Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

• Oh, you bet you helped her become Prom Queen. She decides you’re awfully useful (and awfully cute, too!).
• Miranda, being ever believing in chivalry, refused to be the one to ask you out.
• Instead, she just kept dropped horribly non-subtle hints about wanting to be asked out.
• She was very loud with these hints, and almost everyone got the picture except for you. All you needed was a little push.

~ ~ ~

The semester was coming to a close, but not too many people cared too much about studying for finals. School was a joke. The teachers didn’t expect anything more from their student body, so on a particularly slow day in class, the teacher just decided to put on a movie and give up. Miranda, Damien and ______ sat in the back of class on a couch, Damien twirling a knife in his hands. Miranda was once again trying to get ______ to notice her, and he was about to snap if he had to hear it one last time. He looked over at Miranda and ______, who were both sitting on the couch while Miranda went through her cutlery collection. “This is really my best fork,” Miranda took it out, showing it to ______. “It’s the date fork. You use it when on a date, and it’s made perfectly to hold so the user always looks elegant, even if they’re eating something messy. I wish someone would ask me out on a date so I could use it,” she scooted closer to ______, and they just nodded, paying close attention but looking right through her.

Damien was sick of it. Ever since prom, Miranda had been trying painfully hard to get ______ to do something she refused to do herself: ask her on a date. This was the final annoyance. Damien got up, grabbed ______ without saying a word to Miranda and dragged them to the other side of the room. Before ______ could even ask what was going on, Damien snapped, pointing the knife at them. “Listen to me and listen closely,” Damien started. “If you don’t ask Miranda out right now, I will end your current life.”

______ stared at him blankly. “What do you mean?” they asked cluelessly.

Damien laughed. “Your ignorance is ridiculous, ______. It would be kind of cute if I didn’t want to stab you and Miranda right now. You are the only person who doesn’t see she is asking you every day to ask her out. So help me, if I hear it one more time, you are done for.”

______ just nodded and Damien smiled, walking back to Miranda, who looked at Damien with a confused expression. “Is something wrong?” she asked ______ the second they sat down.

“Nothing’s wrong,” ______ assured in a nervous tone. They looked towards Damien, who gave a thumbs up. “Miranda, I have to ask you something. Would you like to go on a date sometime?”

“Really? This is completely unexpected! I’d love to!” Miranda said, hugging ______’s arm. They breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her back. All the fear of before seemed silly now as Miranda began to hint at where she’s like to go.

Chapter Text

• Ending where Damien sucker-punched the sun right in the face.
• Since you didn’t get to go to prom with Damien, you were kind of confused on what kind of relationship you guys had.
• It wasn’t until Damien straight-up referred to himself as your boyfriend that you realized the two of you were dating.
• Once he realized you were surprised, he got worried he fucked up and assumed wrong, and you took the chance to show him he was right.

~ ~ ~

When lunch came, Damien (as usual) was itching to commit a crime. When ______ sat down next to Vera, Damien came over and sat right next to them. “Hey, instead of eating lunch, who wants to rob a bank and commit arson?”

“Sounds like a good afternoon to me, as long as we’re back in time,” ______ laughed and nodded, of course they were going to help. Whenever the opportunity came to help Damien, ______ jumped the opportunity. Damien seemed to trust them, especially after ______ helped him punch the sun. ______ had hoped that Damien would find the time to go to prom, or even out again, because things had been vague ever since he came back.

Vera nodded and leaned in. “What’s the plan? How much am I getting out of this?”

Damien drew a blank. “To be completely honest, the entire plan was ‘rob a bank and commit arson.’ That was as far as I got.”

Vera rolled her eyes and pulled put her backpack, opening it and starting to go through files. She was very organized, so it didn’t surprise ______ that she already had multiple plans lined up. “If you want to be back by the end of lunch, we’ll have to go for this bank. I was going to put together a small team, but I guess you two will do,” she started explaining each of their rules. When it came to the discussion about the money split, things got complicated.

“Vera, you can’t claim 60% of the profit just because you came up with the plan. A 60-20-20 split isn’t the offer I was looking for,” Damien announced angrily.

Vera spat back just as passionately. “I’m not doing an even split, if that’s what you’re expecting. It’s my plan, you guys wouldn’t last a minute without me. Do you have a better idea?”

______ looked over at Damien. They knew better than to upset Vera, especially when it came to money, and they didn’t really care how much they got. It’s not as if they were committing arson for the money, they were committing arson because ______ knew it was going to make Damien happy. They decided to speak up, “Damien, you can have my part, I don’t really care about how much money I’m making off of this.”

