#i'm mostly just working on designs and jotting bits and pieces down as i go atm

[kimeoshi]

‘Twas both 👁👁, but yeah honestly I’m very interested cause damn- (sorry if I seem awkward I’m not good with online interaction 😭😭 LMAO)

NAH no worries you're doing fine!!

It's a pretty wide array of topics but touching the surface of it, I'll go into my art process.

Here's a short thread where I went into this similarly!

I pretty much follow the steps of what I mentioned there, but it varies a little bit based on the style I go for too: painting whole illustrations or design or more simple fun things.

I could describe what I did in each frame of my process gifs which I've posted before but I would need some time. With big pieces, the steps I go by (read slowly, it's a pretty dense text):

thumbnailing -> sketching with bigger shapes to get the line of action/feel (that is, I'm just blocking out the composition) -> refine that a bit -> hide BG, draw the characters (lineart) and add the base colors of them. (then merge & rasterize a copy of it for later) -> put them back in the environment (unhide BG), make them grey -> add shading in greyscale style (multiply layers, glow dodge layers, you name it) -> get that previous rasterized layer back and put it on color mode -> those characteristic shiny parts get a new layer with overly saturated + high brightness colors -> color BG with a new color layer -> then rendering/refining for concerning amounts of time -> add effects and change color/brightness/contrast curves + gradient map -> profit???

For software, I generally use Paint Tool SAI (I adore blending/painting here), I use Clip Studio Paint for the 3D posing library/sketching/lineart, and Photoshop for final effects. (Update: I mostly do all things in CSP now)

(if you have CSP, try out this brush... it saved my life)

As for improvement:

I experiment, watch a lot of youtube videos (I personally like the ones which analyse an artist). I suggest thoroughly understanding how something moves and works (for anatomy I can recommend the book 'Anatomy for Sculptors'), I also study and jot down important pieces of advice or insights to a collective document, rather than saving them to my device where it is highly likely to be forgotten.

I believe if you put great importance on colors and composition, that can cause the most noticeable, 'fastest' improvement, at least if you view it from the lens of social media. (While online environments provide significant reassurance, it must be engaged with in moderation, as it is easy to fall into a lot of negative mindsets, taking the enjoyment out by perfectionism, comparison, or seeking validation, etc.)

Another improvement technique you can try is to slow down a speedpaint video of your choice and follow along with the artist. Extremely useful, I recommend, put your artist under a microscope.

Of course I don't do all of these things every single waking hour, it's just a side hobby to my unrelated studies in real life. Even if you don't actively draw your visual library and knowledge can improve passively, I find that so fascinating. I don't touch a paper for months and there's a sudden jump, like damn what. (Not saying you should do this, active learning is still better ofc) Either way my point with that is, that improving does and did take a lot of time for me as well.

Apologies if this goes all over the place, I tried to touch upon every subject that came to mind at the moment, in not too much in detail, overall I hope it makes sense

If you have any specific questions related, feel free to ask! Or if there's any specific problem you'd like to tackle but find yourself lost, same applies!

[antlered-prince]

👀❤️ ohh what is this sleepytime au about? Can we get some info on them skele bois? :0

yeah of course! they're actually based off of a dream i had over a year ago now that started out as a nightmare. they both got me out of a situation where i was panicking and took me somewhere safe where paps looked after me until i woke up i actually don't have too much info on them as of right now but basically they are protectors of people within dreams. i'm gonna do designs for everyone else too (alphys first prob bc i actually have a name for her) as for other information ummmm i can tell you their forms are super flexible. being 'dream-based' so to say, they can change shape as needed in order to protect someone. it does take a lot of energy for them though. i've drawn Mello sort of doing this a little while ago.

their names are also based off things that remind me of sleep/are used to help sleep Mello (melatonin), Quill (tranquil) and Chamomile

i uh, haven't gotten too far with names yet skdjfhsf

[catelyngrant]

