#wooo making good progress

[moe-broey]

One of these days ideally and hopefully very soon I will be able to have my overstimulated mental breakdowns WITHOUT the tits. I think this will greatly enhance the experience. I'll be able to tear off my shirt and have an autistic meltdown in peace. No additional cloth, no extra skin, no deadweight, just the beautiful bliss of being able to tear off my shirt in a fit of exasperated desperation to be free of my imperfect vessel and its many sensitivities, curl up folding in on myself clutching my head, and take horrible poison damage until the status effect wears off. Unburdened. Free. Flatly.

I was gonna leave that there as a shitpost but like, I cannot emphasize enough actually, how fucking hellish it is to have the dysphoria/sensory issues double whammy. Especially because for me personally, it's a lose lose lose no matter WHAT I do. I stopped formally binding a long time ago because it was too tight (sizing was correct, but compression binders -- well, it's in the name!). I wear sports bras nowadays, doesn't flatten me as much but does at least provide compression/containment. But again, while it is an improvement wearabilty/material wise, it is often too tight for me to tolerate all day. I do so, anyway, until I cannot stand it anymore. And when I'm at rest, sleeping or decompression time, I wear a sleeping bra. Loosely fit, but contains my chest. Because, for me personally, the one thing fucking worse than having to wear any sort of chest gear, is the feeling of them being Loose. All of this is horrible and distressing for me to even describe. But I can NOT stand the fucking weight, I can't stand the sensation, I can't stand skin against skin in that way, it's fucking horrible all around. Big bouncy bazongas are GREAT but PLEASE NOT FOR FUCKING ME. NOT ON MY FUCKING VESSEL I SWEAR TO GOD. I NEED. TO BE AERODYNAMIC. I'M BEGGING‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

I feel like I had a more intellectual point to make, but no. I'm in Hell. I think any autistic person who can't stand their fleshbags that came free with stupid puberty should be entitled to get them removed at no cost. Like beyond gender beyond dysphoria I think this should be a viable treatment for autistic individuals who qualify (having tits that cause mild to intolerable issues for the bearer of the curse).

If this was A Post with A Point, I think it would be something like unique intersection of dysphoria and sensory issues. Obviously trans rights, obviously the same sentiment can be said about trans men/mascs, but like. I wanna focus on the autism. Raise awareness on the autism. Because right now the Symptoms of MY AUTISM are KICKING MY ASS and I Have A Solution. In mind. It could save us all

[kingqueensoobscene]

hear me out hear me out Lil’ Pootis BLU Scout but with like a nice partner, someone who’s like really nice and sweet and it’s a personality difference for the two but they get along so well!!

WOOO YOUR GIRL IS BACK!!!!!!! I’ve been so busy, but now I’m slowly getting back to it. Don’t guarantee anything ;3 this was such a cute ask!!

LIL POOTIS!BLU!SCOUT X A KIND READER

-Ok, so, Spy is definitely going to say to his son how he can’t make fun of his marriage to Engineer because Scout just found someone who is the total opposite of him as well. You two are pretty much like Spy and Engineer, Scout just hates to admit it.

-You are a rock to Scout. Being on the Blu team is rough in the first place since they’re on the short end of the stick and they get roughed up more than they win. Even if you are apart of this mess as a fellow mercenary, it is a shock how you managed to find a balance with your emotions. None of them have had a good day since they got assigned to payloads for the week, so you’re a good presence to have around. Always helping out, making jokes, distracting the others. 

-Which is why they were shocked when you started dating the Scout. It wasn’t an issue, you were on the same team. It was just a surprise to everyone else. Sure, you stood out in the cold with him when he was told to quit smoking indoors (though, him and Sniper still did on occasion), he gave you pointers on that rifle of yours and he was always asking where you were. But it didn’t seem that serious. No one really cared, everyone does their own thing. It’s still a shock though. 

-It’s best when you two are on the field together. He runs through the line of sight so you can sneak your way to the control point without even a cut. He doesn’t ever want you to get needlessly hurt on the field, even though you are a trained killer. So, he just goes before you get the chance. He was always taught you look out for those you care about (Thanks Spy). If you’re quicker than him, he will just run past you. Either way, you’re not getting shot. You will respawn either way, but he does not care. 

-Spy and Engineer are happy about your relationship. More Engineer than Spy. Del wants Scout to be closer with him, so he comes extra supportive. Even before you and Scout dated, Engie was always kind back to you. He is always waving at you with a smile after his entry shot the enemy Demoman. Spy will always remind Scout to treat your kindness back and to not take advantage of it. To always take you out to a nice place or buy you that thing you have been talking about as your birthday gets closer. Scout is not a very selfish guy, he has proven that to you before, though Spy worries. 

-Speaking of, any time you two go out, Scout will assume you want to do something fancy. If there is anything his dad has taught him, it’s that you do overly romantic things. If you hate going out to eat or you don’t have anything nice to wear, just tell him. He’s fine with just going to the corner store and getting some snacks. At least, he cleans up well and owns at least 2 two-pieces. He hates slicking his hair back though because you can see how far back his hairline has become.

-If you tell him straightforwardly how handsome you think he is, he gets super cocky. Like the “I know, thank you.” kind of way. Especially if you compliment his form. He has been working out for a couple years since joining his dad, he knows the progress he has made and how in shape he is. You do not even have to tell him, he knows you do. But once in a while, he will do something stupid like do a pull up on a random, low hanging pipe in the hallway to   impress you. If you’re the type of person to go crazy with compliments, he looks like he does not care. That is until he can’t help but smirk and say, “You’re alright.” before laughing and giving you a kiss on your hand to apologize. 

-By the way, he loves hand kisses. Not even in the romantic way. He will shake your hand limply and then kiss you with a big “Mwah!” and start laughing at how cringe that was.

-Since the days rotate on who is going out on the missions, you two have days where you don’t see each other. He will get home with his nose red and his clothes damp from the blowing, snowy winds outside and he just lays next to you on your shared bed, reading until you hug him at his side and kiss his shoulder. PDA isn’t a big thing to him. I mean, you’re with him, aren’t you? Everyone knows you two are in a established relationship that does not violate the Administrator’s rules, so why not show off a little? An arm will be wrapped around your back and the magazine on his lap. 

-Sometimes, he likes the silence when he comes back into the base. Of course, you know this too. As previously mentioned in my other post with the Lil Pootis Scouts, Blu Scout likes to go to the boiler room where the heaters and generators lie to get some privacy and warm up. It’s sort of hard to hide that you two cuddle in there, not that anyone goes there anyways, so eventually everyone found out. Though, if you are a girl, I would say Miss Pauling would allow you your own private room as a courtesy, so the others would only notice Scout’s absence and assume he disappeared to have a smoke. 

-If you’re a persistent person who will do anything for someone, you have absolutely gone outside with Scout while he was smoking. Spy has scolded him more than once, so now he has to make a habit of it. He hates when you come with him as he does not want you to get cold, but he knows you are stubborn. It’s not the company he minds, rather that you are withstanding the cold and the smell of cigarettes to be with him. He thinks you are the most thoughtful person ever for even bringing his lighter that he forgot or brought him some hot chocolate. Often, the other mercenaries catch you two chatting by the water tunnel while you rambled on to Scout about your day. 

Wafting against the cold, the flame kissed the tip of the cigarette and burned bright. The silver box shut at the pressure of your thumb and you put away his lighter. Grey puffs floated across the frozen air and danced with the deep shades of a painted blue and speckles of white. Your head against his falling shoulder. His hand at your right side, rubbing along your coat. He dragged his cigarette and blew away from you. Then he smiled. A soft smile that few could see. Sure, he was always smiling, but not like this. You are the person he wants to smile this way to. Because you are the person that melts him down, that makes him warm to the touch and wear down the usual tense. Overwhelmed, he did not like you when you first met as trainees. You would not last, he thought. You were too much. You did not shut up, you were too nice, you would be knocked before you could speak another word in no time. Sometimes, he looks back at his young self and wants smack him silly. Someone compassionate, someone who balanced out his mellow wanted to be his friend. Before he was good at what he did, before he got stronger and better at everything, you liked him.

Now, you are out in the cold with your shivering spine and twitching head. Eyes rolled and he’s off the boulder. It was freezing for you, you should warm up. But you had his lighter. And you kept your hands in your pockets. Unamused eyes looked at you as he prodded you to hand it over. You only backed up and smiled. He only got more demanding and he moved closer. You shook your head and giggled. A sigh comes from him. Then he pulls off his scarf and moves up to wrap it around. 

Now you felt a little bad. Smoke blew again. He smirked. A hand on your chin and your lips on his. Something sweet, then bitter. Ash was not a pleasant taste. And he knew it. 

[str8rat]

In Stars And Time - Fear and Hunger AU

ALSO WARNING, loss of limbs

remember kids, an unspoken rule of the artists; when they've got no twinkles in their eyes, you know they've had it bad.

WOOO ISA'S THE NEXT CHARACTER I DECIDED TO TRAUMATIZE!!!!! YAY!!!!

Mirabelle will be next <3

~ ~ ~

Isabeau; Ophthalmophobia ( fear of being stared at )

Effects; Lost his right arm

Info;

TW!!! DISMEMBERMENT IG aka backstory to how Isa lost his arm

A retired Defender of Jouvente. He capital-C-Changed his body, hoping to become someone that others wouldn't be ashamed of knowing. Lost his right arm months before the party reached Dormont, protecting Mirabelle from a fatal strike coming from a powerful Sadness.

Despite his loss, his bubbly and highly supportive personality remains, always caring for his companions. And even though he does mourn the fact of him most likely never being able to become a clothing designer with just one arm, he does not regret his decision one bit. He's just a stupid Defender, afterall, and Mirabelle is the Chosen one, the one blessed by the Change God, to defeat the King. She is more important than some puny guy that likes bad jokes.

Gets phantom pains quite often. He desperately tries to be the strong, optimistic member of the party, keeping up their morales and spirits, never wanting to let them down. Always hoping that his laughter will light up the room and help everyone forget about everything, if only for a little bit. He also lost his left earring in one of the battles against Sadnesses. Generally he is the person constantly getting hurt for his party, despite the scolding he gets for it regularely.