“No way!” Damien told ______. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I took your money for my own personal gain?”

When a surprised expression crossed ______’s face, Damien and Vera both had the same thought: something went wrong. That’s when they finally spoke up. “Wait… we’re dating?” ______ asked, and Damien got flustered while Vera stifled a laugh.

“I thought we were, I mean… if you didn’t want to date, that’s cool! If you just want to be platonic buddies in crime instead of partners in crime, we don’t have to date, I just thought that-”

Before Damien could spent another second talking in circles and trying to get himself out of the hole he dug, ______ leaned over and cut him off, kissing him passionately. Damien was shocked and didn’t have time to react before they pulled away. “No, I think partners in crime has a better ring to it.”

Damien tried to reach for words, but failing to find them, he looked away with a blush on his face. ______ had rarely ever seen him embarrassed like this. Vera laughed as Damien mumbled, “That was better than arson.”

Chapter Text

• He’s a big softie, and a huge fan of cuddling
• The second you asked him to go to prom with you, he accepted you as an honorary member of the Wolfpack
• He was on your arm all Prom night, and it was hard not to be official by the end of the night.
• Scott takes being a boyfriend very seriously, and he’s extremely affectionate almost all the time.

~ ~ ~

Gym was Scott’s time to shine, but ______ was less-than-great at dodgeball. Despite Coach being non-stop supportive of ______ getting out onto the court and participating, they wanted to stay on the sidelines today. Scott was hoping that today of all days they would join him and the rest of the Wolfpack on the court, and he was sad to see them sticking to the side. During a water break, Scott went up to them, a ball of energy as always. “Come on, ______! You should join in!” he told them excitedly.

______ shrugged. “I’m not really in the mood for dodgeball, Scott.”

“Not in the mood? Would some cheerleading help?” he asked, already mentally preparing a cheer in his head to list ______’s spirit.

“No, that’s alright!” they told him with a smile. “I’m just no good at dodgeball, so I told Coach I hurt my tibia and now he’s letting me sit on the sidelines.”

“What’s a tibia?”

“That’s the same thing Coach asked. The less you both know, the more I can pass it off,” ______ joked. Scott began to look disappointed, and that’s when guilt set in. Scott had been nothing but kind and supportive of everything _______ wanted to do since Prom night, but right now, they couldn’t return the feeling. That’s when an idea popped into her head. “How about I cheer you on from the sidelines, Scott?”

He perked up. “That would be so great! I bet you’re the best cheerleader we’ll ever have! I’ll cheer you on for that!” he began excitedly. “One Two Three Four, ______’s cheers aren’t a bore! Five Six Seven Eight, that’s who I appreciate!”

______ couldn’t help but laugh as Scott burst out into clapping and shouting. It started to make them eel better about being stuck in gym class. “Go Scott! Throw that ball! Catch that ball and get them out!” they joined in, being less experience in sudden rhymes than Scott. He seemed to appreciate it nonetheless and went back onto the court.

With ______ cheering Scott and the rest of his team on relentlessly, Scott was even happier than usual when they were pulling ahead of the other team. Once the last person on the other team was out, ______ cheered happily, yelling, “Yes, you got it!”

Scott ran over and picked them up, spinning ______ around with the happiest expression they had ever seen on his face. “You’re the best cheerleader I’ve ever had!” he exclaimed happily, then putting her back on the bleachers and kissing her. That’s when they both heard mutters of ‘I knew it!’ and ‘Wow, they’re cute together!’ Scott didn’t pay any attention; all of his focus was on ______. “How’s your tibia feeling?”

They laughed. “It’s feeling much better, I think I’m okay now. All I needed to get better was to see you happy,” ______ leaned in, kissing him again.

Chapter Text

• Liam didn’t want to ask you out because that would be outdated and cliché. “Too predictable, but not enough to be ironic.”
• At least, that’s what he told himself instead of just admitting that he was too much of a coward to ask you out.
• Miranda had enough of it: if she made Liam Prom King, she sure as hell can get him to date you.
• You had kept thinking of non-cliché ways to ask him out when Miranda took the reins.

~ ~ ~

There were two inevitabilities about drama class: the guarantee of feeling creative, and that Miranda would demand to play the princess in every given production. The entire class was used to it, even to the point that the teacher got tired of ‘casting’ the production and gave everyone the same basic roles each and every time. For instance, Liam was an aristocrat, Miranda was a princess, Vera was an assassin, and everyone else’s role was always consistent. Miranda loved being the damsel (and sometimes she’s even insist on being the damoiseau in distress if the role called for a male counterpart), and she always got her way.

