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You know, I'm trying of not having this paranoid thinking, but the Honda manual in the garage and that note said "its the same as Lane's," give me ideas.
ahah maybe during the date with Lane his car will have a problem ahah maybe thats also why BB offered him to go to Sweet Leash Motors in the drunk route, bc he noticed his car wasnt maintained well ahah...
Helloo, so do you know more ore less the 3,5 version will come out? Thsnk u so much for your work
i honestly dont know yet, so i wont give a random date because i dont want what happened with Shift 3's release to happen again xD
BUT ive gathered a ton of bew ideas and i already have 37 pages of dialogue drafts! :3
im working more on Ludwig and the point and click on his laptop these days since im excited about it, but im still working on RB at the same time. (idk if im gonna get cancelled again for Lub's wallpaper honestly)
also, i got a new idea for this shift, im going to introduce a new mechanic at the end of Shift 3.5: your motherfucking phone!!!
which youll be able to use freely whenever you want. im introducing it at the end of Shift 3.5 because its gonna be useful for Shift 4!😏
so its a lot of work, but its not necessarily hard just very long xD prob gonna take a few months💖
I think people's response to the characters from Big Bad Dogs is really representative of society's media literacy as a whole. Like,
- "This character said or did a bad thing, so the creator must think or agree with these things"
- "This character said or did a bad thing, therefore they are bad, no nuance"
- "This character said or did a bad thing, so you are also bad if you like this character"
- "This character said or did a bad thing, the media is trying to glorify or romanticize these actions"
- "I've never interacted with this media, but other people are saying [above statements], therefore I will spread misinformation about this media and judge anyone who likes it"
I'm so tired of seeing TikToks about it 😭 They really want nothing but one-note mary sue characters. Morally grey characters are morally grey because sometimes they say or do empathetic things and sometimes they say or do questionable things. It's what makes them complex.
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until your best friend starts flirting with the new girl at work... who just so happens to be your longtime internet crush. suddenly, the bro code needs a patch update.
Ludwig had been talking to you for three years.
Three years of late-night MSN conversations that somehow stretched until sunrise. Three years of exchanging badly compressed anime screenshots, arguing over which opening song deserved to be skipped, and pretending neither of you stayed online longer than necessary just because the other hadn't signed off yet.
He knew your favorite anime changed every other month.
Knew you always cried over side characters more than the protagonists.
Knew you had a habit of calling every fictional man with silver hair "husband" before inevitably moving on to the next one.
Sometimes, when he watched whatever series you had recently recommended, he'd catch himself looking at a character and thinking...
You'd definitely like this one.
Then, after a pause—
...Actually, you'd probably marry him.
It had become second nature.
Every anime he watched somehow circled back to you.
Every manga recommendation started with, "She'd probably enjoy this."
His friends thought he was obsessed with anime.
He wasn't.
He was obsessed with talking about anime...
...with you.
Then one Friday night, Lane called.
Or rather—Lane never really called.
He simply inserted himself into Ludwig’s afternoons the same way he inserted himself into everything else: loudly, uninvited, and with absolutely no regard for whether Ludwig had planned on spending the day in peace.
The familiar ringtone barely had time to finish before Ludwig answered and was greeted by the sound of a PlayStation menu clicking in the background.
“You hopping on?”
Ludwig leaned back in his chair, one hand lazily scrolling through his game library. “I’m already online.”
“Good.”
For a few moments there was nothing except the soft hum of their consoles and the occasional click of buttons as they searched for a map. Ludwig was halfway through choosing a loadout when Lane spoke again, his voice carrying that unmistakable I’m about to say something stupid energy.
“Dude.”
Ludwig sighed. “What.”
“We got a new girl at work.”
He answered with an absentminded hum, eyes still fixed on the screen. New coworkers came and went all the time at Mad Dogs Convenience Store. Lane complained about half of them and flirted with the other half.
“Cool.”
“Nah, like…” Lane let out a laugh under his breath. “She’s actually kinda cute.”
“Congratulations.”
“And funny.”
“Mhm.”
“And she keeps threatening to throw expired sandwiches at me whenever I steal a Red Bull from the cooler.”
That finally earned a snort from Ludwig. “Maybe because you’re annoying.”
“I am annoying,” Lane admitted cheerfully. Another laugh crackled through the headset. “But she laughs after every insult, so I think I’m making progress.”
Ludwig shook his head, amused despite himself. “Sounds like she’s already enabling you.”
“I know, right? Jackpot.”
Ludwig didn’t think much of it. Lane developed a new crush every other week, usually on someone who had shown him the bare minimum amount of attention. A sarcastic coworker who tolerated his flirting hardly seemed noteworthy.
A soft notification interrupted the game lobby. The small MSN Messenger window blinked insistently in the corner of his screen.
you: first day wasn’t so bad
Without realizing it, Ludwig’s expression softened. He minimized the game for a moment and typed back.
ludwig: see? told you.
The typing indicator appeared almost immediately.
you: one of my coworkers is insufferable though.
A quiet laugh escaped him as he rested his chin against his hand.
ludwig: already?
you:imagine someone drinking red bull straight from the cooler without paying first
Ludwig frowned at the screen.
ludwig: …isn’t that stealing?
you: apparently he “pays before his shift ends” 😭
Before Ludwig could reply, another message popped up.
you: he called me “baby” today.
The laugh burst out of him before he could stop it—loud enough that Lane immediately noticed through the headset.
“What?”
Ludwig straightened in his chair, still grinning at the screen. “Nothing.”
“What’re you laughing at?”
“Just a meme.”
Lane accepted the answer with surprising ease, already distracted by the match countdown. Ludwig accepted your explanation just as easily, amused by the image of some obnoxiously flirtatious coworker making your life difficult.
Neither of them realized they were talking about the same person.
Over the next few days, the clues kept appearing—small, harmless things that should have connected together but never quite did.
Lane complained constantly while they played. According to him, the new girl kept calling him lazy because he spent half his shift hiding in the stockroom with his phone, emerging only to steal another drink and flash that stupid grin of his.
Later that same night, Ludwig would receive a message from you complaining that your coworker was “the laziest employee on the planet” and that you were starting to think the stockroom was his natural habitat.
