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timbertumbr · 3 years

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Boneafide Gamer (A Reverse Harem Fic)

Chapter 2, Reality VS Fantasy

Previous Chapter

Quotev Link

Big thanks to my friend for making a caption for the picture and big thanks to another friend who took that meme worthy photo!

List of Usernames with Nicknames-

Blue (Underswap Sans): Magnificent Blueberry

Stretch (Underswap Papyrus): Carrot

Edge (Underfell Papyrus): Captain

Red (Underfell Sans): Red

Mal (Swapfell Sans): Maleficent

Rus (Swapfell Papyrus): Rus

The next day arrives and you’re rudely awakened by your alarm clock, basically yelling at you to get up and get your butt moving. Groaning, you shut off the alarm and quite literally roll off your bed with a thud.

You get up from the floor, abandoning your pile of blankets as you shuffle around your home doing your morning routine. Once done, you throw your blankets back onto your bed and grab your phone as you head out the door, lock it, and begin walking to work. To entertain yourself, you unlock your phone fully intent to play a phone game when you see messages from discord so you open that instead.

Cheesepuff: Good morning Fart. Or (Username) whichever you prefer. Whenever you have time, could we set up a time to introduce a few of my cousins to you and possibly the game itself.

Cheesepuff: Also, I may have given Blue your discord. So expect lots of messages.

Raising a brow, you check your friend requests and see that a “Magnificent Blueberry” asked to be friends. Huffing in amusement, you add him as friends and type out your reply to Carrot.

(Username): I get off work at 5:00. So we could get online at around 5:30. Can’t wait to meet your cousins!

You go to check other messages to see Totally not the writer left a message at 3 A.M. Not again…

Totally not the writer: So… I may have stayed up all night to think of how to use this meme so… you are my first test subject.

You snort at it and shake your head amused.

(Username): Get some sleep you ADHD nutshell.

Totally not the writer: Will do.

Shaking your head again, you pocket your phone and enter your workplace. A GAME STORE! :D You quickly make your way to the counter and greet your co-worker Chris.

“Sup dude,” They respond while you grab your employee clip on name and head to the back to restock shelves.

“You’re pretty peppy today,” They comment as you leave the back with a box of games, figurines, plushies, and other stuff.

“I’ve had a good morning so far!” You respond as you start stocking shelves, they hum and fiddle with their phone.

“Didja get the game you’ve been waiting all year for?” They ask.

“Yup! I even met some new people there!” They raise a brow as you move to another shelf.

“Really? From what I’ve heard they had a bit of a server problem so not that many people were able to get on,” So THAT’S what happened.

“Then I’m one of the lucky ones!” They were very amused.

“Seems like it. Care to tell me about these new friends you met?” You raise a brow and turn to Chris.

“But I didn’t-”

“Totally told me,” They cut you off, showing the screen of their phone in your direction. You lean forward to see that Totally did indeed contact Chris through discord.

“Of course they did,” You comment before going back to stocking the new PS4 games. The electronic bell sounds when some customers enter the store. You peek from the shelf to see four skeletons. 2 tall skeletons, one of them slightly taller than the other and two short skeletons, one with a large crack in his skull.

Hey, they look familiar-

“Welcome to the Game Store, if you need any help let me or the one stocking shelves over there know,” Chris says in the ‘customer is here, act like you’ve been happy all your life!’ voice. One of the taller skeletons smiled.

“THANK YOU KIND HUMAN! I WILL COME TO YOU FOR ASSISTANCE IF NEED BE!” He says enthusiastically and quite thankful. Both you and Chris' smiles softened into a bit more genuine smiles as the similar looking skeletons split up and began looking around the small store. You sigh softly as you go back to stocking shelves.

You soon finish the box and stand up to return the box and grab another one when someone taps your shoulder. You put on a smile and face a short skeleton in a blue hoodie.

“Oh hey! Need help looking for something?” You ask, the skeleton nods.

“Yeah, need help looking for a game called ‘Basic MMORPG VR edition,’” He says so casually you can’t help but relax around him.

“Oh yeah! I know where that is. Follow me please,” You say before walking toward the beloved game with the small skeleton in tow.

“Here it is!” You exclaim, making little jazz hands at the case making the skeleton snicker.

“Thanks bud. I guess you could say you were... playing your role?”

Processing…

“PFT-” You burst out laughing. You could even hear Chris and a very deep voice snicker in the background.

“Oh my GOD that was terrible,” You say collecting yourself, the short skeleton shrugged.

“But I guess I don’t have enough EXP(erience) with good jokes!” You fire back and his eyelights twinkled.

“Guess you’ll have to farm for some,” The same deep voice from earlier said, earning a snicker from you and the short skeleton by you.

“SANS PLEASE!” You hear an exasperated voice yell.

“Brother No…” Another voice chimes, somewhat similar to the first but somewhat softer. The short skeleton used blue magic to get the game and walked over to the counter still snickering. You smile as you begin walking to the back to replace your empty box. When you return to the store, all the skeletons are at the counter with one of the tall ones yelling.

“PLEASE FORGIVE MY BROTHER AND MY COUSIN FOR THEIR TERRIBLE PUNS!” The other tall one nods.

“It’s alright, did you find everything you needed?” Chris says as you go to stock the shelves once again. Just as you were finishing up with this box, the skeletons had paid for their games and left.

“That was… interesting,” Chris comments as you go to the back to get ANOTHER box.

“You’re telling me! They look like the avatars Carrot and Blue use!” Chris furrows their brows as you leave with another box and go to the shelves again.

“Isn’t… there custom avatars in Basic?” Chris asks as they type away on their phone.

“Um… Not that I can recall… considering the list is SUUUUPER long,” You respond as Chris nods their head.

“There is, just looked it up. Isn’t it strange that they looked practically identical except for some slight changes?” Chris asks, looking up from their phone. Now that you think about it…

“Yeah, that’s kinda odd…” You comment aloud as you toss the last box into the back.

“Maybe they were all born as twins or something?” You suggest, Chris shakes their head.

“I dunno… oh hey, it’s break time. Want a rematch in SMASH?”

“OH HELL YEAH, I’M GONNA WIN THIS TIME!” Chris laughs at your enthusiasm as you both make your way to the employee break room, passing by Max and Alex, your other co-workers who you say ‘hi’ to. You and Chris began to duke it out in Smash.

The rest of the day went by quickly, only a few customers stopped by the Game Store, you lost to Chris is Smash… again. At the end of your shift you say goodbye to Chris and leave the store. While walking home, you check your messages and see that Blue and Carrot messaged.

Magnificent Blueberry: HELLO HUMAN FART! I HOPE YOU ARE DOING WELL! UNFORTUNATELY, I AM UNABLE TO JOIN YOU AND MY BROTHER’S GAMING SESSION SINCE I HAVE IMPORTANT THINGS TO ATTEND TO! I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE FUN! - SINCERELY, BLUE!

You smiled at how professional yet caring Blue’s message was and began typing your response.

(Username): Aw man! I hope you can join us next time! Good luck with your important things!

You go to Carrot’s message next.

Cheesepuff: Okay, so the server’s are REALLY crowded today. I think we should set up a place to meet up as well.

(Username): That’s alright! How about the Creature Care Center?

Cheesepuff: That works. See ya in 15.

You leave the personal conversations to see you were added to a group chat with Totally and Crispy Chris (You may have laughed at Chris’s username as soon as you saw it.)

Totally not the writer: Right, so I made this group chat so we could play games and just chat with one another.

Crispy Chris: Cool.

(Username): Awesome! But I’m busy tonight, I’m going to be meeting Carrot’s cousins in game.

Totally not the writer: There’s more of them? Didn’t you and Chris just deal with two sets of doppelgangers that YOU said looked like Carrot’s and Blue’s avatars?

Ah, Chris must’ve told them about that.

(Username): Maybe, maybe not. I may be meeting those doppelgangers. Who knows?

Crispy Chris: Just don’t reveal your address or your full name. Or, like, any personal information that’ll hurt you.

(Username): I know, I know. This isn’t my first rodeo. Gtg tho.

You shut off your phone and stuff in your pocket as you enter the home. Locking the door behind you, you check the clock. 5:15. Nodding to yourself, you begin setting up the game and once done with that, you put on the VR goggles and enter the Basic world.

When Carrot said it was crowded today, he was not kidding. There were a LOT of players in just the town square alone! Wincing to yourself, you pull up a map (Blue was kind enough to give you pointers with your exploration) and begin weaving your way through avatars and houses.

You eventually arrive on the street where the Creature Care Center, Merchant Stalls and many other interactive buildings lie. You look up from the map to see Carrot pacing back and forth in front of two sets of, you guessed, more doppelgangers. And they sure as hell didn’t look like the ones that visited the store, but they were similar. They looked terrifying, wearing red, black, or purple armor/robes/clothing.

You gulp and make the map disappear before approaching the group of skeletons. Carrot notices your approach and waves with a small smile.

“Hey, glad you could make it,” He says, earning an annoyed huff from a tall skeleton in red armor.

“FINALLY, I COULDN’T STAND WAITING ANY LONGER,” The short skeleton wearing purple armor nodded. Carrot sighed.

“Edge, Mal, please…” He muttered tiredly, you raised a brow and looked at the usernames above their avatars. The tall angry one in red was “Captain,” the short one in purple was “Maleficent,” the short one in red clothes with a hood was “Red,” and finally the tallone in dark purple robes was “Rus.”

“Interesting names,” You comment, Captain puffing out his chest and smiling proudly.

“OF COURSE IT IS! YOU’VE WITNESSED THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE EDGE AND HIS MAGNIFICENT NAMING SKILLS!” He states proudly, so he’s a narcissist. Good to know. Maleficent shakes his head with his arms crossed.

“BY ‘MAGNIFICENT’ YOU MEAN BASIC, CONSIDERING YOU WERE THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD,” Maleficent counters bluntly, Captain whips his head to face the short.