That’s why when ______ came into class one day and saw their name on the role sheet for the day as ‘Distress,’ they immediately were confused and worried. Liam was behind them, looking at the list. “What does ‘distress’ even entail?” ______ asked aloud. “Am I just supposed to portray the concept of distress?”

“At least you have an interesting role,” Liam complained. “You get to be the concept of distress, and I’m just… ‘the Hero?’ The Hero! That’s outdated. Who approved of this?”

“I did!” a cheery voice rang out through the classroom, and everyone turned to Miranda. “I wrote out a short story, and today I get to be the director!” ______ looked towards the teacher, who seemed too tired and done with this impossible student body to object to Miranda’s idea.

“Why are there only… four roles?” Liam asked. The cast consisted of Scott as ‘a Tree,’ Liam as ‘the Hero,’ ______ as ‘Distress,’ Damien as ‘the Villain,’ and Miranda as… the narrator? “Doesn’t that seem a little low? We have a lot more people in this class than four.”

“Everyone else will be playing the audience today,” Miranda smiled. “If anyone says so much as a complaint, then they get to play ‘The Student in The Iron Maiden!’ It’s a lovely role that I have yet to fill,” she looked around the room, and a shudder went down some people’s spines. When Miranda was serious about something, she was merciless.

Soon, they were all on the stage. Miranda narrated a truly cliché story: ______ was the unwilling victim of Damien, the villain who had control over ______’s fate as they signed a deal with him many years ago. The whole thing felt a little like Hercules, but when Juan the Small Magical Latino Cat pointed that out, he got met with the iron maiden. She did warn him. Near the end, there was a big difference in the scene: Damien was holding ______ over the ‘Sea of Souls’ (aka, dangling them over the stage) and it was Liam’s job to get Damien to hand them back safely. Miranda was narrating happily during this part. “Now, the Hero knew that the Villain had one weak spot and one weak spot alone… confessions! The Villain hated it when two people told each other their true feelings! So, the Hero knew what he had to do… and Liam confessed his feelings for ______!”

Liam broke character, looking at Miranda. “Don’t you mean ‘The Hero’ confesses his feelings for ‘Distress?’ I mean, it would be strange to…”

“Did I stutter?” Miranda asked, the homicidal glint in her eye back again. “Now, Liam, confess now, or Damien gets to actually drop ______ off the stage.”

“Hell yeah, really?” Damien asked, looking over at ______. “It’s nothing personal, I just rarely get permission to do this kind of shit. So, if Liam doesn’t, I really will take up that offer.”

______ looked over at Liam. Liam’s face was tinted a bright pink, and ______ wasn’t sure if it was the stage lights or Liam. Ever since they went to Prom together, ______ had developed feelings for him, but they had been too worried to say anything about it yet. They had been planning to say something, but now there was this awkward position. “Don’t worry Liam, it’s just acting,” ______ tried reassuring him. They had convinced themselves that Liam didn’t feel the same.

Liam put down the cheesy fake sword that he was holding. “This isn’t acting, ______. This is Miranda interfering with a good thing, but I guess right now is as good as any time to tell you…” he took a deep breath. “I find you less annoying than all of our other classmates. I unironically adore spending time with you, even if it’s just us going through filters for hours and getting nowhere. I adore discussing art with you, and… I’d really like to see it become more, if you know what I mean. Don’t make me say it, I’m already drowning in clichés. A confession on stage? I’m dying.”

Damien looked from Liam to ______, just smiling smugly and throwing them towards Liam. Liam caught ______ in his arms, and they smiled at him. “Do you really mean that?”

Liam leaned forward and kissed them, prompting clapping from their audience, but the most noticeable cheer came from Miranda. “Yes, I do, and I also meant it when I said I’m drowning in clichés, but maybe it isn’t too bad,” Liam took their hand and put them behind him, picking up his fake sword again. “Now, let’s finish this scene.”

Chapter Text

• Calculester may not have the same kind of feelings as everyone else, but he certainly does feel
• AKA, he expresses his love for you in the only way he knows how: through affection in his virtual reality.
• He acts like he looked up ‘how to act like a good boyfriend’ and has based all his interactions on that and that alone
• He’s trying his best to figure out emotions and you know what? He’s cute while doing it.

