#people get so mad about sylvie but she's obviously fucked in the head what did they expect?

[buttercups-song]

Alright, so I’ve seen a couple of hot takes that there is no queerbaiting in the Loki show (and what’s even funnier that mcu has never queerbaited) because Loki is canonically queer… and like… alright so there’s no queerbaiting in spn because technically speaking cas is queer? Queerbaiting is a marketing strategy so even if we ignore what’s in the show, the chemistry between actors and some truly insane acting choices, the Loki show is queerbaiting because of how it was marketed, and especially how the first season was marketed. Before the show aired we were told that Loki was going to have multiple love interests, we were told that sophia di martino was playing loki (and told so in a way that suggested that she was playing ‘our’ loki). There is a part of the soundtrack that is literally named ‘lokius’. Even before this season started airing the marketing heavily focused on the relationship between Loki and mobius, reassuring us that Our Loki would be with Our mobius.

And alright I’ll give them that they confirmed that loki is bi/pan in episode three and let’s ignore that the confirmation was two seconds long, pretty vague, had no impact on the plot nor characters and wasn’t mentioned ever again. Ok. Fine. Honestly my much bigger gripe is with how they handled Loki’s gender.

Which is to say that they fucked up. Despite Loki being gender-fluid in the comics and despite how the show was marketed, the text of the show heavily suggests that both our Loki and Sylvie are cis. Ok so the arrest report in the credit says: “sex: fluid”. Which is completely different from saying (and showing) that Loki is gender-fluid. What is shown in the show (or rather in the credits, which let’s be real almost no one bothers to read) is that Loki’s sex is fluid… which yes he’s a shapeshifter. That’s not representation, they don’t say that Loki is trans, the fans can read it that way, but disney doesn’t have to fear backlash from conservatives because Loki in the show is not gender-fluid, he’s a shapeshifter (who doesn’t shapeshift for some reason). Sylvie literally says that she was born a “goddess of mischief”, every single other Loki is shocked by the idea of a ‘female version’ of them. It’s supposed to be a #girlboss moment but it’s not! It reads like every Loki is a (cis) man! And sure you can have a head canon that they’re shocked that Sylvie is exclusively presenting as a woman, or that Sylvie is not cis but obviously was born a goddess. But that’s not what’s in the text. From episode one when talking about the variant they’re hunting everyone in the tva uses ‘he’ pronoun when referring to them. Why? All they know is that they’re hunting a loki, so if Loki is gender-fluid (or even if their ‘sex is fluid’ as referred to in the show) why assume that the variant they’re looking for is a he? (Probably for the extremely obvious plot twist when Sylvie shows up). I’m actually so mad about this, gender-fluid representation is so rare and they took a canonically gender-fluid character and did what?

There’s so much queerbaiting in the show! And they know what they’re doing! It’s not a coincidence that they’re leaning so much into loki and mobius’ banter! It’s not a coincidence that in the First episode (!) of season two we get a scene in which Loki before pruning himself goes “if I don’t make it back, I…” which is meant to sound like a beginning of a confession! Which was a beginning of a confession last season when it was directed towards sylvie! It’s almost exactly the same scene! But let’s be real, he probably was going to say something like: “if I don’t make it back, find sylvie”.

Why are we still getting this treatment in 2023? (because it clearly pays well) If they didn’t want to give us good queer rep, why market it as such? Loki is queer in the comics, he wasn’t canonically queer in the movies (despite the immaculate vibes). They could have left it alone. I’m sure that many people still would have shipped Loki and mobius because of the incredible chemistry between actors and (let’s be real) that just how fandoms work, but that wouldn’t count as queerbaiting, because again that’s a marketing strategy.

[nostalgia-tblr]

fucking ALSO there's the thing where loki completely supports sylvie on her mad quest until like literally the last fucking moment where he goes "hang on this is a shit plan let's maybe not?" which to be fair to her is also the exact point at which you'd expect a loki to betray you to get all the power for themselves. and yeah the 'chuck him through a time-door whatsit' thing is a betrayal but she had a sword at his throat like one minute before that and she still went with the not killing him option which is pretty good going for how fucked in the head she is.

