Hello, as promised, here is a short story about the romance between Celicni and MrCrimsonClean. They have both given me permission to write it. At first it was just for the memes, but then I had a bit too much fun with the whole writing process. Since I don’t know both of them that well (especially Crimson), lots of details are just artistic license.
Linkie
Our real selves.
The screen of his old computer flickered. Although the bright light of the summer sun never seemed to reach the dingy old one-room apartment, the numbing heat was palpable. Even the efforts of the ratty old ventilator that Cel bought from his remaining severance payment couldn’t bring the slightest sense of comfort to him. He scoffed as his eyes glued onto the screen. His other hand went straight to his back. Although the general practitioner advised him not to scratch his bed sores, but fuck it. If the wound gets filled with puss or he gets hospitalized again, why should he care anyway? His parents didn’t give a damn, his sister has long forgotten about him and Natalja, she-
He and Natalja met when they are both just young college students, full of plans and optimism for the future. Like a witch, she put a spell on him the moment he saw her. Everything she did made his heart beat a little faster, made his chest hurt with longing and made him crave her even more. Back then he promised the world to her, even though he had only mountains of student debt to his name. Still, she didn’t seem to care at the time. She said that his homemade gifts were ‘cute’ and ‘thoughtful’, she said that she liked the chocolate he bought from the convenience store, she smiled so brightly when he showed her his first measly paycheck.
How could she look at him with such warm eyes when she let herself be unraveled by another much wealthier man whenever he wasn’t by her side? Did that witch put a spell on him too? Was he only a practice dummy for her spell of lies?
His nails dug deep grooves on his skin. The smell of iron punctured the stale air, mixing in with his sweat, grime and musk. That ache numbed the thoughts about her just enough that he could sink back into his wheelchair again.
Karma was a finicky thing. Before, he believed that someday she will be punished for what she did, for all her lies and the pain she had caused. It never happened. He scrolled by her Instagram page. She’s showing off her engagement ring. In the background Cel could see a luxurious resort in some tropical island. Just seeing her looking so smug and satisfied made him lose any faith in cosmic retribution. Like with the rest of the world, she put a spell on the concept of karma and misfortune for the wicked and redirected it all on him. The car should have hit her, should have shattered her back and legs, made it that she would never be able to walk again.
She escaped. She got to have a fairytale wedding in September. All he got was a severance payment from his employer and a looming pile of medical debt on top of his student loans. It all felt like a cruel joke. The law of equivalent exchange only exists in fiction. In real life, liars get rewarded while the hard working man gets duped.
Liars get rewarded…
For some odd reason he got the sudden compulsion to go to Tinder. His mouse hovered on the button ‘make a new account’.
It was as if she put a spell on him.
He wrote that he was the head manager of a tech company, earning six figures.
Liars get rewarded…
He possessed at least two villas, one in Italy and one in Dubai.
A spell of lies.
For his profile picture he chose a photograph before his accident. The man in that picture looked so carefree, standing triumphantly and tall in his hiking boots.
He then swiped right to every girl he saw. It didn’t matter how they looked like or what they wrote on their profiles. His finger kept moving as if it was a mere game. Well, it almost felt like one to him. Within seconds he got a match. Her name was Crimson, an expat from Britain. Within minutes they began talking. It was all just surface level chitchat. Within hours they had a date set. She wanted to meet him specifically this Friday 2 pm. No compromises.
“I was almost afraid you wouldn’t come.”
She was taller than he had expected, but otherwise she looked just like photos on her tinder profile. Long blonde hair, a certain gentleness in her blue eyes and overall a slender, almost willowy figure. She smoothed out her sundress, fumbling a bit with the hem before glancing shyly at him. Her voice was so soft that he had to lean forward to catch her words lest they be carried away by the wind and bustle of the city center.
“It’s just that I have a busy schedule, so this was the only time I’m able to go before I fly back to London.”
“The bus was late.” Cel said.
