"Hey Barbara? What do you think about…unrequited love?"

Barbara stopped cold at the sound of Lotte's quieted voice. It took her an extra half of a second to even fully realize such a loaded question was being directed her way.

"What do you mean…?"

Lotte's expression was distant, wistful. "What I mean is…when someone looks at the one they love, truly looks at them like they're the blue moon itself, shining bright enough to put all the stars to shame, and yet…the other person lives their life and never meets their gaze."

There was a distinctive look hidden behind the frames of Lotte's glasses, as if she was desperately begging Barbara to dig deeper, and realize an unspoken truth buried within her words. A sharp gasp escaped Barbara's lips as she realized their true significance.

"Oh my god…" Barbara squealed. "...that's a quote from Webs of Fate, isn't it?!"

Lotte's face erupted into an excited smile. "Yes! Oh my gosh, I was wondering if you ever read that one!"

"Are you kidding, I love that one! It's like one the best ArthGar fanfictions ever! It's my favorite! Oh, you remember the chapter where like the heater went off and they had to share Arthur's bed?"

"Oh gosh! I was blushing so hard when I read that part! But it was so good!"

"So good!" Barbara agreed breathlessly.

"A-and the scene where Edgar gets jealous when Arthur checks out his half-brother's step-sister's boyfriend?"

"Yes! That's the best! It totally reminded me of that one scene in the books where Edgar gets all bent out of shape because of Arthur's haircut! Like in the...uh, wait which book was the bee monster in? 134, right?"

"Volume 136! And the scene where Edgar fights the gnome doppelganger is in Chapter 14!"

"Right. Well anyway, the writer did a good job really getting the feeling of that scene. I don't think a lot of fanfictions really get that as well."

Lotte's grin was spread so wide, her cheeks looked like rosy red bubbles about to burst. Barbra may not have been as visibly giddy, but she was just as breathless. Hannah and Diana had teased her more than once about how much time she spent around Lotte, though Barbara rarely paid it much mind.

She wasn't actually sure how Lotte got her email address, but the mystery was a blessing in disguise. She had spent a long time hiding her love of NightFall, and she had years of fangirling to catch up on. Having a close friend to talk about her once-repressed interest was more than worth the looks.

Lotte pushed up her glasses. "And the real beauty about Webs of Fate is how much the author truly understood the complicated dynamic between Edgar and Arthur's relationship. They completely capture not only the love between the two, but they completely get all the nuances."

Barbara blinked at the more academic tone. "You really think so?"

"Of course! So many amatuer Arthgar writers think just because Edgar can occasionally get flustered by Belle's more forward advances, that he would act flustered if Arthur did the same. But that's not true! Edgar would never intentionally display such vulnerability to Arthur, especially not after the Endless 80 arc! And besides, considering Arthur's declaration after his failed pregnancy, though he says he enjoys seeing vulnerability, it's obvious he would never seek it out in a partner!"

Barbara disagreed on several points, but she couldn't bring herself to interrupt. Lotte had always been so shy, so soft-spoken. Barbara had once shamefully used the word invisible.

So that, in turn, made it a privilege to get to see Lotte like this. There were few times when one got lucky enough to see Lotte passionate, opinionated, and unafraid to speak her mind. There was a charm in its rarity that forced Barbara to slow down and enjoy the moments when they came.

She would be lying if she said she didn't love it.

It took Lotte another few dozen words before she registered Barbara staring. She quickly adjusted her glasses and squeaked out a small, "S-so I just...think it's...neat how they...wrote it like...that."

"Sorry! I...I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine!"

"To stare at you like-"

"It's fine!"

"Yeah."

"Y-yeah."

Barbara coughed. "…Plus I just like how they displayed Alicia in that story. Usually I think she's obnoxious, but the writer did a really good job with her in that story."

"Oh, I know." Lotte said, poking back out of her shell. "It's so refreshing to have an Arthgar story where they don't just kill off Alicia."

"Right?! God, whoever wrote that could totally write the next NightFall and I wouldn't even mind!"