-

Off school grounds, Calculester had his own greenhouse. He insisted it was the best way for him to take care of all his plants fairly and in a timely matter. Ever since he and ______ had gotten closer, ______ would come over after school and help him take care of the plants. He appreciated it, and it made him happy that they were taking in interest in the things he liked. However, today as they took care of his plants, there was a question on his mind that he couldn’t seem to shake. Eventually he gave in and turned to ______, hoping they’d be able to provide the answer. “______, may I ask you a personal question?”

______ turned to him with a smile after they finished watering a plant. “Sure, what’s on your mind, Cal?”

“Does it bother you at all that we are seeking a relationship and I still don’t really know how to express love?” Calculester asked, only getting through the first part of his question. “Additionally, does it bother you to have a boyfriend like me, a computer who’s unsure if they can ever truly feel any emotions?”

______ had an answer already prepared. They always had a feeling that this would come up, so they were ready to answer it. “The very fact that you’re asking that proves that you feel something, Calculester. You wouldn’t worry that you’re not a good boyfriend if you didn’t care about my feelings. The very fact that you want my opinion on how I feel about you shows that you care about my opinion because something is there. Am I wrong?”

Calculester went silent as he worked out the logic for himself. If worry = caring for ______ and caring for ______ = feeling emotions towards them, that means that worry = feeling emotions! As far as Calculester could tell, the logic was adding up. He hummed, and ______ swear she heard a bell sound effect when he was content with the answer. “Then I guess I just have one last question for you, friend ______.”

“Shoot, Cal.”

“Would you like to be romantic partner in an official relationship?” Calculester asked, a smile coming up on his screen. It was clear that it took a lot of thought and planning for him to finally much up the ability to ask.

“I’d love to be your partner, Cal,” ______ told him. Even though _______ knew he couldn’t feel it, she took his hand and squeezed it.

Calculester’s screen just turned into a more excited face in return. “Does that mean I get to do traditional relationship things with you now?” he asked, perhaps happily. “If I could get you hooked up to my Virtual Reality again, then perhaps we’ll be able to go out on the best date that I can reasonably install into my hardware!”

______ blushed, thinking about the last time that Calculester invited them into his virtual reality. It was certainly interesting to calibrate all the versions of him in such an… explicit way, but a cute date sounded better than anything right now. “That would make me really happy.”

“I think that would make me happy too,” Calculester told _______. “I guess I can find that out with your help.”

Chapter Text

• Vera is all business, and her relationships are no different.
• After you help her set up her criminal empire and become her most trusted advisor, she made sure that you either always had protection, or you were able to stay around her.
• She teases you a lot, but she really means it when she says that you’re special to her.
• People know to stay the fuck out of your business, unless they want to meet the business end of Vera’s many assassins (Murdr wasn’t made for fun, honey).

-

Valerie Oberlin never knew her sister to be the ‘cuddly’ or ‘romantic’ type. Vera was many things: intelligent, ruthless, demanding, profitable… but she never knew Vera to be romantic. At least, not until ______ showed up.

Vera and Valerie would occasionally spend their lunches hanging out together instead of setting up shop or eating lunch, and days like those were the ones Valerie looked forward to most. She adored spending quality time with her adoptive sister, but today it wasn’t just the two of them. Today, Vera brought along ______, someone who Valerie knew little about. Vera greeted her like normal. “Hey Val,” Vera started. “How’s business going?”

“It’s slow,” she answered. “Not too many students have been wanting to buy my totally-not-a-real-dead-body corpse, and I really need to get this off my hands. Who’s this?”

______ answered before Vera. “I’m ______, remember? I bought a fake badass tattoo from you.”

“They’re my advisor,” Vera told her. “I think the killer croc caught on that a lot of my advice was fed to me through them, and so he’s been sending a ridiculous number of assassins to kill ______. It’s been really annoying; I’m just waiting for the croc himself to show up so I can get a new pair of shoes.”

Valerie looked ______ up and down. Vera wasn’t usually one to protect people she didn’t care about or need from assassination attempts, so seeing as she was being very careful to keep ______ safe was her version of romance. Valerie didn’t miss this and smiled widely, a raising an eyebrow. “Vera, when were you going to let me meet your new date? Have you guys gone anywhere special?”

______ started to blush, and Vera looked surprised herself. Although she knew she probably should’ve expected that Valerie would be able to tell that Vera had feelings for ______, she hadn’t expected her to say it out loud. ______ was the first one to talk after Valerie’s comment, saying, “It’s not that kind of thing, I’m just her criminal advisor.”