Another evening, Lane mentioned that she liked anime and had a keychain hanging from her bag that he didn’t recognize.
A few hours later, you excitedly told Ludwig that one of your coworkers had noticed your anime keychain and spent five whole minutes trying—and failing—to pronounce the character’s name correctly.
Then came the broom incident. Lane sounded far too pleased with himself as he recounted how she had threatened to beat him with it for stacking boxes in the wrong place. Not long afterward, Ludwig received a dramatically typed message from you insisting that you had “almost committed a workplace crime with a broom.”
Each conversation mirrored the other so perfectly that, in hindsight, the answer seemed painfully obvious.
But Ludwig never saw it.
To him, they were simply two separate parts of his life:
Lane, his loudmouthed best friend who flirted with anything capable of rolling its eyes at him.
And you, the girl on the other side of a computer screen who stayed up until three in the morning arguing with him about anime openings.
The idea that those two worlds could possibly overlap never crossed his mind.
───
Lane's day off came a week later, which somehow meant Ludwig had ended up sprawled across the worn couch in his apartment with a controller in hand. The place looked exactly as he'd remembered—too small to be this messy, yet somehow perpetually cluttered. Empty instant noodle cups crowded the coffee table beside stacks of game cases, a hoodie had been abandoned over the dining chair days ago, and the old electric fan rattling away in the kitchenette sounded like it was moments away from giving up entirely.
The match had barely started before Lane, unsurprisingly, circled back to the same subject.
"So..." he began, entirely too casual. "The new girl's threatening to beat me with a broom again."
Ludwig let out a sigh through his nose, eyes never leaving the television. "What did you do this time?"
"I hid the barcode scanner."
"...You deserved it."
"I know." Lane laughed to himself, completely unashamed. "She gets this little wrinkle between her eyebrows whenever she's annoyed. It's kinda cute."
Ludwig snorted.
"There it is."
"What?"
"The part where you pretend you don't have a crush."
"I don't."
"You've moaned about her every single day this week."
"I'm making observations."
"You've made enough observations to write a biography."
Lane scoffed, leaning farther back into the couch. "Whatever. She's just funny."
"Mhm."
"And she brought this dumb anime keychain to work today."
That caught Ludwig's attention.
He glanced over, only briefly.
"...Anime?"
"Yeah." Lane shrugged. "Didn't expect it either."
"Huh."
"Started rambling about some silver-haired guy. I had no clue what she was talking about, so I just nodded." He laughed. "She looked really happy, though."
Something tugged at the back of Ludwig's mind.
You'd done that before.
Many times.
The moment anime came up, you'd completely forget yourself. Messages that started as two lines somehow became paragraphs. He'd grown used to opening MSN only to find walls of text about whichever silver-haired idiot had stolen your heart that week.
Coincidence.
Plenty of people liked anime.
Lane continued, oblivious.
"She always has headphones on during break."
Another coincidence.
"Says she stays up until morning watching shows."
Lots of people stayed up all night... right?
"And apparently strawberry Pocky's her favorite."
Ludwig's thumb stopped moving.
"...Really?"
"Yeah."
"...Huh." He stared back at the screen, but he wasn't seeing it anymore.
Anime.
Headphones.
Sleeps at dawn.
Strawberry Pocky.
None of those things meant anything on their own.
Together...
No.
There had to be thousands of girls like that.
"...She's weird," Lane said with an amused grin.
"You seem to like weird now."
"I do."
A laugh escaped Ludwig before he could stop it.
"...Maybe we've just got the same taste."
Lane barked out a laugh loud enough to echo around the apartment.
"You?"
"What?"
"You mean besides anime girls?"
"I'm serious."
He hesitated for only a second before adding, almost absentmindedly,
"...Can I actually see this girl you've been yapping about?"
Lane rolled his eyes dramatically.
"I have not been yapping."
"You absolutely have."
"I've been appreciating."
"You've been insufferable."
"Oh, shut up."
Still grumbling, Lane fished his phone out of his pocket and began scrolling. Most of the pictures were useless—accidental shots of the floor, crooked shelves, a blurry parking lot taken through the store window.
Then he stopped.
"There."
He shoved the phone toward Ludwig.
"She's cute, right?" A grin spread across his face. "Looks like one of those girls you'd jerk off to."
Ludwig looked up with a look of disgust.
"...What the hell does that even mean?"
"You know." Lane waved his free hand dismissively. "Anime stuff."
Rolling his eyes, Ludwig took the phone anyway.
He was already smiling before he looked.
The smile disappeared almost instantly.
The picture was terrible—grainy, washed out, the kind only a cheap phone could manage—but none of that mattered.
You stood beside Lane in Mad Dogs uniform, one hand reaching toward a shelf while the other absentmindedly fiddled with the tiny anime keychain clipped to your belt loop.
The same keychain.
The same hoodie over the work vest.
The same face he'd spent three years watching through grainy webcam calls and compressed profile pictures.
His stomach dropped.
...No.
Without realizing it, he pressed the zoom button. The image dissolved into even bigger pixels.
It changed nothing.
It was still you.
A cold weight settled somewhere deep in his chest.
Fuck.
His thoughts began unraveling all at once.
Three years of late-night conversations.
Three years of swapping anime recommendations.
Three years of typing out confessions only to erase them before hitting send.
And all this time...
Every story Lane had told.
Every complaint.
Every laugh.
Every "the new girl did this today."
He hadn't been talking about some stranger. He'd been talking about you. How...?
No.
A better question surfaced.
How the hell did I not realize?
"She almost hit me with a broom."
"My coworker almost got written up for hiding the scanner."
"She likes anime."
"My coworker noticed my keychain."
"She keeps calling me lazy."
"He's the laziest person I've ever met."
The conversations overlapped so perfectly they made him feel sick.
...I'm an idiot.
"Lud?"
Lane's voice sounded distant, muffled beneath the rushing in Ludwig's ears.
"...Dude?"
A hand nudged his shoulder.
"You got a boner or something?" Lane laughed. "Your face just went pale."
Silence.
The joke lingered unanswered.
