#I love flirting

[not-punk]

help?

does, like, platonic flirting exist? and how do i do it?

i want to have a closer friendship with one of my friends, and idk how to do it? Asking outright is not a good idea rn, i'm afraid they will get scared

like, when it comes to romantic relationships people often use flirting to sus out the vibes, and see what the other person wants, and if the other person also would potentially be interested in becoming a couple. also it looks fun

so, i figured that platonically it would be possible to do sth similar? sus out whether they would enjoy having a deeper friendship with more physical closeness?

but i also want to make it clear that *i* don't wanto to be a couple, and i'm *not* romantically interested in them

i know it's a tough one, but, eh, maybe someone has an idea

[softquietsteadylove]

Would love to read more form the wildfire one? Maybe something funny and soft?

"Thena?"

She jumped, fumbling with the key in her hands. She managed to catch it, at least. Gil did give her this key himself, after all. It was quite a leap of faith, considering how isolated anyone and everyone was out here.

"Everything okay?" Gil asked as he closed his truck door and walked up his driveway to the cabin.

She fidgeted with the key in her hands. She had somewhat been hoping to slip in and out while he was on duty, maybe at the station. She was going to leave him something as a thanks, of course! But she had been hoping to...keep to herself.

"Yeah, everything's fine," she insisted, still somewhat more agitated than he usual demeanour. She gripped her key, "sorry to...drop in."

"No, it's okay," Gil shook his head, smiling slowly, "that's why I gave you the spare."

She had been cleared to return to patrol weeks ago. And as her parting gift, she had left him a little bear carving she had made. It was crude and rough, but in her own words, she had little option for whittling lessons when she was stuck in his fucking bed all day.

In return, he had given her a spare key to the cabin, saying she could come any time she needed a break from the wilderness.

"How was duty?" she asked in hopes of appearing more normal, even moving aside as Gil used his own key on his belt clip to get in.

"Pretty routine," he smiled and spoke over his shoulder, a subconscious invitation for her to follow him in. "Not too many idiots looking to start a fire when it's this wet out."

"Hm," she nodded as she stepped into the both eerily and comfortingly familiar cabin behind him. Despite any and all circumstances, it smelled like home. Well, it smelled like 'a' home, whether hers or not was beside the point.

"Are you hungry?" Gil asked, still fishing for the reason to find her at his doorstep at the end of the workday. "I can make something."

"Uh," she paused, her eyes darting away just for a second, "y-yeah, that would be nice, Gil."

He gave her this look, like she was trying to bullshit her way out of something. He crossed those stupid arms of his and shifted his weight on his feet, "that'd be...nice?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "I can't be fucking nice?"

"You can be nice," he countered easily with a chuckle. If anything, she doubted that was the true part. "But that's not what you're here for."

She looked up at the ceiling, which also felt very familiar to her. Why was this so hard?--why did it feel so embarrassing to say? "I was hoping...to use the shower."

That obviously surprised Gil, and she couldn't even blame him a little bit for it. "The shower?"

She sighed, feeling as if he'd unearthed this horrible thing about her, when really it was very logical! "I guess I got used to it - or something - while I was here. Sometimes it's hard to go back to the lake knowing I could have nice warm water for it again."

"Right," he nodded slowly, visibly thinking through whatever litany of things he had on the brain. She had told him about going to the lake to bathe, and he had of course very chivalrously asked if that was safe for her. Guy was a gentleman even in hypotheticals.

"I mean," she cleared her throat, unsure herself as to why she was still explaining herself. There was a time when she would have walked right in, used his shower as she liked, and gotten the fuck out of there. And she wouldn't have felt the need to tell him shit either. "It won't be every time. Just, uh, it was pretty cold today and-"

"Thena."

God, those eyes were just so brown, and big and sad looking--like a puppy whining to be loved. She rolled her eyes at him, which was basically a physical reflex of hers, now.

"Use it any time you want," he shook his head, as if he couldn't believe she would even feel the need to ask. He uncrossed his arms, "when I said use your key any time, I meant it. I had it made for you and everything."

Fuck. That was...really sweet. Thena looked down at the key in her hands, her gut twisting and flipping and doing all sorts of things. She gulped, "fuck."

He just chuckled.

She tried to look him in the eyes, but her gaze kept sliding around everywhere else. "Thanks, Gil, that's...really nice."

"I did tell you that before you left, right?" he tilted his head, and there was the asshole who liked to tease her about her sweater habits and tell some of the worst jokes she'd ever heard in her life. "Or did I hallucinate that morning we had breakfast and you even let me hug-"

"Okay, okay, dry your eyes, Mister Sentimental. I'm just gonna wash my disgusting hair and be on my way."

"Your hair is beautiful."

"Hm?" she looked back before dropping her bag in the bathroom. She tilted her head; she couldn't have heard what she thought she heard. "Sorry, what-?"

"Spaghetti--do you want spaghetti?" he asked, also halfway into the kitchen, over his shoulder.

She must have heard wrong. She nodded, "uh, yeah, that's--sure."

"Okay."

"Okay."

The two stared one another down for another second before continuing on. Thena set her bag down and unclipped it to fish out her fresh clothes. She tried to replay what she had thought she heard in her head but it was no clearer than the damn inkblot tests in a psych eval. "Whatever."

If he had something to say, he could say it to her face. Even if it was something like that.

[tensecretsandakiss]

I would like to formally apologise to any of moots who I've chatted with one on one for being so awkward - I swear I do like you, I'm just bad at talking to people and scared of being off-putting

[horsewizards]

[polyglot-noodle]

Flirting is all fun and games until you start to catch feelings, lmao.

[h0neybunches0fh0es]

Ohhhh we looooove a woman with a nice voice who sends the occasional voice note, two can play at that game besties ya girl has a date friday

[slvrmth]

hehe

[atinymexicanbird]

in which shadow cared !! (again)

[hornyverymuch]

happy pride to these two for saying the gayest shit almost 60 years ago on television and singlehandedly inventing slash fiction

[maybe-frog]

someone, flirting: that dress looks pretty cute on you 😏😏

Me: THANKS IT HAS POCKETS

[drylagooned]

the fantastic piece i commissioned from @starrjoy!

[hopelesslygaysstuff]

Me when you!!!!!

you wanna know what the strap feels like? come on over then...

[sourcabbages]

"i got sent as backup to this mission and it turns out its u im backing up"

[skimmeh]

I redrew a scene from episode 5 as fake film screenshots

I'm so normal over them

Close ups and without subtitles ↓

[brainrotcharacters]

makes me giggle to think of X2 Logan meeting dp&w Logan when this is a thing

[idkwhyyouaskingm3-blog]

Look straight people kiss and communicate. Lesbians give each other pointless tasks and polish knives while threatening to murder suicide. I don't make the rules