You woke up the morning after your excursions with Angel to multiple texts from the man, confirming that your chaotic day with him wasn't just some frenzied, vivid dream.

4:33 - sunshine ☀️

- (y/n)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- mom and dad are my friends 🫂 and i text them every morning right when i wake up 😋 so im texting you too!!

- so

- GOOD MORNING PRECIOUS 💗💗💗

4:36 - sunshine ☀️

- omg

- im so sorry

- its so earlyyyy ahhhh

- and i texted you oh no

- im so sorry

- i hope i didn't wake you

- i should stop texting probably i think

- ahhhhh

- okay byeeeeeeee 💘💞💖💗💓

- sorry again ugh

It was all you could do to laugh at the way he conveyed such panic about texting you while continuing to still text you... the logic wasn't there but it was still pretty endearing. Thankfully you had slept through his texts and woken up at your normal time due to your alarm, but you doubted you could even bring yourself to get mad at such frenzied sweet texts if he had woken you up earlier- he was just too sweet and earnest to be.

6:02 - you

- hi angel :)

- good morning!

- its okay don't worry! i just woke up

You were about to ask him why he was up so early, but he responded before you could even type two words.

6:02 - sunshine ☀️

- (y/n)!!!!!!!!

- im so glad i didn't wake you i think i would cry 😣

- i was up cause i had the suppppper early shift with megistos 💪💪💪

- im gonna convince him to let me visit you on break tho!!!!!!

- he's so cool man

- like i just look at him

- hes like the most hero ever

- oh no he saw me on my phone 😟

- (Y/N) HES GONNA TAKE MY PHOIDHUIU09

You stared at your phone in a combination of shock and mirth at the series of events you just witnessed take place. You felt bad that James definitely took the man's phone from him, but you also knew you couldn't spend the whole morning texting him when you had work to do. You almost thought to check if James texted you since you had silenced him, but you decided instead to get ready for your day. Was avoiding your problems wise? No. Were you ready to confront your friends though? Also no.

About halfway into your breakfast one of your employees, Maeve, called you informing you that she woke up sick and wouldn't be able to come in for her shift that day. She was one of Gran Gran's friends like Montell, so you knew at her age she shouldn't play around with any bout of sickness. After sending her your well wishes you sent a text out on the store group chat to see if anyone could pick up her shift, but you weren't too hopeful. You knew your two high school employees were on a joint family vacation, and all the other elderly employees never really remembered to check the chat regularly.

As much as you hated running the store by yourself, you knew you could manage it. You'd manned the shop alone a lot when Gran Gran first died, which wasn't... well, you didn't need to get into it. But if you didn't run the store into ruin by yourself then, then doing it now that you'd escaped your minor depressive period would be a breeze.

You finished your breakfast and trudged downstairs to begin to set up shop. Yesterday a new shipment had come in while you took the day off, and your absence was evident by the disorderly fashion of the shop. Plants were incorrectly strewn about in the wrong places, and there was floral foam and ribbon everywhere it shouldn't have been. Huge boxes filled with heavy potted plants were littered around the place, and your back was already aching thinking about having to move them around. You sighed, almost regretting not working on a shipment day, but the memory of your fun with Angel was enough for you to be at peace with the situation.

You began to make quick work of the shop. You weren't even half done by the time the doors opened, but you thankfully didn't have many early bird customers. When the clock struck 11:00 you had finally finished picking things up, and while you certainly felt proud of how you managed to clean things up all on your own all morning, you were also exhausted. Managing actual hard labor with customer service on your own had you aching to close shop early to return to bed, but Gran Gran had only closed early once, the day your parents died and she had to pick you up from kindergarten. No shot you'd close early for anything less important than that, so you resolved to press on until actual close.

You were in the middle of checking out a customer when the shop's bell rang, drawing your attention from the card you were swiping to the door where James surprisingly stood- even more surprisingly out of his hero suit. You wondered for a second if you were having an exhaustion-induced hallucination, squinting at your friend quizzically as you handed the customer back their card.

