[Leroy]

He was walking alongside someone I didn't know.

Three days before the start of the tournament, lodges had shopping carts parked outside and student ambassadors positioned around to facilitate the whole moving-in process. Being a part of the ranking board meant that I was an ambassador. I pretended not to know. Currently, people were arriving in buses and cars and directed towards their respective lodges, along with their assigned student buddies from the host school (us). He'd just been introduced to one of his.

"Cox," Lee Jungwoo. Seventh. He'd done something to his hair. "Can you at least smile? You look like a serial killer." We were standing in a row, several feet away from the registration counter, with name tags on, in our school tracksuits.

The other ambassadors up front in registration would come to us with people and say something along the lines of 'show him to Xu from Hudson.' Then we'd search for the Hudson buddies standing around in the grass patch some hundred feet away, closer to their lodge, and drop them off there. Rinse and repeat.

By the end of the day, most of us would have met our assigned two; one from LV and one from CSS. I say meet because I didn't intend to show them around or take them out to dinner like the instructions suggested for us to do. Hosting was clearly not my forte. Conducting a short tour for them to get acquainted with the school was the more than enough, and more than a quarter of them had to be seniors. Meaning there was a chance this was their second time here for the tournament.

I was crossing my fingers for one of those. Preferably two.

"Heard they're giving us a budget to take them out for new year's or something. Since they're spending it here." Some guy down the row. The girl beside him mentioned fifty bucks each.

"Assiette didn't even do a thing about new year's last W-interschool." I was there. They gave us a sparkler each. Lasted for ten seconds.

Frankly, I'd be happy without the fifty bucks if the students I was assigned to had new year plans of their own. Wasn't uncommon. Logically, people would rather spend time with their schoolmates, exploring the mall nearby or going further out before a week of non-stop competition and stress. Ideally, they weren't even interested in talking to me. That way, I wasn't obligated to entertain anyone since... I was bad at entertaining in general.

That, and I had plans. With a certain someone.

My eyes went to him on instinct, taking in a second student handing him half her bags. Without complaint, he'd sorted them gently into a shopping cart before starting in the direction of Cinnamon, glancing over his shoulder at every three to five steps just to ensure they were keeping up. I hadn't noticed Jean Mercier calling me from the registration counter until Lee beside me snapped a finger between my eyes. I'd given him a look. It was blank.

"Cox. What the hell? I called your name four times," Mercier flung a couple of bags my way. I caught them. He shook his head, smiling regardless. "Get to work. These are your buddies. Remember, it's a full tour. No slacking."

He was flanked by a guy and a girl in casual clothes—clearly first-timers, judging from the look on their faces. Lost. They came up to me as soon as they were handed a welfare bag each and needless to say, awkward silence ensued. The first minute of our journey to Cayenne, none of us spoke.

Still, they knew my name. Mercier had apparently said it four times which was honestly good news since I never really liked introductions. Plus, I was in the mood to ride. Getting this over and done with would've meant extra time, wisely spent down at the racing track with Caspian.

"So, um... Cox, right?" The guy hastened his steps to keep up with me and the other girl. He was a lot shorter than us both. "I'm Maple! L'assiette Vide. Second year. O-oh and, um. You guys have really long legs but do you mind slowing down a little? Sorry..." Already, he was panting.

Naturally, I couldn't have people dying within a five feet radius so I had to choose between giving in to his request and speeding up so that he wasn't within five feet. But I guess they'd prefer him alive, so... the girl apologized and matched his space. I tried my best to do the same.

"That's a cute name," the girl adjusted the drawstrings of her hoodie. "Hold up. Is that your first...? Or last name."

"It's my first name!" The guy had bleached hair in the shade of mild pink. His roots showed.

"What's your last?" I got it out of the way; not exactly fond of wasting time and memory space since last names were what we'd eventually be acquainted with in the kitchen. He seemed slightly fazed. Smile faltering a little.

"O-oh. Um, it's Pierson."

"Cox." I nodded.