For the writer asks, how about 1, 9, 12? 😄

1. what’s the fic you're most proud of? This is a really interesting and hard one! There are a few that come to mind, in no particular order:

my house is haunted by rotten desire (CAOS, post s3, Zelda-centric): I always feel satisfied when I feel like I've a) nailed a character that I find hard to write and b) made sense of or fixed something that really frustrated me or was just plan wrong, gross, or ignored in canon. I felt like this fic accomplished both.

beckoning towards me from behind that closed door (Supergirl, Kara-centric): Gen fic doesn't usually get the same love as fic tagged with popular fandom pairings and I totally get that, but this was one of the very first Supergirl fics I wrote (shortly after season one ended) and I've always thought it was a bit underrated. I think it does a good job of exploring a lot of different aspects of and possibilities for Kara in ways that felt believable.

love leaves a mark and love leaves a strain (Supergirl, Supercat): I thought that this one explored parts of Cat in a way that I hadn't really seen, and considering what a talented and thoughtful fandom this is, that felt rare! I also really like reading/writing Kara and Cat navigating new stages of their relationship dynamic, no matter what that dynamic is, and I thought that this fic was set in an interesting moment between them.

sugar, we're going down swinging (Hacks, Ava/Deborah): I hesitate with this one because I'm really proud of the first chapter but less so about the second chapter - I was so determined to get it out before season two started, and I think if I'd spent another week or two with it, I'd be much more satisfied for having fleshed out some areas that right now leave me a little disappointed. That said, this was a fic I never expected to write, was terrified to write, gave me no small amount of grief, and really challenged me in new ways. I'd written next to no really explicit smut before, for one thing, and picking Ava/Deborah as the ship to change that was...a choice.

I was in my mid-twenties through 30 (my current age) when I wrote all of these, but I do have a few older ones that - while I'd definitely change some things - I think hold up really well for having been written when I was much younger.

9. what’s your writing process like? Lie awake at night or get caught up in daydreams while commuting, fleshing out entire worlds and specific scenes, and then being frustrated at how many of them vanish before the Divine Inspiration to actually put them on the page hits. When it does, I pretty much slam them out very quickly. This also happens when I'm facing a deadline of any sort, only without the Divine Inspiration and a lot more anxiety.

For non-fic writing (mostly poetry), it's a little different. It involves a TON of reading and being inspired by other works, which serves to get me into a mindset where I feel like I just start viewing the world a little differently and everything suddenly feels like it has potential to be a poem. Generative workshops or my local queer craft night are great, and I have so many bits and pieces of imagery/phrases/anything that feels like it might have a place in a poem someday scattered all through my life (my phone, scraps of paper, jotted in notebooks or the margins of books, voice memos, etc.)

12. What’s your perfect environment to create/write? I like working in groups with other writers, so local writing groups are great even if I don't share much of what I'm working on. At home, it's usually just me on the couch. My favorite - though rare - options are holing up at my aunt and uncle's little camp on a lake and writing on the dock or in the cozy cabin which feels like it's designed for writing, or on my mom's porch with the cats dozing nearby. I like silence when I write, at least in terms of no music/TV/talking going on in the background.

Ask me fic questions!

[fleetingfictions]

Every author I hear of seems to write constantly. I'm a writer and and always planned to be a published novelist, but I'll honestly pursue and write a story maybe once a year when the inspiration hits. I can't write if I have no idea to write about. I'm always mulling over ideas and writing about them though. Idk, I feel like the odd one out most of the time. Can u relate? I just constantly feel like I'm wasting "writing time" 😭

I can relate in some ways, but not all ways. When my adhd was undiagnosed, I rarely could write until I had massive amounts of inspiration (which is why I've been working on my novel for about 12 years). I'd pick at it a few times a year, then put it off to the side. But all I wanted to do was write. I thought about it constantly, but never found the ability to work on it -- I felt like so much of that time was wasted where I was daydreaming but not putting it onto paper. Now that I'm diagnosed and getting the aid I need (hasn't even been a year yet), I'm a fairly consistent writer and can write even when inspiration is alluding me. I'm also an artist and am finally about to complete other projects as well. I'm not saying you have adhd, this is just my story. When it comes to having no idea what to write about, that's where I cannot relate. I have a project folder bursting with ideas that, now that I'm able to write fairly consistently, cannot wait to get my hands on. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those writers who can work on more than one project at a time unless it's something I have to write for class, like a short story or something; and as a writing major this happens frequently. Some things that helped me get into writing when I couldn't were:

1. Changing up where I wrote. Sometimes I'd go to the library and request one of the quiet rooms. Other times I'd go to a park and write at a covered picnic area. I've also gone to museums, coffee shops, visitor centers, airports, malls, etc. to write. Sometimes it's really helpful, and I get a lot done, others it was uncomfortable, and I barely got two words down. But this is how I found what environments I like to write in. I also get a lot of varying inspiration in these places for new works.

2. Cleaning out my own space. For me, when I was having trouble with my focus, I found that minimalism was the way to go. I packed up a lot of my stuff and stored it away to see if that would help -- and it did. I didn't have the distractions anymore, which helped me clear my thoughts as well. Now that I'm getting the help I need -- I'm more of a maximalist, but that helps in new ways with inspiration.

3. Ditching my computer for a notebook, and hitting the trails. As I hiked (it didn't matter where I hiked, it could be in the deep woods or a path at a local park) I would keep a log of what I noticed using all five of my senses. Sometimes I'd sit and write a short story about a certain bird I heard and what I thought it was saying, or a stump that looked like a castle. Sometimes I'd just jot down something that annoyed me, like a rock in my shoe. I'd use timestamps to show my progress. This probably helped more than anything. I wasn't forcing myself to write about certain things, just anything. A lot of these logs have thoughts, to-do lists, and various story ideas shoved into them as well -- all of which have nothing to do with what I was experiencing outside my head. I'll still do this if I'm feeling overwhelmed, not just with writing, but with life, as it helps me clear my head and organize my remaining thoughts. I will also sometimes do this in public spaces like coffee shops-- it doesn't clear my head, but listening to other people's conversations helps with dialogue.

4. A fake school assignment. I would pretend I had to write for an assignment at school -- that my grade depended on it (at this time I wasn't even in school). I'd randomly choose a prompt (mostly from some tumblr writing prompt blog I was following) and that was my assignment. Usually I said it had to be two pages, but they always ended up being more -- some of them even led to story ideas I have stored in my project folder. I remember one time I even printed out an assignment sheet to make it feel more realistic -- and even though it felt a little dumb when I first thought of it, as I was designing the sheet I already got some inspiration for the prompt and jumped right into it.

5. Lastly, force. I'd sometimes force myself to sit down and start writing. I hated it -- at least getting myself into the chair, but as soon as a few sentences were done, everything started flowing. The most progress got done with this process. There is a piece of writing advice I would follow at this point -- stop in the middle of things. Sometimes, when I felt myself coming towards the end of my writing session (either getting tired, running out of time before I had another thing on my schedule, or running out of ideas of what should happen next), I'd just stop in the middle of action, or even the middle of a sentence. This made me anxious to finish it the next day when I had more energy -- and I could pick right up. Oftentimes, if not all the time, I'd spend the rest of the day thinking about where I left off in the story -- and since I had ended in the middle of an already somewhat formed idea, and knew what I wanted to write the following day; I'd daydream about it. And since I was so focused on the remainder of that action, what happened next almost always came to me. So when I sat at my desk the next day I was prepared; not just to finish what I'd started the day before, but to continue into the next plot point -- only to stop in the middle of things. I built up this habit, and it is how I got my first draft (of my first go-around) done.

I hope this may help a bit, even if none of this works for you -- maybe it will lead you to something else that does!

Nito

[hikari-writes]

『Haikyuu!!』

Fluff Oneshot

Winter Wonderland Collab

❝ Cure For A Broken Heart ❞

Pairing: Goshiki Tsutomu

Warning: Cheating ex boyfriend, past toxic relationship

Genre: F L O O F

Words: 3.6k

Notes:

-F!Reader

A/N: heres another piece for the winter wonderland collab feat baby boy goshiki :3

Winter Wonderland Masterlist

You stomped your way through the shopping district full of couples making out, anger seeping through you as you tried very hard not to yell at those strangers. 