"Thanks for ordering... Uh- we'll send a text to the number on file when that bouquet is ready for you. Have a nice... a nice day," you groggily addressed the retreating customer, who gave James an awed double take as he strode over to your counter like the handsome little shit he was.

You quickly surveyed the room to make sure no one else was still in the shop before confusedly confronting the man. "Why are you here out of your suit? Angel texted that you were both working this mor-"

"Wait, he was seriously texting you?" James cut in. "I thought that was a lie when I took his phone."

You sighed at the interruption, rolling your eyes. "I was still talking. And, yeah? Why would he lie?"

You moved around the counter so you could stand by him more comfortably, leaning your body on the cold countertop to support your aching body.

"It's not that I think he would lie, it's that I didn't think you would give him your number. You said you didn't want to date him, and you're better than leading on a guy who likes you. Unless you changed your mind?"

"Not dating. I'm not leading him on either, he's my friend. So-"

"Are you serious? That's not gonna last long. Friendships don't play out well when feelings come into play," he stated frankly before a twinge of some unreadable emotion flashed across his face. "That's why you and I work so well."

"Uh, I don't know if that's always true, but sure..." you smiled tensely, the irony of his words not lost on you at all. "But, uh- he doesn't like me anymore. Never did."

"Oh. He was serious about that too?"

"Yep. We figured out that he just can't differentiate between platonic and romantic feelings since he's had pretty much no friends his whole life. Seriously, Jamie- no friends. But he's really great to hang around! I know you said he was childish, but I think he's just really optimistic in the pure way that kids are. It's kinda sweet."

"Huh," James replied blankly, not offering any more of his thoughts.

You chuckled through a yawn, ignoring his slightly abnormal disinterest. "Maybe we should all hang out some time together. He said he sees you as a friend- 'sorta.'"

James gave no physical inclination that he was hearing anything that you were saying at all anymore, his eyes unfocused and slightly glazed over as he seemed to stare through you. You cleared your throat lightly and he focused his attention back on you, though his nose was slightly crinkled up as if he were vaguely disgusted by whatever had just occupied his mind.

"What'd you guys even do, then? All he ever talks about is wanting to hug you and hold your hand and carry you around and shit like you're his girlfriend so I'm not convinced by this whole 'I'm okay being the pretty girl's friend' act," he sighed flippantly.

You were feeling nowhere near as nonchalant as him, however, your heart practically performing gold medal level gymnastics in your chest, because James had just called you pretty. It wasn't one of those half-compliments or compliments disguised as insults- it was an objectively complimentary statement! Yes, it was indirect and seemingly unintentional, but this was a huge win for you and your brain was very much short-circuiting. Thankfully, it only took you a few moments of stunned silence for you to recover, mentally noting to inform Benny and Sarah of the momentous occasion that had just taken place.

"Well, um... just cause you and I aren't super touchy doesn't mean all platonic relationships can't be, right? Like, Sarah and I basically merge bodies every time we're together, that's how cuddly we are. I wouldn't be surprised if physical touch was one of Angel's love languages in general, either. But he wasn't trying anything too touchy with me, and unless he goes in for a kiss or something crazy then I'm gonna believe him when he says he's cool with just being my friend."

James sighed deeply, a sure sign of his disbelief in your words. It frustrated you a bit that he was being so stubborn, and you didn't really understand why the topic of your relationship with Angel had him so worked up, but you got the sinking feeling he was gonna find some way to lecture you about this so you cut in quickly with your earlier question.

"Why are you here out of your suit, again?"

"Oh. I didn't want Angel following me here on my lunch break cause I wanted to be able to question you about... this, without him around. He's so clingy and all he does is talk about you. Drives me insane." He teasingly rolled his eyes, and a large part of you felt relieved at the resurfacing of your usual, playful dynamic.

You sent him a mock glare. "And why would talking about me drive you insane? You should feel lucky to get to hear about your favorite person in town- in the country even..."

"You think that's you?" he asked incredulously, and you swatted at his arm indignantly.

"I'm gonna look past that- for my heart's sake..." you responded dejectedly, your already tired eyes drooping more for dramatic effect.

