She wasn't blind. She couldn't help but notice that Ezreal was far from his usual, cheerful and borderline annoying self.

Even though, they were living in the same house they had barely had any time to actually see eachother let alone talk due to their surprisingly busy schedules this past month. Meanwhile, she was still getting used to having a huge elephant head on her shoulders every day. She was still coming to terms with the fact that now she had a job, new friends, colleagues, a roommate and no magic flowing through her veins.

The only thing that remained the same during this tedious month were the ridiculous post-it notes he kept leaving for her on the fridge every morning. Except for today.

Lux had woken up early today to head to work. She slided her hand through the curtains and looked out the window. It was a grey day with no sun hanging among the clouds. Yet she had convinced herself with a smile that today would be a good day.

She quickly got dressed and walked over to the kitchen to make some orange juice. But for some reason, something felt off. She rubbed a finger through her thin eyebrow. Her gaze landed on the fridge: No post-it note today.

"Huh..", she noticed curiously. Her voice was still raspy from waking up.

Not that she ever actually liked this silly habit of Ezreal's. Every note had ended up in the trash can after a scoff and an arched eyebrow. Especially that one from yesterday: "You may not be a mage anymore but you have certainly charmed me", along with a winky face.

It was just.. unusual for him not to leave one. Maybe he had just gotten tired of getting rejected every day. Luxanna shrugged and walked out of the apartment. It was going to be a good day.

But that positive attitude was shortlived. If hell was a real place she was pretty sure that Alfie's was it. Today at least. Sett's father, the man with his name on the sign, the one who actually owned the place had come in to check on "the shop" as he called it with a sour tone in his voice.

Despite the fact that his son was double his size he was very intimidating and his judgement was absolute. The only problem was that he didn't seem to like any change that Sett had made or how he ran things around "the shop". His words, not hers. In fact, he hated it.

He hated everything. From the new people he had hired to the new logo Sett had created for "the shop". His whole shtick was to basically belittle his son in front of every employee as if that would make them lose every ounce of respect they had for the poor guy.

Miraculously, Luxanna had managed to pass the test with a single look on her face. She knew it wasn't because she was kind or pretty, but because the elephant suit was the only thing that remained. A remnant of "the shop's" glory days as he called them. Other employees were not that lucky.

Who knew that one day she'd be thankful to be the (literal) elephant in the room.

Nevertheless, she was relieved when the old man just said "alright" and moved on with the rest of his "evaluation".

"This guy.. Such a pain in my fuckin ass". Sett murmured with a cigarette stuck between his lips. He had been trying to light it but apparently his lighter was failing him making him even more irritated than he clearly already was. Thankfully his father was finally gone now. "Goddamn it" he mumbled. His eyebrows furrowed in the middle of his forehead.

He was sitting on that bench in front of the store just as Lux was finishing up for the day.

"Got any lighters? Or matches? Either is fine" he huffed then ran a quick hand through his red hair. His frustration was pretty tangible.

"Sorry. No pockets here" Luxanna said with a soft chuckle as she gestured over to the fluffy suit she wore and toyed with her short grey tail. Thankfully that brought a tiny smile onto Sett's brooding face. "Well.. it's not like I'd have one anyway.. I don't smoke". Lighting up a cigarette would have been easy peasy for her once. But right now all she could do was to bite her lip and feel sorry.

"Good for you!" Sett said in a surprisingly vigorous and encouraging tone since moments before he was fuming. "I gotta quit one of these days.. for real. But I really can't.. Not with that sorry excuse of a father making my nerves tick all the time" he mumbled that last part under his breath. His voice was barely audible yet clear enough for her.

She might not have known her boss for that long but she admired him all the same. No matter what, Sett was a hard worker and he would always make sure that everything around the store worked like clockwork. What's more, he took a big amount of time to get closer to the people that worked for him if only just a little bit.
It made sense since most of the employees were close to his age and the boss seemed like an extroverted and genuinely good guy.

It had been a little more than a month since she'd started this job so naturally he had followed through with her paycheck as well. Needless to say Lux had no complaints. Ekko had done a pretty good job with her fake documents as well. Realistically she had nothing to complain about. Aside from the giant elephant head. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta to do. That is if she wanted to survive in this foreign world.

