Sorry for the wait! There's some topics brought up this chapter that I would assume the show would never bring up - but they're teenagers and this fic is rated T. I don't own SBT.
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"Truth." Kimmy offered Baron a smile, fake, but a smile nonetheless. The lieutenant pressed his lips together, trying to think of an adequate question before he smiled, eyes lighting up.
"How many men have you slept with?" Kimmy's eyes widened, eyebrows shooting up at the boldness of his question. Ilana responded with the same expression, looking at Baron in shock, as red started to feather along her freckles. Kimmy's boyfriend, despite his less than human person, looked visibly confused, and if one looked closely, a bit…irked. Lance seemed to be the only one unaffected by the crude question, expecting Baron to ask such a thing.
"N-none!" stuttered out Kimmy offended. "And, ew, why would you want to know something like that?" Baron shrugged, neither looking guilty nor ashamed of asking about her virginity.
"Just want to make sure Newton knew what kind of woman he was acquainted with." Newton's expression changed, now a glare.
"I don't think I need your opinion on my relationship, Baron," said the robot, warning the young man that such topics were off limit.
"Yeah!" piped up Kimmy, glaring at him as well from across the table, fists clenched, shaking to unleash their wrath. "And besides, that's none of your business!" Baron raised an eyebrow, utterly calm.
"Oh? Isn't that the point of this game? Ask any questions to get the truth?" Kimmy snarled at him, looking about ready to jump over the patio table and strangle him. Instead she opted to sending him her nastiest glare, practiced from years of bullying girls in the past. Baron barely flinched.
"Truth or dare?" She bit out, giving him a look of challenge. Baron smiled.
"Dare."
"Run down the block screaming," stated Kimmy, her voice betraying no emotion. Baron was about to comment when Kimmy continued, "naked."
The backyard was silent, only the sound of crickets. Then, Lance started laughing, real genuine laughing, and everyone at the table took a moment to send him a brief look of terror. Lance laughing was not normal.
"Fine," agreed Baron over Lance's dying laughter, standing up from his seat.
"Baron," started Ilana, eyes wide, face now starting to fully redden, "I don't think-"
"I accept your challenge," interrupted Baron, calmly unzipping his sweater and moving to pull his shirt off, to reveal toned muscles. He was just as fit as Lance, if not more, but not as slim, his waist wider. Ilana quickly hid her eyes and Lance brought a hand to his mouth to stifle another bout of laughter at the ridiculous challenge Baron had accepted. Nudity, he knew, was not something that would bother a soldier such as Baron (nor did it much bother Lance), but running down the street screaming? Kimmy's earlier anger was gone, and now she looked horribly surprised. She hadn't expected Baron to do it, and now that he was going to, she had just opened the game to new, disturbing possibilities. Newton was torn between stopping Baron from causing a scene, to allowing the lieutenant to face embarrassment—he opted to stay quiet, allowing Baron to do what he wished, perhaps hoping his embarrassment would somewhat satisfy Newton's irritation with Baron's earlier question to Kimmy.
And thus, Kimmy, Octus, and Lance watched as Baron swiftly pulled off his sneakers and started to unzip his jeans. Hearing the zipper, Ilana let out a squeak from behind her hands.
"Baron, you don't have to!" she said, her voice high pitched and nervous. She had never seen a man naked before, and wasn't quite sure what to expect, nor quite sure she even wanted to see. She was only 16 after all, and a princess nonetheless! The most she has seen was Lance in his boxers, but what Kimmy had suggested…what Kimmy had suggested was just unseemly!
"You don't have to watch," remarked Baron offhand, sliding off his jeans, not looking at all embarrassed or concerned. Kimmy, staring shocked across the table watched Baron's hands move to his boxers' waistband, and like Ilana, put her arm over her eyes making a noise of disgust.
"I can't believe you!" she spat out, sounding half disturbed, and half worried. This was probably her first naked man too, Ilana thought, somewhat of a comfort that she wasn't alone in this experience. Baron shrugged, though now, only Lance and Newton could see him, the former smirking and the latter simply giving Baron a raised eyebrow, as if asking 'really?'
"I'll be back," was all the naked lieutenant said, and a few minutes after he left the backyard, the group at the table heard whooping and yelling from the street in front of the house.
Baron's naked escapade seemed to not only up the game's tension, but at the same time, make it more lighthearted. With the air let out, the limits of the game tested, everyone seemed a bit more comfortable with each other and the truths and dares. To his credit, Baron did not seek revenge (probably because he knew the limits that his fellow Galalunians expected of him) and instead asked Newton about his fears (to which Newton sincerely expressed concern over his family, sharing a private smile with Ilana and Lance, something Baron did not fail to notice), leading the robot bodyguard to question Lance about his most embarrassing childhood memory. Unsurprisingly, it had to do with being mistaken for a girl, and although Lance was reluctant to share, by the end of the story there was a small smile on his face, grasping at the sudden feeling of nostalgia. Ilana, to everyone's surprise, chose dare, causing Lance to carefully consider the best challenge for his charge. He, as expected, tread lightly, asking her to drink a mixture of the pink lemonade and milk from Kimmy's fridge.
"Laaame!" bellowed out Kimmy, to which Ilana hesitantly nodded, shoulders back.