Due to his phobia, he dislikes crowds and the public, always feeling like he has eyes at the back of his neck. He hates it, and always tries to avoid eye contact while talking to someone. With the party's help though, he's been making progress! The feeling of eyes looking over his body reminds him of all his imperfections, and it makes him spiral, wondering if he is being stared at due to the flaws in his crafted body. It makes him want to Change into someone else.

And yet, he still silently hopes that maybe, just maybe, in an unspecified time in the future, he could make up for the missing earring, and put a bonding one in it's place, if he'd ever dare to confess to Siffrin. He cannot bring himself to do it though, thinking that maybe, even after everything, he may still not be good enough and worthy of being loved. All in all, he still remains just a coward.

~ ~ ~

Sooo yeah. I in all honesty could not find a better phobia for Isa. I've thought about the phobia of love ( his inability to confess ) or maybe the phobia of failure ( failing his friends ) but in the end I settled on a phobia that has him feeling like he is constantly stared at, so much so that he decided to Change his body. Honestly a terrifying phobia. And a very self-destructive one.

Anyways, that's all! see you tomorrow! we're ruining Mirabelle next <3

[ungodly-amounts-of-godly-trauma]

wotw round 1

propaganda under the cut!

connor mckinley:

okay so basically prev propaganda but the part i wrote about the song where they repress their trauma. connor leads that song. so anyway connor is the district leader of the district nine mormons in uganda. during his song he talks about how he is gay and represses his gay thoughts forcibly (religious trauma wooo) but ANYWAY. so long story short post canon everyone characterizes him as some feminine gay twinkboy who is incapable of doing anything whereas people characterize kevin as some big strong alpha male who dominates him. its terrible. kevin is literally the one who has no special talents unless you count evangelizing which yes hes good at but only in america, once he gets to uganda he fails. CONNOR on the other hand was appointed a district leader position which means that he has a strong sense of leadership and is able to control a bunch of nineteen year old boys which takes a lot of mental strength. he also dances/takes dance class so you KNOW hes fit/athletic and you KNOW hes lifting the girls for routines so if either of them were going to be strong it would be connor. JUST BECAUSE HE WEARS PINK ONCE AND HAS A PART IN HIS SONG ABOUT BEING GAY AND SAYS "OH EM GOSH YOU GUYS" DOESNT MEAN HE IS INCAPABLE OF ANYTHING AT ALL!!!!!!! HE IS SO CAPABLE!!!!! DUDE REPRESSED EVERY NEGATIVE FEELING HE HAD AND HAD SO MUCH INTERNAL HATRED AND DEALT WITH HELLDREAMS EVERY NIGHT AND STILL TOOK LEAD OF A DOZEN 19 YEAR OLDS IN UGANDA. HE IS VERY VERY CAPABLE.

white:

ok since his twin is like the super edgy anarchist biker guy, people then go "okay and this is the sweeter softer one of the two <3." it doesn't help that like his story arc is him going from like a socially liberal centrist who doesn't understand systematic inequality to eventually you know, being an official part of the anarchist biker gang, because that means at the start when the gang was doing some more morally dubious things he went "guyssss we shouldn't do those things" and then people stuck with that and forgot that his opinion on such things changes. like his whole thing is being strategic and subtle while Black, his twin, is about dramatic public actions. like by the end he doesn't disagree with Black's methods, he just thinks manipulating things in such a manner to raise public support that doesn't alienate their cause from more moderate folks is important. he has diplomat training and cares about pr, he's not a pacifist.

also I feel like people erase his bisexuality a lot too because he's endgame with Sean and then also go and make him the uwu innocent one in their relationship. like babes are we forgetting the opening scene of him as an adult is after he hooked up with his girlfriend in Russia (that he might have been living with? unclear, it was only one scene). also don't forget that he made out with Eugene. he didn't have to do that. anyways he's not an uwu so innocent gay boy who has never progressed pass kissing before.

[styrvexxual]

Han Jisung's Guide to The College Experience (CH. 3)

Pt. 3 to my first ever fic :)

minsung-centric ft. side pairings wooo

7.4k Chapter (21.8k total so far)

silly chapter ft. pining & idiots being idiots

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61759963/chapters/159241681

links to ch1/2:

ch1: https://www.tumblr.com/styrvexxual/771354434446000128/han-jisungs-guide-to-the-college-experience-ch?source=share

ch2: https://www.tumblr.com/styrvexxual/771815803308949504/han-jisungs-guide-to-the-college-experience-ch?source=share

Jisung wakes up the next morning. Thank god for that. It would have been hard to explain to his parents that he died from alcohol poisoning because he was too scared to talk to his TA sober. Speaking of Minho, Jisung thinks back to the conversation they shared last night that he has the unfortunate displeasure of remembering.

Truce?

Jisung throws a hand over his face and cringes at the thought of everything he must’ve said to Minho last night. He doesn’t even remember anything past begging Minho to hear him out, and there’s no way it got any better from there.

Keeping the hand over his face, Jisung blindly reaches around his bed for any sign of his phone so he can make sure his friends made it home okay, frowning when it’s nowhere within reach. He realizes it’s now time for the worst part of every college student’s experience with alcohol: having to sit up and face the consequences of his actions.

A quick glance around the room tells him he’s absolutely not in his dorm room, which is only mildly concerning. The room he’s woken up in seems relatively put together and there’s no signs of someone else having slept in the bed, so definitely off to a good start. The blackout curtains serve as to hinder any progress Jisung could have made in identifying the owner of the room, so he decides to start by opening them.

As Jisung tries to rack his brain for any clues as to who could have taken him home last night, he thinks it was Felix, as he remembers the boy telling him he has a single dorm, he approaches the curtains and opens them the slightest bit.

He forgets how light-sensitive hangovers make him, and almost vomits from the sheer force of the headache he gets upon trying to look outside. Jisung thinks he must’ve made a sound, or at least enough noise to warrant a check-in, hearing the sound of footsteps approaching the bedroom. He musters the strength to turn around and stand up straight enough just as he hears the door click, looking up to lock eyes with —

Minho?

“What the actual fuck?” Jisung asks, a hint of fear in his voice.

“I’ll make you some coffee.” Minho says, eyes strangely kind, “You look like you could use it.”

“Fuck off,” Jisung responds, his jab missing the distinct bite he was used to around the dancer.

Minho leads Jisung through his apartment to the kitchen, a cozy setup highlighted by the occasional tasteful cat-related utensil or accessory. If you had told Jisung a week ago that he’d be in the apartment of his sworn enemy, feeling welcomed by his kitchen decor and weird sense of hospitality, he would’ve laughed in your face. It leads him to think even harder about what he possibly could have said or done last night.

“Jisungie?” a voice rings out, “How do you take your coffee?”

Jisung’s eyes widen as he turns to face Minho, not expecting the nickname, and still not used to the kind voice he’s been using since they woke up.

“Someone doesn’t remember what happened last night,” Minho says with a small laugh, “You asked for this, Jisungie.”

Jisung feels his eyes widen impossibly further at the teasing, and his cheeks begin to burn as he suddenly recalls but a snippet of last night.

“Why don’t you have a cute nickname for me like you do everyone else?” Jisung whines, leaning more of his weight into Minho’s side.

“Are you sure you want that? I mean, until half an hour ago you hated me,” Minho responds, “And stop leaning like that, I can’t carry both of our weight when I’m like this!”

“Never hated you,” Jisung mumbles, hoping Minho conveniently missed it, “But we’re friends now. Shouldn’t you treat me like how you treat all of our friends?”

“Okay, Jisungie.” Minho giggles, clearly still slightly tipsy, “Whatever you say.”

“Oh! I guess I just forgot,” Jisung says, looking away from Minho’s piercing gaze guiltily, “Sugar.”

“What?”

“Sugar.”

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You asked me how I take my coffee, did you not?”

“Yeah, I did. That’s not an answer.”

“Yes it is, I said sugar. Just put the goddamn sugar in my coffee.”

“Fucking whatever man, it’s too early for this shit. Enjoy your sugar bean water.” Minho says, putting the mug down in front of Jisung’s spot at the dining table.

Jisung winces at the comment, muttering a quick “Sorry,” staring into his coffee until Minho decides to speak again.

“Don’t worry, I’m not actually upset,” Minho says, cringing slightly, “Look, you want to be friends, don’t you? Well you’ve got to get used to me.”

“Oh, sorry. I guess I didn’t really think about that. You know, you didn’t have to agree. I feel kinda bad honestly.”

“Just, stop apologizing for everything,” Minho snaps, startling Jisung, “We get stuck in the infinite loop of apologizing ‘cause we’re dancing around each other. Be yourself, unapologetically, and there won’t be any problems here.”

“Okay,” Jisung whispers.

Both boys look down into their coffee, refusing to continue the conversation out of sheer embarrassment or a will to save the last shreds of their dignity. As Jisung finally moves to say something, anything, to minimize the horrific energy of this morning, the front door opens. Both boys turn and watch as someone, Jisung isn’t quite sure who, walks through the door.

“Where the hell have you been?” he hears Minho pipe up from behind him, not quite upset. However, knowing Minho, Jisung fears for what’s to come if he doesn’t like the answer.

The stranger’s eyes dart between the two of them, a smirk growing on his face, and Jisung swears he must know who this is. “Doing the same thing as you, I suppose.” he says with a shrug.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh! Guess I was wrong, my bad bro,” the stranger responds with a laugh, “Was just with Seungminnie, you know the drill.”

Seungmin? Jisung thinks. The memory of seeing his roommate pressed against the wall of a frat house hits him like a truck, and he finally remembers where he knows the boy from. Given that this is all he knows of the kid, he chooses to hold his tongue for the time being.

“Ugh. If you refrain from reminding me of the absolute betrayal that is my younger brother fucking my childhood friend, that would be great actually.”

“Well actually, I regret to inform you; but it’s like my legal obligation as your brother to be the biggest pain in the ass I could possibly be.”

“I should’ve eaten you in the womb.”

“We aren’t even twins? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“No the fuck I don’t!”

Jisung watches their conversation with rapt attention. Having an older brother himself, he expected all sibling relationships to look somewhat similar, but he would never dream of talking back to his brother in the way he sees right now. Maybe it’s the larger age gap, his own brother off to college by the time he was in middle school, but Jisung almost feels a pang of bitterness at the exchange.

