perfectmatch | week three

[ i no longer take responsibility for anything that happens in this thread, it's all on you, jams. ]

I was. [ he'll lean in, and stroke her cheek (yw the diehard yuka fans), his breath light against her skin. ]

You're my second favorite. [ hehe. ]

[ why does this sound like a threat--- ]

Second favorite?

[ He's close, but that doesn't stop her from giving a petulant pout, raising up her hands to squish his cheeks together. ]

No girl wants to hear that! Okay?

[ It's not even about being second place, she doesn't care... but she needs to ensure he does not say this to some poor other girl in the future!!! ]

You're lucky it's just me, sweetheart, [ She's playing up the dramatics for effect — one gets the sense she's not actually offended. ] You meant that as a compliment, right?

[ heyyy that's his face! no he doesn't seem to mind actually, and there's something of a smile that's hard to see considering how he's being manhandeled. ]

I meant it as the truth, because we're friends. [ he knows that's offensive and while he didn't mean it that way, it's not something at base he shies away from either. ]

Unless you want the sweet nothings?

Hmph... ~

[ She's going to give his face one last squeeze for good measure, pinching one of his cheeks, before at last letting go. Luka is still cute, even when he's being like this. Maybe she babies him a little, seeing in him a person who never got to stretch their wings or be cherished the way she was. All that considered, he can be sweet in his own way. ]

No, no, I don't need anything like that. Those things really don't work on me, [ As she's sure he already knows... she hops up on one of the bar stools to make herself comfortable, sighing. ] It's made the competition a little easier, really.

[ he can't help but laugh a little, because it feels funny. ]

Just the competition?

Well, and of course, day to day life.

[ She doesn't get strung along by players or her heart broken by fuckboys. Soon as someone pulls out the charm on her, it's hard for her to stay invested... unless she feels like she can cut through all that. ]

But you can figure out pretty quickly when someone's just playing, or when they're being serious, when you don't take that sort of thing personally.

A lot of people do, though.

[ it's a compliment!

ah, their drinks have arrived! luka looks at his... well it's just an iced tea with a bit of liquor, right? so this is fine to sip on. ]

Are you being serious with anyone here?

[ he has a Guess but he likes her enough to ask rather than be a jerk about it. ]

[ Right, this is a completely normal drink, and not just straight up liquor with three drops of cola in it. Things will be fine. She is sipping along, too. ]

...Yi Sang, [ She answers firmly, confidently. ] He's gentle and careful with the others around him... he doesn't know how sweet he is.

[ It's touching. And she's never met anyone quite like him — someone who seems so ambivalent and uncaring towards her charms, while still maintaining a heartfelt kindness. It makes him all the more alluring. Genuinely, while she swirls around her drink with her straw, ice clinking. ]

I want to learn more about him, and help him realize his wish.

[ That'll stay the same, no matter what's going on in that head of his. So, her feelings won't be terribly hurt, if nothing comes of it. She's not like Luka — not head over heels and determined to catch him no matter what. But she can still play at being dramatic, sighing and propping her head up. ]

But sometimes it's like he's not interested at all...~

[ woe is her, please play a song on the tiniest violin, she's looking to luka to be coddled and for attention, ]

[ their combined radar on Yi Sang for the same Reasons but entirely different intentions. well with luka, there's something more too.

he reaches out, twirls a strand of hair away from her face. there, there. ]

You need to be blatantly obvious with him. To the point where he can't assume anything else other than that you want him.

[ so like-like is entirely his natural vocabulary but also, intrinsically he knows that pretty much nothing short of that would have made maya realize what he was getting at. ]

Mm, that's what I thought too, but...

[ Her expression sobers a little, puffing some air into one cheek. ]

I think he would go along with anything I said. Whatever he actually felt.

[ Normally, Yingying would just floor it and assert dominance, but Yi Sang is different. He never says no to her, only ever seems to want to defer to her. It makes it feel like if she tried harder than she already did, she might just end up backing him into a corner and that's... no fun. She sighs. ]

I don't think it'd make for a good love story, if it went like that. He's not very good at thinking for himself.