“Ah, so you’re partners in crime!” Valerie pressed on, loving how red Vera was getting. Part from embarrassment over her feelings being expose, and part from being upset with Valerie for exposing them. She wasn’t mad at her; she just wished this conversation would end. “You know, being partners in crime is even better. There’s been a lot of criminal couples over the years, but you two take the cake.”

“Valerie, please,” Vera started, glaring at her. Even the snake in her hair were leaning up in attention, and their eyes were all focused on Valerie. If Vera wasn’t able to control her ‘Gorgon Gaze,’ Valerie would be a statue by now. “Shut. Up.”

“I’m just saying, you two look great together. Don’t you agree, ______?”

All at once, ______ was put on the spot. They’ve been pining after Vera for weeks, but besides that dinner, romance never came up. They had hoped for a slow burn over a series of crimes, each crime getting done more passionately, but that didn’t look like it was going to happen anytime soon. Especially now that Vera was looking over at them expectantly, and they wanted to choose their words carefully. “Vera looks great no matter who she’s with,” ______ started. “I’d be lucky to date her, but I don’t think that the feeling is returned, and that’s-”

______ was going to say ‘that’s okay,’ but instead they were met with Vera’s lips on their cheek as she took their hand in hers. “You don’t have to say anymore, ______,” Vera said, a noticeable tone of pink om her face. “After all, you’re wrong. the feelings are reciprocated.”

As ______ was left speechless, Valerie let out a laugh. I knew it, she thought, watching the two of them smile at each other.

Chapter Text

• Polly can be serious when she wants to be, and when she’s committed to someone, she’s serious about it.
• Although her inner party will never die down, she thinks all parties are better when you’re around.
• She didn’t tell you in the most traditional way, but she told you in the most Polly way possible.
• Let’s just say… it was a great night, and Polly’s drink count was lost in the process.

-

The outdoors was the home of Spooky High’s best parties, and so of course every night, Polly wanted to ditch class and go straight to the party. School was mostly a joke here at Spooky High anyways, so _______ would join her. Nights like this would usually end in Polly getting drunk beyond belief, ______ taking her home, and Polly not coming to school the next day.

Tonight was no different. At least, it wasn’t different at first.

______ usually didn’t drink too much because they were the one who usually drove Polly (and occasionally a few others home), so a lot of their time was spent on the dance floor. Tonight, Polly was in a huge mood for dancing after downing a few flasks and joined them. The two of them danced for an hour before Damien found Polly. “Hey, Polly!” he shouted across the woods. “Do you want to have a drinking contest? Alcohol is on me!” He smiled, elbowing Liam, who looked slightly annoyed. That meant Liam probably owed Damien for something, and when Damien said drinks were ‘on him,’ they were really on Liam.

Polly didn’t seem to care who was paying, and immediately perked up at the words ‘drinking contest.’ “Damien, if it’s a contest you want, prepare to lose!” she yelled, then turned to ______ and took their hand. “Want to come with and spot me?”

______ smiled back at her. “Sure!” they replied, and right away they were being pulled towards Damien, who was already setting up shot glasses. There were enough shots in front of the two of them to kill a regular person, but since Polly was already dead, she didn’t have to worry about silly things like alcohol poisoning. Sweet! ______ counted down, and right as they hit zero, Polly and Damien were downing shots.

Polly won by over 15 shots. By the time she flipped her last cup over, ______ thought it was a miracle that she was still able to stand. “Did I win?” Polly asked, her words slurring enough that Damien didn’t even understand what came out of her mouth. ______, however, was an expert in interpreting drunk Polly.

“By a longshot,” ______ told her. “But you are beyond wasted, Polly, we should go home.”

However, Polly didn’t seem to want to go home. Instead, she just turned to ______ and pinched one of their cheeks. It wasn’t a hard pinch, but it did take ______ by surprise. “Hey, ______, do you know how cute you are? With your worry and your soberness, you’re like so cute!” she started, her words merging together at times. Anyone looking onto the situation who didn’t know how to interpret Polly thought she was speaking a foreign language.

______ blushed, pushing the compliment away. “You should get home, maybe get some sleep. I’d tell you to eat something, but well… you can’t,” they tried to joke.