"Yeah Lance, don't go easy on me," she joked, shooting him a smile to say that she didn't want special treatment, though obviously she didn't want to face anything to what Baron had. Lance frowned. Exactly what would be the most considerate, non considerate, dare to give the girl he was in charge of protecting. He knew exactly the type of unfit things Baron would suggest (probably trying to flower it up to make it sound not so lewd) but Lance was trying to stay on Ilana's good side. He was, after all, a respectable bodyguard, unlike Baron. Suddenly, his head snapped up in realization.
"Punch Baron in the nose." Kimmy seemed to approve of this dare, grinning ear to ear, and even Newton allowed a smile. Ilana looked at Lance with wide eyes, looking betrayed, and for a second Lance felt horrible.
"Why the nose?" whined Baron, as if the idea of him getting hit at all was no big deal.
"It's an easy target," shrugged Lance, and Ilana shook her head.
"That's mean," she defended, wringing her hands, "I can't hurt Baron, he's…" She trailed off glancing at Kimmy.
"He's my cousin," she affirmed. "I don't hit family."
"That doesn't seem to stop Lance," mumbled Baron under his breath, referring to all the times he and Lance had ended up at each other's throats.
"Come on Ilana!" pushed Kimmy. "Sure, he's you're cousin, but seriously, I'm sure you've wanted to hit him at least once." Ilana bit her lip and shook her head. Kimmy looked ready to argue but was suddenly interrupted by Newton, who, unbeknownst to everyone, had perked up in the middle of their conversation and was staring off into the distance.
"We have to go to home," he said, his voice flat, lacking its usual human inflections. Kimmy frowned and raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Huh? You guys just got here!" she whined, clutching her boyfriend's dress shirt. "Newton!"
"Sorry Kimmy," apologized Newton, actually looking terribly sorry, before easing his girlfriend off. "I just remembered we have a project we need to do for tomorrow and well, you know how school is."
Taking the hint, Lance and Ilana stood up, the latter relieved that she avoided hitting her bodyguard in the face. Baron followed suit, but the way he kept glancing from Lance and Ilana to Newton suggested that he wasn't quite sure what was going on.
"Thanks for inviting us Kimmy, we should do it again sometime," commented Ilana as she made her way to the patio door. She sent the redhead a smile, truly meaning it, for despite the shenanigans and slight tension, spending time with Kimmy almost made her feel normal. Accepted. Kimmy gave her a half-smile, but still looked upset that they were leaving so soon.
"One day you guys are going to let me in on one of these projects," she remarked, and although the Lunis household knew she had her suspicions, they did nothing but say their goodbyes (which in Newton's case, included a chaste kiss) and left.
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"Anyone want to clue me in on what's going on? Not that I mind not being hit," remarked Baron as they headed to the minivan, Octus in the lead, his gait suggesting that he was in full robot mode (yet still disguised as a human since they were in public).
"I wasn't going to hit you, Baron," said Ilana, smiling in his direction. She somewhat wished Lance had given her a more...acceptable dare. Perhaps to give Baron a hug. Yes. A hug would be very acceptable.
"Rift gate opened up approximately two minutes ago. I've pinpointed the landing to be around the woods, near the spot we landed when we first came to Earth. No reports of anything strange yet, but we better go check it out," filled in Octus, starting up the vehicle and heading down the road once everyone was secured inside. Baron furrowed his eyebrows, his lips lowering into a frown, a stark contrast to his earlier amusement.
"What?"
Lance briefly glanced over his shoulder from the front passenger seat. Something about the way Baron said that suggested that he wasn't just asking for Octus to explain in more detail. He sounded...irritated.
"That Mutraddi creature you fought on the first day came from a rift gate. They open up once and a while, sent from those who have taken over our planet. They're after me," elaborated Ilana, eyes downcast, fiddling with her watch. Baron's eyebrows stayed furrowed, eyes narrowing as he glanced quickly in Ilana's direction.
"Right. And you three fight them by forming that armor?"
"This sounds like something you'd ask on the first day," commented Lance, shooting Baron a suspicious look over his shoulder.
"Guess it slipped my mind while I was busy focusing on my real mission to protect the princess," deadpanned Baron, the furrow easing up, now replaced with a neutral expression.
"Now's not the time, Lance. We call it Titan," Ilana interrupted their impending argument. "Lance and I can combine our armors with Octus to create it. I think it's specifically programed into our watches...I mean, it's not like we had another Manus to test out if it works without Lance's specific armor." The last sentence made Lance twitch a mite. To even consider Baron taking his spot in Titan made him want to vomit.
"Octus, it's specific only to my watch, right?" asked Lance, rather desperately as Octus calmly weaved through party hour traffic, heading for the quickest route to the woody areas just outside of Sherman.
"I don't know. Your Manus' serial number is listed in my data code when we combine, but that may just be a way of logging our transformations," responded the robot, staring at the road. Lance frowned. He was hoping Octus would just lie to keep Ilana from even wondering about such things, or Baron from squeezing his tainted hands into Titan.
"We can always try," offered Ilana with a shrug. "If it works, then we have a backup in case Lance's armor gets too damaged to combine correctly."
"That won't happen," bit out Lance, just as Octus pulled up to the edge of the woods. The car would not be able to go any further, as there was no road leading in. The crew piled out, and Octus' human disguise melted into his glowing true form before taking the lead.
"This way."
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Yep, truth or dare game was short. Didn't want to turn this into one of those fics. No flashback this time since it's like five in the morning, I'm super tired, and I know if I don't get this chapter out now, it won't be out for another month or so lol.