tights fuckers are out there operating on levels of perversion the rest of us can only dream of. half those motherfuckers are hornier about light and transparency than they are about toes
there's some dude on pixiv right now doing generational work rendering precise fabric grain and angelic translucency whose work should be studied in art classes 400 years from now who will die forgotten because he's doing all that in the service of a picture where you can juuuuust barely see the pattern on a girl's underwear
Riling the brat up was always fun, sure, but she'd never pictured herself actually flirting with Teio—even as a joke. This lunch break was turning out to be a rather interesting one.
Fic Info:
Rating: T
Warnings: None
Tags: Blushing, Teen Romance, Kabedon, Flirting, Crushes, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
press "Keep reading" to see the full fic, or read it on ao3!
Lunchtimes spent on the rooftop of Tracen Academy, away from the sea of activity with its constant ebb and flow surging down below, weren't something Sirius Symboli found herself experiencing often. Rather, lunchtime for Sirius was often synonymous with face time between her and her precious juniors, and while she thoroughly enjoyed making them squeal, even she needed a break sometimes. Typically, that found her as far from Tracen as she could manage in the span of an all-too-short thirty minute break, but as the wind blew through her hair, carrying a note of sweet floral scent, even she had to admit being up here could be nice.
"Hey, Sirius, what are you always doing to girls to make them act so cute and blushy?"
Her aesthetic musings ground to a screeching halt. That was perhaps the last question she ever would have expected to hear when she stumbled across Tokai Teio sitting quietly on the roof, seemingly absorbed in her own thoughts. Sirius hadn't known the kid could do anything quietly when she'd elected to ignore her and settle down with her food, a generous distance between them. Clearly, that had been her first mistake. Her second one was looking up from the plate carefully balanced on her legs, entirely unprepared to see Teio, brows furrowed in some imitation of seriousness, staring her down. In fact, it nearly made her choke on her school-cafeteria carrot steak.
"What?" she coughed out around the piece of meat lodged in her throat. Cute and blushy? She couldn't possibly— There was no way— Teio? But Sirius couln't think of anything else she could be asking about. "You mean teasing them?"
Peevish eyes shot her a look that made it obvious the brat thought Sirius was the one spouting outlandish thing. "No," she said slowly, like she was still searching for what it was she wanted to say, but her expression quickly soured; her tail swished in irritation and her hands balled into fists. "That's what you do to me when I tell you to stop treating me like I'm a little kid!"
A smile tugged at her lips, but Sirius bit it back as she twisted away from Teio's antics—no reason to give her anything else to cry over—and set her plate down beside her. Using a hand to push herself off of the ground, she got up, still facing away from what she was sure was a watery glare. Sirius allowed Teio to stew as she adjusted her uniform. It was important to make sure everything fell in just the right places, after all. Once she was done with that, she ran a hand through her forelock and chuckled to herself.
"Don't laugh at me! Just tell me how you do it."
It was hard to keep a roguishly charming smirk on her face without breaking at the sheer ridiculousness of what she was about to do, but Sirius was nothing if not a professional. Riling up the brat was always fun, sure, but she'd never pictured herself actually flirting with Teio—even as a joke. Her lunch break, while not the total lapse in chaos she'd been looking for, was turning out to be a rather interesting one.
Giving herself another moment to fix her expression had the added bonus of wearing on Teio's patience enough to get her to shift from annoyed to antsy. Her ears flicked towards imagined noise and she kept shifting her weight, unable to stay still. If it had been one of her own girls, Sirius would have found the behavior cute; it was almost a shame to be wasting her talents on Rudolf's annoying devotee. Almost. She snapped and the kid was locked in on her in an instant.
"There are different forms of teasing, Teio," she purred, deep and smooth. Teio stopped pouting and stared, gaze dipping lower to follow the easy sway of Sirius's hips just like she knew it would. She didn't stop her advance. Even as her target stepped back, she moved forward until their bodies were nearly touching. Sirius let her larger frame do the work for her, crowding further into Teio's personal space and leaning down so far that their noses could brush. She breathed out, and watched dopey eyelashes flutter beneath her, nearly dancing. It seemed to take a moment for the sudden burst of warm air to register, but once it did, Teio jerked her head back up, and their eyes met. Sirius saw the moment she realized just how close together they were. It was adorable. Her back hit the wall at the same time Sirius's hand did.
