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Caitlyn stretched one leg and rested her foot on the back of the couch, getting comfortable for the rest of pizza and movie night with Jayce.
They did this every Friday, without fail, and had since Caitlyn could remember.
Initially, it was to get out of her big, empty childhood home for a night, then it was a break - for both of them - in college, and now it was a night with a friend that Caitlyn always, always looked forward to, regardless of how her week at work had gone.
Jayce had gotten up to grab them some popcorn and drink refills - he’d lost their usual game of rock, paper, scissors when he’d chosen paper, like a moron - and Caitlyn was scrolling on Instagram while she waited for Jayce to return with their snacks and sugary drinks.
She sent a funny cat video to Viktor, who loved all animals, she liked a few posts about new jobs or house purchases, rolled her eyes at more than one engagement announcement for an obviously doomed couple, and was watching the most recent video from her favorite tattoo and piercing parlor, run by a Zaunite veteran whose hand was steady and whose demeanor was no-nonsense, which Caitlyn appreciated, when a notification popped up at the top of the screen for a message request.
Curious, though not burningly so since she was, like every other person in their late twenties, very familiar with messages from spam accounts, Caitlyn watched the rest of the video, liked it, and typed a quick comment to help boost the small shop’s engagement, and then tapped over to her messages to see what the random DM was all about.
Caitlyn blinked at her screen as she saw the handle.
@ViforViolence was one of Jayce’s gym acquaintances, and not one Caitlyn had ever met or had any particular interest in seeing, since her “type” had absolutely, categorically, never been anyone Jayce enjoyed associating with aside from Mel and Viktor, and it was therefore pointless to learn more about her if they weren’t likely to to be friends or more than that.
But, the thing that was confusing about the DM was that @ViforViolence, though she was apparently very friendly at the gym - and hot, though Caitlyn didn’t put much stock in that since she and Jayce didn’t share the same taste - had only very recently followed Jayce back on Instagram.
He’d been thrilled earlier in the week when he’d gotten the notification from his cool, hot, gym crush.
It was a sign she was into him, he was sure.
Caitlyn honestly had had no interest in finding out any more about the sort of woman who would be interested in Jayce, since she’d walked in on a frankly upsetting number of trysts between Jayce and whatever plucked, polished, spray-tanned high society princess had snagged his attention.
She’d seen enough, thank you very much, and so she’d told him a quick “congrats” and changed the subject.
Caitlyn rolled her eyes at the handle and tapped it to open the DM, expecting to see some vapid, “will you tell your hot friend I’m free on Saturday?” message, her thumb automatically moving to hover over the “delete” button.
Oh.
Caitlyn’s eyes widened and her thumb froze over the screen.
And then she moved it out of the way to get an unobstructed look at the picture @ViforViolence had sent with the message,
heard from pretty boy that u guys were doing pizza night
As an… interesting grammatical choice, rather than a period, there were simply a number of spaces before the next phrase, which was the one, combined with the image, that was causing Caitlyn’s heart rate to skyrocket despite her relaxed pose on the couch:
if u ever get tired of takeout i know a great spot id love to take u to
Caitlyn blinked, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment to ensure she wasn’t dreaming, because the woman in the picture - pink-haired, tattooed, clad in a cropped tank top with the sleeves cut off, black sports bra peeking out - was something straight out of a lesbian fantasy, especially with the way she was shooting the camera a cheeky wink, tongue poking out of her half-smile between intriguingly sharp, perfect teeth.
An incredulous laugh bubbled out of Caitlyn’s chest, and she squeezed her eyes shut one more time, easing one open to peek at the screen and ensure she wasn’t having some sort of vivid hallucination brought on by too little sleep and too much caffeine.
“What are you squinting at?” Jayce asked, laughing at her - likely comical - expression, as he walked over to set their provisions on the coffee table.
Caitlyn cleared her throat, opening both her eyes like a normal person and putting her phone away. “Nothing! Oh, thank you for bringing popco–”
Jayce grabbed the bowl before Caitlyn could snag a few of the popped kernels.
He held the bowl out of reach, ignoring her protests, and squinted at her suspiciously.
“Okay, Cait.”
Caitlyn narrowed her eyes right back. “Jayce.”
He squinted at her another minute before he held out his other hand up in her face, index finger raised. “One, you are the worst liar, which we both know has gotten you in literally all of the trouble you’ve ever been in.”
Caitlyn opened her mouth to protest that claim, but Jayce practically yelled “Two!” and put up another finger. “You just thanked me for bringing over popcorn, even though it’s green and I know you can tell it smells like pickles, which you fucking hate.”
