#my brain is still recovering from finishing chapter 2 lmao

[miwachan2]

do you have any crumbs for chapter 3 of vampiric equinox?

lowkey this is all i got for chapter three rn

I havn't fucking started it 💀

[traumacat800]

Every Kiss Begins With Kill Chapter 2 (NSFW)

Buckets of Bug Blood

OK OK BECAUSE OF YOU THE TIMELINE CHANGED BASICALLY. So, Bob never sees Lila and survives. He still eats ppl though, but the VAMPIRE GUY SURVIVES HE'S SO CUTE (/platonic) I'M SAD HE DIED 💔

my mutuals have been BEGGING on their KNEES for chapter 2 soooo here it is fr <3

Also Brazen (your dog) is really fucking smart, tbh everybody needs a Brazen. SHE LITERALLY CAN ONLY BARK LMFAOO 😭😭 and she’s STILL the voice of reason. LMAO rather the BARK of reason. The entire thing is so goofy to the point where it’s amazing and fits perfectly in the series fr

There’s smut in this chapter. But the midst of it will be in the third chapter or fourth. Reader is 18 btw, senior in hs. <3

TW:

Breaking in (although it isn’t treated as such) , mentions of bugs (you like bugs sm), Bob Velseb.

•

It was the day after Halloween.

You were sitting at home, Brazen was laying on the bed next to you. She’s completely recovered from her illness and was back to being her usual self. You ran your finger through her soft hair, god, you loved your dog so much. Brazen perked up at something but you didn’t notice. You were on ibisPaint at the moment, although you keep switching off if it to either change the music or go on TimeWatch (Tiktok) or SOMEHOW study for a test that you never remembered having. Your brain worked in weird ways, you supposed. Your headphones were one of your most prized possessions, at the moment, they weren’t helping you. 

At least that’s what Brazen thought, as she barked at the tall man with horns that was creeping in the backyard. You had told her about meeting a man with the description before. Unlike Brazen, you didn’t sleep downstairs. Which meant that you never had to sleep next to the loud ass Tv, that somehow only played the news. Brazen hated your ignorance about the subject or rather the fact that you thought a murderer was hot. Now that murderer was back, probably to end you. 

‘I don’t get paid enough for this, I don’t even get paid at all!’ Brazen thought. 

Brazen continued to bark at the man but he never hesitated in his attempt to get to you, somehow making his way up to your window. Brazen jumped down from the window, and ran to your bed. You still couldn’t hear her barking over your loud ass music. Brazen rolled her eyes before nipping at you. You jumped a bit, taking out your headphones. Brazen looked back, the window was open, the man was inside. 

“Did you know that Endocannibalism is just one of many forms of cannibalism?”

You jumped at his voice, one you were definitely not expecting. You turned around. It was the guy from yesterday, he was still in his costume. 

“Dude, where are you finding these weird facts? Also how the fuck did you get in my room?” 

He pointed at the window, his smile never faltered. You felt a bit concerned for him, did he have nowhere to sleep or maybe he had no friends? You frowned at that thought, even though he technically broke into your house. He was a little weird but so were you. I mean you liked bugs, your shelfs were littered with bug books. Plus, he didn’t seem to have any bad intentions. So, you shrugged it off, as usual.

“Hey what’s your name? Never got it yesterday.”

He hummed, thinking for a couple seconds.

“Bob” 

Brazen looked between the two of you, absolutely horrified at that sight. There’s no way you actually liked the murderer right? 

“I’m Y/n” 

You closed your window before looking back at him. 

“You know, you could’ve just knocked on the door. I would’ve let you in” 

Brazen huffed out a loud growl before leaving the room, probably going back downstairs. You closed the door behind her.

“Wanna play a game?” You asked, pointing to your video game console, he didn’t respond. So you went over to it, plugging in the second controller. He watched you curiously as you did so. Once you’d finally finished hooking up the game, you patted the spot next to you. His heavy footsteps filled the room as you sat waiting for him. He sat down, picking up the controller. You smiled at him, and you both played what was a very nice and gentle game of online Monopoly. 

Spoiler alert: 

It was not a very nice game, it was every man for themselves. 

•

Bob laughed as he defeated you, you’d landed on a house of his. It was 1500 dollars to pay off the fine, you’d only had 900 at the moment. There was no way he would trade you for his money. You whined in defeat. You had to go bankrupt, there was no other option. Bob smirked at you, you refused to look at him especially after all the shit you talked to him.

“Oh don't be like that” He purred

You refused to acknowledge how his dark voice made your stomach pool in anticipation. 

But little did you know, he saw right past you. 

Bob grabbed your hips, a bit questionably, only to see if you were truly comfortable with this or not. You didn’t shift, so he rested his head on you. You could feel his warm breath on your cheek, you felt your face heat up. He studied your body language a bit before finally asking—

“Can I touch you?”

You nodded. You were at a loss for words at the situation that was happening. It seemed straight out of wattpad, that you’d meet a guy you’d like and end up doing the dirty tango with him a day after. His hands trailed down your hips. Your breath hitched as he quietly studied you once more, slipping his hands into your undergarments. He removed one hand, spitting on it. For lube purposes since you had none. He slowly inserted his fingers inside you, it was uncomfortable. The pain was a sharp burn. Thankfully, he focused on the other elements of your body to keep your content. For example, biting your neck, rubbing around your nipples, and finally grinding against your leg. He was so hard and it was making you feel even more pleasure at the thought of taking him: It didn’t take very long for him to break you in. You managed to stifle a moan at how good his hands were, moving inside you slowly. He seemed like an expert on this topic. His head was resting near your neck, he took in all your sinful sounds. You pushed back against him, begging the man for more. 

“Needy Kitten.” He breathed out, you whined at the sensual tone of his voice. 

He started to pump his fingers in and out of you, setting a rather fast pace. Your hole twitched around him.You felt your stomach pool with pleasure, you closed your eyes. Clenching up your body as your orgasm struck through you like thunder. You stopped for a moment catching your breath. Bob was still hard, you notice. Although he seemed to be happy with how you looked now. Removing his hands from your undergarments. 