He’s only snapped out of his state of reminiscence when he hears a voice call out, “So who the hell is this then?”

“Behave, Jeongin. This is Jisung.”

“Like Seungmin’s roommate Jisung? Holy shit dude, I was wondering when I’d meet you,” Minho’s brother – Jeongin, as he now knows, extends a hand and waits for Jisung to shake it.

Jisung watches Jeongin’s face light up as he returns the handshake, and responds with, “I feel like I’m meeting a celebrity right now, with how much Seungmin talks about you, I might as well be.”

“Likewise. It’s honestly more impressive we’ve gone this long without meeting.”

Before Jisung gets the chance to respond, Jeongin turns back to Minho, and asks, “Wait, I thought you hated this dude? Seungmin’s always complaining about how you two just couldn’t get along. The fuck is he doing in our apartment?”

“I never said I hated him? I just said he said something snarky and it pissed me off.”

Jisung flinches at the comment, realizing he’s not entirely sure if he ever apologized to Minho about that, at least sober.

“Wow. I guess you guys made up then, right? Doesn’t seem to me like you hate each other,” Jeongin adds, fixing Minho with a pointed look that Jisung could only hope to understand.

“Yeah, all good here,” Jisung responds, hoping the fake smile he gives reaches his eyes.

“See,” Minho says with an eyeroll, “Now leave us alone, and stop scaring our guest!”

Jisung watches as Jeongin rolls his eyes in return and sticks out his tongue, shouting a, “Whatever, bye losers,” and escaping into his room.

With Jeongin gone to relieve the tension, both boys immediately look anywhere other than each other, choosing to focus on the bottoms of their now empty coffee cups. Jisung wishes he knew what to say, and despite what Minho has told him, he still feels like he’s treading on thin ice with the other.

“So now that you don’t hate me,” Jisung starts out of nowhere, observing as Minho’s face contorts into confusion, “You’ll totally help me learn to dance, right?”

Minho pauses for a bit, before responding, “Yeah, whatever. Probably best that I teach you before people start saying I give all my work to Lixie ‘cause I’m lazy.”

“Yippee! So when do we start?”

“Did you just fucking say ‘yippee’? I take back what I’ve said, all of it,” Minho responds, amusement seeping through the discontent nature of the words, “How does next Saturday work for you?”

“Fine. How about Noon? I’d rather not wake up early if I don’t have to.”

“Whatever works for you Jisungie. I’ll probably be in the studio for a while anyways,” Minho says with a smile, front teeth endearingly poking out from his top lip.

“Sounds good! Could I get your number?” Jisung responds, a blush threatening to creep onto his cheeks before backtracking with, “For dance practices of course. Don’t look at me like that!”

“Anything for you Jisungie,” Minho says, smile never faltering, “I’ll text you a reminder the day before with where to meet.”

“I’ll be waiting! I really should get going now though. I fear I might’ve overstayed my welcome.”

“I told you, stop apologizing for yourself. It really wasn’t that big of a deal anyway. Jeongin obviously didn’t even stay over so I just took his room.”

“Okay, well thanks anyway,” Jisung adds, putting his shoes on and moving to grab the handle of the front door.

“Anytime Jisungie,” Minho starts, mouth curling to form a smirk, “Get home safely. Can’t have anything happening to you before Saturday.”

“I’m so going to regret this, aren’t I?”

“Absolutely.”

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

“What the fuck was that Jisung?” a voice calls from across the studio.

Two weeks of personal dance training from The Lee Minho is something the average college student would kill for, but Jisung just thinks it’s ruining their barely blossoming friendship. It has been a huge help in class, but he can’t help but feel patronized when it’s just the two of them. “What are you even talking about? I did the same moves you did, right?”

“I mean, on the most basic level, you’re doing the moves. Doesn’t mean your technique is anywhere near correct,” Minho responds, crossing his arms.

“But it’s hard,” Jisung whines, pouting up at Minho from his place on the floor, “Too much to think about.”

“Yeah, well as long as you still have muscles in your feet just like everyone else on the planet, you should be able to point your fucking feet.”

Well not all of us can be geniuses like you Jisung wants to respond. He instead decides on, “I have them! They just don’t move very far.”

“No shit sherlock,” Minho says while crouching to join Jisung on the floor, “Look, just come here. It’ll help, I swear.”

Jisung watches as Minho crawls towards him and settles himself in front of his legs. In any other scenario, Jisung might have found the action attractive, but all he can focus on is how dumb Minho looks crawling in his baggy t-shirt and pants across the studio. How his stupid baggy t-shirt reveals a hint of a defined collarbone that Jisung can’t help but imagine gnawing on like a dog with a bone.

Okay, maybe a little hot, but there’s no shame in thinking that about your conventionally attractive friend(?) crawling toward you and sitting between your legs. It’s completely objective, right?

Minho’s voice snaps Jisung out of his thoughts, asking, “The fuck are you doing? I’ve been waving my hand in front of your face for like thirty seconds now, we don’t have the room all day Jisungie.”

“Sorry, just tired I think. What are you doing?”

“Just put your legs in front of me and give me your feet, trust me.”

“Excuse me?” Jisung exclaims, eyebrows flying up in shock.

“I’m gonna stretch your feet. It’s literally the most normal thing a dancer can do, and way easier if someone else does it for you,” Minho responds, a hint of a blush highlighting his cheeks, “What do you take me for anyways? It’s not like I’m excited to touch your feet you nasty.”

“You sure about that? All you dancers are freaks with how foot obsessed you are.”

“Stop saying that, just give me your feet so we can get this over with."

Jisung watches as Minho takes his right foot into his hands, placing it on the ground and forcing it into a pointed position. Minho then takes the heel of his hand and rubs it across the top of Jisung’s ankle and foot, progressively picking up the pace as the muscles begin to warm up and relax. As he’s doing this, he uses his other hand to slowly push down on Jisung’s foot, the flex of his arms distracting Jisung from the pain. Jisung finds himself so entranced by the motion that he doesn’t even fully comprehend Minho letting go of his foot and reaching toward the other one.

“You good? I’m trying to be gentle ‘cause I know this is probably a lot for you.”

This snaps Jisung’s focus back to Minho’s face, pushing him to respond with, “Yeah. I don’t know what you’re doing but I don’t feel a thing.”

“Good. You need to learn how to properly stretch if you ever want to pass this class. I’d rather not be liable for any injuries you acquire this semester.”

“But why would I do that when I have you?” Jisung smiles.

“Because I don’t have time to spend in class helping you stretch. Or worrying if you stretched enough.”

“Aww, you care about me. I knew it!”

“Shut up,” Minho retorts. It seems like this might be his favorite thing to say, Jisung thinks. “I just can’t let you fall behind or get hurt, I’ll never get to TA again. Now get up, we still have things to work on.

“You can say you care about me. I’m an incredibly likeable person.” Jisung says in an attempt to stall. The longer he can provoke Minho, the less he’ll have to dance, or at least he thinks.

Unfortunately for Jisung, Minho doesn’t seem to take the bait, pointing to the side of the room in an attempt to start up their practice once more. He guides Jisung through an increasingly difficult set of across the floor exercises, some of which don’t even look familiar to Jisung.

Or maybe that’s just because the movement looks so different on Minho. The way he seems to listen to the music so wholeheartedly that it seems like his body is the one making it. Or the way he moves with such ease across the floor, not even making a sound when he drops to the floor or jumps at a speed Jisung can’t even comprehend.

It’s a blessing Minho calls it quits after that exercise, probably noting Jisung’s lack of energy and motivation. Cooldown stretches have become Jisung’s new favorite part of his time with Minho. The boy seems to know exactly what stretches he needs, no matter how different their private classes look week-to-week. It’s at this moment that Jisung finally gets it, just how important dance is to Minho and the sheer amount of pride in his work.

Before he can get too emotion or god forbid, feel excessive emotions involving Minho, he decides to provoke the older.

“Did I do good?” Jisung asks, batting his eyelashes at Minho as the other moves to pack up.

“You did better than last week,” Minho responds, seemingly immune to Jisung’s efforts to draw compliments out of the older.

“Yeah, but was it good?”

“For a beginner? Yeah. But that’s as much as you’re getting.”

“I’ll take it!” Jisung smiles, satisfied with the comment, “You want to grab lunch? We’re just gonna see each other at Changbin’s in like two hours. Not like either of us can get anything done in that time.”

“Speak for yourself. I was planning on staying in the studio before driving over, need some time to myself before I’m stuck with you for the foreseeable future.”

“Oh! I’m sorry. You have fun with that,” Jisung responds, eyes widening in equal parts shock and embarrassment.

“Im just kidding Jisungie. Lunch sounds great,” Minho says, smile lighting up his features. He almost looks approachable now, softer if you will.

“That’s what I thought. Burgers good with you?” Jisung visibly relaxes after Minho’s follow-up. He really needs to remember that they don’t hate each other anymore.

“I think that’s exactly what we deserve after today.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Minho leads Jisung to a diner slightly off campus. He’s never personally attended it, but he recognizes it as a spot famous among the student body for being able to cure the worst of hangovers from the sheer amount of greasy food. Minho turns to Jisung, opening the door and gesturing for him to enter.

The hostess at the front of the restaurant lets them know that they’re free to seat themselves, having come in during a bit of a lull in their typically busy day. They receive menus and waters, and take a few minutes to read the menu before remembering what they came for and prompt ordering their burgers and fries.

“You know,” Minho starts once they get their food, “I never actually hated you. I think I just hated that you hated me. I’m not used to people having trouble getting along with me.”

“Aww, someone not used to getting what they want?” Jisung jokes, hoping he didn’t hit a weak spot with that one, “It’s funny, you know. I don’t think I hated you either. I was just jealous and upset that I wasn’t instantly good at something and someone better than me was in the room. I know this wasn’t the intention, but it felt almost like a taunt.”

“I’m sorry, I really am just there to help. I didn’t even think about that.”

“Well you shouldn’t have to, it’s not your job.”

“Yeah, well it is my job to make sure that everyone is feeling comfortable in the class, and that includes combatting any insecurities that come up. I promise I’ll be easier on you, that couldn’t have felt nice.”