"C'mon, you know I'm kidding," he tried to appease you guiltily, before frowning when you smiled wryly at him. "You're the worst."

"Right," you waved him off lazily. "I feel bad you left Angel though. You could've just called me privately and then came over with him so he doesn't feel left out."

"Really? Cause I've been texting you and calling you with no reply since yesterday. What's up with that?"

"Oh- you're actually so right, sorry. I wasn't checking my phone yesterday and I've had it silenced today. My bad," you smiled sheepishly, choosing not to confess that your ignoring him was somewhat intentional, though his frown informed you that your act wasn't too convincing.

"You were texting Angel this morning, though? I'm kinda surprised by you lately. You used to be super fast with your replies but now he's in the picture and I get dropped like that? I thought I was your best friend?" He somewhat playfully nudged you, but you stood up straight from your resting position in frustration.

"I mean, Jamie... I can talk to other people besides you and still be your best friend or whatever." You just told me I'm only your sister's friend, anyways, you wanted to say, but you were simply too tired to have another awkward confrontation with him. All the joy you felt about feeling any returned comfortability around him had quickly melted away, and you were back to feeling dejected in his presence. You yawned widely before continuing. "Anyways, Angel really needs a good friend, and in a way, I do too. The only person I know around my age in the city is you, and I just-" need a break from everything I feel around you "-wanna branch out and make some more in-person friends. Can you tell him to come over after your guys' shift? He said he'd come on his break if you let him but that's clearly already passed."

James stared at you, his green eyes darting between yours contemplatively. "Sure, I'll... I'll send him over."

"Thanks," you replied with a tiny smile, another yawn about to breach your lips when he did the unthinkable. Or maybe you were actually having sleep-deprived hallucinations, because... well.

Taking an almost hesitant step towards you, James proceeded to wrap you in a considerably intimate hug, arms circling your lower waist and head burying into your neck (hello???), before he then pressed a chaste kiss (HELLO??????) to your forehead before quickly turning around and speed walking towards the exit.

You gaped at the spot where he had stood like a dead fish. You didn't catch his expression as he left but you prayed it was as dumbstruck as yours, because no matter how you spun what he'd just done, it was utterly insane in every sense of the word.

You and James, in your nearly twenty years of friendship, had probably engaged in less than ten hugs, and almost all of them occurred before he turned ten and you six. He didn't even hug you after you got kidnapped by Rowan, and he was reportedly 'scared to death' by that encounter. You had engaged in significantly fewer kisses of any fashion (specifically one, when you were five years old and forced him to kiss your booboo better or else you would tattle on him for play-shoving you too hard), so you were effectively perplexed.

Your first move was to text your group chat entitled 'benny, his wife, and her wife,' to alert them of this second James-related catastrophic event of the day, because there was just no way you could balance all that had just occurred on your own. It admittedly took you a while, because you couldn't feel your hands and your eyes were going in and out of focus, and when you finally did manage to send them a rushed text, you were pretty incoherent.

11:56 - you

- jmamie bgf huggeds me

- kisa forehead

To your surprise, Benny was the first response.

11:57 - homewrecker 🫂

- What?

11:57 - you

- sorry let me try again

- james boyfriend hugged me

- and kissed my forehead

11:58 - homewrecker 🫂

- Ohhh okay now let me try again

- GIRL WHAT

- RUN

- HE'S EVIL FOR THAT

- He's playing with you (Y/n)

11:58 - you

- no

- no

- this means he loves me actually

- and we are basically dating now

11:57 - homewrecker 🫂

- Oh okay so you're delusional

11:58 - LOML <3

- Abt to go on air but had to hop on here

- This is insane

- Jamies evil for that lowkey

- But also you're def right babe

Yours and Benny's texts were identical and sent at the same time.

11:58 - you

- WHICH BABE

11:58 - homewrecker 🫂

- WHICH BABE

11:59 - you

- obviously me, bitch

- when have u ever been "babe"

- let's get real

11:59 - homewrecker 🫂

- IM HER REAL SPOUSE BITCH

- And I know YOU are not telling ME to get real

11:59 - you

- yeah okay stay mad

12:00 - homewrecker 🫂

- You know what? Okay! Sure!