“Wait…” 

You figured it'd be easier if he just dry humped you, it’s not like you were ready for the real thing yet. You sat on his lap, your hole brushing up against his cock roughly. Bob moaned against you, grabbing your hips. He pushed you closer to him, taking full advantage of the body that you’d lended to him. His arms wrapped around you, as he grinded roughly against your ass. His heavy grunts and breaths made you moan and whine. He didn’t last very long though, cumming in his pants. Bob panted along with you. You fought the need to sleep, you didn’t want him to leave just yet. Bob seemed to notice this. You shifted the position, burying your face in his soft red sweater. His arms came to pull you closer, his head rested on yours. You could hear his heartbeat, it was fast. 

“Sleep now. I’ll be back soon.” 

You couldn’t help but follow his instructions. 

Bob stayed with you until it started to get light outside, tucking you into bed. While waking back to your window, he noticed the set of books you had. Most being about bugs. He took one from your bookshelf. 

•

The next day, you awoke to Brazen nipping at you. It was around noon. She was barking at something. Brazen had been barking a lot more lately, usually she never did. You yawned, your vision steadied after a while. That’s when you noticed a note and a bucket next to your window. You picked up the note as you peered into the bucket with a mysterious substance.

“Did you know that bugs have different types of blood? Some can be colorful and others dull. I killed every bug I saw to make this for you�� 

-

Bob

You smiled at the genuine dedication. You face flushed at the thought of last night.

Brazen continued to glare at the bucket. 

—-

Bonus art of the goofy goober

SHES SO OFFENDED

[tehrevving]

can i get a dante x reader fic in a laundromat. like those boys have a washing machine lmao.

Ok, but Dante naked in the laundromat at 3am is my new kink. 

All things considered, it wasn’t a bad job. You honestly weren’t even sure why your boss hired you. The answer as to why an automated laundromat needed a night attendant was beyond you, but it didn’t matter. Basically you just did whatever you wanted all night, it helped pay the bills, and really that was all that mattered.

Tonight, or this morning, working the night shift was confusing sometimes; you were binge watching another series on netflix that you didn’t really care about while reading some quite well written erotica that your friend had recommended to you. It was 2:47am when you finished the latest chapter and honestly, it was about time for a bathroom break. You had seriously considered giving yourself some quick release after the last few steamy chapters but, the thought of how absolutely gross the bathroom down the street was made you think twice about it. 

Anyway, you got up, stretching your aching muscles and headed off for a much needed bathroom break.

You had been gone maybe 10 minutes and weren’t really paying any attention when you returned. It took far too long for you to notice the humming and gushing of water signifying that the machines were in use. You looked up finally, always curious about who the fuck was out doing their laundry at 3am.

You were absolutely not expecting what you saw.

Standing next to the row of washing machines was a tall and very fucking naked man with his back to you. His long white hair shook as he hummed and danced to a tune that you couldn’t make out. 

“Holy Fuck!” You exclaimed, much louder than you expected it to be, but honestly what other reaction was appropriate?

The man noticed you then and slowly turned around until he was facing you. He was older, attractive and with a good body. He made absolutely no effort to cover up his nakedness and you struggled to draw your eyes away from the very large, flaccid just cock just lying right there against his leg.

He started walking towards you and his fucking cock jiggled with every step. 

Eventually you managed to draw your eyes up to his face, but you couldn’t look him in the eyes. You saw him wink at you out of the corner of your vision and you couldn’t help but blush. 

“I didn’t realise there would be such a pretty attendant here at this time,” he said, his voice low and flirty. 

You were speechless.

“Name’s Dante,” he drawled, holding his hand out for you to shake. 

You introduced yourself with a stammer, reluctantly shaking his hand, figuring it would be pretty rude for you not to. At least with him being this close to the counter, you weren’t able to see his dick. 

“I guess we’re stuck here together for the next few hours,” he winked again, “let me know if you need anything,” he said, and then turned around chuckling as he moved to sit on one of the benches near the machines. 

He pulled out a magazine, you couldn’t make out the contents from where you were but you were pretty sure there was a scantily clad woman on the front of it. He was still naked, his bare ass on the bench and you could still see this fucking dick. 

“Umm, Dante,” you called out to him and he looked over at you. “Would you mind, umm, covering up?”

“Oh,” he said and then looked down at himself, “honestly I’d forgotten I wasn’t wearing anything,” he stopped and thought for a moment, “all of my clothes are in the wash though.”

“Let me look through the lost and found for you,” you stammered, reaching underneath the desk to pull out the old cardboard box. 

The gods were not fucking on your side today. The lost and found box was totally empty apart from a single in-date magnum condom. What the fuck?

By the time you’d finished screaming internally, the man had gotten up and stood near enough to the counter that you could make out the fucking veins on his cock.

“Find anything doll?” He was smiling, looking straight at you and smug as he cocked his hip. It was like he was trying to get you to look at his penis. 

You shook your head, “no.”

“What a shame,” he said and then he laughed, brushing his hair back from his face as he lowered his voice and stooped over slightly so he was closer to your height. “I could always wear you instead sweetheart.”

It took far too long for you parse his words, your mouth hanging open like a fish while your brain struggled to catch up. He was hot, you were still pretty horny from reading porn and well, it’s highly unlikely that anyone else is gonna come into the laundromat.

“Has that line ever worked for you?” You couldn’t help but ask.

“I dunno. You tell me. First time I’ve ever used it.”

You leant over the counter so you were closer to his face. “It’s only gonna work because I’ve been reading porn all night and I’m fucking horny. OK?”

Dante laughed, “Jackpot!” He beckoned you over to him.

You reached down and grabbed the single fucking condom out from the lost and found box.

You made a show of looking him up and down as you walked around the counter towards him, focusing between his legs, “you’re a magnum right?”

He laughed, “come here.”

He pulled you to him, wrapping his arms around your body and leaning down to press his lips against yours. 

His lips were soft and his stubble was rough against your skin. He was warm and you couldn’t help but run your hands against the bare skin of his chest. He pulled you flush against his skin, his teeth teasing at your lips. It didn’t take long until you could feel the press of his cock against your leg as it started to stir. 

Dante lifted you up effortlessly, you clung onto his arms for dear life but he seemed confident enough. He deposited you on top of the currently whirring washing machine and you gasped slightly at the vibrations of it against your heated body. 

He leant down and started to undress you, pulling off your baggy sweatpants and underwear until you were bare and smearing your arousal against the grimy plastic of the washing machine. 

You put your hands on his hips and pulled him close to you. He let out a groan as your bodies slotted together. You kissed him, pushed your tongue down his throat as you felt him shift so his hand was pumping at his cock. 

