leomlarson

[leomlarson]

Leo chuckled a little as he grabbed the last plate and scrubbed. "Yeah, well. That's nice of you to say. Maybe 'asshole' is a stretch, but I'm not gonna take back the 'pathetic' part."

It's certainly how Leo had felt, if not over the entirety of the past few months but at least for the first few weeks after his birthday, when his despondence had made it hard for him to do much of anything. It'd only taken a few days for his students to catch on, and some of them had even presented him with a 'get well soon' card that got the first genuine laugh out of him in a while.

"But what I'm actually trying to say is thank you. Whether or not I was a pathetic asshole, I appreciate you being here for me."

"I actually don't want to," he insisted. "I know there's not really a timeline on these things, but...I'm sick of just being angry. And sad. You know? I feel like it's time for me to start moving on. Or trying to, at least."

Easier said than done, sure, but he was sick of feeling so apart from himself.

"I'll take him whenever he wants to go," Leo promised, shutting off the tap and reaching for a towel. "And you know that I'm available to hang out with him whenever you want. I'll even come over here. I like eating your food."

@fletcher-bailey

Fletcher sidles up to the counter perpendicular to Leo, facing him at an angle his low back leaning against the edge of the counter. He holds each end and twirls a dish towel in front of him to entertain himself. The argument about the dishes was one lost ages ago.

"Pathetic and asshole are both harsh descriptors," Fletch considers aloud. He whips the towel gently toward Leo, careful to not snap it in any harsh way. "I would've gone with 'preoccupied' and 'brokenhearted', but that's just me."

It's no surprise Leo's nearly year long relationship falling apart hit him so hard. The circumstances that were the catalyst to the end further justify it by Fletcher's standards.

He challenges Leo with a look, "Are you done talking about you because you feel bad about it, or you don't want to?" Fletch doesn't expect Leo to answer if he insists not to, but he leaves the window of opportunity there by answering simply.

"Nothing. We're counting down the days until summer. I might enroll Oliver in a summer camp just to keep him occupied. Not one of those overnight ones, but a day one. It'll help with the diner shifts. So that's about what I have going on. But he's been asking about going to the pottery studio, specifically with you. I wasn't invited."

@leomlarson

[leomlarson]

Leo turned, his cheeks slightly flushed from all of the dancing, and waved off the apology with a polite smile. "You're totally fine."

He'd stepped aside for a breather himself, as he felt the effects of the molly in his system start to wane. He figured he was still a little ways off from the crash, but it was almost certainly getting close to closing time for him.

"Nah, bother away. You having a good time?"

@missariyas

open starter: @aurorabaystarter location: oasis nightclub

The last time Ariya had been to the nightclub was when she had been feeling down on herself after a breakup. Something about the music and getting to dance while enjoying drinks made it much better. So here she was now, letting herself get lost in the music. It was nice and she missed this. She'd have to come here more often instead of forgetting about this place.

She finds herself moving away to where there are less bodies, accidentally bumping into someone on the way. "Oh, I'm sorry. Just had to get out of there for a bit and take a breather." She gave a small smile. "Hope you are having a good time though. I won't bother you."

[leomlarson]

Why you're single

"Well outside of, like, the obvious... I'm single because I wanna be, I guess. Which is weird for me, because I've always wanted to be in a relationship, at least a little bit, at all times. But shit happens and people give you trust issues, so. I'm trying to figure out how to feel comfortable being alone for now."

[leomlarson]

MEMES.

🌿 * 𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 : 𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎-𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚜.

leave " 🍵 + muses name " , and my muse will say the "honest truth" about what they think of the muse named.

instead of "Ask me", I want you to tell me your story

MUSES.

leo / sola / laurel / nora / mavis / andy / elliot

[leomlarson]

closed: @paxton-brady

location: the pantry

Leo was completely zoned out as he mindlessly traversed the aisles, randomly pulling down things he thought he might need. He had made a list on his phone, but he'd started to disregard it as early as three items in.

His headphones pumped something loud and unfamiliar into his ears as he turned a corner and saw someone struggling to get something down from the top shelf. Still only half-aware of his surroundings, he stepped up next to them to pull it down, with every intention to pull it down, give the person a polite smile, and go about his business again.

He was halfway through the second step when he realized who he'd just bumped into. The box still in hand, his jaw dropped for a second before it clicked shut and his teeth ground together. He muttered to himself, but probably louder than he intended given the volume of the music, "Ah, fuck me."