It was hard to contain your anger towards happy couples, especially since you had just broken up with your cheating boyfriend. 

Definitely not a good way to start your Christmas evening.

You rubbed your eyes to get rid of the tears that were welling up in it. You tried to get your mind off of things as you thought on how Oikawa would react when he finds out about your breakup. 

He'll most likely nag you for hours, saying that he knew that your (now) ex-boyfriend was bad news all along. You couldn't help but to heave another sigh. 

Not that Oikawa hadn't warned you about your ex before. He warned you multiple times, even. But you were too blinded by what you thought was love for your ex to even pay any attention to Oikawa's warnings. 

As you kept walking and walking without any particular direction you were heading into, you finally found yourself in an unfamiliar side of the shopping district. 

The place wasn't bustling with as many people as the center of the shopping district you were in just now. There were fewer shops, and the things that were being sold in them weren’t as eye-catching as the ones in the busy part of the shopping district. 

Just then, your feet stopped at a shop that appears to be a cafe. You looked at the shop sign. There, written in a beautiful font, was the shop’s name.

“...Shiratori Cake House.”

You stared at the picture of a swan on the sign board logo. Fits the cafe’s name to a T, you thought. Seeing as how the place is void of any visitors, you figured that there won’t be so many customers in the cafe and decided to enter the cafe to treat yourself to something sweet and take your mind off the aching pain in your heart. 

Truthfully, you could’ve just gone to the cafe Oikawa worked at, since you’re more familiar with that place and you might even got to ask for a bit of a friend discount from him. But since it was CHRISTMAS, the place will undoubtedly be flooded with customers, who were mostly Oikawa’s fangirls, and you didn’t want to be suffocated with so many people while your mind was in total shambles. You needed peace, quiet and a little bit of a sweet treat to mend your broken heart at the time.

As soon as you stepped in, however, you realized that your previous guess was completely off. 

The cafe wasn’t lacking in customers.

It didn’t have any customers to begin with.

You looked around in confusion. You even thought that maybe the place was actually already closed for the day. But you were definitely sure that the sign read “OPEN” before you entered just now. See, it wouldn’t have been weird if business was running slow if this was any other day. But it was CHRISTMAS. Every cafe, bakery and cake shop in the town was swarmed with customers, especially considering the fact that there weren't as many shops like that in your town to begin with.

Your confusion was cut short when you heard a male voice called out to you.

“Welcome, dear customer. A table for one?”

You turned around to see a guy with a black haired bowl cut wearing what you presumed to be the cafe’s uniform greeting you. You sent him a nod and followed behind him silently as he led the way to one of the tables. Considering the fact that he was serving you, you took it that it was still business hours at the time. 

“Take your time, and just call me whenever you’ve decided on an order.”

He handed you the menu and you took it with a curt nod. You didn’t spare a glance at the menu as you stared at the waiter. He noticed your gaze and looked at you with confusion evident in his eyes. 

“Is there something wrong?”

At his question, you found yourself opening your mouth to say something that even you yourself wasn’t expecting to come out of your own mouth. You guessed you could say you said that on the spur of the moment, but what exactly prompted you to say that was unknown to even yourself. Who knows, maybe the stress and sadness you were feeling after having just broken up with your ex made you lose some of your brain cells.

“Can I get a smile from you?”

You asked with a straight face, as if you didn’t just ask a question that might as well be considered as a pick-up line. After blurting that out, you realized how much you actually sounded like Oikawa. Guess being friends with him had made his habits rub off on you too. You internally cringed at what you just said, and was about to apologize to the waiter when you saw his reaction. 

He looked extremely surprised at your sudden request and he was blushing extremely hard, you could even feel the heat he was radiating. He kept opening and closing his mouth, as if trying to say something to you but the vocabularies in his brain just disappeared. It was apparent that he had never experienced being hit on before. His reaction seemed to be contagious when you found even yourself blushing at his reaction, and you were left with an awkward silence as the both of you continued to hang your head low. You gotta admit though, he was pretty cute so that just became another factor as to why you blushed after what you just said.

