Work Text:
Tater woke up in a state of frustration. Anxiety riddled through her skin as she looked over and saw that her alarm said 9:30 which meant she only had 15 minutes left until Frite would be at her door, waiting to leave. She stood up rapidly, trying not to overthink the situation she was now in, and failing. “I'm going to ruin the whole day” she said to herself as she stormed into the kitchen, trying to find something small to eat which would also fill her up for the next few hours. She settled on a breakfast bar since it was the first thing she could see in the cupboard.
After that, she swiftly walked back into her bedroom for an outfit to wear. This would usually be easy for her as normally the only times she would see Frite is at work so she would wear her work outfit, but now she is going on an actual date with Frite and she doesn't even have an outfit picked, this is going to be the worst day ever! She paced around her bedroom for another 5 minutes, still no outfit picked and the thing she dreaded has now come.
Knock
Knock
Knock
“Fuck!” she loudly screamed, making Frite worry for her. “ Tater, are you okay in there?” frite asked, a clear worry in her voice. “Yes! Everything is fine!” she replied, but it was like she was giving herself a pep talk then answering Frites question. Tater then grabbed the first outfit she saw, a black jumpsuit with some stars on it. This is perfect! She thought. “Maybe this day wont be as bad after all” she accidentally said out loud, making frite worry for her even more. She ran to the doorway, slipping on her shoes and opening the door to let frite in.
Frite stepped in and moved her face forwards, trying to give tater a kiss on the cheek, but tater just stood there for a while, clearly flustered as blush started to creep onto her face. She turned around and beelined towards her bathroom, “ give me one minute” she called out. Now frite just stood there, confused and worried, trying to figure out why tater was acting like this. Frite made her way onto the couch in front of her and sat down, she replied back with an “okay!” and just waited for Tater, again.
Meanwhile, tater was in the bathroom, thoughts going into overdrive. She could see the blush on her face and tried to wipe it away which didn't work. Why does frite have to look so good? Why did she wear that dress? I'm going to ruin this day, why couldn't have i just set my alarm properly? Why do i have to be such an idiot? I've just made us even more late by standing here, but i cant even face frite when she looks like that. She's going to notice that there is something wrong with me. She's going to be so worried cause she's that great and I'm just pathetic. I don't even know if i can do this. Maybe i should just hide in here forever. But then shell get more worried and i don't want her to get worried. I should've just cancelled when i had the chance. This is going to be such a long day. Tater realised as she looked down that her hands were shaking, but tried very hard to ignore it and she brushed her teeth quickly. She desperately tried to remove the thoughts from her brain as she stepped back into the living room and sat down next to frite.
Frite jumped when she felt the weight of the couch move and looked over at Tater and smiled. Tater smiled back but it looked off, Frite then made a mental note to look after Tater today. “ are you ready?” frite said and tater replied with another smile as she locked her fingers into frites and they made their way to the car.
In the car, tater shuffled around to try and find her headphones, which she remembers were in her hand when they left the apartment. When she realised that they were not in the car, anxiety rised through her chest. We’re too far away now to go back and get them, now i have ruined the day. We’re to a theme park, one of the loudest places on earth, and i forgot my headphones, how stupid can i be? Frite is going to be so annoyed at me if i say i forgot them, and then we have to turn all the way back around for a dumb mistake that i did. I'm just going to try and make it through without them. Frite turned around for a second, seeing taters hand shake again, but this time it led all the way through her arms. Frites worried expression was clearly shown as she saw taters face turn away to look out of the window.
Both of them felt too awkward to communicate with each other as it was only their second date ever, and their relationship out of work was very different to the one they show at work. At work, they both have to pretend that they hate the other, when in reality and they both deeply love each other but also know that their work will not allow it so they hang out a lot out of work so no one raises any suspicion of the two of them staying together after they were told not to.
“Hey” frite said, bringing tater out of her thoughts, “you okay?” her voice getting softer, and more beautiful. “Yeah I'm perfect” tater said and that was the end of this conversation.
They arrived to the theme park 30 minutes after it opened, which meant it wasn't as busy yet. Both girls were very excited for this as they could see all the rollercoasters in the distance. “Frite! We’re definitely going on this” tater said, pointing to the one with the biggest drop. Frite could feel her stomach drop just by looking at it. Now she knows that tater is an adrenaline junkie, and she is not. But she did decide in the car, after seeing tater in a state, that she was going to make this day all about her. Everything that she would say, frite would agree with. She would just have to suck it up for one day.
