Iron yawned as he rested his body next to a tree. Rust was on trip to the past and he had requested Iron to help him carry the objects that he would steal from alternate timelines. Iron had already warned him about the possibilities of him causing a time paradox, but the teal-eyed maren didn't seem to care, he enjoyed time travelling and had the terrible habit of stealing things that weren't his. Usually his trips wouldn't last more than a minute. But today, he seemed to be taking longer than usual, so Iron quickly assumed that he had messed up with his magic pocket watch and got the wrong time. He was patient but 10 minutes of waiting can take forever to pass when you're next to a tree staring at nothing. He was almost ready to fall asleep but the sound of footsteps startled him. He looked around and a silhouette caught his attention, he didn't recognize her at first, but the long brown ponytails and the red eyes made it obvious that it was Kelly. She waved and smiled at him, he waved back, a bit awkwardly

- Hi Kelly, what brings you here?

- Hello Iron, I believe that Zelly is looking for you.

He looked at her confused. Zelly? Did something happen?

He wasn't expecting her to suddenly want to talk to him and got a bit worried. Something really bad must have happened, there was no other explanation. He got curious, but he didn't want to leave, fearing the Rust would appear and that he would have to deal with his 1 hour rants about broken promises and being impatient. There was no way Iron would pay attention to that.

- Right now? – He asked with a worried look on his face

- Well, yes, she looked quite flustered – The brown haired maren said.

- Can't she come here instead? I'm kind of waiting for someone… - He asked worried, but on the inside he chuckled at the idea of pestering Rust when she came.

- I guess… I'll go talk to her, so I'll be right back – She smiled as she ran away. Iron was about to sit next to the tree when he heard the sound of a portal opening in front of him.

- I AM BACK FROM THE PAST! – A black haired maren said as he held a small box on a hand and a medium sized Victorian clock on the other. Iron chuckled and grabbed his collar.

- You make me stay here for an hour or two and then you come back with two things that you can easily carry by yourself. Haha very funny, Rust!

- An hour or two? My apologies, Ron, but it's not my fault that the objects from that factory were horribly crafted and terrible looking. There was nothing but rubbish in there. I'll never go back to that timeline!

- Ah shut it! What did you brought? Anything interesting for once? –

He glared at him – You're hilarious, Ron. And since you're so curious, I brought some materials for my future works and…

- A clock. It's a clock, isn't it? – Iron interrupted him, making the maren blush in embarrassment.

- Yes… It is… - He pouted – BUT! THIS ONE'S SPECIAL! Want to know why?

- No.

- It's because it's horrible, and I'm sure you'll like it!

- Why is that?

- You like breaking my clocks don't you? Then I brought this one especially for you! So I'll avoid getting mad for once! Because this thing is so horrible in so many ways that there's no way I would be mad at you if you break it! – Rust said with a rare smile on his face.

- Oh. That's… that's very thoughtful of you… - Iron felt somehow a heartwarming feeling but a familiar voice called.

- Hey Iron, I brou- Oh… hi Rust… - Kelly said as she was followed by Zelly.

- Hi Iron and… Rust? – She whispered to Kelly – I thought you said he was alone.

Kelly looked confused at her and Zelly sighed

- Hey Zel, did something happen? – Iron asked with a smile

- Hum… hi… - Rust looked as shy as he would always look when she was around. Zelly felt somehow uncomfortable, and knew that his presence wouldn't help much and she unconsciously stared at him a bit worried - I… wanted to tell you something… but… huh… - Rust blushed a bit as he looked to the side.

- Alright! What is it?

- Oh, huh, Haha… well… - she looked at him then at Kelly

- I believe that she would like some privacy, don't you think, Rust?

- A-are you sure? – He asked. Iron stared at him then at Zelly, like he was offended. – What is so important that you have to kick him out?

Zelly looked surprised at him and laughed a bit awkwardly – I'll be quick, don't worry!

Rust stared at her then at Iron with a worried face. He had a sudden bad feeling about that conversation and kept wondering what it was about.

- Come on, Rust! Let's go meet with the others! – Kelly said as she poked his shoulder, startling him a bit.

- Y-yes… l-let's go… - he mumbled.

He followed her but kept wondering about what were the two maren going to talk about. It was probably nothing too important, he thought to himself, not fully confident, yet his thoughts were interrupted when Kelly suddenly pulled him into the bushes.

-HEY! What was that for?! – Being nervous would often make him act violent, but he found trust in the red eyed maren, she seemed to be as curious as he was.

- Shush! Don't you want to see what they will be talking about? Come on.

He stood silent and nodded. Hidden in the bushes, both watched the two maren. Kelly ordered Rust to stay silent and he nodded worried. Iron stood in the same pose as before and Zelly had found a comfortable to sit on the grass.

- Okay, I get it. It's something so personal that only I can hear about it. What happened? Did someone die or anything? – Iron asked with a worried smile.

- Oh, don't be silly! I'm sure that everyone is very alive at the moment. Well… except for the Ghostmaren… But they're a different case, Haha. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you something, well, it's something I wanted to say for a long time, but… well… things happened… lots of new marens and… yeah.

Iron lifted an eyebrow – Yeah… Where are you trying to get at?

- Be patient. I'll get to it now. – He looked at her curious and somehow worried as she talked – What I wanted to say was that… well, you're a great maren. Fun loving, funny, caring and kind when you feel like it, yet you're also stubborn and often a slow thinker. Shortly, you're not perfect, but just good enough.

- . . . What?

- Yeah.

- I'm not slow. – He pouted

- Yes you are, admit it. Anyway, I like those things about, and most of all, I think you're a great friend… - She smiled at him and he blushed lightly.

- Okay… that's very kind from you, Zel… Thanks… I guess? You wanted to speak privately just to say that?

