Forging Friendships

By: Shironami

Radu turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. He dried and dressed quickly, eager to get out of the humid bathroom before his clothes began to stick to him. Truth be told, as an Andromedan he wasn't totally comfortable with water. The dense molecular structure of an Andromedan wasn't known for its buoyancy. Showers weren't all that bad, so long as they were hot and short; baths on the other hand made him a bit uncomfortable, or at least the thought of being neck deep in a bath full of water did. Even if he knew nothing would happen and he was perfectly safe.

As he brushed his teeth he frowned at the memory of a planet they had landed on a few weeks ago, it was more water than land. Ms. Davenport had said it reminded her very much of Earth. Having never been there before, he wasn't really sure what it was like at all, but he politely smiled and agreed. In their exploration of the land around where the Christa had touched down, they found themselves at the edge of a shimmery lake; he had to admit it was beautiful. The water was clear and inviting, the whole area was pleasantly warm, with a sweet smelling breeze that lifted his hair. The grass under his feet was a deep green, dotted with flowers that added splashes of color to the rich, emerald carpet. Tall, flowering trees dotted the landscape adding an air of regality and providing serene shade. As he stood there taking it all in, Ms. Davenport did a most unexpected thing; she decided they should have something she called a "picnic," he had no idea what she was talking about but everyone else felt like it was a good idea. He had decided to ask Rosie what a "picnic" was; she never laughed or made fun of him when he didn't know what some Earther thing was, nor would she tell the others the embarrassing things she had to clarify for him. She would just patiently explain it to him with an ever present smile on her cheerful, pink face.

It wasn't long after Ms. Davenport had decided they'd have a pleasant picnic here when Harlan had suggested they swim in the lake after eating. Radu felt his stomach tighten at the thought of it while he looked out at the sparkling water. Sure, it was pretty and it looked enjoyable, but all he could think about was his pitiful ability to float, let alone swim. He didn't want to invite ridicule, something Harlan was always quick to bestow upon him. Luckily, Rosie piped up before he had the chance to think up a pathetic excuse as to why he didn't want to go swimming. She said the water would have been far too cold for her to swim comfortably in, this was a very obvious realization to him once she said it. It was agreed that they would eat and she would go back to the ship to help the Commander with some minor repairs. He volunteered to stay with the Christa and help with the repairs too, saying he didn't want Rosie to feel alone or left out because she couldn't swim with everyone else. It was an easily believable pretext and thankfully, no one challenged him on it.

He was glad for the convenient excuse, he didn't want the others to know of his slight fear of water. Any Andromedan with even a wisp of common sense would have been apprehensive. His resolve not to swim cemented in his mind back on the ship when they were pulling together everything that they would need for their spontaneous outing. He noticed that the dress code for swimming was something he wasn't comfortable with. Like all other Andromedans, he followed the God of Unity, Yon. A core Yonian belief is that it's distasteful to expose one's skin in public. Thus, "swim trunks" as Harlan had called them, were out of the question. He figured swimming dressed from neck to toe would be uncomfortable and all those extra clothes would absorb even more water and add even more weight to his already dense and heavy, albeit small, frame.

Not to mention he was bound to end up with water in his ears; something he dreaded. It was nearly impossible to get all the water out, no matter how hard he tried and stagnant water in his inner ears almost always lead to an infection. That would warrant an unwanted trip to the Medlab. He hated the look of pity Rosie always gave him as she was putting the drops in his ears, even trapped water from a simple shower could trigger an ear infection. Any way he looked at it, swimming was not an activity he wished to pursue. He just wasn't comfortable telling his friends that, he didn't want to explain his aversion to water or his religious beliefs to people who might not be able to understand.

He sighed and shook the memories out of his mind as he put his toothbrush away. He was sure he'd have to tell them sometime. He knew they could find out accidentally, something he didn't want to happen; it would be the issue of his family all over again. He was resolute to tell them himself, he just had to find the right time. This, he was sure wasn't it; he already had such a hard time fitting in and relating to his shipmates.