He lied. Just before he left the front door, he hesitated so long that he missed it by minutes.
“I see.” She glanced at his wheelchair.
“Broken leg, I’ll be able to walk after a few months.” He quickly added.
She didn’t even seem to acknowledge his comment, opting to stare far off into the distance instead. Not even a curt nod of understanding was given to him. All of a sudden she flinched as if someone had shaken her from her stupor. She played with her hem again while her rosy cheeks deepened in color.
“Are you hungry?”
“N-no.” His stomach screamed at him. The heat was making it even worse. He had skipped breakfast this morning, but lunch in the city center for two people would be at least three days of groceries.
“Well, I do.” She then quickly added. “My treat, but in return you pick the place.”
They ended up going to a café that also sold potted plants and flowers. He couldn’t think of another one at the heat of the moment. His ex always wanted to go there, but they only went together once on her birthday. He saved up for that gift for at least a full month. Crimson’s eyes didn’t even linger at the prices at the menu card for one second when she look it up on her phone. With full ease she said.
“Great choice, it’s nicely lit.”
They didn’t exchange a single word when they both walked to the café. He didn’t know how to break the silence hanging above them and he bet that she had no clue either. The closer they neared the café, the more often she glanced behind her and the more she fidgeted with her purse. At times she forgot to pay attention to the uneven road and began to trip over her heels. Her gait was already unsteady, but the increasing panic in her eyes and quickened pace made it a very deadly combination. It was a surprise that they made it largely unscathed at the end.
Cel expected Crimson to calm down a little when they were both seated, but even then she couldn’t help but shift constantly in her chair as if she was bracing to run at any moment. She reminded him of the black cats his grandparents used to have. These poor things always looked like they saw death in person when he picked them up.
He sighed. If she wanted to leave this much, he will give her the opportunity to. The waiter hadn’t arrived yet to take their orders, so leaving early will be no big deal.
“Are you all right?”
“I-I’m fine.”
“Look, if it isn’t working for you, I’m okay with calling it a day. We can ca-”
“No, it’s fine, I’m fine, I’m just a bit nervous. It’s been a while since I talked to another person and-“ She trailed of. “And I want to meet new people before I leave Serbia.”
Cel raises his brow. It was difficult to believe that such a conventionally pretty girl would be this anxious about talking to others. On top of that, she was an expat, so he expected some degree of social aptitude coming from her side.
“What kind of job do you have.”
Her eyes were glued to the napkin that she kept fidgeting with. “M-Media.”
“Media?”
“I edit and draw a bit for others and stuff like that.”
“You draw?”
“Not that much anymore and it’s mainly as a challenge, eh, you know a personal challenge. It’s mainly things of some shows that I’m a fan of. It’s pretty obscure stuff, so I don’t expect you to know.” She awkwardly laughed. “It’s all Japanese animation.”
“You mean anime?” He asked.
“Huh, you watch anime too? You don’t strike me as the type to do so.” She said. A glint appeared in her eyes.
“You neither.”
Crimson huffed. “Come on, have you seen me. I’m the most stereotypical guy people expect to be into that kinda stuff.”
She gestured at her frilly sundress and hot pink purse as if this would prove her point instead of discredit everything she had claimed before. Cel barely held back a chuckle as she paused her rant to glance at her glittery bracelets. Although she tried to shrug off her embarrassment, her reddening cheeks betrayed her true feelings on the matter.
“But anyway, what kind of shows do you like. My favorite had always been Fullmetal Alchemist.”
As much as he wanted to tease her, he held back and answered truthfully.
“The 2003 version or Brotherhood?”
Immediately her eyes lit up. All her previous shyness melted away, leaving only a dazzling ray of everlasting brightness. The more and more she talked, the more Cel hung around every word she spoke. The girl was strange. Every aspect seemed to clash with each other, but for some reason he felt drawn to her. Never in his life did he desire to have the ability to slow time down just so they could talk longer. Both of their overpriced sandwiches were left mostly uneaten. There was no time to eat, not when the other option is to discuss what light novel series they plan to start or whether the sub is better than the dub.
