MCGA Things

The Valhalla Dating Show

T.J.'s POV (A/N: I don't really know what T.J.'s sexual orientation is, so I'm just going to consider him aromantic in this particular story. It will definitely change in the future.)

Of course, there just had to be a dating show.

In my entire one hundred and fifty plus years of being in Valhalla, they'd never done something like this. Never. Then, one day, some people just decide to do one out of the blue.

And I'm the lucky bachelor.

It was all Blitzen's fault. He was the one who started it, got all the approval for it, and set me up for the worst ride of my life ever. The dwarf had assured me that it would all be great, and I would find the girl of my dreams, blah, blah, blah. I declined, politely at first, but a second time I had to use more force. And yet, they still put me on. 

Fifteen minutes before the show was supposed to start, I peeked out of the curtains to see just how many people were here to see me in my worst state ever. To my utter horror, the entire audience was packed to the brim. I could make out the faces of people that I'd known for decades, the people that I'd come to know as my friends. I could see the outline of Halfborn in the front row, and next to him was Mallory. Alex Fierro was next to her, though I noticed that Magnus was strangely absent. 

I walked away from the curtain, the butterflies in my stomach getting worse with every step. I couldn't tell anybody about my feelings of nervousness. I wasn't even sure I would like any of the girls. Hel, I wasn't sure if I even liked girls. Or guys. Or anybody. It was all so confusing. 

I headed back to the dressing rooms, which were really just some curtains put in front of cardboard barriers, looking around for a mirror to look at. I found a small handheld one leaning against the wall on a small marble countertop and took it, looking at my reflection as I walked along casually. I looked like a nervous wreck in my expensive tuxedo. Great. 

Looking around the space, I could see that there was a high behind-the-scenes presence. Hotel staff ran around frantically, preparing everything last-minute. Blitzen was ordering them around, giving them all different tasks to do to get the show ready. I decided to avoid him for now.

As I began to pace around by the dressing rooms, a hand touched my shoulder, and somebody said, "Hey."

I almost jumped clear out of my skin as I yelped, turning quickly to see who it was. To my surprise, Magnus was standing there. For some reason, I had never been happier to see him. Maybe it was my nerves, maybe it was the thought that he could reassure me, but whatever it was, I was just glad that he was there.

"Hey," I replied to him after another moment of calming down. "If you can't tell already, I'm a nervous wreck."

"Yeah," Magnus said with a slight laugh. "You look completely out of it. But I'm sure that you'll do great."

"You sure...?" I said, some more concern building up inside of me. "Magnus, I'm gonna be honest here, I'm not sure I can do this. I don't even know if I like girls, or guys, or anybody really."

Magnus nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I get that. But I'm pretty sure you can't really do anything about it now. If you chicken out then Blitz will probably kill you."

"I'd rather him kill me then have to go through all this," I said with nervous laughter. "I mean, did you see the audience? There has to be like, over two hundred people!"

"You'll be fine," Magnus said, patting me on the shoulder again. "Just put on an act if you really have to."

I was about to respond to him telling him that I'm not a great actor when Blitzen interrupted us. "TJ, you're on in thirty seconds," he said before moving the curtains aside and stepping onto the main stage. Magnus gave me one last look of sympathy before he moved to go back into the audience.