“I don’t want to go home,” Polly complained. “I want to spend all night with you, ______! You’re like, my favorite person ever. I haven’t even felt like going to hookups anymore because you’re he only person I want to be with…”

As Polly trailed off, ______ realized that in Polly’s own, strange way, she was confessing her feelings. ______ just took the hand that Polly was using to squeeze their face and held it, trying to give her a reassuring smile. “If I stay at your place and help you take care of your hangover in the morning, will you let me take you home?”

Polly perked up, seemingly happy with that agreement. “Sounds perfect! Let’s go!” Polly jumped onto ______, but luckily, she wasn’t that heavy. ______ couldn’t help but laugh, this was the best party of their life.

Chapter Text

• This cutie, although bold with her fanfiction, is not as bold in pursuing real-life love interests.
• She approaches everything you do with curiosity; she wants to know everything there is to know about you.
• She was used to being an angry, mind-eating deity for so long that the concept of real, genuine love is new to her and she wants to experience it fully.
• You found out about her feelings for you during a ‘study session.’

-

_______ didn’t think anyone at Spooky High studied. When Zoe invited them to a ‘study session’ in the library after school, they were expecting some Spooky High-typical antics, but when Zoe actually started pouring out multiple notebooks, ______ was caught off-guard. Zoe looked up at their shocked face and laughed, “What, you weren’t expecting to actually study?”

“Not really,” ______ admitted. “In all honesty, I didn’t even think we’d be talking about school. I thought you wanted to study our classmates or something again.” ______ joked with her. Zoe had invited them many times to lightly stalk their classmates in her endless pursuit to know everything there is to know, and because ______ was a student before her, she expected them to know a lot more than she did. It’s not that they didn’t know more, but sometimes Zoe’s questions were so specific, ______ would resort to making the answer up. Zoe never seemed to notice, or if she did, she didn’t seem to mind.

“We usually would, but my grade in ‘Just a Bunch of Fucking Spells’ is dropping because I can’t name more than five. I mean, what, we’re expected to memorize every single kind of spell and name it off the top of our heads? Who does that besides the Coven?” Zoe sighed. “So, I need help memorizing it all. Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” ______ told her, taking a seat. “My grade in that class could be better, too. Grades here are usually a joke though, I don’t think any of out classmates actively participate in class except the know-it-all Leonard.”

“Leonard is half the reason I hate going to class,” Zoe rolled her eyes, sitting across from them. “What’s the best way to memorize, anyways? Repetition? Reading aloud? I don’t know where to start.”

“Flash cards wouldn’t be a bad idea,” ______ told her. “Do you have any?”

“I think I forgot them in my locker,” Zoe groaned. “I’ve been avoiding that hall ever since PGS got on my case about some of my eyes popping up around the school in lockers. What, a girl isn’t aloud to keep her eyes safe?” She got up and tossed her backpack towards ______. “My notebook for class is in there, could you get it out while I get my cards?”

“Sure,” ______ smiled at her as she left the library. They opened the backpack, not expecting to be greeted by her bag being filled to the brim with about 20 notebooks. They knew Zoe was a writer, but damn, this looked just a little excessive. Luckily, Zoe labeled all of her notebooks on the cover in huge font. They started flipping through, having no luck when suddenly, they stumbled upon a notebook that caught them by surprise: ‘______ x ZOE (aka, me!)’

They stared at the notebook for a moment, wondering if their eyes were playing tricks on them. Did Zoe… ship herself with ______? To be completely honest, ______ had started getting feelings towards Zoe, but she seemed so preoccupied with stalking her classmates, ______ didn’t think they had a chance. They just held the notebook, and before ______ even had a chance to open it, they heard Zoe’s voice from behind them. “Oh… you found that one.”

______ turned around to see Zoe looking away from them, holding flashcards in her hand and a bright-red blush on her face. ______ took a deep breath and looked for the courage to ask the golden question: “Zoe, do you ship the two of us together?”

Zoe didn’t say anything for a moment. “I really like you, ______, and I… wanted to write about us. That’s what I do when I start crushing on someone, I think. It’s fine if you don’t feel the same, though. I’m used to having unpopular ships. At least if I write about it, then it’ll be true in some reality.”

______ was silent for a moment before saying, “Well, it can be true in this reality too.”

Zoe looked surprised, finally making eye contact with ______. All of her eyes were focused on them. “Really?” she asked, a happy tone beginning to rise in her voice. “You don’t think I’m some fangirl-freak?”

“I love that about you,” ______ admitted, getting up and reaching out for her free hand. “So, if you don’t mind, I think we should make this ship canon.”

Zoe laughed and blushed more before pulling ______ in and kissing them. They were her OTP.