Dinner That Night

by themilitaryjunky

This is a Blake x Author fanfiction, written over the course of about 10 weeks. 23,000 words of personal obsession.

READ BEFORE CONTINUING:

This is the first time I've ever written a fan fiction before. This is also the first time I've ever written something that wasn't for a school project, so please go easy on me. This entire work was typed up on my laptop while I had an ulcer in my stomach, which I still have to this day, so there are times in here where something might feel suddenly rushed. That's because I had to take constant breaks to go vomit or lay down. I started this right after the first episode of Season 3 came out, and finished right after watching episode 6 of Season 3. So, if you haven't seen any of Season 3 of RWBY yet, I recommend doing so as it kinda goes alongside it in a few ways. I have no actual training in writing, and honest to god I didn't actually proof read this. I've only showed one person this, some guy i met over Steam, and he gave me updates on how he liked it as he was reading it, but stopped after only a few paragraphs and went offline, and hasn't been online since. So i have literally no idea if there are blatant spelling errors or not because i am notoriously self-conscious about everything i do and hate looking over anything i work on in fear of it being terrible. I'm not asking you guys to spell check for me, but just keep an open mind when reading through and seeing a really obvious issue. I also have no idea if there are plot holes, because i didn't proof-read. I made a storyboard i followed, so there shouldn't be too much.

THE SETTING AND LORE:

This is also something you must read before continuing. I used my knowledge of the series and the RWBY wiki to sort-of make sure the lore was correct and i wasn't straying too far off of the actual series. With that said, there shouldn't be anything that really strives off the lore of the series. If there are genuine unknowns, I just made shit up that would make sense in the context of the series.

ONE LAST NOTE:

This is Blake x Author. Thought i might get that out of the way. The main character is 100% completely based off of me in every way possible, except for age. I'm actually only 17, and the main character and his life is how i imagine myself in 7 years time. Also, this is NSFW. There is only really one sex scene and i ended it when i felt was necessary. Also plenty of language. I have no idea how this website works, seeing as i've never read anyone else's fanfic before, so I'm just going to assume the M rating means NSFW.

THIS IS 23,759 WORDS LONG ACCORDING TO MICROSOFT WORD. I DON'T KNOW IF THAT IS LONG OR SHORT FOR A FANFIC, SO FEEL FREE TO STOP WHENEVER. I KINDA WENT OVERBOARD.

With all of that said, feel free to leave comments below if there is even a comments section on this site. I have no idea how any of this works. If for whatever reason you feel like emailing me, you can just email me here "themilitaryjunky ".

The biggest thing you've got to remember is to keep an open mind with this. I think this story is a bit personal that not many people can relate to, but if i spent weeks working on this, i feel like people at least need to see it.

With all of that said, please enjoy~

As a man of quiet demeanor, and also one of anxious nature, life is kinda boring. Not bad, mind you, I'm actually relatively happy to an extent. I mean, I used to not be for sure, and usually go through phases of depression, but right about now I feel fine. I have a job, a place to myself, an awesome cat who I love dearly, a fun hobby I'm lucky enough to be able to do all the time, and am well-off when it comes to finance. But despite my job, hobby, and my financial status, life is again, pretty boring. Same old shit every day, nothing exciting. Wake up, get dressed, feed the cat, go to work, get home, feed the cat again, get undressed, turn on the TV, eat, then off to bed to do the same thing over and over again until the weekend, where I do the exact same things except replace work with my hobby.

As anyone can assume from a brief description of my life, im a lonely guy. No girl to call my own, mom doesn't visit me so I need to go visit her all the way over in Atlas, which I only do so every few months. My dad passed many years ago, and I am an only child. I haven't dated a girl since high school, even in my 4 years at the university I stayed to myself. Honestly I don't even have many friends. Just one, my best friend, and I guess a couple of others who I see on the weekends occasionally. I stay in contact with one of my exes, and often text her and even video chat with her. When it comes to girls, she's really the only genuine contact I have. All of my co-workers are much older women, been married for almost as long as I've been alive. As the youngest in the entire office, it really doesn't help my social status. My job was located on the island of Vytal, which was small and mostly used for commerce and business, leaving little opportunity for socialization anyway.

Since I have anxiety, it isn't even like I try to make contact with anyone. I wait for my mom to contact me about seeing her, I wait for my ex to make the first move in chatting with me, I wait for my cat to mew when he's hungry, I pretty much wait for everything to come with me. Not in a narcissistic kind of way, but in a way that makes life more comfortable for myself. If I need to make the first move in any situation, I get the classic anxiety feel. Eyes looking around the room frantically, making a fist then releasing it constantly, leaning on one leg then immediately leaning on the other, my mind going through a million different thoughts and outcomes for any response I might give, and sounds coming out of my mouth like "Um" or "Uhhh". So, I simply just choose not to be the guy to start things.

I am obviously not helping myself in my situation, and will probably never decide to change that. I've lived through my entire life doing this, and the very few times I took the initiative it backfired on me and I just yearned to go back to my original ways. I wouldn't exactly call my life a fuck-up, as I have been providing for myself for as long as I've been moved out of the home I grew up in. I funded and spent 4 years in a university to get a degree so I can spend the rest of my life doing what I love, without any kind of financial aid, not something most people can say for themselves. But I would honestly rather be living in my mom's house with no job but have plenty of friends and even a girlfriend, than be in my current situation of hardly having friends and being alone all the time. If I were to tell someone this, they would try to convince me that living like that wouldn't make me as happy as what I'm living in right now, but as the kind of person that I am, I disagree. I can perfectly recall all the events that led up to this moment. The moment of me narrating this to anyone who might read. I can recall all the details of her and everything that happened between us, because I've never experienced anything like it before and felt the need to document it in my mind so I would never forget it. Anyway, enough with the ranting. Time for me to get on with it.

It was autumn, cold enough to have to wear a jacket whenever you went outside, but not cold enough to the point where the rain would turn into snow. As a big fan of routine, I usually went straight home from work. Been doing that since I started there. I even felt annoyed whenever there was an accident and I needed to take a detour on a separate route in order to go home. I just hated change. But that day, I felt something inside of me. A sense of adventure. A feeling that was so compelling that I decided to finally do something different for once. And that sense of adventure led me to a local restaurant. Yes, my idea of adventure is to go to a restaurant. To me this felt like a lot of fun, as I've never been to this restaurant before and haven't been to ANY since I was a teenager, when my mom and I would stop at some of the ones in Atlas on our way home from grocery shopping. I remember always ordering a chocolate milk and chicken wings, regardless of how old I was. So, being an adult, I thought this would be an amazing treat to myself, to take a break from my usual meals at home, which were simple things like macaroni, ramen, and pretty much anything that I've been eating for decades. So I pulled into the parking space outside, and happily walked inside, being very proud of myself for stepping up and changing things around.

Of course, as fate would have it, the place was absolutely packed. I stood there in the doorway, taking everything in. Lots of commotion from the dozens of people around me, and plenty of people standing around on their phones. I sighed heavily, most of my enthusiasm draining out of my body. I walked up to the bell woman behind the counter and asked if I could have a table for one. She looked at her tablet which had a digital display of the tables in the restaurant and if people are occupying them or not. I honestly was expecting all the tables to be full, and being full for quite some time as I would imagine all these people standing around had reserved a table some time ago, and are waiting for them to be clear. To my surprise she said that a couple just got done at a table near the back of the place, and I could be waited on there. i asked her about all these people standing around and if they were waiting, and she rolled her eyes and said they were mostly drunken men hoarding the free Wi-Fi with no other reason to be here of all places. I suddenly felt enthused yet again, as I actually do get to have dinner outside of the house.

Although as soon as I felt that rush of joy, she told me that since I was alone and there was only a table for 2 left, left behind by the couple, that if someone else came in asking for a table they would need to sit at mine. She explained that since the Vytal Festival had just started, and a lot of spectators are celebrating "peace" and "diversity" despite the fact crime is always at an all-time high during the festival due to how many people are traveling to the island. I nodded my head and thanked her for her time, and she showed me to the table. Although I wasn't too happy about the possibility of having to share my dinner with someone else, I didn't let that get in the way of my night out on the town. I looked at the menu for a few seconds, but decided to go with my classic chocolate milk and chicken wings, for old times' sake. When the waiter arrived I told him what I wanted and he smiled at me and asked if it was for my "kid", who he assumed was in the bathroom as the seat in front of me was empty. As someone who isn't good at eye contact or communication in general, I shook my head and smiled back, then looked down at the table. He wrote the order on his tablet and walked away, telling me it would be about 10 minutes.

Time slipped past me, as I was on my phone checking all the recent updates on the Vytal Festival, as I considered myself a fan of the Hunters and Huntresses and the whole fighting business. The festival hadn't started yet, but was starting in only a few days, and everyone was getting to the island early to begin the drunken celebrating. Eventually I blinked out of it, and starting observing the rest of the restaurant. I looked back at my phone to see that only about 7 minutes had past, not as long as I had thought. I put my head down on the table, and with my ear against the wood of the table I could hear footsteps approaching me, quickly getting louder as whoever it was, was getting closer. Assuming it was the waiter with my food, I quickly perked my head up and looked towards the source of the footsteps. Instead of waiter in a white dress shirt holding a tray it was a woman. And when I looked at her face, I stopped. Never in my life have I ever been so speechless. The only time I've ever been so shocked was a particularly embarrassing moment that happened to me in high school. But this was pure, genuine shock. She was so beautiful I didn't even know how to react. For once I actually willingly looked into someone's eyes, as we held quiet, stiff eye contact for a solid 10 seconds. She held her arms close to her chest, and touched her finger tips together, obviously feeling a bit awkward herself.

"Um… Hi. Um, I was told this was the last seat?"

She was the first to speak. Her voice was very quiet and sounded nervous. The only thing I could respond with was quiet, tiny noises coming out of my gaping mouth as I tried to formulate a response. I starting quickly looking around, leaning left and right to try look past her, just to see that all the other tables were still full with seemingly the same people. As it was dark outside and the lighting inside was dim and moody, she couldn't really see that my face was as red as you could get, so red that I could feel it tingling and heat up. She perked one eyebrow up and shifted her weight onto one leg, looking impatient.

"I… Uhhhh…"

I gulped and adjusted myself in my seat, sitting more straight up, as I was leaning onto the table with my arms folded below me.

"Yeah… I was told that uhhh… someone would eventually have to sit with me if this place didn't clear out soon."

I finally was able to muster out that sentence. She stopped leaning on one leg and stood up straight again, taking her purse off of her shoulder and hanging it on the edge of the seat in front of me, and sat down. She looked at me for several seconds, with a slightly curious look on her face. She proceeded to take out her phone and stare at it. As she was doing so, I took a full look at her person. She had jet black hair, as black as the night itself, and with a bow on top of her head. Though the lighting in the restaurant was dim, I could make out her very slightly olive, milky skin. Her eyes were the most stunning of all. They were slanted, pointing towards her nose, but large. Her pupils were narrow slits, which I rarely see. Her eyes were very orange, even more orange than a harvest moon. She was wearing a dark purple jacket with a plain white shirt underneath, and black skinny jeans with equally black boots. On her hands were gloves with fingers that cut off around the middle knuckle, also purple colored.

After staring at her for a while she looked up from her phone and around the place, probably looking for the waiter who hadn't come yet to take her order. I felt like I needed to say something to her, at least try to form a conversation with this drop-dead gorgeous woman who just walked in and sat in front of me. But of course, my anxious mind was in such a roadblock I had to force myself to open my mouth, or else I would just sit there in silence.

"I thought that I would, you know, introduce myself."

I tightened my lips together, surprised I didn't stutter or say something stupid instead. She went from looking around, to looking directly at me. She didn't say anything.

"My name is Loki. Loki Roliggud. I'm from Vale."

It wasn't customary to shake the hand of a woman when you meet one, it was instead to kiss the top of her hand. But I of course couldn't do that, who the hell knows how she'd react. So I just grinned instead. To my surprise she smiled back.

"I'm Blake, Blake Belladonna. I'm from outside of Remnant."

She did indeed have a quiet voice, and now was very obviously nervous. At least we had something in common then. Though I found this to be a bit strange, she struck me as the kind of person to get a lot of attention, although I'm making that assumption completely off of her appearance. Her name was beautiful too. I had a friend in high school named Blake, although they were male, and I didn't know Blake was a unisex name. Her last name was the same as the flower, which was usually purple in color, which I guess did match her outfit.

"That's a really beautiful name, and I like your last name too."

I could have sworn she blushed, although the moody lighting of the place prevented me from being sure. She smiled again and looked to the side, then back at me again.

