Chapter Text
The sun hung high up in the sky, beating it’s rays down on anyone or anything that just happened to be beneath it. Warm wind blew against your skin, tickling you and briefly billowing your loose clothes. Birds circled around their nests high up in the trees, filling the air with their sweet song, but other than that, the park around you was completely quiet and you were completely and utterly alone with your thoughts.
You sat in your favorite spot. A place off in the park that seemed untouched by anyone and was left to let nature take over it. You came here to be alone. To sit out in nature under the beating sun with the warm wind and chirping birds and hopefully clear your head of all of the bad, stressful thoughts that filled it over the course of days.
You were falling behind in school, rent was due and you had no idea how you were going to pay it, and your roommate was absolutely no help at all. Inviting random guys over to help her “study” even though you were pretty sure she hadn’t actually been to a class in weeks. Studying didn’t sound nearly as fun as what she was doing in her room.
A part of you did admire her though. She got what she wanted and didn’t wait for anything. A new guy almost everyday sounds bad in hindsight, but you never saw her being as stressed and tired as you were, but that was likely also because she never worked or even paid bills. There had to be a reason for it, and you supposed her reason was her amazing reliever, and from the sound of it, she had multiple amazing relievers.
As you sat lost in thought, thinking about your stress, what you were getting, and what you were not getting, you felt the bench shift as the weight of someone sat down beside you, a little too close at that, you could feel their body heat on the hairs of your arm, making your skin prickle up with goosebumps. Mentally, you sighed. You had assumed that this place was untouched by others, but maybe you were just being optimistic. To have someone sit right next to you, even though there were plenty of empty benches littered all over the area just waiting to be used. And yet here they were, right next to you.
You angled your head away from the person, staring off at a tree in the opposite direction so that you could show them that you were in absolutely no mood to talk. You could only assume that that was the reason they sat next to you, and so close at that.
You shifted so that you could slowly ease your way away from the person, but just as quickly as you began your escape, they began to speak.
“Who are you waiting here for? A friend? Family?” His voice was awkward and shy, and only a breath above a whisper, like he was testing the waters with you, because your facial expression made it obvious that you would snap at any point.
“No one,” you said back harshly, not even giving the guy a glance. You admit, your tone was pretty rude and you could have phrased it nicer, but you were already close to the edge. It didn’t matter how you spoke to him, he was just some stranger after all, someone you’d probably never see again, and maybe your harsh tone would tell him to go away.
“Oh, I see,” he mumbled and you thought that would be the end of it, “I just assumed since you don’t look like a groundskeeper or anything like that.”
A singular grunt was your only response. It was obvious that he was extremely hellbent on talking to you, you just wondered how long he could keep it up with your lack of answers.
“Listen, I know I’m being a bit forward, but would you give me the pleasure of taking you out on a date tonight,” he said those words fast and nervously, stuttering every so often like he was scared that you’d cut him off at some point. You considered it, but you let him get the sentence out, it was the least you could do before turning him down.
Finally, you turned to face the man, oddly curious now about what he looked like more than ever, based solely on his strange, yet formal way of speaking. He was lanky, almost every part of his body was thin. Deep veins poke out through the skin of his slender hands. His clothes fit loosely on his body, casual clothes, not that of someone who was at the park to jog or swim.
He had these deep, blue eyes, blue like the ocean and they were fixated upon you. He looked more nervous than what he sounded, beads of sweat were sliding down his forehead, and his hand that rested upon his knee, was trembling with nervousness. His other hand was sitting dangerously close to yours, his fingertips barely grazed yours and you already felt yourself slinking away before he had the chance to actually touch you.
“Just who the hell are you?” you asked and those blue eyes turned to one of shock, surprised that you actually spoke more than two words to him. You were surprising yourself. Normally you would just get up and leave a creep like him to spend another night with just himself and his hand, but something about him piqued your curiosity.
“I’m...well if all things go well, I’m hoping to be your boyfriend,”
“Ha, funny,” you replied sarcastically, rolling your eyes as you spoke.
He played with his fingers nervously, finally breaking the awkward contact that his eyes had on you and staring down at his lap where he had one thin leg crossed over the other. This guy was seriously so weird.
“I’m being serious, I really like you,”
You scoffed, looking up into the sky in disbelief, “Does this work often for you? Confessing your feelings to random girls in the park that you don’t know?”
He hung his head in shame, almost like it took your scolding of him for him to realize what he’d done. It was innocent in a way, like you were scolding a child who didn’t know any better and not a man who should be way past the age to be able to read social cues. You would give him your time, for now, even if he was weird.