Slowly, Lane's grin faded into something closer to concern.
"...Do you know her?"
That finally pulled Ludwig back.
He blinked once, then twice, struggling to pull himself together before Lane could notice just how violently his thoughts had begun to spiral.
"N-No."
The answer came out too quickly.
Lane tilted his head.
"...No?"
"I mean..." Ludwig forced an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck before handing the phone back. "Thought she was someone I knew."
"You sure?"
"...Yeah."
The lie tasted bitter.
"Just looked similar."
Lane studied him for another second before eventually shrugging, pocketing his phone without another question. Thankfully.
The game resumed.
Lane went right back to complaining whenever Ludwig stole a kill, as though nothing had happened.
Ludwig answered when he had to, laughed where he was expected to, but the match blurred into meaningless flashes of color.
His heart had already made up its mind.
His head refused to believe it.
No. Don't be stupid.
One blurry photo wasn't enough.
He needed proof.
Real proof.
Tomorrow, he'd ask you how work was.
If you told him about the lazy coworker who drank Red Bull straight from the cooler and called everyone baby...
Then he'd know.
And for the first time in three years, Ludwig wasn't sure which answer he wanted more.
Sleep refused to come.
Ludwig had long since given up pretending otherwise. He lay sprawled across his narrow bed, one arm tucked beneath his head while the other rested lazily over his stomach, his eyes tracing the familiar cracks that ran across the ceiling. The room was quiet save for the low hum of his computer and the occasional buzz of the old electric fan struggling against the summer heat. Pale blue light from the monitor spilled across the walls, bathing the room in that lonely sort of glow only midnight seemed capable of creating.
His MSN Messenger sat open.
One tiny green icon blinked patiently from his contact list.
You were online.
Normally, he would've clicked your name without thinking. A simple hey would've been enough to start another conversation that would somehow stretch until three in the morning. It always did. One anime recommendation turned into another, then somehow into childhood stories, terrible jokes, complaints about school, plans neither of you were brave enough to follow through with.
Tonight...
His cursor hovered over your name.
Then drifted away.
Three years.
Three years of conversations that outlasted the sunrise. Three years of birthdays celebrated through emoticons and poorly compressed webcam calls. Three years of watching your display name change every other week because you'd inevitably discovered another anime character to obsess over.
Somewhere along the way, Ludwig had convinced himself there would always be more time.
More time to finally meet you.
More time to stop hiding behind a computer screen.
More time to tell you that somewhere between discussing filler episodes and arguing over which opening song was objectively better, he'd fallen hopelessly in love with you.
He just...
Never imagined someone else would get there first.
A dry laugh escaped him before he could stop it.
Of all people...
Of course it'd be Lane.
It couldn't have been anyone else.
Lane flirted with waitresses just to see them laugh. Somehow managed to flirt with complete strangers while waiting in line at convenience stores. He walked into every room like he'd lived there his whole life, effortlessly collecting smiles and phone numbers without ever seeming to realize he was doing it.
People liked Lane.
It was almost unfair how easy it came to him.
Ludwig had never envied that.
Not until now.
He let out a slow breath and rubbed both hands over his face until his glasses dug uncomfortably against his nose.
"Bros before hoes."
God.
He hated that phrase.
It sounded ridiculous now that he actually thought about it.
It was the sort of thing teenage boys yelled before immediately abandoning the rule the moment a pretty girl smiled at them.
But...
What happened when the girl wasn't just some girl?
What happened when she'd quietly become the center of your life without even realizing it?
And what happened when your best friend had absolutely no idea?
Lane wasn't trying to steal anything.
He didn't know.
Hell, if the roles were reversed, Ludwig doubted Lane would've noticed either.
The thought only made his chest feel heavier.
His gaze drifted back toward the monitor.
Your green status light still blinked patiently.
Waiting.
If he told Lane... There wasn't a doubt in his mind what would happen.
Lane would back off.
Immediately.
No questions asked.
The certainty of it should've been comforting.
Instead, it made guilt settle somewhere deep inside his stomach.
Because Lane deserved to be happy too. He hadn't done anything wrong. He hadn't stolen you. He'd simply met you...
No.
Ludwig frowned.
Not met.
He'd met you years ago.
Lane had simply been lucky enough to meet you in person first.
He buried his face in his pillow with a groan.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
Life would've been a whole lot easier if there'd been an actual handbook for moments like this.
Some stupid chapter tucked between "Don't date your best friend's ex" and "Never leave your homie behind."
Instead...
There was nothing.
No rule.
No advice.
No patch notes.
Just Ludwig lying awake at nearly three in the morning, wondering whether three years of quietly loving someone counted for anything at all.
───
The following days passed with an almost painful sense of normalcy.
Every night, your name lit up on his screen without fail.
Every night, the two of you slipped effortlessly back into conversation, as though nothing had changed.
You complained about work. About customers who couldn't read the giant CLOSED sign hanging on the door. About counting cigarettes. About your coworker who kept helping himself to a can of Red Bull before paying for it at the end of his shift.
"He keeps calling me 'baby,' Ludwig."
"Today he tried convincing me that sleeping in the stockroom counted as working."
"I almost beat him with a broom."
Ludwig laughed.
He always laughed.
You sounded genuinely exasperated whenever you talked about Lane. But beneath every complaint... There was amusement.
A fondness you probably hadn't noticed creeping into your own words yet. And somehow... That hurt the most.
Not because you loved him.
You didn't.
At least, Ludwig didn't think you did.
You just...
Enjoyed being around him.
His stomach tightened.
Because if Lane ever stopped dancing around it...
If he ever looked at you with that crooked grin of his and simply asked..... You'd probably say yes.
The thought arrived quietly, yet it lodged itself somewhere beneath his ribs like a splinter he couldn't pull free.
I mean...
Look at him.
Lane was handsome.
Annoyingly so.
The sort of handsome that didn't seem to require any effort, paired with an easy smile and the kind of confidence Ludwig had never managed to understand. He flirted because it amused him. Made entire rooms laugh without trying. People naturally gravitated toward him, as though conversation simply flowed easier in his presence.
Ludwig had watched it happen for years.
He'd never compared himself before.
Now...
