Happy New Year + Sneak Peeks (Patreon)

Hey guys! 👋 First of all, happy new year to all of you! I hope you guys have been having a good new year so far. Here's to hoping for a better year for all of us in 2024! 🥰

Also, I've been really busy working on the update and I'm back to the full swing of things. Now, I'm here to share some snippets and sneak peeks for all of you 😊

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Ten minutes later, you step out of the shower and dry yourself off before putting on clothes for the day. You wonder if Ash is still asleep or maybe ${ash_he} has left and do whatever it is ${ash_he} has to do. Turns out, it's neither of those as you hear sounds coming from the kitchen area as soon as you exit your bedroom.

As you make your way towards the kitchen, you check the notifications on your phone. 

[There will be eight potential variations on how many and whose texts you will get based on your relationship with Rin, Skylar, and Santana. For the sneak peek, I'll choose the one where you have good relationship with all three of them.]

There are three texts from Rin, Skylar, and Santana respectively.

Whose text are you going to open first?

# Rin's.

# Skylar's.

# Santana's.

*  *  *  *  *

[Rin's text if you are romancing them and Ash]

You decide to open Rin's message first, since it is the earliest one. Somehow, you feel like ${rin_he} intentionally sent this so early so as to beat the other two to it. $!{rin_he} said:

"Good morning, $!{nick}. If you're free today, I would like to fulfill my promise of taking you to one of my favorite places."

"Oh, and tell Ash that ${ash_he}'s free to tag along as well."

Oh, right, you almost forgot that Rin kind of promised to take you out yesterday in front of the whole group. Not only that, ${rin_he} had also invited Ash. You immediately feel your heart beating a bit faster and you decide to leave it on read for now.

You move on to the next text…

# Skylar's.

# Santana's.

*  *  *  *  *

[Santana's text if you have good friendship with them but no romance]

It's from Santana, who just sent you the message around fifteen minutes ago. $!{san_he} said:

"Hope I'm not bothering your rest, $!{name}. I just want to tell you that I'm planning to go look through the archives to try narrow down some suspects from the info we have so far."

"Can't promise it will be fruitful, but at least it will feel like we're making progress."

Sorting through a bunch of papers and folders doesn't really sound appealing, but if it can help you get closer to your quarry even by a bit, you'll gladly do it. There's also something else you've been thinking about asking Santana for, but you're not sure whether ${san_he} would agree to do it or if you even have the courage to go through with it in the first place.

But still… It might be something worthwhile to do. You're not ready to give your answer right now, but you'll think about it and make your decision before you leave.

*  *  *  *  *

"Morning, Ash," you greet ${ash_him} as you as you turn the corner and enter the kitchen. The sight that greets you, however, stops you in your tracks.

Ash is currently sandwiching a piece of sliced bread in between ${ash_his} bare hands. $!{ash_his} palms are glowing reddish-orange and the smell of the bread being toasted wafts out with the wisps of smoke. Ash, in the meantime, is watching the process intently, the tip of ${ash_his} tongue poking out between ${ash_his} lips in an adorable display of concentration.

“Are you seriously using your power to toast bread right now?” you ask incredulously.

$!{ash_he} jolts slightly and turns to look at you, a sheepish smile plastered on ${ash_his} face. “Uh, yeah. Tried to make some with the toaster, but it broke,” ${ash_he} explains, nodding in the direction of the said toaster. $!{ash_he} lifts ${ash_his} hand to check on the bread. It's a beautiful golden brown on both sides. Ash nods and grins in smug satisfaction before taking a bite.

You just blink in half-amazement, half-bafflement. “You know you can just use the stove and a pan, right?”

“Eh,” ${ash_he} waves your suggestion away. “Too lazy to do that, and I don't want to wash too many dishes; I have somewhere to be after this.”

“Oh, what's your plan for today?” you ask ${ash_him} as you pass by to make a cup of ${drink}.

Suddenly, ${ash_his} smile falters and ${ash_he} fidgets in place, betraying ${ash_his} nervousness even more. “How about we have breakfast first?” ${ash_he} says instead, flashing you a tight smile.