Lotte let out a small sigh. "…It's just too bad it hasn't updated in five months."

Barbara frowned at the reminder. "Ugh, yeah…I hate when you start a new story and the writer just totally abandons it after like 2 chapters. It feels so unfair."

Lotte took a much softer approach. "It would be nice to see more Arthgar stories, but...I'm just happy they let us enjoy such a nice story in the first place."

"I guess." Barbara shrugged, and playfully nudged the bespectacled girl. "But you know, if you took Annabel up on her offer, you could totally make a story like that canon"

Lotte's cheeks turned a pleasant tinge of pink. "O-oh, I don't know if I could do that. I'm not really cut out to be a writer…"

"Why not? You probably know more about NightFall than anyone. I bet you could make a great story."

"W-well...I just like supporting people like Annabel. It took me like a whole night to even think of a comment on Webs of Fate. I don't know anything about romance...how could I possibly write a whole book?"

"Yeah, I know, I get it…" Barbara said. "Still, it would be nice to have more Arthgar stories…"

Lotte hummed in agreement. It had been a while since anything decent came out. Barbara knew all too well, considering how often she checked her crystal ball for new content.

There had to be some way to actually have more stuff. Or better yet, encourage other people to write, and see if they couldn't even trick the Webs of Fate guy to pick it back up.

"…maybe…we should write our own fanfiction."

Lotte stared at her. "Huh?"

"Well, why not?" Barbara said, suddenly in love with her own idea. "It's not like we got anything else going on! Plus we could support Annabel that way."

"B-but like I said, I'm not-!"

"I can do the writing! I've never had the chance to do something like this before. I was always afraid of what Hannah might say! You have more street cred, so if we work together, I bet we can make something pretty good!"

"...maybe we could even inspire Webs of Fate's author to continue." Lotte said. "S-so, what would our story even be about?"

"Well, I…!" Barbara started. "...don't...have any ideas actually. But that's where you come in! You know like everything about NightFall! Isn't there any kind of story you really wished you could see for these two?"

Lotte pursed her lips together in thought.

Edgar rolled his smaragdine colored eyes as Arthur wrapped the bandage around his bloody arm. Then Edgar scoffed. "Tch." Edgar scoffed. "As if I needed your help, Arthur! I can fix my bitewounds myself!"

Arthur cried, "Well it's not like I wanna do something like this with my worst rival for Belle's affections! But you're always getting into trouble, so someone has to look out for you!"

Edgar blushed, but he covered his face with his scarf so Arthur didn't notice it. " ! I'm only allowing you to do this because it's convenient for me, that's all!" He roared.

Arthur began to subtly check out Edgar's shirtless body. His tight, firm pectoral muscles were shining with sweat, and his sweat drops were traveling down the valley of his pecs onto his rock hard abs that were just above his tight jeans. Edgar noticed Arthur looking at his half naked muscle body and growled. Arthur blushed and then he looked away.-

Barbara stopped writing to let Lotte read over her work. "So how does that sound now? Should I change anything?"

She felt a burst of pride at the scandalized smile on Lotte's face as she read over the final paragraph. The voyeuristic strip scene was absolutely essential to their story's plot. They had agreed upon that very early on.

"O-oh wow! That last part is amazing! You did such a good job there!" Lotte said. "...I don't know if you should use 'wanna' for Arthur though."

"Oh, you're right. That does seem a bit...dumb sounding for him."

"I feel like he wouldn't call Edgar his worst rival. Arthur usually calls him pitiful whenever he insults him."

Barbara pressed a finger to her lips. "Hmm...so maybe something like…"

She eagerly went back to writing, determined to truly knock Lotte's socks off.

They had spent the last several days holed up in the Blue Team's room. Brainstorming, throwing every idea they had into their story and working it all together into a delectable treat of finely crafted words, expertly handled references, and mutual pining.

Despite the considerable time and effort they were pouring into this, they were having an absolute blast. The words flowed from the vibrant images in her head and onto the page with ease. The dialogue was electric, the exposition was exceptional, and the scene where Arthur gets distracted with how amazing Edgar's butt looked in his tight, tight jeans was gold.