“Hey! Where did I ever say that?” Jisung shouts, blushing when he realizes they’ve drawn the attention of other patrons. He lowers his voice before continuing, “I like that you’re harder on me, it makes me feel like you see me as an equal and not some nuisance.”

“I’m glad to hear that, but you really shouldn’t have said anything. It’s only going to get worse from here,” Minho responds with a smirk.

“Oh god.”

Their waiter comes back to the table, clearing his throat and snapping them out of conversation, before placing the check in between them and telling them to take their time. Minho immediately grabs the check before Jisung can realize what happened, eliciting a pout and some protest from the younger. Minho insists on paying since he’ll be the cause of Jisung’s sore body tomorrow, and Jisung finds himself too focused on trying not to blush at the implications of what he could have been saying to fight him on it.

The pair take their time finishing their meals and preparing to head over to Changbin’s place, wondering what their friends will think of them showing up together. It’s the first time all eight of them will be in the same place at the same time, at least sober, and none of them really know what happened the past few weeks. Jisung’s insecurities take over and he feels the need to voice this thought to Minho.

“It’s not that big of a deal Jisungie. They’ll be their annoying selves whatever we do; it’s like the one constant variable of their companionship,” Minho jokes, obviously trying to cheer Jisung up.

“If you say so,” Jisung responds, “You do know them better than me after all.”

“Exactly! If only you listened to me this easily about literally anything else.”

“Whatever. So how do we get to Changbin’s again from here?”

The pair pull up to Changbin’s apartment around a half an hour later, and Minho complains that it would have been so much faster if he drove them. Changbin himself is the one to answer the door, giving the pair a strange look but not questioning them, which Jisung is eternally grateful for. He lets the pair in, the three of them making their way to the living room where everyone else seems to have already engrossed themselves in conversation, too focused to even notice the pair’s arrival, save for a few greetings and entrances into conversation.

The hangout itself has been relatively easy so far, the couples too absorbed in each other to notice the elephant in the room. With everyone involved in conversation, it’s pretty easy for Jisung to get lulled into a false sense of security, thinking he’s reached a safe zone.

“So I take it you guys are friends now? I mean, its a miracle we can get you in the same room without any snide remarks. You guys even showed up together!” Seungmin says out of nowhere, directing his gaze to where Minho and Jisung are sat next to each other on the couch. So much for not drawing attention to that.

“Yeah, he’s kinda got a point. You guys could barely talk to each other when Jisung stayed over a few weeks ago.” Jeongin adds, lifting his head up from Seungmin’s lap to take a peek at the pair.

“I mean, by definition I guess –” Minho starts.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Jisung says, a strained smile painting his face. “Never seen this guy before in my life.”

“But, we had a bonding moment, I cradled you in my arms!” Minho says with a pout.

“Nope, don’t remember, didn’t happen,” Jisung responds, barely able to stifle his giggles.

So what they got drunk together one night and binge watched Voltron, sue them. It’s getting taken off Netflix soon for fucks sake, and peak media such as that deserves to be treated with absolute reverence!

They didn’t get past the first season, but can you really blame them?

Their little inside joke sends them into a fit of laughter, releasing any tension the topic of conversation left them with, while the rest of the group is forced to watch the pair live in their own bubble, something completely unfathomable a mere three weeks ago.

Jisung can feel the stares of his friends burning holes into his back, and he almost feels the need to comment on it so they’ll leave him alone; but he finds that pretending they don’t exist just so he can spend a little longer focusing on Minho is a lot more enjoyable.

“Are we sure ‘friends’ is right? Ever since that night a few weeks ago they’ve been like this,” Changbin teases, “Sometimes they feel even closer than some of the couples here.”

What?

This has also been a bit of a ‘thing’ lately. Something Jisung likes to refer to as ‘The mortifying ordeal of realizing your friend group and your sworn enemies friend group are so similar you guys merge an create one friend group but you and your sworn enemy are the only ones in the group not fucking someone else in the group so everyone wants you to date’.

It’s a little long, but he thinks it’ll catch on one day, especially if Minho ever hears it. As much as they tease Jisung about the older boy, he really is happy they were able to make amends, especially because they share the same friends and it would have been horribly embarrassing to have these group hangouts if they were still fighting.

But right now, seeing all of his friends face him with teasing grins, he almost wishes it was two weeks ago. Jisung sighs internally as he watches his so-called friends turn to face Changbin in silent agreement. Well, all except one.

“You good? I can fight them if you want,” he hears Minho ask, “Trust me, I’d win.”

“It’s fine, I’ll get used to it. No need to ruin your pretty face to defend my honor,” Jisung teases in response, watching as Minho narrows his eyes in lieu of a comeback.

“I’m not joking Jisungie. A lot of these people were my friends before yours, I’ll put them in their place.”

“I’m sure; and don’t worry about me, I’m perfectly capable of defending myself.”

“See!” Hyunjin shouts accusingly, bringing the two out of conversation, “They’re doing it again! It’s like we aren’t even here.”

“Doing what exactly?” Minho snaps, “Stop embarrassing Jisungie, you’re just jealous that he doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“Don’t start shit Minho,” Jisung laughs, “It’s really not that big of a deal.”

It is, but nobody needs to know that, especially not Minho.

Jisung decides to tune the rest of their bickering out, falling against the couch with a sigh. Their taunts at him and Minho really wouldn’t get to Jisung if he didn’t see just the slightest bit of truth in them. He wasn’t having these thoughts about Minho before their friends planted the seed in his head. Sure, his new friend is objectively incredibly attractive, all perfect angles with the slightest softness to his features to give the illusion that he belongs on this earth instead of up in the stars. That doesn’t mean that Jisung would, or should, ever consider dating him. He hated the guy until a few weeks ago for fucks sake, that’s got to count for something.

Before he fully begins to spiral, he hears Chan say, “Felix and I have a reservation tonight, so we should get going pretty soon.”

“Well I was planning on taking Seungminnie over here out tonight, so I have no objections to this.” Jeongin responds.

“You were?” Seungmin questions, cringing when Jeongin plants an overexaggetated kiss to his cheek.

“Oh well, guess we have to do something now Hyunjin,” Changbin states, letting out a laugh when he sees Hyunjin roll his eyes at the comment, “Can’t let all of them out-couple us when we were the OGs.”

Young love, how sweet, Jisung finds himself thinking. They can all go fuck themselves for thinking he would ever be like that with Minho, or vice versa. And don’t think he’s forgotten about Changbin’s comment! How could he think they act worse than the actual couples when they’re the most disgustingly, tooth-rottingly sweet couples he’s ever had the displeasure of interacting with.

Jisung thinks Minho agrees with him, at least to some degree, as he turns his head to find the other boy already looking at him with a displeased expression on his face. Oh well, at least their status as the only single members of their friend group gives them the distinct privilege of being able to laugh over how disgustingly in love they are.

As all of their friends begin to pile out the door, off to their respective dates, Jisung feels someone grab his wrist. He turns to face Minho, who asks, “You want to do something? I’d feel bad leaving you all alone when even your roommate is off on a date.”

“So is yours,” Jisung retorts, “What would we even do?”

“Does it really matter? I just feel guilty leaving you to your own devices after how sickening that display was earlier.”

“We’ve spent basically the whole day together, aren’t you sick of me by now?”

“That’s pretty rich coming from the person who decided to pretend to not know me just now.”

“You know that was just a joke,” Jisung whines, “I’m serious, don’t feel obligated to keep hanging out with me just ‘cause all our friends left to go suck face and go on cute dates.”

“It’s not an obligation Jisungie,” Minho says, voice stern, “If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t. Think a little higher of yourself, for me?”

“Yeah yeah, whatever you say Minho. Where would we go anyways?” Jisung desperately tries to deflect. The last thing he needs is Minho thinking he’s pathetic or something.

“Crepes?”

“Fast response, sure you didn’t have this planned?” Jisung asks with a smirk.

“Shut up. There’s a place I’ve been wanting to try down the block, and no one wants to go with me ‘cause they’re all too busy having a boyfriend or something,” Minho responds, looking anywhere but Jisung.

“Fine by me. Lead the way, my knight in shining armor.”

“Seriously, has no one ever told you when to shut up?” Minho says, statement completely losing its bite as he grabs Jisung’s wrist once again, this time to lead him to their destination.

The crepe store Minho was talking about isn’t actually that far from campus, and Jisung wonders how he managed to go so long without finding it himself. The storefront itself is decorated minimally, yet tastefully, and Jisung wishes he had half the eye for aesthetics that the owners of the place possess.

They walk into the store, and Jisung notes that the decor is just as beautiful as he would have guessed from the exterior. He isn’t quite sure why he’s so focused on the decor, but anything to keep him from thinking of Minho is beneficial in his brain. The menu on the wall is articulately written, white chalk on a blackboard, calling out to him.

“So what do you think you want?” Minho asks, observing the menu in a similar manner.

“I don’t know. But I do know I’m absolutely not getting the one with raisins in it. Whoever decided that deserves life in prison.”

Minho lets out a short laugh at Jisung’s comment, and he feels a strange sense of pride over his ability to elicit a response like that. “Agreed. You want to just pick two different ones and we’ll split them?”

“Sounds good, but you pick. I’m a horrible decision maker.”

“I can tell. You are the same person who ended up in a dance class by chance.” Minho jokes, laughing once more at Jisung’s pout in response to the comment.

They reach the front of the line, where Minho proceeds to order two different crepes for them, one with chocolate and strawberries, the other with lemon and blueberries. He then insists on paying just like earlier, and Jisung thinks this might be the reason he offered the idea of sharing their order in the first place.

The two receive a number and a pointed look from the cashier as Jisung tries to fight Minho on paying once again, insisting he can pay him back for half of them. The two of them set off to find somewhere to sit, suddenly realizing how crowded the shop is.

The two of them finally find somewhere to sit, and wait for their food in relative silence. However, there’s something that’s been on Jisung’s mind for a while, and he wonders if Minho has ever thought about it to the same extent.

“Why do you think our friends keep pushing for us to get together? Do they take pity on us or something?”

“What, Jisungie? Don’t think I'm boyfriend material?” Minho taunts, a feline smirk growing on his face.

