#trying to show his head spinning in a static drawing looks so weird. so obviously animating it is easier and takes less time. of course

[dailyfrankly]

Oh my gosh I love your art!! May I suggest Frank with his head spinning?

[Day 17] hes overstimulated #autims

[tosikoarts]

SFW Alphabet | Vasily

You can check tosikowrites tag for more as well as you can send character suggestion for SFW alphabet. Warning: there’s a lot under the cut.

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Caught in Japan mute and technically deaf, since people speaking Russian are a quite rare finding in Hokkaido, Vasily is limited in his expression of affection. Obviously, first thing that comes to mind is communication though his amazing drawings but they are static and, therefore, lacking small details that are so important in dialogue. So he pays much more attention to non-verbal part of communication (probably unknowingly) to win a person.

He tries to sit by their side, not opposing but not siding, just right to attract attention. When “talking” to them, Vasily’s eyes become hundred times more expressive: he raises eyebrows in shock, frowns to show misunderstanding or anger, bulges eyes in surprise, squints eyes in disbelief. He has no idea what they are saying unless they draw responses as well. In all other cases Vasily trusts his guts, their general looks, and tone of the voice.

Speaking of drawings. We all can agree Vasily secretly draws them and hides pictures everywhere. He always keeps one, the best one in his opinion, close to the heart. Sugimoto found one of portraits and Vasily waved his arms so hard that he almost took off, but Saichi just smiled and promised to take his secret to the grave. Vasily will definitely show his creations to them when the time comes.

Physical affection. It is so hard. He needs a lot of clues to avoid awkward situations. No hugs, no big skin-to-skin contact unless he is at least 50% sure in their consent. Such low percentage because how much can you tell in situation like his? Vasily loves to be close to them and gets overly excited when they initiate holding hands even if it’s only for a few seconds.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

He is such an unpredictable friend to be honest. You never know what to expect. Today he disappears into thin air just to fall on your head tomorrow with a weird-looking kettle. It’s a new shiny samovar! Now you can drink real tea!

Vasily will follow you anywhere. Just call him, and you will have the best travel companion in the whole world. During the trip, he collects various trinkets and wraps them into his sketches. He drags you to the most crowded places where all fun takes place. Let’s skip the fact that “fun” is not always safe.

Before Vasily met Ogata, he loved to sing in a company. His bass-baritone was a gem of any gatherings and worked on girls like a charm. Now Vasya can’t say a word but you can catch him humming unfamiliar melodies from time to time. If his friend joins in singing, Vasily will clap hands in admiration.

The best around to get drunk with. His self-control is commendable since Vasily knows exact amount of alcohol he can take. He is in charge of bringing everybody back to camp if they decide to take a walk and slapping their hands when they reach for another glass. Not a mother type. His control extends only to drinking.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Classical big spoon and won’t let them be one if they are smaller than him. Vasily likes to cuddle but short cuddling annoys the hell out of him so his ideal cuddle session has to last at least half of hour without any interruptions. He also likes when partner lies on his chest. This position gives Vasya chance to slowly rub their back, ruffle their hair or play with it.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

He… never thought about it? Despite widespread Slavic tradition of having large family and house in which sound of children’s stomping never dies down, Vasily never discussed settling down or getting married with anyone. It is not like he is not capable of living sedentary way of life, it just wasn’t relevant. Vasily needs someone to push him towards changing his lifestyle if they want to settle down in a future.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Unlike the others, Vasily can’t explain himself and simply say “well, it won’t work out, let’s stay friends”. So he gives up trying. There are only two options:

In first Vasily slowly distances himself from them, growing abyss gets increasingly noticeable every next day. In the beginning, he ignores them loudly calling his name in the woods. Then he stops to turn around to their voice, he looks away just not to look them right in the eyes. The more assertive person is, the more they resist his cold treatment, the harsher Vasily becomes.

In second Vasily abruptly leaves country and goes back to Russian Empire. No notice. Nothing. The only reminder of his existence is a trail of shallow footprints in the snow and one or two drawing he did not manage to burn.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Once again, he haven’t thought about it at all. If his loved one brought up a marriage, Vasily would need to have a mental sit down. There is a ton of responsibilities hidden under the marriage concept, it makes ephemeral bond between two dryly official, but Vasily, will marry them if it will make them happier. He is ready to pop a question after two years, and only after another person shows their interest in it.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Stoic and collected in a professional sense but sincere and rough-ly gentle in everyday life. Turgenev, a Russian novelist, wrote that a real Russian has a heart of a child, and Vasily surely falls into this category: behind the image of a cold-blooded sniper hides a personality prone to vivid sensual experiences. He holds loved one like the most precious thing in the world and cares for them deeply.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Loves hugs with all his heart. After long time apart Vasily will squeeze them in a bear hug, leaving their legs hanging freely in the air. During the day Vasily likes to randomly come up from behind and place hands on their waist or thighs, while resting his chin on their shoulder or head. If his partner is teeny-tiny he can’t resist the urge to place them between his legs, their back to his chest, and press them closer, hiding them in his big ass coat.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

After good interpreter magically appears on the horizon? In any case, if he tries to do it without someone who understands Russian, you’ll get funny pantomime accompanied by sighs in different keys. He will write “Я люблю тебя” under another portrait just to get upset that nobody understands him.

