#🎼 // ic

[fromtheberrybush]

That’s fair enough. I grow out just the front bit

- 🌸🎼

growing out my hair was the most painful process- and learning about how to take care of long hair

[innocence-impulse]

he understands his staring has long since grown obvious, gazing over to where alice sits in what he has counted to be 60 second intervals as she unravels the letter recieved by a supposed 'anonymous' source. he'd chosen his best handwriting for such an occasion, countless drafts expressing his appreciation, his genuine offers of support and companionship scattered in and across the in back in his office that the majority of the house's residents have been able to guess his involvement the moment they had put two and two together, quickly quietened up by a pointed stare, continued enough to have them run out of the room, scurrying over whines of half eaten breakfast and appointments 'suddenly' popping up. the devildom may rarely be able to celebrate human holidays, but he had ensured the importance of valentines remained at the top - or high enough, at least, to make it seem not so strange for alice to have a letter; one attached with a singular, long living rose to rest at the bottom in the same frame.

❛ you've been looking at that for quite some time, is there something about it that has caught your eye? ❜ he is curious, not above the instinct to ask in a roundabout way to just how alice may consider his words. he did not wish to overwhelm her, to buy countless extravagant gifts that she may have felt uncomfortable receiving, but should she feel that this is not enough … well, he has time, he has a game. a timeframe and little too much power to offer gifts that may match her interests in a better light. ❛ it seems whoever got this for you, cares about you a lot … i cannot help but admit i imagine they'd be rather pleased in seeing you enjoy the way you hold their written heart like this. ❜ / from lucifer!

@dangaer ◁ || ▷ Unprompted!

Once in a while, her emotions overflow (not as she allows it; it just happens). Lucifer's quiet approach (just as always) makes her gasp out in surprise while turning her head quickly in his direction. It's not like she didn't notice his long stare, but she thought it was him being strict. So when he came to her, she was indeed squishing that letter pretty hard, though the first thing that hit her was that he was not satisfied with something. However, soon she realized by the tone of his voice, that she was mistaken.

Still, it's a bit surprising (though not at all Lucifer's tone was so different from the strict one she used to hear regularly, his voice appeared softer than usual somehow). At first, she went pale due to the unexpectedly of his question, but then her facial color became deep red, when the demon asked her about the letter, taking into account how tight she squeezed it, quite obviously what her relation to the letter is.

«It's just…my first time receiving a l-lov--»

Even if it's embarrassing to admit, it's not like she had to hide anything from Lucifer from now on. Still, she's a bit shy around him but is keen on keeping her posture as far as she could keep to it, even due to her shivering voice and her body language giving out what she feels. It's also clear by her intermittent breathing, that she was stunned by this very unusual sensation she never really had to experience before.

«…actually, I have no idea who wrote this, but, of course, I'm…a bit confused. I'm...a little curious who wrote it, though not...not like it's really matter , untill the feelings are there, I guess....»

It's hard to swallow for a split second because she was indeed feeling anxious around him, and the whole situation was a bit confusing. Romance is something she stopped considering could happen to her since she became an exorcist and therefore a soldier. She forgot long ago how it could be, or if it could ever happen to her at all.

«I'm going to take care of it untill it wither. »

Alice carefully placed the rose on the table, her sight fixated on it, and the blush still bright on her cheeks. Even if she did enjoy it, she was somehow happy, but she was still anxious around Lucifer, though a bit more confident around the other brothers. Maybe because she had feelings for him and tried very hard to keep them suppressed, now it seems she struggled because of it even more.

«...I have no idea who could it be, not like it matters. I can leave this letter with me like a good memory. And look at it when things get tough for me, it will make me feel better that somewhere a person is holding such warm feelings for me....»

She gasped because feelings got her again, and she looked away, biting her lips just a bit. It was getting harder to suppress the sensations she kept getting, especially in front of Lucifer, still trying to look her best for him so he wouldn't think, well…she got caught red-handed. No, she's not some crybaby, she would hold back, she would-

«...Though, I'm a bit…curious who wrote it. I know it's against the rules to know the receiver, but...»