"Hold up, I'm Cox too," the girl burst out laughing, turning to me with a raised brow. "Cox is kinda common over here, huh. You're the second one this morning although back in my school, I'm like... the only Cox. Liqin's my first name. Oh I'm half Chinese by the way. If you're wondering. Quarter Filipino. One-eighth Irish and I can't remember the rest. My dad's somewhat American... I think."

"Wow. That's really cool."

I couldn't understand the fractions she was pulling out so I left the conversation at 'quarter Filipino' while the other guy chipped in. They seemed to get along without my input, which was honestly the best thing to happen so far. I wasn't about to cancel plans with Caspian too, so.

We arrived at Cayenne minutes later, dropping off their bags and settling the security codes to their rooms. Key fobs were handed out at the entrance and I briefly taught them how to unlock the front door using the weird-ass button.

"You make it look really easy." Pierson had to say. He smiled a lot. He was also a laugher. Fortunately, I had the other Cox to entertain his expressions or I'd be down with a migraine before the end of the day. Both had a lot to say about their courses and I figured, even without them explicitly revealing their majors, that Pierson was in nutrition and Cox, culinary. Lodging stuff aside, they were decently intelligent enough not to ask stupid questions.

I then moved on to a brief, obligatory tour of key landmarks: Roth, administration, Marriott, commons, plaza. Plus one or two leisure spots like the barn and where best to see the river and that was it. I skipped the racetrack, the vineyard, the rooftop strawberry field right above the commons, tennis courts, the indoor pool, etc. They didn't seem to matter as much anyway, and would've seemed like I was trying to sell the school or something. And wasting my time.

"How's welfare? I heard you guys have access to every facility. We gotta earn service points for that kind of thing," Cox from CSS sounded like she was considering a transfer. Though I was pretty sure her school was at least twice the size of ours. They ran a hotel on campus; part of some new course they came up with two years ago. Been there once with Siegfried.

"Somewhat. We have credits depending on our grades. Or club activities. Gold credits give you access to all kitchens, restaurants and cafes. Things like that. Service is compulsory. We have a roster."

"Oh, oh! We have one too," Pierson. "Sometimes, we're on lunch duty. And there's cleaning and gardening and running the café downstairs too. Our school's a lot smaller, I think. We're in the middle of Cité Rouge so we build upwards... fifteen floors in total, haha. And everyone hates the stairs so we have eight elevators!"

Okay. Eight.

Cox was clearly impressed. She might as well be considering a transfer to LV instead, since I wasn't about to start singing the praises of a school I never wanted to attend. Pierson was on the other end of the spectrum. By the time we arrived at the student commons to grab complimentary lunchboxes provided by the school, they were actually talking about applying for a transfer.

"Mind if I use the bathroom?" Cox stopped short before we joined the line, nodding at the red-blue sign. Pierson said something about not needing to go and waiting outside. I vaguely agreed, attention split.

There was no fixed schedule for ambassadors and all, but knowing him... there. By the marketplace's juice aisle with a basket, doing his shopping. Or for others. Likely the two assigned to him. He was giving the label on the bottle in his hand a read while joining the line to pay for his basket. I watched him from a distance.

"So, um... do you have any plans for the new year?" I thought I heard something. Pierson was looking up at me like he was expecting some kind of reply so I made the connection that he had been trying to have a conversation. I wasn't the best at small talk.

"Yeah."

"O-oh!" He on the other hand, was very uncomfortable with silence and didn't see it as an option in existence. "What are they? I still don't really know what I should be doing... none of my friends made it past the preliminary selection, so... is there, maybe, some festival going on nearby? Um, on the other side of the river or something? With fireworks?"

I honestly didn't know the answer to his question so I just told him that and expected him to crumble and die from the awkwardness but he just giggled or something and slapped my arm. No reason to do that, but okay.