He pulled his boots on and grabbed his towel and hairbrush. It would take some time for his hair to dry, even with wringing it out in the towel. He always took showers late in the afternoon, he hated to sleep with wet hair, so he had to shower early to give it time to dry out. Brushing it was another thing he hated. It always took too long and was just so boring. But, as he learned as a child, not brushing it had consequences. When he was small he decided that brushing it was useless and a waste of time, so he stopped. By the time an attendant noticed, his hair was a tangled mess. It was a torturous three hours the female attendant spent trying, almost violently, to remove the all the snarls and knots from his hair. He sobbed and begged her to just cut it all off, she told him that would be even more work and this was the easiest option and this is what he got for leaving his hair unbrushed for so long. From that moment on, no matter how much he hated it, he made sure he brushed his hair at least once a day.

He was thankful for the routine he and the other two boys had settled into. It gave him an hour alone to bathe and brush his hair. He didn't want to tell Bova or Harlan, but he didn't like brushing his hair around them; it always made him rather self-conscious and he felt they were watching him, even if they weren't. It wasn't so bad when he was with his own people, but here… it was just, different. He was sure he wouldn't feel so weird about his hair if Harlan would just stop calling him, "Hairdu."

Before coming to Starcademy he had no idea that long hair on males was strange. For him, all the males he met up to that point had had long hair, it was nothing unusual or worthy of stares. He was so uncomfortable walking down the Starcademy corridors knowing everyone was staring at him, sometimes with curiosity; other times with unmasked malice. He wasn't so stupid as to think it was only his hair that make them stare and made him stick out so much. However, it didn't help conceal him either. Sometimes, he really wished he could just cut it short and be done with it, it would be so much easier to take care of if it were short. He was sure Harlan would stop calling him, "Hairdu" if his hair was shorter as well, although the other teen would probably just come up with some other stupid nickname that bothered him just as much.

He shrugged silently to himself and gave up his pointless musings. He laid his brush and towel on the little round table in the boys' bunkroom and pulled up a cushioned seat that someone had shoved against a wall. He wrung out his hair once more in the towel, trying to absorb as much water as possible. The less water, the less drying time. He felt a familiar ache in his right ear and quietly groaned to himself. He really needed to find something to block off his ears when having a shower. He pressed the towel to his ear hoping it would pull some of the water out. Bova kept telling him to just use a "cotton swab" to clean all that extra water out of his ears. Radu had to laugh when Bova showed him one. Like he was going to put that thing into his ear! A "cotton swab?" More like a torture device. No, he was sure all he had to do was stop the water from getting into his ears in the first place, but how was the issue he was having. Nothing seemed safe or effective enough to bother trying.

He heard soft footsteps coming down the hall. They sounded a ways off still, but it was hard to tell with the water blocking his hearing and the ringing ache deep in his right ear. It didn't sound like Harlan, the person sounded too small and the footsteps weren't nearly stompy enough. Why did Harlan insist on making as much noise as humanly possible? He ate loud, spoke loud, walked loud, he even slept loud. If he wasn't snoring he was talking in his sleep. Radu was more than grateful when Catalina had found those earmuffs in the cargo hold. There was no way he would have been able to sleep without them. He got lucky at Spacecademy, no one had wanted their kid to share a room with him; so he was put him in a tiny room all by himself. He was sure it had once been a supply closet, but it was out of the way and much quieter than where most of the boys' bunkrooms were situated.

He looked up as the door slid open with a whoosh. Expecting Bova, he frowned when the visage before him was not the Uranian boy. The slight frown etching his face melted into a smile, "Rosie, I-uh ... hi," he was a little put off, he wasn't used to anyone around after he bathed. Let alone one of the girls. From what he understood, they tended to avoid the boys' bunkroom. Apparently, they thought it was pretty messy and a little unpleasant to be in. If it really was, none of them had noticed.

Rosie smiled, "Hi, I was looking for Bova. Is he here? He's not in the galley or at the CommPost. I figured maybe he was here."

Radu shook his head, "He's with Harlan. He wanted to try to learn some martial arts moves ... so he can be more helpful if we get attacked or s-something. They've been spending every afternoon training this week."

Rosie looked a little crestfallen, something that was rarely seen in the perpetually cheerful Mercurian. It felt weird to see her a little on the gloomy side, "Um … What do you need Bova for?" He smiled at her, trying to lift her spirits. He didn't know what having a sibling was like, but he liked to think it would be sort of like how he and Rosie were. Then again, he could only speculate.

"Oh, nothing serious. I just haven't seen him much lately and thought maybe he'd want to play a game of Minbar Chess and talk," she smiled and shrugged a little sheepishly, "You know, catch up a little. It feels like it's been so long since we had a nice chat."

