#hype for the sequel

[lancerfay]

Holy carp the way I played Citizen Sleeper ended so impactfully

I basically chose every single route where I stayed behind, letting someone I was getting close to leave because there were more people I could and wanted to help on the station. I felt sad when I abandoned Lem and Mina on the ship dock, I most was torn over letting Bliss and Ankhita leave without me, but every time I was thinking I could still do more here, there was still someone that I could help. I also figured at least I'd have a place at the bar with Tala.

Then I got to the very end of the DLC stuff, where the station is evacuating and lo and behold everyone's insisting I should leave, that the only ones staying behind are either occupied with their own lives (like Feng, Sabine, and Rabiah) or were leaving themselves, like Tala.

I get pretty into the roleplaying sometimes in games like this where I get to make my own choices and dang did I have a Moment when I realized that my character was only living for other people and now that they're all going to be gone she would have chosen almost *anything* different.

I cried ngl.

In the 11th hour I chose to leave, I had insisted to Peake that I would stay the whole time, and betrayed them as I left, didn't even have someone with me, just gone and alone again. Had I known I absolutely would have gone sooner.

Roleplaying situation aside...

I feel a lot of what I felt about the people and situations in The Eye to be really well mapped to a lot of larger cities people move to for work, which is absolutely in line with the game's tagline because places like here in Seattle are 100% like this. Most people feel like it's just where they are for now "until their luck turns around", "until I pay off my debt", "Until I get a new job somewhere else". The people from here can't stay because what it is has been slowly crawling towards inhospitable, and it's future is constantly directed by the whims of outside forces that only want to exploit it.

I see parallels, too, in people I've met and characters in game, if you strip away the scifi trappings. I've met someone stuck with a kid they didn't have a say in raising but love nonetheless who wants nothing more than to leave to a new promised start because this one failed. Desperate that this time it'll work out. I've spent a brief time with a professional who's on the run from themselves, looking for an escape but finding themselves falling back into bad patterns, needing to give up everything of themselves to feel cleansed by it. I've definitely met folks that have some semblance of roots laid, and want to just gently fade away into the pocket they've secured, giving to others if they can, but ultimately alone.

Makes me personally reconsider my reasons for moving up here and into this city of transience and if I'll find what I'm looking for, and I think that's so cool that this game evoked that thought in me.

[shegoesbyjoy]

[Hades II Reveal Trailer]

[roman-o-cheese]

The Sun and The Star is so good when you don’t have a rat who hates happiness whispering in your ear that that it reads like fan fiction

[nagoriyukidding]

Though I, can't stay with you. Oh I, won't stray away from the truth. I, remember your warmth. And I'm, still learning to love anew.

Extra versions below!

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

Don't think I've posted these yet, but a while ago I made some ieytd palettes, and I decided to clean them up a little in preparation for the third game, you know how it is

Use them if you'd like, share them around, all of that fun stuff. And if you make something cool um 😳🥺 I would love to see if you decided to tag me in it 👉👈 tee hee

[wingsofhcpe]

anyway if yall want something greek-mythology inspired to read, please pick up Threads that Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou. It's a post-apocalyptic fantasy romance (soulmates!) with lots of queerness in it, inspired by various mythologies but centered around greek mythology, with a greek-coded protag & cultural elements strewn across, and written by an actual greek woman who lives in Greece. It's also the first book I see by a greek author to be written & published in English/abroad first, and to go semi-popular on western reading circles.

we need more like this. please support her.

[mushiewrites]

Got Your Back

Hiya! So I’ve had this fic since last September, I wrote it for @emmadoodlewrites when we both went insane for tickle machines and made up a few in a flustered frenzy. I recently rediscovered this fic and shared it with @wishitweresummer, who encouraged me over and over to upload it. So, I reworked it, somehow added 1K words, and here we are. Thank you @awkwardtickleetoo + summer for reading this through for me and for hyping it up and making me want to post it! (and thank u cal for the title ur a genius). I love how it turned out, and I hope you do too!

After George confessed his love for tickling to Dream, he decides to make him something special in support. Dream gets curious, and before he knows it, he’s stuck

(lee!Dream / tickle machine : 3.6K words)

Dream had always been curious. Everyone who knew him was aware of this fact, mostly due to the blonde getting himself into trouble because of it. Whether he was exploring new places without a map or tinkering with things he shouldn’t, he was used to things backfiring. But he didn’t really mind. He much preferred taking the risk in favor of trouble in order to learn everything he could about anything and everything he was interested in - including people.