“Fine, I will go on a date with you,” You said, stunning him. His mouth hung open and he stared at you, dumbfounded. He truthfully couldn’t believe what you were saying.
“Seriously? You’re not joking with me?”
Letting out a deep sigh, you answered, “I guess, I have nothing better to do.”
At those words he jumped up, a wide smile on his face, he sure was happy for someone who basically got told that they were the last choice for entertainment. He stood in front of you, his body casting an ominous shadow over you. He was much, much taller than what he looked when he was sitting down. The stranger forcefully took your hands into his and all you could think about was how cold and strong his grip was.
“Thank you! We’ll meet tonight, at six, okay? At the diner you work at!”
He dropped your hands and ran off happily before you even had the chance to respond. His roots with you must’ve run deeper than what you had initially expected. You knew he was strange, but not that strange. How in the hell did he know where you worked?
You arrived at your workplace feeling more strange than what you thought you would. You were so used to going into the diner, slipping on an apron, and working a long, underpaid shift. But to come in, sit down, and order food. In the months you worked there, you’d never done that once. But you didn’t have much choice in the matter, he left before you had the chance to butt in and say where you wanted to go instead.
Picking a random booth and sitting in it, you glanced around the diner. It looked just as crummy and dingy from the customer's perspective. It almost made you wonder why people even decided to eat here. They must really really like the cheap tasting food, you couldn’t say it appealed to you.
The clock had already hit six, you were kind enough to arrive early, but he was showing no signs of walking through the door. He struck you as the type to show up to everything early, especially a date that he begged a girl to be on, and creepy enough to actually order for you before you arrived, even knowing exactly what you liked off of the menu.
6:02 Still no sign of him, you looked out the big window that was on your side and watched people walk by, carrying on with their daily life and not passing you a second glance.
6:05 Your eyes wandered around the diner, a coworker walked up to you to ask for your order. They were surprised to see that you actually showed up to eat there on your day off, saying that the food wasn’t good enough to actually show up for it when you didn’t have to. You didn’t have the heart to tell them that you’d probably gotten stood up by some creepy stalker guy you’d met at the park, so you lied and said you just really wanted one of those awesome milkshakes they made.
6:10 The milkshake was brought to you. It was delicious, of course. You sipped on it slowly. Pretending that you weren’t a little sad about possibly getting stood up was hard, but you tried to get the feelings to fade by drinking the sweet treat. You didn’t technically have a reason to be sad, you didn’t want to go on a date with him anyways.
6:15 You’re about halfway through your milkshake, when you hear the familiar ring of the bell above the door, showing that a customer has shown up. And there he stood, just as tall, with a large white box in his hands. His chest was heaving and he looked as if he was sweating, he most likely ran, but what was the point, he was already late. He met your gaze, flashing you a wide, toothy smile, before he saw the anger in your eyes and let the smile drop. He shuffled slowly to your booth, awkwardly sitting the white box on the table and sliding into the seat across from you.
“You’re late,” you spat at him before he even had the chance to open his mouth and explain himself.
“Y-ye-yeah, I know,” he stuttered off, “But it was only because I got you this,”
His voice was tiny as he cautiously slid the box across the table towards you. His hands were trembling, and once you took hold of the box he locked his fingers together to stop the shaking. He watched you nervously, waiting with anxious eyes for you to open said box.
You took another long, slow sip of your milkshake, all while giving the box a harsh side eye. You had no reason to be mean to this guy, other than the fact that he was pretty fucking weird and kind of creepy, but you had nothing better to do. He was so sure he wanted to go on a date with you, and you wanted to see just how far you could push it with him. So far, he didn’t seem like he had the slightest intentions of leaving.
With a dramatically loud sigh, you grabbed the box and opened it. Inside were two beautifly, thornless, red roses, with their stems wrapped in a thick black ribbon. Their fragrance hit your nose immediately, the sweet smell of the flowers drowned out the area around you and you no longer smelled the greasy, sweaty, filthy diner. They were beautiful. Truly. Absolutely beautiful.
From your peripheral, you could see him fidgeting in his seat, twiddling his thumb nervously while waiting anxiously for your response. He was weird, creepy. You knew he knew more about you than what he was saying, afterall, there was no reason for him to know where you worked unless he actively looked for you, so why be nice to him?
“You were late to our date that you begged me to go on, for this?” You said with a snarl, watching that once cute, nervous face turn to one of genuine fear.