A blush exploded across her cheeks. Her chest rose too quickly and her exhale came out raggedly shallow. Sirius brought her free hand up to cup Teio's cheek. Her lips offered no resistance to Sirius's thumb when she dragged it down across them. Just as she was about to execute the final move, the one with a nearly 100% fatality rate—and she didn't spare herself any time to wonder why she was pulling out all of the stops for Teio—the brat looked away. A frown bullied its way across her features as she broke out of Sirius’s caress. She crossed her arms. The only evidence Teio had been affected at all was the sweet blush still warming her face.
"No, I don't think this would work on her."
Sirius knew her eyebrows had likely just disappeared into her hairline, her expression no longer schooled. "Who?" As far as she was aware, there was only one student in all of Tracen that she couldn't bend to her whims, and there was no way in hell Teio wanted to charm Kawakami Princess into blushing.
But the kid didn't respond. She was too busy gnawing on her lip as her tail wagged anxiously behind her. It tried its best to, at any rate—still pinned between her and the wall, it barely swung enough to reach her outer shins. She looked pathetic. That must have been what made Sirius take pity on her, gently grasping her chin and tilting Teio's head back around to look at her. The movement only made her frown deepen, and she stamped her feet, throwing her hands around like she was trying to physically release her built-up emotions.
"But she's so cute when she's blushy," Teio whined to her pleadingly before melting into her hold. "I wanna be able to do it, too!"
Sirius's hand, the one still pushed up against the wall, dropped. Instead of returning to hang at her side, it changed course, going to awkwardly pat the sulking brat's head. It must have been moving of its own accord, that was the only explanation. Sirius would never willingly comfort Teio like that. Not that it did much good, either way, as the kid let out another pitiful whine. Her arms wrapped around Sirius's sides, and she pulled her into a proper hug.
The Three Goddesses help her, Teio was absolutely smitten. And Sirius just had to go and prove her mettle in making girls blush—she just had to get herself involved—and now she was left with the task of figuring out who the fuck Teio was crushing on, all so that she could woo them first and prove her wrong. Sirius's tactics worked, Teio herself had just shown that, and she wouldn't accept anyone discounting her methods. It was in no way, shape, or form because she was the least bit interested in who had managed to capture to capture the gremlin's heart. It couldn't possibly be Kawakami Princess, could it?
No, think about this rationally.
Was it Rudolf? Sirius internally shook her head. She had been subject to more than enough of Teio's dreamy speeches about how cool the student council president was to know the kid didn't find Rudolf cute. This was a different kind of crush.
Sirius took a mental step back. What were the facts? She was looking for someone Teio considered cute, and someone who, at least as far as the brat was concerned, was hard to make blush. She couldn't think of a single uma who fit the criteria. Then again, that wasn't surprising, considering she'd never cared to familiarize herself with Teio's opinions before.
The arms around her waist disengaged, slowly unwrapping themselves from around her. As soon as she was free enough, Sirius backed up, putting distance between them. Teio had the audacity to look sad at the loss and she rubbed the last of her tears from her eyes. "Are you ready to tell me who it is?"
She shook her head vehemently. It was as if a switch had flipped, and an entirely different emotion overtook Teio. She fixed Sirius with a glare. "No way! You just want to know so you can try and make her all blushy first 'cause she looks so cute when it happens."
So she was half-right, what did it matter? It wasn't like Sirius would ever tell her that. Instead, she scoffed. "I don't care about whatever little uma you have a crush—"
"A crush!?" Teio shrieked, and something clicked in Sirius's head. Teio didn't know. The brat so obviously liked someone, and yet she was oblivious to her own feelings. "A crush? I don't have a crush," she repeated, attempting to sound more certain. It was comical how bad she was at this. No wonder she had come seeking out the advice of an expert. Too bad Sirius had no intention of helping her; was it her fault toying with Teio was simply that much more entertaining? She seemed to take Sirius's silence as an invitation to keep blabbering, "Everyone's cute when they're blushy and," she emphasized her point with flapping hands before continuing, "I just want to be able to make her blush because she never gets like that!"
"Yeah, right," Sirius said with a smirk.