"Thank you, I like yours too."

She smiled again and looked down at the table. I was once again surprised on how well I was speaking to her, I haven't spoken this well to a new person I just met in years, especially one so attractive. I'm notoriously bad with girls, I mean I treat them right and don't cheat or anything, I'm just really bad at communication. But with this girl, Blake, everything seemed really natural.

"Soooooooo… Yeah, this place is pretty packed huh?"

That was the only thing I could think of saying.

"Yeah, I was worried when I walked in that I would have to be put on some kind of waiting list, but the bell lady told me that there was one free spot at a table but there was already a man there, and that I would have to dine with him. I was so hungry that I didn't argue."

She smirked shyly and briefly looked at me, which was odd, because she didn't seem to have gave me any kind of second look when she first spoke to me before she sat down.

"Same here, I uhh… was on my way home from work and decided to treat myself to dinner. I only go out to travel to work and back, so this was kinda like a little "adventure" for me, if you will."

I laughed nervously as I finished the sentence, and looked at her. She was already looking right in my eyes but looked away as soon as I started looking at her back.

"I'm only on Vytal for the festival. Even though the festival itself is in Vale this year, it's kinda like a field trip, to see the origins of it. I'm traveling with my team, and we are due to be in the tournament in a few days. It gives me an excuse to get out and explore a bit, as I don't go out much either…"

Her team? Tournament? I couldn't believe it; she was a Huntress!

"Holy shit, are you actually a Huntress?"

I sat up in my seat a little bit, very excited to meet an actual Huntress. I've only seen them on TV, and even though I live relatively close to Beacon Academy, which trains Hunters and Huntresses, I've never actually met one before. She giggled and rubbed the back of her head.

"Yes, I've been training for quite a long time now. And it's an honor to be able to participate in the tournament."

She was starting to look a bit more comfortable now, as I noticed she was sitting stiffly earlier but now was leaning forward with her hands propping up her head on the table.

"Wow! I've only seen you guys on TV before. I never bothered with the whole fighting thing myself but I enjoy watching other people do it, and you guys are a blast to watch!"

She laughed and ran her fingers through her hair a bit.

"Your hair is really nice; I've never seen hair so black before. Is that natural?"

I swore she blushed again, but turned her head and rubbed her cheek before I could really get a good look.

"Yeah, it's natural. My friends say that they are jealous of it sometimes, and how it always looks so "perfect" according to one of them."

She made a motion with her hand that pointed to the top of my head.

"I like yours too, is that natural?"

I looked straight up and petted my own hair.

"No, it's usually dark red, I just bleach it to look this blonde every so often. I like the way it looks on me."

"My friend Yang would love it, yours is the same shade as hers."

I nodded my head and laughed, and made the same motion she did but to the top of her head instead.

"Cute bow, never seen a fashion statement like that on a woman before."

Her smile faded, and she looked away. My smile did too, as she did not seem to like the question.

"Oh, ummm, I'm sorry. Are you, like, self-conscious about that? I didn't mean to intru- "

"No, no, its fine. Yeah, I think it looks cute on me. I… think it makes me unique."

My smile lit back up, as I was thankful I didn't insult her. Although she didn't give me an explanation on why she looked so upset when noticed the bow, I didn't worry about it. There was a bit of an awkward silence after she said that, a solid 45 seconds of just nervous looks at each other. This was a very weird experience. i decide to go to a restaurant, something I haven't done in years, end up with a free spot on one table, and get unintentionally paired up with a gorgeous woman who I feel like is flirting with me. Then again, im not great with girls so maybe im just reading her body language wrong. But she sounds like she's having a good time.

"So um… what do you do for a living? You said that you were on your way home from work, what do you do there?"

She looked at me with her eyes, but with her head tilted downwards.

"I'm an engineer. I follow blueprints and machine out whatever the blueprints tell me to. That's… really it."

She didn't seem particularly interested in that.

"Is that it?"

"Well, I'm a professional disc jockey, but that's more of a hobby. Still pays though."

She didn't seem very interested in that either.

"That's pretty cool. I myself don't have job or a hobby or anything, really. Since I'm at Beacon full time, I don't have any spare time for other things."

I nodded my head. Finally, I saw the waiter half-sprinting to our table, holding a tray which contained several plates of food.

"Oh dear, terribly sorry about the wait sir. We are so busy!"

He spoke as he placed my plate in front of me at a surprisingly fast speed, speaking very quickly and with a thick accent. He turned away and was about to dart away when I stopped him.

"Hey, what about taking her order? Can somebody please take hers, she's been waiting for almost as long as me."

The man stopped and looked around the place, then mouthed something. He took one of his hands from under the tray and fished out a tablet. He tossed the tablet on the table so hard im surprised it didn't shatter, and hovered his hand over the screen. Blake grinded her teeth together as she quietly gave her order. So quiet that I'm not sure how he heard her over the commotion of the restaurant.

"That'll be about 5 minutes' madam!"

He scooped up the tablet and hurried away. Blake folded her hands and put them in her lap.

"Why didn't you, ya know, speak up as he started walking away?"

She puffed out her cheeks and looked to the side.

"I'm not very good at talking to strangers."

I burst out with a laugh. Might have been a bit too sudden, as she seemed to flinch.

"Not true at all! You walked right up to me and we started talking fine!"

She bit the bottom of her lip and avoided looking right at me.

"I didn't start talking to you until you talked to me first. And that was before I got a good look at you."

She finished the sentence by quickly drifting off, to the point where I barely heard the last word. I squinted my eyes and turned my head to the side, but still looking at her. Before I was about to retort, she spoke again.

"Is that, chicken wings and chocolate milk...?"

She burst out in her own laughter.

"What are you, a kid or something?"

My face got red and I blew air out of my nose.

"No! I'm 24, and I was just feeling nostalgic and got what I used to get as a kid when I went out with Mom…"

She finished laughing, but tried to hide the smile that stayed on her face. I shook my head and focused on my meal.

"Sooo… You're 24 huh?"

"Yeah, what of it? Surprised?"

"A little bit, yeah."

I pointed to my chin as i took a bite out of a wing.

"What, did the beard not give it away?"

I was always a bit rude at the dinner table, and never got out of the phase of talking with my mouth full of food.

"There is hardly anyone in Beacon with any kind of facial hair. I don't know what to expect."

"How? Most men my age have at least some, usually more. Why don't the guys at Beacon have any?"

"Because they are all my age and younger. Still teenagers."

I had a wing half-way to my mouth, but I stopped.

"Teenagers? Wait… How old are you?"

She made a face, almost like a look of disgust, but more one of surprise.

"I'm 17, why?"

She moved her hand in a motion that started at her head and ended at her legs.

"What, did my body not give it away?"

The wing I was holding half-way to mouth my slipped out, but my hand still stayed in the same spot.

"You're seven-fucking-teen?!"

She was taken aback by my sudden outburst, and unnecessary profanity. I immediately leaned out of my chair and got a good look at her entire body, as I couldn't see anything below her waist. She put her left hand on her right shoulder and looked at me like I had 3 heads or something.

"How the f-"

I stopped mid-sentence and leaned in, staring intently at her facial features. She did have a very young complexion; younger than most women I've seen my age.

"What...? What is it...?"

"How are you, of all people, so young? You have the body of a grown woman, unless you are just really mature for your age. And the fact you are out alone, and the fact Beacon is an academy, you know, like somewhere you go after high school."

Not knowing exactly if that was a compliment or not, she started with the most obvious explanation for everything.

"Beacon is an academy, yes, and I never did go to high school, but neither has a vast majority of the students there. My best friend Ruby is 15, and my other 2 friends on my team are 17. The only person I can think of who is above 18 is… well… I can't actually recall if anyone is over 18, besides the professors."

Even though I've actually been to Beacon before, and even know the headmaster there.

"That is complete news to me. I thought Beacon was more of military academy, and military service is restricted to those above the age of 18."

She tilted one eyebrow up.

"That… isn't true at all. The youngest you can be to apply to the school is 17. My friend Ruby who I mentioned before is the only exception, as she has… well, a gift that no one else does. And being a Huntress is different from serving in the military. We defend Remnant from monsters, mostly Grimm. The military is to defend against human attack. And, we don't even really undergo strict military training anyway. We sit in classes most of the day and learn about Grimm and the history of them. Boring stuff. We don't get to go out into the field as much as I'd like."

I had my hands crossed in front of me, resting my head against them. I don't remember this about Beacon at all. I visited there only about a year ago, there was no way I would completely forget everything about the school.

"Seesh… I'm about to make a stop there sometime soon to refresh my memory on the whole place. Nothing like I remembered it."

"You said you weren't much for the whole fighting business. Why did you attend Beacon then?"

"No no no…"

I shook my head and put down my chocolate milk I was about to sip out of.

"…I went there about a year ago to take a brief tour of the place, as your headmaster Ozpin was requesting my place of work to design a new desk for himself, offered to pay in full for it. My boss said I since I was fresh out of college and just started there, that I should take on the project for him. I went there to take dimensions on his old desk and write them down, and he gave me a tour of the place."

She closed her eyes for a second and nodded her head. She opened her mouth to respond, but was cut short by the waiter who was borderline sprinting to the table. In one swift motion, he slipped her plate on to the table in front of her, somehow without moving the other plates on the tray. Then, without a word, sprinted away. Blake blinked several times in quick succession, then turned her attention to her plate of food. On it was mashed-up tuna with a side of onion rings.

"Oh god, tuna?"

I crinkled up my nose and put my arm in front of my face in disgust. Blake didn't respond, instead shoving her face with said tuna, filling any remaining space in her mouth with onion rings.

"Holy hell, you weren't kidding when you said you were hungry…"

She took a quick glance towards me, and nodded briefly, then concentrated on her food again. Since she wasn't going to speak anytime soon, I focused on mine too. There were only 2 wings left, and I finished them relatively quickly now that I wasn't being distracted by conversation. After I finished, I looked at her plate to see how long I would have to be waiting, but when I looked at the plate, all I saw was white. I glanced at my own plate, which was void of food, and was white. When I looked at her, she was leaning back slightly, holding her stomach and looking quite pleased.

"Did you… Already...?"

She nodded her head, again, looking quite pleased.

"You must really like that crap."

"Tuna is delici-"

She was interrupted by her own loud belch, one louder than anything that even I could muster out. She put her hand to her mouth and giggled a little bit. I laughed, and we laughed together for a bit. When we stopped, we exchanged awkward glances at each other while I rubbed the back of neck and she played with her hair. After about a minute of nothing but brief looks, I saw our waiter about to sprint past, and I stopped him as he was about to run right past us.

"Can we get the bill please?"

He quickly nodded and pulled out his tablet, and placed it down in front of me, and ran off with his tray that was still full of people's food. Blake reached out for the tablet, but I quickly snatched it before she could get to it.

"Nah nah nah, I got this."

I took out my wallet and grabbed my credit card, and scanned it on the tablet, not even looking at how much the tab was. This night had been the best I've had in a really long time, and I met a beautiful girl who was seeming to have a great time with me. A girl that actually seemed to like me. A girl that didn't escape after being around me for long enough to the point where they would see how awkward I am. The least I could do was pay for her food. Blake smiled at me full-heartedly. I added a tip onto the bill, and placed the tablet on the edge of the table so the waiter could see. Almost immediately after I did so, he ran by and scooped up the tablet.

"Thank you! Come again!"

Before I could thank him for waiting on us, he was gone. I looked at Blake and she looked at me.

"Well…"

I began to stand up, and so did she. Now that we were stand straight up next to each other, I noticed how tall she was, as I couldn't have noticed when I was sitting down when she first approached me. I'm not the tallest guy in the world, but I wasn't no midget either. She was only about 2 inches shorter than me, a lot taller than a lot of girls and certainly taller than other 17 year olds I've met. She picked up her purse off of the chair, while I just stood there, not exactly knowing what to say before we parted ways.

"It was really nice meeting you, um, Miss Belladonna."

She smiled and crossed her arms.

"Please, call me Blake. I'm not one for formalities anyway."

She looked down.

"And um…"

She held out one of her arms, the other still folded against her chest.

"Let me give you my number."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing! This stunning, nice girl who I met completely by chance and just had dinner with, wanted to stay in contact with me! Never in my life have I had this much luck with a girl before. All the other girls I've ever… well… decided to see again, I had to make the first move when it comes to contact information, and as I said earlier, I am not good at making the first move regardless of the circumstances. And here I am, standing next to a 17-year-old girl who has everything I look for in a girl, offering to keep in touch. I smiled and excitedly dug my phone out of my pocket and placed it in her hand. She stared at it for a minute, putting in the details in my contacts. When she was done she gave it back to me, and I put my number into her own phone.

