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ultraintrovertedgryffindor · 2 years

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Hello! if you still take requests may I ask about Colin Ritman x reader story ? You can use she/her but they/them are also fine with me :) so the reader just started their career as an author and artist, they have published their first comic book that’s getting pretty popular in the uk and for now Colin is one of the biggest fans of the plot , art and in general the comic itself… He throughout the time also got a bit of interest and crush on the reader while watching interviews and videos of them on tv. You can think of how they met and what happens later on in the story! idk,,, I just thought it would be super cute and fluffy story but I’m literally so bad at writing haha,,,

Of course, sweet Anon! We love Colin love🥰

Warnings: Fluff. Just pure fluff is all I have to offer here.

2.9K Words🤙🏻

~~~~~~~~~~

Your nerves were on fire. Your palms were sweaty, knees weak, and your whole body felt heavy. Standing on the side of the set, just out of sight of the various cameras that were pointed at the host of the show, waiting for your cue to come on. You just hoped you didn't throw up your mom's spaghetti all over your nicest sweater you wore for this specific occasion.

You were invited to be interviewed by one of the talking shows in your country to talk about your latest comic book that was published. Your career had only just started to take off, you never thought you'd be so popular, much less get invited to talk on national television. It all felt so surreal, you had to pinch yourself several times just to make sure you weren't dreaming.

"And with their latest comic in their horror mystery series that's flying off the shelves in almost every store in the UK, here with us today is the amazing: Y/n L/n!" The announced grinned widely and ushered you out from behind the curtain, the lights hitting your face as soon as you walked to him, a grin similar to his on your face, albeit a bit more nervous.

You tried to calm your rapidly beating heart as you took a seat in the seat next to him, crossing your legs and waving to the live audience as they cheered. "Thank you, thank you!" You chuckled happily.

"Okay, first off, when you first started your career as a comic book maker, did you expect to ever be greeted with such excitement?" He pointed to the audience, who started to cheer just as loudly as before.

"Uh, no!" You shook your head, a blush dusting your cheeks as the audience kept cheering, the host having to tell them to quiet down so he could talk.

"Well, obviously, the people love you!"

Yeah, the people did love you, but it seems one did more than the usual fan. The infamous Colin Ritman took an interest to your work, long before you were actually paid attention to, long before you were asked for interviews or brand deals. Colin had been paying attention to your work from the beginning. He had always been a comic book fan, a hobby he never really had time for anymore since working full time at Tuckersoft, but he worked hard to make time for you.

When it came to other things he was a fan of, and there weren’t that many, he almost always separated the artist from the work. He learned that most celebrities were dickheads and weren’t worth obsessing over, he didn’t understand it anyway. But then you came along and…well, he might’ve changed his mind a little bit.

He didn’t know where it even came from, the sudden weakness, as he viewed it. It’s not like you looked like an angel or anything spectacular. You were just a normal human being, with an incredible mind and artistic expression. He never even sought out to obsess over the newspapers to see if he could find a photograph of you. He was just sitting in his flat one day, the telly on just as background noise as he worked on a game, and you came on screen. One of your first interviews on live television, and he couldn’t look away for even a moment.

Colin had never felt starstruck before, but seeing you on screen in that moment, he thought that it would be the closest he’d ever get to the feeling. He found your nervousness endearing, it didn’t seem fake or overplayed, you looked genuine; and genuineness was a rare attribute in most artists, if not most people in the world. After that, he always made sure to read the tv listings or papers to see whenever you were scheduled to be interviewed or anything in the like. He couldn’t believe he had an actual infatuation with a person he’d never met. And neither could his boss, who made sure to tease him about it every chance he got, which was a lot because for a boss the man never actually seemed to work.

After over a year of having this admiration with you, Colin almost jumped off a balcony when he heard that one of your comics was being chosen to be made into a video game. The paper didn’t say which company it would be, and that immediately made Colin furious because he knew he was the best game programmer and he’d actually do your work justice better than whatever arsehole would be making it.

Colin’s furious thoughts came to an abrupt end when Mr. Thakur snapped his fingers in front of him. “Mate, get out of fantasyland. We’ve got a new client, or should I say, you’ve got a new client!”

Colin furrowed his sharp brows in confusion (and annoyance) at his boss’ declaration. “I don’t take clients.” He stated starkly.

“Well, you do now.”

“No, I don’t. Unless you don’t want this new game to be out by the time you want it, I’m not taking on any other projects.” Colin huffed in frustration.

