Nina didn't understand why she was even doing this.
It was extremely early on a Saturday morning and instead of sleeping in like normal people, she decided to pay a visit to Crash's house all the way on N. Sanity Island. She had to sneak out of the Academy of Evil, steal a boat, go past the middle Island, ended up going on that island since the boat ran out of fuel, steal a ferry boat, make it to the N. Sanity docks, and go on a short walk along the beach shore until she could see his house through a bunch of big trees in the dark. Not only that, but she had to avoid Crash's pets that ranged from a tiger, a polar bear, and even to a t-rex (baby-size of course). Nina was not very happy with this, especially since the one thing that made her angrier then any of this was that she never got any breakfast.
Her stomach was screaming at her, letting her know how much of a moron she was for not getting anything to eat before she left for Crash's place for god-knows-what reason. All she had to do was to sneak into the cafeteria, get into the kitchen, get something to eat, and get out of there. Nina couldn't think why she didn't go get breakfast before leaving. Maybe she just didn't want to get caught and serve detention. Maybe she didn't want to waste her time doing all of that for a few lousy pieces of toast.
Or maybe it was because she couldn't stop thinking about Crash.
She didn't know when, where, why, or how it happened. It just started one day during science class when she was just staring out the window with a bored look in her eyes. She started to think about what everyone else was doing back on N. Sanity Island. She couldn't help but wonder how they were doing and started to daydream about them. She could see it all clearly in her head: Crunch working out with his weights, Coco typing away on her pink laptop, Polar was chasing Pura around while barking loudly, Aku-Aku trying to stop them while Baby-T was trying to catch him, and Crash………Her brain suddenly stopped working for a moment. All of her other thoughts were cancelled out by one thought in particular.
"……Crash…" Nina sighed with a dreamy look on her face.
"Ahem……"The teacher coughed, startling Nina. The whole class started laughing at Nina, causing her to slightly blush. This wasn't the only time it happened either. After that class she started to think about Crash a lot more than anything else. His bright emerald eyes, his orange colored fur, his goofy smile, everything about him was driving her nuts!
"Why? Why can't I stop thinking about the orange fur ball? What is it about him that makes him so…so…so likable?" Nina desperately thought as she tried to concentrate on her homework (which she was way behind on since last week when this all started). She tried to search her mind for any answers that may have been hiding in there, but she came up with nothing. She could search her heart for an answer, but she had a pretty good idea of what it would be………and it frightened her to know this. It's not like she didn't like him or anything, it's just that they were so much different from each other. Unfortunately, she was well aware of the fact that she would not be able to get her work done like this, leaving her with only one option.
"Go to his house……all the way on N. Sanity Island." Nina mentally thought. She put her pencil down, turned off her bedroom light, and snuck out of school through her window. It was nice and breezy outside, which made Nina relax a bit as she ran along the rooftops of the buildings surrounding the school. Not long after sneaking out, she made it to the docks. It was still pretty dark out, but the full moon gave off plenty of light for her to see. She spotted a small motor boat not too far away from where she was standing. After using her spring loaded metal fists to start the boat, causing the boats engine to make a loud humming sound, she set course for N. Sanity Island.
"I can't believe I'm actually doing this…" Nina thought as she rode over the calm ocean waters. It's not like she hasn't done this before. She's sneaked out before and hi-jacked plenty of different vehicles to get around the city, looking for something to add a bit of excitement to her midnight adventures. But this……this was different. She actually had a destination that she was determined to-
The engine suddenly died, causing the boat to stop near an Island between her home Island and N. Sanity Island.
"Shit." Nina groaned as she got out and carefully walked up the shore. Her black dress shoes were soaked and her socks felt very soggy now. She was now on the sandy beach, trying to figure out what to do. Sure, the trip wouldn't take too long since the Island's were so close to each other, but if she didn't find another way to get across, she'd have to swim.
"This is just great." Nina mumbled as she searched around for a way to continue towards N. Sanity Island. It took only five minutes to notice that she was near a small dock with a ferry boat tied to it. "Somebody loves me." Nina thought as she got in the boat and untied the rope from the dock, once again setting course for N. Sanity Island. She was relieved to know that she was almost there, but there was strange feeling in her stomach that she had felt since this all started. Either it was doing flip flops or she was just hungry (she didn't have breakfast). She tried to ignore it, but it was bothering her even more as she got closer to N. Sanity Island. Finally, after twenty minutes of going on this crazy trip, she made it.