Teio glowered at her. "I do not have a crush on A—"
The bell rang to signal the end of lunch, cutting her off. Teio's eyes went wide as she realized she'd almost given her secret away. She threw the door to the roof open and took off sprinting down the steps, leaping across four at a time. A voice at the bottom yelled at her to be careful, the sound drifting up to Sirius's ears before the door banged closed. Sirius rolled her eyes the display. She bent down to pick up her discarded half-eaten carrot steak before making her own way towards the exit.
now that i have amassed a generous following of #more than one, i feel like i should reblog one of those "why are you following me" games and find out how this has happened
wait i feel like that last part could be taken passive-aggressively, but i didn't mean it like that. i just thought some people might not want to type out a full word(s) and then realized some people were probably working smarter not harder and copy/pasting, but you know what, sometimes copy/pasting just doesn't work well for me, so some of those people might enjoy emojis also. i just wanted to give everybody options, plenty of options
teio curled around air groove, both sleeping, suddenly popping up: you can't leave, they have to entangle our bones
air groove, petting her back to get her to lay back down: okay, let's go to sleep now
teio: yeah
teio, cuddled up with her plushies, agonized: no, i'm the king of the ice castle. no i'm the king of the ice castle!
air groove reaching over to smooth her hair: ...
teio, happily and softer: i'm the king of the ice castle
teio, directly into groove's collar bone: it's okay, giant spiders eat giant flies
air groove, who is pinned under her and will not being going back to sleep after that mental image: ...teio that is not reassuring
teio, not awake: oh, look, godzilla is here to eat the flies, too... giant lizards eat giant flies
air groove, giving up and rubbing teio's arms: that's nice (how big are these flies?)
teio: *happy sleepy teio noises*
groove, acceptance in her tone: you could at least let me get up to make tea
gf so clingy she needs you to be a part of her dreams
i did write these with specific dreams in mind, so although no one has asked for those, i'm going to share:
1st dream: teio has an appointment with a doctor she sees somewhat frequently, maybe for her leg, maybe a therapist, idk, i didn't plan it out that much. anyway, near the doctor she goes to, there is a bakery that sells, in air groove's opinion, the best parfaits ever, so when she is free, she'll go w/teio just to go to the bakery after., and she's going w/her to the upcoming appointment.
so, teio has a dream that she's in a doctor's office (not this one, but one of the doctors she knows is there in the bg) and groove is with her and they start running a whole bunch of tests and teio's like "what are we doing" and groove's like "don't worry, everything will be fine" and someone comes into their room and says, "so, bad news, you are sick and going to die soon, also both of your legs are broken, so you're basically stuck here, living out the rest of your short life"
"but i don't feel sick?"
"yeah, it's [insert string of sounds that is vaguely disease-like], silent killer, you don't even notice it until you're gone. you both have it, actually. it's contagious in the early stages, but you're not contagious any more"
"what?"
air groove: "we're not contagious?"
"correct, but once you die we have five minutes to bury you, so it's pretty much wherever you fall, that's where you'll be. i'll leave you alone now to make your peace"
air groove stands up "i have to go to the bathroom"
teio, fully understanding she is being betrayed "you're going to go get a parfait"
"no, i'm not, i have to go to the bathroom"
"so when you said forever, it was a lie? all it took was a parfait for you to leave me behind?"
"i never promised to be with you forever. i am about to die. i deserve a parfait. your legs are broken so you can't come"
"you can't leave, they have to entangle our bones!" <- in-dream groove came back to hug her to reflect real groove's actions, and the dream changed. that was the end
2nd dream: air groove has a preference for being cold when she sleeps. she still sleeps comfortably when she's not cold, so usually she's cuddled up with teio, but on occasion she will be like 'no, i need my sleep my way' and tell teio she has to sleep with her plushies and her pillows instead that night.
this is one of those times, and as she drifts off, she sees an ice castle and thinks, "oh, i've gotta go there, air groove's gonna be waiting for me because she's the queen of the ice castle" (because she likes being cold)
so, she gets to the castle and starts looking for groove, but it's empty. there's no one in there at all. the more empty rooms she finds, the more desperate she is to find air groove. eventually she stumbles across the throne room, and she's like, "air groove is definitely in here"
she walks up to the two thrones and she sees a dog.
this is a dog that she has seen before, a week or two ago. she remembers it because groove thought it was really cute and the owner let her pet it (teio also got to pet the dog, but that is not the point) later that day, they're cuddled up together watching tv, and groove is petting teio's hair with less attention than usual and teio realizes that dog stole her head pats
"what if between petting cute animals and me, she develops carpal tunnel and i have to give up head pats so she can live happily petting all of the cute animals she wants?"