[ruelmp4]

party part 1

Concept: It’s all fun and games at a party with Coco until things go down hill and the last person you would expect is there to save you.

Enjoy ((:

*Just a warning at the beginning. There IS a near-rape experience in this, so if that bothers you, feel free to skip this story. This one is a little longer than normal but I got really into this one and wrote a lot. I hope you guys like it!*

You stood in front of the mirror, spinning on your toes, watching the sequins sparkle on your mini dress, as "Somebody Else" by The 1975 played in the background through Coco's speaker. The sun was setting through the huge window of her room and hit the dress perfectly. You couldn't wait to see them in the light of the crazy party haze. Tonight you and your best friend Coco were going to the first party of the summer together and you couldn't wait.

You had just flown in from (wherever you're from) to see her for the first half of summer since you hadn't seen her in almost a year. Her family had been nice enough to let you stay at their house so you didn't have to stay in a hotel. This also meant you would be staying with her brother Ruel. You have had a small crush on him since you first met Coco on the beach a couple of years ago when you were visiting with your family. He was the kindest boy you had ever met and you fell. But as you became closer with Coco, the weirder it got for you to like him so slowly you began to leave that crush under the surface and never told anyone. You instantly became friends with her and her whole family and visited them every time you flew over. Ever since then, you guys have been together every summer in Australia.

"Daaaammnn girl! You lookin' good!" Coco exclaims as she walks in from her bathroom. "All the boys there tonight won't be able to keep their eyes off of you!" She wiggles her eyebrows as you laugh along with her, slightly blushing at her words. You had never been one to be boy crazy and go to parties to hook up with a ton of guys, you were just crazy about one boy that didn't even like you back.

"But hey look at you!! You popped off too girl!" You smile looking down at her short, matte red dress that fits her perfectly.

"And where do you guys think you're going dressed like that?" You hear an angry voice grit out from the doorway of the room. You look up to see Ruel, his eyebrows drawn together in anger, looking down at your dress.

"We're going to a party and we're gonna look great, get drunk, and hook up with boys." Coco states before grabbing your wrist and dragging you into her bathroom. "If you have a problem with that, I guess you're just gonna have to deal with it. Now if you will excuse us, we are gonna finish getting ready." And with that she slammed the bathroom door, leaving Ruel by himself to stomp away angrily.

She then looks down at you rolling her eyes at her brother's idiotic behavior and asks, "What are we going to do with him?" You laugh and shrug your shoulders. You honestly don't know why he got so mad at you for wanting to go out to a party. What was it to him? Of anything he should be happy for you going out and hanging out with new people to be friends with.

---------------------

The clock read 8:40 pm as you and Coco finally finished up getting ready and decided to head over to the party now. It was being held at a huge beach house about 20 minutes away so you guys needed to leave soon. As you walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, her parents and sister Sylvie, were nowhere to be seen, except for Ruel. And a girl?

"Hey, Coco! Y/N." He greets smiling and standing up from the couch, pulling the girl up with him. "This is Charlotte, my date for the party tonight and we were wondering if we could catch a ride with you guys?" His date? A small flare of jealously sparked in you as you looked at their intertwined hands and the way she looked up at him so lovingly. Since when did Ruel have a girlfriend? No. Y/N! Snap out of it! He's not yours and never will be. The best thing you can do is be happy for them.

"Y/N?" Coco asks again, looking over at you. Your head snaps up. "Yeah, yeah! Of course!"

Coco gives you a weird look but soon shakes it off. "You bitches ready to go? It's time to parrttaaayyy!!"

The whole ride there you can't help but sit there quietly, pondering what is going on and why you were feeling this way. You were over him. But why were you so effected by this 'Charlotte girl'.

You guys finally arrived at the huge house, colorful lights were dancing through the house and through the windows and the music could be heard halfway down the street. You could feel the boom of the bass on the car as you went to grab the handle but Coco locked it before you could get out. "You guys go ahead, I need to talk to Y/N real quick." They nod getting out of the car and heading inside.

"Y/N I need you to look me dead in the eye and tell me what's wrong. I know you are not one to sit so quietly in the car and not turn up to the music I play. We wouldn't be friends if you didn't." You chuckle knowing she was 100 percent right. You always screamed the lyrics to songs in the car no matter who was there or what song it was.

