“It’s no problem,” Draven says, rubbing his cheek to help hide his flush. God, he kinda hopes you don’t remember him. Every time he’s pictured a reunion it involved him being cool. He’d say something charming, win you over with a smile, but, standing in front of you, he’s fumbling to find words.
Even in high school he hadn’t managed to work up the courage to talk to you. His crush on you was a deeply guarded secret. Draven used to stare at the back of your head dreamily, and then shut down the moment he looked you in the eye.
He’s a firefighter now; a firefighter helping you get your cat out of a tree for the second time this week.
“Always ready to help you. I mean, help anyone. You, too, obviously.”
He tries to laugh, but it comes out wrong. Lord. Somehow you still make him feel like he’s that weird high schooler all over again. The fact he’s still crushing on you’s embarrassing enough. Is he pathetic for clinging to you when you’ve never batted an eye at him?
Draven abruptly stops laughing when he realizes he’s been doing it for an uncomfortably long time.
“Well, I should get going,” he says. Better to admit defeat and run before he can make this worse. “Nice seeing you again. Because of your cat, obviously. Not that it’s good your cat keeps getting stuck but I like seeing you. Wait, no—I mean, you’re nice.”
He’s horrified.
There’s no way he’s made a fool of himself like this. He’s a grown man. He spends nearly everyday rushing into fires to save people. And yet a minute too long in front of you and he can’t handle it. This is Levi’s fault. He knows about Draven’s crush on you and told him to respond to your call.
Will running away make the situation worse? Or is standing here staring at you like you’re a ghost making it more awkward? Draven almost wishes a fire would come and engulf him.