Not too long after that, another waiter stepped in and pushed the black haired waiter away. You snapped out of your flustered state and looked up at the waiter who just helped the two of you get out of that awkward situation. He had copper-colored hair with a….unique hairstyle.

He heaved a sigh before meeting your gaze.

“Please excuse him, dear customer. Although, I must say, you did break him after what you just said.”

At his statement, your blush grew darker.

“B-broke him, you said...”

You quickly averted your gaze and stared intently at the menu in front of you, trying to distract yourself from the unbearable awkwardness. 

You skimmed through the menu and took a quick glance at the cakes displayed in a window glass. All the desserts looked delicious, sure, but you couldn't buy all of them. Finally, you decided to go with the easiest solution.

“Say, what do you recommend? Do you have any special menu that you specialize in?”

You turned to the two waiters who, oddly enough, were still standing near your table instead of just waiting at the counter until you called over. 

At this question, the black haired waiter perked up, and he seemed like he had finally been snapped out of his embarrassment. 

“If you're asking what we specialize in, I must simply mention our tea! While the tea leaves aren't anything fancy or anything of the sort, the way we *cough* I *cough* brew our tea is enough to bring the full flavour of the tea. I'm sure you'll enjoy it!”

He seemed rather enthusiastic about it,but the other waiter just shot him an unpleasant glare. The black haired waiter quickly shut his mouth up. From the way he said it, you could pretty much deduce that the aforementioned “tea that they specialize in” was brewed by the black haired waiter himself. Nice display of confidence.

The other waiter cleared his throat before speaking. 

“I'm pretty sure she meant what sort of DESSERTS do we specialize in, Tsutomu, not drinks. And to answer your question, we do pride ourselves in our chocolate desserts. I highly recommend you getting the Black Forest cake, but since it IS Christmas, we also have Strawberry Shortcake to offer, if you'd prefer that.”

You contemplated on what to order for a moment. In the end, you decided to go with what he recommended (since he did go out of his way to mention that).

The waiter displayed a small smile that probably meant “Oh thank goodness I didn't waste my time recommending that cake to her,” as he jotted down the order. He didn't say it aloud obviously, but his smile just kinda radiated that vibe, y'know?

You then turned towards the black haired waiter, Tsutomu, you presumed, and gave him a small grin. 

“And I also would like to have this tea that you specialize in.”

His face lit up and he seemed to be blushing a bit. He nodded enthusiastically while the other waiter just gave him a distasteful look. 

The two walked away and you took the opportunity to look around the cafe. It seemed to have a pretty good interior design, and the cakes being displayed also seemed to sparkle brightly. You wondered why there was no customer at all. Probably because of how it's located in a pretty deserted part of the shopping district. 

Meanwhile you were busy looking up and down the shop, the two waiters who were serving you just now whispered to one another. 

“Before you start, let me just make one thing clear. She obviously wasn't actually planning to hit on you from the look on her face, so stop acting like a high school girl who just got herself a boyfriend.”

The copper haired waiter, Shirabu, started. Tsutomu seemed a bit disappointed at this, but he quickly furrowed his brows at him. 

“But still, I was still being hit on by a really PRETTY girl. It's probably a Christmas miracle or something.”

He sighed with a small blush adorning his face, to which Shirabu just replied with a disgusted look. 

“I wonder if she has a lover or not...”

He quietly asked the question out of curiosity. Shirabu looked at him for a moment before glancing at you. 

“Think about it logically, Tsutomu. Today is Christmas. It's basically a holiday for couples to spend their time together. Meanwhile our dear customer right there is, as you can see, alone. Plus, why would she wonder around this part of the shopping district alone if she wasn't preoccupied with her thoughts. She probably either is definitely single from the start and wanted to get away from the busy part of the shopping district which was full of couples, OR she had just broken up with her lover.”

After explaining his guesses (Thanks, Sherlock), Shirabu seemed to realize something and turned to Tsutomu almost immediately. 

“Don't tell me you….you wanted to ask her out or something?? Tsutomu, it was just ONE pick-up line, for God's sake.”

Shirabu frowned at the younger male, expressing his disbelief with a sigh. 

