All Stars summer has returned and we're back with a new event for Drag Race fanworks! This year, we're including any medium you may be inspired to create - writing, drawing, gif making, physical arts and crafts, and anything else you want to share with our tumblr fandom community!
Starting May 8th 2026, post your fanworks for AS11 queens, tagging this blog @dragraceficevents and tagging your post "#AS11 Bracket Battle" to earn points for the Orange, Pink, or Purple bracket. Points will go to the bracket the queen or queens depicted in your work belong to (for example: a fic about Aura Mayari would earn Pink bracket points, art featuring A'keria and Shuga would earn for both Orange and Purple, etc).
When the All Stars 11 bracket finalists on the show are set and we go into the merge, the bracket in our battle with the most fanwork points will be declared the winning bracket! From then until July 31st, you can create fanworks for the six queens (finalist or not!) from the winning bracket. The individual queen from the winning bracket with the most points will be crowned our ALL STARS 11 BRACKET BATTLE WINNER!
SCORING GUIDELINES HERE!
FAQ BELOW:
Fanworks do not need to be rpf/shipping! While you're absolutely welcome to write fic for any AS11 pairings you can dream up or create ship art, you're also absolutely welcome to submit gen fic, art and gif sets of individual queens, etc! Or submit both types of fanworks! Whatever you'd like to create, we'd like to see :)
Fanworks may include queens from other seasons as long as an AS11 queen is featured/the main character. For example, a Crystal Methyd pov fic about her and Gigi would count for Pink Bracket or Crystal points, but a Kori/Lydia fic with Sam Star as a background character would not count for Purple Bracket or Sam points.
Fanworks do not need to be posted during the bracket they are for! You may post works for queens in the pink or purple brackets while the orange bracket is airing, etc etc. The exception is of course after the merge, at which point ONLY works for queens in the winning bracket will be scored.
Fanworks will absolutely NOT be scored based on any subjective metrics of "quality" or how "good" they are. They will be scored on objective metrics. Things like art will be graded on a scale to reflect the work involved, with a fully rendered color piece earning more points than a black and white sketch, but those guidelines will be as objective as possible.
All works created for this event will be reblogged here! There is also an AO3 collection for any fics posted there for this event.
We strictly forbid the submission of any works created with the aid of generative AI.
As you may have seen in the final standings on our pinned post, the PURPLE bracket has officially won the AS11 Bracket Battle! Congrats to everyone who submitted fanworks for the purple bracket, but shoutout and thank you to everyone who submitted for all three brackets! You all created such fun new works for everyone to enjoy!
This means we are now only accepting fanworks for queens from the Purple bracket, including those who have been eliminated: Hershii, Jasmine, Joey, Kennedy, Sam, and Shuga. One of these queens will WIN the AS11 Bracket Battle crown!
You may also have noticed I'm posting this uhmmmm a couple weeks after the merge. Sorry! My life got very busy and I let this slide. In light of this, I am extending the event an extra week til the end of the month, Friday, July 31st.
So submit away! Create your purple bracket queen fanworks and tag this blog in your post! Good luck and don't fuck it up ;) See the pinned post for more details.
Daya doesn’t think she deserves to be suspended, but that’s mostly because she can’t be suspended. Point, blank, period. She cannot, under any circumstances, be prohibited from going to school.
Because she’s in grade twelve. And she’s failing three of her classes. And she really shouldn’t have beat the ever-loving shit out of that guy, because beating the ever-loving shit out of the principal’s son usually begets getting kicked out of school.
But, fuck—Daya clenches her bruised hands into bruised fists—she doesn’t like cages, and he, apparently, does.
for the prompt list could i please have 35 with any ship that has crystal in it :)
almost went with crystal x aura for this, but i got a chaotic idea that could only make sense with crystal x dawn so i hope you enjoy the sillies 🥰😁
(also i had to indent a bunch to format it better on here just a heads up!)
and since its as11 as well ill tag @dragraceficevents for my last minute submission 😊
35. “I don’t think you meant to send this to me."
