I've been dreaming // open // of a true love's kiss

THE BLUE AND GREEN BELOW IS A MASTERPIECE — Jacob wasn't sure what to do. Well, he did know what to do but he didn't at the same time. He knew what he wanted to do. No, he knew what he was going to do. He hadn't told anyone in Snowbound yet of Pincher's return, mostly because he hadn't ever told him about his death in the first place, and he hadn't told anyone about his date. Maybe he felt like he couldn't. He knew he wouldn't be able to tell Jersey or his Babbo for a long time. It wasn't like they needed to know anyway, really. While he was debating, he propped open the door. For some reason his cabin was starting to feel unbearably stuffy as he considered all of this. He'd even pulled out a sheet of paper to write the next letter to his Babbbo. How as he even supposed to say it? "By the way dad, I'm gay and dating a pirate whose family may or may not have burned our house down and kidnapped me." That hardly seemed like it'd go over well. Maybe he'd just start with the gay part. Vito didn't really need to know he had a proper boyfriend now or who it was or what he might be associated with. Besides, he wouldn't want to share misinformation about Pincher or his family. Maybe all that nonsense with Archie was just that. Maybe it was all an awful coincidence. Jacob doubted it but he had to have hope in something.

He did know one and that was that he needed to know what he was going to wear tonight. He wasn't sure how formal it'd be and he was debating pulling out his bow-tie, just to look extra nice for the occasion. He'd already put on his favorite bandages, the ones that were embroidered with blue jay feathers, and he was digging through his sweaters looking for the perfect color. At first he'd grabbed maroon and then green and now he was trying on a yellow one but he wasn't sure if it was too plain. He wore blue and yellow together fairly frequently, seeing as they were his favorite colors, but he wasn't sure if he should change it for this particular outing. Would it seem too simple? Deniz had far more elaborate tendencies than Jacob and he was terrified of the fact he'd show up in a sweater and some bright bandages and the doberman would immediately realize Jacob wasn't what he was looking for. He held up a bow tie to his neck, letting out a huff as he looked at it. What if it was too much? He didn't want to seem like he'd been expecting anything fancy. That'd be rude. Besides, if it was him he'd probably just plan a picnic or something. But this wasn't him, it was Pincher. He let out a soft huff, shaking his head. Why did this have to be so hard? Why was he thinking about this so much? He doubted Pincher would notice what he was wearing anyway or think about it too much. But what if he did? — BUT YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL LIKE I'VE NEVER SEEN

"SPEECH"

Back home, Atbash had actually come out to her family, and they were extremely supportive. Caesar included in that, too; he had been happy for her when she came out to their parents and supported her entirely. But they all knew how Dimension FiveX treated those in the LGBT+ community, and her mother warned her that she might not be able to live happily with another female. She'd probably have to be sold off to a male, and Atbash knew she wouldn't be happy. There was just no way she could be happy with a guy, let alone be forced to marry him. But it was just the way their society worked, but no matter how terrible they were, Caesar still didn't have a right to destroy the Dimension. Hell, his reasons of doing so weren't even how the way they treated her, but of how they treated him. He was selfish. He had always been selfish.

"You alright, Jacob?" Atbash happened to pass by Jacob's cabin on the way to her own, and heard the huff he let out, as well as things being shuffling around in his house. She didn't want to invade his privacy, so she didn't exactly enter his cabin, but she was curious as to what he was doing.

THE BLUE AND GREEN BELOW IS A MASTERPIECE — Jacob's attention was forced rom his mirror when he heard Atbash just outside. "Oh! Yeah, yeah, everythin's alrigh', ya' don' gotta' worry. 'Ere, maybe ya' can 'elp me!" he called, hurrying to the door and opening it up. "Okay so I 'ave a... 'm goin' out ta' see Pincher 'cause um... 'cause tha's jus' what I'm doin' tonight I guess n' anyway I was tryin' ta' decide what ta' wear. I decided on these bandages 'cause I like all the feathers n' things. But then I was tryin' on the blue sweater but I felt like it was too much blue, ya' know, so then I put on the yellow one but I wear yellow all the time so then I was thinkin' maybe I should try the green one or maybe even the pink but I think the light pink might be a li'l too... ya' know-" He knew what Jersey would call it. There was a reason he'd had the pink yarn long before he ever made a sweater from it. "Anyway, then I was thinkin' maybe I should wear a bow tie 'cause, ya' know, Pinch is real fancy all the time n' nice lookin' n' all tha' so I thought maybe that'd be nice but maybe I'm jus' thinkin' about it too much, ya' know?" he explained, holding up the bow tie to his neck as he referred to it. Was it too much? would he look like he was trying too hard? He didn't want Pincher to think he was this nervous about it. He wasn't nervous. This was going to be fun. But what if Pincher thought his pink sweater looked stupid? — BUT YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL LIKE I'VE NEVER SEEN

"SPEECH"

Atbash couldn't help but be amused by Jacob's rambling, a large smile forming on her face as she listened to him. "Alright, slow down." She purred, her voice full of laughter. "Why don't you try the green sweater on?" She suggested. "It's a nice mix between blue and yellow, and the ocean has a kind of greenish tint to it, right?" Well, only if it was polluted, she supposed. "And the black tie would be a nice touch too, if Pincher is a fancy as you say he is." She wasn't an expert on fashion by any means, but she could at least try to help Jacob with his little 'hang out' with Pincher.