Altan offered to take over my next shift, which I was grateful for, especially seeing how everyone's focus was now on that photo of Llewellyn and me.

However, I should have guessed it would not have died down in a day.

While I tried not to be on social media in the meantime, I still found everything waiting for me when my next shift rolled around.

Altan's DM wasn't reassuring either.

[Altan]: People are betting on whether you and Llewellyn are dating. 50/50 odds. Thought you should know.

Well, fuck.

I typed back quickly.

[Ryo]: I hate this.

[Altan]: Welcome to the world of online fame, buddy.

I braced myself, made coffee, and let Penguin snuggle close on the couch as I clocked in.

Yeah, Altan wasn't lying.

[zerohero]: who tf is that guy with Llewellyn???

[mothmemes]: bro just took him and left

[glitchlocked]: nobody knows who he is??

[ceruleansalt]: he's probably just some guy he rescued idk

[mothmemes]: man doesn’t LOOK injured

[snapbacked]: i can’t tell if this is sus or if ppl are just wildin again

[tinybitchaos]: ok but deadass WHO is he?? does anyone recognize him??

[crackedmirror]: can we chill. it’s prob just a one time thing

[lionman]: dude’s just standing next to llewellyn like he belongs there though. like huh?

[nostalgiajpg]: something about this feels off but idk what

[sunvortex]: nah but fr, Llewellyn has never walked off with a rando like that

[bitcrash32]: highkey looks like a grab and go situation

[lionman]: it’s just weird seeing Llewellyn with someone. dude’s always alone

[snapbacked]: watch it be some random person he saved and everyone’s overthinking lol

[tapedeck404]: or a new partner. this is how it starts

[nostalgiajpg]: everyone’s arguing but no one knows shit

[clutchgrind]: wait till someone zooms in on the pic and claims they’re dating 💀

[cloudscraper]: feels sus tho. why leave with him instead of waiting for medics???

[ghostknotter]: ngl the fact that he just dipped with him is kinda 👀

Looks like this was going to be as bad as I expected.

I was on shift, so… no choice but to deal with this.

I hid some profanity, and kept scrolling.

[soupbones]: idk man this is weird. who is he. where did he come from

[foldingspice]: it’s just one photo and everyone’s losing their minds lmaoooo

[bitcrash32]: guys it’s literally a rando, can we calm down

[cloudscraper]: no but really. why did Llewellyn leave with him??

[tinybitchaos]: it’s giving “i’ll save you babe” energy lol

[badapple]: llewellyn can’t even walk off a knot site without internet shipping his life 💀

[zerohero]: he doesn’t even look injured, why take him???

[ventstack]: can’t believe we’re out here writing lore over one pic

[driftfix]: calling it now, his PR girl's gonna say nothing

[crashlog]: if this is a new partner reveal it’s the weirdest one I’ve seen lmao

[inknot]: there’s no way this isn’t intentional. no way

[highpinged]: there's no way this isn't a PR stunt u mean

[lockfile]: new headcanon: secret agent boyfriend

No, what??? How was I both a secret agent and Llewellyn's boyfriend???

[traceloop]: okay i tried reverse image search and got nothing

[bitdepth]: there’s like zero footprint on this guy. nada

[cryptoclaw]: someone check the background in the pic. maybe there’s a hint?

They were already trying to find me???

[stackless]: no tags, no mentions—whoever he is, he’s invisible online

[linklocked]: searched all known vids of Llewellyn, this guy’s not in any of them

[pixelnoise]: how does he have no socials? sus af

[brokencompile]: looked at old knot footage. no match

[fibreoptic]: somebody’s hiding him for sure

[phantomping]: there’s no record of him anywhere i swear

[softknot]: idc who he is, i’m shipping it. hard.

[loudloop]: new otp just dropped y’all

[knotbent]: can we NOT with the shipping already? please.

[thirstbitten]: so we’re all calling him #LlewRando right?

[ghosttag]: not gonna lie, the way Llewellyn’s holding him… it's a whole mood

[speculativeeels]: honestly? I’m here for the chaos #LlewRando4Life

[spintopple]: this is classic hero/oblivious civilian trope and i’m eating it up

[wreckingball]: WAIT. what if it’s a secret relationship and they got caught??

[ctrlz]: y’all need to log off and touch grass

[overlol]: someone’s gonna write 10k of enemies to lovers on this in like, an hour

[loworbit]: okay but where’s the slow burn fic where they meet in secret and only got spotted now

[shipblocker]: imagine writing fic over a blurry pic. embarrassing

[freefail]: saw someone on another thread calling them “Knotmates” help 😭

My face was on fire.

[peachwired]: okay we need a good name. LlewRando for the guy is funny but we can do better

[bluecrash]: LlewCrush? LlewHeart?