Crystal was deep in focus, hot-gluing ruffled ribbon to her newest sculpture, when her phone’s text tone interrupted her music.
She caught a glimpse of the notification before it disappeared, confused when the text bubble didn’t have a contact name. As far as Crystal could remember, she didn’t give out her number to anyone recently.
Quickly placing the piece of ribbon, Crystal lays her glue-gun on the silicon mat before unlocking her phone to investigate.
She clicked the new conversation and is further confused upon reading the message
It was clearly someone's grocery list, and it made her hungry. Seeing the garlic bread reminded her that she hadn’t eaten lunch with how focused she was on her project.
Crystal figured the sender had messed up the number, so she typed up a response to let them know they’ve got the wrong person.
crystal: hi there!!
crystal: I don’t think you meant to send me this
555-3816: HELLO????????
555-3816: HOW AM I GETTING A RESPONSE TF
crystal: i think you have the wrong person?
555-3816: THIS IS MY OWN NUMBER WDYM
555-3816: DO WE HAVE THE SAME NUMBER????
crystal: not sure that’s possible actually
555-3816: soooooo im not texting 555-3816 ???
crystal: nope
crystal: this is 555-3819
555-3816: oh my GODDD
555-3816: i gotta get my eyes checked
555-3816: im SO SORRYYY
555-3816: i always text myself things so i dont forget them but i just got a new phone yesterday
crystal: no worries 😊
crystal: thats actually such a smart idea!!
555-3816: its a GAME CHANGER!!!
555-3816: this might sound weird but is it cool if i ask your name?
crystal: you texted me your grocery list, i dont think it could get any weirder lol
crystal: my name is crystal
555-3816: ashkdbvjsdh fair enough
555-3816: nice to meet you crystal
555-3816: im dawn
crystal: hi dawn!!
dawn: would it be weird to ask you out to coffee to apologize for being a freak?
dawn: and texting you my grocery list?
dawn: and thinking you were a hacker?
crystal: lucky for you im also a freak lol
crystal: i would love to get coffee and put a face to the grocery list !!
dawn: PERFECT!!!
They make plans to meet later that week, exchanging social media so they know who to look for when they get there.
Under the silly circumstances, Crystal was excited to have accidentally met someone who seemed just as weird and quirky as she was.
I’m extending the deadline for bracket point fanworks to TUESDAY 6/30 at 11:59pm EST because well I forgot to post this on Sunday.
The current standings are:
Orange: 8 points
Pink: 91 points
Purple: 147 points
Currently, the purple bracket is winning! This would mean only queens in the purple bracket are eligible to win the Bracket Battle, and only fanworks for purple bracket queens will qualify (including queens that didn’t make the merge).
If you want to see a queen from the pink or orange bracket take it all, it’s not over yet! Check out our scoring guidelines and submit your creations now!
I’m extending the deadline for bracket point fanworks to TUESDAY 6/30 at 11:59pm EST because well I forgot to post this on Sunday.
The current standings are:
Orange: 8 points
Pink: 91 points
Purple: 147 points
Currently, the purple bracket is winning! This would mean only queens in the purple bracket are eligible to win the Bracket Battle, and only fanworks for purple bracket queens will qualify (including queens that didn’t make the merge).
If you want to see a queen from the pink or orange bracket take it all, it’s not over yet! Check out our scoring guidelines and submit your creations now!
I’m extending the deadline for bracket point fanworks to TUESDAY 6/30 at 11:59pm EST because well I forgot to post this on Sunday.
The current standings are:
Orange: 8 points
Pink: 91 points
Purple: 147 points
Currently, the purple bracket is winning! This would mean only queens in the purple bracket are eligible to win the Bracket Battle, and only fanworks for purple bracket queens will qualify (including queens that didn’t make the merge).