"To be frank, I didn't expect you to come this far", Sett's deep voice somewhat startled an absent-minded Luxanna.

"Hmm?" A wordless reply was the best she could muster.

"I'd told you when you started here.." he threw his head back onto his folded forearms and looked up at the grey sky. "Nobody lasts on that post for more than two weeks. Didn't expect you had it in ya", he chuckled. "Most people just get the job to post a few selfies with the suit on instagram and then they bail", he shook his head with a soft laugh.

"What's instagram?", she asked innocently.

"Stop messing with me", Sett let out a loud, thunderous chuckle.

"I'm not", the girl blinked and after a while of looking at her straight in the eyes with a weird crease between his eyebrows he finally believed her.

This girl was clueless. And weird.

"Uhm.. social media? Hello?", he raised an eyebrow unsure. "Are you more of a twitter gal? Or tik tok? Or whatever the hell kids are into these days?", he shrugged indifferently.

"Nope", she said with a pop of her lips. "I have no idea what you're saying", she smiled with a smile that could make anyone melt like ice in the sun.

"Oh boy. Gimme your phone", he reached out with his hand to her as he decided to take matters into his own hands.

"I don't have it on me".

"Then go get it. Cause it seems like I got a lot to teach you", he smiled genuinely with a twinkle in his eyes.

If there was ever a conclusion that Lux had come to ever since she'd gotten here it was this: this world was as different from hers as it got.

At first she didn't understand it. This whole social media thing. No matter how well Sett had tried to explain the basic principles to her she just couldn't get it.

"Okay" she hummed as every new bit of information was still processing in her brain. So there was instagram and facebook and twitter and a ton of other strange words that till now had held zero meaning to her. Ofcourse she'd overheard conversations with these words before. But nobody had bothered to explain them to her and frankly she didn't care enough to ask what the whole thing was about.

And facebook was a graveyard Sett had said. A place for old folks to share pictures of their grandchildren and rose bouquets and long-dead "memes".

And instagram. It was Sett's favourite. He didn't even ask her to create an account for her. He simply snatched her phone from her small hands -at that point she realized how truly huge his own hands were- and started to type something on the screen as he kept explaining the rest. Apparently, instagram was a place to post photos. It didn't matter what it was. It could be a picture of yourself, or your friends, or your dog or even your food. All that mattered was the "likes"

.
There were people who had gotten entire careers out of thin air by getting many, many, many likes. The people who liked your photos could "follow" you.

"Followers huh?", Lux wondered out loud as red cloaked figures took form in her imagination. It sounded like a cult to her. No. Not a cult. Instagram sounded like an ode to vanity.

"You're all set", her boss declared proudly once he'd finally created her account. "Pun not intended by the way", he chuckled a bit. "You've already followed me just so you know", he winked as he passed her phone back to her. Luxanna eagerly took the phone and stared at the screen for a while. No posts, no profile pictures. Just following: 1.

She tapped on the number and followed the link to her boss's profile.

She was immediately stunned to see that Sett had accumulated what seemed like an impressive number of followers. 3.868 to be exact. And there he was in the small circle smiling while wearing a baseball cap. She scrolled down bellow to view some of the rest of his uploaded images. Mostly it was pictures of him working out whether he was alone or with some friends. Mostly girls, she noted. She saw a couple pictures of him at the beach wearing nothing but a pair of blue boardshorts. She swallowed trying not to gawk at his conspicuous overly athletic body as he was still standing next to her, but still. She had to admit it was quite difficult to look away. She just hoped that her mouth wasn't hanging open while she quickly scrolled further bellow feeling the heat rise on her cheeks. Thankfully, Sett didn't notice her reaction as he was still going on about other instagram features that went in through one ear and out the other.

"Do you want me to give you a ride home?", he asked after some time.

Her shift was over for quite some time now but Sett's "educational" course took a lot more time than she initially expected.

"You don't have to, it's totally fine" she gave him the thumbs up.

"How far is it?", he insisted.

"Not much. A 20-minute walk give or take" she shrugged.