“WH- HOW DARE YOU?!” He screeched before the two got into an argument, the other two were snickering about something and Carrot looked dead inside. You place a virtual hand onto his shoulder.

“I am sorry you have to deal with this,” You say half serious half joking, earning a tired amused grin from Carrot.

“Trust me, it was harder to convince them to actually PLAY the game,” Carrot admits looking even more dead inside. Red approaches the two of you.

“He’ll get used to it, eventually,” Red comments before holding out his hand.

“Nice to officially meet you Fart, my name is Red,” He says with an amused smile. You shake his hand which opens a menu with his stats.

“Woah, a rouge! Nice,” You complement, Red smirks more.

“Thanks,” He says simply before you break apart the virtual handshake. Rus approaches the small gathering.

“Can I join the party?” He asks, holy shit his voice- Red starts snickering like a mad man while Carrot stares at you in disbelief. Rus blinks and looks away.

“Um… thank you?” He says with uncertainty and a tinge of amusement, CRAP YOU SAID THAT OUT LOUD! Red starts laughing harder and Rus chuckles.

“You’re something else aren’t ya?” He asks with a smirk.

“Uh…” You intelligently reply, Carrot steps in.

“Okay, I think they need a bit to process everything,” You nod trying to unclog your brain to find words. Red finally calmed down and wrapped a virtual arm around your avatar’s neck.

“You’re a riot, Fart!” He exclaims, you smile.

“Th-Thank you,” You manage to respond before Captain's booming voice breaks the chill environment.

“CAN WE GET A MOVE ON?! I WANT TO BE DONE WITH THIS AND DO SOMETHING MORE PRODUCTIVE!” Confused, you give Carrot a raised brow.

“He wanted to know what there is to this game so… another exploration adventure. Whooooo,” He says tiredly, jeez, he needs to sleep.

“INDEED. NOW QUIT YOUR LOLLYGAGGING AND LET’S GO,” Maleficent follows up, you swear, whenever those two talk, you feel like you’re losing brain cells. And off your party went to look around the areas Captain and Maleficent were interested in. And once they found a weapon stand, they were VERY dedicated to look for their perfect weapon so the rest of you went to the fields.

Carrot collected herbs while Ruse tried to get a fox as his familiar which was pretty cute. You were slaying slimes and Red was practicing his aim with the bow. After slaying some slimes, you decided to join Red with practicing your aim. You stand by him and use your multiweapon to practice.

“Hey Fart,” He greets as he shoots an arrow into a tree.

“Hey,” You respond, shooting and missing the tree.

“How are you liking Basic so far?” You ask as Red shoots and hits the tree again.

“It’s alright,” He answers vaguely as he glances at you and does a double take.

“Woah, what the HELL are you holding?” Red asks genuinely curious, you show Red your multiweapon.

“Multiweapon, I… couldn’t decide on just one,” You admit, Red snorts.

“Yeah, I can tell. But it’s still impressive. Think there are anymore like this in Basic?” He asks, now that you think about it, there is weapon customization in this…

“Most likely but they’d probably use different weapons,” Red hums and you both fall into comfortable silence while continuing to practice your aims.

“How did you get into gaming?” Red asks suddenly, oh boy. He just set off a tidal wave. You tell him how and why you got into gaming and he listened intently, even telling YOU how he got into gaming. Then it moved to conversing about video games which you both were REALLY into.

“I shall name you… Butters,” Rus declares as he holds the golden fox in his hands. The fox yips and Rus aww’s from the fox.

“Butters huh? Neat name,” Stretch comments as he walks by Rus to pick some herbs.

“Thanks,” They fall into silence before Rus breaks it again.

“Hey, I know you introduced us to this game to socialize but… don’t you find the human a bit TO accepting?” Stretch mulls over the question and faces Rus.

“Well, to them they think we’re using avatars so there’s that,” Rus hums and pets Butters.

“True, should we go get Edge and Mal?” Rus asks.

“Nah, they’ll be fine. Besides, they can find us with the friend tracking system, remember?” Rus shakes his head.

“There’s so many features to keep track of…” Rus mutters, earning an amused smirk from Stretch.

“Eh, you get used to it. Eventually,”

Hours went by and before you knew it, you had to log off. You got Red’s discord and planned to have a Smash match one day. While the others were interesting, they didn’t seem too keen to give you their discord just yet. Understandable, after all they just met.

As you wind down for the night, you check your messages to see Red, Blue, Carrot and Chris messaged you.

Red: Can’t wait to kick your ass in Smash, when you have time that is.

(Username): Oh, you’re on hot topic! Saturday, noon.

Red: Deal. See ya then sweetheart. ;)

Your face totally didn’t erupt into a tomato, nooooo.

Magnificent Blueberry: I HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL DAY FART! AND THANK YOU For YOUR LUCK EARLIER, IT REALLY HELPED! HAVE A GOOD NIGHT FART! -ALL THE BEST, BLUE!

You couldn’t help but chuckle that Blue still used Fart. You send a quick “I did, thank you and goodnight!” Now onto Carrot.

Cheesepuff: Hey, thanks for being patient enough to meet them. I know they can be a bit of a… nuisance.

(Username): It was no trouble! Plus, I got a new gaming buddy so it works out!

Cheesepuff: Huh, well I’m glad at least ONE of them made a friend. Or acquaintance. Whichever it is. I wish thee farewell, as I have to attend an important matter called Sleep. Till we meet again Fart!

You laughed at his goofiness and moved onto Crispy Chris. (God it’s so stupid yet so funny!)

Crispy Chris: Hey, we don’t have to go to work tomorrow. Boss found an announcement that anti monster protestors are targeting our store.

(Username): Really? Why are they still at this? It’s been 3 YEARS since monsters came and STILL can’t see reason?

Crispy Chris: I’ll say it once, I’ll say it again. Humans are stupid.

(Username): Agreed. Thanks for telling me.

Crispy Chris: Np. Good night and sweet dreams.

With your socializing done for the day, you place your phone on your night stand and go to sleep.

I- don’t know why I keep writing long chapters but HERE WE ARE! That’s 3 sets of boys that got a “proper” introduction. Only 2 more too go and onto the plot! (Which I’m totally making up as I go along.)

Next Chapter

#Happy New Year Eve #Oh boy the tags...#Underswap Papyrus #Underswap Sans #Underfell Papyrus #Underfell Sans #Swapfell Sans #Swapfell Papyrus #Horrortale Papyrus #Horrortale Sans #Undertale Sans #Undertale Papyrus #Sans #Papyrus #X Reader #Reverse Harem #God these tags will be the death of me...

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jawnjendes · 5 years

Text

the fog will clear up | shawn mendes

chapter 13/?, university au, shawn x goth oc

AN: sry its short and definitely a filler im sry its boring but it helps build up stuff thatll happen next ok ok im sry

*let me know if u wanna be added/removed from the taglist

masterlist | playlist

Annalise woke with a start. She was wide awake immediately. There was no room for sleepily rolling around the sheets, her eyes weren't heavy like always. She didn't know what dying and coming back to life felt like, but she was pretty sure it felt something like that. She had a weird urge to go for a jog.

Staring at the ceiling, Annalise reached towards the nightstand next to her, intending to grab her phone. Her hand touched the bottle, and she picked it up anyway, reading the prescription label.

Annalise Flores SERTRALINE 50MG TABLET Brand name: Zoloft

"You don't waste anytime, huh?" she murmured before setting it back down. Then, she grabbed her phone and checked the time.

8:47am. A new fucking record. Annalise rolled out of bed, unable to stay still.

In the 2 hours she had to kill before work, she tidied up the dorm, ate a decent breakfast, took a shower, and got started on the course work she had to make up. The energy levels were through the roof, she had never been so on edge and productive at the same time. Why wasn't she put on sertraline sooner? Sure, she felt hyperaware and borderline anxious, but that was apart of the process of getting on a new antidepressant. She was getting things done this way. Sure, she jumped when the lock on the door jiggled, but she was up and running anyway!

If she wasn't, she wouldn't have seen Stella entering the dorm. She was surprised to see Annalise on the couch, looking like a deer in headlights.

"Oh… I thought you were asleep. I'll, uh, I'll come back."

"No, wait!" Annalise sounded a little too frantic, but it did stop Stella from leaving. "Uh, come sit down! Please!"

Stella narrowed her eyes slightly as she went to the couch. At least she was willing to listen.

"I, uh, I'm sorry," Annalise began, rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm sorry for what I said. A stupid guy isn't the only good in my life. I have you. You matter to me, and I'm sorry for making you feel like you don't." She really couldn't stop herself from rambling. "I miss you. I miss seeing you here between classes, and I miss your optimism because a bitch could use some of that. And, and I'm sorry for the negativity I've brought in here. I'm working on it now, I swear. Just… come back. Come home… because bro, you're my wife, dude."

It could have been funny, but there was nothing funny about the way she said it. Her eyes were wide and pleading, and she was rubbing her hands together. Stella merely blinked her hazel eyes, nearly overwhelmed by that string of words.

"Look at you, expressing your emotions," she said after a while. "I can see why you hold it back."

Annalise nodded rapidly. "It's my first day on a new medication. Got me all sorts of hyped up, but I'll mellow out in a couple of weeks. And I'm taking therapy seriously again!"

Stella was surprised. "Oh, I see. Well… I've missed you too. Bro…"

"Bro?"

"I'll come home too. Camila's bed is too small for the two of us."

"Bro…"

"I know. I have to update you on all that."

"Br-"

"Okay!" Stella broke out a smile and stood up. "Dame un abrazo, puta."

That was much easier than Annalise had anticipated. She stood up and hugged her best friend, relieved. Stella wasn't one to hold a grudge, nor was she as stubborn as her roommate. It was another person to cross off the list.