If you want to see a queen from the pink or orange bracket take it all, it’s not over yet! Check out our scoring guidelines and submit your creations now!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Fandom: RuPaul's Drag Race (US)
Pairing: Bosco/Jasmine Kennedie
Words: 4,661
@dragraceficevents
--
There is a small part of her, a small and utterly delusional part of her that thinks it would be just hilarious if somehow their coach did decide to go with this idea, and Jasmine was the one she picked to switch with Daya. Because that would mean Daya would be with DeJa, while Jasmine ends up with a certain tall, tattooed, copper-haired someone who would just about be the death of her in every way imaginable.
But that’s so unlikely it’s more of a daydream than anything, a thought in passing that slips by without fanfare. That’s like getting struck by lightning, or finding a four leaf clover, or something. Jasmine’s not that kind of girl. She never has been.
(And, because she’s a lost cause, because she’s beyond help: Bosco, Jasmine thinks, is that kind of girl. Bosco would be the type to experience something as cosmically incredible as that, if anyone at all.)
Jasmine’s never been drunk before, but she thinks it must feel something like this. Breathless laughter; stumbling backstage; lingering in the parking lot after asking the other girls if they want to get slushies; sitting in each other's laps, braiding each other's hair; not wanting the moment to end anytime soon even though it's almost three in the morning.
She spends the entire night eating Takis from Willow’s hands and resting her head on Angie’s shoulder. Even Daya, who usually either ignores her or pisses her off, spends some time with her head in Jasmine’s lap. After practicing and practicing and then putting that to the test, all that adrenaline comes crashing down, leaving room for only exhaustion and elation.
If this is what being drunk feels like, Jasmine thinks she understands why people chase that feeling every weekend. This is fucking gorgeous. So are her friends.
“Jas, pass me your slurpee,” Daya giggles from her lap, looking up at Jasmine before sitting up and making a grabby motion for her slushie, “I wanna see if I can make my tongue purple.”
Actually, Daya is being way nicer to her tonight. Most times, Bosco has to physically force her best friend to be civil when she’s talking to Jasmine. It’s different. It’s nice. Not that it wasn’t nice before– Jasmine always appreciates Bosco looking out for her.
(Bosco, who never seems to care when Daya harasses anyone else, looks out for her. That’s nice, too.)
“Ewww,” she responds, already leaning to pass the drink over. “It’s gonna look like we kissed, loser.”
Jasmine isn’t the kind of person to think really hard about what she says before she says it, and she’s even less of that kind of person right now.
“See, I told you guys Jasmine’s mean,” Daya announces to the group. “Why’s kissing me ‘ew’ when you’re the loser, loser?”
Daya’s getting an attitude again, but there’s no Bosco chiming in yet. It makes Jasmine take a second to make sure the older girl is still there with them. She is, she’s sitting off to the side with Camden, but she’s close enough to listen. Still. No chiming in.
“Because you slobber too much, you’re like a dog.” Jasmine laughs when Daya scrunches her face up in a frown.
“And how would you know that?” Angie questions, voice taking on something teasing. “Let me check your tongue; if it’s purple, Jasmine, you got some explaining to do!”
And– ew! Well, not ew, Daya isn’t ew, she’s just… Daya. She’s Daya and Jasmine’s never thought about that before. She has no reason to, and, in fact, she has no desire to. Daya isn’t her type. If she was to go for anyone in this group, it wouldn’t be her. It would probably be–
“Stick out your tongue, Jas, show us!” Willow starts again. She’s sitting next to Angie, they’re probably conspiring. God. “Show us or we’re gonna assume the worst.”
“Yeah, Jasmine, prove your innocence,” Camden laughs and earns an elbow from a terminally nonchalant Bosco beside her. Jasmine’s eyes linger on the unreadable blonde, ready to hear another teasing comment, but no such words come.
Daya fiddles with the lid of her slushie, looking at her like a shark. Jasmine can already hear the Jaws music. “Just open your mouth and prove that you really think kissing me is ‘ew’, c’mon.”
With all these eyes on her, it’s hard not to fold. And that’s exactly why Jasmine folds, she’s not a very strong person when she’s under the spotlight. With a sheepish laugh and a roll of her eyes, she opens her mouth wide and sticks out her tongue for the group to see.
