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Collateral Flirtation Thread Tracker
Danny Hernández goes shopping like Adrian imagines he does his job. Efficient. Ruthless. Guerilla tactics. It's like he doesn't know that shopping is something you could enjoy. Adrian is doing his best to make that evident.
Third store in two hours, and his arms are full.
Four items. Danny doesn't know about the four items yet because Adrian pulled them off the rack while Danny was still arguing about the last one, and timing with Danny Hernández is everything.
The dressing room door is closed.
Adrian shifts his weight to one hip and waits. The store is right, this one, warm lighting and edited racks and a changing area tucked far enough from the floor that the saleswoman has stopped hovering. He clocked that when they walked in. He also clocked the lock on the inside of the dressing room door, which is a separate matter entirely.
He looks down at what's on his arm. Slim espresso trousers, already approved under protest. Olive rayon/linen shirt, which Danny hasn't seen yet and is going to do something to his eyes that Adrian is choosing not to think about right now. A gunmetal jacket that sits exactly right on broader shoulders. And the fourth thing, a deep cabaret hue, a slim cut waistcoat, which he's been holding back.
The door opens.
Danny in the trousers is exactly the problem Adrian predicted. He does his job anyway, runs his eye from waist to hem and back, notes the break, the seat, the way the fabric moves.
"Too fitted," Danny says.
"Fitted correctly. You make them look amazing."
"I need to move."
"Can you move?"
Danny shifts his weight. The trousers move with him, exactly as they should. Adrian waits.
"Fine," Danny says.
Adrian holds out the linen shirt without comment. Danny takes it. Goes back in. The door swings but doesn't catch, leaving a two-inch gap that he's not too proud to peek through.
The off-the-rack situation they're currently in is a function of too little time and better things to do with it, and Adrian accepts this the way he accepts chaos: temporarily and with grace. Next time, bespoke. He's already decided. Whether Danny knows he's already decided is a different topic.
"I know you have more things," Danny says through the gap.
Adrian glances down at the vest. "Just one more."
"What is it?"
"Come out and see."
