#i lied i fixed them
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
perspective what's that yeah i started drawing just norway reading then once got past the head, uh, things happened
#hetalia#aph dennor#aph norway#aph iceland#aph denmark#is this regency? edwardian? bullshit? YES#lord chauncie is a SCOUNDREL#daring to court one who is already betrothed!#what say you denmark to see your dearest be tempted away due your FOOLISHNESS of forgetting to bring gum?!#it shall your heart's downfall!!#also how do you draw iceland...?#and yeah i saw the typos i ain't fixin' 'em for this lol#i lied i fixed them
165 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Blossom äšéç´Ť (2024)
#blossom#äšéç´Ť#jiu chong zi#cdrama#cdramaedit#asiandramaedit#jczedit#meng ziyi#li yunrui#userxlh#prangon gifs#look look i am all for going back to fix things#BUTTTTTT them would make me more feral#both of them scarred betrayed poisoned#and yet they gravitated towards each other#give me their story
181 notes
¡
View notes
Text
when the corporations clash or something idk I haven't played the game
#the caption is all lies lmao#anyway I made that monopoly board from a while ago real!#the colours are off ever so slightly and I tried for so long to fix them before deciding that I didn't care#i made all of the chance and community chest cards and painted the pieces as well so if anyone wants to see them đđđ#and if you don't want to see them. well. ill probably just post them tommorow anyways#ttcc#toontown corporate clash#monopoly
226 notes
¡
View notes
Text
House M.D. but it's when a character says the name of the episode
#house md#prince's talk tag#flashing#repitition#so as i was watching this show i noticed they'd say the episode title in the episode#so i wanted to see how many times they did it#the people on livejournal who made transcripts of the episodes are my saviors and without them this would of been so much harder to do#thank you all for your service and i hope wherever you all are you're having a great day#sometimes they would use a variation of the word like in the episode poison they would say 'poisoned' or 'poisoning'#i did not include those instances#there was an instance in 'merry little christmas' where they do play the song in the show#but since ella fitzgerald was not a character in the show i did not include it#where as in the episode 'joy to the world' the students are singing it in the concert so i did include that#i apologize for the tonal whiplash when you get to that part but it did make me laugh#one of the times kutner says 'locked in' is overshadowed by the POTW's voice over but i assure you he says it and thats why its in there#out of the main characters from the one who said the title the most to least are#House > Foreman > Wilson > Chase > Cuddy > Adams > Cameron and Taub > Kutner > Thirteen and Park#this took a bit to do lolol its probably been done already but i wanted my own#there is a chance im missing some on technicalities but idc. im fine with this#there are two more i wanna do but with a character saying another character's name but ill do that some other time#EDIT: When I was making this video I was unaware that the Pilot episode went by two names: 'Pilot' and 'Everybody Lies'#Basically everywhere I looked the first episode was only referred to by 'Pilot'#which I found weird bc i remember seeing somewhere that the last episode was paired with the first episode in terms of title#but i couldn't find hard proof so I decided to leave it out at the time#well i checked again last night and yea the pilot IS also called Everybody Lies so I updated the video#I also think it goes well with the fact that House does say 'Everybody Dies' in the finale so another reason to fix it#AND he says it without Wilson while he and Wilson say the title of the pilot sooooo yea hehehehehe
452 notes
¡
View notes
Text
time travel au where a post-pidw yue qingyuan somehow travels back in time after death (either through death, through the magic that still remained in his sword, someone intervening, etc.) to right before he was reunited with shen qingqiu at the iac.
but for some reason along with being given the chance to live his life once more, yue qingyuan now has the ability to tell when somebody is lying to him no matter what.
at first, yue qingyuan doesnât see much value in this gift because there arenât many people who would dare lie straight to his face, but that all changes the moment heâs reunited with shen jiu again and he realizes that nothing that shen jiu says is ever the complete truth.
#the scum villain's self saving system#scum villian self saving system#scum villain#scumbag self saving system#scumbag villain#scumbag system#svsss#yue qi#yue qingyuan#time travel au#ren zha fanpai zijiu xitong#rzfzx#mxtx rzfzx#mxtx svsss#cang qiong mountain sect#yqy#yq#qi-ge#yue qingyuan au#5 minutes into interacting with a young sj and he realizes that he lies all the time about his feelings#this was inspired by a manhwa called âthe villainessâs dazzling debutâ#honestly i have way to much thoughts about time travel that need to be let out#pidw#post-canon time travel au#honestly what you really need to fix qijiu is to give them access to each otherâs thoughts and/or emotions#shen jiu#shen qingqiu#sqq#cang qiong mountain sect peak lords#yqy has to be the one to take the first step here because sj likes to deny himself of experiencing happiness
197 notes
¡
View notes
Photo
A dump of things I drew since the last post! i am so normal about them. I AM SO NORMAL  ABOUT THEM . totally not making cosplays of julie and sally . it is not true ! if u want to use as pfps, feel free to! just pls credit me :p alsooo if you have any requests for the silly goofies, my asks should be open, go crazy in thereÂ
#welcome home#welcome home arg#welcome home Julie#welcome home poppy#welcome home wally#wally darling#i did not see enough artwork of Julie's goofy family so i am setting out to fix that#also why is wally like that  what is his PROBLEM#they are so fun to draw its not even funny#theyre so shaped  and colored#ty for them clown they are so nice!#i will probably be drawing spooky arts soon. i have a wally sketch brewing mewhhehwh#and i lied   i am making cosplays  my first ones actually#i might post them if i feel brave  maybe#anywho~#enjoy the silliness#-Your friends at the Maverick Motel
2K notes
¡
View notes
Text
I must've owed you in my previous life. In this life, I'm here to repay you. Then I owe you in this life. In my next life, I'll repay you.
Meet You At The Blossom (2024)
#meet you at the blossom#su yin#myatb spoilers#hopefully the subtle desaturation of the colours and the blues... the yellow and blue opposites... are coming through.....#im such a lazy gifmaker i cant be bothered to make em better than they are JFHEJDHE theyre so self indulgent...#them talking about their next life broke me a little! imagine living for your next life on the belief you're gonna meet this guy again!#cdramaedit#cdramagifs#li junliang#jin xiaobao#wang yunkai#FIXED THE ISSUE I SPOTTED YDAY POSTING AT THE WORST TIME LETS GO#myatbedit
101 notes
¡
View notes
Text
some minority of fans: I see nothing problematic and toxic about this character
Bible đ¤ Li Le:
#i for real saw people saying unironically that huaien / myatb is not toxic (on MDL)#bruh he's almost a black widow#yall can watch dark messy stories without trying to paint the dark messy stuff light... it's ok to watch dark messy fiction#it's also ok to sympathize with and understand fucked up characters and still recognize that they are fucked up#it's ok just ignore the haters#i would even say that's the whole point of characters like that where you get an idea why they are the way they are#watching them battle themselves to fix things they messed up#kinnporsche#meet you at the blossom#bible wichapas#li le
75 notes
¡
View notes
Text
There's something wretched about this Something so precious about this â Hozier
#i think hozier could fix them </3#tho hozier made me worst abt them#anyway here's another set#took me a min to figure out the blend thing lmaoo#mysterious lotus casebook#mlc#lianhua lou#lhl#fanghua#li lianhua#llh#li xiangyi#lxy#cheng yi#fang duobing#fdb#zeng shunxi#my stuff
64 notes
¡
View notes
Note
Hello itâs me again! Itâs been a while, I hope youâve been doing okay. I recently have been reading through a lot of angst to comfort and I have an idea for a request!
May I request an Ike fic where reader is a liver in NIJISANJI and has a crush on Ike but knows they have no chance with him. Then one day reader accidentally spills their feelings to Ike and Ike comforts them after hearing about readers feelings?
I hope youâre not tired of me requesting Ike fics (ily him to much) and I hope you have a good day/night! <3
-đď¸
stars above your skin
oh đ we're really in it now
how long have i had this request in my inbox? early march? and now exactly one day after blue light dropped, i give you a ~19.5k word ike fic. much love and effort has gone into this one, only seconded by the massive amounts of brainrot.
so yeah, i'm not tired of ike requests. i'm literally a quilldren that writes fanfic. this is the opposite of a problem
in fact this might be one of my favorite things i've written... the second half is such a good bedtime story for me...!
this is going to get NASTY to read on tumblrâas in my site is lagging so hard just typing these a/n notes. so i'm going to remind you all that not only is liking/reblogging recommended to keep track of this fic, but also that i have an ao3 account (same name as url but without dashsince it's much more accessible than tumblr for long fic. i recommend reading on tumblr if you can because of some formatting but to each their own!
hereâs a funny story about this fic. i was working on it while a bunch of people sat behind me, you see, and one of my greatest irrational fears is that people sitting behind me will be able to see my laptop screen and laugh at what iâm writingâŚ! and with these requests i usually title them the fandom name and my name, and a short phrase about the request, and this one was âworkplace romanceâ, and i just got so afraid right then and there i changed it to the first thing i could think of, based off a clip i saw of pomu, selen, aia and doppioâŚ!! and thatâs why the wip doc is titled ânijisanji 4402 - pliskinâ, and why i will always refer to this fic as "pliskin" much more than the actual title
by the way hereâs a cover of iris that was pretty fitting for this fic. youâll know when to play it. enjoy
tags: hurt/comfort, reader is a niji vtuber, gender neutral reader, off-collab, mutual pining, misunderstandings, fluff, angst with a happy ending, friends to lovers, cuddling, everyone in niji is your wingman, implied uki/ren if you squint but itâs mostly because uki will flirt with 80% of the men in this company
cameos: aia amare, alban knox, mika melatika, nina kosaka, ren zotto, uki violeta, vox akuma, fulgur ovid (mentioned)
â ď¸ drinking/alcohol (unspecified if reader drinks alcohol)
â ď¸ horror/gore mentions (non-detailed), out of context outlast spoilers i guess?
author's commentary here (spoilers) âŁ
âââ シ ・ďžâ: *.â˝ .* :âďž. âââ
There are dozens of these videos on YouTube, and never have you come across the same one twice. You would know. You have a bad habit of clicking on them.Â
After all, theyâre labeled with your name on them, and right next to it, Ike Eveland. You are smart enough to recognize itâs not worth your time and just another compilation of the same moments and fans trying to make a mountain out of a molehill, but your heart says otherwise. To be fair, the compilations were a much more recent development than the one you hid under lock and key.Â
When you first joined Nijisanji, some of your senpais sent you messages full of greetings and offers to help you get on your feet as a streamer. Ike was one of those senpais, and whenever you popped into voice calls just to hang out, he was easy to talk to, like an old friend. Naturally, a fast friendship formed, and when you debuted, he was one of the first people you collabed with- and the one with the best reception. Your new fans (âBookworms,â they called themselves, after your name Reader) loved how well your humor bounced off each other, and when weeks passed and you announced another collab on your schedule with Ike, your Bookworms rejoiced.Â
Even when you werenât working, you would still talk to him. He told you about his homeland in the past and his novels, both released and unpublished. He was a storyteller even when he was talking about something as minute as making a sandwich, and whenever you brought up your past and interests, he was an excellent listener. You had your differences, but he always knew what questions to ask so he could understand you better, and you loved the opportunity to ramble.Â
It had been nearly three months since you debuted, and four if you count the day you were officially hired and began to build yourself as a streamer. Whenever you look at the endlessly long text history between you and Ike, you have to wonder: is it normal to feel so connected to someone youâve only known for three-maybe-four months?Â
Youâre not an idiot. You arenât about to say Ike is the most important thing in the world to you, but he gets pretty damn close. That terrifies you. You shouldnât be so attached to someone you barely know.Â
But then again, you trust Ike. Heâs opened up to you about things he would never say to others, and he keeps your secrets buried in the grave. Youâve lost count of how much advice heâs given you, but youâve never forgotten a single one, and whenever you feel lost about something you know you can count on him to help you out.Â
You grimace, sip out of your drinking glass, and press âplayâ on the next compilation.Â
A cute intro plays with the clipperâs name. Above it are the words Pen and Paper, surrounded by puffy pink hearts.Â
That was the duo name between you and Ike, but "ship name" was more accurate among fanwork.
You werenât exactly unaware about it. Weeks ago, you were surfing Twitter and the siteâs algorithm granted you your introduction into Pen and Paper. This was shortly after your first collab with Ike, and after you established your shipping rules with your audience (âIâm fine with anything, as long as the other liver is okay with it!â, you proclaimed, totally oblivious to how soon that would blow up in your face). The fanartist posted a messy black-and-white sketch, but you could make out the pattern of Ikeâs scarf wrapped around you and him at the same time, forcing your bodies into close proximity with averted eyes and dusty blushes.Â
You appreciated the fanartistâs passion and skill, but the thought of you and Ike as an item sunk in your chest like you swallowed a rock. You swiped past. You went back to your scrolling, found some good thumbnails, and retweeted some cute solo fanart, but before the week ended, you made a private account with a fake name and staked out the tags for Pen and Paper to follow that fanartist.
Damn fanartist. You tried to deny it, and told yourself that you followed their art because you liked the style. But their account was full of ship art, and when Twitter gave you similar users that all worked under the hashtag, you had to face facts. If you wanted to look at it optimistically, at least you figured it out early on before anything had the chance to sour while you were still blissfully ignorant of yourself; even then, that doesnât make it any harder than it already is.
Besides all the texts, the meetings, the schedules and events, and then including the streams and collabs and the art and the fandomâŚÂ
âWhy?â You ask out loud in the silence of your room. âWhy did I have to fall for my coworker?â
And with audiences of over hundreds of people watching you fall for him, nonetheless!
Itâs irritating. You have a job that keeps you motivated to work hard. Itâs given you a dedicated fanbase, rare opportunities, and coworkers you all recognize as your friends. Really, finding someone to care for because of it should be a blessing, but itâs such a headache. What if your fanbases get jealous, or even worse, outright hate it? Would you be able to keep up a relationship when you and Ike are dedicated to your careers and streams? Why are you even thinking like this? You scold yourself. Thereâs no way this would ever work out. Itâs all fantasy and smoke and mirrors, because fandoms love love. Shipping is never a reflection of the streamers, just the characters you play. Youâre delusional if you think your stupid crush could actually go anywhere.