The shark attack happens in the blink of an eye: in seconds, Daya rips the lid off of her red slushy and pours the last bit of slush into Jasmine’s mouth, successfully mixing the blue dye on Jasmine’s tongue with the red dye of her own. Purple. Fuck.
Jasmine closes her mouth immediately, coughing and making sounds and whining. “Daya, what the fuck! Oh my god, I hate you!”
While the other girls start teasing and accusing some more, Daya just rolls around on the ground exclaiming, "I'm sorry! I’m sorry!” in between bouts of laughter. Jasmine doesn’t have it in her to be mad, so she just crosses her arms and pouts.
“You’re so awful, ugh,” she huffs.
And then, for absolutely no reason at all, she glances up at Bosco again. Beside her, Camden is almost crying laughing, clutching onto Bosco’s shoulder in the process. But Bosco herself isn’t laughing, the most emotion she expresses is a shake of her head and an exasperated sigh. It doesn’t mean anything.
Jasmine wants it to mean something, though.
“Bosco, tell her to stop torturing me, please!” It’s whiney. It’s not much of a request, more of a command. Jasmine’s not drunk, but she thinks maybe she’d be a babyish, bratty drunk. Or y’know. Whatever that means.
That inspires some emotion. Bosco smiles at her very briefly. “Daya.”
Slobbering dog was an understatement. Daya drops the slushie and turns to Bosco right away, like she didn’t even have to think about it. “Hm?”
“Stop torturing her,” Bosco says to Daya, who groans out an ‘ugh, fine,’ and then she turns to Jasmine. “How’s that?”
“Thank youuu,” Jasmine says, sending a wink her way.
Then, something flickers across Bosco’s face. Something earnest. Something Jasmine never thought she’d be able to inspire. It makes her think that, even though Bosco’s unreadable, she’s not unplayable. It gives her an idea.
“Okay, Daya, now that you have to be nice to me…” Jasmine scoots to the side and drapes herself over Daya’s lap, effectively reversing their positions from before, “...be nice to me!”
Daya reacts exactly how Jasmine expects her to (groaning and trying to protest), but it’s not Daya she’s trying to get a reaction out of. After getting comfy, Jasmine tries to subtly flick her eyes up and check if Bosco’s looking at her.
She is. Bosco’s seeing Jasmine acting like this, and, more importantly, she’s seeing Jasmine check to make sure she’s seeing her act like this. But, of course, this doesn’t mean anything– that is, not unless Bosco wants it to mean anything, that’s what Jasmine’s decided.
But that doesn’t mean she can’t encourage it.
“Dayaaa,” Jasmine pouts again, and by now the other girls have restarted their hyperactive chatter and laughter. She’s hardly the centre of attention anymore, unless your name is Daya or Bosco. When Daya looks down as if to say ‘what?’, that’s when Jasmine hits her with it. “Play with my hair.”
“Excuse me?” Daya exclaims. “Sorry? Repeat that?”
“Play with my hair, c’mon, be nice to me,” Jasmine turns her head to the side, putting her entire head of soft orange hair on display. “You have to, c’mon.”
And Daya, ever the loyal, rule-following type, actually does it. Jasmine’s really good at this whole whiney drunk thing. Even though she isn’t drunk.
But the best part is that, from a few steps away, Bosco actually flinches. She shifts a few times in her seat, unable to remove her eyes not from Jasmine, but from the place where Daya’s hand interlaces with Jasmine’s hair. The motion actually feels nice (Daya’s hands are surprisingly soft), but not as nice as the sight of Bosco looking as uncomfortable as she does right now.
Jasmine’s been trying to see some emotion in her face all year on this dance team, and the whole time, all she had to do was drape herself over Daya? You’re kidding.
The purple bracket has now taken a narrow lead! Keep posting your fanworks for the AS11 queens and help boost your favorite queens' brackets! Remember, only the queens in the bracket with the most points at the time of the merge will be in the running for winning our AS11 Bracket Battle! See our pinned post for more details.