“Fuck that, Ritman. This one is more important. It has the potential to really boost our popularity.” Not important? Not fucking important? Colin has never wanted to go off on his boss more than he did in that moment. I’ve spent hours upon hours trying to make this bullshit game for you and taking my personal time to try and make it work and you have the balls to say that it’s not fucking important, is what Colin wished he could say without getting fired. Honestly, he could’ve probably found a company that would’ve treated him better. But today was not that day, he just had to suck it up and entertain whatever bullshit project his boss would thrust upon him unfairly.

“Fine.” Colin sneered. “Who’s this sod of a client anyway?” As soon as Colin said those words, he almost had the breath knocked out of his lungs.

“Colin, may I introduce to you the one and only Y/n L/n.” Mr. Thakur continued to drone on with the introduction, but Colin couldn’t even hear what all he was saying. He couldn’t believe that you were standing right in front of him, he must’ve been dreaming, he had to have been. He quickly realized he hated feeling starstruck, it made him hyper aware that he must’ve been acting like a lunatic just staying at you but there was nothing he could do to stop himself. Not until his boss snapped him out of it of course. “This is our new client, we’re going to be making a game out of their comic books!”

Ah, so it was Tuckersoft. How did Colin not even notice that the company he worked for would be doing this? He was usually dismissive but he thought he’d at least have heard the excited whispers around the office. Maybe it was supposed to be really secretive. Mr. Thakur was excited about it, and Colin couldn’t help but to be as well even though he didn’t show it outwardly. He really hoped you didn’t hear him call you a sod client…

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Ritman.” You smiled widely, holding your hand out to shake his hand.

“Colin.” He said bluntly, a little too bluntly, clearing his throat subtly. “Just Colin is fine.” He shook your hand, trying not to feel gross about thinking how soft your skin was. Mr. Thakur side-eyed Colin, clearly noticing the slight tremor in his voice because since when was Colin ever nervous about anything? But thankfully, for once in his life, Mr. Thakur kept his mouth shut.

It was surprisingly difficult to listen to anything anyone had to say as your team discussed the elements that they wanted incorporated into the game. Colin hated it, he hated this whole situation, he hated how excited he felt to be working on a game specifically for you. Much of Colin’s whole personality was strictly indifference, so being excited for anything was rare. It seemed like the concept was pretty decent, but if you had any sort of control of what you wanted, then of course it was going to be good.

Colin, being the talented designer he was, was always allowed to work from home, and this was no exception. The only real issue was that you would be working with him from whenever you had the time, to overlook everything and give any notes if you felt like it was needed. You had no game designing experience, but it was going to have your name on it so Colin supposed it was warranted. He just hoped he wouldn’t be too distracted with you looking over his shoulder.

It was only a couple months into the job that you finally had free time to go over to Colin’s flat to check in with his progress. He felt obligated to clean his place spotless, well, as spotless as he could with all the stuff he had. He felt like he should be somewhat presentable, even though he’s never felt the need to make any sort of effort for anyone. Another thing he hated was how nervous he felt about you seeing his progress, he wanted you to be happy with it, he didn’t know if his ego could handle you hating it in any way.

Colin lightly slapped himself as he heard you ring his doorbell, hyping himself up to be cordial as best he could. “Colin, hi!” You smiled sweetly as soon as he opened the door, already feeling his heart hammer inside his ribcage.

“Hi…” He coughed, “Uh, right, come in.” He stood aside to allow you to walk through the door frame, cringing at himself for the first time out of many that day he assumed. God, if he could just get over himself. But something you said quickly made him feel like a deer in headlights.

“You have my comics!” You pointed out with a happy grin.

When Colin was frantically cleaning his flat in preparation for your arrival, he forgot the most important part he needed to tidy up (and hide): your various comic books that were scrawled over his coffee table. He was so used to reading them on his couch in the mornings he never even thought to hide them. “Uh, bought some, to get a feel for your style.” He stuttered, thankful he came up with a logical excuse even though it wasn’t articulated as smoothly as he wanted it to be.

“Oh, well, I appreciate that! Did you like them? Or did you just look at the art style?”

“I skimmed through it.” He lied more convincingly the second time. “I will one day though, just have to focus on this game for now. As you already know.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course!” Goddamn it, why did you have to be so nice? Why couldn’t you have just been an asshole? It sure would be easier to pay attention to the work instead of constantly stealing glances over at you. But unfortunately, that’s not how the next few months went.

It wasn’t bad, per say. Just more than a little awkward from time to time. Colin was severely unsociable as it was, but you just cranked that up to eleven once you started spending more and more time with him. Colin never thought he’d want to have more social skills, but that was before he met you. Now he just wished he could get a proper sentence out that could make you smile, even just a little bit. The only smiles he got from you was when you saw his progress, which was nice but it wasn’t the same as it would be for him to make you smile himself.

