was feeling super shit a day or two ago so Obviously my solution was "avoid the internet the entire day and just spend the rest of your time doing oc kiss week". which worked ! i love drawing little guys. i would've done more but i am Tired and also probably should do my coursework. so, alas.
i did a bunch so i'm gonna be splitting this into two parts. i had captions for all of these (couldn't decide if i wanted to post these all at once or as their own posts), so i'm gonna put my yapping about all of them under the cut so as to not colour of the sky the dashes hsndjsf
in order from left to right we've got:
@thecryptidenthusiast's erin becker
@glitchy-npc's tegan wells
@payloadofgeckos's raz becker
@steponamine's miho matsumoto
@darkfire1177's akari kaji
@valkatra's val rockford
aaand @amatres's lenore becerra
thank you for letting me borrow your guys!
Erin Becker:
‘Do you remember that night after the mess with Psychopather?’
‘Before or after you bled all over the bathroom?’
‘You know what I mean.’
The implications of their answer clicks in Caine’s mind, just as the memory flickers through Erin’s.
They’d kissed him.
or as i lovingly dub it: erin do not impulse kiss somebody waving needles around!!! caine is experiencing New emotions called "wh " and "hu ?h?"
Tegan Wells:
thank you for the template glitchy! here is chance discovering tegan looks... annoyingly good with glasses. eyesight just about good enough to be able to see her even after she stole his glasses lmfao. this one is based on the glassesteeg art you made a bit ago! that piece still lives rent free in my brain.
Raz Becker:
they're alexithymia buddies 😌 thank you for introducing me to the concept btw, i looked into it a bit more after you mentioned it and was. a little shocked at how well it fit them. the two of them have such similar vibes i had to draw them together, so have caine abusing his height for head kisses (typical caine behaviour).
Miho Matsumoto:
ragebaiter4ragebaitee relationship <3 sorry miho, either she pisses you off enough to fight her or kiss her, which is a winwin situation in her book. also. mostly unrelated to the piece. Constantly thinking about "the lighter the hair colour the closer to hell." SO true. this is why ceci gets worse post dip-dyeing her hair gray.
Akari Kaji:
(this piece made me realize i never coloured in nico before, so! her. i loved drawing akari, her tattoooos)
Val Rockford:
SO. DANIEL SULLIVAN HUH. val cyrus would be all over you and he'd be PISSED about it. so of course he has to make it their problem adsjfdhf. they got so many bingos i had to draw them together. their hair is so pretty <3
Lenore Becerra:
girl with high rangers approval + guy with low rangers suspicion. sidesteps who have literally never done anything wrong ever and the rangers agree (cough mortumdisagrees coughcough). this one is loosely based on the rangers pretty princess drawing you did of lenore, it's so iconic. also. this piece made me realize i don't draw characters flipping people off Nearly enough. drew cyrus' hand three times before i gave up </3
Very fluffy little comfort thing for a flash prompt that I wrote on my phone at midnight and have not edited. Enjoy! 🩷
Pairing: Cyrus/Daniel
Word count: 620
Cyrus Becker.
They shaved your hair.
Like the Farm.
Your fingers comb through your thick curls, stopping absently at the shaved patch where your head had split open in the car crash and they had to sew you together like a damaged doll. You feel the wirey yarn of sutures against your fingertips and press down. Marvel in morbid curiosity at how familiar it is.
You hate it.
How many days did they say before the stitches would dissolve? Two weeks, you think. How long has it been? You don’t know—it’s hard to keep track of the days when you’re this doped up.
At least you aren’t confined to a bedroom anymore. Caged.
Soft hands tangle with yours, gently tugging your grip—and thoughts—away from the sutures. You blink. Cringe. “Shit, Danny. You startled me,”
“I’m sorry,” Daniel soothes, predictably apologetic. “What’s on your mind?” He hands you a steaming ceramic mug and fixes his equally warm attention on you. Your cheeks flush against your better judgment and Daniel’s mind perks up, cautiously sanguine. Daring to hope, but knowing that look in your eye.
“Not happy things,” You let him down gently, accepting the mug with a soft inhale. Peppermint hot chocolate. Your favorite. You squint suspiciously at Daniel, “How…?”
Daniel winces with a playful smile, sitting down beside you. “Ortega told me. I thought it could… maybe help?” His gaze softens and the ribbon of concern in his mind slips free, waving in front of you like a flag. You snap your gaze down to your hot chocolate. Wonder how far you could get if you ran with your casts on. He’s too much, sometimes. Too kind.
“Did you slip bourbon in it?”
“Not while you’re on painkillers,”
“Then it won’t help.”
Daniel’s mind recoils, his concern and guilt suffocating his mindscape like a butterfly net. “I know,” he whispers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insinuate anything.”
Remorse jams into your ribcage, “No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” You sip on the hot chocolate as though it might double as an I’m sorry. “That was mean. I’m just… sore,” Daniel is already doing so much for you—housing you, nursing you back to health, loving you—you have no right to be so harsh with him.
He shakes his head, his smile finding its authenticity again. “It’s okay. If I were you, I’d probably be mean and grumpy too,” Daniel’s voice is light and airy and you laugh because for everything your brain can conjure up, you can not imagine a mean Daniel Sullivan.