Radu smiled, "You miss him, d-don't you? Since he's been spending so much of his free time with Harlan?"

"Yeah, I guess… more than I thought. We're just the youngest and we've always spent a lot of time together, even back at Starcademy's Space Cases class," she wondered around the boys' bunkroom, idly picking things up off the ground and putting them away.

Radu thought for a moment, "Um … actually, I'm the youngest. Chronologically, I-I mean. You and Bova are a couple years older than I am," he pulled a bit at his aching ear, wishing he could free the trapped water.

Rosie stopped and turned to face him, "Really!? I always thought you were closer to Harlan's age!"

"I think I might be, developmentally ... anyway … I think Humans and Andromedans age at different rates," he shrugged, "we don't know that much a-about humans and we don't really like to share too much about ourselves with outsiders. So ..." he trailed off, letting Rosie infer whatever she willed.

Rosie noticed him tugging at his ear, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing … J-just water," he pressed the towel to his ear in vain.

"Water? How'd you get water in your ears?" She walked over to him with purpose. He had been a little afraid of this. It didn't take much to put Rosie into medic mode and she didn't leave that mode until any medical catastrophe had been averted.

"It-it was just the shower … it's not a big deal," he shook his head, hoping to deter whatever plan was forming in that pink head of hers.

She bent over and pulled his arm - and the towel - away from his ear, "Does it hurt? The water?" She tossed her armful of dirty laundry on the nearest bunk.

He realized he never told her it was the water that triggered his occasional ear infections, "Um … Well, kind of. It's just the water gets stuck and ... starts to make my ears ache."

She looked almost annoyed, "Why didn't you say it was water!? That's such an easy thing to fix!" She stood there with her fists on her hips, an accusatory look plastered across her small face.

He just shrugged, unsure of what to say. There was something that made him uncomfortable about this side of Rosie, it just felt … wrong somehow. Rosie was sweet, cheerful, optimistic; a blinding ray of sunshine, whether or not you wanted her to be. Not this frowning, disapproving figure that almost seemed to grow in stature as her displeasure increased and he felt himself shrinking under her scrutinizing stare.

"S-sorry," was all he could come up with.

She moved behind him and told him to stay still, "What are you doing?" He asked, his voice firm in a way it usually wasn't.

"We can't leave this water sitting in your ears!" She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe, "Just hold still, it won't hurt and you'll be as good as new in a few moments."

He felt her cup her gloved hands over his ears, "Um … Okay, but what are you going to do?" It's not like he didn't trust her, it's just that he wasn't very comfortable with people doing weird things to his ears without his permission.

"Relax," she giggled, "I'm just going to evaporate all that water in your ears before it can give you an infection. It won't hurt!"

He relaxed his full weight into the small seat and took a deep breath. He felt as her hands warm up even more and it wasn't long before the water turned into vapor and left his ears. She had been right; it didn't hurt and his ears were already improving.

"See? Isn't that better?" She said in a motherly tone.

Smiling up at her, "Yeah, thanks."

"So," she looked at the table he was sitting at, "what are you doing?"

Glancing down at the table he noticed the brush sitting there, waiting to be used, "Um … ," he tried very hard not to blush, but felt the familiar warmth creep into his cheeks, "Just, you know … brushing my hair," the last half of his statement falling into a whisper as he pulled absentmindedly at a lock of hair hanging innocuously in front of his eyes.

Rosie's eyes slowly moved from Radu, to the hairbrush and back again. He followed her innocent gaze, his uneasiness forming into a stone at the pit of his stomach, "Please, no …" he thought to himself as her blue eyes developed a devious twinkle and his stare met hers.

The stone in his guts got heavier as she suspiciously eyed the brush again and a bright smile spread across her face, "People on Mercury don't have hair," she said with a bit too much innocence, as she rubbed a gloved hand over her bare scalp.

"Please, don't do this to me," he silently pleaded with her.

He watched as her eyes fell on the brush once more, "We don't even have anything like this back home. I bet if I showed this to one of my friends who hasn't been off-world, they couldn't even guess what it was for!" She gently pick up the brush and ran her fingers over the bristles.

"I guess, you really w-wouldn't need brushes if you don't have hair…" he said in a light-hearted tone, letting his sentence trail off; still apprehensive of where she was driving this conversation.

