together forever

It began when Steph slid into Sofie's DMs on a certain dating app with the opener: "Wanna join my friends and I for trivia tonight?" Sofie, who was not particularly enthused by the "with friends" part, but was feeling emboldened by a recent session with her therapist, figured "Ehhhh why not?" One problem: she didn't have a car. Luckily, Steph did, and offered to drive all the way to La Jolla from Ocean Beach and back to pick her up (oh my!) . Stephen was amazed that Sofie trusted him enough to be alone with him in the car, having not met him yet. Sofie...was praying Stephen wasn't the next Ted Bundy. The aforementioned friends ended up cancelling ("thank God," Sofie thought) so the two decided to have an intimate dinner at Stephen's favorite taco shop in Ocean Beach. After some lovely conversations in which Stephen expanded upon his lore, and Sofie accidentally figuring out where Stephen was about to start his new job (if you know, you know) Stephen's longstanding food aversion finally hit, and he started feeling sick. Sofie, feeling concerned for Stephen's health, proposed to have them eat at his place instead, as his house was literally a block down the street. Now, she desperately wanted to see his cats, and was so fixated on this that she did not realize how her forwardness could have been interpreted. This was made apparent when Stephen thought she had other things on her mind... Just kidding! He just wanted someone to watch Fallout with. And thus their relationship between Stephen ("doofus") and Sofie ("lily") bloomed. Stephen impressed Sofie with his acting skills, showing off his many characters from improv--Mr. Johnny Appleseed being her favorite--and showed Sofie the Star Wars series for the first time. In turn, Sofie amused Stephen with her love for plushies and Calico Critters, and opened his eyes to the myriad of food that San Diego had to offer. (Stephen, in time, overcame his food aversion thankfully.) The two learned many things from one another. Stephen learned how to be open-minded and practice flexibility, and to view the world around him from others' perspectives. On the other hand, Sofie learned how to practice boundaries with love and empathy for herself, not just for others. Sofie and Stephen had finally found a companion in each other with whom they could finally lose the mask with.