Angry, yes, you’ve seen him angry. But never mean. Never cruel.
You love him.
“Thank you,” you say with a little laugh. He’d been right. The hot chocolate is helping. Soothing. And unlike vodka or tequila, it tastes good. Daniel tips his head at you and blonde locks of hair tumble in front of his eyes, shaping his face with the same tenderness his mind holds. “For… all of this.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” Daniel says, laughing a little before actually winking. Either he’s been spending too much time with Ricardo or he’s getting bold in the face of your soft honesty. “I like taking care of you.” Sincerity overtakes any intended flirtation and the moment’s warmth flushes through your system as intoxicating as liquor.
“I love you, Danny,”
Daniel inhales softly, surprised, and his butterflies envelope you with doting adoration. “I love you too, Cyrus.” And his mind says it too, and you believe him, and you trust him, and shit, you really, really love him.
It terrifies you but it’s enough for now. He’s enough. He makes it all okay.
They may have shaved your hair but you are not at the Farm.
This month's question is themed. Tell me about Steps' orientations. Do they identify differently from how you'd describe them? Has their orientation/attraction changed since their Sidestep era?
helloooo!!! happy pride month to you too cigs!!! hope its been a good one so far :) and thank you for the question! anyway. again i say:
WEARING MY TSHIRT THAT SAYS ASK ME ABOUT MY SIDESTEPS GENDER AND SEXUAL IDENTITIES. IM NORMAL ABOUT THIS. AND SO ARE MY SIDESTEPS. I PROMISE YOU.
Caine:
pt 2 of "their identity is arguably the most complex out of all of my sidesteps and hes figuring None of that out": i would describe him as bisexual, biromantic, demisexual, and the same flavour of aromantic that ortega is (no concept of what romantic attraction actually is so hes open to dating anyone who wants to). they just found out they were bisexual as of retribution and fully believe they have everything about their identity sorted out. all of that is Before i throw the puppet (hark) into the mix because hark is a cis gay man. they really did think they were straight during his sidestep days, having been taught that straight was the default at the farm and finding no reason to stray from that idea (Especially if hes got julia, where dating her reinforced the idea he was straight). being able to compare their own emotions with chen through telepathy, either through learning theyve been harbouring a crush on ricardo for years or learning theyre mutually attracted to chen, was the only way he managed to find out he was bisexual. as for the demisexual aspect of it all, the possibility of being on the ace spectrum kinda had a wrench thrown into it by the assumption that Every regene was ace. because why would the farm program sexual attraction into them???? nobodys having sex any time soon??????? hark experiences sexual attraction with ricardo, but thats because harks human. obviously. the first time he actually feels sexual attraction for his partners will be both a jumpscare and a complete paradigm shift. i cannot stress enough how fucking funny i find this utter mess of a sexuality.
Cyrus:
HEY. HEY REMEMBER THIS.
YEAH WERE ABOUT TO GET INTO SOME FUCKING CONFUSION HERE. he personally enjoys labels because it makes him feel in control of his own identity, and it helps direct peoples perception of him. that being said, he would personally describe himself as pansexual. i, however, cannot pin down his sexuality for the Life of me. is he gay??? bisexual with a preference for men??? a more specific label like omnisexual or abrosexual???? who knows!!!! i dont and at this rate im going to give up trying!!!!!! honestly hes not above taking up the label queer, im just a bit stubborn about this lmao. like his gender though, regardless of the specific label, its something thats stayed very constant throughout the years. so constant, in fact, he may or may not have a Type, and if anybody points that out hed simply vanish from the earth never to be seen again.
Cecilia:
cecilias a lesbian! she has been since her sidestep days. i actually hc that ricardo confessed to her once and she laughed in his face about it. um. sorry ricardo. she may even be some version of aroace, it wouldnt surprise me tbh, but she continues to elude me. if she does turn out on that spectrum, itd be something she already 100% knew and simply chose to leave me in the dark about. cecilia is very confident in her identity. or at least she was, until ace came along and messed everything up. see, while ceci is a lesbian, ace is a straight woman. a straight woman who sleeps with merle abelard. but its cecilias mind in ace, right??? does that mean shes secretly not a lesbian???? (no.) has she been faking it this whole time????? (no.) will mortum hate her forever if he found out????? (no. may hate her forever for other reasons though, considering that betrayed status.) aces attraction throws ceci for a loop a lot of the time, and its one of the reasons shes so uncomfortable in aces body. cecis sexuality is one of the few things she has for herself, an external factor calling that into question is genuinely upsetting. but as her creator who (hopefully) isnt getting tricked this time, i can confirm she is a lesbian whose naturally forward personality simply pushes ace to act on physical attraction.
Chance:
actually???? genuinely the most normal about his sexuality out of all of my sidesteps. she describes herself as bisexual, and i have no notes on it. his problems are a lot more focused on his gender lmfao, she knew from the minute she stepped out of the farm and saw how hot regular ass people could be that she was doomed to forever short-circuit whenever somebody pretty/handsome passed by him on the street. and you know what. good for her.
Robbing each other blind while bro-kissing, that's what bros do, riiiiiight? :3
We did some drawing practice with @extreme-neutral, each of us creating our version of the reference.
Salt's stunning piece can be found here.
Lovely @m3k-sketches joined us as well, her beautiful work is here.