But fandoms love love. The only comfort you have is being able to pretend something could happen. The ship art is a lie, and so are the fanfics, and the clippers that tag their videos as Pen and Paper are just here for a possibility that never could happen.
The compilation is full of little hints and teases, and if you were being honest with yourself, most of it was more like two friends getting along than actual flirting. But you didnât trust yourself to see your clumsiness for what it is when Ikeâs little laughs are like music to your ears.Â
Damage control, you tell yourself. Itâs like studying how you play your favorite games. You can pinpoint where you stumble and leave yourself open for attack in Apex, Smash, even Crab Game, and then amend those mistakes the next time you pick up the game. Real life should be no different. Just stop acting so dorky all the time by finding moments of dork in your VODs and avoid them next time you talk to Ike.
This clip was from your second collab with Ike. Captions floated along the bottom of the screen. Ike's captions were in his signature blue.
IKE: You know, thereâs a lot of content about us two as a duo.
READER: They call us Pen and Paper, right?
IKE: Yeah, my art tag is flooded with art of the both of us.Â
READER: Oh my God, look at the chat. Mineâs full of people saying they love us together.Â
IKE: Aww, thanks, Quilldren! Iâm happy I can play with Reader too.Â
READER: Thank you, Bookworms; thank you, Quilldren. Hey, thereâs a lot more overlap than I expected.
IKE: Theyâre like Bookdren.
READER: Or Quillworms.
IKE: Quillworms, that sounds way better. Theyâre like our children.
READER: www
IKE: www
Never fucking mind about acting so dorky all the time. You kick yourself for bringing up Pen and Paper, and your giggly laugh. You hate it. A neon sign above your head that says âSIMPâ would be less obvious than that stupid schoolkid laugh.
But Ikeâs laughter is music, back in the moment and now as you revisit it, and his modelâs eyes squint with a wide smile.
He really is an amazing man. If you didnât know him as well as you do, youâd think heâs perfect. But youâve seen him in moments of vulnerability, the parts of himself that never shows through on stream and even rarer among his friends. Through it all he manages to keep going, and you admire him so much for sticking to his guns even when heâs expressed all his doubts about himself. The fact that he trusts you enough to let his guard down only adds to how honored you are to know him, and at the same time, the fact that thereâs so much trust between you two just makes you feel worse for having a crush on him. You hate keeping secrets like this when you let Ike read you like an open book for everything else, and even just wishing you were something more to him feels like a betrayal of all that trust. You wish you could just be satisfied to know him.
The compilation continues. The next clip is a totsu Fall Guys collab hosted by Fulgur Ovid that you and Ike joined in on. Fuuchan got eliminated early in the match, and spectated on you while the other livers ran around Roll On with players tugging them this way and that.Â
You moved around the rotating levels at the perfect sweet spot between two rings, and balanced at the top of the roll as the slime level slowly rose.
A longer wall approached, so you shuffled from one level to another, but another player grabbed your bean avatar and dragged you along to the wall even as you yelled out in panic on Discord. You smashed your keys to struggle, but they had an advantage, and it was clear the wall would push you down to the slime for an impending elimination.
That is, until a familiar Miku bean grabbed the other side of your avatar, and pulled the other way towards the ring that would save your life. Resigned, your attacker backed off and barely dodged out of the way while Ikeâs Miku bean brought you back to safety.
The other two livers in the game were too noisy to notice you. Fuuchan was commentating every move you made, and when Ike saved you, he said, âIke coming in clutch, letâs fucking go.â
Your recorded self didnât hear him at all, though. You swooned, âIke, my hero!â
Meanwhile in the present, you wanted to puke. You meant for that to sound like an over-the-top joke, but you crush is getting so serious that it sounds less like a bit and more like how you gush about him in private.Â
At least Fuuchanâs audio was louder than everyone else, since he was the host, and the other two livers were preoccupied with their own game to notice your lovey-dovey tone and how Ike laughed music at you. It was bad enough clippers transcribed your words in captions, but you werenât sure how you would handle it if those three picked up on you and your dumb crush. The less that know about your workplace romance, the better.
.ă . ⢠â . ° .⢠°:. *â ° . â
âReader,â Aia coos. Even with audio only, you could tell her eyes were sparkling. âYou didnât tell me you had a workplace romance!â
Well, so much for that plan. You froze over. âWho told you that?â
Mika answers way too quickly. âItâs Albanâs fault.â
âFuck off, Mika, you brought it up first!â
âYou said it though!â
Man, you were already starting to regret joining VC today. You finished your offline work a lot faster than expected, so when you realized that three of your close friends in the company were all online in VC together while Alban privately streamed a rhythm game, you figured you would join the call while you prepared dinner.Â
But if that was your greeting, you needed to mentally prepare for the wild interrogation you were about to experience. At least Aia, despite her love for drama, knew how to navigate these sorts of things delicately. And you donât mean to call Mika and Alban bad friendsâthey were the exact opposite, in factâbut they were much nosier than Aia ever came across.
âOkay, but Reader just asked who leaked it, and didnât deny it,â Aia says. âSo that means it must be true!â
Scratch that. Aia is the worst out of all of them.
âI hate you guys. No hello or anything, just gossip about my love life,â you lament.
She gasps, and if her eyes were sparkling before, then roses bloomed around her as she spoke. âItâs love?â
Mika shrieks like a banshee. âOh hell no, youâre in love and you didnât tell us?!â
âItâs not love. Itâs nothing!â
âNah-uh, Reader, no running away from it, we know,â Alban says. âBetter to just get it all out in the open than pretend like nothingâs up.â
âYouâre just saying that because you want to snoop.â
âIâm being serious. Keeping stuff bottled up deteriorates you, especially when loveâs involved.â He missed a note. âShit. And yeah, okay, I want some gossip, but I have a point and you know it.â
âFuck you.â
âFuck you, I blew a full combo just to say that!â
âCan I add? In case you forgot, Reader, weâre all in the same company,â Mika says. âSure, I might be in a different branch, but who knows? Maybe we can help.â
âAnd fuck you too.â You sigh in defeat. As vitriolic as your shared humor was, these three were still some of your best friends, and you know they donât mean any harm. âUgh, I hate this. This is confidential information. Like, CIA levels of confidential. If I tell you guys, you canât tell a single soul about it. Understand?â
The three all chime in agreement. And unfortunately, you trust them. You take advantage of your coworkers swearing themselves to secrecy to hype yourself up and just rip off the band-aid. âItâs Ike.â
âWe know.â
âWhat the hell do you mean, you know?!â
âItâs obvious,â Aia says. Your heart hammers in your chest. Then she sputters for a moment, like she realized she mightâve hit a soft spot. âWell, you have to focus on it to see it, but once you see it, itâs hard to ignore. You two go well together.â
Alban pitches in. âAgreed. Iâm not even gonna be subtle about it, you and Ike have great chemistry. Iâm happy for you two.â
âOkay, I guess.â Your eyes drift away from your prepared ingredients to the corner of your kitchen. âBut I donât know. Are you sure? Because I feel like I always act like an idiot whenever Iâm around him. And I doubt heâd ever feel the same way.â
âWait.â Aia pauses. âYouâre⌠not dating?â
âNo. Just a crush. Not love, not dating, nothing. And itâs never going to be anything more than that because itâs just a big stupid crush on my coworker, who doesnât even live close enough to visit, and this is all a recipe for disaster.â
She doesnât say anything about that. Actually, none of them do. Even Alban pressed pause on his game, and the Discord stream went motionless as your words sunk in.Â
Mika is the one to break the silence. âYouâre shitting me.â
âThatâs the truth. Happy?â
âNo, like, youâre shitting me, thereâs no way.â
âMikaaa.â Alban drags out her name as he scolds her.Â
âHey, Iâm just saying, thatâs crazy, especially sinceââ
âDonât tell Reader that!â
âTell me what?âÂ
âWe thought you were already a thing. You know, dating, in a relationship, whatever,â Mika clarifies. It hits you like a punch to the gut. âOr at least that you had something going on, and kept it secret so it wouldnât be awkward for everyone else to work with you two. Which, by the way, weâre all chill with, so if, hypothetically, you decided to hypothetically go for it, we would hypothetically cheer you on and set off hypothetical fireworks. Iâd rent a food truck.â
Alban resumes his game. âYeah, what she said. Go get that hypothetical novelist bussy.â
âDonât hypothetically talk about my brother like that.â
âYouâre sure this is okay?â You ask. âMika, I know you and Ike are close. This isnât going to make anything weird, is it?â
âYouâre fine, Reader. If I had problems, I wouldâve cornered you and threatened you over text ages ago when I figured it out.â
âThatâs another thing. How did you guys know?â
Aia pipes up first. âI know I said it was obvious, but I think thatâs just because we know each other since weâre good friends. You two just go together, you know? Itâs hard to explain, but whenever Reader and Ike-senpai are in the same room you think, âthose two would be cute,â and then you realize they are cute, right there in the moment. And you talk a lot faster on stream whenever youâre both on the same page. Almost as fast as me.â
 âPlus, itâs really common to see both of you on VC at the same time, and youâre always happy whenever he shows up,â Mika affirms. âAlban says whenever one of you enters the call the other is soon to follow.âÂ
âItâs true. You talk fast whenever you talk to him on VC too, not just stream. And your laugh kind of changes?â
âDammit, I knew my laugh was my tell. This sucks. This seriously sucks.â
âIt might not be all that bad,â Mika says. âWho knows, maybe things might end up better than you expect. You should tell him.â
âNo way,â you fire back. âThere no way heâd actually reciprocate. And I know you guys are fine with me asking, but Ike himself is just going to reject me, and itâs going to be awkward, and literally everyone in the company who has ever talked to us will be able to tell somethingâs up.â
âThey wonât be weird,â Aia insists. âWe wonât, either, and Ike-senpai is a good guy. Even if it doesnât work out, he wouldnât leave you out to dry like that.â
âYou donât know. None of you have ever been in this situation.â
âThatâs true, but thereâs always a chance.â
âIf you ask me, it sounds more like youâre afraid of what you think would happen instead of what rationally would,â Alban says. Heâs still laser-focused on his game. âI dunno. If youâre really set on getting over it, then go ahead and ignore it, but thatâs just going to eat at you for who knows how long before your crush starts to fade.â
âWell, I didnât ask.â
âFine. Forget I said anything.â
You regret the acidic tone in your voice the second you said it, but Alban was off in his own world of music. Heâd tell you if he had a problem with how you spoke to him, but you still feel gross about your knee-jerk reaction.Â
Youâre just⌠defensive. Yep, thatâs the word. Whenever youâre this interested in someone, you put your walls up and protect yourself from letting anyone worm through and hit a weak point.Â
Aia hums like an analyst. âJust keep it in mind, Reader. Not everything is out to get you.â
You know your friends just wanted the best for you, but things just arenât as simple as theyâd like to imagine it. Itâs none of their business, anyways. It was pure coincidence that they figured out your thoughts on Ike, and that means none of them have any real authority to advise you on your love life.
âI think weâre done talking about this,â you assert.
âWell, you heard âem. Pack it up, showâs over.â Mika changed the subject. âHey, did you guys know if you try to break open a freshly boiled egg, it explodes?â
Alban slams his hands on his keyboard so loudly that you hear the switches over his noise suppression. The stream goes from a string of Awesome! notes to nothing but misses as he abandons the game. âYES. Yes, actually, I DO know.â
.ă . ⢠â . ° .⢠°:. *â ° . â
âMEAT! WANTS MEAT! WANTS MEAT! MEAT!â
âAAAAAAAAHHHH!â
The stream is to the birds. Fuck that noise. Godspeed to the Bookworms, theyâll need it, but not nearly as much as you.Â
When you were settling on a schedule, the last undecided spot for the week was Fridayâs stream. That simply wouldnât do. Friday nights kick off the weekend, and the break from school and work is prime time for a wide audience, so pretty much everyone in Nijisanji reserves their juiciest streams for the weekend. Youâre no exception.
âŚExcept for the fact that you didnât have a clue about what to do for Fridayâs stream. One Twitter poll and conveniently timed Steam sale later, you published your schedule with a game your fans voted on: Outlast.
You walked in knowing it would be a horror game, and you figured it would be fine. After all, youâve played games from Chillaâs Art before, and a few quirky indie psychological releases here and there. You wouldnât call yourself a stone-faced horror lover that can keep a straight face at anything, but aside from a few creepy moments in those game, youâve kept your cool relatively well.Â
Outlast threw all that out the window. You realized almost immediately that you had no idea how to handle the primal fear of the chase.Â
Footsteps pound against a metal floor. You plead for help in the emptiness of your home as you smash the controls, as if that would make your character move the cabinet over the door any faster. Screams resonate in tune between you and the chained man in the room with you, and all the while, the howling of your pursuer grows louder and louder as he gets closer.
You finally uncover the door and dash through. Tremors run though all your thoughts while your heart beats overtime.Â
You still havenât gotten used to all the jumpscares, even though youâre at the edge of your seat and ready to start running yourself. A fork in the road approaches, and when you start off one direction, youâre greeted by a bloodied man in the distance. âAAAHH!â
Faster than light, you slam the key to the other hall and book it. You spot a new storage container to shove in front of the door just in time for text to appear on the screen: Look for pushable objects to block doors.
âNo shit, why wouldnât you tell me that before, oh my God, aaaaah!â The screamsâfrom both the voice actors and your own criesâgrate against your eardrums while chase music thunders in-between the gasps for air.Â
As you grab the container and start to push, you mash the pause button. When the menu appears, you lean back in your chair and run your hands over your face. Your model pouts cutely while the real you whimpers. The mic barely picks it up.
You take a breath before groaning in fear and pain. âGuys. I donât think I can do thisâŚâ Another groan as you trail off. âThis game is so much. Give me a second.â
As you raise yourself back from your chair, itâs with a slump forward. Your chat is full of headpat emotes and hearts in your color, along with some quick words of courage. A few are recommending you take a break. âThanks, Bookworms. Iâm so afraid, but Iâm committed and I donât want to just leave it here.â
Your eyes flutter closed as you take a sip of water to clear your head. The cold drink startles you out of the dingy asylum atmosphere, but the screaming still lingers between your ears. âYou know what? Who else is online right now? Maybe I need someone in VC to hold me to this.â
The emojis in chat slowly patter out as your viewers go back to text. Looks like most of your Bookworms like the idea of calling someone else while you stream the game. Some of their messages catch your eye.Â
gatamiizuus: you can call ike :ReaderHeadpat:Â
messXed-up!: ike!!
lunasmortas: what about ike?