Dante pulled away with a groan, slightly breathless as he plucked the condom from your grasp. You chanced a look downwards to watch him put it on and holy shit, his dick was even bigger hard; thick and long it seemed like it took an age for him to finish rolling it down his cock. 

The he was winking at you, leaning down and pulling you to his body. He manipulated your body until your teeth were at his shoulder and his cock was pressing against your entrance. 

“Feel free to use your teeth if you need to sweetheart,” he smirked and then began to slowly press forward.

You did end up clawing at him, your teeth pressing marks into his skin. He went slowly and between the lube on the condom and your own slick he sank inside of you easily enough. But he was big and thick, and the burn was intense, soothed only slightly by the vibrations of the washing machine underneath you. 

His hands squeezed hard at your ass when he finally bottomed out inside of you. A small groan escaping his lips and he panted slightly. “Shit, that doesn’t normally happen,” he said, pulling away slightly to look down at where your bodies were joined, where practically the entirety of his cock was sheathed inside of you. “Damn,” he breathed. 

“Move,” you said to him, bucking your hips digging your nails into his back until he had no choice but to oblige. 

He started off slowly at first, setting a rhythmic pace but with the vibrations of the machine spurring you along, you couldn’t maintain it for very long. Soon he was fucking you with long, hard strokes, his large cock pressing against every sensitive spot inside of you. 

“Shit, you feel so good,” he groaned against your ear, but you were too busy trying not to bite all the way through the soft skin of his neck. 

He picked up his pace as your cries began to reach a fever pitch, as the washing machine underneath you whirred louder and stronger as it neared the end of its cycle.

Dante fucked you roughly, his hands pushing and pulling at your ass. He took his own pleasure from you, but as the heat kept building and building inside of you, you couldn’t even care.

The vibrating of the washing machine reached a fever pitch and you cried out and came around his cock. Dante moaned and his hips stuttered as your body tightened impossibly around him. He couldn’t help but bury himself deep inside of you and come. 

He practically flopped over on the washing machine, his hair falling in your face with his weight an almost unpleasant press on your body. The washing machine underneath you decided to start beeping then, signalling that the load was done. 

Dante laughed and then swore, pulling himself upright. Your whined at the loss of sensation as he pulled out of you. 

He helped you get down off the washing machine and help you up while your shaky legs recovered. You found your pants on the floor and struggled to pull them on as you watched Dante begin to transfer his clothes from the washing machine into the dryer. 

His cock was still slightly hard, sticking straight up and bobbing as he moved. It looked fucking ridiculous and you couldn’t help but laugh.

He looked at you, slightly hurt as he turned on the dryer. He sat back down on the bench and beckoned you over. You sat down in his lap and got comfortable against his chest.

“I gotta start doing my washing more often.” he chuckled, smirking down at you. 

You just punched him in the shoulder and laughed, unsure of what the fuck just happened and where the fuck you were going to go from here.

[comicteaparty]

March 21st-March 27th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from March 21st, 2020 to March 27th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What are some background details you know about your story that won’t ever actually come up in the main narrative?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Oh boy... So many in Whispers of the Past... The first—which I believe I've mentioned before—is that some of the characters' sexualities never really get brought up outside of some subtle subtext. For example, Ryukou is asexual aromantic, but he is married, and he honestly doesn't even know that being aroace is a thing. His wife, Maya, is bisexual, and her attraction to women is hinted at, but not explicitly said. The second background detail that will likely never make it into the main narrative is Kelan's grief after SPOILER the death of his wife. END SPOILER The story takes place years after this event, and yet he still hasn't completely recovered. That being said, it just never really comes up in the narrative, again, outside of subtext. Thirdly, Izrekiel actually has a dependency on physical contact and skinship, because of the lack of affection he was given as a child. This, once again, only really comes up in subtext and is hinted at through his actions, but it is never explained. Aaaaand finally, there is a lot of magical lore that is never explained even remotely. In the story, it is treated very much like a soft magic system, but there are some "harder" elements that go into explaining why certain things have happened, but... they are not actually explained in the story. More like... I know about them, and I can explain these things to anyone who cares to ask (edited)

Capitania do Azar

Oh I suppose that in https://www.sarilho.net/en/ I'm never gonna go in detail about the geopolitics, the different power structures or even how the main empire is structured. We may get hints at it, but it's not necessary for the story so I don't think I'm gonna include much. Details about characters' sexualities are prolly just gonna be hinted at mainly because they don't have the words to express them the same way we do Also I really care about the differences between the different languages and particularly between the spoken and written versions of these, but I can't find a way to have a character explain those just because so you'll have to figure it out through background information like posters and graffiti

sagaholmgaard

Ohh this prompt came at the right time because it's been on my mind lately!! In Reclaim, https://tapas.io/series/_Reclaim_ My two main characters, Albus and Styrka, are in a queerplatonic relationship, which they don't have the word for and it doesn't ever come up except in subtext. I'm trying to write them so that it really shows that they love each other, and everyone knows this, but there won't be a point were they "get together" so to speak because they already have everything they want between each other! And I'm very Soft for this but also nervous that when the story is finished people might feel let down that it doesn't end up in straight up romance? if that makes sense And there's a lot of history research I did that is contextually there but not mentioned in words. That's just one of those things where my knowledge is deeper than what shows in the comic, but I think the story is better for it :D (It's not historic fiction because I'm taking a lot of liberties, but the research is helpful all the same)

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

One of the paladin/church knight's gay, but it never comes up, because, you know, marriage in their world's decided by the parents, because it's a matter of inheritance and heirs not love. He's married, and actually decent friends with his wife and children, but he's taking his oaths seriously. So he never even mentions the people's he's attracted too.

There are openly gay couples in the story, it just didn't work out for him; his family needed that alliance.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

In Phantomarine (http://www.phantomarine.com/) I have two gods that drive the entire story. But seven other gods existed at one point in time. I will be delving into at least two other gods’ stories - as a good background for why the remaining two are in such a tumultuous relationship - but there are five others that I don’t really plan on writing about in great detail. Their symbols and names may pop up in various texts/decorations/etc, but there’s not enough time for a super detailed character study of each. Perfect for side stories, though

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Rainy Day Dreams (http://rainydaydreams.mariahcurrey.com/) takes place in an alternate dimension and the plot deals mostly with interdimensional travelers, but the world is post first interstellar contact also. Only the story isn't a sci-fi so there's no real reason to talk about how robust their space program is and there are already monsters so there's no easy way to tell who's a native and who's and alien.

eli [a winged tale]

Whoa Mariah that sounds fun! I love how everyone’s worlds are complex and in depth and there are clues within the story

Would these details be part of another project/side stories/lorebook? What’s everyone’s plans for these secrets

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

My secrets are basically just stewing in my brain I mean, I guess if a reader ever asked, I'd spill all the secrets, but so far, that hasn't happened.