By the time I returned my attention to the checkout counter over at the marketplace, he was done with the electronic payment and was looking around, probably searching for the students he'd been assigned to. He neared us, tunnel-visioning on the people he was looking for and ended up missing me entirely. I held on to his wrist when he passed, giving him a scare and amusing myself with the startled jump he did.

"Oh good—Leroy!" He sighed after taking me in and already, I could see the words 'idiot' circling around in his head. "Someday, I'm reporting you to the authorities. How did your tour go?"

"Okay," I used the only word that came to mind about non-relevant things. "You done with yours or... anytime soon?" Just a gauge. He wasn't fond of last-minute surprises, so I was planning a couple of hours ahead just in case.

It felt strangely electric; the way I'd skim his waters with my fingertips and watch the ripples fade.

"We've covered the entire right and middle wing so we'd most likely be done in less than two hours. One of them happened to be a senior who's participated in the W-interschool during her first year! It certainly takes the pressure off... and I believe you haven't learnt a thing about manners." He stopped all of a sudden, turning to someone by my shoulder. Oh. Forgot. "He hasn't introduced us. I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation like that. I'm Julian White."

"Hi Julian!" Pierson accepted the handshake with an odd bow of his head. "I'm Maple... sorry about the name. It's weird."

His eyes softened without a sign of winter. "No it isn't," he reassured and for a moment, it felt as though he was speaking to his godfather. "I-if it makes you feel any better, Julian isn't my first name. It's actually Vanilla. Julian's my middle. Name. And neither of us should feel defined by a term in which the external world requires to... to differentiate existences."

"And we should always carry ourselves with confidence no matter what! And and and hold our heads up high and sign petitions for cute names to be accepted by society!" Pierson added in a voice fives times the original excitement, pumping his fist into the air and then holding his other up for a five.

Even for him with a godfather that spirited, he'd done a double take and started blushing in embarrassment. He was also far too polite to refuse the high-five.

=============

It takes about two to three hours of non-stop company in groups before introvert instincts start to kick in. And if you haven't noticed, I'm a high-functioning introvert. Small talk drained the fucking life out of me and oddly enough listening to people rave about mindless things wasn't exactly my forte either.

So by the time we were done with the tour and had met up with the administrative team back at the registration counter we started at, I was sucked dry; the need to be alone kicking in fast and every other meaningless conversation just exhausting the backup power I was currently running on.

You can imagine the sheer relief in the form of 'thank fucks' running in my mind when Cox, on our way back to Cayenne, apologized for not being able to join us for dinner. Apparently, she'd made plans with her friends from school, which was exactly what I'd been hoping to hear. The next natural thing to do was to call it off since 'it wouldn't be the same without all three' so that was what I did and already, I was on the path of recovery.

"Sorry. Lunch tomorrow? Oh but there's the briefing isn't there... we'll figure it out," she dismissed with a wave before heading past the front door first, in a hurry to get her things. Pierson was right behind us so I didn't really think about the closing the door, but then I felt something tug on the back of my jacket.

He was holding on to it with a weird, sheepish smile on his face so I dropped my gaze to the back of my jacket and asked if he could let go. He sort of apologized before quietly requesting for a minute outside. I had to reassess the situation to actually understand why he wasn't particularly keen on talking in the lodge. There were others in the lounge taking turns to give Raul's PlayStation a go.

"Uh, okay...?" I closed the front door so that he'd start talking quick.

Pierson was doing something with his index fingers—each somewhat pointed at the other and then touching like they were part of an E.T poster ??? What the fuck am I looking at. Don't even know how to describe it, for sure.

"So, um. I was wondering if we could still have dinner...? Maybe? I really don't know anyone else here and, um. They did say that it's the only meal not provided by the school so I don't really know where I should be going or how I should go about settling it. I-if we could have dinner together, it would be great. It's just... I don't have any friends here." Okay yeah you've said that three times and I'm mean, so. Really just dying to point that out.

Ah, fuck. "I made plans too. It's private."

"I don't mind just tagging along! I won't be a bother. Promise!" Pierson looked oddly persistent, looking up at me with a ridiculous number of blinks in the span of two seconds. I told him no.