"Coco I- I can't. It's nothing," Your fingers twiddle nervously together as you mess with the rings on your fingers. It's a bad habit that you picked up whenever you're anxious about something and Coco looked down noticing your fiddling.

"It's obviously nothing if you seem so upset right before we are about to go have the night of our lives! I can't party without my partner in crime!" She sighs reclining her seat into a laying position before saying, "We are not leaving this car until you tell me what's wrong. Even if it takes all night for you to tell me."

We sat there in silence for a while before Coco spoke up in a comforting voice, "You love him don't you?"

You go to protest and deny what she said but she stops you. She grabs your hands and gives them a little squeeze. "Y/N I know. I've known since the day the two of you met. I can tell that the two of you are meant to be. I can see it in your faces whenever you are around each other. And honestly, I've shipped it since the beginning," She winks at me, smiling softly.

"It's so hard Coco. It's so hard loving someone who will never love you back. To love someone who only sees you as a friend of his sisters. To love someone that is already taken. Ever since I saw him on the beach that day, that tall lanky boy with tacky blue and yellow swim shorts on that was so nice to me; I've loved him. I try to tell myself that I don't but I think deep down there is that love for him that I've had since the beginning." I rant on and on to her, pouring out what I had kept put off at the bottom of my heart for the past couple of years. You sigh, messing with the ring on your middle finger. "But I guess he really wasn't even interested at all now that he has Charlotte."

Coco rolls her eyes. "My brother is a dick for not seeing you as the most beautiful girl in the world. You are my best friend and I will always be there for you in every decision that you make whether it's my brother or someone else; I will always support you.  Always."

You smile and reach over to give her a hug. She rubs your back as tears silently roll down your cheeks from all the emotions you are feeling at this moment.

"Now. Wipe those tears. And you know what? Fuck that. We are going to go in there and forget all about Ruel. We are gonna all night and do exactly what we told him earlier. We're gonna look great, get drunk, and hook up with boys." She exclaims as the two of you get out of the car and head into the party.

---------------------

When you guys arrive inside, everything is 10 times louder and all you could smell was alcohol and sweat, as people drank and danced together. More like grinding on each other. Coco grabbed your hand and drug you through the crowd as she tried to find some of her friends. You finally reached a group who had just bought shots and was begging us to join in on the fun. You downed them with a sour look on our faces but almost instantly relaxing me. This is exactly what you need right now.

You were about 3 drinks in, noo maybe 4. Yeah, 4. No, wait scratch that. No 8!! Ehh who knows. All you know is that you can make decisions for yourself still. You felt so free as your body moved to the beat of the music, dancing the night away next to some of the most fun people in the world. Who cares about Ruel! Fuck him you are doing fine without him!!

"I'm gonna go get another drink. Do any of you want another?" You asked the girls, who you guess were too busy dancing to listen to me. Oh well. Their loss. You turn away to go and find the kitchen, squeezing past people before you finally find it. Bending down to find another cup in the cupboard, you feel someone come up behind you and put their hands on your waist. Thinking it was Coco you shouted, "Heyyyy I still have to find a guy tonightttt! What about you?"  

"I'm down if you're down baby girl," a rough, manly voice said against your neck, his breath tickling your ear as his hands began to run up and down your torso. That is definitely not Coco. You spin around to come face to face with a guy around the same age as Coco, maybe a little older, and definitely not your type. He had the basic 'frat boy look' with flowy blonde hair and blue eyes. His eyed filled with lust and breath that smelled of too many Bud Lights. You tried to push past him after telling him that you were sorry and thought he was someone else. You could guess that he didn't like that answer because before you knew it, he was grabbing your wrist and pulling you back into his grip.

"Don't be such a tease babyyy. I know you want to. Look you're hot, I'm hot. Let's fuck." His hands were now holding your wrists to the edge of the counter and began to push his hips into yours.

No no no. You were supposed to drink the night away and party with your friends. Not actually hook up with random guys no matter how mad you were about the Ruel and Charlotte situation. "First of all, that was an awful pick-up line and secondly I'm sorry but I'm not comfortable doing that kind of stuff with anyone tonight."