“That’s not what I’m saying and you know it, so shut up,” Jisung retorts, suddenly flustered, “I just don’t get what they’re pushing for, given our history and all.”

“We went over this earlier, it’s not like we actually hated each other or anything. I’m sure they just realized that faster than us.”

“I mean, you could be right. That doesn’t change the fact that it looks like they’re just trying to set us up because we’re the only single people in our friend group.”

“I guess,” Minho responds, pausing to take a bite of one of the crepes that Jisung didn’t even realize had arrived during their conversation, “If that’s how you choose to see it, then I won’t stop you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Whatever you want it to,” Minho says, clearly trying to end the conversation.

The boys take the lull in conversation to finish their crepes, hoping to get out of the restaurant now packed full of sleep-deprived college students looking for a nighttime snack. They make small talk over the empty plates, asking each other questions Jisungs barely even gets to ask his closest friends. It makes Jisung realize how much he takes the people in his life for granted, and he makes a reminder to catch up with all of his friends individually soon. However, Jisung can’t help but think about what Minho had just said to him. Is he so crazy for thinking his friends are only setting them up out of convenience? It’s a little absurd to assume there’s any world the two of them get together under normal circumstances.

“It’s getting late,” Minho says out of nowhere, looking at the time on his phone, “I’ll walk you back to your dorm.”

“Yeah, I have homework that probably should have been done yesterday. I should be getting back soon,” Jisung jokes.

He doesn’t actually have that much homework, or at least any he cares about; but he needs to get away from Minho before he does something drastic.

The boys begin their walk back, with Jisung leading Minho this time. For someone who claimed he’d walk Jisung back, it seems that he’s more content following the former around like a lost puppy until he reaches his dorm. Jisung doesn’t dare comment on this; however, as he fears sending Minho away right now will send him away forever. He wants to stay in this moment for as long as he can, reveling in the way he’s been able to completely change the course of their relationship with a singular drunken conversation.

They reach Jisung’s dorm far faster than the boy would’ve liked. He feels obligated to keep Minho around, to hear his voice one more time before he wakes up from this dream. “We’ve learned a lot about each other today. If you ask me, I think we’ve got this whole friendship thing down perfectly,” Jisung exclaims, turning to face Minho.

“If you say so Jisungie,” Minho responds, “But just remember, you’ve got to reach a few more levels of friendship before you learn anything legitimate, like my tragic backstory.”

“You’re such an idiot. No way I was so scared of you a few weeks ago.”

“Oh? Is little Jisungie scared of his big bad senior?”

“Oh my god, shut up!”

Minho’s face has been getting closer for a while now, Jisung passively recalls. It’s been happening so slowly he didn't even process it until he could feel the other’s soft breaths on his own face, smelling of the fruit from the crepes they shared just now. Jisung freezes, unsure of what to do in this scenario. Surely he’s not doing what Jisung is thinking of?

No way he would ever even try.

Jisung pulls away first before it can go any further, past the point of return if you will, refusing to believe the past minute was anything but a dream. He gives Minho a sheepish smile, hoping the boy is too tired to process the tension growing between them.

“I should probably get going,” he vaguely hears from Minho, a sleepy whisper, “It’s getting late, make sure to sleep well Jisungie.”

Sleep well? After that? Jisung doesn’t think Minho is even aware of what just almost happened, smiling at Jisung without a care in the world before waving at him one last time and turning his back as he walks back to his apartment.

Does he even know he just turned Jisung’s world upside down? Does he think this is funny or something?

Jisung opens his phone the second the door to his apartment shuts, feeling his pulse threaten to jump out of his throat with anxiety.

“Felix?” Jisung asks, “I could really use some help right now.”

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

Felix is the bestest friend to ever friend, Jisung is absolutely sure of that. The poor boy shooed Chan out of his apartment, ditching his maybe-boyfriend to help Jisung with his boyfriend. Jisung makes a mental note to ask Felix about that when he gets the chance, maybe when he gets so fed up with talking about Minho that he needs to deflect.

Jisung reaches the door of Felix’s dorm room, and doesn’t even have to knock before the door flies open and Felix pulls him inside the dorm. It’s honestly scary how well the boy predicted his arrival, Jisung figures he must have shared his location with him at some point, there’s simply no other explanation.

“Is this an ice cream kind of conversation, or wine?” he hears Felix call out from the tiny kitchenette of the dorm.

“Wine, please. I already had dessert,” Jisung responds. He’ll need the alcohol if he wants any chance at actually being able to talk to Felix about something as trivial as this.

Jisung watches as Felix walks over to the couch, a wine bottle and two regular drinking glasses in hand. He guesses the boy doesn’t get the opportunity to do this that often if the choice of glasses is anything to go by.

“So what’s got you so worked up?” Felix asks as he uncorks the wine and pours two concerningly full glasses.

Jisung snatches the glass from Felix and takes a few large sips before answering, “What do you think it is? It’s always fucking Minho, man. I can’t ever escape this.”

“What did he do this time? I thought you were getting along after the party.”

“It’s not that,” Jisung starts, lowering his voice to a whisper before saying, “I think he tried to kiss me earlier.”

“He did what?” Felix asks, “Tell me everything!”

Jisung does just that. For the next half an hour, he explains to poor Felix in great detail his entire day out with Minho, from the moment he woke up to the moment he made it to the other boy’s doorstep. He especially takes the time to mention their conversation at lunch, with Minho finally admitting he never harbored any true resentment toward him, and their shared moment outside of Jisung’s dorm.

“Why am I not even surprised at this point?”

“What is that supposed to mean? We literally hated each other before this, why would he actively try to kiss me. I’m sure he was just tired.”

“Tired my ass,” Felix retorts, “He just wanted to kiss you, and I can’t even blame him. You have the cutest little pout, anyone would fall for it.”

“Thanks? Anyway, that doesn’t apply to Minho, so it's irrelevant. Do you forget how we started?”

“And do you forget what you just told me? He said it himself, he never really hated you and you never hated him.” Jisung watches as Felix moves from leaning against the back of the couch to placing his wine glass, if you can even call it that, on the end table and leaning forward to place his elbows on his knees. Jisung thinks he looks like a therapist, and he doesn’t find himself enjoying it.

“That still doesn’t mean he wanted to kiss me! You’re deluded just like the rest of our friend group. Just because you pity our status as single people doesn’t mean you can push out heads together like barbie dolls until we kiss.”

“Don’t you think you deserve to be happy? I’m not saying that you can’t be happy if you aren’t in a relationship, but why deny yourself of something you know would bring you happiness?”

Jisung decides that Felix is no longer the ‘bestest friend to ever friend’. A real friend of Jisung’s would know that he hates to confront his inner dialogue in that way, to dig up the most vulnerable parts of himself and lay them bare for all to see. Jisung then decides to be a little more lenient, they did meet less than a month ago after all.

“How do you know being with Minho would bring me happiness? I don’t even know how I feel about him, or how he feels about me!” Jisung feels obligated to go on the defensive. He wishes Felix had something stronger than wine at his dorm so he didn’t have to remember this conversation tomorrow.

“Jisung, I’m going to tell you something, and you can’t sit there and deny it. I’m giving you a completely objective point of view, I promise.” Felix begs, clearly exasperated by Jisung’s antics and regretting leaving his boyfriend for this. Shit, Jisung still needs to ask him about that.

“Okay? You better not be lying,” Jisung starts, “I’m not in the mood for more bullshit tonight.”

Felix rolls his eyes before responding, “Look, when we say that you and Minho enter your own world and forget the rest of us, we really mean it. I’ve never seen two people get along the way you do, barring the first week or so obviously. I mean, did you see how he defended you earlier? Adorable.”

“You don’t have to just say shit to make me feel better. That doesn’t mean he wants to date me.”

“But why are you so hung up on that? What about this is me saying stuff to make you feel better? This wouldn’t be me hyping you up if you didn’t want anything to happen.” Felix interjects, still sitting in his weird-ass therapist stance.

There’s a bit of truth to that, and Jisung really doesn’t find himself appreciating that. His pulse is back in his throat, and it feels a lot like that feeling you get right before you throw up. He needs to leave, needs to go back to his apartment and sort his shit out.

Or just wallow in self-pity. Jisung likes that idea better.

“I’m leaving,” he says.

“Fine. But don’t be surprised when I get my ‘I told you so’ moment very soon,” Felix taunts as Jisung starts putting his shoes back on. Why did he even bother taking them off in the first place?

“Whatever. Don’t get wine drunk and vomit everywhere; and use protection with Channie,” Jisung says in substitute of a farewell, already walking out the door.

It’s not until halfway through the walk back to his dorm that Jisung never asked Felix if he was actually dating Chan. Oh well, he sees the other boy on Monday for their one class together, and he’s the one more likely to give a straight answer at this point.

Jisung finally reaches his dorm, and closes the door behind him to realize he’s home alone. If that’s the case, he feels for Minho, who must be stuck with Thing 1 and Thing 2 at his apartment for the foreseeable future. At the thought of Minho, his conversation with Felix comes rushing back in waves, causing Jisung to pale at a certain realization.

He cared so much about whether what Minho felt toward him was anything past completely platonic, appropriate for their timeline friendship. But why would he care so much about what Minho felt if he didn’t feel anything for the other boy?

Fuck.

[choochooboss]

October Magma event approaching!!

Choo chooOOOoo...! "A swift, chilly autumn wind sweeps past you. As soon as it fades, a letter lands by your feet. You look down and notice that the fancy looking envelope bears your name. You get a little nervous not seeing who sent it.

You flip the sealed envelope in your hands a few times while thinking what to do about it. Eventually your curiosity wins and you decide to open it up. It reads...

"Pasio Glamour Fest. Starting on Saturday, October 28th-30th. At Magma mansion. We are expecting you."

It's time for another monthly Magma event! Wooo!! Here is the event guide, make sure to check it out!

Main event theme: design a special costume OR a Sygna suit for any official Pokémon character(s) and draw them strike a pose!

What's a sygna suit you may ask? For those who don't play Pokémon Masters EX: it's a stylish costume themed after the character's partner pokémon! However, the pokémon doesn't have to be originally in the character's team, so you can choose your inspiration freely and make them pose together!