A few more chats mention Ike, and while usually youâd be irritated they mentioned another liver out of the blue, your shoulders still relax at the sight of his name. âWait, Ike? Is Ike here?â
You scroll back in the chat history, and search for any mod messages. Sure enough, barely a minute ago while you were still being chased:
Ike Eveland ăNIJISANJI ENă â : GANBARE!
You cling onto that message like a lifeline. Ike is familiar. Ike is comforting. And most importantly, Ike would never call you a pussy.
Chat floods over with his name while you check the official Nijisanji Discord server. Almost everyone in Nijisanji sets their status to offline by default, and Ike is one of them, but you still scan through the member list anyways, praying a little green indicator will light up by his icon.
His status doesnât change, but before you can even click on his profile, your Direct Messages tab gains a notification. He just messaged you.
Ike Eveland: Watching your stream right now
Ike Eveland: Are you okay?
You exhale. Ike is the most dependable guy you know, even when itâs pure coincidence he was watching your stream while you freaked out.Â
With your heart still in your throat, you respond.
Me: uuuuuuugh i guess
Me: the game is really scary
Me: i donât want to cancel the stream but i donât think i can play it by myself đ
Ike Eveland: 𫠠  | đŤ 1 |
Ike Eveland: Would you feel better if I called you?
Me: i was just about to ask    | đ 1 |
Me: you donât have to if you donât want to tho!! i donât want to be a nuisance lol
Ike Eveland: Donât worry I offered to!
Ike Eveland started a voice call.
âIkeee!â The second the call starts, all your restraint goes forgotten. âIke, I was so scared!â
You babble on about everything youâve endured up to this point: the gore, the grime, and the patients in the asylum that hunt you like animals.Â
 âIâm here, itâs alright now,â he assures you. âIâm here, okay? Take your time, youâre safe.â
âYeah, I know. Iâm relieved. But it was so scary.â You sink and bury yourself in the collar of your shirt. âYouâve streamed this before, and kept a cool head the entire time, right? How do you do it?â
âWell, it wasnât my first time playing, for starters. Everyone gets freaked out at first. Itâs a horror game, Reader, itâs okay to react to it. I remember the first time I played it, it scared me so bad I had to quit after half an hour.â He giggles a bit at himself. The sound is comforting. âThat was a few years ago. I think I had nightmares about it, until I realized I needed to know the rest of the story. â
Your voice is small. âThat was really brave of you.â
âI avoided it for days. I doubt thatâs brave.â
âItâs braver than calling someone just to get the guts to play the game.â
âHey, donât put my friend Reader down just to bring me up.â He keeps his tone light to let you know youâre allowed to smile. âBeing able to face your fears is plenty on its own, and you shouldnât be devaluing that. How long have you been at it?â
âA little over two hours?â You glance at the stream monitor, and ignore the chat as much as you can. You still register the hearts in your color and his signature blue. âI donât know. I did a lot of pausing, too, so itâs probably less than thatâŚâ
âBut you were still able to stream for that long. Remember, I could only play for thirty minutes during my first time! Youâre stronger than you think you are.â
You avert your eyes from your stream setup. You feel painfully seen, but the chat is nothing to you. âDoesnât feel like it.â
âThen Iâll be here to remind you. Is that okay?â
âIâd like that.â You return to the screen, and in the darkness of the blurred labyrinth, you see your reflection stare back. Your hair is disheveled from how you kept thrashing around in reaction to the game and your shoulders are high with tension, but only now did you realize how the corners of your lips rose after the call started. Ike really got to you. âThank you, Ike, youâre so considerate. I appreciate you a lot. Youâre a really good guy.â
He chuckles slowly, soft like a blanket. Your shoulders ease. Ikeâs words are just as soft, and if you didnât know any better, youâd think heâs nervous too. âHaha, um. Yeah. Thank you?â He doesnât take compliments well, but theyâre true, and you hope he knows it as well as you do. He clears his throat. âAhem. Um, how are you feeling?â
âNot great, but better. I want to try again.â
âYouâve got this, Reader, you can do it.â Ike is still quiet, but enthusiastic. âYou can do it!â
You go shaky. âOkay, okay, okay, okay, okay.â
But you still press Return To Game.
And when you scream barely five seconds later, Ike is still calm, and you hone in on his voice as you persevere.
.ă . ⢠â . ° .⢠°:. *â ° . â
Just as you go to bed, you realize that you basically just made a fool of yourself in front of your crush by getting scared at a game heâs already conquered.Â
You slam a pillow over your face and groan.
.ă . ⢠â . ° .⢠°:. *â ° . â
Ike lands an all-out attack just in time to check the chat and the swarm of viewers that just joined. âOh, Reader! Thank you for the raid, itâs good to see you! Welcome, everybody.â
Reader ăNIJISANJI ENă â : take care of my bookworms for me? iâm getting milk
âOf course. Theyâre our Quillworms, after all.â You go fuzzy. He remembered the fan name! âHave a good break, Reader! Rest well.â
Reader ăNIJISANJI ENă â : đ
It was the end of the week, and the stream you just finished was the last on your schedule. You announced a few days ago that you would take a break for a little more than two weeks so you could catch up on offline work as well as rest, and the Bookworms sent you off with a lot of love. Itâll be hard for some of your diehard fans, but youâre sure theyâll manage. You have a feeling itâll be easier than they expect.Â
âSpeaking of breaks, I havenât finished my schedule yet. I think Iâll wait a day or two to post it.â The stream cracks in red and black as Ikeâs party in Persona 5 Royal clobbers the enemy Shadows. Monsters bleed out behind the protagonistâs cocky smirk. âIâll be offline for the next two days, so Iâll have some time to think about it.â
Ike mashes through the battle results, and sets back off into exploring the palace. His stream fades into background noise as you get back to the task at hand.Â
You sent a few messages to some of your other coworkers regarding your break. Next was finishing some paperwork for management, and reaching out to others that needed access to the files. Sure, your time off was for offline work, but the work you had to get done would only take an afternoon at most. You wanted to meet even the far-off deadlines as soon as possible so you could be properly free for the rest of your vacation.
By the time you finished your paperwork, your coworkers were able to respond to you. A group chat full of other livers had a new response every minute about the next two weeks, and Aia sent you a QR code that would let you save some time and money on your flight.Â
Ike ended yet another super-long P5R stream just a few minutes after you grabbed all your luggage, got to the airport, and made it to your terminal. You had some time to kill, but you were sick of the headphones over your ears.
Not to mention, you were waiting for the fans to catch up on the real reason why you were on break.
Curiously, you log into your private Twitterâyou donât plan to interact with anything but youâre always paranoid about your online presenceâand start searching for the code words fans think Vtubers have no idea about. Symbols replace letters and names morph into sounds while emojis speak volumes. Â
The Stargazers donât mention it at all. Thatâs to be expected, after all. Their oshi goes on break often, so nothing seems too out of the ordinary. Besides, you wouldnât put it past them to have even more intricate subtweets than what youâre looking for.
Only a few of Ninaâs Honeybunnies put the pieces together at first, but then you check Quilldren subtweets. As it turns out, when Ike mentioned heâd be taking a few days off, a few of his fans noticed how Nina was going to be offline at the same time, and a smaller fraction of those compared how Mika had yet to release a schedule.Â
Underneath your face mask, you smile. With the career being dependent on both anonymity and your voice, you wore a nondescript black mask through the entire airport in case someone recognized you, just as well as to hide the tiny giggle that always bubbles up whenever you watch your fans scramble around theorizing. They donât have all the pieces, after all. None of the Aiadmirers nor the Renvaders even considered it.
Theyâll figure it out in time nonetheless. Uki and Nina are close to landing, and Aia was the first to disembark her plane. The rest of your friends are set to arrive after you, and besides, Vox should be ending his last stream of the week right now. Youâre sure the Kindred will start plotting in the next hour, provided their oshi didnât give them too big of a hint about his plans for the next week as heâs known to do.
You board your plane and settle into your seat, ready to nap the flight away. Youâll need the rest, after all. Itâs about time you join an off-collab.
.ă . ⢠â . ° .⢠°:. *â ° . â
Nina doesnât even get the chance to look away from her phone before she gets a rush of replies on her first voice tweet.
She doesnât bother to read them anyways. Sheâs too busy howling out the lyrics to âWannabe.â
Itâll be hard to discern all the voices. Ikeâs high range is always easy to pick out, but Vox blends in as a bass, and you can always hear Mikaâs grin through her singing. Ren and Aia are the furthest from the phone, and as loud as they sing, theyâre still drowned out along with you, Uki, and Nina herself.
Mika chooses the wrong time to look around the karaoke booth. While Aia sings passionately about what she wants (what she really, really wants), her body language crumples and rises like an electrocuted high school theater kid. The ghost has a hiccuping, sweeping laugh that overpowers half of the singers, and then Aia snorts at herself when Mika covers her mouth, which gets Vox to snort even louder, and before you know it, itâs just Uki and Nina doing their damndest not to break. Even then, Ninaâs voice wavers along to the Spice Girls as she resists a laugh, and Ukiâs eyes are squeezed shut smiling.
.ă . ⢠â . ° .⢠°:. *â ° . â
The bar stool slides out from the counter so quietly that you wonder if the Airbnb owner knew just how handy it would be for a house full of streamers on vacation. You lean forward while Mika tells a story about how she, Aia, Ren and you went out for a coffee run, and crossed paths with some teenagers with matching Iluna keychains on their backpacks.Â
Speaking of Iluna, their represents sat together on the couch. Aia set her plate and fork on the coffee table, not a single pool of sauce left over from the pasta dinner Vox and Uki prepared together. Somehow Ren made enough room in his luggage to bring along a teal ukulele, and idly strums along. Uki sits between Ren and the armrest, swirling the last of his pasta between his fork.
Across from them, Vox and Nina took ownership of two plush chairs that could only fit one person each. Each chair was next to a corner table, and they stacked their plates on top of one another to make room for a jug of orange juice and two cocktail glasses. Ike took a bottle of rum and poured it into his soda, then slid it back to the corner table before pulling up the bar stool next to you.Â
âIt was like, one of them had a clear phone case and held it out to show the others a video,â Mika says. She perched on top of the counter itself, next to her travel microphone and the second-nastiest kitchen stream setup youâve ever seen. She was no Scarle, but so many wires stretched across the island and along the way that it was just easier for her to climb onto the polished granite to keep an eye on the chat. âSmack-dab in the center was a PNG of Vox. And then a bunch of tinier Voxes around it. And hereâs how you know itâs bad, you could see the color of the phone itself through the case because itâs clear, right? It was red. Red! Thatâs commitment!â
âIâm telling you, Mika, thereâs no way they got a red phone just because of Vox,â Aia says. âThatâs got to be a coincidence.â
Vox hums into his glass. âNo, they absolutely did. You mean to tell me your fans donât spoil you rotten and buy new phones just because theyâre your color?â
âMy color is white, Vox, like every phone ever is my color!â
âStill, Iâve never seen Aia go so quiet so fast.â Renâs ukulele twangs as he grins. His fangs were just as prominent in real life. âIt was awesome.â
âIt was scary, but funny,â you say. âWe saw the Vox case and the Iluna keychains, and all of us just went silent. And we all had masks, too, so it was like, one moment you could hear Renâs fuckboy laugh, and the second we saw the case, we all put up our masks and went quieter than the grave.â
Ren palms the neck of the ukulele and mutes the chord in mock offense. âHey! Iâm not a fuckboy!â
âDidnât say you were, but if you want to out yourself like that, be my guest. Theyâd chop off your horns and sell them like Kyo.â
âOne of them had an Aster keychain.â Ren bitterly resumes playing. Uki sets his plate on the table and drapes himself over the alienâs shoulder as he opened up his phone to check the off-collabâs live tag. The stream was supposed to be a live Q&A, but was so easy to talk to everyone that the questions often turned into conversation before someone remembered the stream. âIf Aia or I said anything, weâd be fucked.â
âImagine how fucked we wouldâve been if Vox woke up in time to go with us,â you say.
Ike snickers. âIs it bad that I wouldâve paid money to see that?â
The two Luxiem members get into a playful argument over who would win in a fight: all the effort Nijisanji and its employees put into protecting their privacy, or one silly phone case. Renâs riffing turns into a simple rendition of âIrisâ and Nina hums along from across the living room. The ukulele is slow and unique enough to not be mistaken for the original, but you wonder if those two would be able to avoid copyright entirely.
Nonetheless, the vibe is comfortable. Youâre miles away from home, but in a room with some of your closest friends in the world, itâs like you never left. Truthfully, itâs more like youâve finally found your place. The music just feels right, like it was written for this moment, and Aia leans back into the couch while Nina sways in her seat to the jaunty little ukulele. Ren looks as cheery as his instrument sounds, especially with a peaceful Uki nuzzled up to him.Â
While Ike and Vox go at it, Mika props her chin up with both hands and watches them like a reality TV show. Thereâs a glint in Voxâs eyes as Ike drums up a snide response, the only sane man to the demonâs goofiness. He brings his rum and coke to his lips like punctuation, a silent so, what? hidden in the boozy soda.Â
Vox knows how to run his mouth, and he launches into one of his patented anecdotes. While all eyes are on the demon and the chat hones in on his voice, you focus on how Ike tilts his head up to drink. His neck stretches out from the collar of his black band tee, and with each sip, his Adamâs apple bobs.Â
Youâve always thought he was good-looking on stream, but heâs gorgeous in person, all long lines and graceful features, and cameras canât capture the tiny little freckles drizzled down the back of his neck. You didnât even know he had freckles. It was only after you saw him for the first time that you noticed pale, reddish dots all over his nose and cheeks, fading out by his temples and the arch of his lips. Spending the day walking around in the sun from place to place revealed more whenever the wind flicked his jacket collar out right. They scatter at his nape, right below the blue tips of his hair, and meet one another further down his back, or so youâd presume. Without the jacket, you can catch marks spread out along his arms with distance between one another, and his shirt sleeve starts right where the freckles cluster together. You can only imagine how far down they go.
