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After every date with Cater Diamond, you did the same thing. He would walk you back to your dorm, you would sink into the couch, and then pass out into a deep slumber within seconds. Today’s activity was one of his favorites, but it was especially tiring: cafè hopping.
Cater had a long list of all the trendy new places that he wanted to visit and, of course, he would drag you along with him. He begged you over text, through magicam dms, your school email (?), and then in person. You agreed since he had assured you that there weren’t too many spots on the list and that he would pay for everything.
It’s not that you really minded all that much in the first place, but you had to admit, you started getting tired around cafè #2…out of 7. It would’ve been easier on you and your stomach if Cater actually enjoyed eating any of the sweets he ordered rather than just looking at them and taking pictures from every angle, multiple times. You had eaten enough cake and pastries to feed all of Heartslabyul in a single day.
Despite feeling so tired, for some reason, you found yourself unable to fall asleep for your regular post-date nap. Instead, your mind thought of how Cater snuck pictures of you while he thought you weren’t paying attention and how he smiled to himself while he looked through them afterwards. It wandered to how he tucked your hair behind your ear, so as to make sure that it didn’t touch the frosting while you ate. And how he held your hands together and blew hot air on them when he noticed your hands balled up and your face tinted with blush from the cold. When it was time to walk to the next location and you were still shivering, he took off his own jacket and draped it over your shoulders.
These little thoughts were the reasons that you simply could not fall asleep. Tiring as it was, any day spent with your boyfriend was a day you looked forward to. Plus, you would never decline if it was something Cater insisted on. If he really, really wanted something, he would only insist on it with you. Anyone else and it would be something more like, I kind of wanted to do this, but if you wanna do something else, that’s cool too—we can do that instead! He would never admit to it, if he even realized it in the first place, but he was a bit of a pushover.
The kiss that he left when he dropped you off lingered on your cheek along with his scent. Laying on the couch now, you felt a calm warmth at the thought of him. His smell made it feel as though he were still there with you in your room. You wish he could’ve stayed with you longer and wondered why it was that you were thinking of him to the point of missing him just ten minutes after you had last seen him.
Oh. You came to a realization when you looked down at your sleeves to find that they weren’t the same ones you left with. You had forgotten to return his jacket.
Surely, he wouldn’t mind if you kept it for a while. In fact, he would probably say something along the lines of It looks super cute on you anyways! instead of asking for it back. But, it would be cold later today and you knew how much he loved this particular jacket because of the little red accents and the soft lining along the inside. You figured that you should call him, just in case.
Much to your surprise, when you pressed the call button on your phone, a cutesy pop rock tone started to ring in your pocket. How did he even forget his phone? He always had it on him as far as you could remember—so much so that some people saw the phone as an extension of Cater Diamond himself.
No matter. Around this time today, he should be at a club meeting for rehearsal with Lilia and Kalim. You had both of their numbers anyways, so getting ahold of him would be easy. The phone rang a few times, then a bright voice started.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Kalim it’s me! Could you put Cater on the phone?”
“Gotcha! CATER! IT’S FOR YOU!!!”
You knew that he was loud in person, but over the phone, with the mic peaking, Kalim was even louder.
“Hellooo~! Cater speaking—“
“Hi, it’s me.”
“Oh! We were just together, I didn’t think you’d call so soon. What’s up?” he spoke in a voice softer than the one that he had first responded with.
When he spoke to you, his voice was calmer and more honest. Yet, he still always sounded excited when he heard your voice. It was something that he did unintentionally, but you never failed to notice it and smile to yourself.
“I just realized that I still have your jacket. You want me to bring it back to you?”
“Hehe, aren’t I so lucky to have someone who would go through all that trouble just for me?” he giggled. “Hold on to it for me. You can wear it out until we see each other again since it looks super cute on you anyways!”
“But it’s so cold out! I don’t want you to get sick and—”
“Like you said, it’s cold out,” Cater parroted you. “That’s why I don’t want you coming to me and getting sick yourself. I have other jackets I can wear—and I’ll be seeing you tomorrow too.”
Knowing he wouldn’t back down with you, you reluctantly gave in. He was right anyways, though you didn’t want to admit it. Maybe you just wanted to see him again—as if the time in seven cafès wasn’t enough.
“Oh right!” you suddenly recalled what was in your pocket. “You left your phone in here, silly.”
“Ahhh, that’s where it was! I was worried that I might’ve left it at one of the places we visited,” he sighed. “At least now I don’t have to retrace my steps and visit all of those cafès again.”
“So you did know it was too many!” you reprimanded. ”Anyways, don’t you need your phone?”
“Hmm…” he thought for a while. There was a long pause of silence before his response. “Nah!”
Huh?
“I’ll pick you up for class tomorrow morning and you can give it back to me then! Keep it safe for me, will you?”
Huhhh???
“Ah, but could you post a few of the pics we took today on Magicam? It’s peak engagement time right now!”
“Sure, but—you really want to go without your phone today? And which pictures should I even post?”
