(TWST Idia/Cater) so you'll dance with Cinderella

Angsty Boi Hours

Cater liked to consider himself a natural shutterbug—a connoisseur of special moments and a collector of memories through the lens of a camera. Sure, sometimes he took pictures of stupid things, like funny-looking clouds or his array of skateboard decals, and, yeah, he was a firm believer in the credo "the camera eats first," but still, his phone was rife with things he wanted to remember years from now.

THIS WAS NOT ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS.

Staring at Idia, Cater's mouth dropped open in disbelief. His Discord crush, the ridiculously adorable and easy-to-talk-to shroudedinidiocy, was this guy?! Seriously, this guy?!?!

Big, big, big yikes.

He was saved from voicing this opinion when Idia, his face, his hair, his entire being all pink, stuttered, "Y—you're notJustGir—"

Nope! Not gonna happen! If that giant idiot verbalized what had just gone on, then, oh, sevens, it would be real. That was just—no. Before Idia could finish his sentence, Cater shoved his fingers against his mouth to shush him. Ugh, why were Idia's lips so dry? Surely being glued in front of a computer didn't prevent you from swiping on lip balm once in a while?! "Um, no, no, let's not finish that sentence!"

Idia leaped away from Cater as if he were on fire. He, in turn, yoinked back his hand and ran it through his hair, for once not caring if he messed it up. This was way bigger than having a good-looking 'do for impromptu photo ops and selfies. His brain in full panic-mode, he couldn't help but wonder why, oh, why had he bothered to try and give Idia the tickets. This whole thing could've been avoided if he'd just kept his mouth shut. "I totally did not manifest this for today."

Cater took a deep breath. Well, okay, what was done was done. The cat was out of the bag. The tea was all spilled. What he needed to do was move past this—y'know, so he could go onto the next step: screaming into his pillow and listening to his "Angsty Boi Hours" playlist. Swallowing hard, he tried to meet Idia's terrified gaze as he said, "Okay, here's what we'll do: we'll each go our separate ways—"

Immediately, Idia turned around to leave. "On it." How totally on-brand of him. If Cater wasn't completely and utterly freaked out just then, he would've laughed.

"—And pretend this never happened, 'kay?" Cater finished, reaching out and grabbing him by the hood. Idia's nod was instant, so he released him and sighed. This was good. Very good. The worst was over. He could go back to living his life, a life before Discord and thinking Idia Shroud was cute. Sure, yeah, Cater wasn't gonna deny that he kinda was—in a skrunkly, needs-to-be-rehabilitated sorta way, but that wasn't the point! "Awesome, awesome, good. #Relieved. #LifelongPact." Sevens, what was he saying? He had no idea. The words were just coming out of him. Usually, he had more control over his mouth.

Trying to clear his head and regain his bearings, Cater pressed a hand to his temple. He sighed. What had Kalim told him that one time he had tried to teach him yoga and meditation? Take deep breaths to center yourself? That sounded right. Cater allowed himself one long inhale before forcing a smile that felt faker than the tan he had sprayed on the summer in middle school when he had told everyone he'd been on an island vacay (when in reality, he'd spent the whole time at Grandma Diamond's farm). "Okay, bye-e-e-e Idia!"

Sevens, he really didn't want to deal with this anymore, so before Idia could respond to his salutation, Cater whirled around and walked away. He tried to weave an extra spring into his step, so in case anyone saw him, they'd think he was being his regular, perky, Cater Diamond self.

No one needed to know that he was trying very hard not to throw up.

Cater knew that Idia was probably en route to Ignihyde and therefore in the Hall of Mirrors; so, he stalwartly avoided walking there until he was sure that they wouldn't have another run-in. Normally, after history of magic lessons, Cater grabbed a bite at Mostro Lounge or tried to find one of his friends to see if they were down to hang, but today, all he wanted to do was head back to Heartslabyul. And scream. And sulk. And wallow. He had a long list.