Suddenly she goes silent, realizing she just gave her wish away. The droplets of sweat did show up on her face here and there, it's obvious now she's eager to know this. But she didn't want to unleash the true desires of her heart to a demon, however, they did make a certain bond, so she knew she could put at least some trust in Lucifer. But she also didn't want him to think that she was some light-hearted girl who fell in love so easily.

[cicatrixis]

❝ I will not ever play the Slumbernana Monkey song, even on request. You may quote me on that. ❞

[helldustedstories]

@madefate asked: It's been a hell of a night and, quite frankly, Blitz is getting sick of them. He's never gotten a lot of sleep, but he'd at least like to stop falling off the fucking couch from the nightmares. They still have that quality about them - grainy, too real, too close to home, full of memories more than nonsensical images. He's glowering over his coffee, watching the office, trying to find peace in the routine even as his temples pulsate.

When Moxxie sets up shop in the conference room, papers in hand, and Millie's busy with the calendar outside, Blitz slips in after him, slinking towards the seat across from him. For a few moments he just - watches him. Head tilted, eyes appraising, trying to pick up on anything - out of the ordinary. Less than healthy. Bothering him.

❝ - Hey. ❞ God, he hates talking like this, stripped bare of all the jokes and innuendos that make everything hurt less. But this - this is important. ❝ I've been ... meaning to ask but - have you been okay since that human government bullshit ? ❞

unprompted // always accepting

Moxxie had set today aside to get paperwork done. He was usually pretty good about staying on top of it (it was one of the things he did his best to keep as organized as possible, to make sure their clients paid them on time and in full), but they'd had some back-to-back jobs that had forced the filing to the back burner. Which meant that there was more to do than he would like, but he'd deal with it, the way he always did.

Truth be told, Moxxie liked doing paperwork. It was one of the things that made sense to him; there were specific guidelines to follow, and he didn't have to try to figure out if he was interpreting something wrong. He could just sit down, make sure everything was properly filled out, and know that he'd done a good job. You couldn't exactly do that with people, after all.

Not to say that he wanted to just do paperwork; he loved field work, too, and he was pretty damn good at it, if he did say so himself. But it could be a nice change of pace to just make sure the papers were in order, as much as he could. It was just another way to make himself useful, really.

He was frowning down at a particularly convoluted invoice (when had they used … did that say mint leaves? on a job?) when he heard Blitz make his way into the conference room, the controlled chaos of Moxxie's invoice system spread across the table. The smaller imp was used to Blitz occasionally just watching him and Millie, and while he normally would have looked up to see if he needed something, his eyes remained glued to the invoice, absorbed in what he was working on.

Even then, the moment Blitz greets him, Moxxie can tell that there's something going on. Between his unusually serious expression and the lack of jokes that frequently accompanies him, Blitz had something on his mind.

❝ I've been … meaning to ask but - have you been okay since that human government bullshit ? ❞

The question catches him off-guard, but Moxxie would be lying if he said he was surprised that Blitz had asked. He'd figured it must just have been him who was still dealing with particularly vivid dreams. But given that he had been dreaming in musicals (that devolved into nightmares more often than he'd like to admit, especially after a chance run-in with one of his father's goons, ships passing in the night), he figured it was fine, right?

His first instinct is to brush it off, to say he's fine…, but he has a feeling that there's more to this than Blitz is asking right off the bat.

"Well, truth serums, airborne or otherwise, aren't exactly my area of expertise," he starts, but he can feel himself starting to get into something that was a) not what Blitz asked, and b) probably not currently the most relevant to this situation. He pauses, then tries again. "I mean, I'd hoped it was just a weird side effect, but…are you all right, sir?" There had to be a reason he was asking, right?

[great-mouse-detectives]

Pride Month - Sexuality Headcanons

Hi!!! This blog isn't dead I just am incapable of writing consistently or even like. Ever. Muse comes and goes. And I've been thinking some so I wanted to say; I ship with chemistry. Which means that if characters have a good dynamic, I'll probably ship them. However, with that being said, they obviously have their preferences! There can be exceptions because I'm here to have fun and am also very into romance but here we go.