He just shook his head and chuckled. "Come on sweet thing! You were just saying you wanted to get laid tonight and I'm the perfect option here. Quite frankly the best." He stated cockily and started to kiss your neck. His lips were wet and slobbery against your neck, and as you tried to struggle it seemed that his grip only got tighter on you.

And before you knew it, his hand began to grab at the bottom of your dress, trying to pull it up. There was nothing you could do. You were completely defenseless against this guy and there was no one around to save you. It wasn't until they hit your lips, that you realized you were crying. Quiet sobs left your body as he gripped the waistband of your underwear, pulling them down your legs. No this was not happening. You are not going to let this frat boy fuckboy take your virginity and especially not like this. So you did what any girl should do when in this situation. You screamed. You screamed out for help. You screamed out for Coco. You screamed out for my friends. And you screamed out for the person I hated most that night. You screamed out for Ruel.

********************

[nolipelekai]

Three’s Company Too → Korliland

Who: Noli Pelekai, Kori Gothel, & Layland Olympus 

When: Saturday, October 7th

Where: Homecoming

What: After the awkward kissing fiasco at WaltFest and Noli’s birthday party, a messy encounter at the punch bowl forces Layland, Kori, and Noli  to confront each other at homecoming and think up a solution to this weird love triangle.

The scene begins with our three lovesick juniors all attempting to avoid each other at homecoming. When Noli is on her way back from the punch bowl to deliver a drink to her date, she passes by Layland, whose “dancing” (more like “flailing”) arms knock the punch out of her hands and onto her dress, as well as the shirt of Kori, who neither of them noticed was in such close proximity. The two make their way to the nearest gender-neutral bathroom, and Layland Kobes the discarded paper cups into a nearby trashcan before following suit to apologize. 

Noli locked the door of the bathroom behind them and shimmied out of her dress, kicking it up into her hands not really caring that the other two saw her in her strapless bra and 80s-inspired biker shorts that she wore under her dress. She'd worn more revealing swimsuits around them. Ignoring Layland's apology, Noli ran some water over her dress and tried desperately to stay quiet. But, being the petty girl she was, couldn't help but speak up. They were all locked in a room together, now -- why not take this opportunity to yell at them for ruining her party? Then, deciding that wasn't true -- it wasn't necessarily their fault -- Noli changed her tactic. "So...How's everybody's night going?" she asked with intentional monotone, "Kiss anyone? Make any more friendships real weird?"

Kori only sort of glanced over when Layland joined them in the bathroom and shrugged a little in response to his apology as she took her jacket off to assess how bad the damage was to the white shirt she was wearing underneath. Thanks to how much punch had slipped on through, the damage was pretty bad. So Kori had started to follow Noli's lead and was in the middle of pulling her shirt over her head when Noli surprised them with her question. Pausing in a way that made her look like a mix between a flasher and a turtle, Kori whipped her head/torso in Noli's direction. "Wait what? No! Of course not! I would never!"

Layland ‘s eyebrows rose when both of them began to undress, clearing his throat and casting his gaze to the ground. He technically didn’t have to follow them into the bathroom, he probably shouldn’t have. It only made him feel even more awkward, like he shouldn’t be there. Like he was invading policy. But his eyes shot up at her question, his cheeks puffing out and leaning back against the door. “Y’know, I was actually thinking about making out with Sylvie, since you mentioned it,” he shot back, raising his eyebrows before clearing his throat and reaching behind him to rub at his neck, his eyes flicking over to Kori once more and he shifted so one of his feet was flat against the door as he continued to lean against it. He cleared his throat, eyes flicking down to the floor once more before pursing his lips. “Sorry.”

Noli grit her teeth when the boy clapped back like that. God, he was such a jerk. Dropping her dress into the sink, Noli crossed her arms over her chest and breathed for a second, hearing his apology this time. She wasn't sure what it was he was apologizing for, but she knew this was a weird time for all of them, so she gave him a mental pass. That didn't mean she wasn't going to mess with him a little before letting him know that, though. Hoisting herself up onto the bathroom counter, Noli swung her legs beneath her and eyed him. "Don't be sorry. You're Layland, everyone wants to kiss you," she said sarcastically, glancing between him and Kori. "So? Who was a better kisser? I'm dying to know -- Aren't you, Kor?" She sent Kori a glance, hoping she was able to silently convey that she was just messing with him by asking this. She wasn't expecting a real answer, and definitely didn't want to hear that Kori was a better kisser than she was, which she knew was what he'd say. She just wanted to watch Layland squirm a little before she admitted that she missed them....a lot.