[leomlarson]

"I feel like it's a lose-lose situation. Like, not to humblebrag or anything, but I'm a pretty good dancer and I know that wouldn't stop these kids from putting it on TikTok and making fun of me with some caption about 'Ohio rizz.' What does that even mean? I'm from Michigan."

Leo had a feeling that when the kids referred to something as 'Ohio' they weren't actually talking about Ohio, but just thinking about it made his brain hurt and made him feel ancient.

"Oh, yeah. I stand by the door and make everyone put 'em in a box I keep behind my desk until the bell rings. You should try it, honestly. They'll whine about it for two weeks but it actually does help with engagement."

"Yeah, twice. Well it wasn't official the first time, me and my friends crashed it. But the official time was cool. I went with this girl I had a huge crush on and she let me down really easy when I ask to kiss her while I was dropping her off. Simpler times, y'know? What about you?"

@forrestxconrad

“Oh, god,” Conrad replied, giving a mock shiver. “The last thing I need right now is any of my students seeing first hand just how bad my dancing can be… or to see them at all, during our short enough time off, actually.” He regarded Leo somewhat curiously, remembering a rumour he’d heard circulating in his classroom but had never been able to get to the bottom of. “Phone still banned in your classes?”

“Tomorrow Conrad is not going to be able to do much grading if I keep drinking this much,” he joked. “I’m sure the kids will understand.“

If experience was anything to go by, they absolutely would not understand — if he had to hear one more student complain about how long grading took, as though he didn’t have to read and grade thirty times as many papers as they took, he might scream. Still, as Leo had pointed out — that was a Tomorrow Conrad problem.

“Similar,” he said. Conrad hadn’t really gone on many dates full stop since his divorce, and he certainly wasn’t about to start discussing his own messy love life with a colleague. “I’m just here for some fun, to be honest. Weird as it is to be back at work, it’s actually quite nostalgic to look at it through the eyes of a student again. Did you ever go to your prom?”

[leomlarson]

Leo pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes before his arms flung out to gesture at the bike, unable to keep dancing around this any longer.

"Dude, what I'm trying to say is that this is literally my bike. I went inside the comic book store to talk to someone for, like, ten minutes, and then when I came out it was gone."

He leaned down to point out the scuff. "I literally made this one night when I was drunk. The paint's probably still on the pavement, I could show you."

@mackonestevie

The squint, along with the rest of their body, freezes at the mention of a comic book store. In fact, a comic book store is exactly where Stevie stumbled upon this absolute beauty of a bike. The bells and whistles alone (see: working tires) felt like a luxury in comparison to the rusty hand-me-downs back home.

"That... is an oddly specific detail to a story I have yet to tell," they state, annunciating. "Do comic book stores have free bike giveaways that I've never heard about or something?"

@leomlarson

[leomlarson]

❤️ = Does your muse focus on one person, or do they like to go and date as many people as possible?

"Like, 'as many people as possible' feels like a stretch, but yeah, when I'm single I like to meet people and fuck around a little. But when I'm all in, I'm all in."

[leomlarson]

👀 + were you scared the first time your performed drag?

"Yeah, dude, of course. I was worried that I'd trip in my heels or that I'd chosen the wrong songs or I'd fuck up my lip sync and I'd look out and everyone would just be like 'who the fuck is she.' But my drag mother slapped me around a little bit and told me to get my head in the fucking game, so I did. I mean, I blacked out for my whole set, but then I found a whole twenty dollar bill in my ass, so. I think people liked it."

[leomlarson]

Do they have any deal-breakers, things that would make them seriously reconsider a relationship?

"Going through my phone looking for evidence of cheating without talking to me and then kissing their ex are big ones."

[leomlarson]

MEMES.

Send a symbol, and my muse will tell a personal story about…

Random Character Development

☆ Headcanon Prompts ☆

Send my muse “👀 + a question” and they’ll have to answer with 100% honesty.