Barbara finished her changes. The paragraph now read; "Normally I wouldn't do this for someone as pitiful as my rival for Belle's affections, but it seems you're always getting into trouble, so someone has to look out for you."

"Wow! Barbara, that's really good!"

Barbara lit up at Lotte's praise. "I-is it really?"

"It's amazing! Oh! You know what you could do? You could tie it into the scene in Volume 312 where Edgar gets his marriage to the gorilla annulled! Remember, the part where-?"

"Where he teased Belle about Edgar having a treasure trail, yes! We got to put that in!"

Hannah, and everyone else, really, hadn't thought to ask about what the two of them what they were doing, which suited Barbara just fine. She couldn't understand how she ever could have derided Lotte for being unnotable before. Ignoring the fact that she simply wasn't, that no one else realized what they were doing just made it feel more special.

Barbara casted coattails instead of just riding them, and Lotte was her muse, inspiring her with every incredible idea. Cliché as it was, Barbara felt like they had carved out their own special corner of the world that only the two of them shared. The idea of it made her story, their story, feel all the more unique and important.

She relished the little moments when Lotte, constantly hovering over her shoulder, would grab her arm in excitement. Lotte made a breathless gasp when she read the scene where it was revealed Arthur kept the horse teeth bracelet Edgar made in Volume 222, and Barbara couldn't get the sound out of her head.

So she wanted to write something that would make Lotte just die.

Emboldened by the Lotte in her head, Barbara wrote more words than she had ever written for any school project or application form in her life. She didn't care that it was all for homoerotic fanfiction, because this homoerotic fanfiction was worth its weight in gold.

One could only imagine her frustration when her inspiration simply…

...Stopped.

"Ugh…" Barbara groaned at the blank page. It had been blank for upwards of seventy-two hours days now. "Why can't I just write this…?"

Lotte frowned. "Are you still stuck on the goodbye part?"

"Yes, I'm still stuck on the goodbye part. I can picture how it goes in my head but I just...can't write it!"

Barbara drummed her fingers. She loathed the white of this blank page. This particular shade of white existed to mock her, she was sure of it.

The problem lied in the fact that the goodbye scene was likely the most important to the whole story, for one simple reason. This was the climactic scene when, just as Edgar was about to walk out on Arthur forever, Arthur stops him, and they shared their very first kiss.

(Of course it was their first, since as any true fan knew the kiss Edgar and Arthur's Clone shared in the fishing subplot wasn't canon.)

"You've been stuck on that part for an hour though…" Lotte noted. "Why don't we just take a break for a while? Maybe you'll have an idea?"

Barbara grimaced. Yesterday, she had written over a thousand words in an hour.

Today? Three.

With a sigh, Barbara turned around in her chair to face Lotte, realizing she was getting nowhere. "So how do people like…initiate kisses? Do you ask? Is there like…a thing you do to let them know…?"

"Um…well, in book 13, when Belle-"

Barbara cut her off. "No, I mean in real life. How do real people start kissing in real life? Like what was your first kiss like, Lotte?"

Lotte laughed a very stilted laugh. "Oh! I…I never…had one, yet. Actually."

Barbara blinked. "Never?"

"I-it never really came up? I guess no one ever...I mean it's not that I never wanted to kiss somebody! But I mean no one ever asked me and I never really thought that I should really go out of my way to- anyway w-what was your first kiss like then?"

"…I haven't kissed someone either."

"Oh. Um. Sorry?"

Barbara wasn't sure why that warranted an apology.

She shrugged, and talked much more indifferently than she actually felt. "I mean, I'm sure plenty of people who write fanfiction never get kissed! It's…probably fine that we don't totally have…!"

They had been spending almost every daylight hour of the past four days holed up in one room writing a story about two very shirtless men, yet the atmosphere had never felt quite this awkward.

"W-why don't we just work on a different part?" Lotte said.

"There's like no other parts to work on though."