Growing apart from your childhood best friend over time? Normal. A typical thing to happen.
Growing apart from your childhood best friend who just so happens to be a famous model? Less normal. A little harder—especially when Gigi's on a billboard for perfume that's less than ten minutes from her house in their hometown, constantly reminding her of how long it's been since she last reached out.
It's tough that she never got over her, too. Especially when her sister bullies her into texting her when she could be home for the holidays asking to catch up and now she has to try her best to act like she doesn't have a crush on her.
AKA i wrote a fic set in december in may because crystal's on all stars and i simply must write a fic
It has been so exciting seeing the fics and art posted for the Bracket Battle already! With this Friday's episode, we will be halfway through the regular bracket battle. Here are the points so far:
Orange Bracket: 8 points
Pink Bracket: 21 points
Purple Bracket: 37 points
Keep posting your fanworks for the AS11 queens and help boost your favorite queens' brackets! Remember, only the queens in the bracket with the most points at the time of the merge will be in the running for winning our AS11 Bracket Battle! See our pinned post for more details.
Growing apart from your childhood best friend over time? Normal. A typical thing to happen.
Growing apart from your childhood best friend who just so happens to be a famous model? Less normal. A little harder—especially when Gigi's on a billboard for perfume that's less than ten minutes from her house in their hometown, constantly reminding her of how long it's been since she last reached out.
It's tough that she never got over her, too. Especially when her sister bullies her into texting her when she could be home for the holidays asking to catch up and now she has to try her best to act like she doesn't have a crush on her.
AKA i wrote a fic set in december in may because crystal's on all stars and i simply must write a fic
4. Write a fic of 101 words that includes at least one dog.
As part of the Writing By Numbers prompts, here is a little Crystal x Dawn drabble of exactly 101 words! Hope you enjoy 😊😊
Tagging @dragraceficevents as well!!
Dawn tumbled to the ground for the fourth time, and immediately all four dogs swarmed excitedly around her.
“God, not again.”
Really, Dawn could think of worse places to be than caught in a frenzy of bounces and happily-wagging tails. Volunteering at the shelter wasn't so bad.
“Dawn?”
Oh. Crystal saw.
Dawn willed the ground to open.
But Crystal and her dogs rushed over. Brown eyes twinkling mischievously, she tugged Dawn upright.
“Were they walking you?”
Heat rose up Dawn's neck. “No!”
She thinks I can't even walk dogs -
“C'mon.” Crystal offered her arm. “I'll protect you!”
“Okay! Okay, everyone get in close— people on the edges, you’re gonna have to squeeze in! C’mon, act like you like each other!”
Their dance coach’s voice echoes around the rapidly emptying lobby, snakes through the people who are finding their way to their friends or family or whoever with slightly crumpled show programs still clutched in their hands, some arms bearing bouquets of flowers. Jasmine inches a little closer to her teammates, shifting on her feet and feeling the exhaustion of the day settle deep in her bones. Still, the smile on her face is a genuine one, nothing she has to force.
The banner that’s hanging over their heads right now announces it: Winter Benefit Showcase. The show had gone extremely well, smoother than any of them had probably anticipated. Nothing particularly disastrous had befallen her or any of her fellow performers, the only formation issue had been one in a dance they’d changed literally the night before last (totally understandable, in Jasmine’s opinion) and the audience had been electric. Cheering for every stunt, every playful interaction between people onstage, even some of the music transitions.
Jasmine’s sure Angeria’s very proud of herself for that, having made the music cut. Or, if she isn’t, she should be. Jasmine should tell her. Automatically, she looks to the side, trying to crane her neck and see where Angie’s gotten off to—
“Closer! Squeeze in even closer, guys, c’mon,” her coach yells, and Jasmine jolts to attention with a sheepish grin. She presses into Jorgeous’ side, wondering if her coach understands that it might be physically impossible to fit twenty-something dancers all into the same picture if they’re just standing side by side.