It depends not on the time spent together but on events that they lived through, so it may take from one month to few years. By the time Vasily feels like saying “I love you” they probably realize it by his amorous behavior.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Patient jealous type. But before we get to it, let’s say few people will take a risk and flirt with a partner of such a mysterious stranger. He carries a riffle, which means he shoots living creatures. Nobody wants to get shot, okay. One can hit on his partner and pray nobody points to it. When it happens, Vasily takes a silent stand behind his loved one and just stares at love rival until they go away. If it doesn’t help, Vasya may flip and take person to the ground with one hard blow. He keeps poker face the whole time.

His partner is flirting with someone? Gets touchy and lovey-dovey? After long  monitoring and accepting an unpleasant fact, Vasily bounces back and forth between the stages of denial and anger. Next days he shoos them away with a hand gesture and tortures himself, overthinking if it really was what he thought it was. Puppy eyes and gentle pats are usually enough to calm him down.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

In the beginning Vasily dodges kisses like Neo does bullets. Very unobtrusively all attempts to kiss him come to naught, he rises hand in stop sign or turns around, tightening bashlyk in hurry. Not that he doesn’t want to, he is just afraid. No, not that they will gasp in fright or find scars on his cheeks ugly. He is afraid of pain. Thought of someone touching his face sends unpleasant tingle down to the jaw. Given the physiological position of the tongue and teeth, you can imagine what that bullet… well, better not.

Later Vasily relaxes enough to let them kiss him in the forehead. In return he nuzzles in their hair or neck or anywhere they allow to. As long as they are satisfied with such a surrogate, he is chill and forgets about his deformation.

One day Vasily surrenders to their wishes and lets them unwrap bashlyk like a birthday present. He closes eyes in praying for gentle touch. After realizing the light touch on the lips does not cause pain Vasya develops much more positive attitude towards kissing. Now he kisses them himself, hooray. On the nose, one the cheeks, on the lips. No tongue tho. He prefers to do it in private, far from prying eyes.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

For some vague reason kids seem to really like him? They love his silence and smiling eyes (Tyra Banks is proud of you, sweetie) just as much as his willingness to play with them. Vasily sees no problem to run around enjoying games that have Russian equivalent: kakurenbo/hide and seek similar to “прятки” and janken/rock paper scissors is identical to “камень, ножницы, бумага”. Moreover Vasily’s physical states are impressive: he throws kids in the air and catches them like it’s nothing, spins them around until he gets dizzy, etc. Feels more comfortable to play with little kids and toddlers than teenagers.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Immediately after waking up, Vasily gets up and thoroughly stretches. Usually his partner is still asleep so he has some time to do some housework. In summer and spring, Vasya grabs a scythe and mows overgrown weeds near the house, in fall he cuts firewood for the next season, and in winter you can catch him by the window, looking at endless white fields where he doesn’t have anything to do! After morning routine is over, he greats now woken up partner with a temple kiss and together they decide what to cook for breakfast.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Likes to enjoy privacy of his home. After the list of useful (and not so useful) things has been done, Vasily wants to bury his face in the partner’s neck and relax. He is all about tea party with fresh baked buttered buns, inept massage, cuddling with fingers intertwined. If night out occurs, it is a casual walk around the city/village with a purpose of catching hot news and exchanging niceties.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Vasily has his soul wide open and is ready to tell his partner about the past, family, friends, traditions, and many-many other things, but does he really have an opportunity? During the journey, Vasya tries to get around the inability to speak by drawing and pointing to somehow related items but it rarely makes any sense. In general, he does not dump everything at once so he can back to topic and start conversation from where they left it.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

He has a good understanding that cool head is a main tool in problem solving. You can annoy Vasily as much as you like, he will just shrug his shoulders and shake his head because there’s no point in responding aggressively. In the event of a serious incident (category includes betrayal, treason, encroachment on something important to him) Vasily will hold strong emotions back anyway. It is not that he doesn’t want to tear wrongdoer to pieces, no. He will do it, directing all the destructive power of hatred into action itself.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Great memory, especially visual memory that helps him to find way back to camp or hotel without asking for anyone’s help. Vasily’s watchfulness plays a big role in interaction with others, especially with loved one. Did their gaze linger on a certain stuff? Was it flower? Weapon? Some sort of food? What was their facial expression? He picks up whether they press received present to the chest or try to hide it as soon as possible. Vasily may surprise loved one with a gift that they were staring in the shop but didn’t buy even after few months pass.  