Then, out of nowhere, like some meteorite crash-landing in the middle of a motherfucking tea party with scones and shit, he started tearing up. Me being the high-functioning introvert without the pros every introvert was said to have ('great listener' 'empathetic human' 'very understanding'), blanking out was the first instinct to kick in and naturally, not a single word came to mind.

"I'm sorry... i-it's just. It's my first time so far away from home and I—I'm just. It feels so lonely and... I just thought it'd be nice to, you know, rely on someone strong and cool like, like you. You know?"

He wasn't making any sense and honestly all I could hear was his sniffling, but what really kept my mind in a state of confusion was his reason for... crying? It wasn't within my realm of expertise. Stuff like being far away from home and dealing with loneliness and having no one to rely on felt like the natural state of things. That, yeah, life was supposed to be that way and having anything more than that was a plus. An added plus.

"This isn't..." something to cry about, I almost said. Then I heard his bespectacled voice at the back of my head and knew it wasn't exactly the best word-choice at present so I kinda just sighed and kept my mouth shut so that he'd continue talking it out.

"You're really nice. A-and I really want to make some friends here. It's just so lonely and I feel so... so sad."

I was trying my best to listen to Pierson's repeated rambles while awkwardly tapping his shoulder when all of a sudden—again, like a meteorite in the middle of a tea party—he ignored the shoulder taps and went straight for my torso like it was the teddy bear he'd go to sleep with every night. And then topped it all off by sobbing into my chest.

"I don't do hugs," I told him straight, immediately holding his shoulders at arm's length.

Needless to say, this wasn't exactly a situation I knew how to handle. Frankly, I never had to deal with people who were a tad too physical in expressing themselves and hugging it out with a stranger I'd just met barely four hours ago was a far stretch. "Please stop crying."

"W-well then I'll need your shoulder to rest on. Then I'll stop."

===========

[Vanilla]

I was fortunate enough to be assigned a pair of friendly, relaxed female participants who seemed perfectly fine with the pace of the tour and my subsequent suggestions of places to go for dinner. Going with the flow was apparently their way of life and as such, neither had any complaints about dining at the student-run restaurant with an outdoor seating section that extended out into the river.

The initial plan was to have them dine there for free by spending the gold credits I'd received from Keith before the winter break as a reward for my 'stellar performance' throughout the semester. The girls however, Juanita Castillo and Nia Williams, insisted that I spend my credits on something else and that they'd pay for their own meals in cash. Either way, I was out on the front porch waiting for them to change into their outdoor shoes whilst devising a fool-proof plan of paying upfront and pretending I'd never intended to do so. They did have a buffet option for dinner, so maybe—

My gaze rested on figures in the distance. Cayenne was the lodge next door, situated slightly north of Cinnamon and higher up on the hill. Still, there was no mistaking that heated shade of bronze, fiery under the light of the setting sun filtering in at an angle. It didn't help that I was originally a familiar friend of his back.

"Which way again?"

"Up the hill and past the vineyard I think. All the way."

There was someone resting their head on his shoulder, arms going around to cling on the fabric on his back. Soft locks of pastel pink were brushing the side of his neck, which soon led to the reasonable conclusion of the mystery person's identity.

"Nice boots by the way."

"Yes girl! They new. Black Friday be blessing my life always."

Maple must have been painfully upset by something to be sobbing in that manner, which found its way into my heart and made the scene oddly unbearable. Our short interaction at the student commons reminded me of a younger Chip I'd never before seen, and had thus made the moment strikingly nostalgic. The mere thought of my godfather sobbing his heart out was enough to break my own and I was oddly glad to see Leroy comforting him. There was something else needling in however, but I wasn't too keen on identifying what it was.

Though knowing that idiot, he'd be appallingly embarrassed if some three people walked in on a moment so vulnerable and private, so I turned around, peering past the doorway to ask Williams and Castillo if they were in a mood for shopping at a new mall instead. Heading to the student-run restaurant would have meant continuing up the hill, which would've made things awkward for Leroy and Maple. The mall was in the other direction.