- I'll be the flower girl at the wedding if we're all living life in fantasy land

- Gtg my 12 appt is probably here

- Pls don't be a dumbass (y/n)

- (More than usual of course)

You smiled amusedly at the text conversation, clicking off your phone and putting it back in your pocket. In a way, Benny's words helped sober your thoughts, because whatever James had just done, there was no way that your unserious interpretation of it was how your best friend intended to come across. The most logical explanation you landed on was that he was spurred on by your conversation about friends and platonic physical touch. He probably just wanted to give it a friendly, nonromantic try! It was a one-and-done friendship type of situation! ...right?

Well, whatever the truth was, you pushed figuring it out to the back of your mind to give all of your already depleted mental energy to your actual job. The stream of customers following James' exit was so busy that you barely had time to think of him anyways, and by the time things had finally slowed down a couple of hours before closing, you were far too exhausted to think of the man and his strange signals at all.

Seeing as the place was empty, you allowed yourself to take a short break in the back room to sit down and rest for a bit. You had to physically fight to keep your eyes open, and were nearly dozing off into the hand your head was propped up on. You groaned quietly to yourself as the shop bell sounded, followed shortly by the help bell at the counter, and you pulled your body back up to meet whoever it was with a tired, polite smile.

"(Y/n)!" Angel's face met yours with his signature smile, and to your sleepy surprise, you felt yours actually expand at the sight. You moved to stand behind the counter, propping your arms up on your elbows and resting your head on them for support. He leaned over from his side of the counter, wide eyes scanning your body cautiously. "Are you okay? You sounded like you were being possessed before you came out..."

Oh, well maybe your groan wasn't all that quiet... slightly awkward, but at least it wasn't a real customer and instead just a friend. And a seemingly non-judgemental one too, which was nice.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired but I'm okay," you responded quietly, your exhaustion only growing by the second. Your eyes dipped down to his casual clothing, and you felt slightly envious of how comfortable he looked in his light sweater and sweats. "Are you off now? I see you're out of your hero suit."

"Yes! Megistos held me back a bit or I'd have been here earlier," Angel grumbled as he looked down, kicking his feet. His head snapped back up to yours quickly- almost desperately. "Wait- that reminds me! He told me he came to see you over break and that he kissed your forehead! Can friends do that?!"

You were taken aback by his question, not only because he'd asked it but also because you had no clue why James would tell someone else that he had kissed you, especially if it was a mistake or a one-off thing like you'd previously assumed.

"Oh, um I guess so...," you responded with a sigh, too tired to truly consider the question. "Megistos... he, uh, he doesn't like me like that. So I guess forehead kisses can be platonic sometimes."

"So what other kind of physical touch is platonic? Cause I really wanna hug you all the time and, um, play with your hands and- and now I want to kiss you!"

"Uhh..." you furrowed your brows in slight concern. That didn't sound too platonic to you, and you weren't sure now was the best time for you to have to explain things to him again.

"On the forehead I mean! But also maybe on the nose? And also your cheeks! And your hair and your hands! You're just such a cutie pie I can't help it! I have the cutest and prettiest friend!"

He looked at you with the biggest, sweetest eyes you feared you'd ever seen, pleading to love and be loved so desperately that you couldn't find it in yourself to deny him. His requests still didn't seem quite romantic in nature to you, just... confused, maybe. You knew he just didn't have the experience of friendship to guide him, so for now at least, it all felt innocent enough. Even if you weren't certain you would be super comfortable with everything he spoke of, what harm would come from granting his requests if it helped him feel less used and discarded in a relationship? Besides, you let Sarah hug and kiss you on the forehead, so what was a little more with another well-intentioned friend gonna do to you? As long as Angel didn't have feelings for you it was fine, and you could always say no if he accidentally went too far.