He didn’t even notice that several hours had passed till he noticed the last rays of the sun brushed her pale skin. After she glanced at her phone, she watched the sunset over the window. The remnants of the afternoon light framed her hair like a halo.
“Did you know? Did you know that I almost chickened out? It seems so strange, you know, to meet a person you barely know, but it was more fun than I had expected.”
She paused. Her blue eyes wavered as she said. “Is it strange that I don’t want it to end?”
“I can walk you home.” Cel gulped. Since when was his throat so parched? “If you want to.”
His stomach sunk when she furrowed her brow. Did it come of too strong? His fingers began to tingle when he saw her slowly rising from her seat. Her mouth formed a tightlipped smile.
“My hotel is on the other side of the bridge. Perhaps we can call it a day on the bridge?”
“We can.”
The moment they left the café it was as if a spell was lifted in front of Cel’s eyes. It was as if all the liveliness of Crimson was stripped away from her. No longer was she smiling at him, no longer was she animatedly ranting about her favorite anime or how she was devastated when someone outbid her when trying to buy a figurine of her waifu. She reverted back to the self she was, the jittery girl who couldn’t even meet his eyes. Cel couldn’t find the courage to ask her why she suddenly acted so nervous. So he said nothing. Silence crept back and wormed their way between them, just like when they first met.
When they arrived at the middle of the bridge, Crimson turned around. The evening wind made her skirt billow and her hair flutter. He could smell a very familiar. It wasn’t some flowery scent that most women he knew wore, but something much stronger. She raised her head. The expression she had was unlike anything he saw before. Cold, calculating with a hint of professional authoritative spirit. At first Cel thought that she was looking at him, but then he heard someone walking behind him. He turned around to see a man holding a small hand camera. The camera man smiled awkwardly at him before he made a weak gesture at Crimson.
“Didn’t I tell you to keep a good amount of distance?” She said. The camera man shook his head.
“We should tell him. It’s our final shot after all and we need his permission if we want to upload it, Mitch.”
Mitch.
“Wait, I knew your crossdressing shtick did convince tons of people on twitch, but he still hasn’t found out?”
Mitch.
“I thought that he already suspected me. My girl voice cracked multiple times. I thought-” That sweet breathy voice had vanished. A low tenor came in place, a voice that could only belong to…
Mitch.
“Our plan was to warn him as soon as you two met and then ask him to play along for the video. Do you know how much controversy it can cause if he makes a whole video about your ‘prank’ now?”
Mitch.
“Mate, please, chill out.”
Mitch.
“I don’t want us to spend the rest of our week calling the HR team to brainstorm an apology video.”
Mitch.
Cel wheeled between them, creating with his wheelchair a wall to separate the two men.
“You did all that just for views? Is it all to make fun of me? Haha, I made a crippled guy think that he was dating a girl?” He dryly chuckled. “What a joke.”
“It’s not tha-“
“There’s no need to explain more. I’ve heard enough. You, you can do whatever you want with that video, just don’t contact me anymore.”
Just before he wheeled himself out of here, a hand pulled on his arm, making him stop for a brief moment. He looked up to see tears pooling around Crim- Mitch’s eyes.
“At first it was fake. It was just a dumb video idea and a stunt. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I told you, I don’t ne-“
“But then in the café, I got to learn more about you. You were so fun to talk to and so sweet that I was scared to tell the truth to you.”
Cel tried to shake him off. He pulled at Mitch’s long blonde hair, only to have it fall on the ground. Like his voice, his locks were all part of his fabricated lies, all ingredients to his spell. The real Mitch sported a mop of shaggy brown hair. However, this reveal didn’t deter Mitch who managed to tighten his already strong hold on him.
“Everything, everything I told you in the café, all that was real.” He said. “I don’t want things to end between us.”
“Can you finally let go of me now?”