“That's not it!”

He hissed in defense. Tsutomu turned to look at you again who were staring off at the shop's window, silently admiring the falling snow outside. 

“It's just...she seemed sad and I was just wondering if she has a special someone who she can confide in….or something.”

Tsutomu softly explained, his eyes still fixated on you.

“You know what people nowadays call you? A busybody. Why would you care for a stranger anyway?”

Tsutomu gave a silent glare towards Shirabu as he finished brewing your tea.

“Well then, Shirabu-san, if I'm a busybody then you're a jerk. It's called being KIND and maybe you should try it sometimes too.”

“Alright, then, go take this cake to her, if you're SO kind. And DON'T scare her away, you hear me? She's our only customer today and we don't appreciate you blabbing unnecessary stuff at her and making her leave.”

With that warning, Shirabu handed Tsutomu a plate with a slice of Black Forest cake on it. Tsutomu just grumbled as a response and made his way towards you. 

“Here is your order. Please enjoy it.”

Your train of thoughts was interrupted when Tsutomu came back with a tray of your order. You nodded and mumbled a small thank you before picking up the cup of tea. It was freezing cold outside so you figured the hot tea could keep you nice and warm.

As soon as you took a sip from it, you were completely stunned by the flavour of the tea. 

Turned out he wasn't joking or blindly bragging about the tea he made. It was, without a doubt, extremely delicious. The coldness you were feeling was gone in an instant and it felt as if your entire body was filled with the warmth of the tea. 

“It's really delicious.”

You commented and looked at him with a genuinely warm smile. He tried to hide the smile that was forming on his face but the blush on his cheeks was enough proof to know that he was completely pleased with your compliment. 

All of a sudden, you were washed with feelings of nostalgia. Now that you thought back on it, you also always tried your hardest to brew the best tea for your ex-boyfriend. All of that memory seemed like a blur to you now that you know that he probably didn't mean any of the compliments he gave. Heck, you even caught a glimpse of him pouring the tea you made into the sink but you decided that that was just your mind playing tricks on you.

“Urgh, this SUCKS. I came here to forget about him but he still somehow managed to wriggle his way into my mind...”

You closed your eyes and your brows were knitted together in frustration as you thought that. You inhaled the scent of the tea and thankfully, that managed to calm your nerves down. 

“Are you alright??”

When you heard the panicked voice of Tsutomu, you opened your eyes and only then did you realize something sliding down your cheeks.

“What….?”

You touched your cheeks to inspect what it was. Well, even if you didn't, you already had a pretty good guess as to what it was. 

Tears were running down your cheeks in an uncontrollable manner. It was as if the more you tried to wipe them away, the more they came flooding down your face.

Tsutomu was panicking so hard, he felt as though he just lost ten years of his lifespan. Meanwhile Shirabu was glaring daggers behind his back, thinking that Tsutomu had said something to make you cry. 

“I'm terribly sorry, I….”

At this point, you had buried your whole face in your hands, ashamed at yourself for crying in front of these strangers. Just then, you felt a comforting hand being placed on your back, softly rubbing circles on top of it.

“It's alright if you felt like crying. Just let it all out.”

Those words were all that you needed before streams of tears started to pour out of your eyes and a few sobs to escape your lips. The fact that you suddenly remembered how your ex-boyfriend would always tell you to not cry in front of him because he claimed it’d be “troublesome” made you realize how toxic your relationship was.

After a few minutes had passed and you had calmed down, you pulled your hand away from your face before facing Tsutomu. He noticed this and looked at you with a concerned look. 

“I’m really sorry. That was shameful of me to cry in front of a total stranger. Thank you for giving me the chance to let all that out.”

You smiled at him and he retreated back his hand that was on your back. 

“Uhm...if you don’t mind, you can tell me your problems. I believe that it’s better to have someone you can confide in rather than keep it to yourself.”

You looked at him for a moment. Most people won’t really care about a stranger’s problem, so Tsutomu offering that came as a bit of a surprise to you. But if he had offered that, then it’d be nice to accept it.

“Thank you for the offer...Excuse me for bothering you then.”