“I needed a social media detox anyways,” he answered. “And for the pictures—well, I trust your judgment!”
HUHHH??? Cater Diamond? Without his phone? You obviously knew that he could live without it, but he didn’t seem to mind just leaving it with you in the slightest. It was the first time that you had ever seen him be okay with someone else keeping his phone.
“O-okay, if you’re really sure about it,” you hesitated. “What’s the password?”
“I trust that it’s in safe hands,” he spoke with confidence in his decision. “And you won’t need a password.”
No password? You held his phone in your hands, the red diamond on the top right corner of his case staring at you. “You really don’t mind me having your phone to myself, right?”
“Of course not! Not if it’s you,” he laughed. “You can go through it all you want. Oh—it’s getting to the good part! I gotta go—“
“The good part? Are you guys even playing anything?” you questioned. You just barely caught a dramatic confession line through the phone in the poorest audio quality you’ve ever heard in your life. “Are you—are you guys watching a movie?”
In the background, you hear another voice. “Hang up, HANG UP.”
Click.
Lilia.
Everyone knew that their club did fuck nothing, but how did they seriously get away with watching a whole movie? Since you promised him, you figured you should get that post up on Magicam. After all, with every second that ticked away from “peak engagement time,” the algorithm was working against Cater’s ever so hard earned likes. Plus, you had already established that you weren’t going to be getting that post-date nap anytime soon.
With each picture you scrolled through, you felt your heart grow soft. In just the one day that you two spent together, Cater had managed to take so many. Ones of you smiling, ones of you eating, and ones of you together—all of which were saved into an album with your name on it.
The album had hundreds of photos saved to it dating all the way back to when you and Cater were just friends. It was odd to think about when you weren’t dating Cater. Looking at the first picture in the album and the most recent one, you thought about just how close the two of you have gotten.
The first photo was of you, Cater, Trey, and Riddle at an unbirthday party—smiling, but formal and distant. You remembered how, at that time, Cater had taken pictures of all the sweets and then put it to the side—saying it was Way too cute to eat! or something to that effect. The way he took so many pictures was still the same, but now he told you the truth—saying Sweets kind of gross me out or I’d rather watch you eat it instead ☆〜（ゝ。∂)
The most recent photo in the album was noticeably less tense and more intimate. A close up selfie of both of you—Cater hugging your shoulder and kissing your cheek. Your eyes were pinched closed while Cater’s were closed gently. You couldn’t help but think about how happy you both looked. Just looking at the picture made you feel the warmth of his immense love for you and heightened your own immense love for him.
It had been some time when you finally remembered to post the pictures to Cater’s page and you were guessing that “peak engagement time” had already passed. Regardless, the moment the post loaded, likes started to rake in.
Of course, you knew he was popular. He put so much effort into posting and making his feed look nice that it would only make sense for him to get so much attention from it. You wondered how, with all of those likes and followers, he was still able to pour so much time and attention into you. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you wondered if that time and attention would last. But for now, you would accept his love for what it is and give your love to him.
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When you came back to the couch after a study session, you picked up Cater’s phone into your hands. Your tired eyes checked the time to see that three hours had passed and the phone automatically unlocked as you showed your face. Just three hours and hundreds of likes and comments had appeared on the post.
Cater has said that you could go through his phone all you wanted, but when you thought about it, you realized that you had already seen mostly everything before. He never really hid anything from you and neither of you felt the need to keep things secret from each other.
You looked at the taskbar that held Magicam, messages, photos, and his music app while you contemplated which one to open. The one app that you had never really considered looking at was the music app. Sure, why not?
As you would expect, his playlists were organized and pleasing to the eye. Not only were his public playlists complete with fancy font and filtered images, but so were his private playlists.
You admired Cater’s music taste. He listened to a wide variety of music and it reflected in the band’s setlist. If you were introduced to new music, it was almost always Cater that had shown it to you. His playlist titles were things like guitar riffs and great mixing! for music that he wanted to play with the band. But there were also playlists that were just top hits that he loved.
Scrolling along, you found a playlist entitled with just your name. The picture was one that you recognized as a date you went on a few months ago. That day, the two of you went on a picnic and Cater had brought his acoustic. As the sun was setting, he had played you a ballad that he liked as a kid and told you that it was one of his favorite songs.
The picture on the playlist with your name was your fingers connected with his in a heart shape between the bridge and the pickguard of his acoustic. You opened it to find a handful of songs—all of which were representative of your relationship.
Songs you listened to on dates, songs you guys made fun of together, and songs that reminded Cater of you were all compiled into a neat playlist. You recognized one from the setlist of the first show you attended with Cater, a song from your favorite movie, and even a song that you mentioned liking during your cafè date just today. Most significantly, you noticed Cater’s favorite song—the ballad that he had played you at the top of a grassy hill with soft orange hues stretching across the sky.
You hoped with all your heart that you would make more memories like that—more memories with Cater. Thinking of more songs being added to this playlist, a wave of contentment and peace came upon you. And soon, you had your post-date nap.