He sighed out of relief as Mitch relented. Not even wanting to spare a second glance at him, he hurried to the bus station at the end of the bridge. No matter how much he wanted to forget about this whole drama and think about any other thing, Mitch’s words haunted him during the entire ride and when he went to bed.
All that was real. I don’t want things to end between us.
Not long after he got another message from Mitch asking him to talk things over on Monday. On Tuesday he will be flying back home to London. He thought back to her wavering blue eyes.
“Is it strange that I don’t want it to end?”
He could still smell her scent on his clothes. It wasn’t something flowery, but something much more powerful and strong. He didn’t want to admit it, but in that short amount of time, he had grown fond of this smell.
To be fair, he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t showing his true self.
“I was almost afraid you wouldn’t come.”
They were standing on the same bridge. The smoldering afternoon sun bore down on them, but both ignored the pressing heat and its intense light that showed everything that was left to be unveiled. Mitch wore knee length shorts and a faded anime T-shirt. His blue eyes were now framed by a pair of thick rimmed glasses. In his current getup, Cel finally could agree that Mitch looked like the type to be a frequent watcher of anime. Cel dryly chuckled.
“To be honest, I didn’t want to, I really didn’t want to. But, I also have some things to confess.”
He cleared his throat before unleashing his word vomit.
“My previous girlfriend cheated on me, I’m currently unemployed, I don’t have two houses, so I’m basically broke. Not only that, but I was run over by a car and it turns out that this wheelchair thing I’m now in is permanent.”
Mitch blinked. Cel gave him a wry smile. Mitch might have lied about his gender, but Cel was even worse in the amount of lies he had weaved into his web. Even someone like him would be put off by it. He expected a look of derision or something that resembled full-blown disgust, but it didn’t come.
“Is that all?”
“Huh? What?”
Mitch tilted his head while a smirk slowly crept up his lips.
“All of it was very obvious. You came to our meeting place by bus and you hesitated to lunch with me even though your stomach was rumbling so loudly that the cameraman could hear it.”
“B-But the other things..”
Slowly his cheeks reddened as he spoke. “I-I was a bit curious about you when we were chatting on Tinder and of course I have to take precautions and ensure you weren’t a creep. So I stalked a bit on your other social media accounts using your profile picture.” He quickly added. “I swear it’s not creepy.”
This time it was Cel’s turn to chuckle. “It kind of is. Perhaps not on the level of spending 500 pounds for an Asuka figurine, but very close.”
“It was worth it.” Mitch muttered.
Amongst all the hustle and bustle of the city center, a pregnant pause then fell between the two men. Mitch rubbed his neck, fidgeting with the collar of his shirt.
“Anyway, what I also wanted to say, I know it might be preposterous, but I would like it if we were to see each other again. You can come visit me in London or I can come to Serbia again. Ah, I know that you’re probably straight, so it doesn’t have to be a date. I’ll also be more than glad to be just friends, if you want to of course.”
Cel was still taking it all in, carefully considering his words. Just before he could answer, Mitch chimed in again.
“I totally get it if you don’t want to see me ever again. We can all forget about it. You know, I could even give you some form of compensation.”
Cel grinned. “Then I’ll take up on your offer. As compensation, you can pay my flight to London.”
Slowly Mitch eyes began to widen. His cheeks slowly turned more and more pink as he stepped back and almost lost his balance while doing so. When he gained some semblance of composure back, he gave him the brightest and dopiest smile Cel had ever seen. For some strange reason, even though Cel was well aware that Mitch was a guy, his heart started beating faster.
“I still haven’t forgiven you, but you know, it would be hypocritical of me to stay mad at you. I lied about even more things than you. So I guess we’re even.” Cel rubbed his neck, ignoring the rising heat on his cheeks.
He was straight. He swore on that. Yet, his heart couldn’t stop beating when Mitch folded his hands over his. Yet, he couldn’t help but lean forwards to chase after his scent. Yet, he didn’t say anything when Mitch lips brushed over his cheek.