"I've handled hair brushes before, they weren't this … hard …" she ran her fingers over the bristles again, noting how they didn't bend and move like she expected them to.

"Ah, yeah … I-it's an Andromedan brush. Our hair is too strong … our molecular density makes our hair as strong as the rest of our bodies. I-if I used any other brush, I'd probably break it. That one is made to withstand the density of our hair and actually brush it out," he shrugged a little, "any other brush wouldn't really do anything to work out the tangles."

"If it gives you that much trouble you can just cut it shorter," she didn't put the brush down, but kept eyeballing him in a way that made him wish he was still in the bathroom. He was sure he knew where this was going, and didn't like it.

"I can't, actually. Andromenian hair is very difficult to cut, most things aren't strong enough to cut our hair easily," he ran a gloved hand through a lock of hair pensively, "I doubt you'd be able to cut anything with a pair of scissors after trying to cut my hair with them, they'd be too dull."

Her head tilted with curiosity, "I always thought you just liked having long hair. It makes sense, that it won't cut. I guess I've just never really thought about it before."

"It's not really something we think about back home. We all have long hair … cutting it doesn't even come up. T-the attendants teach young children how to care for it, so it doesn't cause them any problems, but that's really about it."

She moved closer, smiling sweetly, "Please, really, don't. Maybe I can change the conversation or something. If she doesn't ask, I won't have to try to tell her no. Why is it so hard for me to tell Rosie no? Bova does it all the time.

She was standing right next to him now, she pushed the discarded towel farther away, "Say, I have a funny thought …" she let the statement float unfinished, pregnant in the air between them.

"You don't say," he responded with trepidation; trying not to sound annoyed or upset. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but Andromedans didn't really "play" with each other's hair. He knew she was just curious, but couldn't help but think that Catalina was a better option for this than he was.

He sighed to himself, maybe she needed a doll to play with, "I should really … I mean, it's easier when it's still wet …" again, lamely letting his sentence fall into nothing before it was complete.

She brightened and clutched the brush to her chest with both hands. The smile painted on her face, as bright as a thousand suns weakened his resolve to tell her no before she even asked the question he knew was coming.

"Can I please, please brush your hair!?" She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement, "I've never brushed hair before. I've always wanted to, Cat doesn't really have enough hair to give a decent brushing to," she smiled at him, "you have lots of hair."

"I know," was the only thing he could force out.

"Please!?" She again begged, hands still clasped with the brush between them at her chest.

He sighed, he knew he couldn't say no. It's not like anyone was around to see it and it would make her happy. She was always so nice to him and never said anything mean or made fun of him.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Okay …," he exhaled heavily, hoping he wouldn't end up regretting this.

She clapped her gloved hands and moved behind him, "I've always wanted to do this!"

He tried really hard not to roll his eyes; for some reason he couldn't figure out, this meant a lot to her. Plus, there was the bonus of not having to do it himself. It was really weird to allow, but it was a small thing and he didn't want to upset the only person on the ship that treated him like a person and not simply an Andromedan.

He sat still as he felt her try to gather all his hair into one of her hands, "Um … It's easiest to start in small sections. There's just … t-too much to brush all at once."

"Oh?," Rosie asked, she followed his advice and separated his damp hair into more manageable portions, "oh, you're right, this is easier!"

He winced as she tugged at the locks of hair in her hands. He found himself having flashbacks from when he was small, maybe this was a bad idea.

He stifled any noises that were trying to escape him; he didn't want to make her feel bad, but she was causing more pain than he thought she could inflict upon him. He noticed she was brushing from top to bottom and it wasn't really working well.

Rosie jerked the brush down through his hair, he was sure if his hair wasn't so strong it would probably be snapping under the pressure of the brush, "Uh …" his head pulled back as she kept tugging.

She suddenly stopped, "Oh," she gasped, "Am I hurting you!?"

"Um … Well, I wouldn't say it hurts… I-I mean, I guess … k-kind of?" He didn't like the stress and concern in her voice.

"Why didn't you say something!?" She put the brush down and leaned over his shoulder, "Am I brushing it wrong? How do you do it?"

He thought for a moment, "Um … I really haven't thought about it, I just do it. I start and the ends and work my way up, it hurts less and you have to … um … work the knots out cause you can't break the strands to get rid of the tangles. Maybe, be just a little more gentle? The hair is ... a-attached to my head …"

She straightened back up and reached for the brush, "Okay, let me try again. I'll be more careful," she said while putting her free hand on the back of his shoulder.