Kori finished pulling her shirt up over her head and started to rinse it out while Noli and Layland started bickering. Kori wasn't even slightly interested in getting in the middle of one of their fights. Especially after Noli just had to go and make things worse by asking which of them was a better kisser. Looking helplesslessly from Noli to Layland, Kori couldn't help but shake her head the smallest fraction no. Kori just knew that no matter how much the two bickered, when it came right down to it Noli and Layland would end up picking each other. How could they not? They were both pretty and popular athletes and she was just one of the nerds they'd picked up in detention.

Layland couldn't help but grin at her response, glancing up at her and giving another shrug. "I can't say I blame them." But the grin on his lips immediately disappeared when she asked her question. Who was a better kisser? Well, fuck, that wasn't a question he ever wanted to answer. That wasn't a question that he didn't think he could answer. They both kissed differently and neither one of them were bad kissers -- not at all. If they had been, well -- they wouldn't be in this weird limbo that they were in. He cleared his throat and he shook his head. "I can't answer that question, and not because I'm trying to be a good guy™, but because I really can't." Maybe he was taking her question too seriously, but it was the honest truth. His eyes flicked between the two of them and he cleared his throat, chewing on the inside of his cheek before he cast his gaze away from the two half-naked people in front of him once more. "I'm sorry that all this -- stuff happened."

Noli rolled her eyes at Layland's retort, supposing that maybe she'd asked for that. The look on his face when she asked him about the kissing, though -- that was something she was a little proud to elicit from him. She was going to stop him before he answered, and let him know that she really didn't want to hear it, but he gave a very...safe answer, and she could tell that it was genuine. Especially when he apologized for the third time. Noli gave a sigh, hopping down from the counter and picking her dress back up out of the sink. She rubbed the fabric of the skirt together distractedly as she mumbled an, "I'm sorry, too." She couldn't let Layland take all of the blame -- she was the one who got all in her feelings when they weren't even dating. "To both of you. I've been acting like a bitch, and I don't want you guys to feel like I'm gonna shut you out forever over some dumb mouth-touching." She shrugged, unsure if that was enough or not. It didn't change the way she was feeling, but it did relieve her of a little bit of the anger and frustration she'd been harboring over the last few weeks. "You're not party-ruiners and it's unfair of me to blame you guys for me being...jealous or whatever."

Kori continued to try her best to stay out of the way, even when Layland refused to answer the question and mostly when he and Noli started apologizing for things and she felt like it would've been awkward if she stayed quiet especially after Layland KEPT apologizing. "I'm sorry too. For um, being in the way I guess? My bad. I didn't mean to get in the way of whatever it is you guys are doing, so uh..yeah." She tried awkwardly before swiftly turning back to scrub as hard and fast as possible at their shirt.

Layland was honestly surprised when Noli mumbled an apology, his eyes flicking back over to the two of them and he cleared his throat before looking away once more. “Dumb isn’t the way I’d describe it,” he admitted, pulling his fingers through his hair, “Because neither one of them were dumb, as a party who was involved with both of them I can safely say they were far from dumb,” he cleared his throat, as if that would hide just how red his cheeks had gotten, “If they were dumb we wouldn’t have this — thing.” His eyebrows rose when Kori apologizes, looking over at them and raising his eyebrows. Why did they have to apologize? They hadn’t done anything wrong. None of them really had. He shook his head, pulling his fingers through his hair once more before tipping his his head back to focus on the ceiling and anything other than the two half naked people in front of him. “Noli and I kissed at Waltfest, and nothing really happened after that. And then we kissed and things got weird because of,” he gestured to his chest, “ stuff. You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