He couldn't stop.
If Lane asked...
You'd probably say yes.
Why wouldn't you?
Ludwig wasn't entirely convinced he wouldn't say yes if Lane asked him out.
"...No homo," he muttered into the empty room.
The words hung there for exactly one second before he groaned, grabbed the nearest pillow, and buried his burning face into it.
He was losing his mind.
───
For nearly a week, Ludwig convinced himself he simply hadn't found the right time.
Lane called once on Monday while he was halfway through replying to one of your messages. Ludwig watched the screen light up, thumb hovering over the answer button before he let it ring until the familiar beep of voicemail finally cut through the silence.
"Sorry, man. Was asleep."
It was barely noon.
On Tuesday, he claimed he had a migraine. Wednesday became maybe tomorrow, Thursday somehow turned into I forgot to charge my phone, and by Friday he'd stopped bothering to come up with believable excuses altogether.
The guilt was exhausting.
Every conversation with you made it worse.
You still complained about the coworker who shamelessly drank Red Bull before paying for it. Still rolled your eyes whenever he called you baby just to watch you threaten him with the nearest broom. You laughed while telling the stories, and Ludwig laughed with you because that was what he always did.
Then, as soon as he logged off, he'd stare at Lane's unanswered messages and feel like the world's biggest asshole.
He couldn't keep talking to both of you as though nothing had changed.
Not anymore.
The knock came just after midnight.
Three sharp raps against the apartment door.
Ludwig frowned.
Nobody visited him this late.
Another knock followed, louder this time, before his phone vibrated across the desk.
Lane Calling.
"...Hello?"
"Dude."
Lane sounded less angry than he did deeply inconvenienced.
"I've officially had enough."
Ludwig blinked.
"...Enough of what?"
"You."
A beat.
"I've been calling you for a week. I've been texting."
Silence.
"I even sent you a picture of a pigeon that looked exactly like you."
"...I saw the pigeon."
"And you still ignored me."
Ludwig sighed, rubbing tiredly at his eyes.
"...Sorry."
"Nope."
"..."
"I'm outside."
His brows knitted together.
"...Outside where?"
"Your apartment."
"..."
"I can literally see your bedroom light."
Ludwig turned toward the window almost against his own will.
Sure enough, parked beneath the flickering streetlamp was Lane's battered Honda, engine still idling. Even from the second floor, Ludwig could make out Lane leaning against the driver's door with his phone pressed to one ear.
"...Open the damn door. Stop acting like a chick."
The call ended before Ludwig had a chance to answer.
───
Five minutes later, Lane wandered into the apartment like he'd been invited all along.
His gaze swept lazily across the room—the stack of instant noodle cups balanced precariously on the desk, clothes draped over the computer chair, game cases scattered across the floor—before settling on Ludwig.
"...Jesus."
Ludwig looked up from where he'd been pretending to organize his desk.
"What?"
"You look like shit."
"...Thanks."
"No, seriously."
Lane shut the door behind him with his foot, concern slowly replacing the usual grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"You sick or something?"
Ludwig shrugged.
"Tired."
"You've looked tired for a week."
"..."
"You've been dodging me."
Another shrug.
Lane let out a quiet sigh before dropping onto the couch, elbows resting on his knees. For once, he wasn't talking. He simply watched Ludwig, waiting.
The silence stretched long enough to become uncomfortable.
Outside, rain began tapping softly against the windows .The old electric fan hummed in the corner. Somewhere upstairs, a television laughed through paper-thin apartment walls.
"...Did I do something?"
The question was so quiet Ludwig almost missed it.
He looked over.
Lane wasn't joking anymore.
His shoulders had slumped forward, hands hanging loosely between his knees, his usual easygoing smile nowhere to be found.
"...No."
"No?"
"You didn't."
"Then what is it?"
Ludwig opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
How was he even supposed to explain this?
"Hey, remember that girl you've been talking about every single day? Turns out she's the one I've quietly loved for three years."
It sounded ridiculous.
Childish.
Embarrassing.
He laughed once under his breath, though there wasn't anything funny about it.
Lane waited.
Patiently.
He always waited.
"...Lud."
His voice unusually calm.
"You know you can tell me anything, just spill it out."
That was the problem.
He could.
Which meant the only thing standing in his way was himself.
Ludwig scrubbed both hands down his face and drew in one long, shaky breath. The words had spent an entire week clawing at the back of his throat.
Now that they were finally free, they came crashing out all at once.
For a long moment, the only thing filling the apartment was the uneven rattle of the old electric fan in the kitchenette. It whirred loudly enough to drown out the rain tapping against the window, its blades sounding as though they might finally give up after years of faithful service. Ludwig became painfully aware of every little noise in the room—the hum of his computer left running in the bedroom, the muffled laughter from a television somewhere upstairs, the way his own heartbeat seemed to pound against his ribs.
"The fuck?...I understood maybe six words in that sentence."
Heat rushed to Ludwig's face.
Of course he hadn't.
He'd spent the last week rehearsing this conversation in his head, only to throw every coherent thought out the window the second it mattered. He squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment, dragging a tired hand over his face as though he could physically wipe away the embarrassment.
"...Can you... maybe say that again?"
A humorless laugh escaped him.
"...Yeah."
The words didn't come nearly as easily the second time. They sat stubbornly in his throat, refusing to move until he forced them out one by one.
"...I've been in love with your coworker." He swallowed. "...For three years."
Silence settled between them once more. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence. If anything, it was almost thoughtful.
Lane didn't interrupt. Didn't laugh. Didn't immediately ask questions. He simply sat there, elbows resting on his knees, quietly piecing together the confession he'd only half understood moments ago.
Ludwig, on the other hand, was seconds away from crawling into the nearest hole.
"...The girl from Mad Dogs," he continued, unable to stop himself now that the words had finally started coming. "She's... she's the one I've always told you about."
The girl.
The one whose name had come up so often over the years that Lane probably knew more about her than some of Ludwig's actual relatives. The one Ludwig somehow managed to bring into every conversation, whether it was to complain about a terrible internet connection during one of your movie nights or laugh about another anime recommendation you'd forced him to watch.