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

The time is far past midnight. Heavy clouds cover the sky over the river valley, and the only source of light are anvil crawlers, sprawled between bare branches of oaks and beeches. Vasily is wide awake. Rolling thunder has nothing to do with it. He is too concentrated on a person quietly snuffling on his chest. They are so close. He is so happy. He feels… important? Special? Lucky? When they wanted snuggle up to someone in seek of protection, they went to Vasily. Not to Sugimoto whose yell fills people with a primal fear. Not to Shiraishi whose dumb jokes can distract from looming threat. To him. Vasily keeps wondering how his loud heartbeat didn’t wake them up. He can’t wait for a morning to plant a dozen kisses on their cute sleepy face.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

It completely depends on another person’s self-defense skills. If they can take care of themselves, Vasily won’t worry much. They are not a child to have someone watching their every step. If they are less skilled, then he will keep an eye on them. One dirty look is enough for Vasily to become alert and sneak closer to the partner. He will try to avoid a direct confrontation but if it is impossible Vasily will aim for a head.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

The very presence of Vasily in another country is an endless trying so he is used to give his best. Most of Vasya's time is spent on picking social clues and particular interaction qualities between Japanese people, comparison with those in his own culture, and application of synthesized results in his own relationship. For example, if there’s a chance Vasily would buy them the sweetest marshmallow from famous Abrikosov confectionery concern, but following Japanese tradition he would… well, he’ll stick to Russian presents until he spends enough time in Japan. Doesn’t care about anniversaries so do not expect extra effort.  

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

It can be difficult for a serious person to be with Vasily because of his childish behavior. Yes, it's fun to fool around with the person from outside that is in such a sad position that he has no other choice but to laugh. Only at some point will it seem stupid and unreasonable.

Still, in the Slavic countries, a man has always been considered the leader of the relationship and his opinion was put above all others. Sometimes Vasily tries to change his partner and impose his vision of the world on them. He doesn't look like an strictly uncompromising individual but Vasily may have a little bit of this in him.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Comfort and warmth are the main criteria for Vasily when choosing clothes. In addition, face protection is important to him as well because a good soldier knows how to cover his weaknesses and leave opponents without any benefits. Vasily values his sideburns and takes a good care of them himself. In addition, he is aware his blue eyes are hypnotic secret weapon of Russian Empire and they are another thing he really likes in own appearance.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Crossing the border illegally, he didn’t expect to make friends in the first place, leave alone jumping into romantic relationship. Ending up cuffed instead of having a little fun as a side mission in spontaneous sniper hunt surely leaves him attached. Attachment leads to hurt. If they decide to end the relationship Vasily’s feelings are crushed. You can catch the moment of realization: his shoulders drop and eyebrows rise in surprise as he takes step back. That’s okay. Vasily doesn’t hold grudges. His behavior remains positive despite being hurt.

If they were killed, Vasily will cross the whole damn country to find the culprit. He will search every corner, turn every stone to make them pay. Only then Vasily will allow himself to mourn properly, pray for them. After returning back home, he will light a candle in their memory during each church visit.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Vasily is far from “innocent” persona people try to picture him. His disability and unfamiliar environment gave him a great disguise but Vasily is sniper, he is deadly. Given his size and physique, Vasya, probably, can suffocate person with single hand, and squeaky sound of leather gloves friction sends goosebumps down his spine.

Corporal punishment was allowed up until 1904 both in army and navy of Russian Empire. I can see Vasily as someone who got into minor troubles but was disliked by his mentors so he got a bit of whipping, flogging, maybe, even running the gauntlet. His back is covered in merely visible thin white and pink lines.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Controlling partner is a big no-no. There are people that tolerate their loved one directing everything, gently pushing towards favored decisions, but Vasily isn’t one of them. It irritates him to the point where Vasya crosses his hands on the chest and throws a mum fit.

Vasily is a smart man, Vasily knows that good things take time. That’s why he can’t imagine himself with an impatient person by his side. In addition, you’ll need patience to deal with his forced silence that prevents intelligible communication.

Pretence. Mostly because Vasily can’t get why would you fake something? It doesn’t make you successful person, it just make you a liar.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

Doesn’t care where to sleep while it’s still dark. As soon as the first sunbeam hits his face, Vasily quickly jumps on his feet and gets to work. Same goes for any other light source like candle, lamp, torch. Prefers to doze with rifle by his side so that in the case of danger he could easily protect himself and others. Also Vasily sleeps exclusively on his back to minimize face contact with hard surfaces.