Noli felt her heart do that stupid thing when Layland said he wouldn't call their kiss dumb, even if he'd said the same thing about Kori's. Him maybe liking Kori, for some weird reason, didn't change the way she felt about either of them. Maybe all this time she'd been mad because she felt like she had to be. They were all just dumb teenagers with raging hormones, of course something like this happened to them. Quick to hop to Kori's defense, Noli turned to them. "Oh my God, you were totally not in the way," she said with a shake of the head, before Layland went on and put their predicament in Layman's Terms™ for them. She agreed when he said they shouldn't apologize, and gave a shrug. "None of us should. We're friends, right? And like, I like you guys so why let two awesome, weird, Not Dumb kisses get in the way? Obviously, if they both meant something, they both meant nothing. They like, cancel each other out. See?" And then, in possibly the strangest attempt at rationalizing that statement, Noli clutched Kori by the cheeks and planted a less-than-pure but more-than-innocent kiss on their lips. After a few moments, she pulled back and gave a nonchalant shrug. "We're even." It only took a few moments for the truth of what she'd done to settle into her mind, sending her wide-eyed and nervously clutching at her dress to put it back on, not caring if it was soaking wet. She could not believe she just did that.

Kori didn't know what she was expecting with their weird little bathroom reunion, but in no universe was she anticipating THAT to happen. She'd even brushed the idea off when Sage had suggested that very same thing right after the party fiasco. So being shook was practically an understatement as she stood completely still for a few long moments trying to process that Noli had legit just kissed them to prove a piont. "...Well fuck." Kori replied finally, dropping her shirt right on the ground and not even bothering to pick it back up as she put her military backet back on . "We..Well that's one way to make thingstotally even."

Layland listened to Noli, nodding in agreement but getting ready to bring up a point. Because both of them had definitely meant something to him. But he was stopped in his tracks when he saw Noli plant a firm one on Kori’s lips — his eyes widening his eyes. Noli was known for acting impulsive, doing things just to prove a point, but that was something he didn’t expect. Suddenly, he knew how Noli felt, that was for sure. Like he was intruding on a moment, something that he shouldn’t have been witnessing or something. He watched the two of them react, his mouth stil gaping open. “N-nope,” his voice cracked and he cleared his throat, “You — you guys can’t tell me that was nothing!” That was a failed attempt at trying not to sound like a jealous boyfriend. Because he wasn’t. Not to either of them. So it shouldn’t have mattered that they kissed, right? But he almost felt — left out in a sense. “Kissing makes everything complicated,” he muttered to himself, pulling his fingers through his hair before he dragged his hands down his face.

Noli was never one to show vulnerability, so when that kiss left her feeling vulnerable, she tried to resolve it by stepping back into her wet dress. Pulling it over her shoulders, Noli shook her head at Layland's words. "Nope, I don't feel the slightest bit complicated, do you, Kor?" She cocked a brow at her friend, trying to prove that they shouldn't be feeling any type of way about what just happened, despite the fact that her cheeks were flushed and her stomach was in knots. She was trapped in a locked room with these two -- of course she was going to do some crazy things and feel some crazy                         emotions. It was like, psychology.

Kori glared at Noli this time for asking her to agree with another crazy thing out of her mouth. "You're kidding me right? I don't even believe in all the hype around kissing and I know all this kissing business between us is making things more complicated!" She yelled, putting her hands on her hips even though she hadn't even finished putting on her jacket. "You two kissing: complicated, Me and layland kissing: also somehow really fucking complicated, and now you kissing me is somehow even MORE complicated and I know that you know it too. Otherwise you wouldn't be putting on a dress that you literally just took out of the sink. What the fuck is going on here?" Kori asked, exasperatedly sliding down onto the ground with their back against the wall dramatically.

Layland looked back over at Kori as they began to -- go off, so to say. He swallowed, letting his eyes skim over their face before he looked over at Noli. He licked his lips, knowing that what Kori was saying was going through his mind when he ended up kissing the both of them; but he'd never had the balls to say anything about it. He pushed himself off of the door and moved to settle down next to them. He rested his arms on his knees, letting out a soft breath of air before he shrugged. "I've got a thing for both of you," he confessed, looking at his fingers in front of him that were tapping on his knees.