"I got some time on my hands right now", Sett stood up and reached into his pocket for what looked like his car keys. "Take advantage of it".

At that point Lux realized there was no getting out of this.

"What's your address?", Sett asked as he was stroking the wheel.

"Uhm. I don't remember it but I can guide you there".

The red haired arched an eyebrow but kept trying to make small talk with the blue-eyed girl.

"Soo.. you live with your parents?", he hugged her seat with his arm.

"I have a roommate actually", she explained.

It was one thing to be chatting with him at work. There it felt natural. But when she was stuck inside a car with him she felt like she could drown in awkwardness.

"We're here", she said once she recognized her appartment building. All of Sett's attempts to initiate small talk came to a halt when an unnatural sound forced him to immediately park outside the building.

They both walked out of the car and Sett promptly lifted the hood to check for any damage.

"Goddamnit. This day keeps getting better and better", he huffed as he duck inside the car and messed with a lot of weird shaped machinery that didn't make any sense to Lux.

"What happened?", she asked with spare innocence.

"Just my luck", he was fuming. His white shirt was now filled with dark stains. Same as his hands. Lux was simply standing there not sure what she was supposed to do to help.

"There. Good as new", he declared proudly after a few minutes. "Happens all the time".

"Your shirt..", she pointed out.

"Oh crap. My momma's gonna murder me for that one" he huffed a laugh. But there was definitely some real fear behind his chill demeanor.

"Do you wanna come upstairs maybe? I'm sure I can take care of that stain for you", her eyes crinkled as she smiled.

"Uhm. Sure why not. I'll take you up on that offer".

To be honest, Lux was kind of hoping that he would not. But it was too late now as her boss was sliding his shirt over his head and sat cross-legged on Ezreal's couch.
She was still faking a smile but this time she tapped her chin just to be sure she wasn't drooling.

I mean. She was staring at the figure of a god. Or something akin to it. She simply hoped that her visible admiration wasn't that.. visible as she fought the impulse to fan her face with her open hands.

It was something about shirtless athletic guys that did things to her. She shook her head as she was taking Sett's shirt to the washing machine.

"Can I offer you anything?", she asked when she returned to the living room.

"How about a date"?

All he kept thinking about all through the day was the moment that he would walk into his home get rid of his shoes and lie on the couch until he fell asleep. He opened the door as a sigh of relief was escaping his lips. His couch would be waiting for him. His wonderful wonderful makeshift bed.. oh how glorious did it seem today. But no. No. No no no no no.

"Uhm.." he scratched the back of his head feeling the anger and the nerves starting to buzz inside of him. Why God why? He deserved it. After this god awful day the least he could get was to chill out for a bit in his own apartment and vent to his gorgeous roommate about his miserable day just like always. Was it that much?

"Lux?" He yelled as he stared at the man on HIS couch expecting the girl's voice to come from the bedroom. The unknown half-naked body builder man seemed unbothered as he was lying on HIS makeshift bed making everything he touched filthy with his tanned muscles that were a baby oil away from glistening under Luxannas amazed gaze.

"Ez! You're back!" Luxanna emerged from the other room with a small smile on her face.

"Care to explain?" He pointed rudely towards the guy as if he wasn't even in the same room. "Why the hell is there a Jojo character in my living room?" He crossed his arms like a mad housewife.

"May I introduce you to my boss. This is Sett" she smiled with what he instantly recognized as her fake "I'm trying to be polite here" smile.

"Huh" ezreal scoffed annoyed but he remained still with arms folded over Sett. "Why's he half naked again?" He scratched the back of his neck nervously. Apparently her boss deemed it too hot to keep his shirt on. In freaking October. "Sorry dude but house policy is strictly PG-13." He cocked an eyebrow. His jealousy could be sensed easily from a mile away.

"Your house your rules buddy!" Sett simply let out a boisterous laugh in his deep voice as he slowly stood up and offered his hand in a greeting to the boy.

Ezreal's gaze shifted from the guy's toes all the way up to his face as he stood tall way above him. Absentmindedly he straightened his body trying to look as intimidating as possible. Spoiler alert: it was not possible. At all. It was rather comical. Ezreal unwillingly shook hands with the guy. His displeasure clearly visible on his curled lip.

