"Wanna come to Joe's again? It'll be me and a few others though."

Oliver checked on the message several times. It arrived just as punctual as usual - shortly after the start of lunch break - but it had a different feeling to it. He fidgeted with the phone in his hand a little longer, pondering why he felt that way but gave in to the invitation anyway. While packing his things, Oliver's face carried a light smile.

After that one lunch meetup, Kazehiki's and his friendship has bettered rapidly. It almost looked like nothing has happened between the two. Oliver was glad to have a bit of delight in his daily life, especially now after his and Fukase's intimate phase has worn off again. Oliver has been feeling like a ghost in their apartment. Jumping out of that numbing sensation was barely doable for him if it weren't for his coworker to be helping him out indirectly.

Oliver wondered what lunch break would be like with several people. It has always been only him and Kazehiki so far, after all. He remembered the times in the food pantry but didn't count them as the same. Kazehiki knew the other coworkers and it wasn't all about eating and then moving on again. At least that's what Oliver has always imagined.

As soon as Oliver reached the restaurant, he was surprised to recognize a few faces of the other colleagues. He beamed all of them a weak smile but halted at a peculiar coworker. Instead of a friendly greeting, all he received was an intense stare, making Oliver frown in confusion. Her face was just as recognizeable to him; in fact, he has seen her several times before. 

Only a few months ago, she appeared in his work field out of nowhere and has laid an eye on him every now and then ever since. Oliver never came around talking to her or asking her about it, but now that he was standing so close to her, he wished he had done it. There was no certain indicator, but a chill immediately ran down his spine and the two of them solely stared at each other. The aura darkened for a moment and the blond had genuine trouble finding out of it again.

It was Kazehiki that managed to tear the two apart with his voice. Oliver flinched and looked up, still clearly bewildered from the unusual encounter with the young woman. He sat down on the last free seat between his friend and the woman, taking off his jacket only hesitantly. Everyone was now staring at them, causing Oliver to chuckle weakly.

"I recognize everyone but her, that's why I was a little thrown off for a moment."

"Her? Oh, that's Danielle," Another coworker said and nodded towards her. Danielle merely sat there and looked at the back of Oliver's head until he turned back to her. He still couldn't force a smile and gulped instead. Her eyes made him shiver in uneasiness.

"Don't be too crept out. She's not much of a talker, but she's friendly."

Kazehiki joked and the others joined in. Oliver tried to do so as well but couldn't really relax with a pair of eyes staring him down. He initially thought of just ignoring her and relax by talking to Kazehiki and the others, however, he couldn't take the eerie staring any longer and turned around to face her again.

Danielle didn't avert her gaze and instead met the blond's eyes while redoing her ponytail. Oliver gulped, unsure of how to react. He smiled weakly once more but got greeted with nothing but coldness from her side.

"Are you new by the way? I've been seeing you at work for not too long."

Oliver tried to evade the grim atmosphere by talking. He wasn't much of a talker himself usually, but this silence was driving him crazy. Danielle grunted annoyed and rolled her eyes.

"You're too bold to care for people like me. Of course you wouldn't notice me."

Oliver blinked for a few moments, processing what the woman told him. He already had a strange feeling about her, but he didn't expect her to snap at him like that. She continued to glare at him, unfazed of his smile fading. Oliver rose an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"You're really not much of a listener," Danielle sighed irritated and averted her eyes, looking at a set of students loudly entering the building. She gritted her teeth. "There's really no sense in telling you important things. You keep stomping with your feet on everything anyways."

"I can't recall to have ever talked to you before."

Oliver huffed now, just as annoyed as Danielle. Anger started to boil up inside of him again when finding her bash him for no reason. He couldn't recall to have ever interacted with her other than exchanging glances, and even so, she treated him this way. Unsure of where this behavior came from, Oliver tried to be patient but noticed himself slowly failing. Her sudden cocky attitude upset him even further.

Danielle looked back at Oliver, gave a sarcastic laugh and freed her hair from the ponytail, letting the strands fall just anywhere.

"No need to. I've seen enough to judge on that."

