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A woman with a body made of silken red ribbons and a white porcelain face has been sitting on one of the four couches of the lounge area for quite some time now, doodling whatever she thought of at the time whilst waiting for a small yet tremendously important meetup, like her then best friend told her, perhaps as a way to not get bored. Who knows? Zooble does! Oh, and now that they got mentioned, it seems like Zooble arrived to the meetup. They tried to catch a breather as they seemingly sprinted here with all the stamina they had. Gangle shifted her attention to… well, just Zooble in general and gave them a warm smile before waving at them.
“Huff… hey, Ribbons… honestly surprised that you showed up…” Zooble greeted her breathily, but something was quite odd with their body language as of late… they’ve been nervous around Gangle for quite some time now.
“…uhh, considering that today’s adventure was tiring, hah.”
Gangle agreed with Zooble’s statement, and thus a rather short awkward silence ensued before Zooble darts their irises around then asking, “Mind if I sit next to you?” They keep in mind that Gangle does not like people invading her personal space and therefore needs the others to request if they could be close to her for longer than just walking by her. Gangle shuffles over and offered her friend oh so kindly during the time that Zooble was making themselves comfortable next to her by sitting in the criss-cross-applesauce position.
“Sure, go ahead…! …do you, maybe, want to see my newest artworks?…” Zooble nodded their triangular head, leading Gangle to showcase her drawings, which then caused Zooble to lean in closer to her aforementioned drawings despite actually just admiring Gangle’s face as she rambled on about the lore of one of her original characters and about one of her interests, Vocaloid.
“…oh, and her name is Kasane Teto! She’s actually not an official vocaloid, she’s an Utau and she has dreams of becoming a true vocaloid one day! She yada yada blah blah blah…” Gangle was so deep in her own little world that she didn’t yet realize that Zooble was actively gazing at her, and in a sort of daydreamy way. Until she snapped back to reality by hearing Zooble’s barely audible voice speaking “I’d listen to her voice for days and not get tired of it…”
Gangle just stared at Zooble in disbelief, and through finally realizing what they just revealed a mere 2 seconds later, her face shifted into a big smile as she tried her best to hold her laughter in.
“Pft- Zooble, could you say that again??…” the sentient ribbon questioned, her voice so soft yet laced with the intention of tease, causing Zooble to get jolted awake from their daydream and flinch with widely opened eyes. They stammered from nervousness while fidgeting with their cyan charm shaped like a ring and looking away from Gangle, “Wha— ugh, di- did I say that out loud!?” Gangle finally bursts out howling from laughter upon hearing that sentence, and a barely decipherable apology can be heard in her howl.
“PfhhahAHAHA!! I’m so!!- Zooble!- I’m sssss-sSO SORRY!!”
“…mhm, it’s… okay.”
Zooble forgave her in a tone that made it sound false, but that’s because they’re a tad bit embarrassed. And by a tad bit, the author means really. However, hearing Gangle genuinely laugh is a treasure to them, and they couldn’t help but chuckle alongside her.
Gangle calmed downhill after a full 2 minutes of laughing and continued showcasing her artworks to Zooble, who was contemplating if they should even reveal the reason why this meetup mattered so much and therefore was not paying any attention.
You see, Zooble has some feelings that over time stirred up for Gangle the more they bonded, and they were in denial of these aforesaid emotions that they could only describe as: " those weird butterflies that relentlessly flutter around you for hours which remind you of someone you appreciate" ' till some little birdies told them that they’re gay (PS: those little birdies are Jax and their reflection in the wall mounted mirrors inside their room.), but Zooble just can’t confess those feelings because, surprise surprise, they avoid showing vulnerability in fear that it would get exploited. And they think their fear is stupid.
Well surely, it couldn’t possibly hurt that much to get out of your comfort zone, right???…
Zooble gathered all the courage they found and took a deep breath.
“Uh… hey, Gangle..?”
Gangle looked over at Zooble and went completely silent, slightly tilting her head to the right. “What?…”
“Uhm…” Zooble struggled to voice whatever they’re saying due to the fact that their words were at the tip of the tongue, causing them to divert their eyes from Gangle and to fidget with their hands.
“you… mean a lot to me… like— the— like, you’re a really, really good friend to me…”
A small yet genuine smile is plastered across the lower half of Gangle’s porcelain face and a soft red tint started to make itself opaque on her cheeks.
“…and… I don’t know what I would do without you… Think I would’ve gone crazy by now.”
It’s honestly no secret to Gangle that Zooble has a difficult time revealing their vulnerable side and remained patient with what they’d probably say, guessing that they have more to say. Zooble, on the other hand, finally let themself gaze upon her face as they confessed, “But… I’ve realized that over time, I’ve come to… y’know, appreciate you and… I-… just… yeah…”
Zooble positioned their hands to be located atop where their heart would be if guts were real in this virtual world.
“…I love you.”
Gangle’s eyes were wide open and she audibly gasped from the surprise, covering her face with her ribbon hands because she wasn’t expecting whatever just happened.