"I'm Ezreal" he said half-heartedly.

"Nice to meet you Ezra!" Sett nearly cut him off. He shook his hand so vigorously Ezreal could have sworn he heard a pop on his shoulder. "You must be Lux's roomie! To be honest, when Lux said she had a roommate I thought you'd be a chick" he said that last part as he leaned into Ezreal ear to make sure the girl wouldn't listen.

"Actually it's Ezr-" his attempt to correct him turned out to be futile as he was immediately interrupted when the red haired spoke again. This time to Lux.

"Your boyfriend seems like a cool dude Lux!" He said with a wide smile.

"Oh we're n-no-" he muttered as fast as he could when Lux cut him off out of the blue.

"You don't need to be shy.. honey" she said clearly cringing at the word.

What the hell is going on? He wondered blinking a few times. Is it opposite day today?

Sett took glances at the both of them for a few seconds trying to decipher whether she was telling the truth.

"You don't need to be shy dear! Sett here is our.. homie!" She smiled awkwardly as she put an arm around Ezreal's shoulders making him flinch as he raised an eyebrow. Besides.. hearing slang coming from her mouth sounded like a 50 year old news anchor saying the word swaggie.

She leaned into his ear as discreetly as possible and whispered: just play along I'll explain later.

"Ofcourse babe i would never try to hide our love from the world you know that" he said with a mischievous grin as he slightly booped Luxannas nose with his fingers.

"Uhm. I'm sorry would you excuse me for a moment? I'd better get you something to wear right? We don't want you catching a cold now do we?" Lux asked her boss trying to make the corners of her mouth turn upwards as awkward tension filled the atmosphere. "Ezreal sweetie why don't you come and help me out here"?

She grabbed Ezreal by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the bedroom without waiting for neither Ezreal's nor Sett's answer.

"THAT'S your boss?!| Ezreal said in a loud whisper as soon as the door closed behind them.

"Shh!" Lux put her fingers on his lips to make sure he kept his voice on the low.

"But yeah. That's Sett." She said wrapping her arms around her stomach.

"What's he doing here? Why did i turn into your boyfriend all of a sudden? Wait. Did you finally decide to confess to me? Cause ill take it." He reassured with a wave of his hand however Lux didn't look amused. Ezreal rolled his eyes finally not bothering to mask his initial exhaustion and frustration. "Never mind all that.. but more importantly.. why's he shirtless?!"

"Well there was a bit of an wardrobe malfunction. Can I lend him one of your shirts for now?" She answered indifferently as she started digging around the closet.

"Sure" He said coldly as he tapped his foot on the floor impatiently.

"Sett.. He.. offered to take me home after my shift and.." she paused hesitantly while she was rummaging through ezreal's clothes in search of something wearable for her boss.

He gulped hard. "And?" He managed to offer.

"At first i thought that he was just being nice but.. it turns out he actually wants to.. date me."

Ezreal immediately frowned. He let a small confused 'huh' escape his lips as he rested his chin on the palm of his hand. He was going to pretend he was cool with it. Yeah. No worries. Absolutely nothing to worry about. Yep. Wait. Wasn't that guy caits fuck buddy?

"Let me guess.. you chose to lie instead of turning him down." He declared as he shot her with a chilling look. His blue eyes had never looked that cold before.

"I mean.. he's my boss I don't wanna lose my job if I straight up say no! It's-it's complicated." She was now looking down at her feet in shame.

Could she have been doing the exact same thing to him? He tried to banish the thought to the back of his mind but the more he thought about it the more sense everything started to make. Sure he'd flirt with her whenever he got the chance. She would never reciprocate per se but she never downright turned him down. She never let his hopes die completely. Was she really that scared that ezreal would kick her out of the apartment if she did not like him romantically?

"Will you cover for me?" She asked not daring to turn her eyes upwards.

Ezreal stayed silent for what felt like forever as if he was weighing his options. Was she just using him? Did she treat him the exact same way she treated her boss? Did it matter? Hadn't he already decided that he would make peace with himself being her friend?