Shawn had social media mainly to get his music out there. Yes, he interacted with his friends on Snapchat, and some fans on Twitter. Most of the time, Shawn just tweeted when he had new music coming out. He didn't check any of his social media very often, not even to stalk Ann's accounts because she was rarely on her's. He didn't even have his notifications on, purely to keep himself from the possibility of getting too attached to the opinions of random strangers online.

That was why he woke up that morning to a number of texts from Camila.

"SHAAWWNWNN"

"SHAWN IM LKTERSLLY BALD RN"

"CHEKC UR TWITTER RIGHT NOW!!!!!!"

"YOIR FOLLOWERS!!! AAHSKSKSK"

"SKSKSK SHAWNMM IM SCRAMING"

So to Twitter he went. Shawn rubbed sleep out of his eye as he went to his profile. He had around 10k to begin with, that he built up on his own over the last couple of years. He nearly dropped his phone on his face as he read the new number.

50.2k

"What… the fuck?" he breathed out as he sat up in his bed. He scrolled through the list, making sure this wasn't a series of spam bots.

His mentions were just as wild, and it explained the sudden blow up.

@hollaestor: @shawnmendes hiii bella told me to follow you

@samxriv: @shawnmendes i am free to hang out on tuesday to hang out when i am free

@gisellenjh: @shawnmendes bella sent me here and im glad she did! loving your music!

And there were plenty more like that. There were so many tweets, Shawn couldn't even get through all of them. It was making his head spin. There was only one Bella he knew about too… He just couldn't spell her last name. Thankfully, her handle was just @bellasanti, and it was the first one to pop up when he typed it in the search bar.

Right under Bella Santiago's name and the blue checkmark were the two little words: Follows you. Shawn refreshed the page ten times before it sank in. This YouTuber, who has over 2 million followers, somehow found Shawn's music… and she liked it. She liked it enough to tweet about it… 3 days ago.

@bellasanti: underrated spotify artists: @shawnmendes. give him a listen. send him some love. truly talented guy💖

Shawn had only overheard Bella's videos when Ann was watching them in the other room. He never really watched any of her content. But he wanted to pass out at the fact that she took the time to listen to his music and tweet about him. He wanted to jump on the bed. He wanted to call-

He texted Camila back. "Wtf why did no one tell me sooner?? This is so crazy!!!!!"

"We thought you knew and you were keeping it from us!! LMAO congrats rockstar!"

He couldn't believe it. His follower count was rising. He was getting emails from Spotify saying his songs were being added to many different playlists.

@shawnmendes: @bellasanti wow thank you so much! Love you bella❤

He deleted the last bit before tweeting it. Holy shit. Shawn lied back down on the mattress, completely breathless.

How does someone like Bella Santiago find Shawn out in cyberspace? What Spotify rabbit hole did she go down that led her to him? How many of his songs did she listen to? How many songs did she save to her library? How many of those playlist emails were from her? Shawn had so many questions.

There were two things Annalise noticed when she was out on the courtyard after Biology. The first thing was a table on the side of the walkway, with a handmade banner hanging off the front. It read in big letters: Shawn Mendes: Live at The Cameron House. Brian, Alessia. and Camila were all sat on the same side at this table, talking to a student who was interested in the little display.

"The lounge called back," Annalise muttered to herself.

The other thing Annalise noticed was Patrick sitting under a tree nearby, reading a book. She went to him first.

The last time she had spoken to Patrick was when they cut up flowers together. He was never one to explicitly state when something has upset him, and he has seen Annalise in a depressive episode before. Annalise knew him well. Patrick kept his distance because he didn't like the negativity around her, and he couldn't afford any more of it himself.

"Hey," she greeted.

His blue eyes tore away from his book to meet her gaze. "'Sup?"

"Trying to be less fucked in the head," she told him.

Patrick nodded in approval. "Cool."

That was all that was needed for the two of them. Content, Annalise turned and went for the table. A small line had formed when she wasn't looking, so she waited behind the last person. However, with three people running the thing, Annalise got to the front fairly quick.

"Oh, she actually showed up," Brian chimed, amused.

"Meaning?" Annalise asked.

"Thought you were too pissed at Shawn to care about his show, that's all."

She swallowed the pit of annoyance, discovering that even more people knew about that. Brian is his friend, though, of course he'd know.

"Selling tickets or something?" Annalise turned her attention to the two girls.

"Yeah! Ten dollars a piece!" Alessia explained.

"Cool, I'll take one."

Just as she opened the flap on her book bag, Camila spoke up.

"Wait. I'm pretty sure Shawn said he wanted to buy you your ticket himself."

Annalise rolled her eyes. "Well, he's not here and I can do things for myself." She pulled out her wallet and paid her own goddamn ticket.

Camila breathed out a laugh. "Are you ever gonna let him do anything nice for you?"

None of your fucking business.

A new thought occurred to Annalise. "Why are tickets being sold for this show? Aren't his gigs usually free?"

"There's more production going into this one," Brian told her. "The lounge gave him the option to make it a ticketed event, and we need to make back what we already put into it. So now, it won't be a performance, it'll be Shawn's performance."

Shawn already knew how to make an audience his bitch, but…

"Alright then." Annalise shrugged and then accepted her ticket and receipt from Alessia.

The ticket alone was already quite extravagant. There were little red roses designed around the edges. This boy really loved his fucking flowers.

"I'm guessing rose petals will fall from the ceiling or something?" she guessed with a chuckle.

"I was given strict orders to not spoil anything," Brian told her, folding his arms.

The two had a mini staredown until Annalise shrugged again. "Whatever."

Then, Camila piped up again, suddenly excited. "Ooh, Ann did you hear? Bella Santiago followed Shawn on Twitter!"

"She what?" Annalise stupidly replied.

Camila practically squealed. "She gave him a shoutout too! He's blowing up on Spotify! Isn't that awesome?"

Annalise wanted to say something, but her brain wasn't quite caught up yet. So she just walked away.

The other three students watched her leave. Needless to say, they were confused.

"Is she ever gonna be happy for him?" Alessia wondered.

"I think she was excited?" Camila said tilting her head.

"I can't believe Shawn is going through all this trouble for that," Brian said with a scoff.

"I can still hear you!" Annalise called over her shoulder as she kept walking.

All three of them went red in the face, embarrassed. Brian would have made a comment about her being a vampire with supersonic hearing, but he didn't want to be called out again.

_______

taglist: @normalcyisoverrated-beyou @ilsolee @mendesromano @1-800-khalid-mendussy @kitykatnumber @strangerliaa @iloveshawnieboi @goldenmndes @shawnvvmendes @shawnsunflower @shawmndes @ruinhoney @someoneunimportantxx @calyumthomas @yourdeflightfullyleft @havethetimeeofyourlifee @wronglanemendes @chillingbythesea @softmendesss @mutuallynotmutual

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes fanfic #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes smut #shawn x goth gf #aahhhh its so short n boring im so srryyy

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teannamon · 5 years

Text

Purple Butterfly (ML Fic) 3

(Cover art done by P00pyPetals)

↫ Chapter 2

Chapter 3 : A Beginning is Always Trivial, Right?

“Did you see that too Plagg?” Adrien asked the kwami flying out of his pocket as he started driving.

“See what? You mean the blonde stalker who followed Marinette to see if she’s really having lunch with Luka and not ignoring said stalker?” he remarked with a smirk, aiming the statement at his chosen.

Adrien grumbled, not because of Plagg’s teasing but because it was true. Instead of heading straight to the lunch interview, he spotted Marinette and decided to follow her to her “lunch date with Luka”. She didn’t say it was a date, but he assumed it might as well be.

He acted as if he was just passing by the corner when Luka noticed him and nudged Marinette beside him, most likely letting her know that he was there for some reason. She smiled and waved at him, and that’s when he headed back to his car in the parking lot.

“They were sitting so close to each other their faces are practically touching. I mean it’s possible they’re just talking about something serious but the way he looks at her, and laughs with her, talks with her so easily!” he practically yelled, venting at the kwami enjoying his cheese in peace. He remembered how Marinette would have trouble talking to him back then and it took her a year to make her talk comfortably around him (based on the few interactions they had after starting Lycée), he didn’t mind it but thinking about it now he envied Luka.

The car came to a stop as he arrived to the restaurant he was scheduled to have the lunch interview. “Tomorrow,” he muttered and Plagg stopped eating to look at him “I’ll make Marinette see a different side of me”

Adrien arrived to school earlier than usual. He wanted to see Marinette to make sure his lunch ‘date’ offer still stands. He cancelled a charity event for this and he had it all planned out.

“Excuse me, Mr. Model, but do you happen to spare a few minutes to talk to your bro?” a voice came from behind.

“Nino!” Adrien turned around and hi-fived his best friend, “What’s up dude? Sorry I couldn’t hang out as much with y-”

“Hey you don’t need to apologize everytime we see each other in person, talking online still counts as hanging out in today’s modern world” he playfully punched his shoulder, earning a chuckle from the blonde.

“Besides,” Nino continued “I heard from Alya that you’re starting to fancy a certain cute fashion designer”

Adrien felt his heart beat faster and his cheeks heat up.

“Oh, would that cute fashion designer happen to be me?” Marinette teased and Nino looked surprised to see her behind him. She laughed to see him so jumpy.

‘God, she’s so beautiful when she laughs’ Adrien thought as he looked at her.

“’Sup Mari,” Nino greeted, then moved closer to whisper “Alya told me about the date for today and I wanted to make sure it’s true”

She scoffed then whispered back, “It’s probably not a date, maybe he’s gonna ask me a favor. You don’t know”

This time it was Nino who laughed and patted Marinette on the shoulder, “Yeah keep telling yourself that. Well, see you around guys I have to meet someone before class”

“See ya” Marinette waved as their friend walked towards the library. She turned around to face Adrien, “So where should we meet for lunch?”

Hearing her ask about it made Adrien relieved and it gave him an idea. He was supposed to tell her but a better plan popped into his head.