Only now... She wasn't just the girl online. She was standing behind the register at Mad Dogs. Smiling at Lane. Threatening to hit him with a broom. Calling him an idiot.
Ludwig let out a slow breath. "...I didn't know." His voice was barely audible. "I swear I didn't know it was her."
He finally looked up.
There it was.
The moment he'd spent an entire week dreading. Maybe Lane would get mad. Maybe he'd ask why Ludwig hadn't told him sooner. Maybe, for the first time in years, they'd actually fight.
Instead...
Lane leaned back against the couch, rubbing absentmindedly at his chin as if he'd just been handed a particularly difficult math problem.
"...Huh."
Ludwig frowned.
"...Huh?"
Another few seconds passed before Lane gave a small nod to himself, like he'd finally reached the end of whatever conclusion he'd been working through.
"...Cool."
...
Ludwig blinked.
"...Cool?"
"Yeah."
"...That's..." He searched Lane's face for... something. Disappointment. Frustration. Anything.
"...That's your response?"
Lane looked just as confused.
"...Should it not be?"
"I-I don't know."
A nervous laugh escaped Ludwig before he could stop it.
"I just told you we like the same girl."
"...Yeah."
They both just stopped for second. Finding the right words. beating around the bush. Being a man.
"So?"
Ludwig stared at him. "...So?"
"Dude." Lane looked genuinely puzzled now, his brows knitting together.
"You've liked her since, what... high school? college?"
"...Yeah."
"I've known her for a month."
"..."
"I think you've got me beat." Lane put his hands in the air.
Ludwig let out another incredulous laugh.
"...Lane."
"What?"
"...That's not how it works"
Lane shrugged before he pointed helplessly toward him, wanting to say something. Lane rolled his eyes with an exaggerated sigh before reaching over and giving Ludwig's knee a light shove.
"I'm not saying she's yours." The teasing tone slipped away, replaced by something quieter. "I'm saying... you've loved her for three years."
The apartment fell quiet again.
"I didn't." Lane corrected himself with a small shake of his head. "I don't love her." His gaze drifted toward the rain-streaked window.
A tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, almost sheepish. "I think she's funny."
Another pause.
"I think she's cute and funny" His shoulders lifted in a careless shrug. He didn't even look at his friend who's dying in front of him. "But that's about as far as it goes."
Ludwig remained silent.
"If I'd known she was the girl you've been talking about all this time..."
Lane scratched the back of his neck. "...I would've stopped."
It was that simple.
No hesitation.
No resentment.
Just a statement.
Like there'd never been another option.
Lane looked back at him and grinned.
"Bros before hoes."
For a second.. .Ludwig simply stared. The phrase was so unbelievably stupid. So perfectly Lane. That a laugh slipped out before he had any chance of stopping it.
It started quietly.
One breath.
Then another.
Until suddenly he was bent over in his chair, laughing hard enough that his eyes watered.
Lane frowned.
"...What?"
"You..."
Ludwig wiped quickly beneath one eye.
"...You're actually an idiot."
"Takes one to know one."
"I spent an entire week convincing myself we were going to ruin our friendship."
"...Over a girl?" Lane sounded genuinely offended. "Dude." He leaned back into the couch, crossing his arms. "I'm not losing my best friend over some pussy."
The bluntness of it made Ludwig bark out another laugh.
"...Apparently I was."
"Yeah." Lane pointed at him immediately. "That's because you're dramatic."
Relief swept through Ludwig so suddenly it almost made him dizzy. All week he'd been mourning a friendship that hadn't even been in danger.
Without really thinking about it, he stepped forward and wrapped both arms around Lane. "...Bro."
Lane went rigid.
"I could literally kiss you right now."
A beat passed.
"...No homo."
"Eugh." Lane shoved him away with visible disgust, wiping dramatically at his shoulder like Ludwig had infected him with something.
"Save that for her."
Ludwig stumbled back, still laughing.
"...Fair."
"...Actually," Lane added, pointing a finger at him as though correcting himself was of the utmost importance. "That's gay. You almost had a heartfelt moment."
"I know."
Lane smirked.
"I got scared."
---
Ludwig didn't tell you he was coming.
He almost texted.
His fingers had hovered over the keyboard for a good five minutes, typing and deleting the same message until it no longer resembled English.
"Hey, I'm thinking of stopping by your work."
Delete.
"You busy tonight?"
Delete.
"Can I see you?"
Delete.
In the end, he closed the chat window entirely.
If he gave himself another excuse to overthink it, he'd spend another three years hiding behind a screen.
So he went.
The bell above the automatic doors chimed softly as he stepped inside Mad Dogs, the familiar scent of coffee, instant noodles, and reheated fried food greeting him almost immediately. It was well past midnight, and the store sat in that strange kind of silence only convenience stores seemed to know. Fluorescent lights buzzed faintly overhead, the refrigerators hummed along the back wall, and somewhere near the magazine rack an old radio played a song so quietly it was little more than background noise.
It wasn't busy.
Just one customer lingering by the drinks aisle and an elderly man reading the newspaper near the window.
Ludwig lingered by the entrance for a moment, suddenly wondering if this had been a terrible idea after all.
What if you were busy?
What if you'd rather he'd told you first?
What if—
"You've been staring at the chips for, like... a full minute."
His head snapped toward the counter.
Lane stood there with one elbow propped lazily against the register, already wearing that familiar grin.
"You planning to rob the place or marry her?"
Ludwig rolled his eyes, feeling some of the tension leave his shoulders. "...Shut up."
"I knew you'd chicken out eventually." Lane rounded the counter, nudging him lightly with an elbow. "C'mon."
He jerked his head toward the back of the store.
"She's stocking drinks."
Ludwig swallowed.
"...Right now?"
"When else?"
"..."
Lane snorted.
"Dude. You survived confessing to me. I'm starting to think that was easier."
"It definitely was."
Lane laughed, giving him one last shove toward the refrigerated section before wandering back to the register as though this entire encounter hadn't just determined the course of Ludwig's life.
Ludwig hated how sweaty his palms suddenly felt.
The closer he walked, the louder his heartbeat became.