"This was the most fun I've had in a long time, even if it just a simple dinner-date…"

I blushed. She even called it a date!

"Same here. I look forward to talking to you again."

She slung her purse onto her shoulder and smiled one last time.

"Call me sometime."

She turned away and started walking to the exit. I stared at her as she walked away, taking the events of the night in. Embarrassingly enough, I noticed how large her… well… assets were as she strolled away. The fact she had skinny jeans on only made the perverted thoughts even worse. As I was lost in thought, and kicking myself for staring at the ass of a 17-year-old girl, she turned her waist, looked at me, and waved goodbye as she pushed open the exit and left into the night. When I got home that night, I immediately dropped my keys into the bowl next to the front door, and went upstairs and plopped right into bed. Laying there, with my arms and legs flat out, I finally had quiet time to fully reflect on the day. I first had to pinch myself, just to make sure this wasn't all a dream. Even though I've already said it several times, I still can't get over the fact that everything that just happened, happened. The fact I felt drawn to go to this restaurant, the fact that there was only 1 table left, the fact that I had to dine with a random stranger, and the fact that that random stranger ended up being the girl of my dreams. The girl of my dreams that actually likes me to the point of wanting to talk to me again, and maybe even want to see me again. I couldn't stop thinking about how she looked, what she was like. How happy she looked to be with me, how she wasn't particularly interested in me until she sat down and I spoke to her. Although it did bother me that she was 17, and how I'm 7 years older than her. I couldn't ever even think of having a kind of relationship with her, if that opportunity ever arose, because I would be looked at as a creep. Sleep soon took over me, and I drifted off to sleep, dreaming of what could soon be.

Several days later, in the morning on the eve of the start of the festival, I hadn't forgot about Blake. She hadn't contacted me, and I hadn't contacted her. As it had been the weekend, I eagerly kept my phone close to me, hoping for a call or text or something, but nothing came. My anxiety kept me from calling her, and my anxiety also kept me on edge for the entirety of the few days since I saw her. I could hardly sleep with anticipation, and didn't even leave the house. So, when I was awoken in the early morning on the eve of the festival by a text on my phone, I sprang up with excitement and checked it.

hey, its blake

That was the first message.

wanted to know if youd want to come down to beacon to see me. we have the festival tomorrow but I really wanted to see you again before hand. and, you said you wanted to stop by to refresh your memory on the place, so we could do that while youre there. let me know if you want to :)

That was the second she sent right after the first one. I texted her back telling her I would love to, but was worried that I would interrupt classes if I did. She said that they hadn't had classes for almost a week, as the school was preparing for the festival and allowed students some time to rest and enjoy themselves before performing in the tournament. I happily agreed, and she said to be at the entrance of Beacon by noon.

I put on my best clothes, showered, and gave my cat a big hug on the way out the door, very excited about going out to see Blake again. I hopped in my car and drove 10 minutes south to where Beacon Academy was located and parked in the lot. There were a lot of cars parked in the lot, just barely enough empty spaces to hold all of them. I navigated my way to near the front gate, pushing past the large crowds of people that were around. There were large groups of people in circles, littering the campus of the academy. Walking past a smaller one, I noticed that the people were surrounding teenagers, who I assumed were the students because of their outfits, which were very different from the civilian clothing me and other people on campus were wearing. I noticed that there were reporters and news vans situated around the place, and people with camera crews and microphones talking to the students. Some were showing off their weapons, which they were all carrying on them. Eventually I got to the main entrance, which was a large pair of doors that were wide open. A very tall blonde woman with glasses was greeting people who were entering, and in the lobby inside were tables set up, probably informational booths of some kind. I was in awe, now that I was standing directly in front of the school. I'd forgotten just how large the place was, even though I occasionally drive past whenever I go shopping. My train of thought was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. I turned to see Blake, standing, hand-in-hand, smiling at me. My face brightened up, but before I could greet her, she embraced me in a hug. I blushed, and noticed how surprisingly strong the hug was. I returned the embrace, and she soon pulled away.

"I'm really glad you could make it down here today."

"Me too. Thought I would never get to see you again."

She scoffed then smiled again.

"Believe me, I wouldn't let that happen."

I felt butterflies in my stomach when she that, but slightly more intense than just butterflies. I just now started to check her out, to see how she was looking today. Instead of her punkish clothes she wore on the night of the dinner, she was wearing a white and black top with purple and black pantyhose, and slightly different black boots than she wore that night. Her hair was slightly different, looking more groomed and sleek than last time we saw each other. The black bow she wore was the same. On her back was a large object, which I presumed was her weapon. It was black and gray, with a handle like a gun with a magazine and barrel, but with the top covered in some kind of sheath. She squinted at me.

"Youuuu, uh, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm admiring your outfit."

She looked down at herself and back to me.

"This is my combat outfit. We usually wear our school uniform, but Ozpin told us to wear our combat outfits for today. It's for show, really. All the people you see here are checking out the school, as all the academies from the 4 kingdoms get a lot of attention from potential new enrollment during the festival. Ozpin is trying to make a good impression on the school, so people will be rooting for us during the tournament."

I nodded my head and looked around again.

"What about all those guys being surrounded by the press?"

I moved my hand in a motion that covered the entire campus that was displayed out in front of us. She followed my hand as I did so.

"They're being interviewed, for TV. I heard the media always goes crazy whenever the Vytal Festival comes around, especially since it's going to be held in Vale this year. Although this is my first year here, I heard a lot of stories. It's a lot worse here then it is out back, next to the cliff-side. Only the big news outlets got to fly here and land out back."

I shuffled around for a few moments.

"Have you been interviewed yet?"

She slowly shook her head, keeping her eyes open the whole time, looking out in the crowds of people in front of us.

"I'm avoiding them. I'm not very good with… people."

"Same here. I would have never come here if it wasn't to see you. And I had no idea there would be this many peo-"

I trailed off, after noticing she was leaning slightly to the right, blushing with a stern look on her face. I turned my head and followed where her eyes were looking. Behind me, about 10 yards away, were 3 girls who I assumed were students, waving at me in a playful way.

"Those are… my friends."

The tallest one, a blonde girl, was giving me a sly look with a conceited smirk. The girl standing next to her was the shortest, wearing a mostly red outfit and was waving extremely fast and had a huge smile on her face. The last one, with white hair and a white outfit, had her arms folded but was smiling too.

"Might as well get this over with."

Blake sighed and walked past me, gesturing for me to follow her. I was pretty excited to meet them actually. She only mentioned them once, but nonetheless I was eager to meet them. The short one immediately came bounding over to me before we even reached the 3 of them.

"Oooooo Blake! He IS cute!"

I practically flinched, and blushed a little bit. The girl was looking up at me smiling and staring. I heard Blake sigh next to me.

"This is Ruby."

She grabbed my right hand and shook it up-and-down multiple times very fast, still wearing that massive smile on her face.

"Hi Ruby. I'm Loki."

I returned the shaking motion.

"Blake as said SOOO much about you! It's great to finally meet you!"

Blake did a zipping motion with her hand over her mouth towards Ruby. Ruby gave a guilty smile, looking embarrassed. We starting walking towards the other 2 girls, Ruby trailing behind. The blonde one was nodding now, with a satisfied look on her face. The white haired one was still crossing her arms. Blake held her hand up to the blonde one first.

"This is Yang."

She didn't go for a shake like Ruby did, instead standing there with that same satisfied look on her face.

"Hey Yang, I'm-"

"Loki. Yep. Blake hasn't shut up about you since you two had that date."

Blake got visibly flustered, and grinded her teeth at her. I rubbed the back of my head. Yang snickered as Blake turned to the final girl.

"This… is Weiss."

The girl squinted her eyes at Blake.

"Why the pause, huh?"

These 3 girls were quite the characters.

"I'm Loki."

"Weiss Schnee."

She said, putting out one of her hands. I shook it.

"Schnee? As in that… um… Dust company I think it is?"

She seemed to take pride in that.

"Yes. Yes, it is."

There was a bit of silence. Finally, Yang spoke up.

"Blake was right; you aren't a fighter at all."

I gave her a puzzled look, then looked at Blake. Blake didn't look like she was enjoying herself as much as her friends.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well you don't know what Dust is."

I kept the puzzled look on my face.

"That it?"

"You are the same height as me too."

She said this as she started carefully checking me out, from head to toe and back again. I'm not exactly sure this how she welcomes new people into her life, maybe I was just used to people like me. Before I could respond, Blake butted in.

"I'm going to go show him around now."

Yang and Weiss both shrugged at the same time, but with similar smiles on their faces. Ruby looked distressed.

"Was it something I said...?"

Ruby whispered as she stood next to her friends. Blake and I turned away, and I looked at them and waved goodbye. Right as we started walking away, I heard another whisper.

"You were right; Sun does have some competition…"

It was too quiet for me to even hear who said it. Blake's bow twitched slightly as I heard this. I didn't understand what that meant, and why Blake's bow twitched, but I didn't worry about it. We went inside and into the lobby, pushing past the groups of people loitering inside and around the tables I noticed earlier.

"I thought we would meet up with Ozpin first. You said you knew him and I told him you were coming. He recognized your name."

I nodded as we headed upstairs and towards Ozpin's office. She navigated me through what seemed like a maze of hallways and corridors, leaving me astounded as I had forgotten how large the inside was as well as the outside. She slowed down next to a specific room, one with the door already open.

"This is our room."

I leaned inside and looked around. There was an assortment of decorations around the room, such as a poster of what looked to be a boy-band, a picture of a forest, and crates that were stacked in one corner. What really caught by eye were the beds. There were 2 next to each other, both facing the entrance. Although, on top of the one on the right-hand side, was another bed, being balanced by a stack of books on each post. The bed on the left had another bed on top of it, but was dangling precariously above it by rope. The bed also had a large white sheet covering it.

"What the hell is going on with the beds?"

She reached past me and pointed to the beds.

"Ruby wanted bunk beds. So we did this."

"What's with the white sheet on the one?"

"That's mine. So I can have my privacy."

She turned away and started walking, and I followed. We continued through the school and found ourselves outside of Ozpin's office. Blake knocked on the door, and after several seconds we heard footsteps approaching. The door opened, and Ozpin was already looking at where I was standing, as if he expected me to be there. He smiled.

"Ah, Loki! So nice to see you again, it's been awhile!"

We shook hands.

"Nice to see you too, Oz."

He greeted Blake as well, and stepped aside and invited us in. He went ahead of us and stood behind his desk. I nodded my head and observed the desk, it being of my own creation. The same one I designed for him all that time ago.

"The desk is holding quite well. I knew you were the right man for the job."

He knew exactly what I was thinking, before I even asked him how it was holding up. I observed the desk closer, noting the electronics installed into it. The entire surface was a large screen, with sections for different functions.

"I heard you were doing quite well for yourself too. Do you still have that same job that you had when we met?"

"Yes, and the project you gave me brought some recognition with it. I've been a part of the company since and am well off, no thanks to you."

He laughed and took a sip out of a coffee cup that was idle on the desk.

"You earned your position and respect, not because of me. I would love for you to do more work for me in the future."

"Really? It's been over a year since I designed this for you. Have you been waiting to tell me that?"

He shook his head.

"Nothing has come up. But your arrival here was timely, as I am thinking of something I need done that I would love for you to tackle. Now that we have a mutual friend-"

He lifted his coffee cup in the direction of Blake.

"-I can keep in better contact with you. That boss of yours isn't exactly fond of me."

"Whys that? He's an alright guy."

He looked off to the side.

"Something that happened a while ago."

He looked back up at me.

"But anyway, I will keep in touch. I have business I need to attend to now."

We shook hands again, and he showed us out. He closed the door behind Blake and I, and we were left in the silence of the hallway.

"I thought maybe instead of me showing you around, we could grab something to eat. The dining hall has food out for visitors, kinda like a bake sale."

"Sure, that sounds good. I'm pretty hungry myself."

As I didn't know where the dining hall was, I followed her lead. After about 2 minutes of walking I turned my head towards her.

"You didn't seem very happy when you introduced me to your friends. Do they embarrass you?"

She looked away from me.

"A little bit. After I told them about you and how you were coming today, they've been acting different towards me."

I felt a bit concerned. I didn't want my presence in her life to change how her friends viewed her, although I didn't know if she meant positively or negatively acting different.

"Well, different in what way?"

She looked back up, and right in my eyes.