MUSES.

leo / sola / laurel / nora / mavis / andy / elliot

[leomlarson]

Leo: oop Leo: well ig then i can tell you that i also got a bf right after we matched 😳 Leo: which also ended lol rip Leo: eyyyyy Leo: sometimes!! it's a cool spot Leo: what do you do?

drew: pretend what isnt weird of u 😉 drew: last yr last yr... drew: ok so ig i cant give u too much shit actually for 👻 bc i did get a bf kinda right after we matched back then drew: obvo that ended drew: i got a new job which was p sick drew: u ever go to sharkys??? 👀

[leomlarson]

Leo was definitely coming across like a bumbling idiot as he helped clean up, offering profuse apologies and even offering to pay for what he'd spilled. The employees there, through gritted teeth, refused the money but also only semi-politely asked him to step away from the booth and not to come back.

He did so with more apologies and slightly red cheeks and headed toward the exit, not chancing a glance back to see if his partner in crime had already cleared the area.

"Heyyyy, look at that Fantastic job, my dude," he said when he spotted her, happily holding up a fist to meet hers before taking one of the bottles. "That's definitely expensive. Look at this fuckin'...uh, what is it called— wax seal. Only the expensive ones have those."

"You wanna crack one of these boys open right now?"

@rileyxmaddox

Hands pulled together behind her back, Riley stood a little way away from the bar, but nearby so she can spring to action when needed. Just like she'd imagined, the distraction is more than enough for the keepers to lower their defences. Riley put her hands on the pop-up bar, craning her body over it to reach and snag whatever her hands landed on.

Feeling the weight of them beneath her grasp, more than three quarters full, Riley ires on the side of caution by only taking two. Shoving the cold bottles underneath her shirt, her arms wrap around herself to keep them hidden as she walks briskly towards the exit. After a few minutes of looking around, she spies him, giving her new friend a sly smile on arrival.

"I knew you'd make a great accomplice," Riley's tone implies that she might be praising herself more than her new partner in crime. A hand extends for a fist bump before revealing the loot. "I don't know what the fuck I grabbed, but it feels expensive."

( @leomlarson )

[leomlarson]

It took Leo a few seconds to locate the source of the sound, wheeling around, eyes flicking every which way before they landed on Asher. "Oh my god, dude, there you are. I thought I was losing it."

His eyebrows furrowed as he approached, and he threw another glance at the crowd as if they were getting up to something far more nefarious than sharing an illicit pizza.

"Hell yeah," he said, taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves. "The fancy shit isn't really for me either. Like come on, we're at a prom."

"How'd you even sneak this thing in?"

@heyits-asher

CLOSED STARTER for @leomlarson at the under the sea prom

"Hey."

Asher peeks out from under the gymnasium bleachers.

"Hey, Leo. Psst!"

It's yelled out way above a whisper, and Ash even has his hands around his mouth to help carry his voice above the sound of the music. "Are you hungry? Looks like you could be hungry."

"I ordered a pizza because I don't do french cuisine. Buffalo chicken and jalapenos - want some?"

[leomlarson]

"Security must be really on top of their shit, because I could've sworn I heard a couple kids talking about how they were gonna crash this thing."

Leo's eyes darted around suspiciously again, looking for phones unsubtly pointed in their direction. Some of their students had zero shame, and the fancam of himself that had once crossed his For You page had him permanently ban phones in his classroom at the start of last school year.

"Dude, don't even remind me — I have a pile of untouched finals on my desk right now. But nope, no, that's a Tomorrow Leo problem."

"Nah," he said, looking down at his drink. He didn't want to get into his messy breakup with his coworker, and especially not when his ex was floating somewhere in the crowd. "Just came to hang out with my friends. You?"

@forrestxconrad

Conrad nods, equally uncomfortable. “I keep expecting one of the students to pop out from behind a corner,” he said, half-joking — and eying the nearby doors warily. He’d lost track of how much time he’d spent in this gym over the two years he’d been working in at the school, but with the decor for the prom it was almost unrecognisable. Yet still, he couldn’t help but feel… strange about the whole thing. He’d had to walk through the same halls he walked each day to get to work, had to enter through the same doors he would usher students through, and — if he was completely honest — had already seen some behaviour that made him wonder whether the adults in this room were secretly just teenagers in disguise.

“I don’t think the feeling we should be grading ever goes away, you know,” he said. “That stuff’s relentless.”

He glanced around them, scanning the crowd. “You come here with anyone tonight?”

[leomlarson]

📞 + ziggy!

@ziggykyeons

[leomlarson]

🎞️ – my muse's camera roll featuring your muse + fletch

@fletcher-bailey