The thought of his homeland makes Vasily's heart ache, mostly because he misses sleeping on the Russian stove (remember “печка”?). There’s nothing even close to the heat it radiates. He just wants to curl on the stove and eat fresh kalaches.

Sleep quality is inversely proportional to the presence of dreams. It is easy to understand that Vasily had one: his face expresses complete detachment, and in his eyes you can see immeasurable sadness.

[fabrowrites]

The Ninja Create Fursonas

Despite the title, no furries were harmed in the making of this fic

----------

When the announcement first comes through, Jay's thrilled. He can't believe it's real. It's like something out of a dream. When the day finally comes and they're on their way to the studio, he sits in the back seat and practically vibrates in place for the entire trip.

A hand settles on his thigh. "Settle down, Jay!" Cole says, laughing. "You're charging up enough energy to give us all static shocks for a week. Is your brain exploding? You're so jittery today."

"Of course I'm jittery," Jay snaps. "How are you not? This is like, the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."

This thing being- wanting to ride their latest wave of popularity after defeating the Preeminent (and Nadakhan, but apparently he didn't count- yes, Jay was salty), a toy-making company had approached the group and asked if perhaps they'd be interested in a line of stuffed toy creatures made after them? As if they'd say no. And if that wasn't enough, they also wanted the ninja to be the ones to design them.

Jay just might pass out in the back of this van.

They'd been escorted into a cozy-looking room with long tables and chairs and given giant pads of paper and black markers. The head artist gave them a rundown of guidelines- nothing scandalous, certainly; they should try to make each character cute, relatable, and most of all marketable- and oh, wouldn't it be neat if they each had something to do with their element?

Jay had agreed readily. He sized up the sketch pad in front of him and cracked his knuckles. Okay, brain. Let's do this.

Except that was forty-five minutes ago and Jay's no closer to an idea than when he began. He bangs his head against the table with a long, drawn-out groan. His sketch pad drops uselessly from his hands.

"It's no use," he whines. "I don't have a creative bone in my body. I'm gonna have to pack my bags and move to the south and become a repressed goat farmer."

Kai mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like "not a creative bone in my body my butt." But when Jay looks over at him, the fire ninja's attention is fixed firmly to his own board.

Blearily, Jay raises his head. Everything he's drawn looks like trash. There's a weird leopard creature scribbled out in the corner. Next to it is a lizard that looks like a cross between Rango and that purple thing from Monsters Inc except with none of their good qualities and all of their bad. A sad bird-thing sits in the center. It looks disappointed in him despite its lack of face. Maybe the blankness enhances it.

He drops his marker on the table and leans back with a long groan.

"It can't be all that bad," Nya says. She's bent over beside him, bottom lip caught between her teeth as she fills something in. Jay sighs without moving.

"I couldn't think of anything to draw so I started drawing Kai as a porcupine."

Nya whistles lowly. "That is bad," she says. Both of them ignore Kai's outraged shout of: "Hey! My face is the best inspiration you'll ever get!" She sets down her own pad, closing the cover. "Maybe if we show you what we've done, it'll inspire you."

"Or it'll just make me feel worse about myself," Jay grumbles, but he sits up in his seat properly. "Okay. Let's try that. Do you have anything?"

Nya shrugs the way she does when she's proud of something she did but doesn't want to call attention to it. "There was something I was working on." She flips open her sketchbook. Jay scoots his chair closer to hers. His eyes widen.

"Woah, Nya! That's actually really cool!"

"Actually?" Nya asks, raising her eyebrow, but she laughs when Jay pouts at her. "Oh, fine. Thanks. It's not much yet, but-"

The character on her paper is a seal, small and round, with dark eyes and a happy puppy face. At the edges of the sheet are more drawings- one has the seal in a wetsuit; another puts it in diver fins and a snorkel.

"I wanted to experiment around," Nya says. "I think I like the wetsuit one the best."

"That one's cute," Jay agrees.

From Nya's right side comes a groan. "Will you two keep it down?" Kai complains. "Some of us are trying to work here."

"Some of us are trying to work here too, but we can't," Jay sends back. Not one of his best comebacks, but it's to Kai. "I've got brain blockage and Nya's helping me out."

Kai glances over and sees what they're doing. He perks up. "Oh, are we sharing?" He sits up straighter and drums his fingers on the table. "Hey, guys! We're sharing!"

"Oh, good!" says Cole. "I wanted your feedback on something."

"Me too," says Zane.

Jay narrows his eyes at both of them. "This right now?" he says. "This is about me. Not you."

Cole waves his hand. "Of course, of course."

The way he says it has Jay hhmphing, but they both turn their focus to Kai as the fire ninja loudly demands their attention.