Under a read more cause its a lot.

Basil is gay. Attracted to men. But does he really fully grasp that? Absolutely not. He's a gay mess. (It takes a specific kind of woman to catch his attention if any.) But he is very much male leaning. And he's not picky, he just has little to no clue how to showcase affection beyond bullying/bantering with them until he wants to kiss them so bad it makes him look stupid. Any time Basil manages to be smooth or charismatic, he's actually just imitating what he's read in books that he thinks someone would enjoy. Any true attempts at romance will be awkward and very fumble-ly at first until well into the relationship.

Dawson leans towards females, but he doesn't mind men. He's a soft guy and just wants to be doted on some. It's easier for women to catch his eye, but considering the way he was raised he does have a hard time accepting that he can like men. It's just a product of his time. He's a lot older than most of the cast in the movie after all, but after coming to terms with it he shares it privately among his closet peers and Basil accepts him with open arms. Yes his only friend is Basil don't judge him.

Miss Kitty is big into sexual expression. She doesn't really have a preference between men and women, its just men seem to be more interested in her. She's a hopeless romantic and it's gotten her hurt many times, so she's much more reserved while not performing. But she's tougher than she looks so don't worry about it so much.

The man you've been waiting for, Ratigan. He's bisexual! Very much male leaning, but he can honestly charm anyone he sees fit. It's a part of his excellent manipulation skills. And if he can tell you're into him, you're fucked. Because he's not the healthiest partner to have. He will use your own feelings against you to twist you around his little finger. Actually getting him to like you back means you... Have to not like him. Stay strong and pretend to be uninterested so he'll be interested. If you seem different, that's what is going to catch his attention. He's definitely the most difficult of the group to actually write shipping wise, but that also makes him the most fun. He knows the effect he has on people and that's why he takes such a keen interest in Basil; even if not romantically, he is the most different man he's ever met. And he offers the challenge that he doesn't know he even seeks out...

Uh. Thanks for reading about them. Sorry for inactivity.

[butcher-v4nity]

I mean,,,,

[arrowsnsarcasm]

🎼

For each 🎼 I receive, I'll reveal a song on my muse's playlist.

[sakurastarkey]

🌴 Summer time 🌴

[phoenixduelist]

@pyratezlife to this

“How...

predictable.”

[fromtheberrybush]

Do the vegan police remain??

- 🌸🎼

Nah they take away the vegan's dude's powers and leave. But Micheal Cera kills Chris Evans with a sick skateboard grind to death

[innocence-impulse]

[ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐭𝐡 ] : sender drapes a coat / cape / etc. around receiver's shoulders. ( Cyno )

@xheartpages 𝄢 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝

The care demonstration from someone was so unexpected it left her speechless for a few minutes. Not much time passed since they tried to kill each other, but now everything had changed. However, she didn't know how to react to these changes of heart that seemed so sudden.

When the clothes draped over her shoulders, even though she didn't need warmth, she felt the burning sensation of shame, along with guilt, because of the unintentional harm she had caused. She had never intended to lead him into the trap that was meant for her. And all of this happened because of her stubbornness.

«...I-I'm  sorry. I should have told the truth from the very begining. But...I couldn't, since everything about my father is very dear to me. »

Alice felt so ashamed, her voice became a mere whisper, and she couldn't bear to even look him in the eyes, but she made attempts to at least look in his direction. What should she do now? In a few seconds the thought strikes her, and she forgets about her emotions, thus more important was to reach for him this instant.

«...look, we got into this mess because of me. So you can just leave me here and run. I'm gonna stop them, even if it's not for long. But you will have time to flee.. »

The fatui were after them because of her, after all. She probably should have told the truth about her father, but there were so many things she didn't know herself. It'll be only fair if he rescues himself and leaves her to her unavoidable fate. That would be the right thing to do, at least --- she was certain of it without a second. That will make for this little trick of hers, even if it was unintentional all along.