Another thing Dream was known for was his generosity. Gift giving was absolutely one of his main love languages, and he constantly used it to show his friends and loved ones just how much he cared for them. Dream was thoughtful, always collecting things that reminded him of specific people and being so excited to give it to them, relishing in the way their faces would light up at the unexpected gift.

Recently, George had revealed some very personal information about himself with Dream. A few weeks ago, while sitting underneath an oak tree in the rain, George had told Dream his thoughts and feelings on tickling - about how much he loved it, and how much he adored the feeling of it. He told Dream how warm and safe the action made him feel, sputtering and whining through it all. It took some much needed coaxing and reassurance from the blonde, but in the end, George got it all out. Dream was there to support him through the whole thing, wrapping him into the biggest hug he could while showering him in praise.

Immediately after George had left that day, the cogs in Dream’s brain began to turn. He was set on creating things to show George that he didn’t have to be embarrassed about his secret adoration for tickling, wanting to make him something special and just for him. Dream spent many nights hunched over his crafting table drawing up blueprints, feeling like a madman whenever he came up with a new contraption to torture George with. After coming up with a few solid ideas, the building began.

It started with a small tickle machine.

It was around the same size and shape of a normal backpack, and designed to sit against the back the same way. There were eight retractable arms that sat over the shoulders, ribs and sides, much like how a koala would cling onto a person. The arms were designed to be able to perform the meanest of tickles that George could handle (or not, but that wasn’t Dream’s problem). The ends of the metal rods were covered in small rubber nubs, molded to glide expertly between ribs, to skitter up and down squishy sides, to poke and prod against sensitive stomachs - the possibilities were endless on someone as ticklish as George.

The machine was still in the prototype stages, but it was ready to be tested to make any final adjustments. He planned on waiting until the next time he was with George to test it, wanting to see how the machine worked on the smaller boy and hoping to find ways to make improvements. But the longer the device sat idly, waiting for its first victim, the more Dream’s curiosity grew.

So he decided to test it himself.

After a lot of pacing and contemplating, he walked over to the chest in the corner of the room where he kept the machine, opening the lid and chuckling nervously when he saw it. It looked like some kind of giant upside down bug, with the legs curled in on themselves while in the ‘off’ position. Dream lifted it from the chest, holding it in his hands and inspecting it while the butterflies in his stomach erupted into a whole new wave of panic. It took a bit of self convincing but he finally decided that yes, he was absolutely going to test this now. What George didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

Dream let out a nervous giggle as he pressed the little green power button on the middle of the machine, reaching around and holding it against his back the best he could to try and secure it. He struggled with the positioning, taking a few steps back until he felt his heels hit the wall. Dreamed leaned against it, using the wall to help hold the machine in the correct spot and allowing the arms to finally extend out and over his body, clinging on and tightening to hold itself in place. The blonde watched in amusement as the arms reached over his shoulders and hugged around different parts of his ribs and sides, settling down after a few minutes and becoming still against him. He smirked to himself, happy with the way the machine was working so far.

Dream jumped forward with a yelp as the arms began to move, pulling him from his thoughts and bringing his attention to the new sensation that was spreading across his torso. It was only the first stage of the tickling, Dream having set different settings and stages for different tickling speeds and techniques. But even at the lowest stage, it had Dream doubled over, squirming against the wall as the ends of the metal arms pressed lightly against his ribs. The drew small, slow circles into the bones, pulling strained laughs out of Dream even as he tried his hardest to hold them in. He didn’t expect it to be this bad, but it was, and all he could think about was how much this would get to George. Through his panicked giggles he cheered at his success in making a functioning tickle machine.

The arms slowed to a halt, giving Dream time to catch his breath. He stood back up on his feet, turning around to face the wall and leaning his forehead against it with a groan. He closed his eyes as he continued to take in deep breaths, smiling at the thought of George screaming and squealing having to endure this himself. Suddenly the arms sprung back to life, digging in with a little more pressure at a quicker speed. Dream was thrown into loud cackles almost immediately, pushing off the wall and throwing his head back, his arms pressed as tightly as he could to his sides in an attempt to block out the tickly feeling.

“Ohoho my Gohohod, fuck! Thihis is bahahad!” Dream knew no one was around but couldn’t help but narrate the feeling. It was just so much more ticklish than he ever thought it would be, and it was only the second stage. He clenched his fists tightly, his eyes still squeezed shut as he let out a wheeze through his laugh, hiccups and high pitched squeals following closely behind.