Kai has created what appears to be a horse, except that it has a few too many legs, a creepy tongue drooling out of its face, and horns. So it's actually not like a horse at all. Somehow it's both angular and blobby at the same time. Ah, the dualities of Art.

"I thought we were supposed to be making these marketable," Zane says with a tilt of his head.

"This is marketable!" Kai protests. "Kids are like, bonkers for dragons."

Ah, so that's what the blob is, Jay thinks. "Bonkers?" he snickers aloud. "What are you, seventy? Did you try cuckoo too? What about nutty?"

"Bananas," Lloyd pipes up. "Gaga. Buggy."

"Okay, okay, we get it," Kai grumbles. "You like to talk."

"That wasn't my point at all," Jay says, but he concedes it. He does like to talk, after all.

"Why does it have six legs?" asks Nya.

"Those are its wings," Kai sniffs.

Nya bursts out laughing, slapping her hand on her knee, eyes closed into crescents. "Hey!" Kai shouts, shoving her from her chair. "You know that drawing's not my real talent."

"Oh, we know," Cole says under his breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing!" Cole grins. "I'll go next." He flicks back a page or two. "So I originally wanted to do a bear, because bears are cool and they're the deadliest animal on the planet."

"I'm pretty sure you meant to say 'shark'," Nya says.

"I'm pretty sure I said what I meant to say," Cole snips back. He returns his attention to his drawing board. "But bears are too overdone in this day and age."

Jay can't even make fun of him for saying 'this day and age' like some grandma because he's too busy currently gaping at the art on Cole's board.

The character on Cole's paper is definitely not a bear.

"Bears are overdone," Cole says. "So I thought, why not make a narwhal?"

"How on earth," Jay asks faintly, "did you make the jump from bear to narwhal?"

Cole shrugs. "It made sense at the time."

"What's a narwhal?" Lloyd asks. His marker is flying a mile a minute across his sketch pad and his eyes never leave the page.

"It's a unicorn fish," Jay says, turning a disbelieving eye back to the earth ninja. Cole just grins. "A unicorn fish that no one cares about. What happened to giving me inspiration?" he demands. "You've just killed any ideas I might have had!"

Cole pouts.

"I, for one, think it's adorable!" Nya's come up behind Cole now and is peering at his sketch pad. Hearing her words, Cole brightens. "Does it have a name?"

"I was thinking Gnarly."

Nya nods sagely. "That's uber-rad, bro."

Bring Me to Life is playing on a psychedelic loop inside Jay's head. Wake me up inside, wails the lead vocalist, but Jay can't wake up (save me).

"Am I the only one taking this seriously?" he whines. "Guys. This is like, our legacy."

"I'm pretty sure our legacy is saving the city," Kai drawls, "not whatever these characters will be."

"Our legacy," Jay emphasizes. "Don't you realize how cool this is? How many people get to say they have their own cartoon character?"

Cole shrugs. "Exactly. That's why I'm having fun with it. Hey, do you think that Gnarly would look good with a monocle?"

"I'm taking it seriously," Lloyd says. "Look at mine."

"Gnarly would look absolutely dapper in a monocle, how could you even ask that."

"How big is he?" asks Zane. "That would have to be one big piece of glass."

"Hey, guys."

"Ooh, you should give him a mohawk."

"A mohawk? He's a fish! Fish don't have hair!"

"I'm pretty sure it's a mammal, actually."

An explosion rockets the left side of the room. Jay startles so badly he almost falls out of his chair. His eyes dart around for the threat, only to lock eyes with a smirking Lloyd. A smirking Lloyd who still has his fist raised, faint wisps of smoke rising from his fingers.

Jay lets out an inhuman shriek. It's a wonder that no one's come in to check on them, honestly. "Lloyd!"

"What?" Lloyd grins. "You weren't paying attention to me."

"We've raised a brat," Cole says. "An absolute menace."

Lloyd's grin intensifies. "As I was saying…"

He spins his board around with all the pomp and circumstance of a ten-year-old who learned how to act through daytime television. Somehow, despite them only having been given black sharpie markers to draw with, Lloyd has colored his character in with crayon. It's a shockingly detailed goat-creature. Its fur has been colored a mint green, and it's wearing a golden sweater with dragons crossing the sides.

It looks like it was ripped from the pages of an actual comic book.

"Woah!" Kai says, launching himself across the table and sending no less than three markers flying as he goes in for a closer look. "That's awesome, Lloyd!" He beams at the younger ninja. "What is it?"

Nya scoffs. "Obviously it's an alpaca, you dolt."

"It's a yak," Cole says.

Jay makes a disagreeing noise. "No, I'm pretty sure it's a goat."

"Guys," Lloyd says, looking extremely disappointed in all of them, "it's a llama."

They sit in silence for a moment.