"Well...maybe we can just skip it this time? We could put the kiss in another chapter and just post what we have now."

Barbara shook her head. "But this is supposed to be a one shot. One and done. And people wanna see them kiss."

"I'm just happy when I see a story of Edgar and Arthur together. I don't think they need to do anything more than that. Besides, it's our first story. It doesn't need to be that big."

"But first impressions count! And if our first impression's bad, everyone's going to think we're bad writers and no one's going to want to read anything else we make!"

"I…don't think that's true…"

Nothing made it more frustrating than the fact that Barbara could clearly see the final result in her head. The powerful sense of desperation, the way Arthur melted into Edgar's touch, how shirtless Arthur was as they kiss.

Yet she simply could not translate that into words. The answer was dangling in front of her like it was a carrot and she was a hapless plot bunny. She felt like tearing her hair out.

Barbara wracked her brain for an idea. "Maybe we can ask someone? Like, see how they describe their first kiss. It would make it feel a lot more authentic, wouldn't it?"

Lotte stiffened at even the implication. "W-who would we even ask? I don't mean to sound rude, but I don't know if I'd wanna admit-"

"God, yeah." Barbara nodded, shuddering at the idea of explaining what they were writing. "Like there's no way I could tell someone I was doing this for something like this. I'd practically die. But I mean, it's probably not a huge deal if we just ask our friends, right?"

"I don't know...even asking someone else sounds way too embarrassing to me."

Barbara crossed her arms. "I guess. I just don't know where else to go with this…"

After a long moment of dejected silence, Lotte giggled. "You remember that scene all the way back in Volume 3? Where the transfer student showed Belle's brother how to kiss someone?"

"Oh right, I remember!" Barbara's little laugh was lined with nostalgia. "What I wouldn't do to have someone like that right about now."

Lotte's cheeks took a pleasant tinge of pink. "It would make things a lot easier here, wouldn't it?"

Lotte looked at Barbara.

Barbara looked at Lotte.

Lotte hurriedly looked away from Barbara.

Barbara found herself doing the same. "I...I mean it wouldn't be weird. R-right?"

"Right! Right."

"It's not like we…"

Lotte quickly nodded. "O-of course! We aren't…"

Neither of them could exactly admit what it was they were not. They just knew that they weren't, so they were not.

"So like...I mean I don't really make a huge deal out of like first kisses or anything." Barbara said. "It's like, whatever, right?"

"Y-yeah, exactly!" Lotte said. "A-and it's not like Belle's brother ever...you know…"

"Did anything else with that student."

Lotte swallowed at the implication, her face all but glowing red. "Right."

Barbara, realizing she was just blankly staring, mentally slapped herself. "Look, why are we even getting all worked up about this? Who even cares, right? No one's gonna know, we both know it doesn't mean anything, it'll take like one second, so let's just get it over with!"

Exactly one hour and thirty-four minutes later, Barbara and Lotte were both kneeling on the floor in preparation for their one second kiss.

She wasn't sure why they had elected to kneel on the floor. But when they stood up, it felt overly romantic. They sat on the couch for a few minutes, but twisting around to do it was awkward. Kneeling felt like the best option, but where else were they supposed to kneel but the floor? On the bed?

Hell no.

"I'm gonna do it then." Barbara said.

"O-okay." Lotte said.

She waited.

Barbara waited also.

"…Here I go." Barbara said.

Lotte waited.

"And you know this isn't a weird thing, right?" Barbara made one last check, just so everyone was on the same page with where this was going.

"I know." Lotte's face was still very pink. It was actually a little concerning.

With how tightly both of them had closed their eyes, the fact that Barbara leaned forward and actually made lip contact was something of a small miracle.

True to her declaration, it was nothing but a quick peck on the lips, the quickest, most bare minimum contact to qualify under legal law as a, quote-unquote, kiss. And it was not weird, either. It was a completely innocuous, platonic, friendly thing. Like hugging, or taking a shower together.

They pulled away faster than they had pushed together.