You avert your eyes. You canât think about whatâs under the shirt when youâre sitting right next to him, and certainly not while on stream, even if chat canât see you check him out!
Unfortunately, the side opposite of Ike is the one with Ren and Uki. Those two are idyllic. Without a care in the world, it seems. You envy how easily Uki can act on what he wants, even if you know he doesnât see Ren like how you see Ike. Ren doesnât mind it at all, either. He literally lives by the rhythm of his own ukulele.Â
Ike lowers his drink with his eyes closed, as if it would make the refreshing feeling last longer. His eyelashes are the same ashen color as his hair. Gold gleams between his ears and on the chain of his glasses.
Possessed by the music, and distracted by the rambling, you become one with the background and lean along Ikeâs arm.
Itâs an indulgent dip into the waters, but shallow compared to all you feel for him. Ever since you met Ike in person itâs been easier to control yourself around him, and if anything, youâre reminded that this is the man youâve gotten the closest to in both career and friendship. The only barrier between your cheek and his body is his shirt sleeve, but your arm rests against his forearm, right where the freckles taper off. Thereâs no resistance at all as you make yourself comfortable in the crook of his arm.Â
But you hold yourself back. Even though the off-collab made you feel gutsier than before, you think that youâd pass out if you tried anything else. Besides, you feel so at peace against his arm, but too afraid to look up and see his reaction.Â
The blend of peace and fear churns in your heart as it dawns on you: you were wrong to call this a crush. It runs far deeper than you couldâve imagined.
Vox says something with finality. His voice snaps you out of your thoughts, but the words go unregistered. As he spoke, his eyes drifted around with his body language, but he snaps to look at Ike expectantly. You swear his smirk gets a little more mischievous as he does.Â
The air stills, even though you know eyes arenât on you, just the man you lean on. It stays frozen as Ike waits to respond. You still donât have the heart to look up at him and break your selfish, unrequited fantasy.
You just want to stay here, unresisted.
Ike deadpans. âAnyways.â
Just like that, the moment is over, and Mika laughing at Vox striking out clears the air around you. But Voxâs eyes fall to you for just a split second as he moves in his seat. Frost settles down your back at the thought that he knows, but thereâs a solid chance he hasnât connected the dots. You pray he hasnât.
Then you see Fox Mom herself right behind him, and she shoots you a shit-eating grin with a hand over her heart and a glass in the other.Â
No doubt about it. Youâre screwed.Â
The frost turns to glaciers and burns into hot shame all at once. You love Nina, you really do, and youâd always consider her a good friend before coworker. However, sheâs known for fishing around for any crumb of fanservice, and she gets straight to the point whenever she eggs it on, not to mention how she loves to tease her kids on just about anything. You are never going to hear the end of this if she can help it.
You really donât know what you expected. It feels like everyoneâs staring at you, even the chat. You canât help but feel bitter. How come Uki can flirt with as many guys as he wants, you wonder, but I canât even touch Ike without getting eyed up?Â
You know the answer, but it doesnât do anything to help the bitterness and the embarrassment, and how much you want to hide. On instinct, you take advantage of the warmth and nestle yourself deeper into Ike to hide your face, just in time as he curls his head above yours.
Nina makes a sound kind of like a fork stuck in the garbage disposal for the briefest of moments before smashing her lips together and bringing her glass to her mouth like a mute button. As if you didnât feel seen enough.Â
âFind any other questions, Uki-senpai?â Aiaâs nose is buried in her phone, and God, you could kiss her for changing the subject. As much as she poked fun about you about Ike, she was still a total angel and a ride-or-die all at once.Â
âOh, I have questions,â Uki says. Luckily, heâs graceful enough to leave it at that. âTwitter wants to know first impressions for everyone that hasnât off-collabed before.â
Ren speaks. âI think the only person Iâve done an off-collab with before is Nina, so is it cool if I go first?â
Aia gestures for him to go on. Sheâs still stuck on her phone as he continues.
Your phone vibrates in your pocket, but you ignore it. Then again and again and again, and when you finally check it, you understand why. When Aia, Mika and Alban first heard you spill your feelings for Ike, they made a group chat dedicated to wingmanningâor at least, thatâs what they pitched it as. They tease you more than anything else, and as irritating as it gets⌠you have to admit, itâs nice to confide in them, and nice to know they wouldnât hold it against you.
Anyways, Albanâs going apeshit.Â
Group Chat: đ PENANDPAPER REAL 2K4EVER đ (4 Members)
Aia Amare: image.png    | đ 2 |
Alban Knox: AKDHSLSJDKSHSA
Alban Knox: AASDFSDF
Alban Knox: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Alban Knox: AAAAAAAAAA
Alban Knox: HAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAA AAAAAAA KYAAAAAAAA
Alban Knox: đđđđđđđđđđđđđđđ
Alban Knox: đĽłđĽłđĽłđĽłđĽł
Alban Knox: HOW ARE YOU GUYSS NOT LOSING YUOR MINDSA BOUT THIS
Aia Amare: I AM
Me: omfg did you seriously get a picture of usÂ
Alban Knox: WHAT ARE YOU DOINGGGGGGG DONT CHDCK THIS GC Â Â Â | đ 1 |
Me: wtf did you expect youâre spammingÂ
Alban Knox: YOU AR ELITERALLY CUDDLNG GO FOCUS ON THAY JOT US
Me: we are not cuddling
Alban Knox: YOU ARE
Aia Amare: YOU ARE
Mika Melatika pinned a message.    | đ 1 |
Me: mika wth you too? đÂ
Mika Melatika: image.png
Me: did you srsly take a selfie with us in the background
Mika Melatika: YES this needs to be immortalized
Me: you people suck    | 𼰠3 |
Alban Knox: GET THAT NOVELIST BUSSY!!!!
Aia Amare: As if you arenât about to save that picture yourself~
Alban Knox: NOVELUSSY!!!!!!!!!
Fuck, she got you there. You cast a pointed look at the angelic maiden herself, or at least as pointed as you can be with a man youâre scared to love wrapped around you. She looks as satisfied as a cat pushing a glass off a counter.Â
You set your phone on âdo not disturbâ and placed it behind you on the counter with a huff.
âReader, honey, how about you?â Nina leans forward, half-lidded and as sultry as ever. She swirled her drink around in its glass. âItâs your first off-collab ever, right? Iâd love to hear what you have to say.â
âOh, well, um.â Your brain struggles to catch up. âFirst impressions, rightâŚâ
Aia slips you a thumbs up. Youâre going to rip her a new one after this. Her, and Mika, and definitely Nina; this is the most subtle Ninaâs ever been but you can tell sheâs fishing for an answer here. You can take your friends figuring it out, embarrassing as it is, but you are not about to expose yourself to thousands of live viewers.Â
âItâs kind of crazy actually meeting up with everyone,â you start. âIâve known them for so long, but all online, and being able to match the voice to the face in real life, I donât think I can actually describe it. Itâs kind of surreal, but it feels so nice to just talk to them in person. Aia, Nina and Uki were the first people I met up with, and man, those three are a sight. I know everyone says it, but Uki is absolutely the most beautiful person Iâve ever seen. Nina and Aia are really pretty, too. Hey, Aiadmirers, did you know when your oshi laughs, she looks just as cute as she sounds?â
Aia yells. âReader, shut up!â
âThen stop being so cute all the time, you dork!âÂ
âIâm not a dork! Iâm cool!â
You resume, satisfied with your revenge. âMika and Vox are both really chill. Theyâre kind of quiet, so if youâre just walking by, youâd think theyâre two normal people just going about their days. But whenever we talk itâs always something insane. Vox sounds like a dignified gentleman and Mika is kind of like that cool girl that you want to be friends with, but if you actually pay attention, Mikaâs showing Vox a picture of her insides during surgery while heâs reciting something about the Bite of â87. And Ren is probably one of the most straightforward people youâll ever see. Heâs so optimistic, and really expressive, too, even though most of the expressions are all different types of smiles.â
âWhatâs your impression of Ike?â Nina asks.
What does she expect you to say to that one, that screens canât capture how the sun glitters through his glassy green eyes? Hearing him say your name in-person sends shockwaves through your body? How you want to kiss every little freckle heâs never mentioned before and keeps hidden under long sleeves, even though itâs the beautiful skin he lives in daily?
âSame old Ike. Heâs exactly like how I expected,â you say. A total fib.Â
She cocks her head. âReally? Even after all the time youâve spent together?â
âIâm trying to hang out with everyone.â
âYou havenât answered my question.â
Cornered. Nina takes a long, slow drink from her glass as you scramble for a quick answer that wonât immediately out you. âWhenever I talk to Ike, heâs really emotive. You can tell what heâs thinking before he says anything. He also has a good sense of style, so heâs fun to go shopping with, and honestly, fun to do anything with. Heâs someone you can always have a good time with, and always makes you feel so comfortable around him. Ikeâs magnetic.â
Mika muffles a coo behind you. Youâre going to kill her if you survive this stream.
âThatâs very sweet, Reader,â Nina replies. âHear that, Ike?â
âYes, I did.â He sounds strained.
âGot any feelings about it?â
âYes? I meanâer, thanks?â You feel Ikeâs head rustle. âI, umm. What am I supposed to say about that?â
âI donât know. I just think that about you, thatâs allâŚâ
âAww, cute. I love that you love each other,â Nina muses.Â
Ike spits out, âItâs not like that!â Just as you admit, âYeah, I guess so.â
You process his words too late, though, and even as you sputter the ukulele music cuts out just in time with Nina and Mikaâs unfiltered fangirl squeals. Renâs palms mute the chord as his eyes go wide. Aia is already on her phone with her jaw to the floor and Uki throws a look at Nina while he mouths, did that just happen?Â
âI-I mean!â Your throat goes dry and Ike lurches away from you when Vox gleefully shakes Nina like a rag doll. âIâwhâIke, I mean, of course I love youââ Mika screams againâ âAs a friend!â
When you turn to face Ike, heâs curled up into a ball on the barstool with his shirt collar over his face. Even as you feel the blood rush to your face, you keep shouting. Thatâs all you have left. Youâre live. âLike, weâre best friends on and off stream and I love you!â
He mutters something, but you canât tell what. Only his neck and the tips of his ears poke out from his shirt. Were they always that red?
You repeat yourself. âI said, weâre best friends and I love you, so much!â
âAnd I said, I know, thank you, I love you too, Reader!â Ike jerks out to face you as he cries. He looks like a tomato.Â
Then he buries his face into his hands and squeaks like how he always does when somethingâs too cute to handle, or heâs got too many emotions he needs to let out. âYou canât see me, Iâm too embarrassed. Iâm hiding forever and Iâm never coming out.â
You hope the ground swallows you up and you never have to confront this moment again.Â
Uki hisses under his breath and muffles Ren's ukulele. You don't know what he said, but you realize all too late that the alien prince himself was laying down the first few notes of âFly Me To The Moon.â
While you slump and fold your arms over your face on the counter in pure embarrassment, Aia stands up and commandeers the mic. She slaps a hand over Mikaâs mouth to muffle the scream. âMan, bummer that Ike-senpai is gone from us forever, but you know what else might be gone forever if you donât get it now? The sponsor for this stream, our current limited-edition Nijisanji voice packs!â
And as much as you could kiss her yet again for changing the subject, you canât get over how everything blew up in the last five minutes, and groan into your arms instead.Â
.ă . ⢠â . ° .⢠°:. *â ° . â
The stream passed, luckily, without a hitch after that. No one asked any questions, but it was pretty damn clear everyone in the room had an idea of what just happened, and the impending shitstorm. In fact, it was so clear that when you stalked off to your room to sulk, no one made a fuss, and when you realized ten minutes into your sulking session that you left your phone on the counter, you figured it wasnât worth it to show your face again until after you finished your pity party.Â
The entire time, you laid in your bed with a pillow over your face so you could pretend like you were being absorbed into the sweet embrace of death. Overdramatic, sure, but you figured you were justified.Â
Without your phone, you had no way to check exactly how bad the fallout was on Twitter. The poor Pen and Paper tags were sure to be flooded with fans imagining a happy ending to that stint youâd never be able to experience yourself, like salt in the wound. Not to mention, it was a huge seven-person off-collab! It didnât just end with the Pen and Paper fans. No, it would extend past the Bookworms and the Quilldren, and certainly to the rest of the fandoms with an oshi in this Airbnb. Maybe even the offshoot viewers who donât regularly watch your content, but made an exception for the off-collab, or, you know, the ones who have no idea who you or Ike are but canât get enough of the whole accidental-confession-live-on-stream thing. Forget Nina; the entire Vtuber community is never, ever, ever going to live this down.Â
Ike sounded so distraught, too. You wanted to kick yourself for it. Not only did you make a fool of yourself, but he got caught in the crossfire just because you didnât catch yourself slipping. Not like heâd reciprocate anyways. Heâs always been bad at taking compliments, but you keep thinking about how embarrassed he was about you loving him.Â
All your frustration and humiliation coursed through the darkness under your pillow, and you stew so bitterly that you donât even dream when you fall asleep.Â
You just wake up groggy and exhausted, but too restless to go back to sleep. You look out the window, and the stars have barely come out to play in the early night sky.Â
As much as youâd hate to admit it, that impromptu nap made you tired of brooding. Besides, you canât hide from your friends forever. Hopelessly in love or not, theyâre still your friends, and even if you decided to stream during the trip, this off-collab was always about spending time with them instead of worrying over your online presence.Â
It takes you half an hour to hype yourself up, but eventually, you open your door and step out into the hall.Â
You can already hear voices further away in the Airbnb. You place one of them as Nina, and after her, a baritone that could only belong to Vox.Â
ââŚFuck Twitter, theyâre going to forget about it in two weeks or less anyways.â You overhear as you walk down the hall of rooms and closer to the living room. Youâve heard Vox passionate before, but never this serious as well. âBesides, what exactly did they say?â
A mumble. You canât place the words, but you bristle when you recognize the voice. Thatâs unmistakably Ike.Â
âSee? Again, Iâm so sorry. I was out of line, and I forgot my place. I shouldnât have interrogated them like that,â Nina says. âBut youâre overthinking what they said.â
Another mumble. By now, youâre in the kitchen. You lift your phone from where you left it, and hold your fingers over the half of the screen where your notifications appear as you check the time. Itâs barely 11 PM.Â
The kitchen and living room are connected, with plenty of seating space all around. That was why Mikaâs travel laptop was still on the counter and plugged into the wall from the stream earlier, but on the other side of the wall from the kitchen, you noticed an open window and silhouettes from it. Four people sat on the shallow roof overlooking the uneven ground plenty of feet under the building. A pair of fox ears twitch at the night wind as they watched the stars grow brighter in the sky.Â
You look through the fridge. Youâre peckish, but if you were to be honest with yourself, youâre trying to stay quiet for a reason.Â
Thereâs a huff. âOh my god, dude. Just tell Reader already.â
You stand up a little straighter. Mika was with them? Were they talking about you?