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

same lmao

I guess a background detail the comic won't get into is how the imagery in Cara's dream became promiment before her dream boyfriend came to the picture. I did wrote a prequel where she was having dreams of her late grandma who's stories got super visual in her head. Most of the events she told to Cara were from late 70's Vietnam.(edited)

some of those dreams and nightmares were partly inspired from my parent's part growing up in the time, such as my dad encountering a ghoulish corpse with his grandpa and my mom actually building things from a hut in the jungle

so yeah lmao. ghost story dreams

eli [a winged tale]

Mariah I’m curious about non-scifi parallel universe space program alien monsters are they more the reasoning for how the story exists but you won’t be going into depth with them? (Ie not a plot twisty thing?)

Ghost story dreams and parallel places in real life sound like a good atmosphere/mood element in your story!

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

yeah lmao. I wasn't sure how to add it but Cara does mention about her grandma's story in future chapters (if my hands let me draw faster lolol). but as a small tibit. Maybe I'll sit down and write more as a side story lol

eli [a winged tale]

Side stories sound like a great way to showcase more of the world

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

I'll consider it lolol

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Mariah I’m curious about non-scifi parallel universe space program alien monsters are they more the reasoning for how the story exists but you won’t be going into depth with them? (Ie not a plot twisty thing?)

They're just kind of an additional details that I came up with while thinking about the world. The planet itself I decided a long time ago is Eart but like 100,000 years in the future so the tectonic plates have shifted and the continents are different. The setting is kind of a mix of old-timey and futuristic, but also mixed with magic so the lines between what is technology and what's just supernatural are already pretty blurred. So since it's already sort of a futuristic society I thought it would just be a neat addition to also have had aliens either have shown up or been discovered. I also figured that since the world is super used to inter-dimensional travelers they probably wouldn't be super freaked out to life from off-planet since they already know they aren't alone in the multi-verse? X'D but this stuff really doesn't have any baring on the main story. Like it might be something Mara tells Tristin as some point to blow her human mind. I just like to dig into little setting corners and make tunnels readers probably won't ever see X)

eli [a winged tale]

Ooh that sounds really neat! A big world to discover for the attentive readers

DanitheCarutor

Oh I got some stuff! 1. Part of this can be spoilers for future scenes, so I'm putting it behind a thing. SPOILER Apollo's origin. He was adopted and while at some point him and Julian discuss his parents briefly, it never really comes up in the main narrative. Apollo himself doesn't really care much since he was adopted as a baby and doesn't even know who they are outside of a picture that was given to him as a kid. Essentially they were an Irish couple who moved to the states, the father died at some point and the mother followed close behind during childbirth. There weren't any known relatives, at least ones that wanted to him, so Apollo went into the system and was lucky enough to be adopted almost immediately. END SPOILER 2. Julian's origin. This is kind of brought up briefly later on, but Julian doesn't really know where they're from so nothing much comes of it outside of remembering small bits of how their life was before being found. Although it is eluded to what the situation possibly could have been. 3. Julian's real age and date of birth. Since they didn't have any kind of ID the doctors had to guess their age, which isn't an important detail for the story so I don't see a point in adding it. 4. The details of what happened at Hopeful Hands. This place is discussed a lot, but the talk is more about the trauma that was inflicted and how to move on, rather than lingering on the details. Although enough of what happened is brought up to get a good picture of what kind of place it is/was. I figured laying it all out would be a little too much, and would take away from the main point of the story. 5. The lives of Apollo's friends. There are a couple side character who get fleshed out a bit later on, but since the story isn't about them I didn't see a need in showing more than what is necessary.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Hmm... there's certainly quite a few things that don't show up in the main narrative. Like Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R is very much the Mizuki show, very few other characters get deep explorations into their backstories. But, like, that's what the short stories are for. As for things that never show up in the series at all... the only ones I can think of are the history of the world (because, like, it's pretty boring) and the specifics of how certain technology works. Like, I have a list of people & companies that various locations in the series were named after, and a list of the dynasties in the Giduli Kingdom. There's... not really any interesting stories there, it's just a dry list, so it's not something really worth caring about. And, like, saying "FTL travel in this world works by traveling to a parallel universe where everything is exactly the same except half as big" is kinda interesting I guess... but there's no reason for any character to mention it, and that specific detail really isn't relevant to the story besides "there is FTL travel in this world".

Feather J. Fern

Oh man, for Teasday, any detail about what the actual background of the story is. It's mostly character driven, if the characters don't care, or don't know, they don't talk about it. For Go Figure, I think no one is going to be told anything about the other battles in the past but they did happen.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

There are so many stories I have built into the backstories of various characters that probably won't come up in the main work but have thought about making other adjacent comics about. For example I could imagine doing a prequel type thing about Joe's life & exploits

Since he is a cool character but unfortunately dead for this entire story

AntiBunny

In AntiBunny, http://AntiBunny.net/ I can't think of any reason to bring up the fact that Runo is asexual. Juju is also bisexual, and that also never comes up.

Desnik

Right now it's the warlock's magic system. I got it all worked out and then it suddenly had nothing to do with my plot.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I think sexuality details are easier to work in than a lot of people expect. You don't need a character to stand up and announce Have I Mentioned That I Am Asexual Today -- it can be an offhand mention that not all your readers will even pick up on. (But the ones who are looking for it will notice.) https://leifandthorn.com/comic/family-deserts-4-33/

What I've teased but never been able to work into Leif & Thorn canon (yet?) are the details of the World's Largest Cheese Sculpture.

There's also a lot of country names and flags in the bank that haven't shown up yet...but I'm about to draw scenes from a big international song competition, so I'm probably gonna need even more than I already have.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

TBH as an ace person, I don't really pick up on these things. It has to be more concrete for me. Kudos for those who do pick up on them and find them validating, though.

The cheese sculpture sounds epic.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Ahhh, that's what "reading the comments section to check out other people's theories" is for!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I do that, but I don't consider that canon until the actual comic convinces me

It's also not something we creators can rely on, especially those of us who don't get many comments...

I'm not saying this is bad. Offhand mentions are great, just not concrete proof for everybody (and nothing is for everybody, sooooo).