"...i think i've been watching too many medical dramas lately" <- scared of hospitals and doctors but loves watching other people going through it at hospitals
so teio sees this dog in her seat and asks, "what are you doing here?"
"i'm the king of the ice castle. what are you doing here?"
teio is internally freaking out because groove is the queen of the castle, so that dog cannot be the king because that would mean it's taking groove away. "no, i'm the king of the ice castle"
they squabble over it until air groove comes back and picks up the dog and puts it in her lap when she sits down. she gestures toward the empty throne and asks teio, "are you planning to stand there all day? that's what statues are for"
and teio gleefully takes her place beside groove "i'm the king of the ice castle" the dog growls at her and she tells groove "i think you should get rid of your dog, it hates me"
the scene shifts and they are seated together at a banquet with a ton of people, groove leans over and whispers, "that dog is a respected dignitary, and we need to make a good impression to seal this trade agreement"
teio sighs like this has been an ongoing debate, "i know, that doesn't mean i have to like it"
3rd dream: teio watched a godzilla movie and got inspired. giant fly world takeover. when teio was talking about giant spiders and giant flies, groove thought she was talking about like if a normal-sized spider is this big: * , a giant spider would be this big: ( ) and the flies scale up, too. unfortunately, she was wrong. flies and spiders as big as buildings
teio curled around air groove, both sleeping, suddenly popping up: you can't leave, they have to entangle our bones
air groove, petting her back to get her to lay back down: okay, let's go to sleep now
teio: yeah
teio, cuddled up with her plushies, agonized: no, i'm the king of the ice castle. no i'm the king of the ice castle!
air groove reaching over to smooth her hair: ...
teio, happily and softer: i'm the king of the ice castle
teio, directly into groove's collar bone: it's okay, giant spiders eat giant flies
air groove, who is pinned under her and will not being going back to sleep after that mental image: ...teio that is not reassuring
teio, not awake: oh, look, godzilla is here to eat the flies, too... giant lizards eat giant flies
air groove, giving up and rubbing teio's arms: that's nice (how big are these flies?)
teio: *happy sleepy teio noises*
groove, acceptance in her tone: you could at least let me get up to make tea
gf so clingy she needs you to be a part of her dreams
i did write these with specific dreams in mind, so although no one has asked for those, i'm going to share:
1st dream: teio has an appointment with a doctor she sees somewhat frequently, maybe for her leg, maybe a therapist, idk, i didn't plan it out that much. anyway, near the doctor she goes to, there is a bakery that sells, in air groove's opinion, the best parfaits ever, so when she is free, she'll go w/teio just to go to the bakery after., and she's going w/her to the upcoming appointment.
so, teio has a dream that she's in a doctor's office (not this one, but one of the doctors she knows is there in the bg) and groove is with her and they start running a whole bunch of tests and teio's like "what are we doing" and groove's like "don't worry, everything will be fine" and someone comes into their room and says, "so, bad news, you are sick and going to die soon, also both of your legs are broken, so you're basically stuck here, living out the rest of your short life"
"but i don't feel sick?"
"yeah, it's [insert string of sounds that is vaguely disease-like], silent killer, you don't even notice it until you're gone. you both have it, actually. it's contagious in the early stages, but you're not contagious any more"
"what?"
air groove: "we're not contagious?"
"correct, but once you die we have five minutes to bury you, so it's pretty much wherever you fall, that's where you'll be. i'll leave you alone now to make your peace"
air groove stands up "i have to go to the bathroom"
teio, fully understanding she is being betrayed "you're going to go get a parfait"
"no, i'm not, i have to go to the bathroom"
"so when you said forever, it was a lie? all it took was a parfait for you to leave me behind?"
"i never promised to be with you forever. i am about to die. i deserve a parfait. your legs are broken so you can't come"
"you can't leave, they have to entangle our bones!" <- in-dream groove came back to hug her to reflect real groove's actions, and the dream changed. that was the end
I've put like 10 or so hours into Neverness to Everness and it's finally hit me what's irked me so much about it. The game feels like it's afraid of having an identity. With other similar games in the past, I could at least say 'But'. Wuthering waves is Genshin but in a Bleaker world. Tower of Fantasy is Genshin but as a MMORPG. It's like the developers thought; "Hey. You know what would make a lot of money? if we combined Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, and an extremely toned down GTA!" And because those games have fun and interesting elements, the game seemed fun and interesting at first. But after that period ended, I couldn't stop thinking how much more fun I would be having if I was just playing any of those games individually.