- Nope. I just wanted to say that I liked you more than just a friend. – She looked down a bit.

- Oh! You mean like a best friend? Wow thanks, Zel! – He smiled happy.

- No, it's more than that! – She laughed

- Sweet! Then… we're super best friends?

- Nopedy-nope!

He frowned – Aww come on, Zel! What else is there?

- How about you think a bit? – she grinned

- Make me. – He stared at her

- Gosh, you're so stubborn AND slow

- AM NOT!

- Yes you are.

Meanwhile, in the bushes, Rust and Kelly watched them. Kelly looked at Rust – Well this is pointless. – She said

-Shh! Let me hear them. – Rust frowned. He didn't like their conversation at all. He felt a shiver and shook his head. He definitely wasn't planning on panicking on freaking out anytime soon. It couldn't get worse than that.

-WHAT I wanted to say was that I like LIKE you. Get it?

- I… Wait what?!

There was a moment of silence between the two, and Kelly gasped as she heard those words come out of Zelly's mouth. So that's why she had spent the whole morning stressed. – Oh no, did you hear that, Rust!? I just can- . . . Rust? – She looked at the black haired maren and the look on his face shocked her, He looked terrified, like he had seen a ghost. He stared at her, silent – She… -He shook his head. No, there was no way he would let someone watch him cry, He never knew if he would put his feelings or his pride first, he just didn't want to look weak… Weak like when he was just a child, he didn't want those times to come back, he had been through so much. And that chapter from his life's story had ended a long time ago.

- Oh dear! Rust, I'm so sorry! – He looked down, trying his best to ignore her and everything around him.

- I'm fine. – He said in a monotonous voice

- No you're not. I think we should leave. Come on.

- N-no, I w-want to hear what he'll s-say! – He said. His voice was trembling. He was expecting the worse.

Iron stood confused, staring at the left then at the right, suspicious and nervous.

- Zel, what the crap? You're joking, right? You have to be joking!

- Really. Yeah, I would totally joke about this! Of course!

- Zel…

- I'M NOT JOKING.

Zelly frowned at the moment of silence and awkward eye contact, and in the background, Rust was getting ready to rip off his horns from his own head.

- Huh… look Zel. I'll confess that I have a hard time trying to understand your sarcasm, so I'm still not sure if you're joking or not, but… What about Rust? You could go to him, no?

She sighed – Two things… First, I am being serious, and second, I know, he's really nice but I don't feel the same, you know? Besides, he's a bit too awkward sometimes… We don't really match… – She lowered her head, feeling so selfish it disgusted her.

- I'm awkward too, what's the difference? – Iron pouted.

- It's just not the same.

Kelly was so focused on their conversation that she didn't even notice Rust's hand pressing her own, she looked at him and frowned – I'm so sorry, Rust. This was a really bad idea. We should leave!

Sadly, not a single word reached his ears, he just broke down, and his silent painful sobs could only be heard by the brown haired maren, Kelly, who was by now, panicking. Both because she didn't know how to comfort the crying Nightmaren and because she was afraid that they would get caught spying.

- Look, p-please take Rust out of this conversation. I'll talk to him and make sure he's alright with this, okay? – Zelly said as she covered her face.

- Yeah… Hum, look Zel. I wouldn't mind anything, but I really don't want to betray his trust, you know?

- I understand. – She replied while getting up – So, you just don't feel the same about me, am I right?

- I just see you as a friend, nothing else. This is too sudden for me to quickly change my mind out of nowhere. – He said a bit worried and Zelly giggled a bit sad.

- It's alright! So I guess I'll get going now. Would you mind if something first? – She said with a smile.

- Not at all, feel free for… huh… whatever it is that you want to do. – He looked curious as she walked closer to him.

- Okay, please stay still. –

- Wait, what are yo-?!

His bright green eyes widened as he felt her lock her lips on his. Her quick yet gentle move had paralyzed him. She felt guilt and regret, yet she didn't let go and her blush grew wider as she felt him kissing back. It wasn't a first kiss for any of them, but it almost felt like it. Iron hated himself for what he was doing but the sweet flavor of her lips was so tempting… so sweet… so… wrong!

He pulled her away making her gasp, realizing what she had done. He just stared shocked and she cowardly flew away. Though he didn't react, he just stood there dumbfounded until the realization about what had happened was real reached his head.

- OH MY GOD! – He screamed.

He had just gathered the biggest amount of trouble ever! Not even the pranks he had played with Blade ever got him that much trouble! All the pictures covered his mind, what was he going to say to Rust? Or Atomus, Blade? Or anyone?! Certainly Rust would kill him as soon as he knew. Blade would freak to know that his own sister wanted to date his best friend. And Atomus… Yes, Atomus could help! Though he would be extremely disappointed, it was his last hope. Iron looked around and flew home.

Meanwhile, Kelly just stared at the trail of blue fire Iron had left on the sky, and then looked back at Rust who was covering his face and almost sobbing like a child.

- Is it over? Can I look now? – He asked, ignoring how childish he was sounding for someone who was sixteen years old.

- They… they kissed – she mumbled. Rust removed his hands from his face looking at her.

- What?

- They kissed! She kissed him and… he kissed back!

Rust simply stared at her shocked yet neutral then stared at the ground – Why Ron… WHY?! – He just looked back at her – Must my life always betray me this way?! – Kelly got nervous. This was too much for her to deal with, yet she couldn't stand to see her friend like that.

- Rust! Huh… I know this is hard! B-but you don't need to be like that! Just try to go home and rest a bit, please! It's not healthy to stay like that!

He silently got up and started to walk away without saying a word.

- Where are you going? - she asked

- I'm going to be at my Workshop. I got work to do. – He then proceeded to sprint away as he finished that sentence, leaving Kelly alone and confused.