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Yeah, as a reader I like a lot of comics that don't get many comments...but it's cool when they do and there are people coming up with things.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

So I get it if a fellow creator finds it difficult to show that a character is ace -- like, maybe they're like me and they want Concrete Proof rather than an indication.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

But the creator would already have concrete proof, right? Since it's their character. And the idea is that, even if it won't reach all readers, the indications are still better than nothing.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, like I said, they're not bad to have.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

(for reference, the comic I linked above isn't the first offhand-mention related to that character, it's just the point when readers started putting it together)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from slipping in those indications. Just saying different strokes for different folks.

DanitheCarutor

Reminds me of a comic I read called 'WANDERING' (https://tapas.io/series/wandern), the main male character in it is ace, although this is never stated out right in the story. At some point readers were speculating about his sexuality due to some hints, although I was totally oblivious. Didn't have any idea where the discussion came from. I do agree that a reader is more likely to pick up on something if they're looking for it though, as someone who doesn't care too much about a character's sexuality and gender (when those subjects aren't important to the story) I don't pick up on then unless the author holds my hand a little. Although when it comes to one of my character's genders it's never stated in my comic either, someone just asks about pronouns and attire later on and that's it. Kind of ironic. Lol

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm in a similar boat. Most of my characters' orientations are left ambiguous. I may need to drop an additional hint or two for some of them...

DanitheCarutor

Pfff right? I don't think my comic even had the word 'gay' in it until a few pages ago and I'm already into chapter 5. (to be fair, Apollo's sexuality is pretty obvious. The hits are really unsubtle.) I've thought about making my character's gender more easy to read for oblivious people like me, but that part of the comic is more about what makes them feel good in their own skin rather than putting a title to it. So people who miss my Twitter posts and author's comments can just speculate for themselves, I guess.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I can respect that. For me, a big part of the reason I'm wanting to put more hints is because I don't want people to accuse me of.... what people accused Legend of Korra about (I didn't watch it, but I did see some of those complaints)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Ah... The good ol' "why is she randomly bi?"

They didn't do a good job of showing it throughout the series up until that point at the end

But, big but, the creators mentioned that she was always intended to be bi, but they were afraid that Nickelodeon wouldn't let them represent a bi character on TV.(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Again, coming from someone who hasn't watched it, I feel like the complaint should be "why is she suddenly in love" rather than "why is she suddenly bi" -- same issue with shoehorned in straight romance

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

That too

These characters were fighting over the same man at some point

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

big shrug indeed, it sounds like

DanitheCarutor

Oooh! I thought it was the "stop the show to announce my gender/sexuality" thing. I never saw the show either and didn't see many of the complaints since I don't hang out on social media very often. Lol @keii’ii (Heart of Keol) That's understandable! With how stuff like that is nowadays it's better to be safe and make sure readers know, rather than not make it known till the last possible minute. It does kind of suck if putting in bigger hints doesn't mesh with will your story though.

Gosh, about the Korra thing, they could have dropped some subtle pick up lines in while fighting over the dude. But not wanting your show to get pulled or not wanting to be denied stuff is understandable.

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

oh yeah, the LoK convos about Korra and Asami. I watched the show during that time and it's just rip

Nick said to the creators they will pull the show if there's an explict statement that Kora and Asami being BI

so they had to be lowkey as hell in the end, which at the time of 2013-2014? idk the year

it was a steping stone for american cartoons I guess rip

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, and even though LoK aired back when things were a little different.... honestly I still feel that kinda pressure from EVERY angle, just a different flavor of it.

Tuyetnhi (OIYD!)

yea

DanitheCarutor

Well, last minute LGBT+ is better than none. Now there are a few shows like that, right? SU is super into it? (I don't watch this show either so I'm guessing based on fan discussion) and the MLP final dropped in some last minute stuff.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I have at least one character with cross orientation, and that's really awkward to show when I don't wanna put any... sex in the comic. (It's got lots of juvenile "tee hee butts" kinda stuff, but nothing steamy)

AntiBunny

Other tidbits I've thought of that I couldn't really address without just dropping a big exposition bomb are bits of lagosapien biology. They for instance have a shorter adolescence than humans, so they're shorter, but reach adulthood sooner. Their eyes are a bit wider than a human's, giving them a wider field of view, but less depth perception, and that they have higher muscular density, but being about half the size are on average human, are a little weaker than an adult human.

eli [a winged tale]

I know some webcomics have world lores and character notes at the end of each chapter

mathtans

Oh, things that don't show up? Randomly I'll toss in here that Expona is left handed. (Mostly consistently, I may have slipped up in the art once or twice.) Never something that makes sense for characters to talk about though, and not plot relevant, so... does that qualify? I dunno.

Joichi / Sarah

@Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn) sorry I'm late but I like the way you point out about asexuality. I was thinking of how to show concrete proof one's ace. But most of the time, I can pick up 'emotional signs' if it has inner monologue about romance.

The hard part of it, is being one myself, and it's always 'been like this' but in comic, it has to be said somewhere

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Ah, good to hear!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

And yeah, that was my intention, encouraging people who feel stuck between "explicit announcement" or "nothing at all" to remember that you have in-between options. And if you take that approach, there's all kinds of creative/offbeat/fun things you can do with it.

(Applies to everything else, too, sexual orientation just happens to be the thing people were talking about when it came up.)

[flyswhumpcenter]

Nurse Café - Chapter 2/6: “Of Fogged-Up Screens and Downgraded Sensors“

PREVIOUS CHAPTER / NEXT CHAPTER

Fic Summary: Life could have honesty been simpler than that for Hokuto, a second-year Liteature major. There’s, however, someone out there willing to just make it easier on him.

Fandom: Ensemble Stars! (College/Coffeeshop AU) Ships: HokuAn (Anzu/Hokuto)

AO3 version available here.

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Chapter Summary: Waking up in someone else's bed with no real recollection of previous events is bound to confuse everyone out of their already confused mind.

Chapter Wordcount: 1.5K words

Chapter Notes: Ya boi's bacc after working for like 2 days in a row non-stop on not-so-secret-anymore project BWI, please excuse me for the late update. But hey, it's HokuAn fluff and a visit to my roots so! hell yeah! This is frankly cheesy but hey what more can I say? I just really like shippy, simple sickfics dude lmao Also was I supposed to find out on my own that Subaru's surname is "Akehoshi" and not "Ahehoshi"? I even transliterated it in the Greek alphabet wrong because of that, peak dumbassery

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Despite the lack of clear memories, he knew something was weird the moment it all felt fuzzy around him as soon as he woke up. It just wasn’t something that happened to him often: usually, getting up in the morning was merely a task to accomplish, a minor thing he wouldn’t have thought even once about and, clearly, wouldn’t have had any difficulty handling said task.