"Don't I always?" He mumbled to himself. "Alright Lux. Have it your way. I'll be your fake love of your life." He chuckled giving the girl just the courage she needed to look up at him and smile. This time genuinely as she playfully pinched his right shoulder.

"Thanks Ez. Again." She said as she opened the door and walked out first. Ezreal grabbed her arm before she could take another step.

"Just be careful okay? As awesome as we all know I am I'm.. not sure I can beat that guy up if he tries anything funny." He seemed serious. Lux nodded and guided him back to the living room with her.

Frankly it was a ridiculous sight. Seeing this huge man wearing one of Ezreal's shirts as if it was a crop top. When will this nightmare be over? He wondered with his cheek resting on his palm.

He was bored beyond his mind. Sett was nothing but a muscle brain to his way of thinking. All he ever talked about was how he kept fit and the only time he actually addressed him in the long (one-sided) conversation was to ask how much he benched.

After an eternity Sett was at their door ready to leave.

"Really sorry to bother you guys. Hope I didn't abuse your hospitality too much!" He laughed.

"Oh it was nothing!" Lux was fast to reassure him.

"About that shirt.." he started off but Ezreal finished his sentence for him.

"Lux will get it for you at work. No worries" he smiled with that fake smile that was a little more than a straight line on his lips.

"Alright then. Guess I'll see you tomorrow Lux" he turned his back on them just to immediately face them again.

"Oh. I almost forgot. I actually wanted to invite you to this party I'm having for Halloween this weekend." He was only speaking to the girl. "But since uhm.." he took a sideways glance towards Ezreal. "Well you know. You're both welcome!"

"Oh I'm not sure we can make it" Lux started to form an excuse right away.

"Nonsense! Everyone has time for a little bit of fun! After all.. Halloween doesn't come by every other week! Just know that it's a costume party so you know what to do" he winked mischievously at her. "See ya guys!" He waved his hand but Ezreal simply closed that door behind him with a loud thud.

But not before mimicking his mannerisms in a sour childish tone. The only thing missing was him letting out a loud good riddance.

"What was that for?" Lux protective instincts came to light despite the fact that her boss was no longer there.

"It's not like he heard me! God.. i thought he was never going to leave.." he rubbed his eyes with both hands as he plopped on the couch with a heavy sigh. "How do you deal with this clown every single day?"

"Hey watch your mouth that's my boss you're talking about." She pointed an accusing finger his way.

"So?" Ezreal finally laughed at her reaction.

"You mustn't do that. You should show some respect."

"Who says so? The guy that tried to hook up with one of his subordinates?" He asked jokingly. He didn't really expect an answer from her yet when he saw her laughing something started to bug him.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

Luxanna managed to somehow stop and say: "Jealous much?"

"Huh?" Ezreal furrowed his eyebrows. "Why would i ever be jealous? Especially jealous of this guy!"

"Oh I don't know. She said slithering on the couch beside him. Maybe because he's handsome? Tall? Athletic? Reliable?" There was a cold smile on her face with every quality she listed. As if she was enjoying toying with him.

It was kind of intriguing if he was honest with himself.

"That guy is all brawn and no brains." He said in a low voice as he leaned into her. "I didn't expect you to be this shallow lady Crownguard." There was an air of calm confidence in him that Lux almost found endearing.

"Hmm.. then maybe you're jealous cause I saw him half naked?" She teased with an incredibly light shove on his chest.

"Do you want me to be?" He looked at her through half lidded eyes as his face moved towards her. She could feel his warm breath tickling her lower lip. "You've seen me naked too m' lady. Did you forget? Or perhaps you'd like another look.." he gazed downwards as if he was enjoying the mere sight of her body next to him. "You're just too shy to admit it."

Lux felt the air starting to get overheated for some reason but quickly gained her composure back.

"In your dreams.." she smirked shuttering all of Ezreal's hopes into pieces.

The boy smiled instead as Lux was walking away and disappearing into her room.

As she sat up on the bed she couldn't stop that sudden feeling of giddiness in the pit of her stomach. What on earth am i doing?