He sighed to himself, he was starting to regret this. He thought this would be over by now and Rosie had barely started. He couldn't get too mad; she had no idea how this worked. She had flat out stated she's never brushed hair before, and he'd been doing this his whole life.

She very gently separated a lock of hair and began to tame and detangle the curls. She continued to section off and brush his hair, moving around his head and brushing as he instructed.

It took her about twice as long as it usually took him, but she finally finished; he noticed she didn't put the brush down or let go of his hair, "Do you know how to braid?"

"Uh … what?" He twisted his head around to face her.

"Maybe we can do some braids and pull it up into a … thing? I don't know what you'd call it," she smiled at him as she started to gather his hair to the top of his head. She put the brush down, and took a length of fabric from her pocket he thought looked like a bandage.

"Um … we don't really do anything with it. Giving our hair an individual style is something Andromedans are against," he was hoping that was all the explanation she required.

"Really? Why? I think it would look nice pulled up. We can braid it and twist it into a thingy at the top of your head," she stated while tucking the end of the bandage into her glove. It swayed as she picked the brush back up and began to brush his hair again.

He really didn't want to get into this, but he thought the least he could do was explain his reasoning to her. He didn't want to think he was saying no because he didn't want her to mess with his hair anymore, "It's kind of h-hard to explain, but Andromedans strive for conformity. W-we don't like being different from each other, having hair that's styled in an individual manner makes you different. T-that's not really a good thing back home. Everything we do is the same as everyone else; what we wear, what we eat, how we worship. Nothing is individual."

Rosie thought for a few silent moments, "But, you all have individual names. You're Radu."

He shrugged a little, "N-not really. Everyone born during the same cycle I was is called Radu. I'm Radu 386, I hatched after Radu 385, but before Radu 387. Radu is what that particular cycle was called, so we were called the same thing."

She frowned, "So you don't have a real name?"

"Well, I guess not. B-but, it's not weird or anything. It's normal," he smiled, "for Andromedans at least," he tried to sound cheerful, it didn't bother him and he didn't want it to bother her.

She brightening as an apparent idea struck her, "Let's give you a real name!"

His eyes widened slightly, "Let's not," he stated quickly, trying not to groan with exasperation. This just kept getting worse.

"Don't you want a real, personal name that's only yours?" She asked exuding innocence, brush and hair still in hand.

He sighed a bit, "I kind of already do. Here anyway, not only am I the only Radu, I'm the only Andromedan. So, I don't mind so much."

"But-" she started.

"Besides, it would be really weird … t-to be called something else after being Radu 386 my whole life," he cut her off, trying to put a Commander Goddard like finality to his voice.

She ran the brush through his hair a bit more, "I guess that's true. It would feel strange to call you something else too. I suppose it's best to stick with Radu, isn't it?"

He simply nodded in agreement, trying not to superficially show how relieved he was that she was willing to drop the idea so quickly.

She handed him the brush back as she smoothed his hair down a bit more, "That was fun, but I'm glad I don't have to deal with hair. Once in awhile would be good; but not every single day. It's a lot of work," she said with an air of wisdom one would expect from a cultural elder.

He found himself slightly dumbfounded at her strange tone, it was only hair. He was amused that after brushing hair once she found herself apparently in a position of expertise.

"I doubt it's so much trouble if it's short," he stammered slightly, "I-I mean, no one else seems to mind and no one else has as much hair as me."

"I suppose it would be easier if there was less of it," she gathered his hair at the nape of his neck and tied it off with the small strip of material hanging from her glove, "There, now it's done!" She clapped and bobbed up and down on the heels of her feet, clearly proud of her handiwork.

He moved his head a little, wondering why he hadn't thought to pull back his hair. It's not like other Andromedans were around to chastise him for styling his hair. It was nice not having it all over the place, "Thanks, that's actually helpful. H-having it all out of the way like this."

She smiled, elated that he was happy. She couldn't help but notice that he rarely seemed very happy. Content: sure, comfortable: yes, and safe: most of the time. However, he rarely genuinely smiled or seemed to enjoy the company of others. She wasn't sure if he just didn't outwardly express his happiness; or was raised to keep his emotions to himself; or if he had a hard time being happy around the crew when he was treated the way he was. It broke her heart when he told her that she was the only one who was always nice to him.