âThereâs nothing to be said, Mika!â Ike huffs back. âIâm screwed anyways. Just drop it, okay? I donât need this getting in the way of what was supposed to be just a normal trip.â
âYou canât keep running away forever. Just act like an adult and tell them. Itâs going to be fine, I swear.â
âAnd how exactly do you know that?â
âWellâŚâ Mika trails off. âI canât say. I just know, okay?â
âUh-huh. And I know Iâm screwed.â The wind rustles outside. You stay motionless. âJust two weeks. Can I please just have two weeks where I donât have to worry about this until the trip is over.â
Itâs a question, but he says it with such exasperation that no one can consider any other answers.Â
âFine.â Nina relinquishes. âHave it your way. Iâm just worried for you two.â
âItâs going to work out, Ike. But Iâm tired.â Vox stifles a yawn. âTomorrow is going to be better. Let it go for the night and come back to it once youâre in better shape, and just remember. Itâs going to work out.â
âThanks, Vox.â
âNow get in here.â
You hear shuffling fabric before the two men start yelling. Vox cackles while Ike cries through gritted teeth. âDang it, Vox, Iâm going to shove you off this roof!â
âGet ruffled, idiot! Thatâs your fault for trusting me!â
âI just wanted a hug!â
You snicker under your breath. Vox loves to ruffle Ikeâs hair despite the latterâs protests, though he tends to accept it instead of shove him off like anyone else that would dare. Besides, as dreary as Ike sounded during that conversation, he nearly sounded like his old self as Vox and the others laughed.
âI think Iâll go too. Mommy needs her beauty sleep.â
âMm, Iâm still pretty awake. Wanna keep looking at the sky with me, Ike?â
âSure. Here, Nina, let me move out of the wayâŚâ
Shuffling turns to footsteps, and brings you back to reality. You busy yourself looking through the paltry groceries.
The sound of footsteps gets louder and louder, until they become a hollow click on the hardwood floor. Nina crawls through the window, but stops in her tracks with a startled noise.
You turn around and nod as casually as possible. âOh, hey, Nina.â
Vox is also halfway through the window, and his eyes go comically wide as he forgets how to move. âOh. Hey. Reader. Fancy seeing you here.â
âYeah! Um!â Nina coughs long enough to make you uncomfortable. âWhat are you doing here?â
âTook a nap. Got hungry.â Itâs not a lie. You grope around in the fridge and breathe a sigh of relief when you see a stick of string cheese in your hands. âYou guys just hanging out?â
Nina nods. âYeah, we were on the roof. Itâs getting late, though. You should get some rest for tomorrowââ
Vox elbows her. âBut not after looking at the sky for a little bit. Itâs beautiful. Very clear. Romantic, even. The architects did a wonderful job placing this house right at the perfect angle to watch the stars rise. Did I mention it was romantic?â
You act natural and take a big bite out of the string cheese. âOnce or twice. Is it the seniorsâ bedtime?â
âYou got me,â Vox says.Â
âI love going to sleep early and giving my kids private time before bed to reflect and hold deep conversations with one another about their feelings,â Nina says. âAnd also nighttime face masks.â
âWoo, skincare, what she said.âÂ
âHey, by the way, Reader, honey, did you hear anything we talked about?â
âNo,â you lie.
âCool,â Vox says. You eat the rest of the string cheese in one bite. âGood for you. And goodnight, Reader.â He dusts himself off before casting his golden gaze down at you. âBe nice, will you?â
Shivers go down your back. You have a feeling heâs referring to something unspoken. âI will.â
âThatâs my sweet thing,â he purrs. âAnyways, Iâm going the fuck to beddy bye. Honk shoo, Reader, donât stay up too late.â
Vox struts off with dark hair flowing behind him and the scent of his aftershave in the air. He leaves you to stand awkwardly next to Nina.Â
Suddenly, she takes you by your shoulders and forces you in front of her. You blurt out an unflattering startled noise before she gets right up in your face and stares dead into your eyes. Â
âPlease be good,â she says darkly. Was that a threat? âPlease be so, so good to my baby.â
âI will,â you say, more out of fear than anything else.
She blinks once, then sheâs back to the doting mother you know and love. She squeezes your shoulders. âThank you, honey! Sweet dreams!â
And just like the Voice Demon before her, Nina bounds off to her room.Â
Huh. That was weird. Nonetheless, youâre alone in the living room, and you can see the outline of Ike and Mika sitting on the roof in silence.Â
You lightly knock on the side of the window. They both perk up at the sound. âCool if I join you?â
Mika responds quickly. âSure! Watch your step, Reader. The roof isnât that steep but it would be awkward if you ate shit.â
âAgreed.â You step onto the tiling, and shift your body to match the angle. You feel like a newborn deer learning to walk. Luckily, Nina and Vox leaving meant that there was more than enough space for you right next to the window.Â
Ike sits between you and Mika. âItâs pretty, isnât it?âÂ
âYeahâŚâÂ
âPrettyâ is putting it mildly. The stars are so clear tonight, and scatter across the sky like sequins. The Airbnb was located further away from the heart of the city, so the darkness only amplified how bright the stars shone against the stark night. A breeze drags through the air and fallen leaves rustle between the grass.Â
âThis is so nice.â Comfort settles into you like the breeze in your hair. âI love it.â
Ike sighs. âRight? Itâs so peaceful.â
âAnd thereâs so many more stars out here than there are in the city.â
âIt makes you want to just zone out and cool down.â
âYeah, totally.â Mika coughs. âHuh! Cool! Well, Iâm tired now. Just keep staying out here and enjoy the sky, Iâm going to bed. Enjoy yourselves.â
Mika inelegantly shuffles around your bodies and slips back inside before either of you can properly tell her goodnight.Â
Ike cocks his head as he watches her stumble through the window. âShe just said she would stay outâŚâ
âHm?â
âAh, nothing. Just thinking to myself.â
With the extra space, Ike leans back and lays along the roof. The stars cast a dreamy glow over his soft smile as he continues. âIt really is something that just makes you want to have a deep conversation, or just think, you know?â
You hum in agreement. You get what he means, but thereâs only one topic you can imagine having a deep conversation about right now, and itâs the very one you brooded over earlier that day.Â
But Ike is Ike. Heâs rational and calm and kind, and laughs at your stupid jokes, and texts you first before any of your other mutual friends. The night turns the tips of his hair bluer than usual, and the stars remind you of the freckles hidden along his creamy skin. His glasses reflect the galaxy above.
Even though todayâs stream was embarrassing, you know Ike trusts you enough to tell you if youâve ever crossed a boundary. After all, itâs commonplace to discuss limits on and off stream as soon as possible, and your friendship was so strong that youâve both opened up to one another. Heâd let you know if the whole cuddling thing was too much. Besides, he didnât resist. He even rested his head on yours. That has to account for something, right?
You snap out of your thoughts when you feel a gentle tug on the sleeve of your hoodie. Itâs Ike. He asks, âLay down with me?â
A wave of fondness washes over you like the tide. Heâs cute when heâs earnest like this. You get as comfortable as you can on the tiling, and when you still, you hear something shift before your hand grows warm. Ike scooted closer to you, and placed his pinky finger over yours.Â
This is bliss. A beautiful sight with a beautiful boy next to you. Your best friend.Â
âI do love you,â you say.Â
It just feels right to say.Â
Ike is silent. He doesnât make a single sound as you stare up at the stars and the blackened sky. The breeze rocks a tree, and as the leaves part, you see the moon for the first time: one thin, waning crescent that blends into the darkness.Â
Ikeâs head is turned away from you. You canât tell what heâs thinking at all.Â
ââŚI donât know what you mean,â he admits. âYou do? As a friend?â
âWeâve always been friends.â
âJust that?â
âI donât know what youâre asking me, Ike.â
âN-never mind. Iâm sorry, am I making it weird?â
âNo, you could never make it weird.â The colors of the view gloss together. You feel like a balloon slowly deflating. âFeels like thatâs all Iâm doing lately, though.â
Neither of you say anything.Â
This was a bad idea.Â
You swear the rustling leaves mock you.Â
âWait.â Ike practically snatches your hand up. âWait, Reader, are you saying you like me?â
âYeah. Iâm saying that I love you.â
Ike stares at you, and if you had to choose just one word to describe his expression, itâs stricken. His mouth is slightly parted, and his shocked eyes drive holes through your skin, leaving you exposed. The brief stutter that escapes him sounds like it was dredged out from frozen, murky waters. âIââ
He drops your hand and turns away.Â
âIâm sorry,â he finally says, barely audible. âThis is⌠this is a lot.â
âIâm sorry too, this was a stupid idea. What was I thinking?â You get on your feet, but the slope makes what couldâve been a fluid motion into a stumbling, slow rise, as if your legs werenât jelly enough already. You inch to the window mortified. âI think I should go. Sorry to bother you.â
You donât dare to glance at him before you step back inside, not even when he calls your name halfway through the window.
Once youâre back in the living room, you cover your face, then drag your hands through your hair. You canât even begin to describe how exhausted you feel. This is heartbreak, isnât it?
You blink furiously, and the outline of a figure by the fridge comes into view.Â
âReader?â Mika asks. She has a stick of string cheese in her hand, but walks to you. âReader, what happenedââ
You take her empty hand and pace to your room. You open the door. âAre you okay?â
The second it shuts, your breath hitches. Mika doesnât hesitate to take you in her arms. She holds you as the first tear falls, and you begin to cry.
.ă . ⢠â . ° .⢠°:. *â ° . â
You wake up the next day sprawled in your bed, even though the blankets are tucked comfortably around you. On the floor is a pillow and another pile of blankets, and when you recognize the dark hair tied into a loose ponytail, the memories of last night come rushing back.
What an awful night. Awful decisions all day, really, and all of them ones you made. You really donât know what you were thinking. You groan at the memory.
âReader?â Mika perks up. Her phone is in her hands, but she sits up level to your face on the floor. âGood morning. How are you feeling?â
Another groan.
âYeah, I figured,â she says. âNina, Vox and Ike went out to do their own thing, and I think Ren and Uki are cafe-hopping. Itâs just you, me and Aia in the house right now.â
You rub the sleepy out of your eyes. âThatâs cool, I guess.â You cast a downward glance to Mikaâs makeshift bed on the floor. âSorry for being a nuisance.â
âYouâre not a nuisance, Reader, donât say that.â She nudges you. âWeâre friends. Itâs what friends do. Speaking of, do you want Aia to come by? And Albanâs online, so I can call him, too. If you want.â
âItâd be niceâŚâ
Less than ten minutes pass before Aia shows up at your door with breakfast sandwiches and orange juice. All three of you sit on the blanketed floor while Mika voice calls Alban on her phone. A pot of coffee brews over speakerphone as you recount last night.Â
â...And to make things worse, we just streamed yesterday,â you explain. âGod, I should check Twitter. Thereâs got to be a million people with eyes on our ship tag, and ugh, I hate thinking about how many weirdos are going to push a ship that canât work out IRL.â
âI can check it for you,â Aia offers. You hand her your phone. âYou remember your Twitter password?â
âYeah.â
âCool. Sorry in advance.â She deletes the app off your home screen.
You begin to protest, but she turns off the phone and sets it aside, out of your reach. âYouâre off the clock, Reader! Work troubles can wait until youâre back online, and that includes doomscrolling. You can redownload it when youâre in a better headspace.â
âI really hate admitting youâre right.â
âShit, Reader,â Alban finally says. âHe seriously dropped the ball. Iâm sorry.â
âI know. I really thought he would get it, but it took him so long to piece it together, like he never thought about us like that before. I shouldâve known it was just me. Iâm so stupid.â
âYouâre not stupid, youâre hurt,â Mika says. âItâs understandable, but that still doesnât make it hurt any less.â
âIs it wrong that I feel like I deserve it? I mean, I knew day one that this wouldnât work out. We work together online, and we have fans that ship us with each other and the rest of this company, for fuckâs sake. Getting heartbroken was inevitable and I still went for it. Either Iâm a glutton for pain or Iâm just plain clueless.â
Albanâs voice is distant from the phone as he messes with his coffee maker. You canât properly hear him under his breath and over the pot, but if you could, you couldâve heard him mumble, Trust me, youâre not the only clueless one here.
But he returns back at the phone, and youâre totally oblivious. âYou canât choose who you fall for,â he says. âIt was really that bad?â
âIt took him like a minute to realize I was confessing. And then when he realized it, he apologized to me.â
Aia straightens. âDid he say no?â
âNot really, but why would he apologize if he reciprocated?â
Aia exchanges a look with Mika. Alban grumbles. âNo fucking way.â
âTell me exactly how he reacted,â Aia instructs. She plowed through her sandwich during the conversation, but she left the remaining half on her plate forgotten as she laced her fingers together and leaned forward like a calculated boss.Â
âIt was like he couldnât comprehend what I was saying at first. He asked if I meant it as friends, until he asked me if I liked him. And when I told him I loved him in response, he was so shocked that he let go of my hand, so I left.â
âNo fucking way,â Alban repeats, and groans as he drawls out his words. You can practically hear him drag his hands over his face. âNo fucking way. Ikeeeee. He seriously dropped the ball.â
âI know. I canât believe it.â
Aia takes both of your hands in her own. âReader, Iâm not even saying this to hurt you, but this is the clumsiest confession Iâve ever heard of.â
You squint. âRight, that makes me feel so much better.â
âIâm really not! You know what this sounds like? Miscommunication,â she declares. âYou didnât get a solid yes or no. So now itâs going to be awkward between you two until you get an actual answer to the confession, or at least some kind of resolution. You wanna know what I think? It sounds like he didnât even believe what he was hearing before you left. Which, by the way, is a common response to not just confessions but other major news, so chances are you didnât blow up your friendship as hard as you thought.â
âShe has a point,â Alban says. âI believe you, Reader, but Ike isnât the type of person to just crush other peopleâs feelings like that. You just woke up, right?â
âI havenât even left my room yet. Mika says everyone else is out of the house. Heâs with Vox and Nina, I think.â
âSo then he hasnât had a chance to talk to you since the confession,â he continues. âAnd those three are really close. Iâm willing to bet theyâre helping him manage it, âcause it sounds like heâs going through it just as confused as you are.â
You stare at the floor. Hope feels foreign, yet you canât help but wonder. You struggle to remember the exact way Ike reacted last night, but you really canât tell what facts were clouded over by the rejection. A rejection that possibly didnât even happen, mind you. The confusion and regret blurs over everything like water on wet ink.