The arms that rested over his shoulders were prodding into his top ribs, just below his armpits. They dug in slightly, vibrating over the bones every few seconds and making Dream feel weak in the knees. The other three sets of arms were poking into his ribs and sides, moving slightly every time they lifted up and touching down, always tickling a new patch of skin to keep him squirming. He leaned forward as he cackled, trying his best to stay standing as he laughed himself silly. He couldn’t remember the last time he was tickled this much - in his defense, he couldn’t really remember anything anyway with how fiercely the machine was tickling. Through it all, though, he did have one consistent thought; it tickled, and it tickled bad.

Dream gasped for air the minute the machine came to another pause, his giggles remaining as the metal arms stayed pressed against the bones of his ribs. He couldn’t shake the ghost tickles that had his stomach doing somersaults, even when he used his hands to rub the areas around where the arms were resting. The blonde found himself giggling helplessly, deciding he’d done enough testing for one day and reaching back in an attempt to power off the machine. George could try out the more intense settings the next time he stopped by.

But as Dream felt around blindly for the power button, he realized he couldn’t reach it from this position. He opened his eyes in a panic, quickly looking around on the table beside him for anything he could use to help reach it.

“Shit. Uhm….” Dream was mumbling under his breath as he searched through different tools, eventually giving up and turning around to gently press against the wall behind him to try and successfully hit the power button. But it was no use, and the familiar sound of the machine whirring to life echoed through the room once more.

Suddenly the arms were digging into his ribs and sides, only this time, the bottom set of arms made their way over to his very sensitive tummy. He let out a shriek as they vibrated into the pudge of his lower tummy, between his belly button and the waistband of his pants.

“No no nahahahaha! Fuhuhuck, plehehease! PLEHEHEASE!” Dream wailed, feeling the second lowest set of arms moving over either side of his belly button and pressing in, vibrating again, but at a much faster pace than before. He doubled over once again, his back arching off the wall before leaning over with his elbows to his knees, cackling towards the floor with his eyes squeezed shut.

Just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, the top two sets of arms began seeking out even more sensitive spots on his very ticklish torso. The lower of the top two sets found their way to the back of Dream’s ribs, a spot he had programmed purposely to fuck with George. He cried out at the feeling, never having been tickled there before and realizing how absolutely torturous it was. The top set framed themselves perfectly to wiggle their way under Dream’s arms, sending him flying back against the wall with his arms crossed over his stomach tightly.

“Nohoho, oh fuhuhuck, stohohop!” His knees began to wobble and he allowed himself to slowly slide down the wall, only stopping when he hit the ground with a thump. Dream pulled his knees up as much as he could, attempting to try and protect himself from the tickling but finding that it only further pressed the arms into his skin. He quickly straightened his legs out against the ground, kicking as he grabbed fistfuls of his pants, needing to hold onto something.

As the tickling continued, Dream fell to the ground on his side, turning onto his back and rolling back and forth a few times to try and hit the button against the floor. The third set of arms moved a little closer on either side to his belly button and he squealed, thrashing and squirming and kicking out as much as he could. No matter how much he pressed the machine into the ground, no matter what angle, it was no use - Dream was well and truly stuck.

The tickling finally stopped, but Dream couldn’t stop laughing. He was overwhelmed with the vibrations from the ghost tickles, still feeling the tingly circles and pokes over his torso as if they were still happening - even in the spots left untouched. He heard a noise from across the room and opened his eyes quickly, almost choking on his own breath as he saw George standing in the doorway, whose cheeks were bright red with his jaw dropped to the floor.

“G-George! I cahahan-”

“Dream?” George interrupted, his blushy cheeks somehow also appearing to be drained of all color as his eyes focused on the machine still wrapped around the blonde. “..What is that?”

The younger boy opened his mouth to try and explain, to try and make any excuse he could, but was cut off with a loud cackle when the machine clicked back on, the arms back in motion and making him scream.

“Noho not again! Nohoho plehehease! NOHOHO!” Dream let out a squeal that bounced off the walls of the room, startling George with the force of it. The older boy ran over and kneeled next to the blonde, trying to figure out what it was and what exactly was happening.

He watched with wide eyes as the metal arms poked and swirled and vibrated against Dream’s torso, focusing on his ribs and under his arms. The blonde let out a scream when the machine began to pick up speed and the bottom arms moved, making him arch up against the ground before falling back down against it, writhing and kicking as he did. Dream’s hands were wrapped around the bottom set of arms, pulling as much as he could to try and dislodge them, but finding it useless. George’s eyes trailed down to where they disappeared under the blonde’s shirt, moving a hand to grab the bottom of the fabric to slowly pull it up. George felt his face burning up as he saw the two bottom arms tickling at Dream’s belly button - one circling around the edge as the other pulled at it, occasionally dipping in and making Dream cry out in ticklish agony.

