Requested on Tumbr
Word count:4 313
Reader: female
Patrick carefully watched the couple in the café from afar. The man was trying to take the woman's hand- but she pulled away. Patrick sighed. Great. Another unsuccessful attempt to set (y/n) up. This was never gonna work out. Being a cupid really sucked sometimes, especially when the person you were trying to find a match to always seemed to have bad luck with their partners. Sometimes the attempt failed at the first date, just like now, sometimes a relationship developed and the guy was an idiot and cheated on her. Honestly, (y/n) was not the first and only person Patrick tried to find the true love for, but he had never seen someone so unlucky as her. He watched as she got up from the table in the café and left. He quickly looked away, deep in thought again, when she walked into his direction. In his mind he was checking people he could set her up with next. There was this cute guy from the flower shop a few streets down, or the one who worked as a lab assistant at the university. Just in that moment someone forcefully bumped into him. Confused he looked up from the bush he had been staring at and into these beautiful, shining eyes. He had seen her eyes before but always from the distance, up close they were magnificent.
"Sorry," she mumbled, looking away quickly. "My fault."
And with that she kept walking away. Patrick looked after her. She had looked tired and worn out; maybe he should give her a break from dating. Just for a while.
~*~
(Y/n) closed the door, took off her shoes and fell down on the sofa. She was done with dating. She knew she said that after every failed date or broken up relationship, but every time another cute or interesting guy came along and asked her out. In the last year alone she had been to dozens of unsuccessful dates and just about a month ago she had caught her boyfriend of two months cheating on her. It was okay, he had not been her great love, but it had been nice not to lay in bed alone.
She spent the rest of the afternoon on the sofa, listening to her favorite album on repeat. She was just about to get up to make dinner, when suddenly the door to her apartment flung open. A man, not taller than 5'5 stood in the door, strawberry blond hair, black, dorky glasses and a surprised expression when he saw her.
"Oh," he whispered.
"What are you doing in my flat?" (y/n) asked, already thinking of ways she could defend herself if necessary. He did not look exactly dangerous, but you never knew.
"Sorry, wrong apartment, I think I live one floor down" he smiled apologetically.
She stared at him. "I know you," she suddenly remembered. "You are the guy I bumped into at the café!"
"Right, yeah, I'm Patrick," the man introduced. He offered her his hand to shake but she did not take it.
"How'd you get in here," (y/n) asked suspiciously.
"I don't know, the keys, they must have kinda... I don't know," he stammered. "I'm leaving, good evening." With that he was out of the flat and pulled the door closed behind him.
(Y/n) kept staring at the door for a few seconds when suddenly the phone rang. Pulled out of her trace she picked up.
"(Y/n) here," she spoke into the microphone.
"Hey (y/n), it's Sarah."
Sarah was her younger sister and next week she was throwing an engagement party that (y/n) promised to help plan.
"Hey, how are you," (y/n) asked. Suddenly she felt guilty that she had forgotten about her the entire day.
"Fine, you, I was wondering, did you order the flowers already?"
"Order flowers? I thought we'd get a few amaryllis and carnations at the flower shop and that's it?"
"Oh come on, we can afford a few professional bouquets," her sister whined.
~*~
On the other side of the front door, Patrick stood, back pressed against the wall, and covering his face with his hands. He could not believe he had really just done that. Did he really just walk into (y/n)'s apartment with a lame excuse of living downstairs and having missed the floor? Did he really tell her some halfhearted lie about how it was possible for him to open the door? Yes he did. If it had been possible he would have died of shame right here on the spot, but it was not, so he could as well move into the empty flat one floor down, his old place had started to bother him anyway.