[cicatrixis]

❝ I find the creed of the Nameless quite beautiful in some ways, and confounding in others. To walk the same path as many others, to follow an oath to a long-lost Aeon, while also having the freedom to choose their own destiny... a contradiction within itself, and yet, it works quite well in practice. ❞

[helldustedstories]

@hzbinsouled asked: I'm gonna encourage your Moxxie hc with a follow up: they finish G4, how does Moxx feel about those two not ending up together 👀 (spoilies? oop)

Unprompted, related to this

Moxxie had been practically despondent after they watched the finale. He had gotten wrapped up in the story and the characters of what he had previously thought was just 'some dumb horse show,' but no, it was so much more than that.

And he had gotten especially invested in R.arity and A.pplejack, partly just because they were good characters, but also because they reminded him of himself and Millie. He'd been rooting for them to get together (as much as one does with this sort of show, since that wasn't really the focus of it), and when the finale came around and implied that it was A.pplejack and R.ainbow D.ash that were together, he had been heartbroken. Never mind the fact that he'd sort of equated Blitz with Dash in his mind, which made that extra unsettling.

"They're together in my heart," is what he finally says, putting a hand dramatically over his heart.

[great-mouse-detectives]

Hi there, Miss Kitty Mouse.

"Hello there. Always nice to meet a fan!"

[chanranghaeys]

🎼 complementary wavelengths

Wouldn’t falling in love with your research partner compromise the integrity of the research study? You had no idea. But if that were the case, then you were in for some major trouble.

pairing: university professor!vernon x high school teacher!fem!reader word count: 2.8k+ genre: fluff for valentine’s day! rating: g tags: non-idol au, distant college friends to ???, first love :(, they both grew up!, we stan emotionally healthy MEN in here warnings: i claim no accuracy on the academic process because i am not a teacher and no accuracy on the mathematics and scientific concepts here because i am absolutely not a mathematician or a scientist

a/n: surprise lexi @heechwe, i’m your secret cupid! a huge thanks to jupiter @ddeonghwa-s for hosting this secret cupid valentine’s event! it took A WHILE for me to churn this out but we persist and bounce back to writing! a very very special thanks to kae @ylangelegy for beta reading! and to @svtreverie, @choitcherryanne, and k for being my forever hypegirls mwa mwa

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ masterlist . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

“So, Ms. Y/L/N, do you have a Valentine's date already?”

You roll your eyes for what must be the millionth time. “For the last time, this is grounds for unbecoming conduct, young lady.”

“I’m just saying!” Your student Sofia laughs. “You deserve to have a good Valentine’s Day this year.”

“Since when have you played matchmaker for me, Ms. Chwe?”

“Since we saw you crying in the school parking lot,” Sofia’s best friend Meena chimed in supportively. Come on, Ms. Y/L/N. You can’t expect us to sit around and do nothing.”

“Especially not for our favorite Maths teacher!”

You shake your head at these two high schoolers. You knew you couldn’t play favorites amongst your students, but these two and their stubbornly infectious energy sparked a little of your youth back in you. Plus, you really couldn’t blame them because they were right about that school parking lot incident.

It was after this brunch date went terribly wrong a few weeks ago. And while it was very unbecoming of a teacher for her students to find her squat and sobbing against her car, these two were like guardian angels that took you under their wings and brought you ice cream and were girl’s girls all the way—as if they weren’t almost a whole decade younger than you.

Since then, Sofia and Meena would secretly try to find you a potential Valentine’s date amongst teachers, guardians, single parents, older siblings, school staff, or anyone at this point. They were wholly invested—and not just because you were the best teacher they’ve ever had in their very subjective opinion.

From afar, you see a familiar figure leaning against his car, signature plain white tee with jeans underneath his selected outerwear of the day—this time, it was a black denim jacket with a matching Yankees cap.

You've noticed him for a while now, dropping by a few days a week. You've thought about approaching him several times as well, but you always stopped this impulse. However, today was different.

“Sofia, would you mind calling over your brother here for a second?”