"When I got home from dinner that night, I told Yang about you. I told Yang first because she and I are closer than I am with Ruby or Weiss. Unfortunately, she was incredibly excited about this, as I am known in the school as a complete recluse, and told Ruby and Weiss almost immediately. Ruby got so excited herself that she told everybody else from the other teams. The gossip became so twisted that everyone is convinced you and I are together. And no one else is seeing anyone in the entire school, so the fact that the quiet girl who keeps to herself is getting some, everyone makes a huge deal about it."

She finished by getting noticeably angry. Her entire face was red, and sighed deeply through her clenched teeth. It did explain a lot, as her friends were giving me looks as if what she said were true. And I didn't know she was apparently this much of a recluse too, sounds exactly like me. But at the same time as all these thoughts, I considered the fact I might not want to ever see her again, as much as that hurt to think. I really like her and it sounds like she likes me too. I don't know too much about her or her history, but from all the impressions I've been picking up from her for the time I've spent next to her, she seems a lot like me. Like, a carbon copy of myself. Generally lonely, quiet, doesn't smile much, and a recluse. I wasn't sure if I wanted to just start seeing her, if her friends and peers gave her trouble and treated her differently because of it. As much as I wanted to, I honestly care about her well-being more than me just wanting to not be lonely anymore. Clearing my head, I reluctantly put my arm around her and held her against me, my heart quickly starting to beat faster and faster, as I was in disbelief I was able to make a move like that on my own. To my surprise, she accepted it.

"Look Blake, we aren't together I know, but if your friends are treating you differently because of me being in your life, I don't ever want to have a relationship with you, because I just want you to be happy. I don't know much about you, I don't know your story, hell we only just really met, but I know enough about you to know that I want you to just be happy. I'm an absolute wreck in my own life. I make plenty of money but I have this large house all to myself, with no one to share it with. I have friends but I only talk to them whenever they bother to call me or stop by. I know what it's like to be lonely, and because of my anxiety I will always know it. When we met I felt something I've never felt before. I felt comfortable. I had no problem with speaking to you, and although I did feel anxious about seeing you, it was a different kind of anxious. It was an anxiety of doing the wrong thing. Doing something that would change your opinion on me, because I honestly think you are one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen. You are everything I look for in a girl, both physically and emotionally. All other times I'm anxious is just me simply being the wreck that I am. I have a history of depression but I haven't been feeling it recently, and now that I've met you, it makes me completely happy. But more importantly, more important than me being happy or getting the girl of my dreams, is you. You are more important than me in this moment of my life and I want you to get exactly what you deserve. And being treated differently is not something you deserve."

My mind was racing, mostly with the realization I just spilled out my entire feelings to this girl, feelings that I had no idea how she would respond. She stopped walking. My arm slipped off of her. I stopped too, and turned to face her, my eyes getting slightly blurry with the beginning of tears. She was looking straight down, her bow was drooping, and her fists were clenched, but this time tighter than before. I didn't know what she was thinking or how should would go about responding to that borderline rant I just went on about my feelings. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, I saw a tear fall from her face and onto the floor below us. I tried opening my mouth, but I was interrupted by Blake rushing forward and embracing me in a very tight hug, her the side of her face being pushed into my upper-chest. I threw my arms around her and held her close, feeling wetness on my shirt from her tears. She breathed in and out very loudly, as if gasping for air, then took a step back, but with her hands caressing my abdomen. Her eyes were red, and a few strands of hair were in front of her face.

"I… don't care about any of that. I don't care what my friends think. I was really depressed before that night I met you. Stress from school, the tournament, and overall… bullshit, was getting to me. When I walked into that restaurant that night, and saw your face, I was instantly in love. I didn't show it; I was too nervous. You did look so much older than me, and I was convinced you were married or something. I thought of myself as just a stupid teenage girl who fell in love with this guy on first sight… but when you started talking to me, I opened up. I opened up like I never have before. I've never looked at a guy like that before. Guys have hit on me plenty of times, but their attempts were just on my body, or my age. You… you seemed genuinely interested in me from the start. And I hate myself for this, because it is causing my friends to treat me differently. At first they were just happy for me, but since they've been doing nothing but nag me about you ever since that night, and the fact everyone knows and won't shut up, is driving me insane. I… want to be with you. I can't pass up someone like you just because of what other people are thinking…"

She dug her face back into my chest and embraced me for another tight hug, shaking violently. But I stood there, awestruck. She really did, after-all, like me too. This amazing girl liked me back. And if it would make her happy to be with me, then I have no right to deny her of that. I rested my chin on the top of her head, and stared straight ahead.

"Do you sleep here every night?"

She shuffled around and sniffed.

"Yeah, why?"

"…Come home with me. I will take you to where you need to go tomorrow morning, or afternoon, or whatever. If that is an issue, I will convince Ozpin to allow this. You need some space from your friends, it seems like everything isn't 100% with them. I think it's for the best. And if this… between us is going to happen, we need to talk in private."

Her sniffling and shaking stopped, and she slowly moved her head from my chest and our eyes met.

"Let me grab some clothes…"

She let go of me and turned, and hurried away, leaving me in the middle of the now-silent hallway. Everything happened so quickly. My long talk about my feelings, her long talk about hers, seemed to happen so fast I forgot everything that was just said. My entire life just changed right there, and I can't even begin to fathom what's going to happen in the future. I stood still, lost in thought for at least 10 minutes. Eventually I heard boots coming towards me, and I blinked to snap out of my deep thought. Blake was walking to me, out of her combat outfit and into some casual clothes, her purse on her shoulder. Folded on her arm was her combat outfit, and was holding her weapon with her other hand. She gave me a smile, as I could tell she thought about our little moment too. I smiled back. She put her weapon and slung it on her back, and stretched out her newly freed hand towards me. I nodded and smiled broader than before, and stepped forward and grabbed her hand and worked it into mine, and we started for an exit to the academy. She led me outside, then I led her to where I had parked my car. We didn't see many people on our way out, much to her relief as she didn't have to have her friends see us holding hands. She chose an exit that was near a janitorial closet, for from where anyone was loitering around.

"Nice car."

She said as she inspected it. It was a lease, but I was still proud to own such a nice ride. I wasn't much of a car guy but I can appreciate a good looking one. We both got in and started off. I happened to have tissues in my car, and gave her some to clean up with, as she didn't seem to have done so when she was in her room. We headed into the residential distract, and onto the upper-class district that I called home. As soon as we entered the district, I noticed Blake seemed fascinated at everything she saw. She said she's never been to the upper-class district before, and had only seen stuff on TV about it. Eventually we pulled into my driveway, and got out, Blake once again seeming fascinated, this time at my house. I dug around for my keys, and entered my house.

I didn't think I was going to be gone for as long as I was, so I left the music playing over the speakers that were setup around the house. I enjoyed music quite a lot, and had some on all the time playing in the background. Blake's head was moving all around, taking in the interior of my home, oooing and ahhhing and the various pieces of decoration I had up. I had a chandelier in the dining room but it wasn't on, as it was still daylight out. I allowed Blake to take in everything as I took my shoes off and put my keys in the bowl. I headed into the kitchen and poured myself a small glass of wine, and was about to pour her some but remembered she was still a teenager. I looked out to her, as she was still slowly pacing around, looking at everything. She stopped at my massive picture of me DJing, which took up most of the wall that was across from the doors to the deck outside. The picture was taken by a friend of mine, during one of my gigs for a rich family just a few minutes away from where I lived. I loved that picture, of me mid-jump in the air, looking straight down at the mixer but with my arm in pumped in the air, sweat dripping from my hair and forehead. A small pitter-patter of feet interrupted that thought, as my cat came bounding up to me, who had just woken up from her nap.

"Hiiii Frayja! Are you hungry? Have you seen our visitor yet?"

I petted her, and looked up at Blake, who was staring at Frayja wide eyed. Frayja noticed her and stopped, then left my hands and ran right up to Blake. Blake leaned down and embraced her, giving her a lot of attention.

"Wow, she isn't even that excited to see even me. You had any cats before you went to Beacon?"

Blake looked away from Frayja and at me, and frowned slightly.

"That's something I gotta talk to you about."

I gave her a curious look, and leaned on the kitchen table, my wine in one hand.

"Well, I'll show you to where you'll be staying for tonight. We can talk there."

I put the glass on the counter and showed Blake upstairs, to the guest room that came with the house when I bought it. Well, it was technically a second bedroom, but since I lived alone I called it the guest room. Friend of mine often stops by drunk out of his mind, needing a place to stay, so the room was always in top shape. Blake slowly walked inside, looking like she was dreading something. I motioned for her to sit down on the bed, and she sat facing me, as I was still in the doorway. Blake looked at me, frowning.

"Promise you won't… laugh? Or… hate me?"

I gave her the most puzzling look I've given her yet. I had no idea what she was talking about. She was obviously about to reveal something that she is self-conscience about, or tell me something that I hadn't know before that could put our future in jeopardy. I was going through a million different thoughts, when it was cut short by her sighing and reaching up to her bow, which was still on her head. She undid the straps holding it together, but kept it from falling. She looked at me one last time, observing my curious face as she was doing all of this. She let the bow fall. I took a step back and my mouth hung open. We were left in complete tense silence for so long, Frayja came upstairs and slipped between my legs, hopping up onto the bed and purring next to Blake. Now I see why she takes so much affection towards Blake. Because on her head, in place of the bow that's been up there for the entire time I've known her, was a pair of black cat ears, twitching and curling slightly.

"Your… eyes…"

I looked deep into her eyes. They did look very feline. The pupils were a lot narrower than a human's. They were also tilted towards the nose, as I had noticed before.

"The tuna…"

I recalled when she ate tuna at dinner that night. She seemed to go crazy for it, and insisted tuna was delicious, even though I don't know anybody that actually likes it.

"The ears…"

She still had human ears, on the side of her head where they belong. This could only mean one thing.

"You're a… Faunus?"

The word Faunus caused her to flinch slightly, her cat ears dropping as she did so. She couldn't look me in the eye.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

She still avoided eye contact. I didn't exactly feel betrayed by this, as she wore the bow while she was at Beacon too, leading me to believe maybe her friends don't even know and that I was the first.

"Do your friends know?"

She nodded her head. Odd. Why does she wear it all the time then?

"Well, why do you wear it? What's wrong with cat ears?"

She finally looked back at me.

"Are you familiar with the White Fang?"

I didn't have to think about that. Of course I knew who they were. Terrorists.

"Yes. I do… why?"

My heart immediately sunk to my feet. I refused to believe she was about to say she was one of them, so I allowed her to respond before making any assumptions.

"Well I… used to be with them. It was a long time ago. Before they radicalized. And when they did, I left. I've always been embarrassed of my heritage, and I wear the bow to hide it. When I met my friends when I first arrived at Beacon, they didn't know for several weeks."

She looked away yet again.

"Do you hate me?"

I suddenly felt butterflies in my stomach, to the point where I almost felt nauseous. I left the doorway and crouched down in front of her, meeting her eyes.

"No Blake. I think cat ears makes you even more irresistible."

She blushed and gave an embarrassed smile. I looked over at Frayja, who was still sitting next to her.

"I was wondering why the little kitty liked you so m-"

I was cut short of my sentence by her embrace. She slipped off the bed and fell onto me, hugging me even tighter than back in the hallway in Beacon, if that were even possible. I stood up and so did she, and he stood in each other's arms. I took a moment to reflect. Here I was, finally having a chance with a girl again, the first time in my adult life. And she happened to be someone I could never have imagined me being with. A gorgeous, voluptuous girl with cute cat ears. These thoughts made me smile. She suddenly leaned back slightly, moving her hands to my shoulders. She stared deep into my eyes, and I did the same to hers. Her pupils slightly dilated as she noticed right hand coming up and nearing her feline ears. I looked up at them and brought my hand closer. As soon as one of my fingers touched one of the hairs, both ears reared back. She kept staring at me. The ears relaxed, and I caressed one with my hand. They were very soft and silky, also very warm. I ran it through my fingers, twisting and pinching it very lightly. After a minute of this, I slowly let go of the ear and began moving it down her head and body, starting by caressing her neck, then following the contours of her figure until I got to her waist. I held my hand there, and pulled her slightly towards me. Her hands that were on my shoulders were now feeling my back, moving her hands in circular patterns. It wasn't my first time doing something like this, and it didn't seem like hers either. She stopped feeling my back and moved her hands up to my neck, and I felt her pulling herself in. Her eyes closed as she leaned in. My heart was racing and my mind was filled with anxious thoughts, but I wasn't about to let that get in way of this moment. Not this time. I leaned in as well, and our lips finally met. I felt her breath dramatically quicken, as did mine. I moved my hands from her waist onto her back, and pulled her tighter into me. A minute of this passionate kissing went by, and she eventually turned me around as she had been closer to the bed, and pushed me down on it. I had to take a deep breath, as I had been buried in her face for so long and I didn't want to gasp for air in the middle of it. And, for a quiet girl, she seemed to know exactly what she was doing. I was now sitting on the bed, and she leaned down to kiss me again, grabbing my shirt and attempting to take it off. I knew exactly what she was trying to do. Before we could go any farther, I needed to know something.