It wasn’t limited to just a weird case of short-term amnesia. As it stood, his entire surroundings were unfamiliar: through his slightly clogged nose, he could tell the sent around him was familiar, but not his flat’s, not even his grandma’s. His visuals were blurry and inexact, but he could still swear under the oath that it was unlike anything he had ever seen, let alone slept in. Where was he, exactly, and why?

 Right as he thought about sitting up and sightseeing the room for himself to determine where he could possibly be, a pounding headache came back with all of his previously lost memories. Oh, right, he had gone out to get a coffee, got mistaken in his cafés, and Anzu had asked him if he was fine. After that, nothing: in the end, had he drunk his coffee? Presumably not, considering he was waking up and not working on this presentation he had sworn to finish tonight. Mission failed there. He’d have to retry next time, perhaps now, even if…

He had to admit defeat there. His entire body felt like lead. In fact, on second thought, he wasn’t even sure if he could hold a pencil or even sit up. If a tight-knit schedule, a mile-long of obligations and excessive amounts of caffeine of a questionable quality had managed to keep him afloat for a short while, the inevitable happened: he was experiencing an exhaustion crash leaving him to be even less productive than a broken computer whose keyboard had been smashed into a wall, bearing an interface that had gotten corrupted during a forced shutdown.

 He could continue on the metaphor for a while, considering he wasn’t feeling able to even lift a finger, with his head as the only part he could tilt. It had felt like a shutdown because he had run out of battery, completely cessing to function until he could recover what he had lost in great quantities over an extended period of time. Not that anyone could have been able to do something against the issue that wouldn’t have taken time: in these moments, he was finally understanding how much people were frustrated when their phone was discharged.

Time sure seemed like a nice thing to have and not just endlessly run out of, huh…

 Voices in the distance. Echoing footsteps from far, far away, perhaps from a corridor nearby. Like everything else, they felt distorted and unfamiliar, until they weren’t: once the distance had reduced between him and the rest of the world, he could distinguish Isara and Anzu’s voices chatting about something, tone impossible to identify. He wasn’t even sure if those actually were their voices or someone else’s, albeit Anzu’s voice had left an important-enough impact on his mind for him to be certain he wasn’t getting mistaken there.

Trying to grasp onto the last of his memories and the few clear thoughts he could produce, Hokuto realized one thing: if he wasn’t at his place, he had to go back there, no matter what crazy and improbable situation he had found himself in. Akehoshi and Yuuki had dragged him in enough weird affairs for him to know exactly what could happen: in a way, this is just yet another wacky situation his friends had gotten him in.

But, when he tried to get up and get moving, his body didn’t bulge from a centimetre, his arms having failed him, his head having become too heavy for his neck to transport across the campus. Wherever he was, he was there for a while. Now if that wasn’t just amazing.

 “You’re awake!” Anzu’s voice had suddenly teleported right next to his ear, almost making him jump (or, at least, making him bob his head in surprise. It was weird to jump from getting scared when your body couldn’t otherwise move).

She put a cold hand on his forehead, brushing loose strands of hair aside. It was one of the oddest feelings to get: when he’d have the occasion to touch her skin, for any reason, she’d have the warmer fingers of them both. He had always been told to have been born a cold-blooded person, quite literally so: was this what Anzu felt every time he worried about his blood circulation? It had no right to have felt this soothing.

 “A… Anzu…?” His voice sounded groggy. Awful. Dry. The shadow of its own self, truly. He was almost ashamed to speak in such a fatigued, slowed-down tone. It sounded no better than absolute trash. “Where’m I…?” His words were slurring too, how delightful.

“At my place. I guess it must be confusing you to wake up in someone else’s bed…” She shone him a timid smile, shoulders rising a little with a nervous twitch. “How are you feeling?”

“…t’rble…”

“I’d have guessed… You really have Mao and me a scare! He told me you should be all good in a few days, but as your friends, we can’t help but worry, you know?”

“I… Isara was…?”

“Mao was passing by the café right after you passed out. He helped me get you to my place. He’s just left though and gave me some advice, so you should be fine!”

To be fair, Anzu was the one he trusted the most after his grandmother about anything serious. Better be vulnerable in front of her than in front of anyone else. He guessed he should have felt lucky he hadn’t stepped in his usual café, then, if it was to lose consciousness like that…

 “Can you say “aaaah” for me for a bit, Hokuto? I promise it won’t be for long.”

Not like he had any other choice than do as she said, allowing her to put a thermometer under his tongue. Needless to say, it still wasn’t a pleasing feeling. Fortunately (or unfortunately, he’d decide about that when the fog in his brain would have finally let out) for him, the thing beeped quickly after she had first inserted it in. The face she made (from what he could see of it, at least) when reading the result wasn’t exactly conveying him a great feeling about it all, putting her hand back onto his forehead as her eyes stared at the numbers.

“This fever’s no joke, how were you even up running such a temperature?!” Oh God, she sounded angry and worried all the same.

Not that he had any explanation to give about it or justification as to how it had gotten this bad. He didn’t know what number it was. He tried looking it up from the stick directly, but his eyes could only read something finishing in “9.7”. That wasn’t very useful to say the… Oh. Oh.

 “I-I mean, you’ll be fine if you just rest for a couple days! I didn’t have fever reducers anymore, but Mao gave me some from his flat, so it should be just fine… Can you swallow anything? You need to down the pills with a glass of something, so I’ve brought you just that!”

Gathering all his forces, he pushed his upper half with feeble arms against the wall behind him, the back of his head hitting the hard material. That lethargy poisoning his entire body was no joke either. At least, he could now take the glass of water and pills Anzu was handing him. How was he supposed to resist against her bright smile and concern, huh? Not that reducing what had to be the prime source of his discomfort, especially now that the chills were knocking at the door, was bothering him in the slightest.

Downing the glass had been painful. It seemed like he hadn’t just worked himself to complete exhaustion: in the process, his immune system had weakened considerably. This whole situation kept adding on points onto his internal list of why he should never try doing such a thing ever again.