Caitlyn pursed her lips, trying to figure out a way out of that one, because…yes, he was right.
She hated pickles and, upon further, not-distracted inspection, he’d very clearly dumped a whole container of the awful seasoning on the popcorn, probably as revenge for having to get up off the couch to retrieve snacks.
“Three!” Jayce said, rolling the “r” and waving a third finger in her face with a flourish. “You haven’t torn me a new asshole yet for forgetting your yogurt drink things and sour candy.”
Caitlyn opened her mouth, shut it, and tapped her fingers on her knees.
“Let’s just watch the movie,” she muttered, giving up on an excuse that Jayce would see right through and instead leaning over to grab the remote, which Jayce snagged before she could reach it.
“Let’s not,” Jayce said cheerfully, wearing a shit-eating grin and holding the remote firmly out of even Caitlyn’s long reach.
Caitlyn huffed.
“Leeet’s,” he started, drawing out the word, “watch whatever’s on your phone that you’re doing such a shitty job of hiding.”
Caitlyn debated for a moment, and then decided that if Jayce was going to be an asshole and bring her popcorn to share that he knew she wouldn’t touch, that she could crush his hopes and dreams.
“It really was nothing, Jayce,” Caitlyn said, trying one more time to save his feelings out of a sense of friendly obligation.
He just kept grinning at her. “I don’t buy it, Cait.”
Caitlyn rolled her eyes.
“Suit yourself,” she told him, unlocking her phone, and turning it toward him so he could see the message.
Jayce’s eyes widened as he looked at her screen.
His eyebrows furrowed.
The gap-toothed grin faded, slipping off his face to let his mouth hang open.
He was, in short, stunned. Shocked. Flabbergas–
“What!?” he finally exclaimed, looking between Caitlyn’s face and the phone screen.
He threw the popcorn - which spilled - and the remote - the batteries for which popped out - onto the coffee table to grab the phone and hold it closer to his face, as if trying to convince himself it was real.
Caitlyn could relate to the feeling.
“But!” he said, raking a hand through his hair. “She followed me!”
Caitlyn shrugged, moving over to pat him sympathetically on the shoulder. “Maybe she’s just friendly.”
“Yeah, she’s very fucking friendly! I thought she…” Jayce trailed off, frowning at the screen.
Caitlyn blinked at him.
He was… genuinely shocked.
Not mock-upset.
Not teasing.
“Jayce…” Caitlyn said carefully, looking between Jayce and the picture that was still up on her phone.
“Did you…did you actually think that… she was into you?”
Jayce stared at her, despondent. “Yes, Cait! Jesus, you don’t have to be so mean about it.”
“I’m not!” Caitlyn protested, pointing at the phone. “Just…do you know, has she worn those shorts before?”
The shorts in question made it very clear that Vi had deliciously powerful, tattooed thighs.
Mm.
Jayce nodded, sighing the sigh of the lovelorn. “Yeah. She wears those all the time. She’s also got a tank top and a bandana in the same colors. I think a water bottle, too,” Jayce said.
A giggle bubbled out of Caitlyn’s chest before she could stop it.
“You’re laughing at me!?” Jayce demanded, face aghast, and Caitlyn hurried to rub his back soothingly.
“No, no of course not,” she said, giggling again despite herself.
“You are!” Jayce exclaimed, leaning away from her. “I can’t believe you! I’m heartbroken!”
Caitlyn giggled again, the situation too funny to stop herself, even as it made Jayce leap up from the sofa and wave at her accusingly. “I’m never this mean about your crushes! I can’t believe you’d do this to me! That’s it, Cait, I’m never telling you about anyone I have a crush on ever again, I’ll just be loveless and I’ll make Viktor my best man if I ever do find love, even though we all know he’d hate it and you look way better in a tux–”
“Jayce, that’s the lesbian flag!” Caitlyn finally managed to explain, interrupting her best friend’s rant.
Jayce froze, accusatory finger pointing toward her, mouth open, face red.
“Uh,” he said.
Caitlyn giggled again, biting her lip to try to prevent more from spilling free. “Yep.”
“I thought she just liked sunsets,” Jayce muttered, dejected, slumping back over to the couch to hand Caitlyn her phone back and bury his face in his hands.
Caitlyn rubbed his back and stretched out her other arm to grab him his disgusting pickle popcorn.
“Maybe she does,” she told him placatingly.
Caitlyn glanced down at her phone next to her, resolving to message @ViforViolence back as soon as Jayce was done having a crisis over falling for a lesbian.