“What is this about?” Sofia had her eyebrow raised. Despite her age, it was hard not to take her seriously given that you were both standing at the same height.

“You know what this is about. He told me that you gave him my email address.”

A look of understanding lit in Sofia’s eyes. “Ah, that thing. Yeah, gimme a second.”

Meena stayed behind to continue the line of questioning. “So what’s that thing?”

“It’s a post-grad thing of sorts. Don’t mind it, you have enough schoolwork on your head to be thinking about this.”

She just chuckled in return. “Ms. Y/L/N, may I remind you that Sofia’s brother is single, handsome, respectful, decent, and smart. You can see why I personally have a vested interest in this thing already.”

“Meena.”

She heard your tone shift and straightened herself. It was a subtle reminder that she was still your student and that you were still her teacher.

“I’m just stating facts,” she said with a shrug and a quieter tone.

Sofia’s distant voice calling out for her friend caught both of your attention. At the same time, you see the figure in black and white walking toward you in his confident and deliberate strides.

“I’ll go ahead Ms. Y/L/N. See you tomorrow! And good luck on the thing,” Meena said with a smile and a wave. When she passes the figure, she does a slight bow out of respect, which he reciprocates. This exchange quirks up the corner of your lips. You recall what Meena said earlier, and it prods at you with an irk of frustration.

It frustrates you that she’s right.

When he finally stood before you with a smile, a flood of memories came crashing back. Suddenly, you’re back on your college campus standing underneath your favorite tree, a girl in front of a boy.

“I got your email, Professor Chwe. It’s been a while.”

“It has been a while Ms. Y/L/N.”

You chuckle at your monikers. Who knew two scruffy college students would turn out to be respectful academicians? “Formalities aside, it’s so nice to hear from you again Vernon.”

“Likewise.”

“I see the teaching gig in university hasn’t changed your sense of casual style.”

Vernon looks you up and down in your sensible collared button-up and slacks ensemble. You completely ignore the growing flutters in your stomach. “I can see that this high school has changed yours.”

“Well, you gotta do what you gotta do. The kids actually like my sense of style, mind you.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed Sofia starting to wear blazers all of a sudden. I never thought that it’d be you I’d blame for that.”

You feel something in your chest, a sudden churn and an unexpected leap. As a teacher, you’ve mastered your emotions enough to mask your face into one that wouldn’t give everything away. But these primal emotions were almost too much to bear.

Is this what it really feels like to face your first love after so many years apart?

“Anyway,” you continue as a means to deflect before anything else gives away your true feelings. “You emailed me about your dissertation? You really didn’t give much away. And you know you could’ve just sent me a message.”

“Oh, yeah!” Vernon nods vigorously in emphasis of your statement. “I need someone good in applied mathematics.”

“And you need me for that because?”

He blinks at you. “Because you are good at applied mathematics. I want your help for my musicology dissertation.”

You let out a sigh of disbelief. “Vernon, I—”

“And don’t you dare say you’re not good,” he insists with his finger pointed at you. “I’ve read your research papers. I don’t even know why you stay teaching in high school. You could’ve been tenured by now. Or on a sabbatical like me.”

He’s read my research papers? So he’s been following my work? You shake your head to clear these unnecessary thoughts, which are immediately replaced by a sense of uncertainty. “I don’t know, I’m pretty busy these coming months…”

You really didn’t know why you were avoiding it. This was the perfect academic opportunity and you had no idea why you were avoiding it.

Okay, scratch that. You knew exactly why—because of him.

“No problem, we’ll be able to pace the progress. Besides,” he continued, “you’ve always been my study buddy. I know we’ll be really good partners for this one.”

With one sentence, he has almost reduced you to a blushing schoolgirl with a huge crush.

Oh wait, weren’t you one already?

But still, you couldn’t resist stoking the flame that had been sparked inside you. So you ask, “Why me? Were there no other worthy research partners in your esteemed university?”

“Nope. I choose you,” he answered with a lopsided smirk. “I think you’ll understand why when you hear what my dissertation is about.”