Please don't worry about picking the same character/pokémon as others. I believe each of your design will be unique! You can also pick a pokémon the character is already partnered with, like sygna suit Emmet & Archeops!

Halloween themed costumes are appreciated but not required! Also they don't need to be cool and stylish, you can go totally silly and/or cute with it! If you don't want to make your own design or nothing pops in your mind, you can make the character cosplay as other characters (can be outside games/Pkmn series). Just write down in the piece who they're dressing up as!

You can draw as many designs as you like, but you can reserve up to two slots at the start: if your pieces reach the coloring phase/show good progress, you can reserve more slots!

If you already have a design prepared, you can use that no problem! Working on your ideas in advance is recommended! Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but you can draw your piece in other art program than Magma (or traditionally) if that suits you better! Just make sure to DM me your piece(s) by the end of October 30th!!

For free doodle session we will have a dedicated page for ghost type pokémon! We also have a grandiose ballroom for your OCs & favourite characters to enjoy the spooky atmosphere and show off their moves. I also hear there is a mischievous little witch running around & turning naughty people into joltiks..! Trick or treat?

All aboard!! I hope you'll have a spooktacular time with us!

[sydney-carton-of-sour-milk]

For this week's post, I have a very special announcement:

As of the minute of my posting this,

this blog

is officially

A DECADE OLD!

To mark the occasion, I've gone back to my old sketchbook and (at long last!) made a scan of the first drawing I ever posted here...

...which I've used as reference for a redraw🥹

I've been through a lot in the last decade (as you can imagine), and, consequently, the nature of my love for and appreciation of the novel has changed so much through those years; with each subsequent time I've read it, A Tale of Two Cities has meant a different thing to me and held a unique place in my soul, tailored to its shape at that point in time.

That's part of why it has been such an immense, immeasurable joy to have this blog as a constant, a place for me to capture those shapes (and their changing over the years) by providing the good people of Tumblr's A Tale of Two Cities fandom with posts of all varieties. What a wonderful and rewarding place it has been for finding community in which we can all share our collective appreciation for this incredible novel. So if you're reading this, thank you! And I hope this blog has been able to provide for you anything like what it has for me!

Now this post is done, why don't we call a health, dear reader; why don’t we give our toast?

Many more posts - and years - to come, then!

[fictionfixations]

masquerade malleus vignette

(spoilers for glorious masquerade)

aww

i refuse to believe lilia is oblivious enough not to notice that they dont like his cooking

..although solomon (from obey me) doesnt notice either iirc, but i mean..

..sebek. in a vignette, you literally got his help in cleaning a stain from malleus' labcoat???

...i never thought id hear azul say those words.... what?????

i dont know how it didnt hit me until now but the only reason rollo's plan in glorious masquerade failed was because he was so insistent on having malleus there and taking away all his power and shit?? like. cause. none of us had enough magic to actually overpower the fire lotuses(? i cant remember what they were called), although yuu would be able to make it through with no magic how could we even fight rollo at the end??

and at the point it reaches malleus and he could do something about it, it'd be too late?? because i REALLY doubt he has enough to reach all of those flowers and with enough to completely fry them out. and i doubt the bell would reach it by then.

silver...

is azul even human?? im like pretty sure-ish he's not human. not even half human. just entirely sea creature with a human-like body to probably be treated more normally and not hunted for sport/food through evolution shit idfk (like. idk im pretty sure its a thing where pets look so much cuter to cause us to take them in and shit.)

anyway im just imagining sebek talking azul's ear off about how great malleus is because he finally has a buddy who understands and therefore would be willing to listen to him talk for hours straight about malleus's greatness. AND APPRECIATE IT. HAUIHDSUIhd and azuls just like ………………….. floyd and jade laughing at him from a distance azul sets sebek on them like 'i think those two should come to learn about malleus's brilliance, don't you think? after all, as my colleagues, it is such a shame that they don't share my admiration for malleus, and i am unsure how to put it into words, as malleus himself is so magnificent that even words fail to describe him properly. so sebek, my fellow appreciator, would you lend me your aid in helping them grow to appreciate his brilliance?' okay i ran out of words and started repeating them because ic ant be bothered to look up for synonyms, im not THAT into it okay

ahhh so it is a fleur city song i wasnt sure. ive read in fics that it was, but it was also those fics where songs either have power, or yuu knows a bunch of disney songs that are considered 'forbidden/forgotten songs' or something like that and i cant remember which it was

actually if they put in all that work beforehand i think i get why they were so insistent on waiting for rollo to either confess or not AFTER the social ball and after they left and everything LMFAO

they suddenly changed into their school uniforms (still in diasomnia)

i honestly wouldnt know if id trust lilia that much but sure (i hope it doesnt turn to perfectionism levels tho)

first time we encounter italicized text i think. huh.

lmfao

oh my god (no but why choose idia at that point?? is it cuz his voice meshes well with them??)

ayoo its playing the make a wish (i think thats what the song is called) instrumental in the bg ive heard it way too many times not to recognize it (and sung along. its so fucking cool)

damn

my hands are actually protesting now ah geez (i took a break)

I GOT SO DISTRACTED BY DEUCE (i was re-experiencing enjoying looking at everyones costumes again) I AM AN IDIOT (its lower in opacity to show you that you're on it in the editor)

ooh

i didnt notice the insert paragraph im sorry lMFAO but id forget if i didnt SS it then

ooh some malleus riddle bonding

AH ITS A YUU JUMPSCARE

that seriously startled me like suddenly i just hear footsteps and then BOOM OPTIONS

ayooo malleus and yuu dancing

(alsoo yuu and deuce dancing :D)

WOOO

okay. now.

i feel like. im doing really good progress tackling all the vignettes (currently in EN. after that's GloMas, & Book 6 and 7. ive been avoiding it because not all of the Backgrounds exist, and GloMas has options with completely different dialogue which I can't see them all. i have three different videos of GloMas gameplay but they dont show all options...). all thats remaining is azul's tsumsitter (i have a vid of his vignette. ..i just dont like doing the tsum ones because i never know how to describe the tsum moving) vil birthday bloom (i FOUND A VIDEO finally oh my god. i love doing birthday vignettes) malleus dorm uniform (I have a vid) sebek new year (i have a vid) grim labcoat (i have a vid)

and then the rabbit costume ones which all of them have vignettes iirc and i have videos for all of them (i actually just found them as i was writing this. thank you god. they have no views tho geez. wonder if that means vil birthday bloom exists in a video but just wont appear. this is future me. ...i have been blessed with vil birthday bloom.)

[elvenbeard]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Yes I'm actually doing this on a Wednesday wooo :D

I just went back through all my tags of the last month and man, you guys ;__; <3 I'm not good at keeping up with tumblr atm and I don't have something to share every week, so I think once a month a WIP Wednesday might be a good compromise XD Thank you for all the tags!!

@theviridianbunny @dreamskug @ouroboros-hideout @lokiina @therealnightcity @chevvy-yates tagging you all right back!

So, with that off of my list of works in progress, as is answering all the tag games and quizzes, some projects I'm working on atm:

Writing: Love is stored in the olive jar (WT) - Chapter 13

It's done, but still needs a lot of editing, as it got very heavy on dialogue in the end and I want it all to flow more nicely and make it a bit more scenic XD Too many instances of "she looked up again" or "he paused for a moment/second" xD But I'm getting there! Here's a snippet from the already somewhat polished beginning:

“Alright,” Fuentes said as she finally caught her breath again, “I suggest we cut straight to the chase.” “Yes,” V nodded, “Thank you again for taking the time.” “Of course,” Fuentes nodded, “I have to admit, I have been thinking about you and your case a lot these past days. Even with the limited knowledge I have so far, I still believe I may be able to help. If you are willing now to tell me more about your condition now, of course.” ‘Willing’ wasn’t the word V would use, it was more a necessity at this point. “I will,” he said, “But only if you can provide me with a certain level of security.” Fuentes shifted in her chair slightly and frowned, then she opened one of the drawers of her desk and pulled out a tablet. She turned it on and began to search for something on it while maintaining eye contact with V as best as she managed. “You’ve come here today as my patient. As far as I’m concerned, everything, anything that we discuss, falls under the doctor-patient confidentiality. My contract with the Little China MedCenter binds me to treat your data and information with utmost care and discretion. All data we store is locked away securely, all in accordance with your Trauma Team policy. I can resend you the patient information papers and contracts, although I think most of them you should already have…” “I care less about the MedCenter than about what you personally do with the information I’m going to give you,” V said, and Fuentes stopped her search, narrowing her eyes slightly. “I’m not sure what you’re alluding to,” she said, still polite, but significantly more tense than before. “Nothing,” V shook his head carefully, “This is just not something I tell random strangers on the street… no offense, of course. If I have to play with open cards, I need you to as well.”

In which Vince hates doctors but has to trust one now, boo XD

Writing: Some drabbles :3

Inbetween the longfic I still have some ask prompt drabbles to fill that I'm looking forward to tackling soon! And in a sudden burst of inspiration I wrote out a long although not very serious convo between Vince and Johnny the other day xD I'd love to turn it into a (VP) comic maybe, but I'm not sure yet XD

Art: Nothing new since last time, slowly chipping away at some bigger projects inbetween

VP: Currently no concrete plans for a bigger project

Although I wanna do more "days in the life" for Vince!! And I wanna play around more with some poses though and have a very soft set to share that I gotta edit a bit still ;_; Tomorrow probably!

Also, I'd like to turn the interface thingies from my recent "V as NPC" projects into shareable templates, that is also on my wip/ to-do list! Just wanna gather some in-game reference shots first :D

Modding: 👀👀👀

I'm working on a little something maybe, and I'm so excited :DDD Just gotta relearn how to do Archive XL, it's been half a year xD And I fought MLSetup Builder so fucking hard, but now I know how to edit MLMask Setups, so that's a victory at least XD And I have a base for a very kitschy coat :3

But yes, so much to that so far! See you again in a month or so probably with an ever-growing pile of wips xD But maybe some more writing, maybe some more art, and maybe a finished mod after too long 👀

[cruelestpigeon]

THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES IMPRESSIONS: EP 100 - 104

EP 100: I Guess You Had To Be There

Martin is so bad at the interviewing stage, I can’t really blame him though since he doesn’t have that weird ability that Jon has lmao. Omg Tim also sucks stop. The way the most anti social guy is the only one who can successfully interview people is so funny. They all suck at this noooo. This is definitely my favourite episode of s3 it’s so good lmaooo. Really going to send that guy back out there to die by the spiders??? WHO THE HELL????? Peter Lukas was that weird captain dude right??? ALSO WOOO HALFWAY DONE!!!!!!