 As usual, Anzu had come all prepared to a fight, putting shortly thereafter a wet washcloth on his forehead and gently pushing him back into her own bed, hands on his shoulders and opposing no opposition whatsoever from his side of the equation.

“Wait, n’zu…” He managed to squeeze out of his pained airways. “Wher’re you goin’ t’sleep…?”

“I’ve got a futon prepared on the floor; I’ll be fine. Just rest, okay? We’ll see if you’re good enough to go back to your flat tomorrow. You’ll only get better if you sleep.”

He merely nodded, sinking back into the covers. Their scent was nice, soothing even. It made the endeavour a bit more enjoyable, even if the word suddenly sounded too strong on his tongue.

“G’dnight then, I s’pose…”

Through his blurred vision turning to black, her smile shone again.

“Goodnight, Hokuto.”

[phan-of-the-pen]

I Dare You To Stay: Chapter 2

Whatup! I’m serving you guys this chapter via queue bc I’m snowed in here on the east coast and probably at this point have no power knowing my powerlines lmao ty @ tumblr for having queues

Tags for Chapter: fluff, themes of depression

Words for Chapter: ~2.6k

Fic Summary: Dan Howell is a barista working a shitty job, frequenting his shitty apartment, and living a shitty existence, hiding his asexuality and going for a PHD in self-depreciation and depression. Phil Lester is a part-time intern, part-time employee at a local weather station, trying to get experience in his field and make a name for himself, while juggling a second job at the nearby Tesco’s to give him some financial breathing room. Their paths were never supposed to meet, but what happens when they do anyways, one rainy day in Manchester?

(ao3 link)

<-- Previous chapter Next chapter -->

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Three days later, Dan was walking down the street, uniform on and not too far from the front door of his flat.

He already wanted to go back inside.

The first day had been the worst. Dan hadn't eaten, hadn't showered, hadn't even gotten out of bed. He hadn't had anywhere to be besides work, and with him texting Jaime the night before that he wasn't going to be coming in, he was off the hook as well from that societal obligation.

Not that he would have been able to even get there if he hadn't.

Dan had awoken deep into that well of darkness that he knew so well that morning. And he had known, could feel it that night before, that upon the lifting of his eyelids nothing was going to get done. And he was right.

The whole day was a blur really, an unidentified mass of time that consisted of nothing but Dan's rapid thoughts and crushing numbness.

The second day was better, if only slightly. He had dug himself out from under the weight of depression enough for him to choke down a piece of toast. He had even had a few sips of water, ending up taking the nearly-still-full glass back with him to his bedroom. The glass found itself on his nightstand, and Dan back under the comfort of his duvet. He slept some, exhausted beyond belief. By the end of the day Dan had sipped from the glass a few more times, and he even got himself up a few hours after the sun had gone down to struggle through a few crisps.

This morning, Dan was better than he had been, though he still wasn't perfect. It had still taken him close to half an hour to manage to stand and exit his cocoon of warmth. He had still been overly weak and undermotivated. He had still just stood there in the shower for an undefined amount of time, staring off into space, the water streaming down his naked body. The shower brought some feeling back into his fingers, which had (predictably) become frigid like the rest of his body with the most recent depressive episode that Dan was working through. He had also ended up crying. Sobbing, in fact, big hiccuping breaths and choking on his own tears, curled up in a ball on the floor of the tub, knees hugged to his chest and his arms desperate for purchase on his own body so he could hold himself together, releasing all of the emotions that he had lacked in the past few days, all of the anguish and sorrow and numb. The crying was the most productive thing he had actually done all day, and suspected that he probably will do all day.

But Dan was resigned to that. If he had cried, then he knew that he was almost out of under his depression's shadow. He was almost out of the lion's den.

Dan brought himself out of his head when he turned down a corner, one that was particularly more striking than normal. Dan's head throbbed as if his concussion remembered the incident with a pretty stranger well, too. His grimace of dull pain was partially hidden by his face turned to the ground. He should probably look up, seeing that walking like this was what got him a splitting headache in the first place. Well. He should. Just like he should have done a lot of things. Oops.

Dan's head hasn't gotten much better. Maybe a tad less throb-y. Maybe. He hoped that Jaime would go easy on him; it already felt like his brain was seconds away from melting out of his ears.

It probably didn't help that he had been out of commission and unable to take care of himself at all.

Add that to Dan's list of "oops".

Just like the last time that he had taken this path, Dan let his thoughts wander and trusted his muscle memory to take him to the little coffee shop he worked at. He didn't even fully comprehend that he was opening the glass door and stepping inside, only vaguely registering the rush of warmth and the scent of coffee, that was how deep he was in his head.

"Daniel James Howell I swear to god, I'm going to kill you" a stern voice boomed. Dan had just enough time to look up to see Jaime vault the countertop before she was crashing into him, wrapping his entire body in a giant hug. Dan didn't know how she did it; she was so much smaller than his own giant frame.

She already smelled like a latte even if Dan knew that she would have only been here for less than half an hour at this point. The store hadn't even opened yet.

Dan wrapped his arms around her too, not even trying to be discreet at how he melted into her embrace, soaking up all of the contact.

It had been a lonely few days.

"Dan, look, I know that you struggle with stuff, I know, but Dan I'm your best friend and if you ever disappear off the face of the Earth again I will personally strangle you. Never do that again, please." she said, and with her on her tiptoes, the words were spoken right next to Dan's ear. He swallowed abruptly, a sudden lump forming. He knew that Jaime cared for him, but hearing just how much always fucked with him. Especially after such an emotionally draining past few days. He felt that if he tried to talk his words would come out distorted and shaky.

So Dan didn't say anything, just pulled Jaime closer, burying his head into her hair.

She didn't say anything about how she could have easily found him in his flat. She already knew that he didn't want her to help him.

She didn't say anything about how Dan had been ignoring her texts and calls. She already knew why.

She didn't say anything, for that matter, just hugging all of Dan's frayed pieces back together. She already knew that that was what he really needed.

They pulled away, slowly, but with smiles on their faces. Jaime looked behind her, frowning, muttering something to herself about "telling him to leave" and then she was shouting to the back of the store:

"Steve! You're off today! Go home!"

Dan's heart seized a little, admittingly at the mention of Steve. He was working today? No, hell no, there was no way that Dan would be able to handle Steve's blatant hate for him on top of recovering from a depressive episode.

But wait...Jaime was telling him to go home?

Dan turned to Jaime, no doubt confusion blatant on his face, but she was facing the counter at this point and didn't see him.