Her coach seems to realize this at the same time Jasmine has the thought, peering over the shoulder of whatever poor student volunteer has been dragged in from the concessions booth to take this photo for them. “Okay,” she says, stepping back, “I think we’re gonna have to do two rows. Taller people in the back, please!”
Everyone starts shifting around immediately, surely eager to go home and take off all the makeup and hairspray and sequins. Jorgeous slips away from Jasmine to join a newly formed front row. Jasmine stays right where she is. She doesn’t really feel like crouching for a photo, and besides, she’s definitely in the taller half of her teammates.
With Jorgeous gone from beside her, she steps in to fill the spot without thinking much of her, and gently bumps shoulders with the new person standing next to her.
Who happens to be…
Bosco’s signature perfume hits her nose before the sight of wispy ginger locks in her peripheral vision truly can register in her mind, before it can all hit the right combination of mental switches for Jasmine’s tired and adrenaline-fueled thought process to fully make the connection.
Before either of those things, though, is just the warmth.
Bosco’s shoulder is warm against her own, seeping through Jasmine’s clothes. Makes sense, since they performed less than fifteen minutes ago and it is very warm in here, after all. Or maybe that’s just Jasmine.
Suddenly, Jasmine’s never known what to do with her hands in her entire life. She flounders for a few seconds, trying to steal glances at her teammates to see what they’re doing without actually turning her head, because that would mean risking eye contact with Bosco, which absolutely cannot happen right now. It just can’t.
Jasmine settles for putting her hands on Jorgeous’ shoulders, who’s conveniently ended up in front of her. Thanks, Jorgie. Owe you my life.
Their coach finally seems satisfied, stepping back and grinning wide at them. “Big smiles!” she calls, and Jasmine does her best, with this familiar fluttering in her stomach that wasn’t there a second ago and a newly, acutely increased awareness of the entire left side of her body.
“The theater’s gonna be empty by the time we’re done taking this.”
It’s so low, such a tiny offhand murmur of a remark, and Jasmine almost misses it. First because she doesn’t hear it, and then because Bosco’s the one who’d said it. Jasmine’s brain reboots itself in the span of about two nanoseconds.
The laugh that comes out of Jasmine sounds like it’s been punched out of her, it’s this ungraceful little snort that’s just as easily lost in the buzz of noise around them as Bosco’s original comment, which is probably for the better because at least she’s not drawing excessive attention to herself. “No, I know,” she whispers back, trying to talk through her teeth. “Everyone’s gonna leave.”
“Right?” Bosco shifts in place, which presses her shoulder just that much more into Jasmine’s. Jasmine wonders if it’s possible for her to not be so in tune with every little sensation, if it would be possible at all in this moment for her nerve endings to not be lighting themselves on fire in the proximity to the older girl. That would be great, please and thank you.
And Jasmine’s never been great at being satisfied with what she has, she’s always been a wanting-more kind of gal, so— fuck it. Bosco’s here, she’s talking to Jasmine like Jasmine is worth her time. Might as well.
“You were great tonight,” Jasmine breathes. Her cheeks might be getting red. She doesn’t know how this goddamn picture hasn’t been taken yet. It seems like they might be using multiple phones, maybe getting some actual cameras in there as well. Can’t they just send it to whoever wants it? “I saw— I mean, when I was in the wings. For senior set. It looked really good, your center part was— yeah. Everyone loved it.”
She’s rambling by the end, and she closes her mouth hastily to stop herself from saying more. Bosco doesn’t seem bothered, though, She lets out a warm chuckle, a sound that Jasmine feels in her arm that seems to spread throughout her entire body.
“Thank you.”
Doesn’t return the compliment.
Doesn’t say anything more.
And then Bosco puts her hand on the other side of Jasmine’s waist, a casual gesture that’s light with the absence of any weight that might insinuate meaning, and Jasmine— Jasmine’s heart doesn’t seem to care, unfortunately. She sucks in a breath without letting it inflate her shoulders, keeps it low and tense in the pit of her stomach while the traitorous organ inside of her chest thumps out a steady rhythm against her ribs that she feels in her throat. She keeps smiling like nothing’s happening.