So you told him everything from how you were burned out because of your work and were hoping to have a nice, relaxing time alone with your ex….and how you discovered he was cheating on you when you went to his place uninvited. You stormed out of there, and walked and walked and walked...trying to get as far away as possible from his place. Then, before you knew it, you found yourself in front of this cake shop. 

Tsutomu listened so intently, nodding his head every now and then to silently reassure you that he was listening. It warmed your heart when you saw how considerate he was being. For once, you actually felt as if a burden had been lifted off your shoulders. 

Shirabu who was sitting at the counter was silently listening to your story too. He made his way to your table and put down a slice of Strawberry Shortcake, claiming that that one was on the house.

“It’s hard to see the truth when you’re too blinded by what you wanted to believe. I’m sure that’s what happened to you too. Whoever that guy was, he clearly is a jerk that doesn’t have any respect for people. How can he be so disrespectful to someone as beautiful and kind as you?”

Tsutomu huffed out in frustration. You smiled at him for a moment before realizing what he just said at the end of his line.

“What...was that?”

You asked with an awkward smile and a small blush adorning your cheeks.

“Huh? I said he’s such a jerk---”

Before he got to finish the sentence, his eyes widened as a realization dawned upon him about what he just blurted out and before he knew it a deep crimson blush was already dusted upon his cheeks.

An awkward silence came upon the both of you and Shirabu who was watching the whole thing heaved an exasperated sigh as he thought on how hopeless the both of you were.

“A-anyways...thank you for hearing me out. And the food here is delicious too. I’ll definitely come back here again and bring my friends as well.”

After finishing your cakes and tea, you got up from your seat and went to the counter to pay for your orders.

“Ah, it’s already so late so uhh.. I think it’s best if I accompany you until you reach the main part of the shopping district.”

Tsutomu quickly got up from his seat and walked towards you. You honestly didn’t want to trouble him any further, but he simply assured you that he wanted to do it himself. Shirabu also nonchalantly encouraged you to take him up on his offer. At last, you did and walked out of the cake shop side by side with Tsutomu. 

The rapid contrast of the temperature from the heater in the cake shop and outside of it made you involuntarily shiver. As you exhaled, you could see your own breath in front of you. You’re definitely curling up under your kotatsu tonight.

The both of you walked in silence, admiring the colourful decorations being put around the district. When you finally reached the more busy part of the shopping district, the both of you stopped in your tracks.

“Thank you for everything today. You’ve been a great help…..Uh….”

You stopped mid-sentence as you realized that you didn’t know what this stranger’s name who had been so kind to you was.

“Just call me Tsutomu.”

He replied as if he knew what was on your mind. You smiled and nodded.

“....Tsutomu, thank you again for today. You can call me Y/N.”

You didn’t know whether it was because of the cold or because he was blushing, but you noticed his cheeks being dusted with pink hues. The same could be applied to you as well as you felt the rising heat in your cheeks. 

You bowed one last time and was about to continue walking when he called out to you.

“Uhm! Y/N...now that I think about it...I uh... I don’t think I caught what your phone number was….”

The both of you stood there in silence, your blush only grew deeper as moments passed by and you quickly responded to him by taking out a piece of paper from your bag and scribbling down your number.

“Here!”

You handed him the piece of paper and hung your head low, too embarrassed to face him. He took the paper and held it close to his chest.

“....I’ll be sure to contact you.”

He whispered under his breath, barely audible to your ears. You nodded and the both of you shared a small, content smile before making your separate ways to your house and back to the cake shop respectively.

That Christmas had been very hectic and you were drained out, but spending your time at the cake shop was an experience you’ll never forget. After all, the cute, black haired waiter there did help mend your broken heart at the time. 

Bonus~

Oikawa totally wasn’t having it when he knew you gave out your phone number to a total stranger. In the end, he nagged you for hours about the danger of strangers and also how he was going to kick your ex-boyfriend’s ass after that. (He, Iwaizumi, Matsukawa and Hanamaki brought you cakes and some games to cheer you up so you weren’t all that bothered by his continuous nagging.)

The End

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