Steve emerged from the back, a brush of coffee grounds on his shirt. He first looked at Jaime, an infamous "are you kidding me?" on his lips, when he caught sight of Dan, and scowled.

"Are you kidding me?" There it was. "Why are you sending me home? You just called me this morning and asked me to fill in for him. Now he finally decides to show up and you tell me to leave?" He snapped, incredulous, eyebrows raised. Jaime glared at him fiercely.

"Yeah, I am. Dan was supposed to work today, not you. He's here now, so he can take over the shift he was supposed to work. You can have your day off like you were supposed to."

They continued to glare at one another, a stare off unfolding right before Dan's eyes. However, Steve was no match for Jaime (in any way, really) and he backed down, nodding and walking off to collect his jacket from the employee's lounge. He was back out in no time, visibly pissed off. He stalked out of the store, pushing past Dan as he did.

Dan, struggling as he was to handle the day already, just let it happen. He didn't want to deal with a confrontation. Scratch that, he couldn't deal with a confrontation. Not in this condition.

When the door closed and Steve was gone, Jaime cursed him out, telling him to go fuck himself in her mother tongue.

"Stronzo!" she finished with, continuing to glare at where Steve had exited the store. "I hate him so fucking much. If he wasn't the owner's nephew I would have fired him from from day one! He's insufferable!" She threw her hands up in the air, exasperated and annoyed. Dan didn't say anything. He didn't really have the energy to be angry today. Besides, Jaime was the one out of the two of them with the most negative interaction with Steve. She complained religiously about him to Dan (who was more than happy to listen and partake).

Huffing, Jaime walked over to the counter and started one of the many coffee machines to get a brew going in time for when they would open. She looked back at Dan, who saw the anger fade in her eyes and her whole posture soften.

"Dan, you look like hell warmed over. Come here; it was bad this time wasn't it?"

Dan nodded, making his way to her like she asked. She hummed her understanding. She didn't give him pity or sympathy, which he was grateful for. He didn't want to be pitied.

She stood on her tiptoes and ran a hand through his hair.

"You washed it, feels like, but you didn't straighten it; didn't have the energy?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, just soft and gentle, trying to figure out just how little Dan had looked after himself over the past few days. Dan once again shook his head no.

"Alright, go sit at a table, I'll be right over with two coffee's and a comb I'm almost certain I have in my bag."

Dan felt a bit like a little kid, and normally it would bother him a little, but he was still drained from the past few days and having someone take care of him felt good enough to override any ill feelings that small part of him may be having.

Soon enough, she slid into the corner booth Dan found himself in, two coffees as promised, a comb in her pocket, and a large pastry precariously balanced on top of the lid on one of the coffees.

"Here, one caramel macchiato, just how you like it, and your favorite pastry in our case—I'd bet every cent I have that you haven't eaten anything at least today, and you are not passing out on me if I have any hand in the matter. Scooch over."

So Dan sat in the booth, nursing his coffee and eating his pastry, reveling in the care Jaime was giving him, and letting the warm feelings blossom through his chest from his core out. He wasn't quite happy—it was too soon after a depressive episode for him to be happy—but he was close. And if he let a tear or two slip no one had to know.

Jaime made quick work of Dan's distressed hair, gently pulling the wild curls apart with her fingers and working out the smaller knots with the comb. Her fingers felt good running through Dan's hair, and she knew it, knew from the countless times that this scenario had been acted out by the two of them. Dan emotionally wrung out after sometimes days of hell and Jaime applying the bandages he received after his most recent battle.

When she was done, she handed him her phone so he could look at his reflection on the dark screen. His curls were full-out after a few days of not being dragged through a straightener, but they did in fact look a bit better than he remembered his curls last looking, and that was because of Jaime's skilled hands. The entire mop was pushed in his usual fringe's style, several waves of curls blending decently enough.

"I think that's the best I can do with just this comb and my fingers, but I think that it looks good. You look good with curls, Howell. They suit you."

Dan made a face.

"I'll stick to my emo fringe, thanks."

Jaime shrugged, but a grin was tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"I'm telling you; you're already handsome as hell, if you just adopt your natural curls, you'd be unstoppable. A force of attractiveness that no one would be able to resist. You'd have like, seven boyfriends."

Dan snorted before he could help himself, and for the first time in a while his thoughts stopped for a few moments. He didn't even notice their absence.

Jaime pulled him out of the booth and gulped down her coffee (no doubt with way too many shots of espresso, knowing Jaime) tossing the empty cup into the bin as they passed it. Dan helped her finish up the last of the prep-work they needed to accomplish before the opening of the store, dancing to the music she played on her phone.

The day was a slow one. Dan would stare off into space more than normal, every once in a while his thoughts haunting him. There were times in the day where he would feel as if a part of him was shattered, or all emotion would just be sucked out of him, but overall, things weren't too bad. The store wasn't too busy. It rained outside for a few hours, making all of the windows unreasonably steamy. On his lunch break, Dan ended up telling Jaime the story of how he quite literally ran into a stranger, hitting his head horribly on the pavement and possibly giving himself a concussion. Jaime asked him if he had gotten checked out, and when he said no, she berated him, calling him an idiot, and telling him that she was going to drag him to the nearest doctor to get him checked out the moment they were done their shifts.

Dan didn't even try to tell her that she didn't need to worry, that it was probably nothing, but he did smile at her concern.

"Daniel Howell, the bumbling buffoon that runs into strangers and doesn't get himself assessed afterwards—what am I going to do with you!"

And true to her word, when they had clocked out later that evening, she grabbed him by the arm and did in fact, have him get an evaluation. And—surprise surprise—he had a concussion. The doctor had shaken his head at Dan's anecdote on how he had injured himself and gave him a list of things to do and not to do to properly care for himself. Dan internally balked when he was told to try and avoid screens; he lived his whole life on the internet how would he be able to distance himself from it?

He was also told things that he should keep an eye out for to try and assess if his concussion was getting worse, because apparently these things could end up serious. Dan told Jaime what the doctor said after the appointment was over, but she had only linked their arms as they walked and nodded.

"Yes, Dan, concussions can end up bad. That's like, Basic Medicinal Knowledge 101. Now you know why I insisted on you getting checked out?"

"Well now, yeah. Maybe if you just, I don't know, explained yourself?" he jabbed, smirking.

She huffed.

"You're insufferable."

"You love me."

"A fanabla."