Dream swore he saw stars from how hard his eyes were squeezed shut. He knew he was screaming through his laughter, yet everything sounded muffled. His senses were on fire. The arms of the machine were sinking into every sensitive spot with precision, and with the two taunting the small indent in the center of his tummy, he thought he might seriously pass out at any second. His face was hot, and he could hear George talking to him and saying his name, but he couldn’t focus on anything else besides how horribly everything tickled. He attempted to open his eyes, but he was laughing so hard that his cheeks were keeping them squinted, blurring his vision and making it essentially impossible to see. Dream had no choice but surrender to the tickles, throwing his head back and letting himself laugh as much as he needed to.

He felt a hand grab his shoulder and pull him onto his side, and suddenly he could breathe again, taking in gulps of air and gasping through his cackles. George had managed to find the power button, finally freeing Dream from the ticklish hell he had been enduring. The brunette was carding his hand through the blonde waves, adjusting the two so that Dream’s head was resting against his thighs.

“Thank you, ohoho my God…” Dream managed through his left over giggles, turning to lay flat on his back as he draped a hand over his chest, letting out a deep sigh when he felt how fast his heart was beating. His eyes were still shut but he could hear the brunette laugh from above him, feeling his hand being moved from his chest and being replaced with one much smaller than his own. Dream moved his hand back, laying it over George’s and holding it for comfort.

“What even was that thing?” George asked hesitantly. Dream could sense the nervousness in the elder’s voice, opening his eyes slowly to adjust to the light and allowing them to focus on the brunette. George’s face was closer than he expected, making him giggle when George realized and pulled back quickly, clearing his throat and looking away from the blonde. Dream watched with a wide smile as George’s face grew an even deeper shade of red, clearly flustered at the situation he had walked in on.

“Well,” Dream spoke through his teeth, grunting as he moved to sit up slowly and cracking his back before turning around to face George. “You were nice enough to trust me with the whole tickling thing, so I wanted to do something special for you!”

Dream laughed as George physically cringed at the mention of the dreaded word, turning his attention from the blonde once again and looking down at his lap, picking at a loose thread in his pants to distract himself as he continued.

“O-Okay, and what? You decided you wanted to torture yourself to relate, or….?” He let out a squeaky giggle when Dream scoffed at the accusation, squirming to the side when a poke landed on his ribs.

“No, idiot. I actually made it…for you. For fun for us, but I was also thinking about it for the times where I can’t be there to help, you know?” Dream spoke gently, suddenly feeling shy about the whole thing and reaching behind him to pick up the small machine to hand to George. He watched as George’s face continued to turn a bright red, biting his lip to hold back the giggle that was threatening to escape to try and remain calm, knowing how embarrassing the subject was for the brunette.

“Dreeeeam,” George whined, holding the machine in one hand and bringing his free hand up to cover his face. “That’s…that’s just…”

He was struggling to find the words, torn between wanting to scream out in embarrassment, and wanting to cry because of how lucky he was to have someone like Dream supporting him. The younger boy giggled at the response, leaning forward and pulling the smaller boy into a hug. He smiled when he felt George lean into him, letting out a shaky breath as Dream used a hand to rub up and down his back soothingly.

“You’re welcome, Gogy.” Dream smirked, feeling George hide his face into the crook of his neck, whining about how much of an idiot he was. He let George pull away after a minute, using the floor to push himself up onto his feet and leaning down to offer George a hand. The brunette accepted it, grabbing the bigger hand and laughing when Dream yanked him to his feet as if he weighed nothing.

“I have a feeling this thing is gonna absolutely destroy you, Georgie.” Dream teased, poking at the machine and giggling when George turned his hips to prevent him from touching it. He noticed the elder’s blush had spread to the tips of his ears, the light pink color slowly turning a lighter shade of red the more flustered he became. George rolled his eyes at the blonde, hugging the machine to his chest as he spoke.

“Well, it sure did destroy you, didn’t it, Dreamie?” Dream made a move to walk towards the door, George suddenly stepping in his path and making the two almost collide together. He felt his own stomach flip at the question, taking a small step back and bringing a hand up to run through his hair as a way to cope with the nervousness he suddenly felt.