“It’s a surprise, I’ll see you later after your class” he winked and walked past. Leaving a very confused and flustered Marinette by the school gate.

“Please read the required readings by Thursday for our activity” their professor said as he left the room. Students began scrambling out of the room as quickly as they can, obviously ready to leave. Marinette still had her handouts and tablet out so she stayed a bit to fix her things.

“Marinette? She’s over there”

“Ok, thank you”

“Wait is that Adrien Agreste, the model?”

“Omg you’re so lucky!”

“Is that his girlfriend?”

Adrien strolled in the classroom towards Marinette, fixated on her things. She dropped a page of her handout and it landed right on Adrien’s feet, to which he picked up and handed it to her.

“A-adrien? What are you doing here?” she looked up and grabbed the page from him.

“I’m here to pick you up for our lunch of course” he said with a grin like it was the most obvious thing ever.

“Thanks, but you really didn’t have to” Marinette said sheepishly while looking to her side, avoiding his gaze as she stood up.

“No, but I want to” with that he grabbed Marinette’s bag from her chair quickly before she did and he slung it over his shoulder. She gasped and tried to protest but decided to let it be. Its not everyday your crush suddenly asks you out for lunch, fetches you after class, and carries your bag, right?

They made small talk as they walked to the parking lot. They talked about trivial things like their weird professors, how some of their old classmates are doing, and general ‘how’s it going’ stuff.

Adrien opened the door to the front seat and placed her bag there, then gestured for her to get in before getting into the driver’s seat himself.

“So now will you tell me where we’re going?” she asked as he started the car. He looked at her briefly, “If I told you now it wouldn’t be surprise now would it? Besides, this will be a one-of-a-kind lunch date than yesterday”

“Yesterday?” she raised a brow.

‘Shitshitshitshit, I shouldn’t have said that’ he scolded himself and he can hear Plagg snickering from his pocket.

Meanwhile, Marinette is thinking back to what he meant by ‘yesterday’ when she heard Tikki chuckle from her bag something about Luka, then it clicked. ‘Oh he meant the lunch with Luka. It wasn’t a date though, they were sitting pretty close yesterday while eating but that was because they were discussing costume details and-wait how did he know?”

With that thought she snapped her head to face Adrien, who’s trying his hardest to appear casual about his own statement but internally kicking himself in the face for letting that slip out. He must’ve read her mind because he followed it up with, “I mean I was passing by the café as a shortcut and I saw you guys”

She pursed her lips but smiled right after, “Oh well, that makes sense. It wasn’t a date though, we were just discussing some band related stuff”

“I see, that’s nice.” He responded as the car came to a stop. Marinette looked out the window to see that they’re in front of the Agreste Mansion. It’s been a long time since she’s been here so she was easily overwhelmed. ‘Did he forget something at home?’

“Shall we go?”

“Huh?”

Adrien lead a confused Marinette around the back of his house. She never would have dreamed of having a private lunch with Adrien Agreste at his house. She’s still wondering why is he showing sudden interests now so suddenly, but she’ll figure that out later.

Right now, she would let loose and enjoy herself like her kwami always told her to do. In between saving Paris, schoolwork, and having commissions at the side she doesn’t have as much time to let loose and she decides that now is the time.

“I hope you don’t mind sitting on the ground” Adrien told her. She smiled and nodded, so he grabbed her hand gently and lead her to a beautiful backyard garden. There’s a picnic blanket placed by the shade and Adrien pulled her to sit down on the blanket.

“Can you wait here? I’ll get our food from inside, I cooked it this morning” he said as he let go of her hand.

“I didn’t know you can cook, Adrien”

He winked, “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me yet, mil-I mean, Marinette”

Second time he almost slipped but thankfully Marinette hadn’t caught wind of his antics yet. She just chuckled and said “I suppose not”

Jogging inside thru the kitchen backdoor he reached for the thermal bag he set aside on the corner. Plagg got out of his jacket and flew to his camembert stash in one of the cupboards and floated next to his chosen as he double checked the contents of the bag.

“So when will you tell her? Or are you going to keep this charade up?”

“Shut up, Plagg. I will tell her when she decides to tell Chat Noir, and this is not a charade. I’m just taking advantage of this moment to establish a closer relationship with the girl behind the mask I have loved for so long” he replied.

“I may not be a fortune teller kid, but I can tell this is going to do worse than good. Trust me, Tikki thinks that you both are mature enough to know each other’s identities but the delay is all on Marinette now”

Adrien closed the bag and slung the strap over his shoulder, “Exactly Plagg, it means that there’s something holding her back and I will make her trust me. Both as Chat Noir and Adrien”

Plagg grumbled while he went back to his pocket, “If things go wrong don’t say I didn’t tell you so”

Tikki peeked out of Marinette’s bag as soon as Adrien left to take a breather and talk. “Hey Marinette”

Marinette turned her back to the door just in case Adrien comes out unexpectedly. “Hi Tikki, are you hungry?”

The kwami shook her head no, “I just want to let you know that I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself on this date”

She blushed at the statement, “I-its not a date” she hesitated “I think”

“Well whatever it is, I feel something good is going to happen from this so make the most of it” Tikki chirped happily.

“Thanks, Tikki” she heard the door clicked and the red kwami ducked back into her bag. She turned around to see Adrien with a thermal bag walking towards her. He sat down next to her and opened the bag. The distinct smell of Bacon and Cheese hit their noses.

“Its Bacon Cheese Fusilli,” he said as he opened the small tupperware and handed it to Marinette “I made it this morning but its still pretty warm”.

“It looks so good, smells good too.” She complimented, “Thank you by the way, this was a nice change of pace from both our busy schedules and considering we didn’t hang out as much back then too”

‘Probably cause I have a hopeless crush on you that made me stutter whenever I see you’ she said to herself. By now though, she has matured past the sighing fangirl crush she has on Adrien and toned down to admiration for his kind demeanor.

He took out the forks and handed one to Marinette as he said, “Well it was nothing, Marinette. I would definitely go out of my way to impress the woman I love and if it means taking extra time out of my busy schedule it would be worth it”

‘Wait what?!’ Marinette nearly choked on her food.

Not realizing what he just said he still continued while opening up his container, “And of course, even though I already know you from the surface level I’d always wanted an opportunity to know you better as the brave, kind, and sweet Marinette Dupain-Cheng ever since I saw you”

He looked at her with a smile and it was only then he saw how flustered she looked. She wanted to say something but her brain can’t comprehend properly what Adrien just said to her, about her.

‘He likes me?! All this time?! This doesn’t make sense, where is Alya when I need her!’

And for the third time today, Adrien realized what he (unconsciously) said and tried to salvage the situation. He set down his food and sighed while scratching the back of his neck “W-well I guess the cat’s out of the bag. I was supposed to tell you after our lunch date but I guess I got carried away” he chuckled nervously.

She’s still in shocked silence.

“Marinette? Are you ok?” he cupped one hand on her cheek. Warm and soft, he mentally noted.

She finally finds the words she wanted to say, “Uhm yeah… but why now?”

His mind went back to his accidental discovery and his weird cryptic dreams, but he figured he couldn’t say those to her. Well, not yet at least.

“Let’s just say,” he rubbed circles in her cheek while moving closer to her “I’ve waited for a long time for the perfect moment and something made me realize it was now”

She parted her lips to say something when Adrien talked again, this time with a request that sounds all too familiar but she just can’t quite remember.

“May I?” he asked as his thumb ghosted over lips. He couldn’t help himself anymore, his lady is right there in front of him just like how she was in his dreams. All what’s missing is him to close the distance between their faces.

And something else, that he just remembered as they both heard a crash from the distance.

A purple butterfly.

An akuma.

↬ Chapter 4 (tba)

↬ AO3

❤ I finally have cover art for this fic *happiness noise* It’s my favorite scene from the vocaloid song that’s inspired by this fic :3

#teanammonfics #purple butterfly #miraculous ladybug #miraculous fanfic #tales of ladybug and cat noir #ladybug and chat noir #adrienette #adrien agreste #lukanette #marinette dupain cheng #marinette dupain-cheng #adrinette #teannamonfics

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birthdaystranger · 3 years

Text

Finding friends in sus places

This project has made it clear to me that it is impossible to know what role any person will play in life. Everyone is a stranger at first, except perhaps the family we grow up in; the people around which we spend our emerging sentience. (That's kind of magic if you ask me.)

Strangers don’t always stay in the category of stranger though; once I went to a holiday party & this dude sat next to me. After introducing ourselves we talked for four hours. Four. Hours. He's now one of my best friends. Another time I went to a friend's apartment for a movie night & sat on the floor next to this lovely girl. We ended up married two years later. (And 19 years this month!) I’d never have guessed these two random people would play such a major role of life.

This brings me to the present.

I am not much of a gamer & haven't been for some time. During the pandemic I began playing a game built around social interaction – including playing with and texting with people all over the planet. It’s called Among Us and it is: an “online multiplayer social deduction game” [Wikipedia, for lack of a better explanation.]

A meme on reddit is actually what drew my curiosity to it. Here it is:

Looking beyond the exaggerative nature of memes, I installed it on a device & gave it a go.

Over the next week I learned the maps & felt out the play.

As I enjoyed the game play I also sensed confusion and chaos. Public lobbies, by nature, are filled with players who may be 6 or 60 years old, serious players looking to win, agitating trolls, & beginners with little experience. This lack of cohesion first lead me to stop playing but also eventually lead me to join the reddit Among Us Discord server. In this online community play happens in Private rooms where only community members could join. I enjoyed the cohesion coming from a dedicated community. During the game users message everyone about clues to winning. Before and after the game conversations are informal and it’s easy to converse with strangers about all aspects of life; music, games, food, movies, etc…

After a couple of weeks I began recognizing usernames of players I enjoyed playing with. “Sup, SoAndSo!,” I’d say; them returning, “Hey, Dicot. How u been?” Friendships were forming with strangers where I’d never have imagined. Not completely understanding the platform I not only gamed with them but also kept conversing via direct message.