“Do you not like roses? Do you prefer lilies? Or daisies?” his voice was laced with a mixture of disappointment, sorrow, and fear and you could only scoff. He really wasn’t going to leave, even if you were mean to him. It was truly a sight to see and an excellent way to relieve stress, a sinful part of you loved it.
You rolled your eyes, taking another sip of your frozen drink. He looked like he was close to tears, staring down at the table and biting his lip with teeth that looked unnaturally sharp.
“You can start making it up to me by paying for my milkshake,” he perked up a bit, a sly smile appearing on his face, nodding quickly, “And by calling me ma’am for the rest of the night.”
You could see him visibly flinch and suddenly grow red, all the way from his neck up to his ears, then his cheeks, “What?”
“You heard me. Or do you want me to leave?”
“No!”
A smirk formed on one side of your mouth, “No, what?” you asked, your tone teasing.
“N-no, ma’am,” he barely spoke the words above a whisper, afraid that the other people who were eating and spending their time in the diner would hear him. His face was flushed bright red, and for once, his big, blue eyes weren’t staring you in infatuation, but rather, looking nervously out the window.
“What’s your name anyways?”
That blushing face that looked like it was filled with adoration changed quickly to a harsh grimace, “You can just call me whatever. My name is a joke, I’m a joke.”
He wasn’t wrong about that.
“A new name for you, hm,” You thought aloud, “How about Fido? Like the dog,”
“Sure, Fido is fine,” he said those words, but there was a sadness to his voice. He didn’t like it, you knew he didn’t like it, but he still refused to protest, which was exactly why you chose it.
He was creepy, likely knew almost everything about you, like a stalker, and he was at your every beck and call, like a dog. You could tell only bad things would happen if you continued to spend time with him. He was considerably not normal, most likely not even sane, and way too enthusiastic to be spending time with you.
“So, Fido, how did you know where I work,”
There was a long pause, “I um...Pass by here when I take my walks and I see you through the window. I’ve been trying to come in to talk to you, but I always get cold feet,”
“So you have been stalking me, I knew it!” Even though you were saying something so bad, you said it with a cheer, like you answered a question correctly on a game show. You should’ve been more scared of the notion, you should’ve thrown the last of your milkshake on him, stormed off, and probably moved houses, but for some reason, you just wanted to toy with him.
“N-no, I ha-haven’t. I-”
You cut him off before he could finish, not really caring too much about what he had to say in defense of himself, “I don’t care. Stalk me all you want,”
A long silence fell over the two of you, a silence in which he just stared at you, watching as you sipped your shake happily, in a blissful, almost idiotic ignorance. You could tell he was wondering about what you had said, waiting for you to tell him that you were joking and that you genuinely found him creepy, but he got nothing of the sort.
“Seriously?” Fido asked and you only nodded as a response. This was the second time today that you surprised him, showing him a side of yourself that he never expected.
“Sure, as long as I can do whatever I want to you,”
“Anything,” He said fast with no hesitation, “You can do whatever you want to me, I won’t stop you.”
He obviously wanted to continue the conversation, likely to ask you more about what he was allowed to do and what he wasn’t, but you’d lost interest for the day. The sky was beginning to get dark, turning shades of orange and red as the sun set lower and lower and your shake was nearing its end. You wanted to go home.
“Gimme your number,” you said, pushing the white box of flowers closer to him, “Write it on here.”
“I thought you didn’t want them,” He mumbled quietly, but still slowly pulled a pen from his pocket and wrote gently on the box, so as not to crush the flowers.
Grabbing the box from him and tucking it under your arm, you pushed the almost empty glass towards him, “You can finish this. I bet you’d love to touch something that had my lips on it,” you gathered the rest of your things and stood from the booth, looking at his pathetic face that only wanted to please you one more time, “Don’t forget to pay for that.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered you quickly, he was taking his role seriously.
You told the waitress that Fido would be paying for your shake and walked out the door, the bell on the top of the door ringing as you exited.
It was a sudden choice, but you decided to take a long way home, turning in places that you normally wouldn’t. You were curious if maybe you were just being paranoid, if maybe he wasn’t actually some weird stalker and you judged him too harshly, but you quickly shook the thought off. He only stopped denying being a stalker when you didn’t consider it a bad thing, that wasn’t damning evidence, but it was evidence nonetheless.
Right when you were about to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe even call him to apologize to him, you turned down the alley closest to your house and heard a sound of delayed footsteps behind you.