“I don’t know about that, but-” he tried to excuse the accusation away, but George was having none of it. He got a sudden wave of confidence, and mixed with his normal cockiness, Dream was doomed.

“No no no, you’re not gonna act like that didn’t just wreck you to pieces, Dream.” The blonde felt himself swallow hard as George took a step forward back into his space. “Which is kind of questionable, actually, because why would someone subject themselves to such torture if they didn’t like it? Care to explain?”

“N-No! No, I-”

“You liked it, didn’t you?” George held up a hand, slapping it over Dream’s mouth when he opened it to protest. “You wouldn’t have tried it if you didn’t think you’d like it at least a little bit.”

George removed his hand to let Dream answer, bursting into bright giggles when the blonde pressed his lips together tightly, his cheeks burning up and turning a dusty pink.

“I don’t!” George laughed at the way Dream was immediately defensive, not having any real excuse to offer other than a denial.

“Don’t worry, Dream. Your secret’s safe with me.” The older boy poked a finger into Dream’s tummy, making him jump back with a squeal. When he looked up again, George was walking towards the door, laughing as he went. Dream groaned, looking down at his shirt and bringing a hand up to his stomach, rubbing out the lingering tingles that George had left behind. He heard the door opening, looking up and being met with a very menacing smirk.

“Just to let you know, I absolutely will be using this against you. Watch your back, Dream. Your very, very ticklish back.” Dream felt a shiver run down his spine as he watched George flash him one last smile before turning to step through the threshold of the door with a wave, closing it lightly behind him.

Dream walked over to the crafting table, leaning back against it and letting out a deep breath he didn’t realize he was holding in. He sat down on the stool next to him, letting his head fall into his hands with a flustered whine, giggling to himself at how ridiculous the whole thing was.

When the flustered feeling finally passed, Dream was back on his feet, scribbling over blueprints of other ideas he had, making little improvements and upgrades as he worked. Dream decided he needed to up his game. If George thought that machine was mean, he decided to show him just how bad it could get. Dream was about to create George’s worst nightmare. Dream was determined to make George cry.

And he had just the idea on how to do it.

[humblepoet26]

Do you want to play psycho killer later? 😈🔪

[rubenesque-as-fuck]

I want to be as excited as I see other folks being about the new Dragon Age trailer and info drop on the upcoming game, but it's tough because I seem to remember Bioware laying off a bunch of people and generally acting like a bunch of tools last year.

And the skeptic in me can't help but think that the name change for the upcoming game is so that they can try to leave some of that bad press behind.

[pebblezone]

I can and will make a sequel to this

[entamewitchlulu]

there's something sooo funny about opening up an old wip and reading through it, getting hype about your own stuff, and then when things start to get interesting, you stumble across a place where past you wrote "[insert more scene here]"

[sonicshuffle2000]

Prior to the release of 2022's Sonic Frontiers, a leak from someone who claimed to be a playtester for the game stated that the final boss of the game would be Void from Sonic Shuffle. This wasn't true at all, but holy shit can you imagine?

[gingericywolf]

The fact that I unkowingly almost got the the s2 plot with my planned fic sequel last year (Essence of Chaos) just with brooklynn's role being taken by my Oc is like. Mindboggling me.

[boywithskull]

Have you heard of the sequel of TSATS if so are you going to read it? For me personally I'm pretty sceptical due to the first TSATS book also I'm not really a fan of Solangelo 😅

Just found out about it now, and came online to write something, so I'll put it here.

Honestly I'm with you. I'm not the hugest solangelo fan myself, and TSATS didn't do much to change my mind, unfortunately. I also don't really know what else there is to write about, unless they're making it a prequel and just basically showing the actual development of their relationship before they got together (but they tried to expand on that in TSATS so idk if there's much point in going back and retroactively building it from the ground up now). Plus the book was meant to close off the open ends in Nico's arc, so what's really the point in making a second one now anyway? It just feels like a cash grab, or stirring up more Nico hype before his introduction in s3 of the show.

I think Mark was the one who announced this sequel, no? No offence to them, because I'm sure their style works well for their own books, but I don't think Mark's writing meshes well with Rick's at all, and I hated the way basically everyone was characterised. If it's just gonna be another slog of therapy-speak, pop culture references, and poor pacing and tension, then I don't think it's something I'll be too keen to read. I love Nico, and it's because of that that I am respectfully asking Rick to stop. If Rick wants to write more, I would rather he do something about Frank and Hazel at Camp Jupiter, or expand on Jason and Reyna's time there pre-HOO.