âYou really think so?â You quietly ask.
Aia nods, and Alban agrees over the phone.
Mika pipes up, a glass of juice in her hands. âHereâs my take. We can theorize as much as we want, but none of us really know what Ikeâs thinking about, least of all you. Especially since you didnât actually resolve anything, and that tension is going to eat at you until you get an answer or it actually damages your friendship. You ask me, the next best thing you can do is bring it up.â
She takes a sip of her juice and leaves you to absorb her advice.Â
You mull it over along with the memory of last night. âHe called my name as I left.â
Alban chokes on his coffee. âHe called your name?â
âYeah, but I didnât respond.â
âOh my God. READER!â He shouts so loud that Mika turns the volume down. âIâm going to lose it. Iâm actually freaking it right now. Reader!â
âWhat?â
âFuck what Mika said earlier, you are stupid!â
âHey!â
âIâm saying this in the nicest way possible, you are so stupid. He was trying to talk to you!â
Your face goes through a handful of emotions as you sputter. âAre you serious, Alban?â
âYes! Mika, Aia, back me up.â
Aia crinkles her nose. âI did just say it sounded like a total miscommunication.â
Meanwhile, Mika twirls a lock of red-and-black hair between her finger, distracting herself. She hesitates, trying to figure out exactly how she wants to say her piece, before she simply shakes her head and stills. âJust talk to him.â
âWhich is easier said than done.â Your shoulders roll back as you stare up at the ceiling, your hands supporting you as you lean. Even with your friendsâ encouragement, the memory of how hard you blew it last night still haunts you. Itâs even worse than starting at ground zero; youâve already tasted failure once, and youâre hesitant to embarrass yourself again.Â
That stricken look Ike gave you flashes across your sight every time you blink. What was he thinking when he stared at you like that? You canât tell if the disgust is true or if your anxieties are getting the best of you.
The best solution to anxieties, however, is looking at the factsâor at least, what isnât tainted by your bias. Your friends mentioned there was nothing wrong with a workplace romance, and as much as the stream made you want to cringe, no one seemed put off by it. Alban and Aia are set on getting you and Ike to talk, and so is Mika. In fact, Mika spoke with Ike as well as Vox and Nina last night before you entered, and even if you had no idea what those four were talking about, you still picked up your name and that apparently Ike had something to tell you.
Pieces start to fall into place when you consider the three around you, staging an intervention over a late breakfast. Aia always gets you in situations where you can be close to Ike and bails you out when it gets awkward, and as much as he wonât get off your back about it, Alban gave you great advice between all his teasing. Mika was nosy at first when she learned about your feelings, but now that you think about it, sheâs been incredibly tactful ever since the off-collab began.Â
You canât help but snicker as you connect the dots. âIs this the first time you guys actually started wingmanning for me?â
Aia purses her lips. âHey, not the first. Remember when we made that group chat? Weâve always been your wingmen.â
âI know. But you guys are seriously helping,â you say. âThanks. Though I do wonder, MikaâŚâ
She perks up as you say her name. âBe real with me. Do you know more than youâre letting on?â
She flinches. Albanâs fingers snap over the phone. âBusted.â
Mika holds her hands up like a criminal caught in the act, but thereâs a loose, sly smile hanging on her face. âI donât think itâs my place to say.â
âWhat do you mean, itâs not your place to say?â
âIâm sorry, Reader, but I made a promise not to spill, and Iâve been doing way too much behind the scenes to break the promise like that. Just do me a favor and talk to the guy, will you? Thatâs the best I can tell you.â Mika rests her head in a hand, and the smirk looks even more knowing. âAnd if you canât figure it out after that, then youâre definitely stupid.â
You bluster. âIâm not stupid!âÂ
âStill remains to be seen.â Aia gently flicks your forehead. âBut you do look a lot better. How are you feeling now?â
Aside from the fading pain on your forehead? Youâre surprised at how much lighter you feel now that you unloaded all your worries with your friends. The rejection still stings, and youâre not exactly confident, but, well, youâre smiling. The clean, tangy taste of orange juice lingers between your tongue. Aia and Mika sitting on the pile of blankets reminds you that regardless of your love life, theyâd stay by your side until the bitter end, and Albanâs voice keeps you connected with your friends no matter where in the world you are.
You snatch Aiaâs half-eaten sandwich off her plate and sink your teeth into the bread. She cries out in protest. âHey!â
âBetter now.â You set the sandwich back where you found it. Even though your future with Ike looks cloudy, the smile doesnât leave. âDonât flick me.â
âSpeaking of.â Mika picks up the phone and scrolls through her messages. âNina just texted that she, Vox and Ike will come back in an hour or less. Reader, are you up for this?â
âWhat do you mean, âup for this?ââ
âJust seeing Ike again. It was a weird night,â she says. âI stand by what I said, but if itâs going to be too much too soon, then Aia and I can cover for you until you feel better.â
âI donât know.â Thatâs what gets your expression to sink from light to thoughtful. âI think I want to take your advice. I just donât know if Iâm ready to talk it out yet.â
âStill wanna hang out with us or take a moment to yourself?â
âI think Iâd just go back to moping if I was alone,â you joke.
âCool. Let me go grab some nail polish Nina gave me yesterday.â Mika rises and strides to the door. âYou have a steadier hand than me. And Nina said the color suits me more than her.â
Aiaâs face lights up. She happily cries âGirlsâ night!â even though itâs barely noon and Alban is decidedly not a girl, but then he croons something in a valley girl accent so strong you canât even tell what heâs saying. Scratch that; heâs a girl by association.
When he drawls out one long âYaaaaaas, bestie!â you canât help but laugh. Your love life is in shambles, but at least your friendships are solid as hell. Youâd give the world for these three.
Mika returns a moment later, travel-sized nail supplies in her arms and a totally unrelated topic on the mind. The sharp scent of the lacquer startles you out of your thoughts as you uncap the bottle and Mika splays her hands out, and Alban and Aia air their opinions on something entertainingly dumb.Â
Nina was right: this color is stunning on Mika. You paint Aiaâs nails too, and halfway through her second hand, you hear the front door open, the end of an intelligible conversation, and telltale footsteps, each diverting across the house. The girlsâ eyes flicker to you. You know theyâre trying to read your expression, but you concentrate on how the brushstrokes pool together into one smooth coat. Your thoughts are a storm and you canât even pick out the emotion commanding it.Â
So you keep joking along instead and focus on the nail polish, refusing to give the storm an opportunity to strike. Alban quips off of you, and the moment passes as Mika and Aia return to the conversation.Â
That is, until half an hour later when you hear a knock on the door. Mika cocks her head, a silent question, and when you nod she stands. Her nails dried when you finished Aiaâs, and dot the doorknob as she cracks it open. A tiny margin of light from the hallway shines into your room, and you realize she positioned herself square in front of the threshold, shielding you from the person on the other side.Â
She talks evenly. âHey, welcome back.â
âThanks. Is Reader here?â
Your mind thunders as you register the voice. You can only see the leg of his jeans behind Mika, but you recognize Ikeâs voice on the other side.Â
Aia shuffles by as a second shield. âNeed them for something?â
âKind of,â Ike says. âDo you mind if I talk to them?â
âI donât know, whatâs it aboutââ
âAia, you can lay off him.â You call from your corner of the room. âYou too, Mika.â
âWhatever you say. Just let me just grab my stuffâŚâ
Mika grabs the nail supplies and deafens on Discord, but doesnât even think to pick up the blankets along the ground. Instead, she glides to you and whispers under her breath. âWeâre rooting for you. Send us a text if you need anything, okay?â
You nod. Aia slips past the threshold, but not without shooting you a thumbs up and mouthing âgood luck.â Not even a second later, your phone buzzes, and you catch Albanâs contact sending you an encouraging message in all-caps.Â
âSee you later!â Aia chirps. âPlay nice, you two.â
The scent of the lacquer follows them as they leave, and the sound of their footsteps fade in time.Â
Still in the doorway, Ike raises a hand to fidget with the chain along his glasses. âDo you mind if IâŚ?â
âOh! Come in. Sit anywhere, I donât mind.â
You stay planted on the floor like how you were with your friends, and Ike sits next to you. You face the wall in front while he gets comfortable.
No words are exchanged as Ike maneuvers around the blankets, and eventually settles down with his back on the floor and head resting on a pillow, staring up at the ceiling. The light is off, but the blinds filter in thin beams of sunlight that cross over the room and the edge of his collar like a grid.Â
âLay with me?â He asks. Then it strikes you like ringing metal; you sit next to each other in the same positions as that night on the roof.Â
Suddenly Ike raises his hands like static. âNot that you have to! I just figured it would be good to get comfortable and all, you know?â Ike hastily explains, then clears his throat. âI wanted to talk. About last night, I mean.â
Your chest flutters at the mention of it, but you remember all your friendsâ encouragement. Here he is, the novelist of your (heartbroken) dreams, already bringing up the topic you dread to mention. You need to take this chance to face it head-on, now or never.Â
You glide down like the ceiling is full of stars. âOkay. What do you want to talk about?â
âA lot, honestly. I donât know how to go about it, but first of all, I wanted to tell you that Iâm sorry.â
You cross your arms. âYou said that enough last night.â
âNot like that! I mean Iâm sorry I acted the way I did. I think I made every wrong choice once you said that you⌠that.â He shovels a hand through his hair. âIâm making it weird again. I should apologize for that, too, itâs just kind of embarrassing saying out loud that you, um, you loved me. Not that you should be embarrassed. I mean, I get it if you are, but that took a lot of guts. You should be proud of that. I admire you for that.â
âSlow down. What are you even saying?â
âWhat I wish I said last night. More than anything else, Iâm sorry I got caught off-guard. I mustâve been so standoffish, because my idiot brain just didnât believe what I was hearing until it was too late and the damage was already done.â Hair the color of ash and ocean falls over his face. âHonestly, I canât believe it now.â
âI get it. Bad idea from me. Can we move on from that yet?â
âI donât think it was a bad idea at all. I just had no idea that you liked me.â
âGive me some time and Iâll get over it, eventually. Iâm not going to let it get in the way of working with you, if thatâs what youâre trying to get at.â
âNo, thatâs not it either! Iââ
Ikeâs eyes squeeze shut. His voice is so quiet, you canât discern what heâs saying. ââŚActually, IâmâŚâ
âRepeat that?â
âIâm happy. Really happy,â Ike says. His pitch rises like a balloon floating up into space, struggling to stay composed. âIâm not good at saying it, but I meant it when I said⌠when I said it during the stream.â
You wave a hand in the air. âIt was weird timing, and I know you mean it like a friend,â you reply. âI didnât mean to pressure you into saying it, and just being friends is fine. Even though Iâm a loser that messed up just about everything.â
The hand catches in midair. Doll-like fingers weave through your grasp, and turn your touch warm as Ike turns to look at you. âNot with me. Donât say that about yourself, okay?âÂ
You stare at how easily he held your hand, and how his fingers cradle your heart between the palms. The corners of Ikeâs eyes are narrowed, two beads of peridot stone that can see through every little line of text between your pages, but thereâs gentleness under his glasses. Something uncertain and fluffy. Softened like a lamb even though he leaves you defenseless.Â
You donât know what to say. Ike is beautiful and kind and handsome and thoughtful when heâs earnest like this. Heâs got you stupid in the head and wrapped around his pinky finger, and doesnât have a single clue.
Peridot sparkles. âYouâre so much more than that. You donât mess things up, Reader. Iâm in love with you.â
Your mouth goes dry and your tongue is still tied. Forget speechlessness; the man took your own damn thoughts away. Your hand remains frozen in air with Ikeâs. If it werenât for the light drag of one of his fingernails along your skin, then you would have figured he took your senses as well.
But the drag ends, and the fingers unlace themselves, and chilled air fills in the gaps Ike once held close. The tips of his fingers rest at the curve of your palm for just one second more before they drift away.
The glint in his eyes dulls. His hand falls to his chest, over his heart, just as slow as he parted. The uncertainty took over, and now itâs like staring at a cloud that doesnât know if it should rain. Ikeâs gaze lowers to his heart. Thereâs a stretch of silence and motionlessness as he stares at where your touch once was, and youâre paralyzed where you lay.
Ike's hand curls in on itself, too loose to make a fist, and his lashes sink over his eyes. His mouth is set into a flat line, but the cheeks are dusted in pinks and reds and peppered freckles in-between, demure and shy all the while.
He turns his face away soon after that. Another break of silence, and he shuffles again, with your vision on his back as if it were a hiding place.
It startles you out of your stupor. The gridded sunlight lets you analyze what you missed. After months of thinking your feelings would never be reciprocated, Ike thought of you just the same. Heâs always been in your corner, and you would go to the ends of the earth for him, and everything is in its perfect position. But his back is still turned, and the memory of last nightâyour confession, and his inactionâit rushes to your head.
So you reach out instead.
Maybe itâs a little selfish. Youâre tired of bumbling around and concealing your true feelings, and now that everything's out in the open, you arenât about to let go without resolution.
But Ike is your best friend, and the man you fell in love with. There was no way youâd ever let go in the first place.
You wrap your arms around his back and hug Ike.