"Wait."

She stopped and moved her head back, enough to look at me. She was smiling and breathing heavily.

"What is it love?"

Taken aback by what she just called me, and the fact she was now as comfortable as I've ever seen her, I searched for the right words to say.

"I know you are only 17 and I'm 24, 7 years older…"

Her smile faded.

"Have you… ever… done this before…?"

Her mouth was gaping slightly, and her eyes darted around the room.

"N… no."

I was surprised. She seemed to already have been an expert at this, which worried me considering her age. But then again. We are about to make love.

"How are you, well, so good then?"

Her eyes stopped, and rested on me.

"I'm just going by instinct. Are you… not comfortable with my age?"

I knew that I was comfortable, I never thought age mattered really, but that was before I was in this situation with a girl 7 years younger than me. Remnant didn't have any laws against this, but people generally looked down on it. And if she told Yang about us meeting, I would imagine she would tell her about this.

"I don't have an issue with it. But… are you going to tell your friends?"

As I was leaning back, she was leaning forward with her hands propping her up on the bed. After asking that, she relaxed her arms and rested her head against my chest.

"They are going to ask me where I've been. And when I tell them I was here, one thing is going to lead to another. I might as well be honest with them. Last time things got out of control."

I slowly nodded my head, looking straight up at the ceiling. She put her hands back on the bed and pushed up, returning to her original position, looking like she was waiting for a response from me. Her friend's wouldn't hate me, right? I asked myself this among several other questions. But eventually I came to a conclusion.

"Fuck it, you know? We are young, we got futures ahead of us. You study, I work. Time for us to relax and enjoy ourselves. We earned it."

She smirked and laughed quietly. I used one of my hands to tilt her chin up slightly, so she was looking directly at me. I rubbed my hand on her chin, as if petting a cat. She seemed to really enjoy this, as did I. I lost myself in scratching her chin, and eventually I noticed her vibrating slightly. Her face looked to be in bliss.

"You even purr too. I didn't even know Faunus could do that."

She laughed and grabbed my hand, and threw it to the side. She leaned on me and we kissed again. I laid back on the bed and she laid on top of me. After making out for several more minutes, I leaned up and took my shirt off. I wasn't the skinniest guy in Remnant, but I wasn't really that fat either, and took care of myself. Blake didn't seem to mind, as she immediately took hers off too, ruffling up her hair. I was surprised how busty she was, considering how I'm not sure what the breasts of a teenage girl look like, but comparing her to a one-night-stand I had a few months ago with a girl my age, she was definitely mature. She undid her cute black lacy bra, and blushed as she slipped it off. I smiled and returned the notion by kissing her neck, as I began unbuckling my pants. I did so, and stood there in my briefs. She did the same. We both rolled back onto the bed, and she sat on top of me, on my pelvis. She leaned forward and kissed me again. I put my hand on her chest and pushed her away slightly.

"I love you."

She smiled widely and blushed again.

"I love you too."

I relaxed my arm and she fell back down on me.

In the morning I woke up before she did. I put my clothes back on and went downstairs to feed Frayja. I don't usually eat breakfast, even though it was about 11 AM at the time. Before we fell asleep she told me that she needs to be at the festival by 1 PM, so we had plenty of time. I sat on the couch, thinking about the previous night. I remembered it well, as it was something I won't be forgetting anytime soon. After about 30 minutes of being lost in my thoughts, I heard footsteps down the stairs and into the living room, where I was. Blake leaned down behind me and kissed me on the top of my head and walked past me. She was wearing nothing but one of my T-shirts, which she must have dug out from one of the dressers in the guest room.

"Help yourself to whatever's in the kitchen."

I heard her rummaging in the fridge and drawers. She cooked something and she ate next to me on the couch. By 12 PM, she put on her uniform and we headed out. She explained in the driveway that since the festival is being held in Vale this year that the fairgrounds were going to be on the Beacon campus. Only a short drive later, we were there. She told me Yang texted her and told her to meet the rest of her team near the food court setup there. Before getting out she asked me if she looked good, as she did have trouble brushing her hair this morning. I told her she looked great, and we both got out. We walked until her friends were in sight, and she turned and hugged me.

"Thank you for last night. I'll try to break the news to them slowly."

I smiled and hugged back.

"Don't worry about how they'll react, I'm sure they'll be thrilled."

She scoffed.

"I just really hope they don't go telling everyone this time around. Especially if Sun finds out."

She puckered her lips slightly as she finished the sentence, and looked off to the side.

"Second time I've heard that name. Who is that, anyway?"

She avoided the question, looking right she was regretting saying too much. Before I could ask her again, I noticed someone was staring. Someone who was only a few feet away. I tilted my head to the left, looking past Blake and onto a tall blonde guy who was watching us. He had a broad smile on his face. After staring at him with a puzzled look on my face for a second, Blake noticed and turned around. She immediately looked back and leaned her head on my chest.

"Oh god, not him…"

The guy took a large step forward, still smiling. He was only 2 feet away from us now.

"Wow, it's you! Blake's new boyfriend! Nice to meet you!"

Blake let go of me and turned to face him.

"What do you want Jaune?"

He kept smiling, now extending his right arm towards me.

"I just wanted to introduce myself!"

Blake sighed, and stepped between us.

"Jaune, Loki. Loki, Jaune."

She made hand motions, as if acquainting us with her hands. Straight faced, I reached out and shook his hand.

"I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc. We've heard a lot about you! Blake is an awesome person and she deserves the best. I hope you'll take good care of her."

He swooped his left arm up and did a thumbs up, still smiling broadly. I gave him the same puzzled look as earlier. Is Blake seriously the only normal person who goes to this damn school? Everyone else seems to have such a wild and exaggerated personality. Maybe it's just because I'm new to them and in a relationship with one of their friends? Who knows?

"Yeah man, she's great. I'll be sure to uh, do that."

Before he could respond, a hand appeared on his shoulder, and out from behind him came a slightly less tall red-headed girl. She was wearing what looked like ancient armor, but with a miniskirt. She didn't seem to notice me at first, but when she came into view she did. She smiled just as widely as Jaune did.

"Blake you didn't tell me that he was going to be here today!"

She extended her right arm, just as Jaune did.

"My name is Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos. Nice to finally meet you Loki!"

Seeing as she already knew my name, I simply shook her hand. I made a quick glance to her eyes, and they were intently staring at my own, as if judging me. She had very green eyes, and I found myself lost in them as we continued shaking for an unnatural amount of time. Eventually Blake's arm cut ours apart, and she looked at me with her face scrunched up and shaking slightly.

"Nice to meet you too."

I scratched my beard, and there was a bit of nothing but silence as the 4 of us looked at each other.

"Well um… Blake here needs to get with her team, I'm only here to drop her off. Sooooooooo…"

"Drop her off? Where were you two last night?"

Jaune smirked and leaned in towards Blake and me. Blake pouted and her face quickly grew red. Jaune giggled and Pyrrha looked very interested. Blake turned and to my surprise, kissed me in front of them.

"I'll call you. I'll also tell everyone else you said hi."

I nodded, and she walked away without even looking at Jaune or Pyrrha.

"Welp, gotta go eat now. I'm starved! Again, nice to meet you Loki!"

Jaune did a little bow, and turned and walked away.

Pyrrha swished her hair around, and gave me a polite smile. She looked behind her, looking as if she was waiting for Jaune to get out of earshot.

"Blake seems to like you a lot. I don't see her that comfortable even with her own team. I honestly thought she was depressed or something. Glad to see you making her happy though."

I smiled back.

"It was great to meet you Ms. Nikos, but I gotta go now. I got work to do at home."

She frowned, and I turned to walk to my car. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I stopped walking and turned my head. Pyrrha was smiling nervously.

"Well… Any friend of Blake's is a friend of mine. We should keep in touch."

I thought it was weird, as I didn't really think that a friend of a girl would want to keep in touch with their boyfriend, but I wanted to be polite. Pyrrha's eyes stared at mine, as if trying hard to alter my answer in her favour.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?"

She happily took out her phone and I gave her my number. She hadn't even said much to me, but I could already tell that she was very confident in her speech, and showed no amount of anxiety. She seemed to know exactly what she wanted. I waved goodbye, and started towards my car once again. I had only walked a few feet when I heard her call out to me.

"I'll text you!"

I turned my waist while still walking forward, and waved again. She was holding her arms to her chest, clutching her phone. Very odd indeed. I turned back and continued to my car. When I got inside and was about to leave, I noticed she was still standing in the same spot I left her at, looking down at her phone. Again, very odd. I didn't think too much of it, and drove home.

When I got home, I went straight upstairs into my room to take off my clothes and relax a bit, seeing as I had several blueprints to go through, and only had until Monday to do them. I took everything off but pajama pants I dug out from my drawer, and started for downstairs. On my way, I noticed Blake had left the door open to the guest room, which I usually kept closed so Frayja couldn't go in and track dirt inside. I leaned in to grab the door handle, but stopped when I noticed a note on the bed. I walked in and picked it up.

Thanks for a great night Loki. I haven't felt this alive in a long time. I hope you and I can do this again sometime, and I hope we can be together forever. I love you ~ Blake

I smiled and took the note and put it in on the night stand next to my bed, in my room. I headed downstairs and into the basement, where I had my workshop. I started at work on the blueprints, spending a few hours designing what they told me to design on my computer, then programming one of my machines to make the part. While typing in the instructions on the machine, I heard my phone vibrate on my worktable. I stopped what I was doing and wiped my hands on a rag, and leaned down to look at my phone. It was from a number I didn't recognize, but the text read:

Hi! Just wanted to see what you we-

The preview of the message on my phone screen stopped there. I put down the rag and unlocked my phone and read the whole thing.

Hi! Just wanted to see what you were up to.

The only way I could tell it wasn't Blake was the fact Blake didn't capitalize anything in her texts. Must have been Pyrrha. I responded, telling her I was just doing that work I mentioned to her before I left. After hitting send, I put my phone back down on the table and walked back towards the machine. I was only halfway there when I heard it vibrate again. I turned around and unlocked it again.

That sounds cool. Can I see?

I texted her saying sure. I turned around, facing the machine, and aimed my phone at it to take a picture. As I was just about to tap the screen to take the picture, a video call request popped up, and where the picture taking button was, is exactly where the accept call button was. I hit it on accident. Before I could even really react, I saw Pyrrha appear on the screen. She was laying in what looked to be a bed, with her head propped up by some pillows. My mouth was slightly agape, as I didn't know this was what she meant by wanting to see it. And the fact I accidently accepted it before putting a shirt on was also not helping. She giggled when she saw I was shirtless, though I'm not sure why. Blake seemed to like the fact I was slightly chubby and had a lot of hair on my chest, although I didn't think any other girl would too.

"Is this what you were working on?"

I was still in shock, and quickly tapped the screen to switch cameras, to the one facing away from my hairy chest.

"Sorry, I was kind of surprised you video called me. Wasn't really prepared for it."

I moved my hand outwards, pointing to the machine that was in front of me.

"This is the machine I'm working with. It machines out parts that I make."

She shuffled around where she was laying, reaching over and turned something off, which I could only assume was a lamp because she now sat in darkness, with only the light from her phone screen illuminating her face. She didn't respond to me.

"Why is it so dark in there? I thought you were at the festival."

She laughed.

"It's 7:36 PM silly! I've been home!"

I didn't have any windows in my basement, as it was underground, and the only clock down here was the one on my phone. I tapped around and revealed the clock on my phone. It was indeed 7:36 PM.

"I really must have been working longer than I thought…"

Just now thinking about this, I finally noticed how long I had been sitting in front of my computer designing that part. My back was aching from being hunched over in my chair. Weird I hadn't noticed the pain when I got up to start on the machine.

"Tired? I am too. I have my first fight very soon and I spent all day today sparring with Jaune to prepare myself for it."

I rubbed my aching back as I shut down the machine, turned off my computer, and headed upstairs to lay on the couch.

"What is fighting like, anyway? Blake doesn't really talk about it, and I don't really know anything about it."

She tilted her head and moved her lips around a bit, thinking about an answer.

"We do what we do to protect humanity. I train everyday so I can be a better fighter, so that I can save lives."