As first kisses went, it wasn't the absolute worst.

Neither one of them was feeling brave enough to look the other in the eye. As they saw it, in that euphoric moment after their first kiss, there was nothing wrong with having a conversation where both parties were looking at two very different sections of wallpaper.

Barbara swallowed. It was weird that her face felt so hot. "O-okay! So…! Um…how would you...describe that…?"

Lotte's voice was high pitched and squeaky, and forming full sentences seemed a momentous task. Her hands were wringing the hem of her skirt. "I-it was…good! It was a…g-good kiss."

Good.

Barbara wasn't sure what to do with the word.

"I…w-we should describe how it felt though! It needs to sound…writey."

Lotte looked like she was about to explode. "W-well…it…felt soft-"

Soft.

What kind of word was soft?

"-and…and um…it…kinda made my insides feel…"

She performed a writing, crushing kind of movement in her hands, as though she was crumpling paper in between them. Barbara supposed it was an apt description. But she didn't know how to translate that into prose.

Barbara sighed.

"S-sorry!" Lotte squeaked out. "I-it went really fast, I don't...I…it was...that, and...it makes it…? You know what I'm saying, right?"

Incredibly, Barbara did, and she felt like her honor had been disgraced. "Well then you try it!"

She might as well have asked Lotte to leap out the window. "Try-? You mean you…? You want…?"

"J-just do it, alright?! It's not like it's a big deal! And we're...we're wasting writing time!"

"Wh-?! I-?! We can't-?! We...it's...but…"

Barbara remained stock still and expectant.

Lotte swallowed. "...okay."

Lotte set her hands on the other girl's shoulders, perhaps more just to steady and aim herself than anything deeper than that. She very gingerly leaned forward, and paused just a breath away, either silently asking for permission or giving Barbara one more chance to back out.

She didn't back out. This was for art.

She had been expecting something quick, one-and-done. Instead, when Lotte kissed her, she kissed her slowly, deliberately. Her lips lingered on Barbara's own, with the trepidation of an explorer on hallowed ground.

Notably, Lotte tasted somewhat cherry flavored. She had a pleasant, earthy, pine scent to her, like the smell of a fir tree in the winter. Something about the combination seemed intriguing.

It was a far different sensation being on the receiving end, though it was difficult to say if it was better or worse. A little guilty that Lotte had gone out of her comfort zone, a little honored that she would. She hadn't tasted cherry in a while.

Even after Lotte finally separated from her, it took another few seconds for Barbara's eyes to flutter open. Lotte's hands had long since retreated away from Barbara's body, now balled into tight fists above the bespectacled girl's lap.

The dark color of her frames stuck out vividly against the hot colors decorating the rest of her face, in a charming contrast of hopeless shades.

"S-sorry, sorry…" Lotte mumbled.

"N-no, it's...it's fine. Good job."

She wasn't sure why she said Good job. When she had said it, it felt like the right thing to say, but now it didn't.

"T-thanks."

Barbara coughed into her hand. "Okay. Um. So...think of the most...vivid word you can to describe that."

"It...i-it was…"

Barbara was cheering Lotte on, rooting for her to pull this one home for the team. "Come on, Lotte! J-just give me one word!"

"It was…it was…um...!"

There was a fire in Barbara's eyes, igniting the fuse of a passionate power she did not yet realize was there. "It was what? What?!"

"N-nice!"

Barbara's jaw dropped.

It was like the entire world had stopped turning, and the sky had filled with the inky blackness of night. Thousands of fireworks launched high into the air, leaving streaks of unimaginable colors, shades of red never before seen on a freckled face, greens that called to mind pine trees in immeasurable ways, blues that reminisced of tight jeans in a way long thought impossible, and the exploded into the sky in the dazzling shapes of unmistakable letters, all spelling out but one single word.

Nice.

Barbara was face down on her desk. She had been face down on her desk for a while. Had she not been groaning, someone might have mistaken her for being dead.

Lotte had decided to go home not long after, despite usually leaving for her room much later in the evening, which left Barbara to work on their fanfiction alone. The page was still stark white, and oh so descriptively blank.