"Ooh," Jay says. "Alright. That makes a bit more sense."

"Is it my turn?" Zane asks. Unlike some other members whose names shall not be mentioned, he waits until their attention is on him before starting. "I put a lot of thought into this character."

He turns around his paper. Jay chokes on his water. Tears stream from his eyes and he's coughing, but when he wipes them away the picture stays the same.

In the middle of the page, in the glorious high definition only a nindroid could hope to achieve, is a shark that looks like it came right out of some Super Bowl halftime slot. Its eyes are vacant. Its mouth is open in an agonized scream. It's standing in a starfish pose, legs in lieu of a tail.

"My character is a shark," Zane says, as if it needed any explanation.

Everyone stops and looks at him. Zane's the picture of earnestness, eyes wide and unguarded. At this exact moment, he looks like a five-year-old presenting some horrific drawing to its mother. As the silence stretches on, his face falls. "Is it not on target enough? I know we were supposed to be making something related to our element, but there are not that many snow creatures."

The group glances at each other, expressions veering towards the panicked side. By some unspoken agreement, they all reach the same conclusion.

"Oh, no!" says Nya. "We were all just surprised by how good you draw."

"It's a great shark, Zane," Cole says, tone a bit forced. The expression in his eyes doesn't match the grin on his face.

"Yeah," Jay says lamely. "I like how- how blue it is."

Zane beams.

"It looks like you're well on your way!" says a new voice. It's the head artist, coming back into the room. She looks around approvingly at the studio of chaos. "Well done. I knew I heard the sounds of productivity in here."

Apparently productivity sounds like random explosions and screaming now. That's- honestly not that far off the mark, considering that Jay's a literal ninja for his job.

"The next step, if you haven't already," says the artist, "will be coming up with names." Cole high-fives Nya. "I'll be back in a bit to check on you again!"

The room descends into voices once again as she leaves.

"I need a cool name for my dragon," Kai says immediately. "There's got to be a way to combine my name with it, right?"

"Kragon," Cole suggests. "Drakai."

Kai wrinkles his nose. "Kragon? Like that weirdo from the LEGO line?"

"No, you're thinking of Cragger," Lloyd says. "Kragon is that magical crystal thing Jedi use."

Jay rolls his eyes. "No, that's a kyber. Didn't I raise you better than this? Kragon is that website that people sell stuff on."

"No, that's Craigslist."

"Whatever it is," Kai interrupts, "I don't like it. So you nerds can all drop it now."

"I think I'll call mine Neela," Nya says.

Cole glances at her sketchpad and makes a noise of approval. "Neela and Gnarly," he says. "Hey! Ours could be best friends!"

"You're already coming up with backstory?" Jay protests. "I haven't even started my character!"

"Well stop whining and just make one!" Cole says, exasperated.

Jay pouts. At the other end of the table, Lloyd's cackling up a storm as he writes name after name down the side of his paper. Jay leans over to see: his favorites seem to be Llod, Llyod, and Floyd judging on the circles he's made around them.

Jay sighs and leans back in his seat. Nya's abandoned her spot beside him to go brainstorm with Cole, and Kai's still tossing ideas out to the group even though no one's listening to him.

"Ooh, what about Kaitron?"

"That just sounds like a robot," Jay complains. Inspiration cuts through the cloud of his mind like a knife. "That's it!"

The entire room stops and stares at him. Seeing that he's just stood abruptly and slammed his sketch pad against the table, Jay can't blame them. "Kai," he says, "you're a genius." As quickly as he stood he's seated again, turning over a new page and beginning to sketch.

"I'm a what?" Kai asks, somewhere in the background.

Jay outlines a triangular shape. Then a body with one big wheel instead of legs. He fills up his page with sketches, mind vomiting up ideas faster than he can put them on paper. Yes. Yes! This was exactly what he wanted!

"Everyone!" he says- practically demands their attention. He rips the top sheet off his sketchpad with a flourish. "Meet NJ, your friendly little shapeshifting robot friend! The double emphasis on friendliness means that it's full of love."

"Shapeshifting?" Lloyd asks. "Woah, that's neat!"

Jay nods, grinning. "He can turn into anything, as long as it's non-organic." He points out some sketches of NJ as a toaster, as a spy drone, as an umbrella.

"That's- actually a cool idea, Jay," Cole says. "I like it!"

"Hey!" Jay protests. "Are you telling me that all my other ideas aren't cool?"

Cole grins. "You said it first," he points out.

"Kriff!" shouts Kai. For a second Jay thinks the fire ninja is swearing, but it turns out he's talking to his dragon. "Perfect name. Done."

The head artist chooses this moment to re-enter the room. She beams when she sees all their sketchpads laid out. "Looking good, everyone! Do you all have designs now?" They nod. "Great. Well, our next step will be for each of you working with our on-location artists to better flesh out your concepts. Oh, and then backstories!" She grins. "I'll go call them in."