It sounded like she was avoiding the question, giving an almost existential response instead. Maybe asking someone what it's like to take the lives of living things is a bit too much, if you consider Grimm to be "alive". My back was still aching, as I hadn't found the sweet spot in my position on the couch that grants me ease from the pain. I moved around, trying to keep the TV and Pyrrha in my sight while looking for a comfortable spot to settle in. She giggled.

"Having trouble there?"

I wiggled around for several more seconds, finally finding the perfect spot.

"That's the issue with these leather couches, you slip and slide all over the place."

Her eyes widened slightly, and she looked surprised.

"You have a leather couch?"

I pointed my phone towards the couch, allowing her to observe it.

"I've never been on a leather couch before. I've only seen them on TV."

"Well I mean; they aren't really THAT expensive. This came with the house when I had it built, but I think these are only li-"

Her eyes now widened even more.

"You had that built? Recently?"

"Yeah, um, why?"

"How old are you?"

I gave her a mocking look.

"What, did Blake never tell you guys how old I was?"

She didn't answer, looking concerned instead. I sighed.

"I'm 24."

"Oh, I thought you were my- I mean OUR age."

I reached up and scratched my beard.

"What, did my complexion not give it away?"

She studied my face through her phone screen.

"I hadn't really thought about it."

She relaxed her concerned look, and brought her hand up behind her head and removed whatever was tying her hair together, and let it fall over her shoulders. Her hair was even longer than Blake's, and it was tied up in a ponytail up until a moment ago.

"I like your hair, mine's slightly darker than that."

She smiled.

"Yours is blonde!"

"Oh, I mean naturally it's red, and darker than yours. My beard is the same shade as it."

I tilted my head up to put my beard in full view of the camera, but there was only a lamp on the nightstand next to the couch to really keep me illuminated, so it was hard to make out any kind of difference in shade in my facial hair. She nodded her head. We stayed silent for a while, the only thing we could hear was the sound of my TV in the background.

"Um, are you home at Beacon right now? Are you laying in your bed?"

She moved her head left and right, taking in her own surroundings.

"Yes. Though the rest of my team are still out at the fairgrounds, enjoying themselves."

"Why aren't you out with them?"

"I'm… not one for social gatherings. I would rather lay in bed or spar, than party."

I nodded my head in agreement.

"I'm kinda the same way. Due to my anxiety I avoid things like that, but since I DJ on the weekends I'm forced to be around tons of people. Although, I do that for money, so in my mind it's different."

"Is that your main source of income? I don't think playing music for people would bring in enough wealth to afford a nice couch like this, and even finance a new home."

I shrugged.

"It brings in decent enough money, but I'm a full time engineer on Vytal. That's actually how I met Blake; I was on my way home from work. That's also what I was doing on that machine earlier, when you called me. It's hard work, and I'm lucky I am able to bring in as much I do. I guess I just got lucky with this job."

I looked away from my phone, and onto the dark interior of my home. Completely devoid of life except for Frayja and I.

"Are you okay?"

I snapped out of it and looked back at the phone. Pyrrha looked puzzled.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"Do you um, live with anyone?"

I looked back into the darkness of my house.

"No, I have my cat to keep me company."

She put on a concerned look, as she seemed to be a fan of that.

"Don't you get… lonely?"

I continued to stare into the darkness.

"I do. That's why I'm happy to be with Blake. When she gets done with the festival, I want her to be here as much as she can, to keep Frayja and me company, as we do tend to get lonely…"

"Well tomorrow Blake is with her team in her first battle, which is at noon I believe. My team doesn't have their first battle until much later, at about 5 PM. Maybe I could… you know…"

It didn't take a detective to know where she was going with this.

"I… uhhh… don't really know if that's a good idea. Blake doesn't strike me as a jealous type but I can't just risk our relationship like that by having one of her friends come over my house. You seem really nice and all, but I'm not risking what her and I have. If I come see Blake at the festival, I'll stop by and say hi to you. But… yeah…"

Her face got very red, almost the same color as her hair. Her lip quivered slightly.

"Oh… I see. I apologize for intruding in on your relationship. That wasn't my intention."

Great. Now I felt bad.

"No, Pyrrha, I don't want to sound like an asshole. I just…"

"It is alright Loki. I just got carried away."

She looked away, as if holding back tears. I didn't understand why she suddenly went straight for seeing me and now is almost about to cry now that I didn't want her to come over to my place. She seemed like a very confident person, but confident to the point of not handling rejection well. Or at least, that was my observation. And what did she mean by "carried away"? I suppose we are friends, despite the fact this was our first day knowing each other, but why would she want to see me at my own home? She knew Blake might take that as an intrusion, as I'm sure she knows Blake just as well as I do. I was pandering in my own confused thoughts for so long I hadn't noticed the call had ended, only noticing when my phone went dark from inactivity. I stared at my phone, mouth gaped slightly. I had no idea what just happened. She seemed a lot more emotionally charged than I was expecting, seeing as she did walk and speak with purpose and confidence. Clearing my head once again, I put my phone down on the nightstand next to the couch, and grabbed a blanket that was hanging over the top of the couch. I was comfortable, no reason to get off the couch and drag myself upstairs to go to bed. Since everyone from the 4 kingdoms are going to be staying in Vale for the festival, I didn't have work for another week. Unfortunately, I still had that take-home work to do in the basement, but for now I needed rest. I covered myself in the blanket, and closed my eyes. Right as I did so, I heard my phone vibrate again. I groaned and reached up with my arm and patted around the nightstand, trying to grab the phone without picking my head up. I found it, and brought it to my face. It was a text from Blake.

hi love. i got something i need to talk to you about

I unlocked my phone and replied, asking her what it was she needed to talk to me about.

its best we talk on the phone

I groaned again. I was too tired for this right now, but it seemed important enough for her to need to call me. I called her and she picked up before the first ring was over.

"Hey, what's up? Kinda late, I was just about to go to sleep."

She was silent on the other end, long enough for me to have to take the phone away from my ear to see if the call had dropped. It hadn't.

"I need to tell you about someone."

My heart skipped a beat. Last time I was dating a girl, quite some time ago, those were the exact words she said to me, before I found out she was cheating on me. My breath quickened, and I sat slightly up. I waited for her to continue.

"Before I met you, there was this guy. You heard his name before. Sun. We didn't really have a thing going on, but I can tell he likes me. He gives me looks all the time, obviously flirting with me. I've known him for quite a while now, and just after you left i ran into him, and told him about you. He seemed happy for me, but the way he smiled at my afterwards… I could tell he was disappointed. I saw him again later, and said hi. He didn't say hi back, just waved without even looking at me. He's never done that before. I knew he had at least some kind of feelings for me, but I didn't know they were that strong. Strong enough to not want to look at me anymore, just because I fell in love with someone else instead of him. I just wanted to let you know that if he is going to act like this, he isn't my friend. I want to let you know I'm yours 100%, and you have nothing to worry about."

By the end of that, I was sitting up. I felt a warmth on my face, like a tingling sensation. Those words, were the exact ones that girl I was with also said to me before I found out she was sleeping with someone else. Almost word for word. I hadn't said this earlier, but I am a jealous type. A very, very jealous person. Because of my past experiences in life, dating back to when I was a kid, I had serious trust issues as well. Especially since my last relationship went south because I was being cheated on. And now, the love of my life was telling me the exact same words. I wanted to believe her, I really did. But I wasn't going to let myself get hurt again.

"Blake I… love you, okay? I do. But I feel betrayed. How can I know that you are being honest with me when you say you two have nothing going on? This isn't the first time I'm hearing these words in this context."

"Wha- what the fuck do you mean how do you know if im being honest? I love you too. I really do. I just… wanted to tell you about this because if we are going to be together, you need to know everything that's going on in my life, especially if it has to do with another guy. Loki there is not a thing between him and I. I'm done with him, I swear!"

"I'll… I'll talk to you tomorrow."

I hung up, and tightly gripped my phone. How could she do this to me? How could she not immediately have cut off contact with this guy when we started dating? I'm sure she has his number, I'm sure she could have let him know before they ran into each other. The fact that he is physically seeing her instead of me is bad enough, let alone their history. I let go of the grip on my phone, and made a decision that would haunt me for the rest of my life. I called Pyrrha's cell.

"I'll come by tomorrow and pick you up at noon. Be ready for me."

I heard a gasp of happiness from her end, and I hung up. This wasn't going to help Blake and me, but I needed someone to talk to. Besides, I wouldn't be like Blake and let something happen anyway.

I fell asleep immediately afterwards, waking up earlier than I usually do on my days off. The moment I gained consciousness and opened my eyes, the events of the previous night flooded into my head. I felt guilty about hanging up on Blake, and thought that maybe I overreacted. I decided that it's too late to cancel my plans with Pyrrha, so I would just talk to Blake when I came to pick Pyrrha up. Maybe the 3 of us could do something together. Could give me a chance to apologize and makeup. I checked my phone, and there was only 1 text message waiting for me. It was from Pyrrha.

Can't wait to see you today! I'll be waiting at the exit of the parking lot for you!

I rubbed my eyes, got dressed, and didn't bother cleaning up as I was convinced the 3 of us would go out and do something besides coming back to my place with just Pyrrha. I fed Frayja and got into my car and headed for the festival grounds. Traffic was heavy on my way there, so I ran a bit later than I was expecting. When I arrived, I navigated through the seemingly endless parking lot, and to the section that was set aside for entering and exiting the grounds. There were plenty of people trying to get into the grounds, so it wasn't easy pushing past them all to get near the entrance itself. I noticed Pyrrha from quite a distance away, as her red hair was brighter than anyone else's. I approached her, and she noticed and waved at me as I drew closer. I gave her a forced smile, as I was still nervous about what happened last night and unsure of how today will play out. She returned a genuine smile. I noticed she wasn't carrying anything with her, and was wearing casual clothes. I was expecting her to be holding her weapons and wearing her armor, as she told me her first fight was later today.

"Why are you wearing that?"

I asked, still puzzled. She frowned.

"Not even going to say hi to me?"

"Oh. Hi."

She checked herself out, observing her outfit as if she hadn't looked at it before.

"No sense in wearing my armor if I'm going to be out. Might as well enjoy myself and be comfortable before everything kicks off."

I nodded in agreement. We stood quietly, with the noise from the hordes of people surrounding us keeping the atmosphere from being completely silent.

"Have you uh, seen Blake at all?"

She turned her head slightly, just enough to where her eyes could meet mine. She didn't look too pleased with my question.

"No. I've only seen Ruby and Weiss. Yang and she are unaccounted for. Why do you ask?"

I leaned on one leg, and tapped my foot uncomfortably. I took my phone out and checked to see if I missed any calls or messages. I hadn't.

"Did you… tell her we would be seeing each other today?"

"No. I was just hoping that… I don't know."

She let go of a breath she was apparently holding, as she looked relieved. Not thinking much of it, I gave up on my hopes that I could make amends with Blake today. I decided to just allow Pyrrha over and give her a quick tour, maybe making her something to eat, then driving her back here in time to participate in whatever it was she is supposed to be doing.

"Well in that case, let's get going then."

She started walking past me, but stopping and letting me go ahead since she didn't know where I had parked. I led her to it, and hopped inside. I didn't bother locking it.

"Nice car too."

She strapped herself in.

"You didn't notice it when I dropped Blake off yesterday?"

Her head was turning in all directions, observing the entire interior.

"I wasn't really close enough to see."

I exited the lot and began driving home. We reached the border of the upper-class district, and when she saw me drive inside the border, she stared in awe.

"I didn't know you lived in the upper-class district. Sounded like you were doing well for yourself, but not this well."

I blew air out of my nose.

"Blake was just as surprised. I couldn't get a house like mine built in any other district in Vale. Not enough space in the residential district."

She didn't respond, and we reached my home and I parked inside the garage. I braced myself for the same reaction Blake had upon seeing it.

"Bigger than I was expecting. I don't think I've ever been at a house this fancy."

I was pretty modest about my lifestyle, knowing that not everyone was as fortunate as me, and I wasn't one to rub stuff in. I opened the door outside, as I didn't have a door going directly from the garage into the house, and I unlocked the front. I allowed her to enter first. She slowly paced around the hallway that the front door opened into. The hallway wasn't much of a hallway, as most of it was open, leading into the kitchen, living room, and staircase, all of which wasn't surrounded by walls. When Blake was here, she went straight into the kitchen area. Pyrrha just looked to be interested in the entire place. I tossed my keys in the bowl next to the door, just as I always do, and headed into the kitchen to see what I had in the fridge.

"You want lunch? I think I got some shit here you'd like."

