Lauderhill ...is when it's tested again and again every day

He pointed at a pencilcase on a shelf.

"Got markers in there. That's a good start." He replied. "Maybe we can add stickers and glitter after."

There was a book full of random stuff right over there, too.

Whatever Matti indicated, Jasper would collect.

"I don't think I've messed with glitter since I was a kid."

Which of course made it intruiging.

"People will make you believe there are 'kid stuff' and 'adult stuff', but that's BS." He replied. "If you're having fun and it hurts no one, go for it."

So glitter would go on the list, just for the fun of it.

It was a sentiment that Jasper could readily embrace. Not that he had a lot of 'childish' novelty in his life. That was just life choice stuff though.

"I always get surprised you got stuff like this, like I don't know you got a whole escape room next door."

Paper, glitter, markers, others! This made for a good armful of things, yeah?

"I'm sure your brain got stuck on the log carving." Matti guessed.

Their first real conversation.

Jasper laughed, and led the way back to the door presuming they had all they'd come in here for.

"Didn't see any glitter that day," he confirmed.

"No glitter on the logs." He giggled.

It was fun that he could always say the most nonsense things with Jasper and never feel judged.

Through back into the apartment.

"Where we doin this?" Jasper sort of imagined somewhere on the floor would end up being easiest.

"On the floor like savages." He grinned.

He didn't want to wrangle a chair.

"We are SO savage."

And so this savage fox moved things out of the way in the area around the couch so they could go back to the floor. More gracefully and with intention this time.

"Okay, so how we flatten this poster thingy out?"

Matti sat on the couch before sliding off it. Perks of plastic couch!

"First we unroll it, then roll it the other way." He said, doing that. "It'll take out a lot of the curve. Then, could you fetch four books? The biggest ones, one for each corner."

"Yup!"

Not entirely unlike a kid on a mission, he was up and darting to where he had last seen some good size books. Just because he couldn't read them didn't mean he was blind to them.

Back nearly as fast as he'd gone. Ready to put them down on each point of the giant card.

"This is a good color, we chose good."

"It is! I mostly have pastel ones because more solid colors make it harder to read what was on it."

Unzipped the pencilcase to reveal the rainbow within.

"How many things do we want to put on this?" He mused.

The cardboard would go in a portrait orientation, because this was the right way when making a list. In his mind at least.

Jasper made 'oooooo' sounds like thinking about color and legibility were things that were news to him. Which maybe they were! The man was a doer far more than a maker.

He plopped down cross-legged next to Matti and pondered with a finger to his lips

"How many do we already got in mind?"

Thinking back to the other day...

Mmmm.

He patted at the couch for spare pieces of paper. Taking notes!

"We had, uh, gas station rooftop. Lauderhill walkabout. Colorful clothes." He recounted, writing these on hod draft. "What else?"

"Right, thrifting," which included clothing of all variety if they were being subtle here. "Oh and bat catching!"

Oh yeah, the bats! That would probably be the hardest of all, considering success didn't only depend on them.

And B...

"Beaver jerky. Was it big enough to warrant a place on The List?"

Thoughtful hum.

Jasper was not afraid to put in the work of several shifts and a lot of good hunting for bats. Or beaver, for that matter, but that wasn't the question now!

"Hm... maybe if we make it bigger. Liiiike... food adventure." That way they could think of some other random things to try. They were already pretty good at that, though, between said beaver and kangaroo and stuff like that.

"Ooooh good call." He noted the words. Then added 'secret date (use acronym)' on his draft. "Do we add, uh, driving practice?"

Now that the moon had passed!

"Ohhh shoot, sure?" Not that Jasper felt he needed practice, but the only way to prove that was to do it. And he wasn't gonna be careless with the fact that the car would definitely be Matti's and he was in no place to go wrecking something that expensive that wasn't his.

"How many that put us at?"

"Seven! Which is a great number." :3 "And if we get more ideas, they can go on the next list!"

Because there would be more. He could feel it!

Seven was a good number, and if Matti would rather focus on these than try to summon new ideas in-organically, so be it!

"Doing all sorts of things with you that I never done with anyone. And that includes makin' lists."

"I like lists. Probably a bit too much." He admitted with a giggle. "It's just good for the brain to get things out of there."

"If you like it, I like it." And right now it was proving entertainment as well as very practical, so what wasn't to love? Though it was unlikely anyone would ever catch Jasper with a notebook in his backpack anytime this decade.

"So how we ordering this shit? Most important? Easiest? Random?"