"Um... if you want to, I guess you can hug me and kiss me the places you said," you finally agreed softly, before being a bit more stern for a moment to set a few boundaries. "No funny business with my lips or neck or anything like that, though. And if there's any other kind of touch you wanna do, you have to ask first. Okay?"

He answered by hopping over your counter and scooping you up into a bear hug. It was... different from the one with James. James' felt almost sensual, like he wanted the big parts of him to caress the small parts of you in a way, his actions revealing a secret for you to decode without any clues. But Angel's embrace was all-encompassing and told everything up front- it was an open expression of affection and kinship that didn't leave you wondering what it was he wanted. It was refreshing.

Honestly, you liked Angel's more, which was a surprise considering for so many years the only man you had ever really wanted to touch you was your best friend- romantically or not. For so long you'd felt it would be disloyal to let someone else's hands on you, even though James didn't touch you anyways.... Well in the past few days, something in you had seemingly shifted. You knew it wasn't that you were beginning to grow feelings for Angel, so maybe it meant you were starting to lose feelings for James? Such a concept was so foreign and too large to currently grasp, so you decided to instead focus on the man you were with now and melt into his embrace.

His arms were wrapped snugly around your back, and he nuzzled his cheek affectionately into your hair. You allowed yourself to lean all your weight onto him, which he held up with perfect ease. It was so cozy you almost wanted to cry.

"Angel," you whispered into his shoulder. "M'so tired."

He pulled away slightly to look at you, still bearing all of your weight as his eyes darted across your face. "Hey, precious- I think you should head to bed. You look exhausted." His voice was uncharacteristically softer than anything else you'd previously heard from him, its cadence pulling you closer and closer to sleep. One of his hands moved to cup your face carefully, thumb rubbing softly across your cheek. You leaned into his touch, eyes fluttering shut as you forgot to even answer him. "Yeah... I'm gonna take you upstairs and tuck you in and then I'll lock up shop for you... you might even be getting sick. Hero's orders!"

"No... can't. Gran Gran never closed early," you mumbled as you snuggled into him again, closing the distance between you two.

"Can someone come in and close it for you?" You shook your head in his chest. "I don't see a second option, then. I can't legally run the store since I don't work here and it would be risking my job... I think whoever Gran Gran is would want you to take care of yourself first. They would be proud of you for prioritizing yourself and wouldn't mind the missed hours."

You pulled away to look up at him with teary eyes. "But no one died... Don't make me..."

"No no, don't cry! Shh shh- please don't cry 'cause then I'll cry!" He wasn't bluffing, his eyes genuinely starting to tear up as well as he quietly panicked, so you managed to calm down from your almost-fit for his sake. He exhaled deeply before squeezing you tighter. "I'm gonna lock the doors and flip the open sign, okay? Then you're going to bed!"

"M'kay..." you sighed in resignation.

He gently pried you off of him, helping you to balance on the counter as he found your key and made good on his word. When he made his way back you were slumped over on the counter, dozing off. He quickly hooked your legs around his torso, and in your groggy state, you wrapped around his neck with your arms and nuzzled deep into his neck. You doubted you would be so keen to initiate so much physical touch if you weren't sleepy, but at least he wasn't trying anything with you- Angel was the apparent perfect gentleman. He promptly carried you upstairs to your apartment where he unlocked the door and brought you to your room following your sleepy instructions.

"Okay, precious! We're in your room!" he whispered happily, but you continued to cling to him. "You can let go now!"

"No...comfy," you argued, tightening your grip. He was so warm.

"I-uh-(Y/n)! You're really cute and cuddly when you're tired... I almost wanna keep you like this all the time! But you've gotta go to bed so you have to let go now," he said, voice laced with disappointment.

He bent down from his impressive height over your bed, prying each of your limbs off himself one by one. You groaned out soft protests, but he only giggled at your grumpy behavior. He plucked your phone from your pocket before tucking you in, and then plugged it in at your side table. He then sat gingerly at your bed gazing down at you.

You looked up at him through sleepy eyes, appreciating how soft and warm he looked through your blurry lens, like a true angel. You reached your hand up to cup his face, and your thumb accidentally brushed his bottom lip. "You're so pretty, sunshine."

