zpico
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New pages!
🕑 Added 2025-11-30 11:14:33 +0000 UTCOver heeeere!
Thank you so much for your comments about the latest update <3 God, it felt wonderful to read haha.
They made me incredibly happy, it's so motivating, it really reassures me that I am heading in the right direction.
I create this comic based only on what resonates with me, on what tenderness looks like in my imagination, on the gestures that express love without words. I never know if it will resonate with anyone else, and realizing that it does, that it touches so many of you, feels incredible. Sometimes it’s almost like I don’t fully realize the intensity of what I’m creating lol?
Thank you all for your comments. They mean so much to me, you have no idea.
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The only thing I had in mind throughout this whole scene was how I wanted Tera to be captivated by the Boy haha. I wanted him so absorbed that he is no longer fully in control of himself. You can see it in the way he tilts his head, something he does when he slips into deep inner thoughts. It's unconscious. And then the way he lifts his head at the same time as the Boy: he just follows the movement without thinking, he is startled by the sudden gesture, pulled out of his thoughts.
And then the way he leans against his fist. What's going on in his head?
It is as if he already knows his character is irresistibly drawn to the Boy, like a magnet.
Something pulls at both of them.
I put a lot of effort into writing the dialogue! I try to be mindful of how each of them expresses themselves, and Tera is always a challenge because he is quiet, very silent but intensely present. He is clumsy in his attempts to help, more gestures than words. He expresses love from the side, never head on.
"To chase your nightmares away for you" was originally "with you". But that collaborative feeling did not fit Tera well. He has this protective, dominant nature. And it's more romantic haha.
Then his first instinct is to offer his strength. I don't need to add anything else, it is all he knows.
Notice how the Boy lowers his fist.
The dialogue on the next page was also a headache. Tera absolutely couldn't sound like a creep going "I will watch you sleep" lol. And again, he couldn't be too direct with his affection. "Then I'll keep watch" was "I'll watch over you", but it was saying too much about him.
Instead, he describes the posture of watching without explicitly revealing the feelings behind it.
I think I can talk about it now: I struggled to express what I wanted in the final page, at least not as beautifully visually as I hoped (I did two versions). But what I love about this scene is its double meaning. On the surface, for him and for the story, the Boy talks about the monster that will probably devour him someday (more about that in the next update), because that is the mental image he built around this vision.
In reality, it is an expression of his trauma. You know those heavy, buried things that shape a person and threaten to consume them slowly over time. He is damaged by his past.
One eye is hidden as a reference to the monster who covers his eyes when he sleeps! And that goddamn ray of light-
I hope you liked it!
Next time we’ll finally get a flashback about the origins of this horned monster HAH! STAY TUNED. I CAN'T WAIT.
Comments
Blank
will you publish this comic in a bound book version as well ?
Dani H
Genuinely speechless by the last panel and your inability to give yourself flowers for such a moving visual. I adore your notes with every update because it feels like sitting with your friend, getting all the best insight/lore you need to perfectly settle in while reading a book or watching a movie.
Rin
There Tera head tilt will forever be my favorite gesture 🖤
Keefa Shine
i love how intimate this feels. the way theyre sitting, the hands and shoulders touching. gorgeous
sai_lane
WOW that last page.. The look in the boys eyes is so deep🙂↕️💗
Chiro
For real….like I’m sick of seeing people scrolling through other stories just to get to the “spicy part” 🙄 but this one I think it really managed to keep everyone interested
Arcielee
I love love love that the boy can see Tera's eyes through the mask. For me, it just shows that the boy is truly taking notice of him, idk, I'm just kicking my feet and squealing over these panels.
b
In a world where there are hundreds of different BL and romance love stories, I feel like this is the one that reminds the reader to slow down and take in the details of intimacy beyond just the obvious physical kind (kissing and so on). It’s not something you just scroll through, I really take my time with each panel and moment. Savouring it, the way real life works.
e
I love this one so much! The closeness, the holding of the Boys chin… Tera being able to be quiet and vulnerable with the Boy. The way we get so see his eyes… I love them so much! Thank you!!
svdester
The way Tera has his legs holding the boy on the bed basically, UGH he’s so captivated I can’t stand it!
Elanor
Shut up and take my Money ( tell your friend that i love him)
Black Death
Hi, Pico, it's me)) I have a friend who wrote you a message, and I hope you'll notice it in the comments!! "Hello, Z. Pico... you may not agree, but I would like to ask your permission to publish the comic in book form, I do it myself, there are just people who would like to read it in book form... But if you don't agree well, I won't do it. But I want to say that your work is the most amazing of all. I fell in love with a black and white comic for the first time, I've read it 35 times and it makes me cry, even though it's not finished yet.. If you don't agree with me doing this in book form, then please don't finish drawing the comic. I don't want people to not know what's going to happen because of me."