Then in March of this year I was invited to join a secondary Among Us community on Discord which I promptly accepted. Once a member & reading the member list I recognized SO MANY usernames of people who I had formed relationships with. This community is now over 160 users from all over the world. During these last two months I’ve formed relationships & have made so many acquaintances. Every single one of the moderators are kick-ass people who work hard to keep an inclusive space for anyone regardless of their characteristics. I continue to be amazed at the results of treating strangers as if they may play an important role in life. To those that feel the same...

...there's nothing sus about that. </news anchor voice>

#among us #discord

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zoemurph · 7 years

Text

to have a friend, chapter six: $136

on ao3 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

i was gonna hold back on posting this but im impatient. if you thought this was going to be subtle in any way you should know ive never been subtle a day in my life. please read the end notes chill thank you

warnings: depression, suicidal thoughts, small mention of blood (in the past)

enjoy!!

Connor has made a lot of mistakes in his life. Sure, everyone does, but most people aren’t as giant fuck ups as Connor is.

Right now, at the very top of his ‘what the fuck were you thinking’ list, is letting Evan Hansen fall asleep on him.

He wouldn’t have pushed Evan off of him or anything like that, he’s not a monster, but god. He regrets letting Evan stay like that for almost three hours. Curled up against him and breathing gently and looking all calm and at peace while he slept. His hair had been ridiculously soft and he smelt like pine and—

Connor covers his face with his hands.

Evan fell asleep on his shoulder almost two weeks ago and it’s literally occupied so many of Connor’s thoughts that he’s going to scream.

The universe is really fucking cruel. Of course he’d develop a painful crush on the guy that he’s paying to pretend to be his friend. Hilarious.

He’s been trying to keep it subtle. Under wraps. Don’t smile too much at Evan. Don’t laugh too much. Don’t touch him. At all. No physical contact at all whatsoever unless Evan initiates it first.

There has been a few times where Evan has looked up at Connor with a smile and Connor has actually thought he was about to combust. And then he had to go to AP Literature and pretend his heart wasn’t about to explode.

Alana Beck had given him a weird look when he walked into the room. He’d sat down and buried his face in his arms and pretended he was tired.

So yeah. Connor might have a minor crush on his fake best friend. No big deal. Shouldn’t be a big deal. He’s had crushes before and handled them fine. This shouldn’t be any different.

Except it is.

It’s different in every way. He starts every day at Evan’s locker. He eats lunch with Evan if they have the same lunch hour. He smiles at Evan in the hallway and Evan waves at him with a grin that Connor pretends isn’t fake because it hurts less. He ends his day at Evan’s locker. On Wednesdays, they go to the computer lab and print out Evan’s letter for his therapist. They plan their hang outs softly in the hallways, because Larry could still be checking Connor’s messages, even though Connor changes his password every two weeks. Connor texts Evan about anything. Random things. Random facts he finds online that Evan replies to with his own random facts.

The difference is Evan.

Evan is so many things. It’s a never ending list that Connor keeps adding to mentally because he loves to torture himself. And it hurts, because he’s so many things that Connor will never actually have in his life. He’s not sure how long he can actually keep up this fake friends thing. Purely because of the money. He’s starting to run out of his own money and has been slipping money from his mom’s purse or Larry’s wallet whenever he gets the chance, but it’s still risky.

Not that Connor won’t risk it for another few hours with Evan.

It’s kind of pathetic. It’s definitely pathetic.

But has Connor ever been anything other than pathetic?

Connor stares at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep. And now he’s awake. At four in the morning on a Monday. He’s awake at four in the morning thinking about a boy with a heart stopping smile and a dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose.

Connor doesn’t actually know if he’s ever been gayer than he is in this exact moment in time.

Eventually he just gets out of bed because what’s the fucking point of lying around. A tiny part of his mind thinks ‘hey you could do homework right now’. Connor laughs at that part of his brain and grabs a sketchbook off his desk.

He actually managed to clean up some of his room. Some of his clothes are now in drawers instead of covering his floor. But he has succeeded in finding a bunch of empty sketchbooks, from back when he thought he was going to be drawing a lot more then he ended up doing.

He might have run out of purple in his watercolor palette, but at least he has about six empty sketchbooks that he can fill with garbage.

Connor puts in his headphones and sits on the floor, leaning against the edge of his bed, and draws mindlessly. He sort of lets the music inspire him, but he also just draws whatever comes to mind. He vaguely remembers someone once saying that he should draw interactions between people in his sketchbook, so he makes an attempt to not just draw a bunch of busts facing three quarters to the left.

He finds a random highlighter under his desk. He stares at it for a second before uncapping it and randomly adding neon yellow wherever he feels like it. Because it’s his sketchbook and he can do whatever the fuck he wants.

He’s still drawing when Zoe appears in his doorway.

Connor pulls out an earbud and looks up at her. “What?”

“Was just going to wake you up,” she says flatly. “Guess I don’t have to. Get your ass down to breakfast. We have to leave early today. Band.”

Connor rolls his eyes and closes his sketchbook. He tosses it on his bed. Whatever.

—«·»—

“You okay?” Evan asks when he joins Connor at the locker.

Connor shrugs. “Tired.”

“Is that all?” Evan furrows his eyebrows and there’s a crease in his forehead and Connor looks away.

“Yeah.” He is tired. He can feel his sleep schedule falling out of place, and it’s not just Evan. That’s not a good sign because then he has to reset it and that’s fucking annoying. “Here,” he says, holding out a ten. “My half for the pizza.”

There’s a second before Evan takes it. “You know I can’t eat all that pizza by myself anyway.” Connor thinks he might be trying for a light tone, but it seems forced.

Of course it’s forced. They aren’t actually friends, Evan just puts up with Connor.

Connor clenches his jaw.

Maybe the first thing on his list of mistakes should be asking Evan Hansen to be his fake friend.

—«·»—

Connor leans against Evan’s locker as he waits. Weird how much of his life revolves around Evan now. He’ll decide if that’s healthy or not later.

“Sup, dude,” Jared says, walking up to Connor.

Connor nods to him. He’s too tired to deal with Jared, but he’ll do his best. But only for Evan.

“Seen the acorn?” Jared asks.

Connor tries not to grimace. “Not since lunch.”

“Hello.” Alana joins them by the locker. The small hallway is getting crowded. “Are you waiting for Evan?”

Jared and Connor exchange a glance.

“Yeah,” Jared says. “How’d you guess?”

“This is Evan’s locker,” Alana says.

“Oh.”

“Why are we waiting for Evan?” Zoe asks.

Connor rolls his eyes. Where did she come from? “There was no ‘we’ here. It was just me.” He shoots a glare to Jared.

Jared scoffs. “You can’t hog my best friend.”

Connor raises his eyebrow. “Best friend?”

“Am I not bringing you home then?” Zoe asks, crossing her arms. “Because I don’t have rehearsal and I’m not waiting.”

“I’m good,” Connor says. “I’ll figure something out.”

Zoe makes a face. “Okay. Have fun.”

Alana turns and watches Zoe vanish into the crowd of students. “Zoe does a lot.”

“So do you,” Connor points out. “Did you need Evan?” For some reason, he doesn’t want Alana or Jared here. He wants Evan by himself. Because he’s a selfish asshole.

Alan shifts uncomfortably. “Not necessarily. I just wanted to say hi.”

“Hi,” Evan says.

Connor turns to see Evan behind him. Alana lifts a hand to wave.

“S-sorry for making you wait,” Evan apologizes.

Connor steps aside to let Evan into his locker. “It’s fine,” he promises.

Evan glances to Jared. “Wh-what’s up?”

“Just checking in on my…bud.” Jared awkwardly punches Evan in the shoulder.

Evan stares at him. “I’ll tell my mom,” he says after a moment.

“Cool cool cool chill.” Jared runs a hand over his hair. “Nice.”

Connor squints at Jared. “Are you having a stroke?”

Jared flips him off.

“How— how are you?” Evan asks Alana. “We haven’t, um, really—”

“Talked?” Alana interrupts. She shrugs. “I’m alright. Yourself?”

Evan glances to Connor. “Okay. Did you— were you just saying hi?”

Alana rocks back on her heals. “I actually had a question about student council? Or two. Either way it should only be a minute of your time!”

Evan blinks. “S-student council?”

She nods. “If you don’t mind! I actually have to run to make a poster but if you want to talk tomorrow—”

“Talk now,” Jared says, butting in. “I’ve got you, girl, I’m a master at illegal photoshop.” He points his thumb at himself. “Tell me what you need and I can get it to you in like fifteen.”

Alana eyes Jared suspiciously. “Are you sure?”

Jared scoffs. “Am I sure? Do you even know me?”

“Yes.”

Evan bites his lower lip to hold back a smile and Connor has to look away before it makes him smile.

Jared scowls. “Seriously, I’ve got you. It’s not hard, it’s some fucking text and a clipart picture. I’m not busting out inDesign or anything. Chill, talk to Evan, meet me in the computer lab when you’re done.”

Alana looks at him for a long moment before she says, “Okay. I’m trusting you.” She pulls out a notebook and quickly writes down instructions. Connor watches her write in fascination. He doesn’t pay enough attention in literature to know her handwriting and it’s a lot less neat than he thought it’d be. There’s a dramatic tilt to it and the letters loop and blur together.

Alana tears the page from her notebook and hands it to Jared. “Do what you can while I talk to Evan,” she says seriously. “Don’t send anything to print until I okay it, besides, we need the vice principal’s signature before we can start hanging these up. Don’t make this harder for me.”

Jared rolls his eyes and folds up the paper. “I get it I get it. I’m not five. See you losers. And Alana. See you in a bit.” He shoots them finger guns before turning and walking down the hallway toward the computer lab.

Alana looks at Connor.

Connor looks back.

Evan looks at Connor.

Connor gets the message.