~*~
The rest of the week was pure chaos for (y/n). She tried her best to help Sarah with all the preparations for the party, though secretly she was annoyed about it a bit as well. Sarah always had to make a big fuzz about everything. (Y/n) tried to remind her that it was just an engagement, not a wedding party, but the younger sister still insisted on a new set of champagne glasses, lots of flowers and a small live band. Apart from that she would not shut up about her perfect husband to be, a lawyer working in a fancy office downtown, with steady income and brilliant reputation while (y/n) was still working in a coffee shop, hardly being able to pay the rent and certainly not managing to have a lasting relationship. Additionally to the party preparations, her boss made her work double shifts since one of the other employers had resigned last week. As if that was not enough, she kept bumping into that strange guy Patrick. At first they always met on the stairs and by Wednesday he seemed to have chosen the coffee shop she was working at as his new favorite café. Luckily he left her alone most of the time, unless he ordered something to drink, so she did not think too much about it.
It was Friday afternoon and (y/n) was thanking the world that the week would be over soon. After tomorrow she did not have to worry about any party preparations anymore and maybe the thing with Patrick would finally start to make more sense. By now he had really caught (y/n)'s interest. He always sat alone in the café, sipping a cappuccino, scribbling down on some notebook or reading the newspaper. He was cute too, with his blond hair, the glasses and wearing a black fedora most of the time.
Right now (y/n) was walking up the stairs to her apartment, waving at Patrick who was just taking in his post, and talked to Sarah on the phone.
"I know the party starts at thee, I was the one who set the time," (y/n) reminded her sister.
"I just don't want you to be late," the younger one whined. "And make sure to bring your date!"
"My date," (y/n) almost shouted, "I don't have a date!"
"Well then make sure to find one, you can't show up at my engagement party without a date."
"There was never any mention of me having to bring a date! Can't I just show up alone?"
"Oh come on, (y/n), it can't be too hard for you to find someone well-mannered to accompany you tomorrow," Sarah said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" By now she was slightly upset and began searching for the door keys.
"Just that you never had a problem finding someone to spend time with..."
"So, not being late, bringing a date, anything else," (y/n) murmured, while rummaging through her bag for the keys. "Oh, come on, this can't be true!"
"Why, what's wrong," Sarah asked, showing interest in her sister in the first time in weeks.
"I think I lost my keys," (y/n) told her through the phone, emptying her hand bag in on the doormat in the meantime.
"Have you checked your bag?"
"What do you think I'm doing right now? Damn, it's not there," you sighed in defeat.
"Did you lose it?"
"I don't hope so. Anyways, I gotta hang up and find the caretaker to unlock the door. See you tomorrow."
"Good luck, and don't forget to bring your date!"
With that (y/n) hung up. She packed the stuff back in her bag and hurried down the stairs to the caretaker's apartment. She knocked three times and waited. When she did not get a response she tried again. And again and again and again. After five minutes she gave up. Defeated she sunk down at the wall.
What am I supposed to do now, she wondered. The day had been stressful enough, now she was locked out of her flat and she had to find a date until tomorrow if she did not want to cause family drama, which her sister would love to start. Suddenly she heard quiet humming from upstairs. Patrick, she remembered. He had a key for the flat last week!
Quickly she got up and ran back upstairs and knocked on Patrick's door. Just a few seconds later he opened up, dressed in a dark blue shirt, a cardigan and black jeans.
"Oh, hey (y/n)," he greeted surprised.
"Hey Patrick," she stammered, "I think I need your help."
"Sure anything, what's wrong," he asked.
"Last week you had the keys to my flat, didn't you?"
"Yeah, why?" Suddenly he seemed nervous.
"I looked myself out, lost my keys or something. Do you think you could help get inside?"
"Oh, yes. Sure thing!" He quickly grabbed his keys from a table next to the door and pulled the door shut behind him.
Together they walked up the stairs to (y/n)'s apartment. For the second time in a week he opened the door to her flat, this time in her company.
"There we are," he pushed the door open.
"Oh my god, Patrick, you're an angel," (y/n) exclaimed gladly.
"Cupid, actually," he corrected her.
"Excuse me?"
"A cupid, a bringer of love," he tried to explain.
"Like... with little wings and a bow and arrows," she asked amused.