"Oh honey you don't have to overthink! We fine with that restaurant but if y'all in the mood for some shopping, I'll be in the mood for some shopping."

"I'm fine with anything," Castillo agreed, joining me on the front porch and checking herself in the reflection of a window. "I remember eating at that restaurant in my first year? The food was really really good."

"Ah... yes. I see. W-well then I suppose we could..." I'd made the mistake of glancing at the lodge next door and giving a reluctant response. The combination of both had caught the attention of Williams, who'd only just closed the door behind her and was adjusting her coat.

"You okay sweetie?" She followed my gaze. Needless to say, Leroy and Maple weren't exactly hidden by a magical bush of cherries or the wonders of filmmaking censorship. And perhaps it was my imagination, but they seemed oddly closer than before. "Oh I see you..."

"Where?" Castillo joined us in a heartbeat and I was starting to feel a little more embarrassed than I had been originally.

Williams had snorted after pointing them out to Castillo, then started shaking her head. "Mm... I mean. Maple Pierson... boy, he's got to stop reeling 'em in..."

I turned to her. Surprised. "Yes. That's him. How did you know?"

"If you from LV, you gotta know him... not 'cuz he gay or anything, just... I mean you can tell he gay, he all over the cutie but like, that's not why he famous," Williams laid out before lowering her voice. "Don't at me but he sucked a lot of dick and I seen him suck dick, so I'm just sayin'. Okay not like see see. But close. Anyway, poor cutie gonna fall pretty damn soon."

Castillo was somewhat laughing about the way Williams had described Maple and, indeed, I'd found it nearly unbelievable myself. Maple had been the sweetest innocent being at lunch today and the mere image of him doing something other than... w-well, than sweet, innocent things felt in every way unthinkable. Perhaps there had been some sort of misunderstanding or miscommunication, which the spreading of information was inevitably subject to.

The fact that someone so important to me had somehow been roped into the description, too, felt uncomfortably problematic. Leroy wasn't going to... well, he wasn't going to cheat on me. That much, I knew and believed. From that perspective, I therefore had nothing to be worried about.

"What do you mean? He set a trap or something?" Castillo squinted in the direction of our neighbours.

"He be acting like a princess, y'know? Like he waiting to be rescued and all that? All sad and lonely and then when they all alone, start handing 'em a nice little open mouth on his knees?" Williams laughed when Castillo rolled her eyes and playfully slapped her upper arm, brows raised and thoroughly amused. "So where we going? I'm hungry."

We eventually settled on the mall because Castillo had forgotten to pack a hairbrush and had been thinking of getting one over the next couple of days. Even then, as we were making our way downhill away from the lodge, a glimpse over my shoulder was enough to tell me that Maple still had his head rested against the other's chest.

=================

From: Just Let Me Impress You

How was your day?

_______________

To: Just Let Me Impress You

Uneventful but rather fulfilling. The student buddies I've been assigned to are really nice. We had dinner at the mall nearby. And you?

_______________

From: Just Let Me Impress You

I had dinner alone

Then spent some time with Caspian

____________________

To: Just Let Me Impress You

Oh! But what about your student buddies? Weren't we supposed to have dinner with them?

___________________

From: Just Let Me Impress You

One of them already had plans so

____________________

To: Just Let Me Impress You

Ah, I see. That is unfortunate. Would that be Maple?

___________________

From: Just Let Me Impress You

Pierson

He's hard to deal with

I'll tell you about it when we meet

New Year's Eve?

You said this afternoon you had plans

Keep the evening free?

_____________________

To: Just Let Me Impress You

Again, if you knew a thing about politeness, you would understand that I was deliberately reserving New Year's Eve for a certain idiot. Maple was right in front of us! I can't possibly tell him 'no, I'm completely free as of now and am waiting for a specific person to ask me out,' can I?