He leaned in. "That means you like math."

Hehehe.

"Random! And then random order. There are no rules!" Which was ahhhh in itself!

Numbers did have a better appeal to them than letters for some reason. But he showed his teeth and would never confess it!!

Especially because-- "No rules!" he cheered, and clapped his hands together. "Do lists get a... title? Like a book?"

"They can! And in this case mmm."

His eyes gleamed.

"Cooquinofest First Edition."

Open to suggestions but that one was pretty good!

It took him a second but... "Cooquinofest!" he crowed when he did catch on, laughing. "Goddamn, you always come up with the best shit. Okay, yes." He did give it a moment of thought but there was something about an earnest first effort that felt right. Bonus, no alliteration attempts.

"Easy. You're the best inspiration." He replied with a grin.

Grabbed a blue and a red marker to write these letters in an alternating way.

"Gimme a number between one and seven."

Jasper had been wondering what colors Matti would pick but--he should have guessed. They had a theme. "Mmmmmmmm..." Audible thinking, like this wasn't literally just a matter of randomization.

"Two."

Because there were two of them. uwu

"Two!" He agreed. "Bats have two wings, so it'll be this one."

Green and brown for the wide letters of BAT CATCHING.

He's pick seven next and dropped this giant acronym: GTMAPNTKEOAFUSH. Shades of blue and turquoise.

"That's not a word, don't worry." He giggled.

Baffling! "I was gonna say!" Because Jasper might not have been good at reading, but his brain at least recognized when something... was not a word! At all!

Aaaand he was really enjoying watching Matti write. He wasn't lying about the hands thing, okay, he had nice hands and watching the confidence at which they formed letter after letter in marker that could not be undone was appealing. Jasper didn't do social media doomscrolling but if he did he'd want his brain breaks to be videos of watching Matti bring visions to life.

"But if it's not a word... what is it?"

Chuckles.

"It's a full sentence but with only the first letter of each word. I'll remember." More laughter. "But maybe in ten years I will be sooo confused about what it was!"

Number two and seven complete. Gosh it was so satisfying.

"Insane." Affectionate accusation. Jasper... could not begin to construct a sentence. He would not try, but he stared at all those letters

"I take it this is your SECRET."

"It is indeed Secret Date." He replied with a grin. "It will all make sense one day."

He needed both legs too, hence the number seven. Mentally putting it last in case his brain did decide to go in numerical order after all.

Okay, next... "Food Adventure as number 1 because food is always were priority."

Hehehe..

Jasper looked forward to that day. But right now he looked forward to every day, so.

"If we say no to food there's something wrong."

More letter watching. "How do you decide what colors you gonna use?"

"Mmmm it just makes sense in my brain?" He replied. "Like for bats, it'll be in the forest probably, so green and brown. Date has the colors of a certain pride flag." Would Jasper know the term MLM, he wondered? "And for food mmm I guess red and brown."

If they stuck to meats, it would be logical.

Jasper was very glad he'd asked. He had just assumed something a lot more random. And now he was thinking about bacon??

But more importantly: "Which pride flag?"

He only knew the rainbow one, but he was aware there were at least a couple others.

Matti hadn't expected a follow up question, and even less one that implied Jasper knew there was a bunch of them. Not that he was underestimating him, but that hadn't been a topic that interested him much for most of his life, heh.

"Mine, since yours it to be determined." He teased. "Guys loving guys only. Or guy, singular, now."

There was no other lover hidden anywhere!

"Ohhh, I didn't realize it got so specific?"

Today they learned.

"Gonna have fun sorting out what I am if I'm stuck on you for the rest of forever."

May as well be his, too, then? Could it get more specific than that? Wasn't like someone was out here paiting murals in 'Matti only' colors.

"Oh yeah, super specific, even more than you might think." He grinned. "Can you believe that there's a term for people who feel cuddly only after getting an emotional bond to someone?"

Sounds familiar? :3

"Seriously?"

News to him, obviously. And it did sound familiar!!!

"I never joke about identity stuff." Matti replied, stretching to grab his phone. "Demisexual, and there's even a flag!"

A few taps later, he could hand over the device with the image on it.

"Everyone gets their flag." He smiled, feeling his usual warmth over this.

Demisexual! Him! (Probably!)

"Yo, that's kickass?? And those are my kinda colors." He leaned for a good look, flattered for all this wasn't just for him. Were there for real enough people who felt like he did to warrant a whole flag?

Seemed so. It wasn't something he needed comforting on, but it was a nice realization nonetheless.