Peeling her face from her desktop, Barbara tried to write something.

He softly put his lips on Edgar's lips.

Softly, Arthur kissed Edgar on his lips.

Softedly he kissed

Barbara groaned again. That wasn't even a word, and that was the closest she had come to writing something in the space of an hour. Maybe an hour. She wasn't sure how long it had been since Lotte left, but she had been trying to write ever since.

She almost welcomed the knock on her door pulling her out of her headspace. And she was pleasantly surprised to see Lotte gracing her doorway once again. She had almost been afraid that their experiment had scared her off for good.

"...Hi, Barb. Um...sorry for running out yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Barbara blinked. She thought the afternoon had been dragging a bit.

"Have...you been up with the fanfic all night?"

"No." Barbara said. Which was true. She had been sitting down.

Lotte took a deep breath. "Well, um...I...I came by to say...I want to finish the story with you, i-if you still wanna do it! I mean, finish it!"

Barbara just smiled as the other girl slapped her forehead.

She eagerly allowed Lotte into the room, her mind filled with nothing but the possibility of finally finishing this story and being able to cut it out of her life. "Please tell me you came with some good ideas, Lotte! I've been dying in here!"

Silently, Lotte pulled out a piece of notebook paper that had been hastily ripped out. It was utterly covered with writing on both sides.

Barbara could only balk at the chicken scratch. "Wow."

Lotte scratched at her neck. "I, uh...guess I got hit by some inspiration last night? It all just came to me, and I felt like if I didn't write it down, I was going to lose it. But I think this will absolutely make this a great Arthgar story.

Barbara let out a small sigh of relief, glad to see Lotte back to her usual self. "I'm glad last night helped one of us figure out how to write then. You wouldn't believe how many dirty looks Diana gave me. She kept telling me to go to bed, but it's not like I was doing anything."

Lotte flushed. "Y-yeah, last night...h-helped."

Barbara couldn't help but note she had ignored the complete last half of her statement. "Are you alright? What kind of inspiration did you get, anyway?"

Lotte was quiet for a moment, weighing her words with much more careful consideration than Barbara had seen her do before.

"...You had a crush on Andrew, right Barbara?"

Barbara shrugged. "Yeah, I did. Andrew's a dreamboat! I mean, I'm kinda over it, but if he asked, I wouldn't say no. You know what I mean, right?"

Lotte frowned. "Right."

"Hey, what was he doing here like last March, when he brought Akko's hat to that party thing when we flew? Like he just showed up! What was with that?"

"He and Akko are friends."

"Ha! Yeah no, but seriously, why was he here?"

Lotte's eyes cast downward. "Well...um, for me, t-there is a person I...sorta kind of like."

Barbara wasn't sure why the statement surprised her as much as it did. "There is? When did that happen? What's his name? It's not Frank, is it?"

Lotte let out a breathless giggle. "It's not...Frank, no. But sometimes, I don't think...they would even notice, really. I've been told I'm...kind of invisible, after all."

"Oh...Lotte, no. You're not invisible." Barbara set a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I mean, you do kind of tend to be pretty shy a lot of the time, but that's not really the same thing. He'd probably notice if you if you acted bolder."

"Maybe. But I'm not really a bold person. It would probably be bad in the long run if they started to like me for something I'm really not."

"I know what you mean." Barbara admitted. "What made you like him?"

Lotte pressed her lips together tightly for a long moment. "I only just started seeing this person in that way really recently. It sort of happened by accident, I guess. But...I think part of it is it's...a-admirable how they changed how they acted, but they didn't really change themselves. Does that make sense?"

"Of course it does. That's exactly what I was saying, you just need to like act bolder, you don't need to change a thing about you, Lotte."

Lotte let out that shy, stilted laugh she seemed to do so much. "You really think so, Barbara?"

Barbara grinned. "Of course I do! I mean I know I was kind of a jerk to you guys before, but like…" She gestured to the story they shared. "...Look at this whole thing we made! And honestly, I think the best parts from this came just from you today."