She stopped pacing and listened to the music I had playing over the sound system in the house, which I never turn off. Blake didn't seem too interested in it when she was here, but it was obvious Pyrrha was much more interested in the house than Blake was.

"I love this band."

Pyrrha mouthed the lyrics to the song that was playing currently.

"You actually know them?"

I showed a look of surprise. My music was very specialized to say the least. I didn't look at her as the type to enjoy electronica, and especially not electronic-influenced rock. She giggled.

"Yes, I don't have a lot of time for music, but I know what I like."

I nodded, still surprised.

"But um, do you want anything to eat?"

I turned my head back into the fridge, studying all the shelves.

"No thank you. I'm fine."

"Suit yourself."

I took out leftover noodles from the other night, and closed the fridge door. I put the noodles in the microwave and dug in the cabinet above the sink for my bottle of wine. I took out a single glass and filled it up a tad, and took the noodles out when the microwave beeped. I sat down on a stool, looking out into the living room where Pyrrha was still roaming around. She noticed me slurping the noodles, and entered the kitchen and stood near me.

"Mind if I have a bit of that?"

My mouth was full of noodles, so I swallowed and nodded, and took out a fresh bowl and a fork. I was about to pour some of noodles into the bowl when she stopped me.

"No, I meant the wine."

I looked at her like she had 2 heads.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I can't give you alcohol if you are underage. Especially if you need to be fighting later today."

She laughed, and took a seat next to me.

"I don't tell many people this, but I enjoy alcohol an occasion. I don't keep any on me or at school, but when I was a younger teenager, before Beacon, I used to sneak some of my father's wine every so often."

I now looked at her with an even more bewildered expression.

"Wow, you really don't strike me as the kind of person to do that."

She gave me an offended look.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"The way you speak, the way you look, the way you present yourself. You just really strike me as an individual of elegance, of formality, and general respect. I dunno, really. When I was a teenager I used to do the same thing, but I kinda had a fucked up childhood."

She rolled her eyes.

"I can tell. You have the mouth of a drunken sailor."

I rolled my own eyes.

"I mean, like, emotionally. I don't know. I'm a wreck nowadays. When I was a kid all I wanted was to be rich and to live alone for the rest of my life. By the time I was your age I wanted to be rich but have a smoking hot wife and have kids with her. Now, I'm wealthy, but alone. Just like I wanted as a kid. I was depressed my entire life and still am, though not as much as I used to be. As a matter of fact, I consider myself happy. Except for… recently."

I didn't feel like finishing my drink, so I slid the glass over the Pyrrha. She took a sip and folded her hands in front of her.

"Why recently? You met Blake recently. Doesn't she make you happy?"

I stared down at my hands, which were also folded in front of me. I took a deep breath.

"By recently I mean the past 12 hours."

She took one of her hands and placed it on my arm, looking at me with a concerned face. Her eyes looked as large and green as ever before.

"What is it Loki? We just met, but you can tell me anything."

Her sudden trust in me caught me off guard. I wasn't used to girls, or anyone for that matter, treating me like this. First Blake and now Pyrrha.

"Blake and I had a bit of a falling out last night, just after you and I got off the phone. It has nothing to do with you, but she told me about this guy she knew before she met me. Some guy named Sun. You know of him?"

She reared back in shock.

"Sun? I had completely forgotten about him. I didn't know she still liked him."

My worries were confirmed. I knew it.

"So she did like him at one point. They did have something going on."

She could tell I was very distressed at what she just said. She looked off into living room, grinding her teeth, obviously thinking very hard about something.

"We had this prom some time ago. Everyone was looking for dates. Blake, at the time, wasn't getting much sleep and was visibly depressed or at least anxious about something. Her team told her to indulge a bit and to relax and come to the prom, but she refused, only going once Sun apparently convinced her too. She spent the whole night with him."

I leaned back in my seat, feeling my heart jump into my throat, and fall down into my feet. Very similar situation to when that old love interest of mine cheated on me. She had met a guy at a party and slept with him, telling me nothing had happened. I was hurt and depressed for weeks, only getting out of it when I landed the job I currently have, and began living comfortably. I looked at Pyrrha. She was already looking at me, deep concern and sympathy in her eyes.

"I don't want to lose her."

I put my face down on the counter, sighing. Pyrrha turned her body towards me and slowly started petting my hair.

"You have me. It isn't right of her to treat you like this, anyway. She seems like a nice girl, but there is something about her I don't trust."

She picked up my head in her hands, and cradled my face in them.

"I saw her giving looks to him yesterday, right after you dropped her off. He caught up with her when she was on her way to meet with her team. They were laughing and looking like a happy couple. It was almost like you didn't exist."

Tears welled up in my eyes. Memories from my previous girlfriend cheating on me flooded my mind. I didn't want to believe Pyrrha but she was there, she knows.

"I just want to be happy. I just want to not be alone, and I want to love someone who loves me back and won't ever hurt me."

My sensitive side had taken complete control over me, and I broke down like a toddler. She hugged me, petting my hair again, and shh-ing me as I wept like a little kid who just had his favorite toy broken. After several minutes of her embrace, she lightly grabbed my chin and leveled my eyes with hers.

"I am just like you. No one seems to want to be with me. I won't ever hurt you. We just met but I feel like we have something special. Something Blake couldn't give you. Something that no one but me could give you."

She pulled me into her, and our lips met. She pulled and tugged my hair with her hands as she bit and sucked on my lip with passion the likes of nothing I've ever felt before. But… I didn't return it. As much as she was beautiful, and as much as her words expressing her interest in me were genuine, I felt something in my heart that can't be described. I put my hand on her shoulder and pushed myself away. She had an almost crazed look in her eyes, completely drowned out by blind passion. She was right. We just met. Maybe she was even right about Blake and Sun. And as certain as I was a minute ago about my relationship with Blake, blatantly cheating on her to get revenge was not something I was going to do. I was wrong about Pyrrha. She had seized an opportunity to seduce me, and had acted on it so quickly I hadn't noticed her intentions. But I do now. She wasn't the respectful girl I had only just met the previous day. She had manipulated my emotions so she could get with me, to fulfil her sudden lust. I really shouldn't be so quick to judge somebody, especially when love is at stake. I tore myself away from her grasp and stood up.

"You need to leave. Now."

She stared at me with tears in her own eyes, but still with that crazed, lust-filled look. Without a word, she stood up as well and we both exited the house, and I drove her back to the fairgrounds. We were silent the entire way there. I dropped her off in the lot, not even leaving my car. Before she opened the door to leave, she stared at me for several seconds.

"I'm sorry."

I didn't respond. I looked out my window, with my hand on the steering wheel, the other holding up my head. The car wasn't even in park. She sniffled and exited the car without another word. I decided that I was going to come clean with Blake and tell her I trusted her. But I wasn't sure if I would tell her about what just happened with Pyrrha. I guess I'd just have to wait and see. I took my time getting home. Since Beacon wasn't far away, I took the back roads. The scenic route. I even stopped at the observatory on-top of the highest point in Vale. I parked my car in the middle of the lot, seeing as all the usual visitors were most likely at the festival, and laid on the hood, staring at the sky until the stars came out, thinking of the current state of my life and what I was going to do about my feelings. I never was good at expressing emotion, I remember being about 12 years old and experiencing the first stages of puberty. For some reason, something snapped in my head, and my anxiety became even worse. My mom always asked me how my day was at school whenever I came home, and I would always tell her everything about my day, my friends, what I learned, and so on. But one day, I didn't. I just said "fine" and went upstairs into my room. That same night, she tucked me into bed as she always had been doing for 12 years. She said she loved me and goodnight. I just said "night". I never did that before. I always said "love you too". But not that night. The next day, same thing. Day after that, same thing. It continued until I was 15, and my mom finally said something about it. I got emotional and she didn't mention it again. When I was 16 I finally told her I was depressed. I got put on antidepressants, and that was that. When I was 17, I stopped taking them one morning. She didn't find out I stopped taking them until 5 months after I stopped. She cried and cried, but I didn't feel anything. She cried because I had changed so much in the past 5 years, and turned my back on her completely. Everything she had done for me, everything she had sacrificed for me over the course of 17 years was returned without even a nod of appreciation from me. And I didn't feel a thing. I still don't. I got my first job at 17, started making money, started to become happy. By 18 I was out of the house, living on my own. By 21 I had a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and was starting my final 2 years in college to earn my master's. By 23, I had a 10,000 square foot house built for myself and had no issue financing it. And in that 10,000 square house lived a quiet, shy man and his cat. A shy man who had that massive house built so he could meet a girl and have a big family. By 24, that shy man was still living alone with his cat, and had brought home several girls to have meaningless sex with, all for them to leave the next morning before he woke up. This shy man had finally found a girl who wasn't gone in the morning. This shy man had found a girl who enjoyed being in his presence and one that he felt comfortable with. More comfortable than he feels even with his own mother. More comfortable than he would feel even with his own father, if he were still alive to see the shallow mess his son had become. And despite all these factors this shy man thinks about every second of his lonely existence, this shy man was finally happy.

I had almost drifted off asleep, I was so buried in my own thoughts. I wiped my groggy face, ruffled my hair around, and slid of the hood and drove home in the night. I was going to come clean to Blake, this I was determined to do. Though, I wasn't sure how I would go about doing so. Our last conversation wasn't exactly friendly, so I was hoping I would have some kind of notification on my phone when I got home, seeing as I left in such a hurry I had forgotten it. When I got home it was about 3 AM, and I was so tired I didn't even bother with the work I still needed to do in the basement. I tossed my keys in the general direction the bowl was, hearing several noises leading me to believe I had missed entirely, stripped off my jacket and threw it over on one of the stools in the kitchen, grabbed my phone which was on the charger in the living room, and headed upstairs to the master bedroom to catch up on all the sleep I've been missing for the past few days. As I laid in bed, I used my feet to remove my shoes and took my shirt off, deciding not to get up to change seeing as I was already comfortable. I sighed deeply, and stared at the ceiling. I woke my phone up and looked at the lock screen. One text message. My heart skipped a beat, seeing as it was from Blake. Without reading the preview of the message, I unlocked my phone and read the whole thing.

Im sorry about the other night. I understand youre upset, and im sorry. I fucked up, and I know it. Its obvious you have trust issues, but I want you to know I love you and I don't want anything coming between us. Trust me, this one time. Oh, and Im free all day tomorrow, you should come get me and ill make it up to you ;)

I locked my phone and put it on the counter next to my bed, without replying. I believe her. I need to grow up and get over these unrealistic exaggerations I create in my head, exaggerations like how she was cheating on me, despite the obvious fact she wasn't. It was time I started to get over my anxiety without the need of medication. But I would work on that tomorrow. I turned on my side, and let sleep take me over.

A loud vibration woke me up. Eyes not even open, I turned my body just enough to flail my hand around the counter until I felt my phone, and brought it to my face. I struggled to open my eyes, and looked at the screen. A phone call. I saw it was from Blake, and let it vibrate in my hands several more times, until finally swiping the screen to answer it. I held it to my ear.

"Hey, um, did you ever get my text last night?"

Finding the energy to open my mouth and talk proved to be more difficult than simply opening my eyes, but I was finally able to do so anyway.

"Yeah… yeah uhhh, I did. I got home late last night, was too tired to even reply."

She didn't say anything. All I heard was her shuffling around.

"Well, can you come pick me up today?"

I rolled over to look at the clock on the counter. 11:03 AM. I rolled back.

"Sure, what time would ya be ready for me?"

"You can just leave whenever. I'll be here. Call me when you get to the front gate."

I maneuvered myself out of bed, and held the phone between my head and shoulders, putting on clean pants and a shirt.

"I'll be there in like 30 minutes. We can talk then."

"See you then!"

She hung up, and I tossed my phone on the bed and finished getting ready. I combed my hair and beard, put on fresh cologne, fed Frayja, and hopped in my car and left for Beacon. Right as I neared up on it, I called Blake and let her know I was outside. She told me she would be waiting by the entrance to the grounds. Right where Pyrrha waited for me only a day earlier. I parked somewhat far away from the entrance, due to the fact there was no space up near the front. I started for the spot where she told me she was, and when she was in sight, she was standing exactly where Pyrrha had, again, only a day earlier. As soon as she noticed me she began walking towards me. She was wearing casual clothes, similar to what she wearing when he had dinner that night. She had her hands folded and resting on herself as she walked over to me. I was still anxious about having to tell her about what had happened between Pyrrha and I, but I was still happy to see her. I was happy knowing she was faithful. Her body language looked tense, but loosened as she saw I reached my arms out and hugged her. She pulled me very tightly to her, and breathed a sigh of relief as her chin rested on my shoulder.