“What is it about?”

“Do you wanna go out for coffee?”

“What?”

“What?” Vernon said in more of a statement than a question.

“What does coffee have anything to do with this?”

“Unless you want to keep standing here with your students watching us, I think it’s better if we continue this discussion somewhere else.”

You peer over his shoulder to see Sofia and Meena watching the two of you from the car like hawks, ready to catch any significant interaction that might give away what you two were talking about. When you met their line of sight, they were ready to bring their phones up to feign their disinterest.

“There’s a cafe on the next street over. If you’d like to go there…”

“Nice,” he said cooly, his voice low and sure.

He lifted his phone to his ear. From your peripheral vision, you see his sister raise her own phone in response. It was almost comical how you could see their silent reactions from across the courtyard, with Meena vibrating with excitement and slapping the other girl’s arm as you hear Sofia’s voice trying to sound calm through the speaker of Vernon’s phone. You see them hurriedly lowering the car window and lifting their thumbs up toward your direction.

They seem to think they have finally succeeded. You wouldn’t give them that benefit yet.

When he hung up, Vernon addressed your confused look. “Sofia’s been annoying me about getting the car anyway, so they can have it. Let’s walk?”

It was silent at first. The early afternoon sun cooperated with the cool breeze, setting the atmosphere for a nice leisurely walk. Students and office workers were milling around the nearby commercial strip, with the sounds and conversations all mingling in the background.

It had been years since you last spent time together like this, in an environment not too different from this one. After your study sessions in the library, you two walked together to your shared classes, which by some stroke of luck always seemed to happen for at least one class every semester until you graduated.

You both hung in different circles. He hung around with his fellow music majors in band practices and the college’s musicians organization, while you spent the majority of your time with your mathematics batchmates in the library or the school quad, catching up on problem sets and homework before you needed to make it to your choir’s rehearsals at night.

But when you ended up as seatmates in your first semester, you made a comment on the Bach piece he was listening to, how Bach was actually a pretty mathematical composer. He asked you how you knew that.

You said, “I take mathematics. I needed a cool fun fact for introductions.”

From that moment on, Vernon took it upon himself to make you appreciate how mathematical Bach’s pieces were. Music became your common language amongst everything else in the background, and the rest was history.

“Okay,” you began, “You know that we haven’t really spoken to each other since graduation. So…why choose me? Not that I’m complaining, though! I’m just…shocked, I guess. And confused. Because if you’ve read my research, you’d know that it’s been years since I published anything.”

Throughout your rambling, Vernon simply looked at you. When you finally stop, you notice the clear brown of them looking straight into you. It had been years, but they were the same eyes that looked at you, that listened intently when you were explaining a complex math concept.

It had been years, but that almost unblinking gaze of his still made your heart do unexplainable leaps in your chest.

You broke away from the intensity of his gaze. He took this as a cue to answer your question. “I was looking for research papers to help me form my framework. Then I stumbled on your computations of metered wavelengths and frequencies, and their relation to different kinds of sound.”

That paper. “Oh.”

His lips turned up in the corners when he continued. “I suddenly remembered how we randomly theorized this during one of our study sessions. I couldn’t believe you actually turned it into your master's thesis.”

“You still remember that?”

“Of course. I never thought I’d find someone so in tune with me and my random theories.”

“If you’ve read the paper, you’ll know that it wasn’t a random theory at all. You might just have discovered the makings of a postulate as a college sophomore.”

“It wouldn’t have been possible without your mind making sense of it. You really are the brightest of your batch.”

You scoff at the remark. “We’re not in college anymore, Vernon. There are a lot of other bright minds out there.”

“None quite like yours, I’m sure.”

You reach the cafe and order in—a decaf iced americano for you, and a hot chocolate for him. As soon as you two get seated, he finally launches into an animated discussion of his dissertation topic about discovering the medical applications of using the various sound wavelengths from certain types and compositions of music to aid in both the operation and healing process of a person, with the goal of identifying a singular formula to determine the right wavelength for each medical situation. He had his medical experts, all he needed was his mathematician.