On the other side of this coin, Mr. Thakur hounded Colin every chance he got. Every time he could get a word in about how he needed this game to be perfect in every way or any minute flaw, he never hesitated to pester Colin about it. It was getting on his very last nerve and the only time he could get a moment’s peace was when he was with you.

Colin still couldn’t believe how angelic you seemed. You were his complete opposite and yet, he found you incredibly enjoyable to be around. You never got frustrated, at least not with him. Any error or bump in the road of making your game never seemed to get to you. You were so patient with everyone. He’d never admit this out loud, but Colin admired you. He also never thought he’d be scared to speak his mind.

It took longer than expected, but Colin finally made you laugh one night. It took him completely by surprise too. The two of you had a couple drinks after you convinced Colin he needed to give his eyes a break from staring at a screen all day, and you both were just sitting on the floor against his couch, sharing stories and opinions, just trying to get to know each other. He told a dumb joke, a dark one at that, so you could imagine his surprise when you broke out laughing. Full on, deep from the belly laugh. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was because of how late into the night it was, but Colin knew he would remember that laugh forever; especially the look of embarrassment on your face after you couldn’t stop laughing.

Then the late night drinks became a regular thing, so regular that Colin thought about prolonging finishing the game just so he could see you almost every day. But of course, there were deadlines and the game was so close to being done that he could see the finish line. He couldn’t do that, not to you. You were so excited, you loved everything about it, praises spilling from your mouth before it was even done. He couldn’t possibly prolong it without feeling like an absolute knob. So he completed it, before the deadline with the finishing touches and all; but it made him feel so sad.

Colin didn’t want whatever the two of you had to end. He wanted to continue that…partnership.

It was at the game release party at the company that he finally got up the courage to ask.

You were wearing a cheesy Christmas outfit, to match the theme of the party since the game came out around then; bright red with white puffballs down the middle to mimic Santa, he hated Christmas but it looked good on you. You were smiling ear to ear as the reviews started pouring in from the presale testers, encouraging everyone and anyone to play the game because they thought it was so well done. He couldn’t help the warm fuzzy feeling that rose in his chest as you wiped away happy tears from your cheeks.

As the party died down and everyone started to leave, Colin knew this was his last chance to talk to you. Everyone was talking to you throughout the night, wanting to give their obligatory two cents, not allowing him a chance to even congratulate you. So he finally let out a relieved sigh as his coworkers started to head home. “I barely saw you tonight.” Colin spoke with a chuckle as he went to stand next to you by the windows that looked out on the city, all brightly lit up with red and green and the slightest hint of snow starting to dust the rooftops of smaller buildings.

“I know!” You grinned exhaustedly. “I’m still not used to people wanting to talk to me all the time.”

“Well, I just wanted to congratulate you on the oncoming success.”

“I should be the one congratulating you, are you kidding me? You’re the one who made this possible. You did the work, my name is just attached to it.”

“Give yourself some credit, you had the concept. You could’ve found any other prick to make the game for you.” Colin blushed.

“I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it.” You spoke softly, looking down on the city to distract yourself from your quickly heating cheeks as Colin gave you a look of admiration.

“You know I…” Colin hesitated, taking a deep breath before continuing, “I was actually a fan of yours, before you came to us.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. I was just too much of a coward to actually admit that. All those comics of yours you saw in my flat months ago, had them all long before you came along. Pretty embarrassing, right?”

“No, not embarrassing at all!” You smiled, nudging his side with your elbow. “You could’ve told me, I would’ve been flattered. I am now.”

“At first, I felt like we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. But then it was just so easy to be around you, like, we had always been friends, if that’s not weird of me to say.” You shook your head, gesturing for him to continue. “With the game finally over and done, I don’t want to go back to never seeing each other again. I know it’s just been a partnership but…I want to be more than that. Friends, at the very least.”

Colin’s heart flipped in his chest as he saw your soft dreamy expression, your eyes practically pleading with want as your breath caught in your throat. It was a sight to behold, the view almost pushing him to do something about it, though he would wait for you to respond. But the sight of you licking your lips before speaking was testing his self-restraint. “I would love to have…more than a partnership.” You spoke meekly, looking up at him through your lashes with a smirk.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

~~~~~~~~~~

short n' sweet. hope that was fluffy enough for you lmao

#black mirror bandersnatch #colin ritman #colin ritman imagine #colin ritman x reader #i liiiiive #kinda #sorry this took awhile lol

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