She leaves. Kai stares at his paper. "I hope my artist likes challenges," he finally says.

[b-icetea]

92. "Let's move in together"

@gleedegrassi-bigfan @rosestylers

Fair warning? I made myself cry with this … IT’S MORE RELATIONSHIP FLUFF Y’ALL!!!!

92. “Let’s move in together.”

Their voices still echo, but nonetheless, it is staggering, what a difference a year can make.

Matteo can see his younger self. Hair a mess, clothes too big, soul a tangle of black lines, like someone had written down something, only to savagely cross it out until just a big ball of chaos was left. Mind slow and complicated and racing all at once, like static. He can see that boy in his mind’s eye, brought here by this mysterious other boy that he wasn’t able to figure out then. Past Matteo didn’t know what the future held for him. Had been afraid of it, because what if it wouldn’t be good? What if he would fuck it up? Plans were for people who knew what they were doing and not for an eighteen-year-old stoner kid that sometimes forgot to shop and had trouble finding clothes without stains on them.

That boy lived his life day by day and that was how it had to be back then. And it had worked out, hadn’t it? Living life like this – minute for minute – meant not having to think too far ahead, meant concentrating only on the imminent and inevitable.

Graduate. Tell your friends who your really are. Fall in love and do it right because it will be the first and last time you do it.

That took all the effort he could muster back then. Looking back at it now and looking at the previously mysterious boy, now all see-through and all the more loved for it, Matteo knows it was the right thing to do.

A year later, though, after all the madness and the ghosting and the heartbreak, the getting back together and the learning each other, Matteo is finally at a place where looking at the future is not something scary, but something to look forward to.

He wants to make plans. Actually, he lowkey has been making them for a while and David even knows about most of them.

God, Matteo used to be such a closed off little bitch. Every idea he came up with was automatically branded as stupid by his own brain the minute it was conceived. David was one of the few people he had let see into the weirdness of his mind and who had sometimes made fun, but always in a good way and who, in the end, never looked down on him for any of it.

So, David had helped. And then, a therapist.

Matteo’s mind is less of a scary place these days. He still gets lost sometimes, but he has an easier time finding his way back from the mazes and monsters he finds there.

His head is filled with other things now. Maybe that is why he suggested coming back here. They haven’t been at the pool since that night were Matteo screamed at David, because gentle and patient apparently didn’t do it and aggressive and worried had to come out to get David away from this idea that flight was the only option for him.

He can still see him sitting there, at the bottom of the pool on that stupid mat, drawing something or other like the outcast vampire he pretended to be back then. It almost makes him scoff, the idea of what nearly happened. He’s glad they both managed to catch and keep each other, even though they were both dumb, stupid boys a year ago.

They’re still dumb, stupid boys, but at least they are a unit now.

The both of them have climbed down the ladder and into the pool and are looking around at the moment. Well, Matteo climbed. David jumped because he’s a dirty show-off and that will probably never change, judging from the smirk he shot Matteo after sticking the landing.

Nothing has changed, really. It’s still a dirty, old pool. But it’s also still the place where two of the most important things in Matteo’s life happened to him and that makes the place more magical than anything. When David first showed him here, Matteo liked the abandoned quality of the building and David and him still go explore every once in a while, these days. It’s their thing. But they do it less, because it reminds them of themselves anymore. David doesn’t feel like he needs to find these buildings so he has bunkers to hide in in case of a natural catastrophe. Matteo doesn’t see himself in them anymore. Now, what they do is, they explore together and fill these empty places full to the brim with memories of themselves.

“Remember last time we were here?”, Matteo asks, knowing full well that David does, but he needs a conversation starter. He wants to talk about what life was like, then.

How angry and then blissfully happy they were. How every word had so much impact Matteo would swear he felt them hitting or caressing his body physically.

The whole thing had been like being on a seesaw. Up and down. One second, they were screaming at each other and David wanted to run away and hide. The next second, they’d told each other I love you for the first time and had exchanged the softest kisses they could.

“Yeah. I didn’t sleep a minute that night.”

Matteo turns around to look at him, blinking incredulously. “You what now?”

“It was so uncomfortable”, David admits, almost whispering, breathy laughter underscoring his words. “The mat was too small and you were half on top of me and I couldn’t move. Something was digging in my back. I had my binder on.” He shrugs.

“What the hell, why didn’t you say anything?” Not that it had been the best night’s sleep of Matteo’s life, but he’d gotten a solid few hours. Though, that was probably because he could sleep almost anywhere and at any time.

David smiles at him. “I don’t know. I kept myself busy. I didn’t matter too much.”