You were crouched in front of the refrigerator, quietly arranging bottled tea into neat rows. Your headphones rested around your neck instead of over your ears, humming softly with music Ludwig couldn't quite make out.
You looked...
Exactly the way he'd imagined.
And somehow...
Nothing like he'd imagined at all.
Three years of blurry webcam calls and compressed profile pictures had never quite prepared him for the way the fluorescent lights caught against your face, or the absentminded way you tucked loose strands of hair behind your ear whenever they slipped free.
For a moment, he simply stood there.
Watching.
Then, almost as though you'd felt his eyes on you, you glanced over your shoulder.
Recognition came instantly.
Your eyes widened.
For a heartbeat, neither of you moved.
"...Ludwig?"
His name left your lips in a mixture of surprise and disbelief, carrying farther through the quiet store than either of you expected.
The bottle in your hand never even made it onto the shelf.
You abandoned it entirely.
"Ludwig!"
Before he could even manage a greeting, you were already crossing the aisle, weaving around a cardboard display of instant noodles before throwing your arms around him with enough force to make him stumble backward a step.
The shopping basket he'd picked up out of sheer nervousness slipped from his fingers with a loud clatter.
He barely noticed.
"...Hey."
It was all he could manage.
You pulled back just enough to look at him, your hands still resting around his arms as though letting go hadn't crossed your mind yet.
"You actually came."
Your smile was impossibly bright.
"I thought I'd have to wait another three years."
Ludwig laughed, though it came out embarrassingly breathless.
"...Yeah."
"I almost started thinking you weren't real."
"I wasn't sure either."
You swatted his shoulder.
"Idiot."
"I know."
"...You should've told me."
"I know."
"I would've cleaned my room."
That earned him a laugh—warm, familiar, exactly the same one he'd heard through cheap computer speakers for years.
Only now...
It wasn't distorted by a microphone.
It was real.
───
From behind the register, Lane watched the entire exchange unfold in comfortable silence.
He'd expected you to smile.
Maybe wave.
Instead...
You'd run.
Not because you were trying to impress anyone.
Not because you'd been caught off guard.
It had simply been instinct.
The kind of instinct people didn't think about.
Lane leaned lightly against the counter, folding his arms as he watched Ludwig stand there looking like someone whose brain had completely shut down.
"...Damn."
A quiet laugh escaped him beneath his breath.
So...
That was the face.
Not the polite smile you gave customers.
Not the amused grin you wore whenever Lane inevitably did something stupid.
This one was different.
Brighter.
Softer.
Almost relieved.
It wasn't difficult to figure out why Ludwig had spent three years talking about you.
Nor was it difficult to understand why you'd waited three years for him to finally walk through those automatic doors.
A tiny ache settled somewhere in Lane's chest.
Not enough to break him.
Just enough to make him smile to himself.
"...Figures."
He liked you.
He really did.
But some feelings arrived quietly. And just as quietly... They knew when to leave.
Without saying a word, Lane pushed himself away from the counter and stretched lazily.
"I'm gonna check the stockroom," he called casually, already turning the corner before either of you had a chance to answer.
Neither of you noticed.
Lane smiled to himself.
Good.
───
Lane ended up clocking out a little earlier than usual.
He didn't announce it with some grand speech or an exaggerated "I'm leaving you two alone." That would've been unlike him. Instead, he disappeared into the stockroom for a few minutes before reappearing with his backpack slung lazily over one shoulder, keys twirling around his index finger.
"You heading home?" he asked, looking between the two of you.
You nodded. "Yeah. Shift's finally over."
Lane hummed, tossing his keys into the air only to catch them again. His eyes drifted toward Ludwig for the briefest moment before the corner of his mouth lifted into that familiar, lopsided grin.
"Good."
Without another word, he reached into his pocket and fished out the spare apartment key Ludwig had forgotten to take back a week ago. The metal jingled through the air before Ludwig caught it clumsily against his chest.
"...Oh."
"I was wondering where that went," Ludwig muttered.
"I know."
Lane stretched, letting out a tired yawn as he started walking backward toward the door.
"I'm gonna head out."
"So early?" you asked.
"My shift's over."
"You usually stay another hour just to mooch snacks."
"I suddenly remembered I have a life."
Ludwig snorted.
"...Liar."
"I know."
Lane flashed another grin before pointing lazily between the two of you.
"You got this."
Ludwig blinked.
"...Got what?"
Lane only rolled his eyes.
"I'm not spelling it out for you."
He pushed the glass door open with his shoulder before glancing back one last time.
The bell above the door chimed softly .Then he was gone. The silence he left behind felt strangely comfortable.
You laughed quietly, shaking your head. "...He's ridiculous."
"He really is."
For a moment, neither of you moved.
"My shift is almost done in a minute."
You nudged Ludwig lightly with your elbow.
"And I came all the way here. It'd be rude if I didn't at least ask to walk you home."
───
The streets were quieter than Ludwig expected.
Most of the city had long since fallen asleep, leaving only the occasional passing car and the distant hum of traffic somewhere beyond the apartment blocks. Streetlights painted long pools of amber across the pavement, stretching your shadows beside one another as you walked.
Conversation came easily.
Easier than Ludwig had expected.
You talked about work.
About the old woman who insisted on buying the exact same lottery ticket every Friday.
About Lane somehow convincing a customer that expired cup noodles were "vintage."
"You know he actually called instant ramen a collector's item?"
Ludwig laughed.
"...That sounds like him."
"I almost believed him."
"I would've."
"I know."
You smiled.
"So would he."
The conversation drifted from work to anime, then to old memories neither of you had thought about in years. Somewhere along the way, Ludwig realized something that made his chest ache in the gentlest way possible.
Nothing had changed.
You still laughed at the same jokes.
Still got carried away whenever you talked about a series you liked.
Still waved your hands around whenever you were trying to explain something.
It felt...
Comfortably familiar.
Like you'd skipped straight over the awkward stage everyone warned him about.
Three years melted away as though they'd never been separated by computer screens at all.
Before either of you noticed, your apartment building had come into view.
"...Well."
You stopped near the entrance, shifting your bag higher onto your shoulder.
"I guess this is me."