I have the entire day, Leroy.

___________________

From: Just Let Me Impress You

Attached: standing eggplant.png

========================

A picnic by the river on New Year's Eve was perhaps the most romantic state of affairs I'd ever find myself suggesting as a wholly unromantic and serious character without a dash of experience in a heart-fluttering, giggle-inducing romance. My unfortunate love interest, a silly lion with a one-track mind and appalling manners, had prepared a stunning basket of goodies for an afternoon under the shade of a tree and what would have been a pink, dramatic breeze as does every novel of the same genre would have described such an embarrassing scene.

Alas, none of this had happened.

Every participant of the W-interschool received a text message at three in the afternoon, notifying them of a last minute obligatory meeting at five p.m. on accord of several changes that have been made to the schedule. Needless to say, no one took this very well and, in fact, expressed their dissent by coming to the briefing dressed in party dresses or... um, party pants? The bottom line was that the meeting had caused utmost disappointment in the organizing team and everyone, including students from our school, were boiling in our thoughts.

Most of everyone had made plans to enjoy the last night of their winter break that had, already, been cut short by the tournament. Since it had so coincidentally fallen on New Year's Eve, several lodges had pooled together the fifty dollars provided by the school to rent a bar or a function room in the shopping district downtown.

The briefing lasted for nearly three hours, dashing hopes of admiring the sunset by the river and appreciating a nice pink breeze a-among many other things that, um, clearly did not matter. Most of the participants were suffering from a severe case of hunger and were not in the mood for drinks in an empty stomach.

Leroy and I on the other hand, had agreed to move the picnic to his room after Chen called for another thirty minutes with the top thirteen. I wasn't involved (naturally) but my companion was surprisingly unfazed by the request and went along with it, merely apologizing and telling me to wait in his room.

I'd obliged—clearing some space in his room for the picnic mat and arranging the food and drinks so that they were perfectly placed. Then, for a beginner's shy attempt at romance, I'd connected my phone to the Bluetooth speaker I got him for Christmas before googling for 'romantic music.'

The first option had been something by the name of 'Careless Whisper' but three seconds in and even an amateur like myself could tell the extent of its inappropriateness. I'd had to go through every single track until a playlist of decent suitability was found before sitting back and hoping it was to his liking.

Minutes later, I heard footsteps and thought it was him but then there was a knock and, well, clearly, Leroy wouldn't be knocking on his own door so I opened it and found Maple, his student buddy with two bottles of what appeared to be alcohol in his hands. He'd seemed mildly surprised by my answering of the door and, after learning that Leroy had not returned, asked if I wanted the drink instead.

I'd politely declined and thanked him for his generosity before asking if he was... quite alright. He, startled that I knew about him crying out on the front porch, flashed a smile and said that he was fine. Then, left with a wave.

As expected, he didn't seem a tad bit inappropriate or, well, as others may have described him. Still, I watched him go, slightly confused and not quite knowing what or who I should be believing. Then, just as I was about to close the door and head back to waiting for a certain idiot in his room, he came up to the landing of the second floor by the stairs and caught me standing in his doorway.

Nearly at once, a smirk had crossed his features and I knew exactly what he was about to say before he was even thinking of what to say and so I made a gesture to close the door in his face but he was faster and held the door open with one hand, snaking his other a-around my waist and and and... well, I don't quite know what happened next. Neither words nor images reached my mind that was a blank.

It was only after a relaxed meal in comfortable music and occasional words that I somehow found myself falling asleep leaning against the side of his bed. The picnic then turned into a sleepover after I wholly missed the countdown to midnight and woke up to the same soft music playing on the speakers and him at my shoulder—too—asleep. After dropping my family a text to wish them a happy new year (and Si Yin as well), I'd tapped the lion awake and told him that I should be heading back to my lodge.

Somehow (do not ask), I was persuaded to sleep over. Even though the entire thing meant returning to my lodge to collect my toiletries, pyjamas and toothbrush! Goodness, Vanilla, I'd thought to myself then, you're absolutely, problematically lovestruck.