It was a lot to digest, to say the least.

But by the end of it all, you were in awe of both Vernon and his mind. He is smart. He’d always been smart, but it felt like the confines of university and immaturity bounded his full potential. Now that he’s seen and explored the world of academia, he was able to finally showcase how bright of a mind he really is.

“Can I tell you something?” You set down your coffee and leaned forward.

As if second nature, he mirrored your action to the tee. “Shoot.”

“I’m proud of you. Really. You used to be this mysteriously awkward guy in college who just played around with guitars and 808s. But I always knew you’d put that big brain of yours to good use.”

He opens his mouth as if in reply, but stops midway and just smiles and scrunches his nose. After a beat, he nods with a look of quiet decision. “Can I tell you something, then?” He asks, worrying his thumb with his other hand as he looks at you. You nod in response.

“It was you that inspired me to be this version of myself. Because you can’t only be smart, you also have to work hard. None of my friends back then had that mindset, then came you.”

“What are study buddies for, yeah?” You raise your fist in front of you. He looks at it and smiles his trademark gummy smile. In return, he bumps his own fist into yours, reminiscent of how you two would check in on each other during extended hours in the library finishing a project or a paper. A fist bump to make the heads bump, you two used to say.

Instead of lowering his fist after, he holds it there flush against yours. “Would it be weird for me to say that it’s honestly more than that?”

“What do you mean?”

He took in a deep breath and let out an exhale just as deep. “When I read your papers, I remembered everything we went through in uni and I just…kinda fell in love with your brain again, I guess. Even until now, you—and your work—inspired me to just do it. Then you started popping up everywhere in my life again and…I remembered how I did kinda fall in love with everything else about you. I was just too young and chicken to see it before.”

It took you a whole minute to find your voice again because how could he be this nonchalant? “You’re really just here dropping all these truth bombs without any warning, huh?”

“Like you said, we’re not in college anymore. I’d rather say it now than never.” Vernon’s smile is a shy one, hidden behind his hot chocolate cup. You can’t believe it took a dissertation paper for anyone’s feelings to be revealed—much less his.

As your mind reels with Vernon’s revelation, you scramble your brains to come up with a lighthearted retort. “So are you still kinda in love with me? Just so I know what and how we’re working on this project.”

He chuckles. “I don’t think you’re doing any better. Don’t think I don’t see you staring whenever I fetch Sofia from school.”

You gape at his reply. “How do you even know where to look for me?”

“You’re her last teacher of the day and you both leave the school at the same time. I told you. You just came barging into my life again unannounced, and it wasn’t even your fault. You just sort of…fell in there.”

A smug look took over your features, one you really couldn’t help after hearing all that he had to say. “Vernon Chwe, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were so down bad for me.”

“For that whip-smart brain and that adorable smile, maybe—theoretically—astronomically and catastrophically down bad even.”

You fight the heat rising to your cheeks—and fail. After a cough to hide your growing embarrassment, you say, “I think we’re done for the day.”

“Sure. So. Same time tomorrow?”

You were about to answer when you suddenly realized, “Vernon, it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow. Don’t you have any other plans?”

He shakes his head and looks you straight in the eye as he says, “Just you. If you say yes.”

Wouldn’t falling further in love with your research partner compromise the integrity of the study? You had no idea. But if that were the case, then you were in for some major trouble.

[innocence-impulse]

It was a dream within a nightmare, at least for Alice. She was going to great lengths to find her father, but this road she took seemed to lead her somewhere deeper than she expected and, simultaneously, farther from her real aim of travel. With the little spacecraft mastered by her father's hands, she couldn't travel fast anyway.

While she was lost in her thoughts and looking at the map, her attention was fully there, she didn't even hear his voice at first; then she almost jumped away when the stranger approached her. Squizing the map closer to her chest, she moved a bit from the man, smiling awkwardly as she kept her gaze on him for a while.

«...what are you bragging about?? I have my things to do. And I don't have any spare minute to spend!»