"What? No! That's old fashioned," he replied, suddenly doubting his decision to tell her.
"Oh yeah, sure. I'm sorry."
"You don't believe me," he pouted.
"Patrick, I might be naïve, but I'm not that naïve," she told him seriously, inviting him inside with a wave of her hand.
"Okay, let me prove it to you. Last week at the café, why do you think I was there," he asked challengingly.
"I don't know, to grab a coffee? That's what people do!"
"I was there so see how your date with Mark was going," he explained patiently. "And how do you think I know that about a month ago you broke up with your boyfriend Chris after he cheated on you? Or how I know your name without you ever introducing yourself to me?"
"Someone told you?"
"And what about that boy Charles that you were dating when you were seventeen? Did someone tell me about him too?"
(Y/n) hesitated and Patrick knew that she started to believe him. "Well, if you are a cupid then let me tell you this: you've done a terrible job with me so far," she told him.
"You're a difficult case, the most difficult I had so far," he admitted. "And it's not only my job, you also have to do something to get things working, and I can't help you when your one true love is standing right in front of you and you don't realize it."
Her eyes grew wide. "What do you mean?"
"Last week, when you bumped into me, you simply ignored me!" Wow Patrick, he thought, bold move there. But by now he really had started to believe that there was something more to everything. Since she had bumped into him, he had not been able to stop thinking about her. He even moved into the same building as her and visited the coffee shop she was working at, just to see her. He was making a total fool out of himself, not to mention his heart going all haywire every time he saw her. This had never happened before, in all the time he worked to set up happy couples. And maybe the fact that none of her relationships worked out was because he was supposed to be with her.
"Okay, if you are so keen on insisting that you are a cupid, then why don't you find me a date for my sister's engagement party tomorrow afternoon?"
Patrick blinked a few times. "Now that's just plainly ridiculous," he complained.
"There you are! How am I supposed to believe you, if you can't even do such a simple task," she asked.
"Love is not a task, and you could always ask me to accompany you," he suggested.
For a moment she stared at him. This might actually work out, she thought, he is cute, good looking, well-mannered like Sarah requested, and if he doesn't start talking about being the bringer of love, he might actually be nice to talk to. "You know what? Why not. It's worth a shot," she told him.
Patrick beamed at her proudly, his eyes wrinkling adorably while he smiled. "When do you want me to pick you up," he asked.
"How about half past two," she proposed.
"Amazing, I'll be there, I promise."
And with that he was out of the door. His heart was beating in his throat and it took all his will power not to do a small victory dance in the hallway.
(Y/n) in the meantime stared at the closed door. She could not quite believe what just had happened. Apart from the whole cupid-thing, she had managed to get a date for tomorrow's party. And no matter how she turned it, Patrick seemed to be the perfect guy to bring along.
She spent the rest of the day doing final preparations for tomorrow, all the while being unable to get Patrick out of her mind, his smile, his voice, his eyes, everything about him seemed to have burned itself into her memory and the more she thought about him the more nervous she got to see him again.
~*~
The next day was sunny and warm. (Y/n) was wearing the elegant red petticoat dress that she had bought just last week. A little bit of make-up and a simple but cute hairdo finished her appearance. She was just about to slip on her shoes, her hand shaking nervously, when there was a knock at the door. It was Patrick. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him. He wore a simple black suit, his glasses and fedora matching perfectly.
"You look fantastic," he breathed once he had taken in her appearance.
"Thank you, so do you," she complimented and could have sworn that he blushed.
"So, shall we," he asked, offering her his arm to take.
"Wait, my keys!" She hurried back into the flat and came back with the keys in hand.
"So you found them again? Not lost?"
"No, I just forgot them on the kitchen table, silly me," (y/n) laughed.
"I'm glad you forgot them," Patrick admitted shyly, "Otherwise we wouldn't be doing this."
"Right," she agreed, "Maybe fate?" She smiled at him and took his still outstretched arm.
"Definitely fate."
