Requested by marshies_library

ENTP (male) x INFJ (female)

It was dark and stuffy and hopeless. 

Being stuck in an elevator is a complete waste of time. Being stuck in an elevator with a stranger is an anxiety-inducing experience.

Cassiopeia just could not explain what is happening and what she is currently feeling. 

It started with her taking the elevator to go back to the floor where her department is located and a guy, she would see around the design department, taking the same elevator as well. Suddenly, it stopped while it shook a bit and now they are stuck in the darkness...on an unknown floor. 

For the past few minutes, she’s been pressing on the yellow emergency button with hopes that someone would come to save them at any minute. The man beside her resorted to sitting on the ground. He brought out his phone and tried calling for, assumably, help. But no one answered. Maybe there’s no signal in this dark and stuffy elevator. 

“You might as well sit down as we wait for someone to get us.” Cassiopeia hears the man speak from behind her.

Quietly, she complies, placing her things first on the ground.

“Ah, wait!” The man suddenly utters, causing the woman to stop in her actions. He turns on the flashlight in his cellphone and places it facedown on the ground. With the soft light illuminating just enough space in the elevator, Cassiopeia watches how the man takes off the jacket around him and lays it on the ground beside him. “We wouldn’t want you to sit on the dirty ground, would we?” 

She could not mask her surprise with the sudden chivalrous act. “Oh! Well, uh...thank you.” She nods her head at him, acknowledging his gallant action before finally taking a seat on the ground with the jacket under her. It’s nice and a bit embarrassing to know that a stranger is being kind to her. She won’t ever say that out loud to him though. 

Both of them lean on the wall behind. They stayed silent which Cassiopeia was starting to enjoy. Basking in the quiet of the dimly lit elevator was actually starting to calm her nerves a bit. But apparently, the man beside her is not that much of a fan of silence.

“I’m Altair, by the way,” he says, looking at her for a bit before turning his head to look before him again, “but you can just stick with calling me Al. Everyone I’ve met always had a hard time saying my full name or that they didn’t understand it.”

“Altair?” She repeats in a questioning tone. His name completely piqued her interest. “Like the star?”

Altair looks at her, his bewildered expression clearly shown on his face. “You know my name?”

“Yeah!” Cassiopeia answers, starting to grow excited. "It's one of the brightest stars in the galaxy! It also means 'bird' or my favorite, 'soar'.” She shifts a bit to her side to face him. “It’s actually of Arabic origin and it’s part of the Aquila constellation which is…” the words die in her throat as she grows conscious of how much she has shared to a mere stranger! “Sorry, sorry,” she instantly mutters, fixing herself to look before her again. 

“Oh! There’s nothing to be sorry about!” Altair clarifies. “I actually am amazed that you know my name and the origins of it. This never happened to me and I can’t believe that I’m experiencing this at such a weird place like an out-of-order elevator.”

“Well, one does go through new things every day.”

Altair breathes out a laugh, “I second that.” He then looks to his side to observe the features of the woman beside him. She sits with her legs crossed by her side and her hands rest on her lap while her bag sits idly by her side. “And you? What’s your name?”

She turns her head to look at him. “Cassiopeia,” she answers, a small smile gracing her features. 

“No wonder why you know a lot about the skies. You’re named after one of the most famous constellations!”

Cassiopeia grimaces. “It’s a pain though since people get confused with the spelling.”

Altair nods in assent. “It can be tricky at times if you’re not used to it. But I’m used to the name so you don’t have to worry. Cassiopeia, aside from being very knowledgeable of our skies, what do you do in our magazine office then?”

She looks down at her hands resting on her lap. She bites her bottom lip and shows a bit of reluctance before answering, “...I’m, uh, part of the writing team.”

Altair sits up straight and cocks his head to the side, arching an eyebrow at her. “Really?”

She nods, going back to biting her lip. 

“Hm,” he hums in deep thought. “Well, I’m in the design team and I take charge sometimes with the layout of names at the last part of our magazine. I don’t remember seeing your name in the list.”

“Ah,” Cassiopeia scratches the back of her head in growing embarrassment. It’s not every day that she shares something like this with someone she just met. Though, Altair does seem like a nice guy that she can confide in with certain matters. “You don’t see my name because my alias is Miss Y.”

“Miss Y?” Altair repeats in a somewhat loud voice. “Miss Y of the “Ask Y” column?”

She replies, “Yes, I actually am the one responding to all the questions-”

“No way!” He interjects all of a sudden, gushing like a young schoolboy. “I read your articles!”

“Y-You do?”

“Yeah! I love them! Oh, gosh, I can't believe I'm talking to Miss Y herself!”

His enthusiasm is starting to warm her heart and perhaps, cause her cheeks to start blushing. Because she has to keep her real identity hidden in her line of work, she does not receive as much praise as the rest of her fellow writers in the department. The only people that know what she does are her co-writers, her editor, her best friend, and her parents. A normal person, like Altair, who now knows her specific job is something unheard of. 

“But Altair,” she utters levelly, “I answer questions from women in regards to love and relationships. You really read that?”

“Yes, I know the premise of the column and I still make time to read it especially when there is a new one released every month!”

She scrunches her eyebrows at him. “Why do you read it though?” She genuinely asks. Curiosity is eating up at her. Who would have thought that her audience would include the male demographic as well?

