So I've mentioned it discretely (or maybe not so discretely) for the past two months: I've been talking to someone new, and he is really, really wonderful.

Back when Overwatch came out, a friend of mine from high school contacted me to ask if I wanted to join his Overwatch Discord server. There were a bunch of Canadians on the server who had become friends with my high school friend via a forum that they all used to frequent. For a while, I didn't really talk to any of them outside of game time, preferring to stick to my own group and kind of ignoring the bulk of the server chat otherwise, but I eventually found myself logging on more and more to see what was going on. I ended up PMing with one of them about personal issues and grad school (among other things). We were flirty and cheeky and had fun, and in time, he asked if he could come see me.

I won't say things were clean cut from the start, 'cause they weren't-- obviously we were discussing personal issues and grad school for a reason, and twice he kind of second-guessed himself (which I understood-- it's hard to be in that kind of situation and even harder to build a relationship on top of it), but both times he came back feeling like he'd made a terrible mistake.

So anyway... here we are!! Brendan came down and stayed with me for the long weekend, and it was really, really nice. He makes me feel so calm. On Friday I picked him up from the train station and we went right to dinner. He chose the restaurant, made the reservation, and paid for everything. Then I took him back to my apartment to get settled, and we cuddled and watched a movie and just talked. On Saturday I took him out to breakfast at a crepe place in town that I love, and then I took him grocery shopping so he could experience American grocery stores and pick something up to make together for dinner (his idea). He ended up doing most of the work, but it was adorable and he was so sweet about it. On Sunday he made breakfast for us (I "helped" by boiling water) and we spent a while just cuddling and being together. We took a walk into town and I gave him a little tour of the village, and he treated me to some bubble tea since I won our little superbowl bet (also his idea). Then we went back to my place and watched another movie.

After our walk on Sunday I got changed into my kigurumi, and he'd seen me in it before on webcam, but when I came out of my room and he saw me, he had the most precious look on his face and went, "Oh my god, you're adorable!" and all he wanted to do was cuddle me, and if that isn't goals then idk what is.

Really, though, I think this was the biggest signifier of how our relationship will be going [WARNING, BLOOD]:
Later on, after the movie, we were discussing plans to bring him back to the airport in the morning, and I got kind of sad and started crying a little, so we just hugged for a while. The crying triggered a massive nosebleed for me, which I was completely unaware of until I felt something that was definitely not tears drip into my mouth. I have to tell you, when I finally lifted my head up and looked at my hands, you would have thought I had just gotten through brutally stabbing someone. There was blood EVERYWHERE, including all over his hoodie, and I was absolutely horrified and went "Oh my god... I'm so sorry!!!!"

And he was SO NICE about it and he got some frozen peas from the freezer and put them on my neck and brought me paper towels from the kitchen, and I just kept apologizing for bleeding all over his hoodie and saying I'd clean it, but he was so sweet about it and just started cleaning it and smiling while I sat there holding my head. He even joked that for whatever didn't come out, now he'd have a little bit of me with him every time he wore it.

Anyway, so that's that, we're officially, publicly dating now and I'm so, so pleased with him.