EP 101: Another Twist

Omg I love this new character so much. Wait. They just referred to Elias as the eye? This was so interesting, I mean the way Jon just accepted his fate? Why was the box locked? Woooo Helen is back, I’m pretty sure her episode was one of the first episodes I started writing my reaction for?

EP 102: Nesting Instinct

I still don’t get why we’re trusting the guy who killed Gertrude. HELP Elias geeking out about Jon’s progressing with his abilities lmaoo. Melanie coming up to stab Elias and he’s using Jon as a defense stop. THANK YOU MELANIE FOR NOT TRUSTING ELIAS (even though he’s probably not lying)!!!!! Don’t got too much to say about the statement itself since I figured that that was probably the case. MARTIN AND JON!!!! I missed their friendship. I need Jon to go back to the archive I miss the gang.

EP 103: Cruelty Free

Pigs actually scare me so bad they’re so big. HELP JON ABUSING HIS POWER LIKE THAT???? Don’t got too much to say about this one sorry.

EP 104: Sneak Preview

TIM BACKSTORY?? This makes me so sad considering how happy Tim was in season one wtf. He was such a good brother :( Oh this is actually horrifying. This is horrible. I will sob it’s 3 am why do i do this to myself. Oh Tim is going to die isn’t he at this rate

[skyrider3217artz]

Just a heads up, WOOO! Im not dead. Just been busy lately.

Life has been keeping me busy. I have been on and off with my plush work, which has forced me to take longer than expected. Though it is now in its final assembly, so keep an eye out for that post in the next few days.

Here are some progress photos of how it's slowly shaping up to the final product. I probably should have posted these when I had them but ... I was very busy.

But hey, you get to see my process.

Anyway, hope you all have a good day/afternoon/evening.

I have plenty of projects lined up since people have been asking me to commission me to make either another monster from Monster Hunter or their own character. I am currently not open but you can always message me so I can put you on a waiting list. It's gonna be a very LONG wait unfortunately with the amount that wants one. These take time and I am also working a full-time job.

I do plan for this new year to spend more time making plushies and make a goal for myself to finish 1 plush in 1-2 months. It is a stretch with the amount of free time I have, but I am up for a challenge.

This is honestly a new experience for me and I am happy for the support I have been given.

[studaxy]

7 August, 2023, Monday

WOOO I'm alive! Was gone the last few days weeks because I got hyper-fixated on a game and absolutely needed to try and beat it once or else.

do I know that the date is wrong? yes. do I care? NOPE!

I was supposed to make this post yesterday night but uh, my streamer went live and by then it was too late for my adhd :D

did end up studying a little thankfully, even if it was only for 40 minutes with @a-fox-studies but any progress is progress! either way it was a good enough Monday to kickstart my week of productivity hopefully 👍

music: 🎵 Dress [Taylor Swift] 🎵 step count: 👟 3089 steps 👟

[thewakingcloak]

The State of Things Past

this post is mirrored from the Studio Spacefarer Patreon! please consider supporting me, and you’ll get access to devlog posts, gifs, and other info before the public!

Like I mentioned in my previous post, The Waking Cloak has been in development for eight years.

ProtoDungeon: Episode III has itself been in development for a few years, pretty much since 2019 (oooof). I've gotten plenty of questions about how the project is coming, as well as the occasional question of whether The Waking Cloak / ProtoDungeon is even alive at all at this point. Thank you for asking this. It means people are still interested in these games.

Okay, but still, what happened? Why are things taking so long? Well, this post is the first in the Christmas Carol series, in which the ~Ghost of Spacefarer Past~ appears to explain things (wooo spooky explanation sounds).

Progress has been made, very slowly, on ProtoDungeon: Episode III. I'd love to have done more, but, well… in the time since I released Episode II, we continued adjusting to parenthood for our first kid, went through the pandemic, had a second baby (who is now almost 3yo), and survived through a series of really difficult events, which culminated in a move to a new house in a new town and the start of a new chapter (but that last bit we'll save that for the Ghost of Christmas Present so he feels useful).

But yeah, it's been a rough ride. My wife and I are intentionally open about what's been going on. At the same time, the internet is an extremely public place, and I don't want to overshare, or worse, trigger anything for anyone, so I'll try to keep this list brief:

Two miscarriages (the first one was late term, and absolutely, brutally devastating)

The loss of our faith community due to the pandemic

Loss of job for my wife due to the pandemic (the pandemic was unkind to teachers)

Loss of a dream job prospect for my wife (same issue)

The great Texas freeze and power outage (us huddling under blankets in shifts through the night with our newborn infant (he's fine now!))

Severe, life-threatening post-partum and post-natal depression

Family covid and two-week cabin-fever quarantines (twice, despite being vaccinated and careful)

The death of my grandma (we were not able to attend her memorial due to aforementioned covid and living on the other side of the country)

Multiple heart attacks for my father despite his active and healthy lifestyle

Autoimmune disease scare for my wife (may still be a thing, just dormant?)

etc., etc., ad infinitum.

A lot of people have had things significantly worse, so this is definitely not an attempt to "compare griefs" as it were. This is just context for, no matter how much I wanted it to be otherwise, the fact that I didn't have the mental or emotional (or temporal) space for creativity. It was one thing after another, and we were just trying to keep our heads above water.

Even when we'd mostly recovered from the hits that just kept comin', we moved away from what my wife lovingly refers to as the "trauma house", and she started a teaching job at a brand-new school. Both were good things, but they were pretty big transitions, and it takes time for the ol' brains to adjust. We love our new home now and have a bit more breathing room.

Okay but also I HAVE been working on ProtoDungeon. Dev was really sporadic, but it did happen. The next post will have more detail on the status of Episode III, but there were kind of two big things I worked on during the past three years, big shifts in the foundation of ProtoDungeon and The Waking Cloak.

First, I switched game perspective. I made a few posts about this a while back, but PD/TWC interiors were originally like Zelda interiors (where you see the insides of all four walls). There are good reasons to do this, but it was also kinda making me crazy. So I switched to a more natural front-perspective, keeping things consistent with the exteriors. It definitely was the right choice for the game I wanted to build, but it took time.

Second, and building on that, I made the game fully faux-3D. You can walk behind or in front of stuff--not something the old Zelda games did, and still pretty rare for 2D games. I was toying with the idea for a long time, but I played through an old PlayStation title, Alundra, and that convinced me it could be done. It's way harder than you might expect, and it was a massive block for me for literally years. I was able to slowly work my way past it and finally resolved it with a 3D z-tilting method, but dev slowed to a crawl.

And that's it for now! The ghost releases you from your vision of Spacefarer Past….

Thanks for reading :)

[pillowspace]

OK SO I FOUND YOUR FIC RANDOMLY WHILE GOIN THROUGH REBOOT WITH MY FNAF PHASE AND OF COURSE I'M HOPSCOTCHING MY WAY THROUGH THE DCA FANDOM

Update on the fic thing tho: I read all that you had I love it so much dkahdlsi I love itttt :DDDD

But side efdect was that I ran out of fic to read, so like any sane person, I take my phone and have been going to your celestial sundown tag and setting down my phone on the table, prepping myself for therapy, and working to get aaaaallll the way to the bottom to go from start to finish(haven't made it through yet). Tysm you've provided me with content to draw onto my hopscotch ahdbkahdka wooo good luckk :DDDD

AWWW THANK YOU SO MUCH <3<3 this means soooo much to me, I sent a screenshot of this ask to my friend's discord server like "ohgjh......"

I've been seeing you go through the tag in my notifications and it honestly makes me feel so happy to see that. I'm so glad you're experiencing the joyful whimsies

Well, um! Chapter 3 is being posted tomorrow, I believe. So there's that. I'm currently 5,700 words into writing chapter 4. Progress report

[cherryluvrx3]

meat lovers amirite??

Dave Strider x Reader X Karkat Vantas

Chapter 3

[masterlist]

I stopped pacing around the room when I heard the doorbell ring. I practically ran to the door then stopped just in front to compose myself. Straighten out my clothes and pat my hair down and take a deep breath before I opened the door.

Dave, who was waiting on the other side, heard the heavy footsteps of someone running to the door.

‘Am I gonna get jumped??’

The pause.

‘Maybe they had a change of heart.’

The deep breath.

‘No they’re definitely getting ready to fight me.’

And the door opened to reveal a.. sweaty, nervous looking dude- the same one from last time actually.

“Uh..” Dave quickly peaked behind them and didn’t see anyone else, hiding or otherwise. “Your friends didn’t set you up like last time?” He smiled albeit a bit nervously.

“Oh! No I eh.. just.. asked for you myself..”

“..really?”

“Yeah really..”

“…”

Awkward….

“….Right.. well your total is $9.99..” Dave took out the pizza from his little pizza carrier.

“Hopefully it isn’t burnt this time.” I joked and Dave seemed to look surprised.

“Wait really? Your pizza was burnt last time?”

“Uh yeah, like half of the pepperoni was singed. I mean my friend ate it anyway but still.” I said and took note of how he looked sort of confused.

“Yeah that’s.. kinda weird? My friend is the one who makes the pizzas and he usually follows the Pizza Hut pizza making regulations like, word for word. Sort of like a perfectionist? I feel like if he burnt a pizza he would’ve remade it. Or are these false accusations you're putting on my bro’s name?” Dave questioned with a quirked brow and crossed arms.

“No?? Why would I lie about that dude?” I laughed.

“Well I mean, you didn’t call to replace it either.”

“Yeah ‘cause my friend already tore that shit up.” I snickered and pulled out a $10 bill to pay him. He seemed more relaxed now, smiling as he took the money.

“Oh, keep the change, buy yourself something nice.” I winked. “Well aren't you made of money? Sure you can give so much to little ol’ me?” He chuckled and pocketed the bill. “I have more money than I know what to do with man.” I lied confidently as if this pizza didn’t use up the rest of the money I had for the week. “Ha! Have a good one. I’ll let you know if anyone I know needs a sugar daddy or something.” He laughed and walked off.