"It's about time." Nina thought as she got off the boat, not even bothering to tie it to the dock. She knew Crash would help her get back home because of his helpful nature. She hurried towards his house, her shoes made squishy noises, while thinking that this was almost over. It wasn't until she noticed something in front of the gate that she suddenly had to stop, nearly tripping over from going so fast.
There, right in front of the gate, were three of Crash's (one belonging to his sister) pets: Polar, a small polar bear who acts and thinks like a dog with an actual dog bark; Pura, Coco's pet tiger who is seen with her almost all the time; and Baby-T, a dinosaur Crash found during one of his adventures and decided to keep it after they bonded with each other. All three of them were sleeping together at the entrance of the gate, blocking Nina from getting in. Sure, she could go over the gate, but Coco put up a security system all along the gate so that was a no-go. Plus, it wouldn't look too graceful while in her school uniform, so she had one other option.
'Looks like I'm going to have to zip-line.' Nina thought as she pulled her right arm back. After finding a spot she could grab (the gutter above the front door) she shot her fist forward, the springs in her wrist were automatically activated and made her fist go all the way to the gutter. The moment she grabbed it her body was sent forward like she had been shot from a slingshot and landed right on the front porch steps.
'This is it….' Nina thought as she carefully knocked on the old wooden door. She stood there for a few minutes until she heard some shuffling from inside the house. Crash answered the door while standing in only his red boxers. Nina suddenly couldn't help but stare, her face turning redder with each passing moment. She tried to say something, but for some reason she couldn't form proper words and sounded like she was babbling. It wasn't until Crash snapped his fingers and pointed with two fingers at his emerald eyes that Nina was brought back to reality, her face dark red with embarrassment.
"Um….hi…." Nina said with her head shifted to the right, feeling very nervous all of a sudden. Crash raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why Nina would be here this early in the morning. Nina nervously asked if she could come in, her face still very red but slowly turning back to its normal color. Crash moved out of her way and let her in his house, closing the door once she was inside.
Nina never actually went inside Crash's house before, so she looked around a bit while Crash went for the kitchen. The living room was of decent size with few decorations, most of which were either family pictures, exotic plants, or the motorized surfboard with hot rod flames on the wall. Nina found a lime green couch in the middle of the room that was facing a well built fireplace with a flat screen hooked up on it. Nina started thinking about watching TV with Crash alone without his family around, those started turning into romantic thoughts, which made Nina turn red again.
'Damn it, stop being such a pervert! You need to talk to Crash without thinking about'-the thought of Crash in his boxers suddenly popped up in her head. '….Ahhh! Stop it! STOP IT! Get it together, Nina. You're so close now. All you have to do is tell him what's been happening to you and….' Nina suddenly felt her chest pound really hard. There was something she forgot to think about before she decided to go on this little quest of hers and it wasn't until now she realized it. What Crash thought she was a creep? What if he was so freaked out that he never wanted to see her again? Nina was starting to have second thoughts about this and was almost about to bolt out of there when she heard something over by the open kitchen. She turned and saw Crash in front of the stove whistling some tune as he was making breakfast. Nina quietly walked up behind him and saw that he was making pancakes.
Nina didn't think much of the pancakes at the moment (she thought they were unappetizing food with sticky syrup all over it, making it worse than before) because she was focused on Crash's furry back at the moment. Even with all that bright orange fur on his body, Nina could still make out his shoulder blades and the bumps on his spine. She was very tempted to look down even lower, but she had enough will power to resist and focus her attention on Crash's upper back. Her hands started moving on their own as they were in close proximity of Crash's shoulders. An image suddenly flashes before her eyes, making her pull back her hands. The memory of all the cute animals she hugged after her Uncle Neo replaced her hands with spring loaded metal fists have haunted her for a very long time. Nina never knew animals that small could have so much blood. As she continued to be pelted by all those horrible images, she didn't get to notice that she was crying….or that the whistling had stopped.
When she snapped back to reality, Nina suddenly felt very warm cozy. It took her a second to realize that Crash was hugging her….pantsless. She became really nervous now and decided to bury her face in his chest while returning the hug. He felt so warm and comforting to her that she just didn't want to let go, completely forgetting about the dead animal thoughts from earlier. Nina didn't want this moment to end, even if she had to have her feet replaced with spring loaded metal boots. But of course, crash had to end the hug so the pancakes wouldn't burn.