“See you later, Ev,” Connor says.

Evan gives him a small smile. “I’ll text you.”

Connor hums as he walks away, doing a little salute to Alana as he turns.

Now what the fuck to do? He doesn’t want to go home yet and he doesn’t have a heavy enough jacket to go to the playground. It’s the last week of October and Mother Nature decided a bit of ice was needed before Halloween. The temperature keeps dipping below freezing and it’s some bullshit.

He glances back over his shoulder to see Evan and Alana at the end of the hallway. Alana is gesturing as Evan nods along. Connor’s stomach twists and bitter thoughts start to cloud his mind, but he shoves them away and focuses on the boringly beige color of the lockers. One after another. Exactly the same.

He finds his feet bringing him toward the computer lab. Even though it’s Monday, not Wednesday. Even though Jared is there. For some reason, the computer lab is the most comforting place in this dump.

That’s fucking depressing.

Connor shoulders the door open. Maybe if he sticks around in here Evan will show up with Alana. Or something.

So much of his day should not be devoted to thinking about Evan Hansen, but here he is.

Jared is sitting at one of the computers, bag on the floor and feet up on the table. He has a browser and about thirty tabs open. He chews on a pen as he types.

Jared glances up at Connor. He lowers the pen. “The fuck do you want?”

“Bored.” Connor kicks one of the chairs that’s not pushed in. “Why do you care?”

“Bored without Evan to harass?” Jared mutters.

Connor furrows his eyebrows. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“What do you think you heard?” Jared asks. “Cause it’s probably exactly that.”

Connor scoffs. “Okay. Nice one, douchebag.”

“Oh, shit, name calling!” Jared spins away from the computer and glares at Connor. “Are we name calling now? Is that what we’re doing?”

“I’m not harassing, Evan.” Connor crosses his arms. “Can’t say the same for you.”

Jared rolls his eyes. “I’ve known the guy for like twelve years, I know what the fuck I’m doing.”

Connor grits his teeth and digs his fingers into his jacket. “Do you? Do you really?”

“What?!” Jared snaps, standing up. “Do you have something you want to fucking say to me?”

Connor laughs sharply. “I have a few fucking things to say to you.”

“Go for it, bro,” Jared throws his arms out, “no one’s going to stop you!”

“Do you really think Evan is your best friend?” Connor is surprised that those are the first words out of his mouth. They taste sour and feel like acid. His insides are being eaten up by vicious venom and he’s drowning in bitterly cold thoughts.

“I’ve known him since we were five,” Jared says.

“And I’ve known Zoe since she was fucking born,” Connor snaps. “And she would be happier if I were dead so I wouldn’t hold us up as a great example for friendship. That’s not good enough.”

“Okay, okay! You think you’re Evan’s best friend?” Jared counters. “Because that’s bullshit. That’s bullshit and we both fucking know it. Because I know what this is and it’s not friendship.”

It isn’t and that hurts more than anything Jared could ever say to Connor. More than anything anyone could say to him. More than things Zoe has yelled at him, more than what Larry has spit.

More than things Connor has told himself when everything was dark and there was no way out.

Because it’s so fucking easy to pretend. To pretend that this is real and tangible and not— not what it is. Fake. A lie. A fabrication. Something that could be torn apart at any moment. It’s been two months, but it’s nothing more than a web that Connor and Evan have crafted. Nothing actually ties them together.

Connor is still lost. And Connor is still alone.

He almost chokes on his words and their bitterness. “You can’t get mad at me when all you’ve done for years is be a shitty friend,” he hisses.

“At least I’m not paying him and pretending!” Jared practically yells.

Connor digs his nails into the palm of his hand and he is so glad he and Jared are on opposite sides of the room. He has so many things he wants to yell or scream and just eject into the universe.

None of them can make it to his throat.

“Oh fuck you,” he snaps, spinning on his heel and storming toward the door. He throws them open and stalks down the hall, trying to breathe and stop the spiraling.

Before the doors shut, he can hear Jared shout, “Fuck you!”

—«·»—

It’s bitterly cold outside and Connor can’t feel his hands.

He goes to the playground. He sits on the top of the jungle gym and stares at the overgrown field. He remembers when they played bad games of soccer and tripped on the ditches in the grass. He looks at the parking lot. Old and forgotten. Cracked and run down.

There’s the pothole where Zoe dripped and fell on her face. She bit her bottom lip when she fell and cut up her face and was bleeding everywhere. Connor had been called down to the nurse’s office while the school called their mom because Zoe was hysterical. The blood was actually kind of cool (Zoe would think so too later when she wasn’t in pain) but Connor sat next to Zoe and held her hand while she cried and the nurse cleaned up the blood.

Connor sighs and pulls his knees up to his chest.

The more time he spends here — the more time he spends here when he isn’t high — the harder it is to not think of the memories. To not think of times when things weren’t constantly garbage.

Like the sewer grate a few feet away from where Zoe fell. Everyone used to say there was an alligator living down there. Everyone would gather around it and throw rocks inside, any rocks that would fit, to feed the alligator. Because a rock eating alligator living in the sewers made sense to a group of first graders.

Everything makes more sense when you’re a first grader. You say you’re going to marry someone because your friend wants to marry them and then you get in a fight because you can’t both marry the same person and you spill juice all over the place and learn how to add numbers together using shitty timed math tests.

When Connor was a first grader his biggest problem was usually what his mom packed him for snacks.

Now it’s a game of ‘is today the day I just fucking jump off a bridge or what?’

Unfortunately, jumping off a jungle gym built for seven year olds probably won’t even break his arm.

And now he’s back to Evan.

Connor wants to laugh. Or scream. Or tear his hair out. He is nothing to Evan and somehow Evan is almost everything to him and that is as fucking pathetic as he can get.

Instead he just bites down on his wrist. It doesn’t even hurt through his jacket, but it’s something to do. Something other than just—

Screaming on an abandoned playground.

People don’t typically give a shit but also someone would probably call the cops.

Jared wasn’t right but he also wasn’t wrong. And Connor wants to violently rip out the part of himself that likes Evan Hansen. The part of him that turns to mush when Evan smiles like that. The part of him that keeps cycling back to Evan’s hair, Evan’s eyes, Evan’s freckles, Evan’s voice, Evan’s laugh—

Connor wants to destroy the parts of himself that like Evan.

He would have to destroy all himself.

He bites down harder on his jacket and tries not to think. Thinking can only hurt more.

Evan gives Connor a worried look the next day. Connor meets him by his locker, just because it’s what they do. If it were up to him, he would be at home. Asleep. Or in the library. Asleep. Or reading. Or not…here. Not with Evan. With his polos and his smile and his hair and his eyes.

He got his cast off almost a week ago, but it’s still strange to see Evan with two bare arms. And for Evan to not have Connor’s name scribbled on him like some five year old got a hold of a Sharpie. Connor is both relieved and misses it.

It fucking sucks. But what doesn’t?

“You didn’t answer my texts last night,” Evan says slowly. “Everything okay?”

“Fine,” Connor grumbles. He lets his hair fall into his face because it means he has to see less of the world. And maybe it looks scarier or something. He wants to be left alone today. “Sorry, I fell asleep.”

He’s not lying. When his body was so cold that he thought he was going to be unable to move, he climbed down from the top of the jungle gym and walked home. The heat in the house made his skin tingle as he warmed up and his mom tried to talk to him but he just shook his head and went up to his room. He pushed everything but his comforter off his bed and went to sleep. He woke up around eleven, made a quesadilla in the microwave, ate it, watched YouTube for four hours, woke up, and stumbled into the car so Zoe could drive him to school.

It hadn’t really occurred to him to check his phone. Wasn’t like he had friends or anything.

Evan chews on his lip. “Okay,” he says softly. “Just like… Um, talk to me? If you need to?”

Connor meets Evan’s eyes and his heart leaps to his throat. Evan needs to stop…all of that. Especially the concerned look in his eyes, like he cares.

Evan is a good actor.

—«·»—

They have lunch hour together on Tuesdays. Usually Connor sits with Evan.

His head won’t stop spinning.

He hides in the back of the library and tries to do the assignment for literature. He reads the same paragraph four times before he buries his face in the pages. Hot tears prickle the corner of his eyes.

Fuck.

He should’ve skipped. He should’ve stayed home. He should’ve done anything else. Other than be here. This is bad, school is bad. The only thing worth it would be Evan, but he’s avoiding Evan because his mind is awful but his mind is right.

Alana gives him a worried look when he sits down in literature. Their class only has fourteen kids, but he still sits in the back in silence unless the teacher asks him specifically a question.

Today, Connor changes his seat.

He sits in the back corner. More isolated than usual. His head hurts, probably because he forced himself not to cry because he hates crying, and his brain keeps twisting into something darker and darker.

He looks up from his arms when a book is put down on the desk next to him.

Alana doesn’t say anything. She just puts her backpack down on the floor and spreads out her pens before she opens her notebook up.

Connor watches her write in her tilted looping letters for a moment before he puts his head back down.

—«·»—

Zoe has rehearsal. Connor walks home.

He doesn’t stop at Evan’s locker. He should. He really fucking should.

If anyone talks to him he’s going to snap. He’s going to break and yell and— he can’t.

He has a plan for when he gets home. Steal a loaf of bread from the kitchen. Maybe the butter. Go up to his room. Sit in bed and eat bread. Pass out. Wake up whenever. Eat. Go back to bed. School? Whatever.

His mom isn’t in the kitchen when he unlocks the door. Good. He grabs the least offensive loaf of bread from the cabinet and a random third of a stick of butter from the last time Cynthia baked and a butter knife from the drawer. He climbs the stairs silently and goes to his room and wishes that he had a door. He pulls out his laptop and opens a random YouTube video and lets it fade into background noise as he eats bread.

Fucking life.

He’s on his third slice when the doorbell rings. Connor looks down at his bed and accepts his fate of a lifetime of crumb filled sheets. The doorbell rings again.