I closed the door.

Hehehehehe!!!!!

I giggled and tossed the pizza on the counter, running to my couch and flopping down to text the group chat, my legs kicking behind me.

Me

-GUYS

-GUYS OMGGG

Roxy <3

-wat wat wat!!!

Me

-I talked to him :3

Roxy <3

-wooo!!! yeah baby!!

Tezi >:]

-Ok… and?

Me

-wym

Gamz :o)

-so what else

Me

-I just

-Talked to him

-Idk what you want me to say

Nepetita :3

-(Y/n)!!! You have to do more than just TALK to get close to him!! *Nepeta pouts and taps her foot*

Me

-IDK WGAF TO DO!!??

-Like I think,, laughing with him and making small talk is a good start righttt

Roxy <3

-yep def a good start

Tezi >:]

-Stop feeding into their delusions!!

Roxy <3

-what i do? 😭

Tezi >:]

-You’re coddling them and letting them take baby steps! They need to make big jumps to make progress >:/ you could’ve asked what school he goes to, how old he is, when his birthday is, his work schedule, his address or

-Or something!!

Gamz :o)

-yeppp exactly what she said

-remember I said ya gots to take risks babe

Me

-mannn >:/ let me take baby steps

Roxy <3

-yea!! theres norhing wrong with wanting to tske things slow and easy

-its better rhan them coming off as desperate tbh

Nepetita :3

-I guess… but still!! You have to do a little better than having a short pleasant conversation with him okie?? At the end of the day we want you to be happy but you gotta try to okie??

Me

-Yeahhhh :/

-I guess I can like.. go to the actual place and try to chat him up there then ask for his number?

Gamz :o)

-mhm that’s a good idea lil mama

Me

-Yeeeshhh I’m just so like nervous cuz he’s like… so cool

-Like what if he thinks I’m a loser and laughs in my face

-I think I would die

Tezi >:]

-Then fuck that guy!!!

Roxy <3

-yeah I don’t rhink you gotta worry bout nothing

-like I’m very sure if that happens terezi and gamzee r gonna stuff him in a oven 💀

Gamz :o)

-fuck yeah we will

Nepetita :3

-don’t be nervous! You’re literally so epic! I purrmise he’s gonna end up liking you beclaws who wouldn’t!!

Me

-dawwww :>

-ty little meow meow

Nepetita :3

-:3 *hugs you*

Me

-*accepts hug*

Tezi >:]

-*TEARS HUG APART

-*GRABS (Y/N) BY SHOULDERS AND SHAKES THEM*

-YOU CAN DO THIS

-YOU BETTER DO THIS

-BECAUSE WE’RE ALL TIRED OF YOU COMPLAINING OF NOT HAVING A BOYFRIEND

Me

-Okay okay!!

-I’ll try harder

-not today or tomorrow tho

-soon tho!! I swear

-I got missing work too do remember

-but yeah I’ll try harder

Roxy <3

-great :)))

I sigh and toss my phone on the couch while I get up to eat the pizza that’s probably gone a bit cold now.

Yeah I’ll definitely approach him better. Someday.

Damn this pizza is burnt again?

———

The bell on the door jingled as Dave entered the store. He tossed the keys back to Aradia who was looking through a crusty magazine from 2015.

“Do you want me to take over deliveries again? We got two more calls.”

“Uh yeah but stay here for a bit? Need to chat with Karkat real quick ‘fore I man the phones again.”

“…but the customers need their pizzas.” She looked at him with a strangely intense gaze.

“Uh.. they can wait a few minutes bro. It’s not the end of the world.” He nervously joked before dipping to the back.

“Hey kat.” He greeted his friend who just finished boxing a pizza. “Oh. What do you want Dave?” He grumbled and moved the pizza to the counter for Aradia to grab.

“So the guy I delivered to just told me the craziest thing. That the pizza they got a few days ago was actually..” Dave paused for dramatic effect, “burnt..” he slapped his hand over his mouth in faux surprise.

Karkat visibly stiffened.

Dave didn’t notice though because he was more focused on teasing Karkat.

“I thought your pizzas were your ‘works of art’? Your ‘babies’? And you burnt one? What if this affects the store's reviews huh?” He laughed and elbowed Karkat.

It was then he noticed the strange look of guilt on Karkat’s face.

“Uh..dude?”

“..it was a mistake. So what if some schmuck got a burnt pizza?” He grumbled and went off to look for something to occupy his hands.

“Well yeah I wasn’t accusing you of doing it on purpose,” Dave paused and turned to look at Karkat, “did you.. do it on purpose..?” He asked, with a confused smile.

“AGH!”

uh oh.

“WHO CARES!?”

here it comes.

“GET OUT! GET OUT!! GO DO YOUR FUCKING JOB DICKBAG STRIDER!”

Karkat snapped and shoved Dave out the kitchen and back to the front of the store.

Before Dave could try to talk to him again, Karkat already rushed to the break room and slammed the door shut.

“…”

“.. I will go deliver the pizzas now.” Aradia got up quickly, snatching the two pizza boxes and leaving.

Dave checked the clock to see how long he had left on his shift.

2 hours.

Goddamnit.

———

a/n - I sure use "..." a lot... but I like it.. hehe...

idk its just so I can portray the timing of their pauses while they speak and they make a lot of pauses *skull emoji*

also nepeta's contact name is 'nepetita'. I'm mexican and adding "ita" to something is sort of saying "little" in an affectionate way so her contact is saying 'little nepeta' if any of u are confused

[jujumin-translates]

Event | Ayakashi Summer Festival | Chapter 10

Izumi: Well then, next up is the awards ceremony.

Izumi: (Since GOD-za is participating in the contest, Guy-san, Hisoka-san, and Omi-kun will be handling the awards ceremony.)

Guy: Understood.

Hisoka: I’ve got the progress notes from Haruto and the others.

Omi: Got the mic over here.

Azuma: We’ll go take our seats then.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Shift: Good work today, guys!

Azuma: Good work.

Masumi: Nice job.

Misumi: Madoka, what’d you think of our play?

Madoka: It was really good. I could really feel the daidarabotchi’s mysteriousness and his kindness…

Madoka: It gave me some really nice warm feelings.

Misumi: Ehehe, thanks~!

Shift: It was a really great and touching story that made ya smile!

Haruto: It was really MANKAI Company-like too. Overall, it wasn’t too shabby.

Madoka: I knew Minagi-san’s script would be interesting and that his lines would be fascinating and amazing. I’ve really learned a lot from him.

Masumi: …I’ll pass the message on to Tsuzuru.

Madoka: Yukishiro-san’s performance was also very soft and lovely. I liked it a lot.

Madoka: Masumi’s character was pretty comical, and his interactions with Mikage-san’s kogitsune were really lively and fun too.

Azuma: Fufu, thank you. It’s nice to get feedback like that.

Masumi: …Well, if it was interesting, I guess that’s good.

Misumi: Ah! Omi and the other’s just came out on stage!

Guy: Everyone, thank you for waiting. We will now begin the awards ceremony for the Ayakashi Summer Festival Theater Contest.

Hisoka: The award for making everyone smile goes to… Troupe Peppermint Candy.

*Applause*

Guy: Can the representative for Troupe Peppermint Candy please make their way to the podium?

Omi: Congratulations! Here’s your trophy and prize meal ticket.

Omi: Your performance was very funny and heartwarming.

Peppermint Candy Representative: Thank you so much! We’ll keep up the good work from now on!

*Applause*

Guy: Next up is the script award.

Hisoka: The script award goes to… GOD-za.

Madoka: Eh…!

Misumi: Yaaay~! That’s amazing, Madoka! Congrats~!

Shift: Wooo!

Haruto: Hmph, well, it’s only obvious.

Masumi: Congrats, Madoka.

Azuma: Congratulations.

Madoka: T-Thank you so much…!

Guy: Can the representative for GOD-za please make their way to the stage?

Madoka: Well then, Haruto-san or Shift…

Haruto: What are you talking about? You’re the one who won the award, so you should go up on stage, Madoka.

Shift: Yeah, yeah! Here, off you go!

Madoka: W-Wah… you don’t have to push so hard…

Madoka: Okay then, I’ll go.

Omi: Congrats on winning the script award! You had a very good and touching story.

Omi: Here’s your trophy and prize bookstore gift card.

Madoka: T-Thank you so much…

Masumi: Madoka seems nervous on stage.

Azuma: Fufu, but he seems happy too.

Misumi: Yeah!

Misumi: (Congratulations, Madoka…!)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Misumi: Patrolling, patrolling~. Hmm, everything seems fine over here!

Azuma: Well then, please take care of this man for me.

Summer Festival Staff: Yes, leave it to me. I’ll make sure he gets back safe and sound.

Misumi: Thaaanks.

Azuma: Now that it’s night, more and more people have started drinking, which has made more and more incidents happen.

Misumi: Yeah. But at least the guy who got drunk and fell asleep on the ground earlier was a friend of one of the staff members~.

Azuma: True. Still, we couldn’t just leave him laying there like that…

Azuma: Ah, it’s nearly time for the fireworks to start, so how about we make our way over there while patrolling?

Misumi: Watching the fireworks with everyone sounds fun! I wonder if Director-san and the others are seated already~?

Azuma: I’m sure they are.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Misumi: Oh, right, Azuma! Thanks for finding the mother and father of those two lost kids earlier!

Azuma: No need to thank me. Did you have a good time with Madoka, Misumi?

Misumi: Yeah! It was short, but I had a lotta fun! And it was all thanks to you, Azuma!

Azuma: Good, I’m glad.

*Fireworks*

Misumi: Waaah! Fireworks~!

Azuma: They’re quite beautiful.

Misumi: Yeah, but too bad they started before we could find seats~.

Misumi: Ah, a triangle firework!

Azuma: Fufu, what a rare shape for a firework. I wonder if they’re for you, Misumi.

Misumi: Yaaay, triangle, triangle~!

Azuma: Everyone’s waiting for us, we should get going,

Misumi: Yeah, let’s go~!

[ ⇠ Previous Part ] • [ Next Part ⇢ ]