After scanning tickets and getting bags checked, tater & frite finally made it into the actual theme park, this was when tater knew that she fucked up. There were different types of noises all surrounding her, she couldn't handle it, everything was too much for her but she was not going to ruin their special day. Frite turned her head to smile at the girl next to her and got a smile back so she moved her hand to the side to grab taters.
They found a children's ride to go on so frite could get used to everything before jumping straight into it. Tater found this boring and argued that jumping into it would be better than warming up to it, frite disagreed and won the argument overall. The ride lasted 30 seconds and did not change frites mindset on rides in general.
Tater jumped up when the ride ended and brought frite over to the big ride she was pointing at earlier. Frite just shook her head before remembering what she thought earlier. Tater gave her puppy dog eyes and pouted her lip which ultimately made frite agree and they joined the line. In the line, tater started grimacing at the screams happening above her but tried desperately not to cover her ears so frite would think she's okay. Frite was getting even more worried looking at taters facial expressions and decided to talk to her after the rollercoaster was over.
They underestimated how long the line would be as they turned the corner and saw how people were there. “Do you want to leave and we can come back later?” frite asked looking into taters eyes. Tater looked away as she said “no! There will be more people here later so its better just to do it now” frite agreed with taters logic as they started to move again.
They moved to a really unfortunate spot and tater looked like she was about to cry. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked down to the floor, she didn't want frite to worry about her, she was okay, right?
She was certainly not okay. The park was building up with people. Noises coming from every direction, specifically the screams from the rollercoaster which was right above both girls. She felt as if she was suffocating.
Her hands started to shake and frite looked at her in a panic. Both girls trying to stay calm to please the other. She felt herself move down to the floor as her breathing started to quicken. Frite tried to give her a hug which ultimately made it worse. She didn’t want to trapped when she desperately needed air.
Frite tried her very best to stay calm and got taters eyes staring into hers. Frite moved closer but not too close where tater would feel stuck. One hand moved to taters shoulders to show how much she cares and the other hand was holding taters to hide the shaking and the judgemental looks from other people. “Take a deep breath with me, okay?” frite said and tater shook her head in agreement.
Air started to fill in taters lungs again and she felt like she was getting back to normal. Then, the rollercoaster train flew past and the screams were getting louder and louder as it moved past. They were now back to stage 1 with taters breaths quickening again and her hands pulled away from frites to cover her ears, everything was getting too much and tater just wanted to leave. She tried to communicate that and frite instantly knew what she wanted. “Do you want to go?” frite asked, just to make sure and tater nodded so she helped the other girl up as they made their way to the exit.
Frite found a secluded spot far away from everything loud and they both sat down on the bench together. Tater was still panicking but not as much as earlier, so she leaned her head onto frites shoulder and started copying frites breathing. She felt immediately better after the 3rd deep breath so tried to move away. Frite didn't want that to happen so she tapped taters head and tater knew what she wanted. She moved back and frite was moving her hand through the other girls hair. Both girls now felt safe and calm now that they were in embrace with the other.
After about 10 minutes of just sitting in silence and enjoying being with each other, frite held the other girls cheek and asked “are you okay?” and “what happened back there?” tater did a little chuckle before answering “I'm okay now. Its a long story” frite shook her head “well im good just staying here for the whole day so please tell me”
“Okay, fine!” “i forgot to set my alarm this morning and woke up 15 minutes before you were picking me up, i rushed around too much and we left too quickly so i forgot my headphones, then in the car, i realised i had forgotten them but i didn't want to tell you cause then we would have to turn all the way back just for a silly mistake and i had already ruined the day anyway by getting up late and i didn't want to cause any more trouble so i thought i could just suck it up and go without them for one day, and now we know that clearly, i cant”
“What!?” “Tate, i promise you didn't ruin this day, we both did cause i was worrying about you too much, i noticed you in the car, you did look like you had forgotten something but i didn't know it was as important as your headphones. I would've turned back around if i had noticed what it was, i was just too excited to go on this date with you that i wasn't paying as much attention as i normally would and I'm sorry”
“You don't have to apologise, you did nothing wrong, they were my property and i forgot them and i ruined it all and I'm sorry”
Both girls went in for a hug and just stayed there for a while. “Do you want to go back home? We can watch tv and movies on the couch together and order in some food”
“That sounds nice” tater replied as they both got up, still holding the others hand.
“Also you can say no to this but i was thinking i could stay round your house tonight and then wake you up on time so you dont forget your headphones and we can do again tomorrow, like a do-over date”
“I would really love that” tater said with a smile on her face as they got into the car and drove back to taters apartment.
And that is exactly what they did.