Shaking off the black hair strands on his hand, Oliver leaned back and eyed her up and down. The prior quietness radiated an eerie atmosphere but appeared more fragile. However, now that the woman was being as bold as can be, Oliver had no empathies left for her.

"You can do nothing than spread negativity, can you?"

At this point, Oliver didn't care that he was in a restaurant, surrounded by several people. Danielle was pushing his limits and he could barely hold himself back from snapping. The same anger was raging inside of him when he was faced with Kazehiki. Oliver usually would never let himself get this upset if it was not for the redhead, but he was facing the same scenario another time, despite Fukase having nothing to do with it. The blond was too captivated in his rampant emotions than to think rationally at this moment.

Oliver was about to snap another remark at her as she sighed heavily and shook her head, clearly in a nagging manner.

"Not quite. You as a person make me."

"What's your problem?" Oliver yelled, barely holding back to slap her right in the face. Danielle merely laughed at his reaction, not bothering with his temperament. Infuriating him even further with that act, Oliver stood up of his seat. He didn't get much further as a hand grapped him by the wrist and squished it tight. The blond jumped out of his thoughts and turned around, facing the stern expression on Kazehiki's face.

"You've got a lighter. C'mon."

Kazehiki dragged him away from the place without waiting for an answer. Oliver was too confused to react properly and merely let himself get led out of the restaurant. His mind slowly calmed down from the outrage. He sighed heavily as the knot in his chest loosened. Kazehiki sighed as well, but rather out of disappointment. He looked at Oliver and rose an eyebrow.

"What was that just now?"

"Haven't you heard her? She's been going nuts with insults," Oliver protested and scratched his neck. His prior tensed limbs ached now. Kazehiki looked at him confused, but shook it off fairly quickly.

"Out of no reason?"

Oliver nodded. Recalling the scenario once again, the blond felt his heart race once more. He bit the inside of his cheek, barely holding back a grunt. Kazehiki looked at him, pondering what to do next.

"Alright, just calm down. We'll make sure she won't be near you." Kazehiki chuckled lightly, a subtle sarcastic tone dwelling in his voice, "I already figured you're not much of a womanizer but damn."

Oliver frowned but smiled eventually. Kazehiki's way to distract him made him feel better, however, the blond wasn't quite satisfied. Something about her behavior and words weighed his heart down in a way he couldn't quite figure out. It almost felt like guilt, but Oliver didn't know what there was to be guilty about, so he merely threw that thought aside.

He breathed in deeply once more and made sure to have calmed down enough. Kazehiki casted him a weak smile and nodded at the door of the restaurant. "Then let's go."

"And what about my lighter?" Oliver remembered for a second and stopped in his tracks.

Kazehiki chuckled. "Sometimes you're so gullible. That was just an excuse to go outside, obviously."

Once the two of them got back to the others, Kazehiki made sure to be sitting between Danielle and Oliver. The blond took a sip out of his drink in relief. He had been on the verge of losing it back then and he knew very well that it would have no good consequences if he were to attack someone again. Once again, he was relieved to have Kazehiki with him to help him out. Those were merely little things, but they were what improved Oliver's day. He would have never admitted it a few years ago, but he was grateful for the aid.

"Anyways, so I was talking about my sister getting married in a few weeks," Kazehiki started with the conversation again, drawing Oliver's attention on him now as well. "And there's still the stag party ahead."

Kazehiki crammed a few papers out of the pocket of his jacket and laid them out for the group to see. Flashy colors and tacky glitter blinded Oliver's eyes. He had to smile at the successfully cringey invitations.

"I still need a few comrades. We need to make sure that guy will miss his freedom," Kazehiki laughed with the others joining in as well. "Who's in?"

A few coworkers immediately accepted, however, Oliver hesitated. Doing something outside of work with Kazehiki sounded tempting, but he wasn't sure how he was supposed to go out without earning a huge argument with Fukase. He never went outside if it was not for his job or food, so what was he supposed to say? His stomach turned solely at the thought of lying to his lover.

"What about you?" Kazehiki was looking at him now. Oliver smiled but slowly shook his head. His coworker did not give in and wrapped an arm around the blond's neck.