[bytebeat]: i like LlewellHim for now tbh, until we know more

[glowmaze]: nah i’m sticking with LlewBae 😭

[llewellingUP] @glowmaze that sounds so wrong 😂😂😂

[antisink]: u ppl seriously need to stop reading into this. it’s one blurry pic

[knotcut]: I just wanted info about the incident and now this. why.

[commonfork]: stop trying to make this a romance!!! it’s cringe!!!

[nopebutton]: i swear, if i see one more ship reply i’m muting this thread

[crashwavez]: LMFAO at everyone getting so pressed about this. just let the shippers have fun

[realitybytes]: not everything needs to be a ship. this is reaching

[logicloader]: it’s literally just a guy standing there. stop being weird!!!

[tanglefish]: saw a poll on another thread. top three were LlewCrush, LlewBae and LlewBoy

[hyperlint]: add me to the LlewCrush squad. adorable.

[twitchkyte]: ur all missing the chance for some #Llewd jokes in there lol

[streamknot] nahh, how about romantic? llewdate? llewdarling?

How did this escalate so quickly???

Oh no. Kill me now. There were comments about me too.

[softbeet]: ngl the guy’s kinda hot tho. lowkey

I need to bleach my eyes. I need to turn off the Internet. Like… globally.

[ghosttag]: he’s got that whole “in over his head but hot” look

[bitdepth]: okay but let’s be real, that coat looks expensive af. who is he?

[clipdust]: i don’t even care about the coat, it’s the face for me

[fraypixel]: sorry but his whole “lost puppy” vibe? lethal

[dripcore]: eh he’s mid at best, y’all are just shipping because he’s next to Llewellyn

[flarestack]: no but for real, that white coat is nice. where do i get one

[dungeonpull]: honestly his expression in the pic is killing me. he’s just like “how did i get here?” i’m invested

[clickbaited]: his face is fine I guess, but the way he’s standing next to Llewellyn like it’s normal??? hot

[linkleak]: dude’s got main character energy and he doesn’t even know it

[floatcrash]: okay I’m adding him to the list of guys i simp for. sorry.

[deadsun]: y’all need to chill, he’s fine but not that fine

[smashblink]: idk i’d let him wreck me

This was too much. I was dying.

Llewellyn was right, I really needed to quit.

How could I be expected to work like this??? Seriously, is hazard pay a thing for this kind of trauma? I need hazard pay for this.

[fivesquirrels]: he’s giving off “accidental hot guy” energy and i’m not mad

[llewespill]: he’s not even trying but I bet he’s actually deadly hot irl

[crashlanes]: he looks so unbothered

[blipfeed]: this man’s standing like he’s in line at the bank. it’s killing me

[velvetbuffer]: he looks like he wandered onto a kdrama set by accident and still managed to outshine everyone???

[flyingsyntax]: this man has no idea what he’s doing and it’s working for him

[ramdumped]: tell me how he looks confused but also main character coded

[blurryframes]: lost puppy eyes but also giving off hero energy. I’m conflicted

[liveupdate]: new poll up: his face vs his coat vs his cluelessness. vote now.

I checked the poll. It already had 9250 votes. What!!!

Honestly, this was unbearable.

How did I end up in the middle of this?!! I didn’t even look that good in the photo.

[smashblink]: ok but the body language??? don’t tell me I’m the only one seeing it

[loopjuice]: he’s literally leaning into Llewellyn’s space. i’m losing it

[bookflick]: they’re standing too close for this to be casual 😭

Please, no one mention this in real life.

[knotbare]: this is so dumb. people will ship anything these days 🙄

[cocochill]: everyone needs to touch grass. seriously.

[guitarvault]: why are we even talking about this. can we move on?

[searless]: it’s literally just a guy in a coat

[getboat]: can’t believe y’all made a whole ship out of one photo

[chairvan]: this is why fandoms get roasted. y’all are doing too much

[flexed]: can we get back to the plot or is this a BL novel now

[snaptether]: why is Llewellyn looking at him like that tho

[twitchstack]: bro, this is the “I got you” pose

[glowte]: i feel like i’m interrupting something just looking at this pic

[memequill]: look at their height difference too

[cacheglitch]: tell me why it looks like Llewellyn’s shielding him from the crowd

[snippethook]: power couple in the making, don’t @ me

The more I read, the more I wanted to die. I hated that I was oddly invested in what they were saying.

[finelady]: if they’re not dating then explain the HAND. PLACEMENT.

[harshmellow]: someone zoom in. enhance. enhance again

[pixelpeel]: someone already made a fanvid. to a sad ballad. help

[bitroot]: why does this photo have more chemistry than my last three relationships

[spicyfloat]: i showed this to my roommate and she thought it was a drama still

[voidvine]: no because look at their SPACING. there isn’t any 😭

[ghosttag]: i want what they have. whatever it is

[qwifi] they both look so cool

[llewin]: i swear if they don’t kiss in the next update I’m rioting

Honestly, I wanted to crawl under my desk.

And I was supposed to keep this up for eight hours straight?!!