Ten minutes before class starts, the studio is about half full. Orym is finishing his warmup stretches when a pale figure catches his attention out of the corner of his eye. Rather than turning around to look, he glances up into the mirror spanning the wall in front of him instead and finds, to his surprise, exactly who he expected. Long white hair braided back, dressed in the kind of dark athleticware Orym's become familiar with him wearing, and carrying a mat beneath his arm is Verity, the tiefling who's become his partner for the aerial doubles course he started recently. Entirely unbidden, Orym feels his chest tighten with nervous excitement.
To say that he has a little bit of a crush would be...accurate. Though they've only had a few classes together, he likes Verity a lot. He's easy to talk to, kind, strong, graceful, and a skilled aerialist who's been a pleasure to work with and learn alongside. He also happens to be stunningly beautiful. Orym had gotten his phone number after their second class--to coordinate in case they want to practice together on their own time, of course. Mostly that, anyway. They haven't really done much texting, though. Orym is a bit too shy still to just start a conversation out of the blue. Given how abysmal his attempts at dating over the last few years have been, it's probably for the best that he doesn't telegraph his interest too obviously.
After a guy he'd been seeing for nearly a year broke things off with him, he'd told his friends he was perfectly fine on his own. But of course, no one was willing to accept that, and after a night drinking at Fearne's he'd found himself with a profile on a popular dating app (Sendr) courtesy of the combined efforts of Opal and Dariax, though everyone present had a little to contribute. The profile wasn't as embarrassing as he'd anticipated, mostly because Dorian and Fy'ra went back through and edited it after Dariax was done. Opal chose photos from his various social media accounts, though he had to veto all of them being shirtless. Why not, Nancy? she'd pouted. You're a whole bite-sized snack! When Dariax made the argument that he has a lot of nice ink to show off, he'd conceded to one or two.
Since then, he's received more dick pics and been on more bad dates than in his entire romantic history. It turns out a lot of guys on Sendr are just looking for hook-ups, which isn't his thing. It also turns out that a lot of guys on Sendr are kind of intense about halflings one way or another. If he's lucky enough to find someone who's interested in something long-term and is actually decent to chat with, things inevitably fizzle out when they learn he's a widower. He's had enough decent-seeming men ghost him after mentioning Will that he's taken to bringing it up right away just so he doesn't waste his time.
While his friends have encouraged him to keep trying, Orym has concluded that online dating just isn't for him. He really is perfectly fine on his own. His apartment is homey, he calls his mom at least monthly, he has a job he enjoys, plenty of hobbies, friends who love him--overall, he's doing pretty well for himself. Sure, he probably spends more evenings than he should scrolling back through his Instascry page just to watch videos of Will, to see his smile and hear his voice, his laugh--but who could blame him? He lost his soulmate.
Truthfully, he likes Verity more than he's liked anyone since Will, including his eleven-month ex-boyfriend. But he really hasn't been sure if that's mutual or if Verity is just that nice, and he doesn't want to make a fool of himself, especially when they make such great aerial partners. If he gets a friend out of this, he'll be happy.
Seeing Verity walk into one of his classes, though, he can't help hoping. Does he know he teaches at this studio? (Yoga, aerial yoga, dance fitness, a monthly self-defense class--his name is everywhere.) Is he here on purpose? Or is this a total coincidence? He hasn't gotten any messages today (unless they got buried under the endless notifications from the Crown Keepers group chat, which is always possible), which means either Verity wanted to show up as a surprise, or he didn't know.
One way to find out. He can't not say hi, anyway. That would be awkward. So he pushes himself up out of the walking calf stretch he was doing, takes a second to smooth out his dark green leggings where the fabric's bunched up around his knees, and waves with a small smile. He gets over to him before the tiefling has picked an empty spot to lay his mat out.
"Verity, hey," he greets warmly. "I didn't know you'd be here today. It's good to see you."
a first class
To say that he has a little bit of a crush would be...accurate. Though they've only had a few classes together, he likes Verity a lot. He's easy to talk to, kind, strong, graceful, and a skilled aerialist who's been a pleasure to work with and learn alongside. He also happens to be stunningly beautiful. Orym had gotten his phone number after their second class--to coordinate in case they want to practice together on their own time, of course. Mostly that, anyway. They haven't really done much texting, though. Orym is a bit too shy still to just start a conversation out of the blue. Given how abysmal his attempts at dating over the last few years have been, it's probably for the best that he doesn't telegraph his interest too obviously.
After a guy he'd been seeing for nearly a year broke things off with him, he'd told his friends he was perfectly fine on his own. But of course, no one was willing to accept that, and after a night drinking at Fearne's he'd found himself with a profile on a popular dating app (Sendr) courtesy of the combined efforts of Opal and Dariax, though everyone present had a little to contribute. The profile wasn't as embarrassing as he'd anticipated, mostly because Dorian and Fy'ra went back through and edited it after Dariax was done. Opal chose photos from his various social media accounts, though he had to veto all of them being shirtless. Why not, Nancy? she'd pouted. You're a whole bite-sized snack! When Dariax made the argument that he has a lot of nice ink to show off, he'd conceded to one or two.
Since then, he's received more dick pics and been on more bad dates than in his entire romantic history. It turns out a lot of guys on Sendr are just looking for hook-ups, which isn't his thing. It also turns out that a lot of guys on Sendr are kind of intense about halflings one way or another. If he's lucky enough to find someone who's interested in something long-term and is actually decent to chat with, things inevitably fizzle out when they learn he's a widower. He's had enough decent-seeming men ghost him after mentioning Will that he's taken to bringing it up right away just so he doesn't waste his time.
While his friends have encouraged him to keep trying, Orym has concluded that online dating just isn't for him. He really is perfectly fine on his own. His apartment is homey, he calls his mom at least monthly, he has a job he enjoys, plenty of hobbies, friends who love him--overall, he's doing pretty well for himself. Sure, he probably spends more evenings than he should scrolling back through his Instascry page just to watch videos of Will, to see his smile and hear his voice, his laugh--but who could blame him? He lost his soulmate.
Truthfully, he likes Verity more than he's liked anyone since Will, including his eleven-month ex-boyfriend. But he really hasn't been sure if that's mutual or if Verity is just that nice, and he doesn't want to make a fool of himself, especially when they make such great aerial partners. If he gets a friend out of this, he'll be happy.
Seeing Verity walk into one of his classes, though, he can't help hoping. Does he know he teaches at this studio? (Yoga, aerial yoga, dance fitness, a monthly self-defense class--his name is everywhere.) Is he here on purpose? Or is this a total coincidence? He hasn't gotten any messages today (unless they got buried under the endless notifications from the Crown Keepers group chat, which is always possible), which means either Verity wanted to show up as a surprise, or he didn't know.
One way to find out. He can't not say hi, anyway. That would be awkward. So he pushes himself up out of the walking calf stretch he was doing, takes a second to smooth out his dark green leggings where the fabric's bunched up around his knees, and waves with a small smile. He gets over to him before the tiefling has picked an empty spot to lay his mat out.
"Verity, hey," he greets warmly. "I didn't know you'd be here today. It's good to see you."