[toasty-self-shipping]

I just watch trolls 3 last night and yeah I understand why people find floyd cute

[the-badger-mole]

OMG you talked about Haley and Andy in your last post and I feel so vindicated now. I thought I must be the only one who had a problem with that one silly romance from that million season comedy show not being canon, so now I'm just happy there are others like me out there lol. Do you have any HCs for them?

It wasn't just a silly little romance. They were mutually supportive! Andy encouraged Haley to go after her dreams. He saw that she was smart and driven, and he didn't make fun of her that her ambitions were fashion centered! She inspired him to aim higher, too! Even if it meant pursuing his dreams in a different state. They were the best couple on the show (which is probably why the writers couldn't let them be endgame. Can't have a couple that actually functions as a team🙄).

So, I've been kicking around an idea for a fix it fic for Haley. She's having trouble finding her footing at NERP. After the skin patch incident, she isn't sure if it's the right job for her, but since she doesn't have anything else lined up, she's hanging in there until she figures out her next steps. She's dating Dylan again- but she does not get pregnant. He's making not-so-subtle subtle comments about how since he's starting his nursing career and making decent money, it might be time to think about settling down. Haley is dodging the hints, frustrated at herself because Dylan is nice. He loves her. He supports her pursuing her career, even though he's also down for her following Claire's footsteps to become a SAHM. She's also freaking out because she's pushing 30 (she's about to turn 25, but it is still Haley). Why not think about getting married?

But whenever she thinks about marrying Dylan, she breaks out in hives. She thinks it's some lingering effect from the NERP patch, but her dermatologist can't figure out why it's happening. After a particularly rough day at work, she needs someone to talk to. Her mom is the obvious choice, but she's out of town for work, so she goes to her grandparents house instead, thinking maybe a dip in the pool will help. Jay is out with Joe, Mitch and Manny for a father/son trip, and Gloria is home when Haley swings by. They talk and Dylan comes up. Haley ends up telling Gloria about his increasingly frequent hints, and that she and Dylan have been dancing around this for a decade, and they keep coming back to each other so maybe it's time to just take the plunge. Then Gloria asks if Haley and Dylan are really drawn to each other, or if it's just that their relationship is comfortable- like the ratty old college football jersey Jay refuses to get rid of. A nice reminder of the past, but something that needs to stay in the back of the closet and never see the light of day again.

It's a lot to think about. So Haley goes home only to find that her father has a guest. Andy's back in town, and looking to start his own real estate firm.

A lot happens after that. Andy going after starting his own business inspires Haley to revisit her old ventures, and she restarts her blog. Then she launches her own lifestyle website. She gets fired from NERP for opening a competing site, but she doesn't give up on it. Andy sees her working hard and is thrilled for her. They even start co-working in the Dunphy's kitchen as they try to get their respective businesses off the ground.

Dylan stops asking her to move their relationship forward, but Haley doesn't notice until he asks her to speak one night. He's taking a position as a traveling nurse, and he's going to be living out of a trailer he and his friends are fixing up. He tells her he thinks they're holding each other back. He came to the same conclusion as Gloria, only his analogy is an old lumpy mattress he'd slept on since he was a kid until recently. It disintegrated and he had to buy a new one. He thought he'd never find another mattress as comfortable, but the very first one he tried, he fell asleep immediately for a solid three hours until the salesman woke him up and told him the store was closing. He realized that his old mattress wasn't actually comfortable, it was just all he knew. And he thinks that his relationship with Haley is that mattress- not that she's an old lumpy mattress. She's still hot, just not the girl for him. So he wants to give them both a chance to find their mattress.

Haley's website takes off. It becomes part fashion, part travel, part lifestyle hub. She spins it off onto YouTube and TikTok (she's an early adopter). Alex helps her make sure that her body products are at least safe, if not effective, so no more skin patch incidents. Soon she's getting sponsorship deals and collab offers. As she gets even more popular, she's hired as a celebrity stylist. Her first big gig is styling Zendaya for a red carpet event. She makes plans to move to LA. She tells Andy about all of it, and he is rooting her on at least as hard as her family. At the end of the story, when Haley is preparing her move to Hollywood, Andy gives her some exciting news. With Phil's help, he's sold his first property in Santa Monica, and he has enough listings lined up to start a little boutique business, backed by Phil's company. They joke about being neighbors, then roommates. Then they finally realize that the feelings between them never actually died. The story ends on them getting back together with STRONG And they lived happily ever after vibes.