Noli crossed her arms over her chest, only half-covered by her dress, and let the fabric slide down to the floor again. Kori was right. She hated to admit it, but they were. And so was Layland. She knew there was no reason to be jealous. And she wasn't...not really. Layland wouldn't have kissed her like that at WaltFest if he didn't like her. And he wouldn't have reacted the way he did to kissing Kori if he didn't like them, too. It made sense that he liked both of them. "Okay," she shrugged, leaning her hip against the sink, unable to look up from the floor and into either of their eyes. "This is all so much weirder than I planned it," she admitted out loud. It was pathetic for her to admit that she'd planned any of it at all, and she knew. "You--" she indicated Layland, "--were supposed to be my junior year romance, and you -- " She indicated Kori, "-- were supposed to b my best friend that I finally locked down as my best friend. We weren't supposed to be fighting over the same guy because I don't want to fight with you."

Kori wished there was some way to slide down onto the ground after already being on the ground without having to put her head on the bathroom floor. This was all a lot and Kori was both super lit with the knowledge that Noli considered her her best friend and Layland liked her too, while also just exhausted at how weird amd complex this whole situation was. "I don't want to fight with you either, Noli. Especially not over Layland. I thought you two were going to be a thing too and I was cool with it. It's much more my aesthetic to silently pine over a cute guy anyway." Kori scrunched their legs up and practically tucked themselves into a little ball of embarrassment on the floor. "What are we going to do?"

Layland cast his gaze away again as Noli's dress fell from her body, clearing his throat and moving his arms so they were folded across his chest. His brow rose when she said that she had planned something -- and he couldn't help but laugh. He hadn't been surprised that she had planned stuff out. His eyes settled on her once more, feeling his stomach doing the dumb flutter thing it had done when they had kissed -- his face heating up slightly when she mentioned a romance. He glanced over at Kori as Noli began to talk about them, falling silent as he listened to the two of them talk to each other. He let out a soft breath of air, pausing as he thought of a good answer to Kori's question -- but there wasn't one. There hadn't been one. Unless...well, it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. "What if -- you guys didn't have to fight over me? Or feel weird," he cleared his throat, sitting up from his position on the floor as his eyes flicked between them, "I kinda talked to my brother about it and I thought it was a stupid idea at the time, but -- I mean, why can't I date you both?" He paused, letting his eyes flick between the two of them before he cleared his throat -- shifting awkwardly on the floor. "Or it still could be a stupid idea and we could just forget that it happened and all be friends again."

Noli shot a glare at Layland for laughing at her being dumb. She was allowed to make fun of herself for thinking she could build her perfect junior year, but he wasn't. But her gaze softened a little when their eyes met, and she turned back to Kori. She hated the idea of them silently pining over Layland, and not because she wanted him all to herself, but because it would be awful to date him knowing her best friend was silently pining. Like, what kind of Regina George would she be if she did that to Kori? And she wanted to tell them that, but then Layland spoke up. She cocked a brow when he began, wondering where the hell this could possibly be going. At first, she immediately got on the defensive; stood akimbo and laughed in his face that he would have the audacity to suggest such a thing just because he was a hot guy that had two people interested in him. It was such a douchey thing to say. "Wow, you really are Greek," she scoffed, rolling her eyes...But then, thinking about it, Noli knew that if they were to hypothetically do that -- share him, or whatever -- she wouldn't be jealous of Kori. And if she ever did get jealous of Kori, she'd rather have their friendship than a boyfriend any day. So...what was really stopping her from agreeing? "I mean, how would that even work? Like...shared custody?" she chortled, shaking her head. It was a crazy idea. So dumb. So dumb.

Kori 's nose instantly scrunched up at the idea of she and Noli dating Layland together and her arms tightened around her legs once Noli started to rip down the idea. Kori had actually thought the idea sounded just fine for a second there. Since she and Noli were best friends that happened to like the same boy, simply sharing him seemed like the best remedy to avoid anymore weird jealous tension. "Why would there have to be custody? We all hang out together anyway, how much different would it really be if he's dating us? Aside from like, kissing and holding hands? He has two hands, Nol."