Lotte flushed, ducking her head away. "W-well, you wrote it. And...related to that, actually! I...I like supporting people, and...this person I like. They do a lot of amazing things, and I want to support them more, if I can just figure out how to tell them. D-does that make sense?"

There was a distinctive look hidden behind the frames of Lotte's glasses, as if she was desperately begging Barbara to dig deeper, and realize an unspoken truth buried within her words. But Barbara couldn't place what exactly it meant.

She wanted to. More than just her inner gossip wanting all the details on a crush. A part of her, which she shamefully realized must be the old selfish bully in her, even wanted to make sure Lotte never got with whoever this was so she wouldn't end up hurt, or gone. But she pushed the thought away as soon as it rose.

"...Well." Lotte decided, after a long silence. "...maybe I can explain it better after we're done. I've got a few ideas for new scenes in the story."

A few ideas, it turned out, was rather lightly downplaying it. Barbara had ended up adding a full two thousand extra words, all based off the ideas Lotte was shooting off in a haze. She swore she hadn't wrote so much in her entire life.

What really got Barbara was how understated the new stuff was. They had kept the part about Arthur ogling a shirtless Edgar, because that was still the heart of their story obviously, but now there was a very quiet scene of Edgar just...watching Arthur, going about his day. It should have been nothing, but somehow, the way Lotte described the mere tender gaze Edgar had felt significant in some way.

Lotte kept her eyes glued to Barbara as she wrote everything out. Where did she come up with this stuff?

She pushed up her glasses with an almost solemn look. "What I think you should mention is...something like their hearts fluttering. Almost like a pain in your chest that you didn't know you couldn't live without."

Barbara blinked. "Where did that come from?"

Lotte stiffened. "I...w-was reading...something last night. J-just trust me, I think it really says a lot! It's a hard feeling to describe."

"Were you reading another fanfiction last night?"

"Y-yeah, I was...that. I was reading."

Barbara arched a brow.

"Do you...not think that fits with our…?

Barbara turned back to her work. "I guess we can try it."

She was just glad their little test the other night inspired one of them. Vaguely, she wondered how many times two friends could kiss before it stopped being strictly heterosexual. Three times was the number she decided upon. Four, just to be safe.

And yet in twenty minutes time, their combined effort still had not provided a romantic resolution. Barbara was getting to the point where she considered just ending it on a tragic note, even if the tone before it had not been like that. The couple just didn't get together, so they don't kiss. There.

Or maybe a comedic note. Maybe she could go back and keep drawing attention to the fact that they're not kissing over and over until it becomes funny. And if she covered up bad writing by passing it off as a comedy piece, no one could tell it actually sucked.

As soon as Barbara finished with one idea, Lotte came up with another. "And I think maybe we could add a scene of like...debate, almost? Like Arthur thinking, oh I'm not actually in love, to him finally accepting it. Like an internal battle of-"

"Lotte!" Barbara said, shaking her aching fingers. "This is like four times as long as we wanted to write!"

"It is? But...oh."

"We still haven't written the kiss yet."

"I...I didn't mean to get distracted, I just...I felt like I really had something, and I just wanted to…"

Barbara sighed, and gave a consoling smile. "It's fine, really. A lot of this stuff is really good, but...I don't think anyone's going to want to read anything this long on a rarepair. I mean you totally got like a lot of inspiration, so we should pour it into the final kiss and make it the best part if we can, right?"

"R-right. Right. We can...sure."

She wasn't sure why the prospect of that seemed to make Lotte so nervous. She turned to her expectantly, waiting to hear what ideas she had about finishing the one scene that had eluded her for so long.

"So that...fanfiction I was talking about." Lotte started. "It...made a good point about longing? Like that realization of your feelings. It said a lot about that. It's kind of different from what we have now, but I think it's worth changing."

Barbara looked over their work so far. They had a whole scene where Arthur finally admits his feelings to himself after he recalls the marine conscription and subsequent mammogram from Volume 81. She supposed she could part with it.