"You okay?"

Her hands clenched my jacket, then loosened.

"I am now."

I smiled.

"Everything okay? You seem tense."

Her hands started massaging my back, and she sighed.

"I felt bad about our fight the other night. I thought you hated me. I didn't want everything we had to be lost in one brief moment of unrest."

I immediately felt a pit in my stomach, remembering what I had to tell her, and wondering how she would react.

"No, love, I wouldn't let something like that ruin what we have. I've made that mistake before, I'm sure as hell not letting it happen again."

She let go of me and pulled away.

"I'm glad. I couldn't even live with myself if I actually hurt you as much as I thought I did. It's been bothering me more than I want to admit."

I laughed.

"Well you don't have to worry anymore. Everything is gonna be okay."

I rubbed one of her cat ears with my hand, and she giggled and pushed me away.

"Remember, I'm off for today. I told you I was going to make it up to you."

She smiled at me and started off towards my car, as if she knew where I had parked. As I watched her walk off, I thought about the right time to tell her about my encounter with Pyrrha. I already told myself I wasn't going to not tell her, there is no way I'm keeping something like that from my significant other. She told me about Sun, so it's only fair. And besides, if Pyrrha tells her about the whole thing before I do, it'll only make things a helluva lot worse. I decided trying to convince myself of something I was already convinced of was a waste of time, and decided to catch up to Blake, who I'm sure had no idea where I parked. But as I did catch up, I was wrong. She was leaning on the passenger side door, with her arms crossed, as if she'd been there waiting for hours. I gave her a smirk as I used my car keys to manually open the passenger side door from a distance, catching her off guard she back off. I laughed, and used the keys to open my own door and got inside. As a fun idea, I offered for us to stop and grab lunch at the same restaurant we met at. She loved it, and we had lunch there, and even got the same table we sat in when we had dinner that night. I didn't eat much, as I was going through exactly what I was going to say to her, and it was making me quite anxious. But I was confident. I knew that she would understand. She could tell something was bothering me, and when she questioned it, I merely told her I was fine. Just not feeling 100%.

When we were finished, and headed out, it had just started to downpour. It was a bit odd, as it had been sunny all day up until that point. I always did love the rain, always loved being out in it regardless of how cold it may have been. Blake on the other hand, obviously did not, as she refused to leave the safety of the cover she had, right outside the exit of the restaurant. I asked her if she wanted me to bring the car up, but she just told me to unlock and open the door. I did so, and before I could attempt to remove my jacket to give to her for use as a makeshift umbrella, she darted from where she was at a lightning fast speed, and into the car. I couldn't even react; she had moved so fast. Must have been all that fancy huntress training in play. We headed home, with the sky still pouring rain. Again, she darted at godlike speeds from the garage to the front door. I joked as I was unlocked the door, saying I needed to invest in a door from the garage to the house. She didn't respond, looking like she really just wanted to get inside.

"Wow you really don't like the rain do you?"

She was shaking the rain off of her, like what a cat would do if it was wet and needed to get dry, and I headed onto the patio to cover up the pool, as the smog from the city has made the rain water very acidic, and it messes with the pool filters. I left the patio door open, and as I was covering the pool up I heard it close. I looked behind me, and Blake was standing behind the glass, staring out with a worried look on her face. I covered the pool and headed inside, drying my hair on one of the towels I kept next to the sliding doors. Finally looked up, Blake was once again staring at me with a worried look on her face.

"How can you stand the rain? It's awful."

I gave her a funny look.

"I love it."

"How? It's wet, and it just gets everywhere. Cold, too."

I noticed she was still a bit damp, as her hair was visibly dripping. I tossed her a fresh towel.

"I don't know. I always liked it, ever since I was a kid. The air always smells nice while it rains, and I like the ambient noise it makes on the roof."

She scoffed as she dried her hair.

"You're weird."

"Hey, you only hate it because you're a cat."

She put her hand on her chest, giving me an exaggerated offended-look.

"I'm a Faunus. I only have cat ears, you know."

I pointed my finger right at her face.

"And cat eyes. And you like tuna. And you hate water. And Frayja won't leave you alone, which she never does for anyone but me."

I aimed my finger down, pointing to Frayja who was indeed rubbing against her leg. She scoffed again and bundled up the towel and threw it at me. I scoffed right back at her, and tossed it on a hanger to dry.

"Make yourself at home. I need to do something in the basement real quick, I'll be right with you."

I went downstairs into the basement to grab my phone charger, as I had left it down there when I was working the other night. I was going to buy a couple wireless chargers and install then in locations that I most often use my phone, but I haven't gotten around to doing so yet. I wrapped the cord up in a ball and headed back upstairs. I didn't hear the TV on, or anyone in the kitchen. As the basement entrance was under the stairs leading to the second floor, I listened for signs of movement upstairs. I heard some shuffling around. I had no idea why she was upstairs, as there really wasn't much up there save for the master bedroom, the guest room, one bathroom, and one walk-in closet. I put my phone on the charger, and tossed it on the couch. I started upstairs, to where I presume Blake is. The guest room was the first place I checked, and peeking inside showed no signs of her. Bathroom door was open, so that left the master bedroom, as I didn't expect her to be in the closet. The door was closed, and when I opened it, she was sitting on the bed with only her underwear on, legs crossed, and her hands removing her bow and fixing up her hair. She had her head tilted slightly forwards, but was staring at me with her eyes half closed and biting her lip.

"I told you I'd make it up to you."

Before I could even properly react to what I was seeing, the situation at hand, and what she just said, I immediately remembered what I had to tell her, and silently kicked myself for not telling her before this happened. It wasn't like I knew beforehand, but I really wish I hadn't put telling her off until just now. Before I could even attempt to go over how I was going to explain, she huffed and got up off the bed, grabbed me by the waist and turned me around, and pushed me into the bed. She bent over and put her face only mere inches from mine.

"I've been doing nothing but fighting and training for days, I've been sooooo stressed out, it's time for me to indulge a little bit."

The room was almost quiet, the only sounds coming from the ambient rain on the roof and Blake's deep breaths and moans as she tried kissing me in every spot she could, while I just laid there on the bed with a completely confused expression on my face. How the hell do I tell her now? In this situation?

"I, eh, um…"

In the midst of my deep thought, I slipped out those words accidently. She stopped, and looked at me, her face red with blush and pleasure.

"I… need to tell you something."

Like a light switch, she instantly got turned off. Her face returned to its normal color, and she moved her head back from where it was on my body.

"What is it?"

Her tone was very serious, which caught me in an even more awkward spot. I once again scrambled to find the right words to say.

"You uh… know your friend um… P-P-Pyrrha?"

As a man with anxiety, and one in an awkward spot, my brain was so broken down it was a massive effort to just speak those words, especially when saying Pyrrha's name. I braced myself for what I was going to have to say next. Blake didn't even say anything, as a matter of fact she was completely still, like a statue. Well, a statue with a face as red as a tomato. She looked angry, yet confused.

"After our uh, you know, fight the other night, I invited her over. She tried to… well… seduce me. We kissed but I wasn't even, like, okay with it. I forced her to leave because I was thinking of you and… and…"

I began speaking really fast by the end of the sentence, my mind racing a mile a minute. I stood up and sort of shuffled around in the middle of the room as I thought of the next words to say, trying to say something that would ease the look she was giving me. It was like a look of pure anguish. And it absolutely killed me to look at that.

"It really isn't the way you think it is. She pulled me into her, I wasn't even thinking of it. I pulled her away as soon as I collected my thoughts and forced her to leave, she was even crying. Look, I'm not exactly all there in the head, I have really bad anxiety and I don't think about the consequences of my actions, I just kinda do really fucking stupid things. In this case, it was inviting her over. I don't even know why I did. I was just mad at you and wanted company. I had no idea she would try that. It doesn't seem like her. I put off telling you because I was so nervous about your response, and I waited until now because I thought it would be better telling you now instead of after… well, you know."

Blake was now sitting up with her hand over her mouth, looking very deep in thought. Her face was still red.

"I loved you."

Her hands were still over her mouth, and those words came out muffled. But I still understand them. My knees immediately felt weak, and my stomach churned. I felt those butterflies that I have been feeling time and time again in the past few weeks. But these butterflies felt more intense than that, almost like dragons. So bad, that I almost felt like vomiting. I looked directly at her, thinking in my mind what she meant by what she had said. I was suddenly looking at the bed, as she had gotten up. I followed her with my eyes as she picked up her clothes and put her jacket on, almost completely calmly. As if I had said nothing at all. She put her pants on, and walked out the door to the bedroom, and downstairs. I still stood in the middle of the room, completely dumbfounded. My brain kicked me back into gear, and I raced to the door and looked down the stairs. She was just walking out of sight. I booked it down to stop her. She had already reached the front door by the time I had gotten all the way down. She opened the front door and exited the house, leaving the door open. I again raced to the door and watched her, unable to move closer, as she walked out into the rain as if she didn't hate it at all, as if she was completely comfortable in it.

"Blake stop! I, I'm sorry, okay? From the bottom of my fucking heart I'm sorry."

She stopped in the middle of the driveway, and slowly turned to face me. Her eyes looked sad, but I couldn't tell if she was crying, as her face was already wet from the rain. Her ears were drooping too.

"I loved you Loki. I thought you were different. I gave up my friendship with Sun for you. I told him that we couldn't see each other anymore, because I wanted to be with you. And then you go behind me and kiss fucking Pyrrha of all people. I know her, she isn't like that. She wouldn't do that. And I thought you wouldn't either."

I felt my eyes well up with tears, and I stepped from the door and into the rain with her. I stopped only a few feet from where she was standing.

"I love you. I really do. Before we had dinner that night, I was hopeless when it came to love. I was lonely. When I met you, everything lit up. We've only known each other for a few weeks and haven't even spent that much time together. I want that to change. I want to get to know you even better, and spend more time with you. I want to love you for a very long time. Until I die. And I don't want everything we have to be lost over… what happened. Over what happened that was out of my control, whether you believe me or not."

Her ears now drooped even lower, and she now made fists with both her hands and gritted her teeth.

"I'm sorry, but… I can't do this. I'm done with you. Go find something else's heart to destroy. I'm not letting you hurt me. I won't allow it. Goodbye Loki. I hope you're happy now."

She turned her back to me, and proceeded to leave the driveway and onto the sidewalk, and walked away. Just like that. Just like that she had left, with only that short exchange. She was able to leave along with everything we had, with only a few words to say to me beforehand. And I stood there, with my mouth agape, still trying to comprehend everything that just happened. I was slightly confident that she would understand and everything would be okay. But I guess I really had only just met her, and I guess I judged too quickly. She was everything I wanted in a girl, beautiful looks, great personality, and affectionate. And I was able to throw that all away in the span of 5 minutes. She was able to walk away from me and everything we had built together over the past few weeks, not even my coldest of exes had ever done that. I was right about one thing, she was different. I had never met anyone like her, and probably never will again.

And it isn't even like she called me after a few days, either. Days, weeks, even months have gone by without even a word from her. The festival had long ended, she had most likely gone back to classes, probably to forget about me entirely. It always had amazed me how quickly things went downhill, and how she was able to leave as quick as she did. Almost like she didn't think twice, like she already knew what she was going to do if she was ever in a situation like that. I knew that I couldn't do that, I would always just stand there like a dumbass with my mouth open, my mind racing faster than I could catch up with, not being able to do anything except nothing. I deleted Pyrrha's number, almost directly blaming her for what happened. I knew it was no one's fault but mine, yet I was still looking for a definitive answer. I didn't delete Blake's number but it didn't matter. I knew I couldn't bring myself to call her, and I knew she probably couldn't bring herself to call me. Pyrrha never contacted me again either. It was like that entire chapter of my life, with everyone I had met, was completely removed out of existence. Everything quickly went back to the way it was before dinner that night. I was still going to be alone, still going to look for someone to put the blame on, still going to wake up every morning doing the same old shit I have been doing. Except now, without purpose once again. My mind forced itself to get over what happened, and it made me re-think my life. I knew that life would be the exact same it has been for the months prior to meeting Blake, and the months after her leaving. The only thing that really kept me going was the hope to finding someone else again, or better yet, her again. But I digress. I still have a job, money, my house, my cat, and a future ahead of me. If Blake doesn't want to allow me to hurt her, I won't allow her to hurt me either. This wasn't good enough for my mind, as I began slipping into depression, the first time in over a year. I would always just sit on one the stools in the kitchen, imagining that her and I were eating out again, and that things would be okay between us. They weren't going to be, but love is love. And love is something I will never understand.

End.