“I, uh…” He laughs shyly and rubs the nape of his neck. “I actually read it in hopes of trying to understand where we go wrong as men when it comes to dating and all that stuff.”

“Oh! That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Actually, that’s...that’s very nice of you to think of.”

“If I were to really be in a relationship with someone, I don’t want to be some guy who can’t even think of the woman I’m dating. I wouldn’t want to waste her time.”

“Then I hope you won’t mind my asking if my tips worked for you?”

Altair then busts out laughing which shocks Cassiopeia a bit. “Sorry, sorry,” he snorts, trying to collect himself. “I’m not laughing at you, okay?” He reassures her. “I’m laughing because, oh gosh, this is more embarrassing to say...I’ve never tried out your tips yet. I list them down mentally, but I still don’t have the guts to use them in real life. I’m not like you who could write these things out of your own experience.”

“Experience?” She raises an eyebrow at him as she throws him a playful look. “You think I write out of my own experience?”

“Well, that’s what I assume, unless…” he trails off.

“I have a secret which I’ll tell you. A secret from Miss Y to an avid reader of hers.” She beckons him to lean close to her with a finger. Altair goes to her slowly before she whispers, looking straight at him, “I have no experience at all! I just conduct research and survey my female co-workers in the department.”

Altair draws back in a gasp. “No way!” He exclaims, “But you write as if you’re an expert!”

Cassiopeia brings a hand over her mouth as she giggles softly, finding his antics to be funny. “I’ve never gone on a date and if there is a time wherein I almost asked out, I turn the guy down,” she explains, “Most people do small talk and I don’t enjoy that at all. If you want to talk about the end of the world, then go straight to talking about that. I mean, I even wrote one of my tips as ‘don’t beat around the bush anymore’!”

Altair’s mouth was still agape. “But-I-I mean,” he sputters, completely bewildered. “You write with so much hope for your readers and it makes us,” he brings his hands to his chest, “feel giddy inside. I’m a guy, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t gush over things that could make the heart flutter. Don’t tell me that you don’t feel that kind of giddiness or rush of excitement as well when you answer their questions.”

She shrugs nonchalantly. “Not really,” she utters truthfully. “I’ve never gone through something like that before, so I can’t really relate to it that much. I just do my job - releasing answers to the new questions every month.”

“But-” Altair gets interrupted when the lights in the elevator are suddenly switched on the soft whirring of the elevator then starts to grow in volume. In a soft jolt, the elevator then starts to move up again. 

They both look up, with Cassiopeia muttering, “Ah, it’s fixed now.”

“Building maintenance has finished,” a voice from the intercom announces, “Thank you for being patient with us.” 

They both stand, with Altair helping Cassiopeia up by offering his hand to her. She takes it and softly says a ‘thank you’ to him. He then bends again to pick up his phone to turn off the flashlight on it. Cassiopeia then returns his jacket to him.

“What were you trying to say again, Altair?” Cassiopeia asks as she dusts off her clothes before taking her bag from the ground. 

“Well, I wanted to say that-”

DING! The elevator stops at a floor and its doors slide open. Again, Altair is not given the chance to say what’s in his mind. 

Cassiopeia checks the floor number displayed on the elevator screen and heaves out a disappointed sigh. “This...this is my floor.” 

“Oh,” is the only word Altair manages to mutter. 

She turns to him and forces out a grin. “It was nice to meet you, Altair. It’s nice to know that there is someone else in our office named after the stars.” She waves at him before taking a step out of the elevator to head to her office room. 

And as the elevator doors start to close, Altair instantly holds them in place and stops them from closing any further. “Cassiopeia,” he calls her name in almost a shout. 

The woman halts in her tracks and turns to face him. “Yes, Altair?” She asks, throwing a look of confusion toward him.

“You know what?” He continues, leaning against the open elevator. He draws out a deep breath before exclaiming, “Screw small talk! Miss Y deserves someone who can take her to the planetarium at the science museum in the near future!”  

“Altair, where are you going with this?”

He clenches his hands into fists as they hang by his sides, hoping that this action would continue to give him the courage and confidence he needs to continue. “I...I would like to use the tip of not beating around the bush. Would Miss Y want to go spend time there with an avid reader of hers? I heard he wants to know more about stars and wants to use the tips he’s been learning for the past months.”

Cassiopeia could feel the erratic beating of her heart. It pounds wildly against her chest and the urge to smile widely is something that she can’t fight. She can't believe it...she's being asked out for the first time in her life. “Are you serious?”

He nods, the corners of his lips twitch up to form a smile on his features. “Will you spare some of your time for me?”

Beaming at him, she answers almost immediately, “Of course, I would make time for you.”

“Great,” he breathes out dreamily. “Ah,” he mutters, getting back to his senses. “Y-Your number. I’d like to ask for it-”

“You know where to find me,” Cassiopeia cuts him off, leaving him with the image of a playful smirk on her face as she finally turns her back toward him to walk to her room. 

And as the elevator doors finally close, Altair is still smiling like a lovesick teenager. “You bet I do, Miss Y,” he mutters breathlessly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you liked this!

Thank you for requesting and waiting ♡

Some positive traits of ENTP: ingenious, innovative, charming
Some positive traits of INFJ:
creative, decisive, altruistic