"C'mon, Oliver. That's going to be so much and you seem really hyped up already." Oliver smiled weakly and sighed internally. He was aware that it must not have been too hard to tell that he really wanted to see a change of things, but his mind reminded him to remain composed. He couldn't allow himself to slip that easily.

"That's an entire weekend though. I'm not sure whether I can make it."

"Why? Is it your husband?" Kazehiki flinched and tripped over his own words, "Err...or boyfriend? Man, I never asked."

Oliver chuckled and shook his head, playing it off as nothing to worry about. "Boyfriend."

"Either way, you can't just hang around with him all the time. Every couple needs a few things to do with others. That's only healthy."

"You're not wrong about that," Oliver mumbled more to himself than to Kazehiki and averted his gaze. His relationship, however, was already anything but ordinary, so he couldn't quite let that unspoken rule apply to himself. Sadness suddenly came over him, finding himself held back by his life once more. Finding enjoyment lead to another trap, but he couldn't immediately evade it. This time, it was just too tempting to decline another meetup. Oliver has been pondering for a while now about his life and he had decided some time ago that perhaps he deserved a bit of time off.

Nonetheless, Fukase immediately popped up in his head every single time. He couldn't do it. He couldn't allow himself to have the redhead find out. Oliver wasn't sure how far he was going to get by lying anyway. He wasn't trying to break off their relationship, after all, but just help himself dealing with it a little more.

Before Oliver could have thought everything through once more, he found himself agreeing to Kazehiki's invitation. Cheers immediately echoed in the blond's ears. He wanted to be happy about it, however, there was nothing but guilt spoiling his stomach. Oliver immediately changed his mind. He couldn't betray Fukase like this. He wasn't thinking clearly for a second, but he wasn't going to make this turn into a big mistake. 

Oliver made sure to let everything sink in for now but tell Kazehiki about his real reason to not come later on once they were alone. He was certain of it. For now, however, he enjoyed his friend to be this fired up about the stag night.

"You're going to love it. All of us are not paying a single cent and we get to stay at that place."

Kazehiki crammed out a booklet, pointing to the pictures of a luxury-hotel. Oliver gazed at the depicted bedrooms in astonishment. He hasn't looked at pretty furniture setup in a while and he also didn't care much for it, however, it was mesmerizing at the moment. It seemed surreal and completely out of his daily routine.

Oliver stared at the pictures a little longer as he felt the arm around his neck tightening. He looked up and found Kazehiki smiling at him brightly. Oliver joined in and chuckled. Suddenly nothing of the prior sadness was left anymore; genuine happiness travelled through his body and electrified his limbs. Oliver was actually excited despite not even going, but he couldn't hold back the enthusiasm.

All of his positive feeling vanished all at once as a sudden flash went off, blinding the blond. He gasped in shock and found himself staring at the phone in Danielle's hand. The blond immediately pushed off Kazehiki's arm and stood up, trying to snatch away the phone. Danielle was quicker and put it back in her bag, glaring at Oliver once more.

"Delete it this instant," Oliver demanded and stared her down just as irritated. However, Danielle did not move and merely grinned at him slyly. Oliver repeated himself once more, this time much louder and with a threatening undertone.

"What's up? It's just a photo." Another coworker jumped in-between the two of them, clearly confused with Oliver's harsh reaction. The others joined in as well, just as weirded out at the sudden change of atmosphere, but Oliver did not budge. Kazehiki watched the scene in suspicion and stared at Danielle. The woman quickly noticed and frowned cautiously.

"I'm new to making friends. I just wanted to capture this beautiful moment."

Kazehiki wasn't much convinced of her reasoning, finding Oliver still this upset but decided not to say anything. Instead, he grabbed Oliver by the arm and told him for the two of them to be going early. The blond hesitated but noticed to not have a chance to get rid of the photo. While getting ready to go back outside with Kazehiki, he tried to calm himself down again. It was just a photo, but his suspicions just wouldn't leave him at peace. Something about Danielle made him feel uneasy.

The two of them quickly waved goodbye to the others and left the restaurant. No one said a word, both knowing that something was off about the situation. Oliver kept on pondering what was with Danielle, but he couldn't get his hands on any useful piece of information. It almost drove him crazy that it felt like another wave of disasters was about to drown him but there was no clue, as of yet.