âI think I get why you were so taken aback last night,â you whisper. Even though youâre alone with Ike, you still say it like a secret. âI can barely believe it myself.â
Your warmth is inviting, and every second that passes is another defense downed. Your head perches right above his neck and along his shoulder. Itâs not your first hug with Ike at all, but thereâs only been so many since you first met him in person that it still feels special, and with your bodies flush to the floor, itâs intimate. His eyes are averted and one cheek lays down on the blankets, but the tips of his ears glow scarlet under his jewelry.Â
âIâm glad you were patient with me. I really didnât think I had a chance with you. You know, the long distance and the company, and you know, the standard pining fare. Iâm really lucky.â A smile slips through your words. âIâll stay with you, okay? So take all the time you need.â
Ike chuckles. Even his laughter is blushy-bashful. âIâm just so happy you feel the same, too. I donât even know what to do with myself.â
His body curls as he lays, and your legs brush along his as you cuddle. Holding him makes it feel like he was made to fit in your arms. You sigh. âI love when you canât contain it. Itâs so cute.âÂ
Ike squeaks at that, and unwittingly proves your point. âIt feels so good to say that out loud. I mean, youâre okay with it, right?â A nod. âAnd youâre okay with⌠I donât know. Are we still friends?â
âOf course we are, no matter what. You said you loved me first, so let me say this one?âÂ
You have a feeling you know whatâs coming next. You hug him even tighter.
âReader, letâs go out. I donât want this feeling to end,â he confesses, and your world turns into rose and blush. âCan we?â
Though you expected it, he still takes your breath awayâuntil he taps you on the hand. âCome on, say something before my heart explodes!â
âMine already did! I canât even think straight, andâIâd love that. I really want this.â
Another squeal breaks out as Ike buries his head into a blanket, and your heart soars as he melts. He resembles a swaddled-up kitten, and the rays of sunlight line his silhouette. The fluffy blanket reminds you of an angelâs downy wings along his kitten features. You canât even see his face between the blanket and his hair, but his squeal continues, muted through the blanket as he swoons.Â
Somehow that only makes you feel even more flustered. âNo, donât hide! I want to see you!â
Maybe it wouldâve been better for your heart if he stayed put, because when Ike risesâwith disheveled hair and glitter in his eyes the color of seaglass, and jewelry that frames his red face, and that galaxy of freckles you hold so dear and shine like stars between his blushâyou feel your heart stop. Again.
âWhen did you start having this effect on me?â You ask, mesmerized, and before you know it you thumb over one of his rosy cheeks. âYour freckles are so beautiful.â
He sheepishly grins. âThey donât really show up online. Theyâre pale.â
âNever noticed them until I met you in person. I love them. I love you.â
The grin gets a little wider. One of his fingers grazes along the corner of your ear. Has his hand always been along your jawline?
Ikeâs eyes are shining under the grid of sunlight. The lashes flit just a bit lower from your gaze. âReader, can weâŚ?â
You close your eyes.
And when Ikeâs lips graze your own, you smile on instinct before you remember to kiss back.Â
Ike brings you near, searching for the taste of you as he continues. His touch lodges past your jawline and into your hair, and when one of the fingers grazes along your ear youâre reminded just how much you love Ike. All the yearning you hid for so long bleeds through as you sink down to his level with his head in your hand, gentle yet impassioned.
Then your face bumps against Ikeâs glasses. The kiss breaks as you back away.
Thereâs a brief pause in the aftermath. Ike wordlessly adjusts his glasses, now knocked off-center. Despite finally getting on the same page on your relationship with Ike, youâre still as clumsy about your feelings as ever.
But the corners of your lips curve up as he inspects the lens you squished, then a barely-stifled giggle, and next thing you know, Ikeâs laughing along with you, still underneath your body and with one hand in your hair while the other holds his glasses in place. He sounds as charming as he looks, and the fact that he joined you even when you chuckled out of the blue means that his mind is just as charming as well.
Not that it was breaking news. You know your best friend well, and now that you donât need to deny your feelings any longer, you know youâve got good taste if Ikeâs under you with crinkled eyes and hearty laughter.
When you speak next, the giggles patter out between your words but the quiet delight hangs in your teeth. âCan we try that again?â
Then his lips are on yours again, and the laughter twists between the second kiss, and the third, and the fourth, all the way until you collapse on the blankets with arms around each other, staring up at the stars on the bland popcorn ceiling as adoration fills the space between you.Â
âââ シ ・ďžâ: *.â˝ .* :âďž. âââ
bonus.
âââ シ ・ďžďż˝ďż˝: *.â˝ .* :âďž. âââ
Starting soonâŚ
.ă . ⢠â . ° .⢠°:. *â ° . â
The chat flickers alive as a four-pointed flower, a diamond, and a thorned heart give way to the stream and the novelist behind the stinger.Â
Kaidororero: welcome back ike!
Min (Ikeyâs Book): đ IKEY IS BACK đ
A normal broom: HI IKE
lunasmortas: đđđ
viperip: ike! :_heart: :_heart: :_heart:
Sun shines through a clear day in Ikeâs room onscreen, but in reality, blackout curtains block out the day outside. A sweet smile graces both Ikeâs face and his model as the Quilldren welcome him home.Â
He greets them, and cracks open a can of soda as he quickly scans through the chat. Obviously, the off-collab is on everyoneâs minds.Â
juuuuuuuuuus: did you have fun?
Kaidororero: offcollab POOOG
lunasmortas: SO CUTE :_heart: :heart:
Johnclone: Hope you had a good time!
zZirasthingZz: PEN AND PAPER REAL
Hm. A mod will eventually bonk that message. But then again, itâs inevitable that the ship would come up in chat.Â
Ike takes it in stride and ignores it like any other shipper, but his heart still skips a beat. Nonetheless, he doesnât call any attention to it. âHow about that off-collab, right? I met up with my friends! Where do I even begin?â
Ike recounts his trip from the beginning, and the Quilldren react to his stories with interest. He was one of the last to arrive, so Nina, Uki and Reader picked him up from the airport, and met up with Aia, Ren, and Mika at the Airbnb. Vox was the only one to arrive after him, hot off the heels of a flight delay, but the demon was a welcome party all his own despite his exhaustion.Â
âWe went to karaoke once Vox got situated,â Ike explains. âNina put that song in first so we could all let loose, and so she would have a fun voice tweet for everyone. Might as well confirm everyone that showed up, right?
âBut after that, we didnât want to stress ourselves out to perform for voice tweets instead of just having fun, so that was the only song we recorded. I wish you couldâve heard Uki and Voxâs duet, though. And while we were singing, turns out Ren packed a ukulele with him! Sometimes he would learn how to play along by ear, like a jam session. Mika knows how to play âSomewhere Over The Rainbowâ too, so everyone joined in singing that while she played it. It was so much fun.â
Johnclone: Everyone sounded great!
sunblast99: ukiâs voice >>>>>> everything else đđ
haabinae: :_tskr:
Festersk: WHAT I REALLY REALLY WANT đŁđŁ
A normal broom: what did you sing?
Ike leans back in his chair. He blows a lock of hair out of his sight as he tries to think. âI remember Vox sang something by George Strait, so then we all egged him on to sing âCountry Roads.â He only did it once I promised to queue up âToxicityâ by System of a Down afterwards.â
lunasmortas: OMG đđđ
gatamiizuus: ayo?
Y A M: YESSSSSSS :_tskr: :_tskr:
haabinae: I LOVE SOAD :_fanboy:
Thornmy: SO COOL đ
âThank you.â He says it out of obligation. If he thinks too hard about the compliments, heâll get embarrassed. âWhat else was there? I think there was some Motionless in White, and Spiritbox. Oh, and My First Story. Canât forget My First Story.â
K. K. Soda: ooooo
Alban Knox ăNIJISANJI ENă â : what about mcr
asper ch.: METAL SCREAM?
deeboorgur: HI ALBAN
Y A M: MCR YEAAAAAÂ :_glowstick_1: :_glowstick_2:
âIâm getting there, Alban!âÂ
Ike takes a sip while the Quilldren greet Alban. Heâs not too surprised Alban seems to know more than the other viewers. Heâs close with almost everyone that went on the trip, and was super active on Discord during the off-collab. The novelist lowers his soda as the chat floods in orange hearts. He wonders how Alban learned so much as an observer. He should ask.Â
But thatâs a question for after stream. Ike continues. âThank Nina for that. She queued up âIâm Not Okayâ by My Chemical Romance, and then shoved two mics in my hands and Readerâs.â
And the chat explodes.Â
Kaidororero: OMGGGGGG đđ
Y A M: PEN AND PAPER SO CUTE :_tskr:
zZirasthingZz: PEN AND PAPER DUET
asper ch.: AYOOOO MCR
gatamiizuus: I LOVE READER
ystariya: PEN AND PAPER MY BELOVED
âItâs a really fun song! Itâs almost all clean vocals, but thereâs this scream in the middle. Up until then, we sang together, but then I screamed, and Reader picked up the slack and sang the parts of the verse I couldnât. Theyâre amazing.â
gatamiizuus: READER SIMPS COME GET YâALLâS JUICE
Thornmy: THAT SOUNDS SO GOOD
lunasmortas: đđđđ
ystariya: READER KARAOKE STREAM WHEN
Kaidororero: AWWWWWWW
The model on the screen doesnât have the same glint in Ikeâs eye when he talks about you. That first day of the trip was all about getting comfortable after long travel hours, and the stories went on as the days went by. Sightseeing with Aia and shopping with Uki by day, and spending the night shooting the shit with Ren until it turns into the littlest hours of the morning.
âVox wanted to try a bunch of different restaurants with me, but you know me, ya boi is not good with most foods. So Nina usually came along in case I couldnât finish something. She and Vox would share my leftovers.â
Something fond crosses over Ikeâs face. His eyes cloud over in fog descending over a clear-sky day. âWe would always talk over food about anything. I appreciate it a lot. They really get me.â The fog stills. âAnd over breakfast one morning, they gave me some excellent advice over something Iâve been meaning to do.â
ver*batim: â¤ď¸đâ¤ď¸
K. K. Soda: MILORDDDDD
nroneo: :_heart:
A normal broom: upcoming project? đÂ
Johnclone: I love Nina Kosaka!
âNot a project, no. It was something I was really worried about, even when I was supposed to be taking a break with my friends,â he says. âBut those two seriously helped me clear my head about it. Mika, too. Vox and Nina had a lot of nuanced advice, but Mika told it to me straight, and helped handle what I couldnât. Iâm really thankful to have them.â
His set jaw loosens. âMaybe Iâll talk about it one day.â
The model cocks to the side. Motion blurs the foggy sobriety away. With a lightness to his voice and a knowing gaze, Ike looks straight into the camera and smiles, sentimentality forgotten. The air clears. âBut for now, itâs a secret~!
âAh, now where was I? Spending time with my friends, right? Reader and I hung out often. Sometimes with others, but it ended up being the two of us more than not.â
Birds chirp outside Ikeâs window in time with the hum of his PC. The backlit keyboard in front of the monitors glows the same color as the computer, a healthy blue light that tints the tips of his fingers. He usually sets it to a rainbow spectrum in his own time, but static blue is reserved for going live. It gets him in the right mindset for streaming, and makes his little apartment feel fantastical like the noble background that accompanies his model, even if it only reaches his fingertips.Â
Heâs sure the Ike on the screen has fingertips tinged with blue just like him, an extension of the man outside the screen but without the grittier details. Smooth, pristine hands under gloves where his are callused from guitar playing. Nothing under the modelâs eyes but lashes and a line of red that brings out the pink in his eyes, very much unlike the heavy bags and sunken face from an awful delay on his flight back home. No freckles, either, but even cameras rarely pick them up on video call. Nina cooed over them the first time they met, as motherly as ever, but behind closed doors Reader was utterly fascinated with them. They mentioned something about watching blush travel around his face with the smattering of freckles in-between once or twice⌠maybe more? Doesnât matter when heâs never heard that before and it repeats in his head when he catches himself daydreaming. Itâs one of the best things heâs ever heard.
Vtuber Model Ikeâs face doesnât heat up like how Real Ikeâs certainly is now. He clears his throat. âThe weather was really nice during the entire trip, so we would always get into good conversations while walking back to where we were staying. And sometimes we didnât want to end the conversation, so weâd just keep walking past our Airbnb until our feet hurt or it got dark, whichever came first.Â
âOh, hereâs something funny. Uki really loves cafes, right? Usually he woke up early with Ren to go check out some cafes in the morning, way before the rest of us would even think of waking up. By the time everyone else woke up, they already finished their breakfast, and Uki would tell Reader about the ones to visit or skip. Whenever Uki recommended one, Reader always wanted to go themselves, so I went along to keep them company.âÂ
Even as his skin returns to its original shade, the sweetness sticks to his throat like the soda heâs barely touched at all. Heâs wistful. He didnât expect to miss Reader this much; after all, his relationship with them has bloomed so much ever since you first started working together, but two weeks together (including mutual close friends) changes things. Itâs only been two days since he returned home, but he feels out of rhythm with them.Â
Heâs gotten too accustomed to them. Over the last few months, he thought he did a good job putting aside his feelings for Reader, even when Nina would tease him after every Pen and Paper collab and Vox and Mika would be right behind her, hyping him up to make a move. The fear of rejection was what motivated him to keep his close friendship with Reader without ever confessing to them.
âReaderâŚâ
The world around him is nothing. Paused to buffer as he thinks. He canât remember the last time he felt so happy. Just being in the same room as them makes him feel stupid, and surely heâs been acting like it. Everything he says sounds clumsy when heâs with them. After all, on that day when he owned up to the feelings he repressed for so long that he couldnât properly react to Readerâs confession, he couldnât say much more than how happy he was. Words fail to describe what Reader means to him, yet heâs a novelist, for crying out loud! How ironic!
â...Reader is so patient with me,â Ike says. âAnd theyâre so considerate and dedicated. I wish I told them that earlier. Itâs hard to say things out loud like this, but you only meet people like Reader once in a lifetime if youâre lucky, and even then, thereâs no one quite like Reader.â
ystariya: i love reader
Kaidororero: pen and paper awwww
Y A M: PEN AND PAPER
acklmystafoot: ike is so sweet!!!
Reader ăNIJISANJI ENă â : đ
âAaah!â
Ike recoils like his keyboard is flaming lava. The model on the screen leans back and freezes in place while he nearly throws himself out of his chair. âR-Reader! What are you doing here?!â
Reader ăNIJISANJI ENă â : FKJLJJSLKFJDKS LMAOOOOOOOO
Johnclone: Hello Reader!