Layland rolled his eyes at Noli’s comment, sticking his tongue out at her. “Polyamory isn’t just s Greek thing, Noli.” But what surprised him the most was how Kori was agreeing to it. Honestly, he hadn’t been expecting either one of them to agree to it— because it did seem like a pretty dumb idea, especially when Noli turned it down. A smile grew on his lips at their words, nodding before his eyes flicked over to Noli once more. “Yeah! Exactly, it wouldn’t be custody or anything. We’d all hang out and things could still be normal. I’d just be — kissing and hand holding both of you,” his eyebrows pressed together when he realized how strange that sounded before he let out a soft laugh, “You know what I mean. But I’m not gonna choose between you two. I can’t.”

Noli sucked in a breath, suddenly feeling very cornered. She didn't hate the idea, and she certainly liked them both well enough, it just....This wasn't how it was supposed to go! Running her hands over her face, Noli exhaled deeply and stood tall with a roll of her eyes. She really did want to date Layland. It freaked her out how much she wanted to date him...And she liked Kori just as much so why not? "Okay!" she shrugged exasperatedly, her face going between confused that she'd agreed to this and elated that she finally had a boyfriend. And not just a boyfriend, but a best friend that wanted her friendship badly enough to agree to something so crazy. "Whatever, you know how much I love to be a weirdo so let's be weird!" she chuckled, clapping her palms over the redness that had formed on her cheeks. Every time she tried to fly under the radar and do things that wouldn't draw attention to her, the universe just wouldn't let her. Guess it wasn't meant to be. "...We should probably get dressed," she offered, wringing out her dress into the sink.

Kori grinned widely when Noli finally agreed and let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding as she unrolled herself from the little Kori ball she'd made on the floor in order to stand up and pick her shirt up off the ground. "Oh dang. This has got to be the weirdest way to get a boyfriend in the history of Walt." Kori remarked inspecting their shirt, only to realize none of the redness had really come out of the white fabric. Tossing the shirt in the garbage, Kori just shrugged and zipped their jacket up a little. "It's more punk rock without a shirt anyway. Plus this is Sage's shirt so yolo."

Layland chuckled at how exasperated the brunette sounded. "You sound like it's this the worst thing that's ever happened to you." But he could tell that she was just trying to act cool. Or maybe it hadn't been ideal situation, but he had that gut feeling that it would work. "It's not that weird. Maybe at first, but it's not that weird." He let out a laugh at Kori's words, giving a shrug and giving them a gentle nudge. "I mean, maybe, but it can't be the first time it's happened. He pushed himself up clearing his throat and nodding. "You should definitely get dressed." He let out a soft laugh, rubbing the back of his neck before he offered Kori his arm, raising his eyebrow at them with a crooked smile.

Noli stepped into her dress, only the bodice of it still wet, as the water slid off of the metallic material of the skirt much easier. "I know," she shrugged to Layland. "I'm no stranger to weird relationships -- my parents aren't even attracted to each other and I have gay alien uncles. Sue me for wanting to be normal for once," she poked her tongue out at him, before fixing her hair and makeup a little bit in the mirror. "You think other people have gotten half-naked in the bathroom at a homecoming dance and decided to pursue a three-way relationship?" Noli joked, not even waiting for Layland to offer her his other arm before taking it herself. "Cause I mean, they could've saved us a lot of trouble and just given us this idea in the first place."

Kori snickered at Noli's comeback about whether their kind of situation had ever happened in the bathroom before and took Layland's offered arm. "I mean, honestly. I truly could've done without the punch in my hair if there were actually people around with prior experience in this kind of thing." Kori looked over for a final group once over to make sure they were all okay looking despite the circumstances and grinned at the sight of herself and Noli linked up with Layland, before going to unlock the bathroom door.

Layland smiled when she mentioned knowing about weird relationships, raising his eyebrows when she mentioned gay alien uncles — but deciding not to question it. “There’s nothing weird about our relationship. It’s just — different.” And there was nothing wrong with that. He hummed, his smile only growing when Kori took his offered arm and when Noli took his other one without even asking. He felt better, knowing that there wasn’t going to be that weird tension between the three of them anymore. That everyone got what they wanted and they were happy. It felt good. It felt right. He hummed, watching as Kori unlocked the door. He pulled his arm away from Noli, taking her hand in his instead before he moved toward Kori and took their hand in his other one. “Let’s go rock the rest of homecoming.”