His cheeks flushed a light pink, and you smiled softly as he leaned into your touch attentively. "Thanks for taking care of me today. You're a really good friend."

As you began to finally succumb to your slumber, you felt his hand gently brushing against your hair rhythmically. You couldn't tell for certain, but you also thought you felt the sensation of something soft pressing on your nose, forehead, and- after some hesitation- the corner of your skin right by your lip. Sleep pulled you from the feeling quickly, and the exchange was likely to be forgotten by you when you woke up.

...

Angel had felt a strange pang of longing when Megistos told him that he had given you a forehead kiss. He had definitely wanted to pepper your cute little face with kisses long before then, but he pushed those feelings down when you told him that likely he just wanted to be friends with you. No way he could kiss you as a friend! But then to hear that your other friend had given you a little peck? Did that mean that he could also do the same? He had to find out.

So as soon as he'd changed out of uniform and showered he'd flown as fast as he could to Francesca's, and just as usual- you were plain adorable! You looked a bit out of it, but it was a nice contrast to the version of yourself that was always a little bit too uptight and stressed for your own good. Although, the stress was probably what led you to look so tired, when he thought about it.

He stopped worrying about that fast enough though when he remembered his prior question, and when you said yes to his request, he felt like he'd won the lottery! The friend lottery, of course. He was so happy it wasn't even that hard to ignore his small pang of disappointment when you said your soft-looking lips and pretty neck were off limits... besides those were not places that friends want to kiss anyways. And he was your friend! He was happy to be your friend! Seriously!

And being such a good, empathetic friend, when he asked you to go to bed and you started tearing up, Angel felt such intense resentment towards himself for ever hurting you at all. He hadn't cried properly since he was a child, but something about making you upset had him choking back sobs. You were just special like that, he supposed. While he just knew that you would cry the cutest, sweetest tears and you would look at him so prettily with such beautifully sad eyes, he couldn't live with himself if he was the reason. He had never felt such relief as when the tears dried up and you were smiling up at him again.

And next thing you know, you were clinging onto him and nuzzling into his neck? You were like a little koala bear, and his heart almost couldn't take it. Never had he really taken care of someone like that before, so to do it for his first real friend had to be one of the best feelings he had ever experienced. It wasn't shallow happiness or fabricated joy like he was used to. It was just pure, unadulterated bliss.

As he laid you down in your bed and tucked you in, he wished he could cuddle up beside you and hold you tight, savoring this happiness just a little bit longer. But he didn't wanna push you too far, knowing he had already experienced so many more tender moments with you than your previously guarded self might've allowed. And he really was about to leave you to rest, truly- but when you gently reached up and brushed your soft little fingers against his bottom lip and then cupped his cheek, he froze. For a moment he felt those feelings he'd been ignoring rise at such an innocently suggestive gesture, but then...

Well, you called him a 'good friend,' and that put him right back in his place... mostly. Because while he relished in your praises and felt genuinely contented being your friend, something about the word made him feel an ache in his chest. You told him he didn't like you romantically, and he felt inclined to believe you, so what was the issue? Maybe he just wanted to be your best friend? Yeah... that was probably it. That's why it hurt so much. He would become your best friend, and then he would be satisfied.

Once again feeling like the happiest guy on earth, he just couldn't help himself from lightly pecking your nose and forehead with sweet, friendly kisses. He smiled in satisfaction until his eyes glanced down to your lips, then up to your closed eyes, and back down to your lips again. They were slightly parted and so so soft looking and such a pretty color, surely he could just- no! You said no, and he wasn't gonna go against your word. He wouldn't do something to you if he didn't think you'd want him to.

But maybe a friend- a best friend- could kiss the supple-looking skin right beside your lip- the small spot between the dimple and the actual corner that looked so inviting. It was the perfect spot for your future best friend's lips, so he made the decision to plant one soft kiss there, before finally taking his leave of your home.

Yep, he was sure of it- he was such a good friend. And for you, he was going to be the best.