Y A M: OMG
Reader ăNIJISANJI ENă â : just wanted to say hi
Reader ăNIJISANJI ENă â : hi!
Festersk: LMAO
Ike sputters out nothing but empty air and nervous laughter. âHaha. Um. Hi! Welcome!â
Stupid! He wants to kick himself. Heâs made improvement on verbalizing affection, and heâs comfortable with Reader, especially now that there arenât any secrets left, but heâs still so unfamiliar with affection being returned that his heart is still doing kickflips in his chest.Â
haabinae: :_blush: :_blush: :_blush:
juuuuuuuuuus: most normal pen and paper moment
Thornmy: AWWW
Reader ăNIJISANJI ENă â : check discord
A normal broom: Oh?
âAh, okay! Give me a second.â Ike keeps his Discord on mute, and usually disables desktop notifications when heâs live, so heâs not surprised to open the window to unread messages and some non-urgent pings. Sure enough, Reader sent him something.
Reader: because you were talking about cafes
Reader: image.png (3) Â Â Â | đ 1 |
Me: Oh I recognize these from our first date!
Itâs been over a week now, but just saying he went on a date with Reader has him squeezing his legs together so his feet wouldnât start kicking in the air.Â
Reader: ahh you remembered!Â
Me: I shouldâve figured you took more pictures than the ones you showed me
Reader: dw i have more i wanted to show you
Reader: image.png (8) Â Â Â | đ 1 |
Me: Seriously how are you so good at photography I donât get it-
Me: Youâre really pretty in this one!
Me: UGHHHH WHY DO I LOOK SO WEIRD Â Â Â | â 1 | đ 1 |
Me: I DIDNâT EVEN NOTICE YOU TAKE THIS ONE
Reader: WTH YOUâRE NOT WEIRD
Reader: YOUâRE LITERALLY SO HANDSOME WHY DO YOUÂ T H I N KÂ I TOOK THAT PIC
Well, great, now heâs actually kicking in his seat. Ike is inclined to disagree, but when Reader says it, itâs a super-effective attack on his poor little novelist heart.Â
Me: Akaslwdnja
Me: Thank you đ
Reader: anyways i gotta go i stream in 20 min and iâve barely eaten my food
Me: Go eat! Do you have enough water?
Reader: just refilled my bottle
Me: Good then donât let me keep you! Have a good stream!
And before he can overthink it, in the momentâ
Me: I love you!
His sights are set on his second monitor.
Reader is typingâŚ
Reader doesnât have to respond. Sometimes just saying it is enough.Â
Reader: fdsjdfkl.
Ikeâs been trying to relearn that lesson ever since he realized everything he repressed was reciprocated.
Reader: i love you too, ike
Words heard across the world, one of the people he holds most dear.
His heart beats loud in his ears, but he can feel it slow, somehow. Reader is exhilarating, but thereâs security in them, too. The nerves kick in until he remembers theyâre just as exposed as the other, and the vulnerability generate a sense of comfort. Reader makes him feel understood like no one else in the world does, and he trusts them more than anything.
He does. He does, he does, he does, even if he only has the strength to say it one at a time. Ike is in love.
Reader: iâll let you know when iâm done streaming, we can watch a movie together after
Me: Itâs a date! Â Â Â | đ 1 |
It takes him a moment to tear his gaze away from your messages.Â
His streaming monitor reflects his movements. The chat moves along. Blue light spreads through his fingertips, just like how he imagines Vtuber Model Ikeâs hands resting on his own keyboard, an extension of the man outside the screen, proof of the fantastical.
âThey sent me something.â Ikeâs laughter is gentle. âI really do love them.â
The chat zooms past, as expected. Surely that would get clipped alongside the off-collab Q&A, but he canât seem to care. He doubts the fandom would really understand how deep the connection goes, and if they do? Some things are just meant to be private.
Besides, on the day Ike and Reader get comfortable enough in their relationship to go public, he knows the Quilldren have his back, just like Reader and their Bookworms.Â
âReader, if youâre still there, we need to meet up again,â Ike says. âI donât know when, but one day.â
A flurry of messages, but only one truly matters.
Reader ăNIJISANJI ENă â : i wouldnât miss it for the world
The model onscreen grins. It pales in comparison to Ike himself.
.ă . ⢠â . ° .⢠°:. *â ° . â
â§. âcommentary âŁ
â§. â âmasterpost â§. â âkofi
#ike eveland x reader#ike eveland#ike eveland fluff#ike eveland angst#luxiem#luxiem x reader#nijisanji x reader#nijisanji#4402 writes#đ anon#fanfic is unrealistic and i know this because clippers would NEVER use semicolons in their captions#eating string cheese wrong is symbolic. it represents eavesdropping and shitty lies that go unnoticed#i hope i never see a typo in this thing this fic is literally impossible to edit on mobile#update: there were typos. and i had to wait 3 minutes for the editor to load on my laptop before i could fix them. rip#pliskinverse
440 notes
¡
View notes
Text
i change my mind abt wanting the sticklers involved in any lore relevant schemes can they just login together and have a fun even one singular time time . no war or betrayal just running around the tunnels full invis or skmething :')
#lifesteal#the sticklers#all i want in life is a happy jumperwho roshambo and rekrap2#keep the bfb and spawn war away from them đ
ââď¸đ
ââď¸đ
ââď¸đ
ââď¸#i have regrets#rewatching ros s4 and vis last vid has me likd#shaking crying sobbing#betrayal and friendship and loneliness is a common theme for jumper and ro. huh.#rek please fix them#keep their asses AWAY from the lore#its like 4 am and i will be very sad if the sticklers are ever seperated#come as a set. who have only been seen together AS a set one singular timd#regardless of this please dont seperate them :(#that reminds me i need to yap abt how what happened w vi is most definitely a big part of jumpers loyalty this season#why she insists she will NEVER betray them no matter what happens. why she is so deeply attached to rek and ro.#why she continues to always ALWAYS consider ro and to do whatever she can to ensure he has everything he needs#and that hes taken care of as her and reks teammate regardless of how IA he is. bc he is still HER teammate. rek and ro are /HER/ people.#i might do that now if i dont mimimii#LOL#roshambogames#jumperwho#rekrap2#actyally no i lied i can see how jumbled my typing is#ill yap later maybe probablu hopefully#after sleeping
32 notes
¡
View notes
Text
inspired by this post by @ceriseheaven
#my evil baby girls#âwhat about the murderâ yada yada look at their big ass eyes they can do no wrong#âwhat about the manipulationâ donât care didnât ask#âwhat about the gaslightingâ let them do it again it was funny#lestat de lioncourt#the vampire lestat#the vampire armand#amc iwtv#iwtv#interview with the vampire#armand#iâm no better than louis id also fall for their lies#i donât wanna fix them i want to make them WORSE#beat them at their own game đ
35 notes
¡
View notes
Text
During my ventures in LOP I came across something that I thought people might find really interesting!
[btw: I might be completely wrong about all of this]
Earlier last year, the team behind Lies of P were invited as guests on a popular Korean Youtube channel called ě¤ë
ę˛ě´ë¨¸ ęšě¤ěĽ [Roughly, "Middle-aged gamer Kim"?]. Developer Kwon Byung-Soo introduces himself as World and Scenario Lead of Lies of P.
At the Korea Game Awards in 2023 (in which LOP swept 6 awards including GOTY!!), he went on stage to accept the award for "Technical Achievement (World/Scenario)". The caption under him reads Narrative/World Team Lead:
Under the game's official end credits reel, he is credited under Lead World Designer. His name is also the first to appear in the game's introductory cutscene:
So I think that Kwon Byung-Soo may be the actual writer of the story and lore in LOP. I'm sure that Director Choi oversees the project as a whole, and every single team member makes invaluable fundamental contributions to the game collectively (for example, Director Choi pushing for a main character with more feminine appeal); However, I didn't see anyone credited specifically as a "writer" other than Collodi himself (Collodi is also technically the first to be credited, both in-game and in the end credits).
I think it would be really really cool to hear this person talk about the narrative elements of LOP specifically. Hopefully we get to hear more of the writer's individual thoughts on aspects of LOP in the artbook!
[note again: this is just speculation and could be me interpreting things incorrectly. also maybe these terms don't mean what I think they do, as I imagine game narrative and something more linear like a film script is probably different to develop]
#lies of p#btw for some reason i RLLY want to hear director choi actually saying âCarloâ (kkarullo) in his accent lol#actually he may have said âcarlo collodiâ at one point but i dont remember anymore#lop devs#lies of p devs#lop team#lop team lore#side note: I saw the episode and all of them are rlly funny :)#he did tend to talk about lore and worldbuilding too tho so I think he probably is the âwriterâ as we know it#idk much about game dev tbh#edit fixed some formatting?
27 notes
¡
View notes
Text
What does my taste in men reveal about me?đ
#decided to jump on this trend#i can fix some of them#life is strange true colors#true colors#lis tc#ryan lucan#luis sera#resident evil 4#resident evil 4 remake#re4 remake#re4 luis#luis serra#until dawn#until dawn josh#josh washington#the last of us#tlou#joel miller#i love himbos
40 notes
¡
View notes
Note
They still feel off specially the eyes i could feel them about to manifest their own life and run off
Even my linework is ... Idk what's wrong and it's the problem maybe I'm staring too much but I don't think so
Sorry for bothering alot but i loved your last advice ty
i think the main problem with the first picture has to do with the proportions and anatomy of the lower body area aka the neck and shoulders. i'd make the shoulders wider and add some sort of form to the neck so that it looks believable instead of a flat rectangle shape ( maybe make it slimmer a bit too? although that might be just a stylistic choice so you do you). That's the first thing i'd fix because otherwise the head looks too big in comparison to the rest of the body, and it can throw you off
I actually think you did a great job with the eyes, they have a lot of life and that comes from the fact that they are the most rendered part of your piece, which is not a bad thing. The thing is, while it is true that the eyes are the main focal point of a face and portrait in general, that doesn't mean you can neglect the other parts, so i think it is also a consistency issue or not figuring out exactly what sort of style or rendering you want to go with that holds you back (which is totally fine and normal ofc). So let's pick a semi-realistic stylized rendering style for this since this is the vibe i'm getting from this piece.
If that's the style we're going for, then the face should have a bit more form. You have to remember that our facial features ( eyes, nose, lips) are connected with each other via the planes of the face, right? So, for a semirealistic style, revisit your reference and try to idenitify what those planes are and how they connect to those features, and most importantly, where the shadows hit, and just accentuate them more, because at the moment they look like 3rd forms plastered over a 2d surface which is not right, our skin has form as well. Color-wise, don't be afraid to go darker with the shadows, they really make your drawings pop. Without looking at a reference, i'd def add some shadow under the lips, a bit where the lips connect to the nose, under the neck, and in the lower body area.
I'm really trying to avoid the most basic answer which is " practice anatomy !!1! " because everyone can say that however, at the end of the day, this is the main thing the face lacks. And tbvh you don't have to actually know anatomy, you just gotta know some proportions things that make the face look believable enough. I feel like the features are mostly just drawn from the reference without an understanding of the structure behind it. Something tells me that in the reference picture, the person had their head tilted a bit upwards, but here it's kinda flat and the features are just painted without following the motion. Try to draw over your reference picture the vertical and horizontal lines and make up the head shape behind it to figure out the way it is tilting and facing, because the lips, eyes nose, etc will follow that same sort of flow, they're not stationary. I'd also make the eyes a bit smaller, or maybe make the skull bigger bc i think they are touching the outer edge too much now, and also narrow the distance between the nose and lips just a bit. Kinda hard to explain without actually doing it myself. But really, try to play with that, and try getting comfy with drawing 3d forms i know it's easier said than done but..... there really isn't any shortcut unfortunately As for the lineart drawing, yes it's actually pretty solid, i like that duplicate blur thing you did, i'm familiar with that technique and it def has its perks so that's great. Im not an expert on lineart, however here i think there are too many " unnecessary" lines that could easily be omitted (purple). Less is more and all that~ The hair strands at the end feel too stiff and identical (green). If you notice, they all just end in this " V" shape and they rarely overlap thus making the image look flat. Try to break this pattern by introducing more spontaneity aka random hairflies, making the strands overlap, adding more shape variety etc
Make sure that the lines connect properly whenever they meet, and also although you already did it and i think that's great, you can make some lines even thicker, go even further and add even more lineweight. As a general thing, usually, the exterior or contour lines are thicker and whatever it is inside is thinner so experiment with that, you can start from the nose- thicker lines for the nostrils thinner for that nose tip i forgot what it's called and also add thin lines that just hint at the form. Lineart is hardd so i don't blame you, but if you're gonna keep the lineart in, try "shading" with black blocks so to speak, make sure the lineart layer can stand on its own, and pay more attention to the lower part area (neck and shoulders) even if it is less exciting to ink
#ok i lied it's long again#these are pretty fun to do can u blame me#ask iztea#you should also check in with other people don't take my word for everything#but since you asked my personal opinion here u go#sorry for any typos if there are any i'll fix them later#long post#ask iztea: art talk
73 notes
¡
View notes
Text
No but seriously if Miles had got home to his parents before Miguel what was Miguel going to do? Snatch him away from his mother and father without a fight?
Would he have even had it in him to actually look at this kid heâs been calling an anomaly and mistake the entire time, shielded by his parents, parents protecting their child, a child, and still just write him off as an anomaly? To match the glare of Miles and justify why he canât is to protect what is important to him as they hold him? To match the glares of Rio and Jefferson and say they must understand that they have to hand over the focal point of their universe because of predetermined bullshit they could quite literally never understand?
I feel like a stand-off between him and the three of them would be less violent but somehow more of a punch to the gut than actually see them fighting.
#like itâs a parent whose lost their child against two that are desperate to keep that from happening#even in the basis of not wanting him to go too far#he could only think heâd do the same if it was his little girl but in there lies the issues#cause how can he ask them if he knew heâd kill the person across from him then and there#fix it fic where Miguel become weird uncle who warms up to the moraleses#cause itâs like his social spider society leader probation#and he become Rio 2.0 where heâs even worse and like Manhattan is too far from Brooklyn#rio morales#jefferson davis#miguel oâhara#miles morales#sorry I just love how loving they are to Miles and try to understand it really canât in this situation#cause heâs fucking Spiderman#atsv#across the spiderverse#atsv spoilers
266 notes
¡
View notes