Nina strolled over to the kitchen table and plopped down in a chair that was closer to the kitchen area. She watched as he flipped the pancakes in the pan while whistling that catchy tune again. When they were ready he turned off the stove and went to look for a clean plate. Nina started getting bad thoughts again as Crash almost bent over a few times. 'Bend over, bend over, bend over….' Nina thought as she struggled to turn away, but it was no use. Crash did find a plate in the top cupboard, but it slipped from his furry fingers and nearly shattered on the wooden floor. Crash caught it with ease, but he had bent over in Nina's direction, causing her brain to stop functioning properly.
For five minutes Nina stared at Crash's ass, drooling like a water faucet. She didn't even realize she was drooling until she felt a paper-like object being wiped over her chin. Crash had noticed Nina drooling after he had set the plate of finished pancakes down in front of her and quickly got a napkin to clean her drool off her chin. After he threw the wet napkin away, Crash took a seat next to a blushing Nina, watching her intently.
Nina just stared at the pancakes in front of her with a puzzled look. Surely Crash didn't think she would actually eat the pancakes, right? They were just not at all tasty to her and the syrup made it worse. She gave Crash a strange look before pushing the plate towards him. Crash pushed the plate back towards Nina, picking up the fork and cutting a piece out with plenty of syrup on it. Crash held the fork close to Nina and moved slowly towards her mouth, but Nina kept her mouth shut tight.
'If he thinks he can feed me those god-awful pancakes then he can just'-Nina's thoughts were interrupted by a strange sensation on her right rib cage. She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice Crash's left hand reach over and gently rubbed her side with his furry hands. No one had ever had the guts to touch her like that (no ever really tried to for that matter), so it was only natural that Nina froze up. '….ahhh….that feels….feels….' Nina couldn't really describe what she was feeling right now. The affectionate rubbing was something Nina never really experienced before….and she liked it. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Her eyes widened at the sudden taste of sugary syrup and wet pancakes in her mouth. Crash had taken the opportunity to put the fork in Nina's mouth, succeeding in feeding her the pancakes. Nina had no choice but to swallow, not just because it was already in her mouth, but because now she had to make sure she didn't hurt Crash's feelings.
They weren't that bad, but she still didn't like them. She glared at Crash, daring him to try that stunt again. Crash wasn't paying any attention to her though; he was staring at her mouth for some reason. Before Nina could ask why, Crash put both of his hands on her cheeks. Nina had a terrified look on her face, hoping that he wasn't about to kiss her. She was close, Crash just licked some syrup off Nina's mouth, her mouth. Chills ran down Nina's spine so much she started to shake a little. Crash had done what was probably the boldest thing in history and didn't even realize it. If Nina didn't think he was cute then Crash would have been beaten to a bloody pulp within seconds of his daring act. For the moment, Nina was speechless. She felt so many different emotions that the only other thing she felt was her own body heat rise up. She suddenly felt so hot that if she tried to pull her shirt collar down that steam would come out.
Crash decided that Nina didn't have to eat the pancakes, seeing as she obviously didn't like his cooking. He picked up her plate and was almost in the kitchen when one of her hands stretched out and stopped him. Nina couldn't speak at first, mainly because she discovered something when she unintentionally licked her lips. Crash's tongue tasted sweet. It was so good that the taste made the taste of syrup better with it. She wasn't about to ask crash to French kiss her or anything, but she wanted to have another tasted of that sweetness. She had to quickly come up with an excuse before he got out of her grip.
"Um….could I have some wumpa fruit on those pancakes….please?" Nina asked while trying to hide her embarrassment. Crash nodded with a goofy grin on his face as he went into the kitchen to cut up some wumpa fruit for the pancakes. Nina sighed, running her metal hands through her short black hair. After all of that she still didn't even get to talk to Crash.
'Damn hormones.' Nina thought as she tried to relax a bit. After she finished eating the pancakes, she would have her chance to sort out all her feeling for Crash. Nina just hoped that there wouldn't be any more distractions or else she'd never get this taken care of. There was also the fear of what Crash's reaction might be to what she'd tell him. All Nina could do was take a deep breath and pray that everything would be okay.
Of course the universe just loves to prove her wrong.
A/N: I was debating whether or not I should have this as a one-shot, but decided to make this into a story. I'm a little upset there aren't a whole lot of CrashxNina fics out there, so I hope everyone enjoys mine. Please R&R.