“Not sleeping all night didn’t matter? No wonder you slept so long the day after.” He doesn’t address the binder thing, because they’ve argued about that enough and he knows, David doesn’t do stuff like that anymore. So, Matteo takes a few steps and stops once he’s next to David and can take his hand. He slots their fingers together. Squeezes. He loves David’s hands. “What could have kept you busy anyway. It was night.” It’s not like he could have drawn anything with Matteo’s sleepy deadweight pinning him down and no light to speak of.

David lowers his gaze and smiles a shy smile. “Thoughts and stuff.”

“Stuff?”

David licks his lips. “Yeah, I mean. I had a lot to think about.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, you know.”

“I obviously don’t, dude. What the fuck. Tell me.”

“Nö.”

“Tell me.”

“M-m.”

“Tell me. Tell me.”

“Nope.”

Matteo sees then, that words alone won’t do anything, so he decides to pull out the big guns. He curls the fingers of his right and towards his palm until only his pointer finger sticks out ominously.

David presses his lips together in an obvious effort to keep any laughter in. His eyes are wide and full of mischief.

“You sure that’s how you want to play it?”, Matteo asks, voice all calm and benevolent and shit.

His boyfriends just nods, slowly and seriously. Like he thought this through.

“Okay.” And then Matteo rushes towards him, but David has already taken off, shoes squeaking on the tiles.

“Stop running, you coward”, Matteo calls after him, but only gets a cackle in response.

David is sidestepping him at every turn, twisting around, evading him. Matteo must look like some sort of E.T. cosplayer that forgot his costume at home. Pointer finger still outstretched and running like a loon.

Their laughter fills the pool, echoes of the walls, makes it seem like their fun is bigger than themselves.

In the end, as always, David lets himself be caught around the middle. He bends over and Matteo spins him, once, twice, three times, back pressed to Matteo’s belly. After that, he never lets go, but just makes David turn in his arms so that they’re face to face. He puts kisses everywhere he can reach. Kisses his cheeks, his nose, his eyebrow. Once his teeth, because David is laughing and it makes him laugh even more.

Between kisses, Matteo chants “Tellmetellmetellmetellmetellmetellme.”

“Oh, my god. I’ll tell you, stop.”

Matteo lets up, but presses one last kiss on David’s lips. He makes a growling noise during it, as is customary.

“You’re so stupid”, David tells him and tugs on his jacket hard, making Matteo bend a knee a little because of the pressure. A thought, a future kind of thought, flashes in his mind, and he grins, but doesn’t voice it.

“Tell me.”

David rolls his eyes. “I … maybe. Couldn’t sleep then.” He sighs. “Because I couldn’t believe it? Like. Everything had gone to shit. My biggest nightmare had happened and I was there to witness the whole thing? I hadn’t gone to my PE exam. I thought I had to repeat the whole year. I thought everybody hated me.”

“Who’s stupid now?”, Matteo says but he makes it gentle and David just huffs out a self-deprecating breath.

“Yeah. And then I sent you this emo, artsy sort of voice message. I thought it was really clever and romantic and sufficiently tragic for the situation. Only, you refused to accept it and instead came looking for me. I never imagined that would happen. At all. And then you screamed at me to get out of my own head, didn’t let me run away, told me, I still had friends and then told me you loved me. Suddenly, it felt like I had everything. Or could get everything, anyway. So, you’ll excuse me for being a bit preoccupied by the fact that said boy was sleeping in my arms. It felt like holding the whole world.”

Matteo’s heart does a little flip, then. David is looking to the side and then back at him. Embarrassed, but only a little, because they’ve told each other so much stuff, during this year together.

Sometimes something will happen to Matteo or he will have a thought and think, nah, I’m not gonna tell David about it. I’m gonna keep it to myself. But then David will walk in the door and the words will be out faster than Matteo can try to rein them in. Because talking to David and telling him things doesn’t feel like giving something away or giving something up. He isn’t losing anything by sharing his thoughts with him. It feels more like two people twining together, two puzzle pieces that fit and meld until they’re one.

David also knows a lot about the embarrassing things, Matteo thinks about him. How much he loves him and about the life he imagines for them. The surer he got that David and him were it, the more he started to daydream. He knew that it was too early for many of the things he wanted.

Some days he stares at his ring finger and rubs over the skin, wondering what it might be like to wear something there and freaks himself out, not because of how he doesn’t want it but because of how certain he is that he will want it one day. Not now, not until a few years have passed. But he can see it. And David knows about that. Matteo also knows what David’s answer will be when the time comes.

But now.

Now it’s maybe the time to take a different step. Ask a different question. A question that can be a response to the things David told him just now.

“Let’s move in together?”

David blinks. And then he smiles, bright as the sun.

Matteo knows what his answer will be to that question, too.