“Mom?” he shouts.

There’s no response and the doorbell rings again.

“We fucking get it,” Connor mutters. He puts down the knife on his desk and climbs out of bed. He takes his time getting to the front door, hoping whoever is there will just go the fuck away. He frowns when he sees Zoe in the window. She meets his eye and flips him off.

“What did you forget your keys?” Connor asks as he opens the door.

“No, dumbass, but you forgot your friend.” Zoe jerks her thumb over her shoulder toward her car. Evan is standing by the passenger side door. “Nice going, dipshit,” she mutters shouldering him roughly as she passes him to get into the house.

Connor glances over his shoulder at her before looking back to Evan.

Evan is just staring at him. He doesn’t look like he’s going to move any time soon.

Conor sighs and runs a hand through his hair. Okay. Okay.

He pulls on his shoes and shouts to Zoe that he’s leaving the door open. She just sort of yells back at him and he figures that’s enough. Then he steps outside and walks toward Evan and, probably, death.

“What’s wrong?” Evan says as soon as Connor gets close.

“Nothing is wrong,” Connor says.

Evan scowls. “I— Come on, I know you better than that by now. We’re— We’ve…” He shakes his head. “I-I thought about it. A lot. I was worried I did something wrong. I went through everything I’ve done in the past two days— the past week. A-and I had nothing. You’ve been acting— Alana came to me asking how you were because of something that happened in lit so just…” He glares at Connor. Connor’s been trying so hard to not think about his eyes. “I told you to talk to me.”

“You aren’t my therapist, Ev,” Connor mutters. “You don’t need to hear this shit.”

“I’ll tell you if I can’t handle it,” Evan says with more confidence behind his words than Connor thinks he’s heard before. “But I told you to talk to me and you— you’re just isolating yourself. That’s not going to help.”

Connor tugs a hand through his hair. “Seriously it’s just— it happens sometimes. It’s not a big deal we don’t have to make into one.”

Evan crosses his arms. “Okay. Fine. If something is wrong, just tell me that. Tell me things are shitty. That’s all you have to say, because I get it. Tell me when you aren’t okay, don’t just be a dick.”

That’s a hell of a promise to make but… “Okay.”

Evan nods and pulls his backpack on. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I just… Figured we should talk than sooner than later.”

Connor looks from the car to Evan. “Do you…need a ride home?”

“I can walk,” Evan says. “I have sch-scholarship essays waiting at home for me. I’m not in a rush.”

“You wouldn’t be bothering Zoe,” Connor says softly. “I’ll take you.”

“I thought…” Evan trails off.

“I know where my license is. Larry isn’t as good at hiding things as he thinks.” Connor turns back to the house. “Stay here, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Connor ducks back inside the house. “Zoe I’m stealing the car!” he shouts, grabbing her keys from the bowl by the door.

“What?!”

He goes back to Larry’s office and digs through the files in the bottom desk drawer until he pulls his license from a manila folder.

Zoe stands at the front door with her arms crossed over her chest. “What are you doing?”

“I’m driving Evan home.” Connor tries to push past her, but Zoe pushes right back.

“You aren’t allowed to drive.”

Connor holds up his license. “Get fucked.”

She narrows her eyes at him. “Did you break into Dad’s office?”

“There was no breaking and I live in this house, so move and let me take Evan home.” Zoe stands her ground. “I’m not high, Zo. And I know how to fucking drive. It’ll be fifteen minutes, the world won’t end.”

Zoe closes her eyes. “I… Just pay attention. Be safe. Don’t crash or anything.”

“Yeah yeah I’ll protect the car,” Connor mutters. “Stop being Mom.”

Zoe grimaces. “Okay. Drive him home. Whatever.” She steps to the side. “Not my fault if Dad grounds you for life.”

“Who cares.” Connor closes the front door on her. Evan looks up from his phone as the door slams shut. Connor holds up the keys. “Get in.”

“When was the last time you drove?” Evan asks, climbing into the passenger seat.

“God it’s been months.” Connor opens the door. He’s going to have to adjust the seat and mirrors and that’s going to piss Zoe off big time. “It’s probably like riding a bike or something.”

Evan nods slowly. “Okay… I think that’s reassuring?”

Connor rolls his eyes as he moves back the seat. “I’m not going to crash.”

“I didn’t think you would,” Evan says honestly as Connor buckles in and starts the car. “The biggest thing I’m worried about is you hitting a curb or forgetting the turn signal.”

“Fuck turn signals.” Connor flicks the turn signal down before he turns right out of the driveway. “Shit.”

Evan laughs.

Unlike Zoe, Connor doesn’t always listen to music when he drives. He’s perfectly fine driving in silence, even though it makes her want to scream. She hated it when he drove in silence, making it a point to always have headphones on her in case he had a day where he wanted to drive without music on.

It gives Connor time to think. Sometimes that’s harder with music on.

As they sit in almost weirdly comfortable silence, Connor glances at Evan out of the corner of his eyes. Evan is playing with the hem of his shirt and staring ahead at nothing.

Connor sighs. “I’m sorry. For today. And yesterday.”

Evan glances over to him. “…thank you. It’s…okay. I just want to know if you’re okay.”

For some reason it’s hard to swallow. Connor clears his throat. “So did you bribe Zoe into giving you a ride?”

“I-I stayed after for a little bit to talk to Alana,” Evan murmurs. “And then we passed the band room and I saw Zoe, s-so I thought…” He shrugs. “She might’ve thought it was weird but she was fine with it.”

“She wasn’t too much of an ass, right?”

“What do you mean?”

Connor adjusts his grip on the steering wheel. “You know… She didn’t ask too many questions or anything?”

Evan shifts uncomfortably. “I-I mean… She was— it was fine.”

Connor decides he’ll interrogate Zoe later. “Cool. How’s Alana?”

“Very busy,” Evan says seriously. “More student council stuff.”

“She trying to recruit you?”

“Uh…not exactly.” Connor raises his eyebrows as Evan worries his bottom lip. “She had an idea for a club she wants to start next semester and uh…wants my help with it.”

“You?” Evan winces. “Shit, no, I didn’t mean it that way,” Connor backtracks. “I just…you don’t do many extracurriculars or anything so it’s a surprise. Does she want you on the board or something?”

“Yes.” Evan coughs. “She… Yeah it’s, um, I-I don’t know if I’ll do it yet but I… Helping her start it up? I can do that. That doesn’t require much so I’m…okay with that.”

Connor nods. “Cool. I hope it’s…fun.” He ignores the twisting in his gut.

“Did Alana talk to you?” Evan asks suddenly.

Connor glances to him before looking back to the road. “No? Why?”

“Oh she just…” Evan gestures with one of his hands. “At the beginning of the school year we were talking about something and she wanted to talk to you about something and she said she was going to— I mean she had a question for you and I told her that maybe it wasn’t the best idea and, well I mean, she said she was going to ask you anyway so I just wasn’t sure if she ever did or…”

“She didn’t,” Connor says slowly. “What was the question?” He remembers Alana asking him all sorts of questions when he came back to school after his attempt. He also remembers ignoring them. He’s pretty sure there were a few times when he just walked away.

Evan goes quiet. Connor stops at a stop sign and looks both ways, pausing for longer than he usually would because drivers on this road don’t give a fuck.

“She wanted you to tell the student body your story,” Evan blurts out.

Connor is really glad they’re at a stop sign. “What?!”

Evan pulls on the collar of his shirt. “She— Um, she asked if you would be, or if I might be interested in um— Because of the stigma around mental health and suicide that maybe it would— I told her no.”

Connor closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “Thank you,” he says after a moment. He opens his eyes and looks to Evan. “Seriously. I don’t… No one else needs to know that shit. My story— no one wants to hear that shit.”

“I think that was her point,” Evan says softly.

Connor meets his eyes for a second and then looks back to the road, pressing the gas. “Not my story,” he repeats. “I don’t want or need that kind of attention.”

“I know.” Evan sighs. “I was really worried that she— Alana can be, um…persistent.”

“Tell me about it,” Connor mutters. He turns into Evan’s driveway. “Here you go, Hansen.”

Evan gives him a weak smile and unbuckles his seatbelt. “Thanks. I’ll text you.”

“I’ll text you back,” Connor promises.

Evan lights up and Connor shoves his heart back into the darkness of his chest.

From: dickbag To: assface we have to talk

From: assface To: dickbag fuc k u

Connor rolls his eyes. He can’t even believe he’s trying but he is and Jared is being Jared.

From: dickbag To: assface right back at you but seriously. today

He leans against Evan’s locker, flipping his phone over in his hands as he waits for a response. He might not give a shit about Jared, but for some reason Evan does, so he’s going to try to fix this. Because that’s what a good person would do.

Connor’s lived too much of his life in the gray zone. Gray thoughts, gray clothing, gray morality— he can do one nice thing if it’ll make Evan happier.

From: assface To: dickbag y should i

From: dickbag To: assface evan

From: assface To: dickbag fuck off where??

Connor rolls his eyes.

“Hi,” Evan says, arms full of textbooks. “Band?”

Connor nods. “Yeah. Something about an audition or something? I don’t know, she wanted time in the practice rooms and I don’t have a say in anything.”

Evan gives him a crooked smile. “I don’t think being here a little early is too bad.”

Connor looks back down at his phone with a shrug.

From: dickbag To: assface computer lab evan will be there for a little bit we can talk after he leaves

From: assface To: dickbage fine but still fuk u

Connor really should’ve just blocked Jared’s number as soon as he got it.

—«·»—

“Jared!” Evan says in surprise when him and Connor walk into the computer lab. “W-what are you doing here?”

Jared looks up from the computer. “StuCo stuff for Lana. I guess this morning the council decided to change some of the info on the posters so,” he gestures to the screen, “here the fuck I am.”

“Doesn’t Alana have people for that?” Connor asks as Evan pulls out his laptop.

