Names & Pages ⇢ A Dempsey (Patreon)

“I like you.”

Absolutely the most terrible start. A year ago, it would’ve been a miracle for A to let you through the door to their apartment. Granted, this time you were actually invited, but the words that have left your lips are ones that have been playing around in your mind for months.

It’s an understatement to say you and A got off to a bad start. But after all that there was chaos, the two of you beginning to understand each other, and for you, at least, there was some type of emotional connection.

And now you’ve blurted it out.

The two of you are standing in A’s kitchen opposite one another. They lean against the kitchen island and arch a brow in your direction.

They pause. “You’ve been acting weird.”

“I…” you begin, your lips twisting, bearing the expression of confusion. “What?”

A bounces from one foot to the next and opens their mouth again. “You’ve been acting weird for days.” They then nod towards you. “Is that why? Because of what you said?”

You didn’t expect to get this much out of A, not nearly this much. Although, that means they’ve noticed something different about you, at least, their observant nature counts for something.

“I suppose.”

A’s eyes flit over you for a brief moment before they look towards the kitchen’s exit. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say it,” they murmur. “We’ll forget it happened.”

That. That is definitely what you expected from A.

Once the slight shock wears off, you watch as A goes towards their living room, and you follow.

“I didn’t tell you that so you could ignore it,” you say.

A scoffs as they wander over to their bookshelf. “Believe me, ignoring it is the best thing we can do here.”

Anger engulfs you. Then embarrassment. Sadness begins to creep in, and if the notions about love and Greek mythology are all true, then maybe you should’ve seen this coming — yet you had hoped for a better outcome.

“Don’t do that,” you murmur after a steady breath. “Don’t discount my feelings.”

A’s breath hitches in their throat as their fingers wrap around a random book. One they have no interest in reading right now, but they need something to occupy their mind… something that isn’t you. A isn’t the one to have the emotional conversations, not about anyone else’s emotions, and definitely not about their own.

This is new territory for them. Completely unguarded territory that warps fear into them. A demi-god/dess, afraid of emotions — one of the things that makes supernaturals and humans equal.

A glances over their shoulder before fully turning to you. “If this is a conversation you want to have—“

“I’d want a much better response than the one you just gave me,” you retort.

That’s when A thinks about the situation. Seriously thinks about it. They know they’re different from the others, emotions don’t come easy, romantic feelings are even harder to come by. But… if A was being honest with themselves, emotional bonds with you haven’t been hard to come by.

Sure, you’ve gotten on A’s nerves at times. Tested their patience, and their personality but, at this moment in time, if A had to choose a person to trust with their life — there’s no doubt that you’d come to mind.

Maybe that’s the problem. A’s been dressing up their loyalty and (sort of) friendship to you as just that and nothing more.

And, possibly, it is something more.

“I don’t…” A flicks the pages of the book in their hands as they try to muster up the right words. “I’m the last person anyone wants as a partner.”

“I beg to differ,” you whisper back.

You’re not making this easy for them.

A grits their teeth. “We wouldn’t work.”

You take a step towards them. “Because we haven’t tried.”

“And we wouldn’t last as a couple.”

“Probably because you wouldn’t let it.” That’s another step towards them.

They’re looking you in the eyes now, and you stare right back. Beneath all the mixtures of hazel hues, you’re hoping to find a glimmer of emotion, one that screams I like you too but then A blinks.

“You deserve someone better,” A mutters, and now they’re the one taking a step back.

Your mouth opens to respond… but honestly, it’s not the reply you were expecting to get.

“Are you forgetting that for a solid month I had the idea of killing you?”

Ah, supernatural issues.

“Is that what it is? Is that what’s stopping you having feelings for me?” you question. You watch A have an internal battle with themselves for a moment before their head shakes.

“I’m being practical. You and I wouldn’t be practical.”

You swallow hard, ready to give up on fighting a losing battle until you suck in a breath.

“There’s one thing you haven’t told me yet,” you say. “Whether you feel anything for me at all.”

A couldn’t possibly tell you that. They couldn’t tell anyone that. Imagine, Athena’s most prized descendant falling for someone who’s human, someone who’s mortal… someone so spectacular that A failed to see it for so long.

They couldn’t tell you.

But in the pages of the journal in their hand, they’ve written about it vaguely. Barely realising that this is what falling for someone is.

Now they have a name for it.

And once again, your name is the one in A’s thoughts, and the one scrawled over their precious journal pages.