~*~
Half an hour later, exactly at three pm as requested, (y/n) rang the doorbell to Sarah's house. She opened up, wearing a tight, black dress.
"(Y/n), you're on time," the young woman cheered.
"Don't sound so surprised," (y/n) laughed.
"And you brought a friend," Sarah noted, pulling up an eyebrow.
"I'm Patrick, her date," he introduced himself, offering her his hand to shake.
(Y/n) shot Patrick a glance. Yesterday she would have furiously disagreed with his statement to be her date but now she was deeply flattered.
Inside, they realized that they were by far not the first guests. The house was cramped with couples, most of them people (y/n) had never seen before. Sarah immediately offered them both glasses with champagne but they reclined. Patrick, because he had to drive and (y/n), because she did not want to drink any alcohol when Patrick was not, even though he assured her it would be okay.
"Anyone you wanna talk to," Patrick asked, leaning closer to (y/n) making a shiver running down her spine.
"Honestly? I've never seen any of these people before. They must all be friends of Joseph's," she confessed. "How about we awkwardly stand in that corner over there?"
"Sounds perfect," Patrick giggled and together they decided to stand in the back of the room, close to a table where one of the bouquets was being displayed.
"If it weren't for the flowers one could almost thing this were a funeral," Patrick whispered, his breath fanning over (y/n)'s ear, making her shiver again.
"What do you mean?" She looked up at him, suddenly realizing how close their faces were.
"The dresses! All the women are wearing black dresses! This is an engagement party, not a funeral!"
"And I'm here, stuck in this thing," you murmured, helplessly tucking at your red dress, suddenly becoming incredibly self-aware.
"I think you look perfect in that dress," Patrick stated unashamed. "You are a much needed spot of color between all this black and white." He motioned to his own suit.
"I'm not sure I really want to be a spot of color, too much attention, you know?" Uncomfortably you looked around.
"Don't worry, I can still stand in front of you," he suggested jokingly. "Oh!"
"What's wrong?" she asked alarmed.
"Nothing, just that couple over there," he pointed towards a tall man with a mustache and a woman with long black hair, "I set them up a few years ago. And who do we have here? Carl Meyers." Patrick continued to stare at a man with blonde, gelled back hair. "Hey! That's not the girl I set you up with!"
"How does even work, the whole setting up thing?" (Y/n) wondered. "Do you just randomly choose two people and make them fall in love?"
Patrick giggled at the thought, shaking his head. "No, that's the Elders choice. And sometimes they just say: 'Find someone for this person!' like they did with you and then I try to do my best to set people up, I twist fate in their favor. Falling in love is the people's business."
"Who are the Elders? Are they like... your bosses?"
"Yeah, like my bosses, I guess you could say that," Patrick giggled.
"What if someone falls in love with the wrong person, someone they were not meant to fall in love with?" (Y/n) asked carefully, hoping Patrick would not realize she was talking about herself. With every passing minute she could feel herself falling in love with him more and more, and she was falling fast. And it scared her.
"That doesn't happen," Patrick explained, "The Elders make sure of that. Sometimes people don't fall in love with those I set them up with, but if they find someone else then that's okay. It can never happen that people, who the Elders explicitly did not set up with each other, end up together." But they never considered the feelings a silly cupid could develop for a girl, Patrick added bitterly in his thoughts. He was not gonna fool himself. She was supposed to be with a normal man, not a cupid, not him, and one day she would find this man. He took a deep breath. She would find this man but not today. Right now she was falling for him and he tried to memorize every moment of it. He had seen enough people fall in love to know the signs. The way she smiled at him, shot him small glances, or gently touched his arm every other minute. She was falling for him and he would use every minute of it while it lasted.
~*~
The party would have been deadly boring for (y/n) if it had not been for Patrick, who told her stories all afternoon long. By the time they left, (y/n) wondered how she managed to be without Patrick for so long.
It was dark when they arrived back at home. Patrick accompanied her back up to her apartment. There they stood; she played around with the keys nervously and smiled up at him.