[ She's observed that over several of their dates — the shitty pancakes he ordered for himself, the way he catsits at the wisteria all night instead of sleeping like a normal person... all signs seem to point to him just not caring about his own opinions or comfort. ]

Is a good love story what matters? [ not that luka knows what one is, mind. ]

Would you believe me if I told you that we're similar?

Who, you and Yi Sang?

[ ?????????? ]

How so?

[ he takes another drink for this, because even if he is willing to offer this to her it's still strange. it buys him a moment too, to try to put his thoughts into words. (another thing they have in common, though maya is often the only who sees it here when he chooses to speak from the heart and not from his polish, practiced lines). ]

That's right.

We're something like a reflection of one another. We're both isolated by different circumstances and what we feel and what we don't feel, manifests differently, you could even say contrarily.

The first time we spoke I wanted to push him until he acted. [ until he broke. ] Because I saw in him what I know exists in me.

[ a void. a yearning. something seemingly insurmountable and gaping. ]

[ That gives her pause, leaning further on the bar counter while she looks up and processes what Luka had to say. Isolated, yes. There's no doubt that Luka is alone on the stage, in a world where he's surrounded by Segyein. Yi Sang, on the other hand... his departure from his other self, leaving his home behind, having nowhere to go, that's a little different. Though they both are "motionless," in a sense. ]

I know what you mean, [ She does, because she does the same thing to other people, though in a much more lighthearted manner. Teasing them, bothering them, trying to elicit a reaction... perhaps both their tendencies to do this is what led their first encounter to be so combative. ] At first, I'd try to get a rise out of him, too. But you both have.... mm, this sense of control.

[ Luka's manifests differently, into his showy stage persona. On the other hand, Yi Sang's control is completely spent on holding any semblance of feeling down. Both require a discipline of the mind, mental walls of a kind. ]

We do. I wouldn't call it complimentary but I would call it similar and kindred in some sort of sense.

[ if understanding requires familiarity, then yes they do match up in that way. ]

He's interested in you, but he probably doesn't see it himself yet. [ luka takes another sip, smaller this time, because whew, all this talking about someone who grates against him is making his head feel funny. it has to be that clearly and not the alcohol. ]

I don't think so...~

[ She sing songs, similarly feeling a little funny, though not enough to really notice it quite yet. ]

I think he just doesn't realize how his actions come off. [ His poetry, his staying up all night near the wisteria, greeting her in the morning... it's all overtly romantic, or would be to anyone with some sense. ] While just trying to be nice. That's all.

If I hadn't been explicit with Maya, she would have thought similar. Actually the first thing she said was that she was nothing like you.

[ he laughs, his thoughts light and his emotions just as lofty. ]

[ ...Isn't Maya definitely like her?! Beautiful, smart, charming. What's with all the ladies seeing such a distance between her and them.... sniffle... ]

I feel like I was explicit....

[ She pouts, thinking back to how carefully she had chosen her words during the second ceremony. And here she thought that was going to be like a big confession, when it turned up nothing. Then again, she's never really encountered someone with his personality type before; he's far and away from any of the patrons who came to the Pavilion, who were forced to show some level of interest by being willing to pay to be there. So maybe she just doesn't get how to approach him. ]

Besides, don't Maya and I have a lot in common?

You probably were, but you gotta be realllly obvious. So that they can't misconstrue it as something else.

[ luka hums and... decides not to take another drink. ]

You're both beautiful. But you're "fluttery" and she's not. [ this is literally how maya described it to him, don't shoot the messenger. ]

She's daring and determined and always herself even when she's flustered. Plus she's got a beautiful smile and really pretty hair—

[ the long island iced teas were a mistake. ]

Uh huh.... mmhm... and what else?

[ She's content to just let him ramble about Maya... it's cute. And something she can use to tease her later. ]

[ yingying you're supposed to have his back!!!! ]

And she's really smart and her chest is big and soft— [ maybe don't repeat this one but he is none braincells right now and it is an objective truth.

though that does remind him, he could use a pillow right now and she isn't here... ah well. he plunks his head down on his arm, good enough. ]

week three | dates

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