"...Yeah."
Ludwig shoved both hands into the pockets of his hoodie.
"...Guess so."
A small silence settled between you.
Not uncomfortable.
Just...
Full.
"So..."
You smiled.
"...Thanks for walking me."
"Anytime."
You lingered for another second before turning toward the entrance. One step. Then another. Ludwig watched you go. This was it. You were about to disappear behind those doors.
You'd tell him goodnight online later. He'd convince himself there was always tomorrow. Tomorrow would become another year. Then another. Three years had already disappeared that way. He wasn't sure he could survive another three.
"...Hey." The word escaped before he'd fully decided to say it.
You stopped. Turning back, you tilted your head ever so slightly. "...Yeah?"
His heart hammered painfully against his ribs.
The speech he'd spent years imagining vanished completely.
"...Would you..."
No.
Not like that.
He cleared his throat.
"...Do you maybe..."
God. He was really doing this?
You waited.
Patiently.
The same way you always had.
Ludwig laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
"...I had something way cooler planned in my head."
That earned a quiet giggle.
"I figured."
"...Yeah."
He looked down at the pavement before forcing himself to meet your eyes again.
"...Would you wanna..."
His voice almost caught.
"...Go out with me sometime? Like.... for a date."
Silence.
Ludwig's stomach dropped so fast he thought he might actually throw up.
Too awkward.
Too late.
You hesitated because you were trying to figure out how to reject him nicely—
Instead...
You smiled.
Not the amused smile you'd worn all evening. Not the polite one reserved for customers.
Something softer.
Warmer. Almost impossibly fond.
Rather than answering, you walked back toward him.
One step.
Then another.
Until you were standing close enough that he had to lower his gaze just to meet yours.
"...Dummy."
He blinked.
"...What?"
"I've been waiting."
Your fingers found the collar of his hoodie, gently tugging him downward until your faces were only inches apart.
"...Waiting for you to ask me that."
Before Ludwig's brain had any chance of catching up, you leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss against his cheek.
Soft.
Warm.
Gone almost as quickly as it came.
His entire body froze.
"...Good night, Ludwig."
You smiled one last time before slipping through the apartment doors. The lock clicked softly behind you.
Silence returned to the empty street.
Ludwig remained exactly where he'd been left, staring blankly at the closed entrance.
His hand drifted slowly to his cheek.
It was still warm.
He touched it like he needed proof it had actually happened.
"..."
"...She kissed me."
The realization arrived a full five seconds later.
"...Holy shit."
Ludwig doesn't even realize he's smiling as he fumbles his flip phone out of his pocket and dials the first number that comes to mind.
The call barely rings once.
"What now? Did you two suck the living shit of each other or what?"
Lane's voice came through thick with sleep.
"...She kissed me. On my right cheek."
A pause.
"..."
"...About fucking time."
The line went dead.
Ludwig stared at the phone for a second before laughing to himself, slipping it back into his pocket.
Somewhere behind the apartment doors, you were probably smiling too.
And for the first time in three years...
Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough.
@crossaints — thank you for reading "Hoes Before Bros?"!! i spent hours writing this fic. i just love ludwig!
Note: this post mentions rape and SA so if you’re uncomfortable discussing the topic, I will suggest you scroll for your comfort.
I don’t mean to put any more drama in this community, especially with everything else going on, but this irks me so much I need to speak on it. If you THINK a person is weak for getting RAPED? Block me IMMEDIATELY. This is an 18+ community. There’s no way at your grown-ass age you should ever have this take. ESPECIALLY if you’re a woman. I don’t know why people immediately put down the victim who got raped instead of the rapist. Those people are insensitive, lack empathy, and are EXTREMELY misogynistic. It also makes me mad that the creator of the video says “watch self-defense videos.” Are we serious? Even if you watch self defense videos, every situation is different. Self defense can lower the risk, but it doesn’t mean you’ll never get assaulted. And the bigger point is we shouldn’t HAVE to do all that just to stay safe. It’s always the same. Even if you said no, even if you took every self-defense class, even if you were fully clothed, even if you had weapons or protection, people will still find a way to blame you. So if your first instinct (or any instinct at all) is to blame the victim of SA instead of the attacker, Block me immediately and educate yourself.
(Also if you’re a guy, your experience is totally valid too. I just put women since the MC is one and we have higher rates. Though do NOT take this as yours is less valid or important. Both genders getting SA are serious issues that should be addressed as such. No matter if it’s fictional or not since these are scenarios that happen all the time in the real world. And also if you’re a victim of SA please do not EVER think you’re the problem, no matter what someone told you.)
Also thank you this person for recognizing how disgusting this take was !!
Ooh, I love this question. 😭 I was a huge MLP fan back in the day until I larp so hard at the final season.
Here's how I'd cast everyone:
BB: Earth pony. He's grounded, physically strong, dependable, and doesn't need magic to be intimidating.
RB: Alicorn. I don't even have a deep explanation for this one. It just feels right in my head 😂
Lane: Pegasus. I can picture him being fast, competitive, and constantly flying circles around everyone else especially MC to annoy the hell out of her.
Amy: Unicorn. Uses her magic to whoop Lane's ass.
Bonus:
Serkan: Earth pony. He's solid and practical <3
Lub: Probably a unicorn? I don't know why, but that's just the vibe I get. Uses his magic to roll his weed broooo
for a character like Lane, the root of his misogyny is complex. beforehand, I apologize if there is any errors in my line of thinking!
an analysis on the origin of Lane's misogyny, stirred by recent events.
as defense mechanism
he doesn't fear women but has grown wary of them. since he has been hurt in the past, he fears it can happen again. he's realized that vulnerability invites pain, and opening up gives individuals the chance to hurt you. which is why he acts cold and snarky. its a defense mechanism, an unconscious habit to avoid getting hurt.
in doing so he keeps others at a distance, as closeness makes him feel uneasy. directing the blame onto all women, makes him feel less weak. as he already feels wary around them ( which can feel conflicting to him as his identity as a man ) & men are expected to remain strong despite hardships, due to expectations placed onto them.
as he anticipates it to happen again, he strikes first. he'll hurl insults, put them down in order to regain control, and appear as tough to hide their inner turmoil.