"Thank you so much for saving this afternoon, I'm sure I would've died without you."
"You're very welcome, any time again," he offered, smiling back. He knew what would happen next. Either he could leave and there would be an awkward tension every time they met, or... he could kiss her. Without thinking further he leant forward and pressed his lips against hers. Immediately she melted into the kiss, moved her soft lips so sweetly against his and Patrick felt like breathing for the first time. Gently he took her face in his hands, deepening the kiss. He wished this moment would never end but eventually they had to pull away for oxygen. He could feel her shake and smiled down at her lovingly. "Good night," he whispered.
She nodded. "Good night." She waved at him and disappeared through the door.
Patrick's face hurt from all the smiling he was doing. He skipped down the stairs to his flat. It was kind of sad to admit for a cupid, the bringer of love, but before he had talked to (y/n) he had never known love.
He opened the door and almost stepped on a letter that had been pushed into his flat from under the door. He bent down to pick up the letter and froze. His name was written on the front in a neat handwriting, the neat handwriting of the Elders. He did not even have to open the letter to know what it said. 'Humans are supposed to fall in love with each other, not cupids, and cupids have the job to make humans fall in love, not fall in love themselves.' There were laws and he broke these laws. There would be consequences and the longer (y/n) had hopes for a shared future the more server the consequences would be. Not only for him, but for her too. There was only one way. He had to break her heart.
~*~
(Y/n) had just grabbed a cold soda from the fridge when there was a knock at the door. Tiredly she walked over and opened the door, being met with the sight of Patrick. He looked tense.
"This doesn't work," he started before she could say something. "You are a human, you are supposed to fall in love with a nice man, marry, and have many lovely kids. You can't fall in love with me."
She just stared at him. "What do you mean?"
"We would never work out. The Elders noticed us and if we don't stay away from each other, there will be punishments. We – I - broke laws that are not to be broken. We have to stay away from each other. Forever."
"You're just breaking this up?" (Y/n) looked at him unbelievingly.
Patrick nodded. He could see how it broke her heart; damn he could basically hear it shatter into thousand pieces.
"Okay," she said. Much to his surprise she just swallowed and nodded. "Then that's the way it's gonna be." And with that she shut the door in his face.
That night she was crying herself to sleep and Patrick would have heard had he not cried himself.
The next evening he heard her cry, but he resisted the urge to go upstairs and calm her down. All he wanted to do was to hold her tight and stroke her soft hair, whispering sweet nothings into her ear and kiss her tears away. But he could not. So he cried himself to sleep again.
The third evening (y/n) was pacing up and down in front of her sofa. She was seriously considering going downstairs and begging Patrick to take her back. She did not care about punishments; she needed him like she needed oxygen. It felt literally impossible for her to live without him.
Suddenly there were hurried steps on the stairs and then furious banging against the door. For a moment she hesitated to open but did it anyway. Patrick basically fell into her apartment, he seemed to have lost his fedora somewhere along the way, his hair was ruffled and his cheeks and eyes glowing. As soon as he had gained back his balance he leapt forward, pulling her into himself and capturing her lips in a kiss. Without hesitation she kissed back. The kiss was more passionate than anything she could have ever imagined, both of them pouring all their love into the moment. Her hands tangled into his short, blonde hair while his hands rested on her back, pressing her against him. It did not take long and they pulled away, both gasping for oxygen but Patrick could hardly wait to talk.
"We were their plan all along," he almost shouted. "You never found a guy because it was me! I am the one you are supposed to be with! That's what the elders planned all along!"
(Y/n) looked at him confused. "How do you know?"
Patrick looked down in shame. "One of them payed me a visit, asking why the hell I had broken up with you," he smiled, "and then they told me to make it up. So here I am, if you'll have me."
You stared at him in amazement. Your eyes glided over his beautiful, blue ones, his soft facial features, his red, kiss swollen lips and his quickly rising and falling chest. You slightly shook your head, smiled at him lovingly and kissed him again.