“Her people don’t do shit. Does this picture look bad?”

Connor squints at the screen. “It looks like bad clipart.”

“Perfect.” Jared saves the document.

“Sent,” Evan says. He shuts his laptop. “I’ll be right back.”

Connor nods to him.

Jared coughs awkwardly as Evan leaves for the printers.

When Evan comes back with his letter in his hands, he glances between Jared and Connor. “Everything…okay?”

“Super chill,” Jared confirms, clicking randomly on the poster.

“Jared is shit at choosing fonts,” Connor says.

Jared flips Connor off and Evan smiles. Win.

“I have to go,” Evan says, putting away his laptop and pulling on his backpack. “My, um, my mom is actually bringing me today so?” He gestures over his shoulder. “Yeah. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Whatever,” Jared says.

Connor glares at him before saying, “Yeah sure. I’ll text you.”

Evan bounces on his toes before he leaves the room.

Connor turns to Jared with a raised eyebrow. “Fucking smooth.”

Jared keeps his eyes on the screen. “Uh huh.”

“You’re a giant asshole, you know that, right?”

Jared pushes his glasses up his nose. “So are you.” He closes his illegal photoshop and spins to face Connor. “Here we are. Two assholes in a computer lab.”

They stare at each other for a long minute.

“You told me to be here,” Jared points out.

“Fuck, you’re right,” Connor mutters. “Okay. I’m..sorry.” Jared whistles. “Shut the fuck up. I’m not sorry I called you a dick because you are a dick. And you’re a bad friend. Like a really shitty one. But I’ll apologize for yelling.”

“That was a horrible apology,” Jared muses. “But fine. I’m sorry I said you were harassing Evan. But I still think what you’re doing is fucking…bad? I don’t know it feels bad. It’s a bad plan.”

“You told us that and still helped.”

Jared spins in the chair before standing up. “Okay, yeah. I did. But honestly I didn’t think either of you would get invested and—”

“What do you mean?” Connor interrupts.

Jared searches his face. “You know…?”

“No?”

He sighs. “I thought this shit would last like a week, okay? And now we’re getting into more long term usage instead of the eight days I had assumed.” He pauses. “You’re using him.”

“Yeah and you pretend to use him.” Connor crosses his arms. “Are we really so fucking different?”

Jared runs his hand through his hair. “Just two guys, being dicks to Evan Hansen. We should probably be better about that, huh?”

“Probably.” Connor holds out his hand to Jared. “Truce?”

Jared raises an eyebrow. “Not friends?” he asks as he shakes Connor’s hand. “Okay. Truce.”

#connor murphy #evan hansen #tree bros #convan #deh fanfic #to have a friend #my fics #ayy

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pamelahetrick · 6 years

Text

3 questions to help you understand your brand personality

Do I pick Helvetica or Arial for my website font? What about Garamond? What’s the difference anyway? And how about my logo? Should I go with blue? Teal? Yellow?

If you’re asking questions like these you’ve missed the primary step: understanding the tone of your brand. Before you jump into stylistic details you first need to understand who you are as a business.

An easy place to start is to imagine that your business is a person. People have unique personalities and individual styles that distinguish us from one another, right? Businesses aren’t much different. We can dress them up based on their brand personality (that’s where those fonts and colors come in), but you must have a clear grasp of that personality before taking any stylistic steps.

Three simple questions can guide you along the journey to understanding the tone of your brand or your business personality. Check them out below—and start answering!

This playful astronaut has tons of personality. Logo by Soniaydesigns

1. What does your business “feel” like? —

If you’re thinking about your business as a person, the “feel” would be a summary of its personality in a couple of words. To pinpoint your feel, pretend you’re describing your business as if it were someone you knew. If it helps, approach this exercise the same way you would set up a blind date between two acquaintances; you want to be specific and sell the personality of your business in as few words as possible.

Try not to describe how you think your business would look. Telling your friend that their blind date is going to show up wearing a sweet button down and khakis won’t give them much of a feel for who they’re going to meet. But telling them that their date is tons of fun, or has a great sense of humor or that they’re cultured and worldly will give a better picture of who they’ll be going out with.

For example, if I were to describe an iconic brand like NASA as a person, I wouldn’t describe a person in a spacesuit or a government employee in a suit and tie. If you didn’t know anything about NASA—or space—those descriptions wouldn’t tell you much about the organization. Instead, I would use descriptive words that give a clear sense of NASA’s “personality.” If NASA were a person, I might describe them as an intrepid explorer of space and aeronautics.

A smiling hot dog is friendly and welcoming. Logo by SiBudi Design

Still not sure how to describe your business personality? Think about who you want your business to be, and use concise words to describe that personality. Are you the friendly alternative (think: Enterprise’s “we’ll pick you up”) or the committed competitor (think: Avis’, “we work harder”)? Maybe you’re the luxury model (like Tesla, a high-end electric vehicle) or the affordable option (like Prius, the electric vehicle designed to fit any budget)? Perhaps you’re the masculine choice (think: Gillette Mach3 razors) or the convenient choice (think: Dollar Shave Club, with razors delivered to your door)?

2. How do you say hello? —

The locked hands in this Coffee Bros logo give a clear idea of the “hey bro!” hello for this brand. Logo by Trader In Spices

Your brand is the first interaction a client has with your company. Will you say “nice to meet you?” or “sup dude?”

Keeping with the business-as-a-person idea, your brand’s hello is like your personal handshake. It could be firm or gentle, or maybe you skip the handshake and go for a hug instead—or a first bump. Whatever you choose, this will be the first impression you make on the rest of the world. No pressure, right?

If you can’t decide how you want to say hello, take another look at the personality/tone words you brainstormed for the “feel” of your brand and use those to imagine how your brand-as-a-person would introduce itself. For example:

The gold in this wealth management company’s brand identity offers a formal and luxurious hello. Logo by ultrastjarna

If you have a luxurious personality, you may want an elegant hello. For a casual personality, your first introduction might be more relaxed and informal.

If you have a masculine personality, you might go for a strong and bold hello. If you have a feminine personality, your hello might be softer and sweeter.

Maybe you have a loud personality. If so, your greeting will probably match.

When you think about your brand personality and its hello, do you have a mental picture of what that introduction looks like? You might start imagining your luxurious brand in a tuxedo, extending a manicured hand to say, “it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Hold on to that image, we’re going to make it clearer with our third and final brand personality question.

3. Who are you dressing up for? —

The drunk robot character is playful, matching the personality of the online gaming community it represents. Logo and social media pack by bisbidesign for Drunk Robot

Your brand is ultimately about your customers, so for the third step in understanding the tone of your business, service or product, you’ve got to align your brand personality with your customers’ personalities.

You know who you are and what you want to do (like NASA, the intrepid explorer who wants to unlock the mysteries of space). That’s great! But to be successful as a business, you also need to make sure you appeal to your ideal clients.

The brand identity for Wicked Cilantro is playful and fun, appealing to both the fusion-food twist the company offers and the food lovers it serves. Logo and brand identity by Stephen「スティーブン」

If your business is planning black-tie events, you’re likely targeting a higher-end clientele that expects to see professional, formal results when they hire you. That means you probably don’t want to show up wearing a clown costume to your first meeting; likewise, a loud font and lots of color in your branding would be counterintuitive to your formal business personality. If you’re firing up a vegan taco truck on the other hand, loud and colorful may be exactly what you need in your branding.

Once you understand your business and brand personality and the expectations your clients will have of you, you’ll start to have a clearer picture of how your brand values will translate into an aesthetic sensibility.

Putting it all together —

As you define your business’s personality, you start to build an image of your brand as a person. That image is important to laying the groundwork for choosing the stylistic elements of your brand. Much like your personality informs the clothes you choose, your business’s personality will help inform your decisions on all aspects of your brand identity.

Now that you know your brand's personality, it's time to build your design to match.

Our designer community can create it for you!

Get started

About the author

Rachelle Ray is a marketing consultant and freelance content creator. She is passionate about developing brand identities and geeks out over things like cool product packaging and iconography.

The post 3 questions to help you understand your brand personality appeared first on 99designs.

via 99designs https://99designs.co.uk/blog/business-en-gb/understanding-brand-personality/

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myongfisher · 6 years

Text

3 questions to help you understand your brand personality

Do I pick Helvetica or Arial for my website font? What about Garamond? What’s the difference anyway? And how about my logo? Should I go with blue? Teal? Yellow?

Three simple questions can guide you along the journey to understanding the tone of your brand or your business personality. Check them out below—and start answering!

This playful astronaut has tons of personality. Logo by Soniaydesigns

1. What does your business “feel” like? —

A smiling hot dog is friendly and welcoming. Logo by SiBudi Design

2. How do you say hello? —

The locked hands in this Coffee Bros logo give a clear idea of the “hey bro!” hello for this brand. Logo by Trader In Spices

Your brand is the first interaction a client has with your company. Will you say “nice to meet you?” or “sup dude?”

The gold in this wealth management company’s brand identity offers a formal and luxurious hello. Logo by ultrastjarna

If you have a luxurious personality, you may want an elegant hello. For a casual personality, your first introduction might be more relaxed and informal.

If you have a masculine personality, you might go for a strong and bold hello. If you have a feminine personality, your hello might be softer and sweeter.

Maybe you have a loud personality. If so, your greeting will probably match.

3. Who are you dressing up for? —

The drunk robot character is playful, matching the personality of the online gaming community it represents. Logo and social media pack by bisbidesign for Drunk Robot

Putting it all together —

Now that you know your brand’s personality, it’s time to build your design to match.

Our designer community can create it for you!

Get started

About the author

Rachelle Ray is a marketing consultant and freelance content creator. She is passionate about developing brand identities and geeks out over things like cool product packaging and iconography.

The post 3 questions to help you understand your brand personality appeared first on 99designs.

3 questions to help you understand your brand personality published first on https://www.lilpackaging.com/

0 notes