He was kind and honest and she really didn't think he should be treated like he was an outsider. He was part of the crew just like the rest of them. She hoped that in the future her friends would all get along better. She missed her family dearly, but right now, the people on the Christa were the closest thing to a family she had. The Commander and Ms. Davenport felt like substitute parents and the other students felt like her siblings. It was nice, not as good as being at home. But, still nice in its own way.

He stood up and tossed the damp towel onto a pile of dirty clothes in a nearly forgotten corner of the room. She watched as he put the brush away, "We should make this a weekly thing! Just the two of us! It'd be fun!"

He turned, uncertainty etched into his face, "I-I don't know, it's nice to have my hair out of the way … " he turned back toward her, looking even more uncertain, "but, I think it might be easier if I-"

Rosie started laughing, "That's not what I meant! I mean, we should hang out, just us. Maybe play a game of Minbar Chess or just talk. I'd like to know more about the Andromedans, your culture, how you grew up. I've got a lot of questions, but I know you don't like talking about that sort of stuff in front of other people; and I can tell you about Mecurians. We could get to know each other better."

He smiled, "I don't think I can be your new Bova."

"I don't need a new Bova!" She laughed, "but, that doesn't mean we can't be closer friends. You're kinda like an older brother … Or maybe younger? I still think it's kind of weird that you're younger than I am."

"I suppose that wouldn't be too bad," he grinned, "I don't really know what having siblings is like, but I think it would be sort of like this. Us … I-I mean."

She crossed the room and pulled him into a tight embrace, "I really miss my family, but I'm happy I'm out here with all of you. If this hadn't happened, we wouldn't really be friends and I'm really glad we're friends. It's been fun getting to know everyone. Who would have thought that Ms. Davenport had a nice side and that Commander Goddard has a sense of humor?"

Radu hugged her back, being careful not to crush her, "I don't have anyone back home to really miss, but, I'm glad I'm here too. It's nice being part of a real crew and I've never had real friends before. I-it's not as bad as I thought it would be when I was first sent to Starcadamy."

"It will only get better as we all get to know each other more and become better friends," Rosie smiled as she pulled away from him, "I should let you finish before Bova and Harlan come back. It was fun, thanks for letting me play with your hair."

"Um … no problem," he said with a smile, unsure of how else to respond.

She moved towards the door and waved back at him as it slid open.

"I'll see you for dinner," Radu called to her as he waved. He grinned as the door shut firmly behind her.

He walked back to the corner with the pile of laundry he had discarded his towel on and gathered the mass into his arms to put in the dirty clothes bin and tried to finish the tidying up Rosie had started.

He sighed silently as he dropped down on the same cushion he'd sat at while Rosie brushed his hair.

He stared at the table in front of him as he thought back on the last half-hour or so. It hadn't been so bad; not really. Rosie was always nice, she was also always happy. It was hard to be in a bad mood around her and he really did enjoy her company for the most part. He supposed it wouldn't be so bad to "hang out" for an hour or so with her once a week, just the two of them, as she put it. At the very least, he felt he had an ally in Rosie. Maybe she could help the other students warm up to him as well.

He smiled to himself, no it hadn't been that bad at all. His scalp still hurt a little, but it had been worth it. She even hugged him, for the first time in his life, he had a real friend. One that wasn't coerced and secretly thought he was strange, or just being polite by being nice to him. Rosie liked him, just as he was and that was a weird feeling for him. He was always trying to be someone else, someone people told him he should want to be. Rosie never did that, she liked him despite the odd things about him that seemed to so trouble the Andromedan adults he grew up with. There was something liberating about that, he was good enough, just as he was. Only if to a single person.

Maybe being lost in space wasn't so bad after all.

Wow, this story got out of control. I just wanted Rosie to brush his hair; it was a thought that I had one day and I thought it was way too cute not to write. I've been sitting on this story for a long time, thinking no one would read it if I finished it. But InvisibleNinjaPirate uploaded, so I thought I should too! This fandom is only partially dead! *sadface* Hopefully, more people will write and we can breathe life back into this fandom. Thanks to all who read and enjoyed my story! 3 Please let me know if there's any grammar mistakes or typos! I'm dyslexic and although I've proof-read a dozen times and spell check says it's fine, I always miss some, freaking always! It's a pet peeve of mine, so please let me know so I can fix them! 3