"Er, okay, sure. How do you wanna describe it then?"

"I…!" Lotte's pupils seemed to shrink, but it might've just been a reflection off her glasses. "Well it's...it's kind of like...looking a dictionary!"

Barbara narrowed her eyes. "A dictionary."

Lotte winced. "...Yeah. It's like...when you kind of know a word by its meaning, but you can't think of what it is or how to say it, but then you look in a dictionary and you find it, and it's like...you knew, the whole time, on some level, but now it's finally got a name. That's the kind of feeling I think we should have."

Barbara turned to write.

Arthur realized it was like looking in a dictionary. He had a feeling that he always knew but didn't but now he did and it was love and it was love for Edgar.

Barbara turned back. "What?"

"...it's hard to explain, like I said. We don't have to put that in the story if you don't want to."

"Hey, this is your story too, remember." Barbara crossed her arms. "You were the brains behind this whole thing. If you got a good idea, just...you know, tell me."

Lotte pressed a finger to her chin, and hummed.

-"Edgar, wait!" Arthur said loudly.

"What is it?" Edgar sassed the other man. "I thought it was time for me to go. I have things to do, you know!"

"I know it's time for this to end. But I can't let you go without letting you know the TRUTH." Arthur cried tearily.

"The truth about what?" Edgar asked, confused about what Arthur was talking about.

Arthur walks over to him and softedly smashed his lips onto Edgar's lips. There was a trail of saliva hanging between their mouths as they stopped kissing. Edgar's jaw dropped open in shock, but he closed his mouth quickly.

Edgar was blushing very hard, and it made it hard for him to speak straight. "What's going on? Why did you kiss me like that?" He roared.

"Let me explain, please."

"Okay, so explain?"

"Do you remember that person I was talking about when I was telling you how much I loved him?"

Edgar started to scowl because he was jealous. "Yeah well what about him?" He ejaculated.

"When I told you about how they used to be a jerk, it was because I used to think of him as my rival. But then he became my friend so that's what I meant when I said he changed. The truth is the person I think is so amazing and that I am in love with is actually YOU, Edgar Axelander Evony Ivory Lincolm Abraham!"

Edgar made a 0_ o face.

Edgar said, "Wait so when you told me about how you were in love with this person you were actually describing-

Barbara stopped writing.

"W-wait." The realization finally struck her. "L-Lotte, are you-?"

Lotte's eyeline was directed distinctly elsewhere.

Barbara's face grew hot, and she rapidly looked between the story, and the girl who had been dictating it to her the entire time. "Lotte, are you…? Is this...did you just...make me…?"

"...w-well...I had to say something, but...like I said, I'm not very bold after all. So I just…"

Barbara was at a loss for words. Of course she had always valued Lotte as her friend. And in some cases, she could admit, she had even started to prioritize her over Hannah. But she had never considered something like this,

Barbara ran a hand through her hair, feeling overwhelmed. Embarrassment at being played, bashfulness at the hidden confession, and the beginning of something she couldn't place. It was almost like...like...

"Oh." Barbara blinked. "So that's what you were talking about with the dictionary thing."

Lotte giggled, still averting her eyes.

Barbara suddenly stood from her seat, and walked right over until she was sure Lotte was looking right at her. "I…I didn't realize you…"

It was a struggle for both of them to speak at the moment. Both a bit too used to following someone else to know precisely what to do when they were asked to forge their own path. But without a sound, Lotte reached out and offered Barbara her hand.

Barbara reddened, and gladly took it. She hadn't actually dated before, despite all her gossiping and talks of crushes. Without any sort of plan, she supposed they could only go with what felt right at the moment.

Lotte's idea, it seemed, was to stand on the tips of her toes and present her lips. She always had been the one with the ideas. Barbara just wrote them out.

In the end, their story remained a WIP forever more. Too much to do, not enough motivation to do it. She supposed it was fine. Nowadays, the only content the fandom produced was Bella/Alicia anyway.

A.N. I don't even remember when I started shipping this lol