2. a lack of a father and motherly figure
losing his father at a young age and lacking guidance from his mother caused his immaturity and skewed moral compass. he did not grow up learning how to treat women, and lacked any good role models. while he did have his older sister amelia to learn from, she should not have to take on a parental role because of her mothers neglect and fathers absence.
his friends filled that empty space, and taught him the all wrong ideas.
3. the patriarchy
2009 was filled with misogyny and widespread sexism. there was rigid beauty standards, body shaming, and sexist humor. you could not criticize sexist tropes or comedy at the time for its prejudice towards women else you'd be dismissed as sensitive.
in the 2000s, people were much more comfortable with being sexist. living in this era as a man you'd naturally adopt the rigid gender rules. like I have stated somewhat before, society promotes harmful patriarchal views onto men. it demands them to be dominant, have control of their emotions, and the devaluation of women. manhood is connected to a mans masculinity, and femininity is seen as a threat.
Lane was conditioned into these harmful views.
4. not to be excused
though, it is important to keep in mind a person is still responsible for their own actions. behavior is a choice, and just because you were taught to act a certain way does not excuse your actions. it may take some people a long time to unlearn these harmful behaviors as it becomes a habit, but it isn't impossible.
despite what I have spoken about above, I still believe it is perfectly okay to hate him.
for me personally, its hard to hate him because his misogyny stems from the factors I have mentioned, shaping him into the person he is today, not from pure evil. he at the end of the day, is just a product of his environment.
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Hey I hope this isn’t too weird of a question but how do you feel abt guys playing bbd? Recently got into an online argument where someone said that it’s ruining the space and its weird since the game wasn’t made for dudes and none of the characters are gay (i agree on the gay aspect, but let a dude dream lol)
Anyways love your storytelling and art hope everything is well
wtf im sorry about that!🙀
i was never part of the visual novel community before making BBD, so the fact that the protagonist is a woman never meant "this game is only for women" in my head.
even tho its technically an otome (not sure bc Amy is a love interest xD), i genuinely didnt know things like self-inserting were such a big part of the genre. thats why i never really cared that much about adding extensive MC customization. (big mistake lowky cause it brought me trouble)
so i dont think its weird at all if guys play BBD. anyone is welcome to enjoy it and if you want to imagine the characters as gay in your own headcanon, go for it lol. xD
its not canon but you can imagine whatever you want. 🥰💖
A little reminder for anyone out there trying to project their bad-faith takes on fictional characters and creators. Leave the fiction alone and go touch some grass! Sending you good vibes and laughs. Keep your head up, real fans know what's up! Laly you have my, and the fandoms full support! ❤️❤️❤️
I've recently seen a TikTok circulating that labels me as "problematic."
The video is built around the whole Discord drama that I was NEVER personally involved in. Despite that, it's being presented as though it reflects my own actions or behavior, and as a result, people are now calling me problematic.
I don't think that's fair, because I haven't seen anyone point to something I personally said or did that justifies calling me "problematic."
The only interaction I've ever had with the people behind this was on my itch.io page, where they repeatedly left comments that were unrelated to my game. As the developer, I removed those off-topic comments.
That was the extent of our interactions.
I wasn't a participant in that Discord drama, yet it's now being used as a reason to judge me and my work as though I were responsible for it.
(I recommend reading the Discord chats in the Google Doc attached to this post. If I'm mistaken, you're welcome to check for yourself, but as far as I can tell, my username doesn't appear at all in the discord chats.)
I've also seen comments under this tiktok suggesting that because my visual novel depicts sexism, homophobia, and other harmful attitudes, those beliefs must somehow be my own.
They are not.
And I've also seen comments saying things like, "I'm not surprised the creator is weird with how Lane's written."
Lane is a fictional character. He is intentionally written to be flawed, sexist, manipulative, and, at times, unlikeable. Exploring those traits in fiction does not mean I endorse them.
If authors could only write characters who perfectly reflected their own morals, fiction would be incredibly limited. Writing a toxic character is not the same as defending that character.
You're completely free to dislike Lane. In fact, I expected many people would. That's one of the reasons I included multiple content warnings about his behavior before players even started the game.
What I don't think is fair is using a fictional character as evidence to make assumptions about the person who wrote them.
I've already said that I don't mind if people misread Lane. He's fictional, and different interpretations come with that. But those assumptions are being extended to me, and that's where I have a problem.
Because I've also seen comments calling me "weird," saying I'm being "babied" by the community, or claiming I'm using my game to express my own views. Those are serious assumptions about me as a person, yet they aren't based on anything I've actually said.
So if anyone has concerns about me, I encourage them to look at firsthand evidence rather than Tiktok videos or secondhand accusations.
I'm not interested in fueling internet drama or attacking anyone in return. I simply don't think it's right to have my reputation as a developer damaged because of that.
At the end of the day, I'm being labeled a "problematic developer" not because of something I've personally said or done, but because I've been associated with a Discord drama I wasn't involved in and because assumptions are being made about me based on the fictional characters I write.
* Don't hold me responsible for a drama I wasn't involved in, and don't assume my beliefs are identical to those of a fictional character I intentionally wrote to be flawed.
"Hey, Dad/ What do you think about your son now?" - Take A Picture by Filter
He was suppose to quickly patch up the injury he had received during his shift, however, he couldn’t help but stare at the photo of his father. He wondered what his father would think of him now.
I noticed how Lane has a photo of his father and him placed near the fishbowl thats located near the bathroom & thus this drawing was born.
Once again, thank you all who participated in the poll 💕
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I’ve been at work recently and have been a bit busy… It’s been ages since I last logged into Tumblr. Anyway, this is a little animation originally created by @阿魚阿yu on TikTok.
The storyline is brilliant… but the translation gave me a right headache, so I’ve only managed to type two lines so far…
Your Majesty, if it’s possible, I’d love to find out a bit more about Laney’s teenage years…
Also, I’ve finished my Halloween illustration! I’ll resist the urge to post it until Halloween itself!
prguitarman
germansingergirl
areudirty
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
romaincrisis
dailybridgerton
gamechangershow