This morning, we'd made plans to be up by six in the morning but Leroy, who was one to pay no respect whatsoever to his poor morning alarm and had set his snooze to buzz only every twenty minutes, succeeded in making the both of us (more of myself, really) speed through washing up and getting dressed just so that we'd make it to the opening ceremony on time.

By the time we'd emerged from Cayenne and headed down the hill towards the plaza, most of everyone had gathered before the makeshift stage and were forming rows of ten according to their schools and alphabetical order.

Si Yin had spotted us from afar and, having paid no attention whatsoever to the facilitator trying to get her to stand in line, waved us over. Leroy seemed to know where he had to be going so we parted ways and I made for my best friend jumping around and raising her eyebrows in a rapid manner.

"OoOoOoo walking together? You're just on time by the way they said something about starting in three minutes but everyone's like, not getting into their rows and they're still handing out nametags and stuff before they announce how the first segment's gonna go. You think it's a team thing right off the bat? Or individual and then the scores are all tallied or something? They said yesterday that they doubled the elimination process so, like, that means it's gonna be faster, right?" She spoke very quickly and I was about to provide the best answers to her first couple of questions when her gaze lowered to the general area of my neck.

Distracted by how intensely she was staring at my collar, I followed her gaze. "Is something..."

Oh good heavens. I looked up and away, hurriedly unknotting the half-Windsor I'd done up perfectly in front of his mirror minutes ago and feeling the heat on my neck spread upwards to my ears. "Please don't laugh."

Si Yin was already choking on her mirth, face red and eyes completely wide with amusement. "Is this for real? You guys—"

"I-it's just a mistake. We got dressed in three minutes and... oh I must have grabbed the one on the back of his door oh god. I'd done it on instinct and then handed him the other and..." I stared helplessly down at the red-striped tie in my hands before the facilitator going down my row asked me where it was and told me to be appropriately dressed immediately before the commemoration photo was to be taken... in five minutes.

Needless to say, I was then frantically searching for a certain idiot before finally spotting him with a couple of his male friends who... who seemed to be waving me over? Raul was one of them. They were laughing when I made my arrival and, embarrassed, I'd hurriedly held Leroy's tie out to him with a glare while he, smirking and clearly enjoying this supposed moment of embarrassment, took his time removing his (my) tie and then handing it to me with a look th-that was just, simply, bad.

=====================

A/N: I just want to say that the tie part was a suggestion made by a lovely reader by the name of squishypuff_FMT who commented their idea in, I think, two chapters before this one and was so excited to see the idea happen that, I, too was infected by it. Needless to say, it was a brilliant sort of situation I could see SeeSaw in and simply too amusing to leave aside! Haha, it fit their characters perfectly.

I am fond of listening to what my Stars like to see in the Adventures of Flight Crew or which character they would like to read about more (so that I could write their lore). I certainly wouldn't mind if any Beans made a suggestion about tiny moments like these (that don't affect the plot, hahaha) or any requests about SeeSaw's past or stuff like that. I also like memes/funny stuff like:

Alarm: ring ring!

Leroy: *disrespecc*

Or

Leroy: *sends picture of a standing eggplant*

Vanilla: 911? I wish to report a case of—

(Chiara you'd be really good at this, far better than myself, I believe)

Oh and yes, the song up I put up there is La Vie En Rose, which seems like something Vanilla would actually enjoy listening to :') it's very mature taste and suits him perfectly! I also don't think peg Leroy as someone who would enjoy mainstream pop music, or would only listen to certain bands that don't just go on and on about sex and drugs.

The coming Thursday will be 'Saw: Eight Years' and Leroy's experience growing up home-schooled by his father! Subsequent See and Saws will be Vanilla's experience in high school when he was only ten years old and then Leroy's first girlfriend when he was fourteen HAHAHAHA. Sunday will be the usual chapter 😊 Hoping to see you there.

-Cuppie.