally sending the simple, Hi, this is Robin.
He was a mess of conflicting emotions as he tried not to spill his coffee, his hands shaking like leaves in a gale. His phone remained silent and unhelpful, so he decided to drown his sorrows in the cheesecake.
It was quite possibly the best lemon cheesecake he had ever tasted, and by the time he got to the last mouthful it was taking all his willpower not to moan orgasmically over it. He closed his eyes, lent back against the couch and sighed with contentment. The sofa sinking down next to him and a soft chuckle made his eyes snap open and his head whip around.
Ellis was sitting beside him with a cup of coffee, “the cheesecake was that good?” He teased.
“Better,” Robin affirmed, “I need to know who the caterers are so I can buy a lifetime supply!”
Ellis’s eyebrows pinched together thoughtfully, “I don’t think that was from the caterers, it was here before they arrived, one of the staff must have brought it in.”
“Oh,” Robin pouted a little, “well if you find out where they got it from, could you tell me?”
“I’ll do my best to find out,” he winked at Robin, “so, how are you enjoying working here so far?”
Robin pulled a sad face, “I love the work, but I think Devon hates me.”
Ellis’s eyebrows raised, “what makes you think that?”
Robin fiddled with his mug, “he’s always grumpy, and scowling, and short with me, like he resents me being there.”
Ellis snorted, “that’s just Devon freaking out over getting the Tokyo contract, it’s big, and we really can’t afford for anything to go wrong. He hasn't said a single negative thing about you to me.”
“Oh,” Robin digested the information while he finished his coffee.
“Is there anything else wrong?” Ellis was watching him with a slight frown of concern.
“Uh, why would you ask that?” Robin frowned into his cup.
Ellis waved a hand at him, “you’re dressed for a funeral, and you just, don’t seem your normal cheerful self.”
Robin squirmed, “it’s, uh… personal stuff?”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Robin thought about it for a moment, a pout on his face, and then leaned a little closer to Ellis, “you swear not to breathe a word to anyone? This is kind of... embarrassing.”
Ellis put on a solemn face and raised his hand, “Scouts honour, I won’t breathe a word.”
Robin nodded, putting his cup down on the coffee table, twisting his fingers together, “I… uh… I might have, broken? An internet celebrity, and I, really don’t know what to do about it or how to feel.” He bit his lip waiting for Ellis’s reaction.
Ellis raised a brow in curiosity, “broken, how? Start at the beginning.”
Robin sucked in a breath, and then let it all pour out, how he’d been drunk in a nightclub, and the ensuing conversations, and how he felt scared and flattered by Decal at the same time, and how confused he was, how he, just didn't know what to do. Ellis’s face stayed impassive right until Robin got to the part where he had Decal’s phone number, at which his eyes widened slightly and he sat up straighter.
“You have his actual phone number, and you haven’t called it?”
Robin nodded, “I… just couldn't bring myself to, is that bad?”
Ellis shook his head, “no, this is good, we can try looking the number up, at least if it’s not a burner phone you might get some answers, and if you call him we can do it on speaker phone, so he can’t pull any funny stuff.”
Robin felt the tension drain out of him and he gave Ellis a grateful look, “thank you, really, this has been, a lot, and I haven’t known what to do about it.”
Ellis gave him a knowing look, “you like him, or you like the idea of him being a nice guy at least, am I right?”
He bit his lip and nodded, “I don’t want to, but I do anyway. I know what kind of person he is, but, he seems so… nice?”
Ellis smiled, “lets check out his number first and see what we get from that, if we can figure out who he is then you’ll have a much better idea of whether he’s trustworthy or not.”
Robin handed his phone over with a sense of relief that he wasn't having to deal with this alone, and Ellis wasn't judging him or calling him stupid. Ellis looked at the number, then at Robin, then back at the number.
“Are you sure this is the number?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“You couldn't have copied the number over wrong or anything?”
Robin sucked his bottom lip in and motioned for his phone, finding the DM’s and blushing furiously as he handed it back to Ellis.
“Why? Is, something wrong?”
Ellis was staring at the DM’s with a strange look on his face, “uh, I.. Ah.. How would you feel if you already knew this person?”
Robin blinked at him, “what do you mean?”
“Just what I said, would it be bad if you already knew this Decal person, in person, you just didn't know it was them?”
“That’s not possible, I wouldn't have had anything to do with someone like that!”
Ellis sighed, “what if they acted differently in person, like, totally differently.”
Robin chewed his thumb and fidgeted, “you mean, it’s someone who works here?”
“What made you jump to that conclusion?”
Robin rolled his eyes and pouted, “you clearly recognise the number, and that would mean someone we mutually know but that I don’t know well enough to have their phone number which only leaves someone we work with…” he trailed off as the horrifying realisation hit him, there was only one other designer here which meant it had to be. “Oh.. No, no way, he can’t be,” he hissed, “he hates me, it can’t be him!”
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