This is normal, actually. They’re taking a photo for their team’s social media and they’re all the way in the back, so it’s not like anyone is even going to see it.
(Which means there’s no real reason for Bosco to have her hand there, now that Jasmine really thinks about it. Maybe she’d done it out of habit? Yes. That must be it. Pure force of habit.)
The student taking their picture lowers the phone and gives them a thumbs up, prompting everyone to relax. Bosco’s hand falls away from Jasmine’s waist as quickly as it had settled there, lighter than a feather, and Jasmine wishes there was a way to tattoo sensations into the skin. Wishes she could preserve the feeling of Bosco’s palm warm against her ribs, felt even through her costume and her warmup jacket. The moment is over, everyone begins milling around and away to their respective people, and Jasmine stands there trying not to look as dazed as she feels. Succeeding? Maybe. Half-succeeding, only because no one is paying attention.
Instinctively, she looks to Bosco, and then immediately ducks her chin and looks at the floor.
The Bosco thing is—
It’s—
It’s complicated.
It’s not complicated in the sense that Jasmine’s feelings for Bosco are all that nuanced. Well— maybe that’s not fair to say, because maybe they would be if Jasmine would actually let herself feel them in their entirety. Maybe if she would let them exist in her consciousness for more than a half second every other hour, instead of shoving her feelings firmly down and out of mind only for them to end up keeping her awake more nights than not.
But, no, that aside, it’s not complicated in the slightest.
Jasmine likes Bosco.
Not just friend-likes. That too. She likes Bosco as a friend, if she can even call whatever they have a friendship. This thing where they talk at practice, and in the wings of late-night rehearsals, and not really any other time. This thing where Jasmine only has Bosco’s number because of their dance team group chat and she’s always been too chicken to just get over it and text her already, because she’s not sure if that’s allowed.
She likes Bosco. Likes her in the classic, stupid, overplayed, weak-in-the-knees and red-in-the-face way. Like every cliche teen coming of age movie where the main character has a crush on someone totally and completely unattainable in every way, only to somehow get everything they want in the end.
Except Jasmine’s not delusional enough to think she’s the main character, even if she does act that way sometimes, and she’s definitely not crazy enough to think she has a chance with Bosco.
Bosco is… she’s Bosco. She’s tall and has piercings and tattoos and this awful smile that makes everyone fall a little bit more in love with her every time they see it (at least if they’re Jasmine). She dances like she was made for it, like it comes as easily as breathing. She could take up a whole stage by herself, glistening under the spotlight and making the audience drink up her every movement, and Jasmine never believed that anyone could be born to do anything in particular until she met Bosco. Until she saw Bosco perform for the first time, in her freshman year and Bosco’s junior year, sitting in the front row of the Welcome Week showcase with wide eyes and parted lips.
She remembers it like it was yesterday. Bosco, not quite front and center in the formation. A little off to the side, which had put her right in front of Jasmine.
She remembers Bosco throwing a wink into the audience, at the end of the last number she was in, and how it had looked like she was winking right at Jasmine.
So, yeah. Bosco was born to be on the stage, probably. And if Bosco’s meant for the stage, then maybe Jasmine was always meant to be this way too. Watching her from the sides, waiting for her own turn to perform. Sitting with her back against the mirror in rehearsal, watching Bosco teach a combo or practice her own tricks off to the side with that look of blank determination on her face, utterly focused.
Not looking back at Jasmine, certainly not. No. She’s okay with that. She’s happy to even share a stage with Bosco, happy to get to watch her perform.
Even if it hurts sometimes. Even if sometimes her friends talk about who they like and who they’re going out with this week or month and Jasmine sits there with a lead weight in her throat, thinking about ginger hair and arm tattoos.
And now she’ll get to think about this day too, she supposes. The day that Bosco made an offhand joke that was ostensibly for her and no one else to hear and then put her hand on Jasmine’s waist.
