One moment can change everything, whether you mean it to or not.
Going up against Devack, Roman and Rex. Attempting to take my own life. Meeting up with my stepbrother Joel, and my former friend Taze. Hell, even going to the Satellite and meeting Yusei and the others. Out of everything I had done, or that I had remembered doing, it all paled in comparison to one thing, one moment:
When Luna kissed me.
The kiss might have only lasted for a second or two, maybe five at the most, but the feeling of her lips against mine lingered for much longer. Luna moved away from me slowly, her breathing shaky as she opened her eyes to meet mine, her hands moving to my chest. I wasn't even intentionally looking at her, it was just where I happened to be looking at the time.
"Luna…" I whispered to her. It was completely involuntary. I drew my eyes into focus on Luna a little better, a reddish hue on her cheeks. My mind was almost completely blank. I had no clue on what to say, and no idea on how to respond. I ended up saying the first thing that popped into my brain, and I knew right away as I said it that I should have chosen my words more carefully. "Wh… what was… what was that…?"
I felt her breath against my face, a small sound escaping from her mouth. "I… Well… Um… See, I…" Luna sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head. Once she opened her eyes again, they kept on mine once more. "You were just being so sweet and…" Luna smiled. "I-I think I've known for a long time that, I think of you, Tyler, a-as…"
"As…?" I nodded slowly, wanting to know what Luna had to say.
The blush on her face quickly intensified. "Well… you know…"
My eyes widened. I did know. Not at first, mind you. It actually took me a while to realize – more than it should have, but I remembered things that Luna had said to me previously, and as I recalled them, I saw that the words she'd spoken had whole new meanings attributed to them.
I'll feel a lot better if you're by my side!
You're my hero…
I wouldn't trade you for anyone…
Maybe we could… go out again sometime…?
"Oh…" I muttered sheepishly. "So… that night here, when you asked me never to leave you, because you said you needed me, you were…" I trailed off. Luna nodded, a small smile showing on her face. My mouth dropped open just a little, and I didn't know what to say. I felt like a complete idiot for not picking up on her signs of affection sooner. "Well, I'm… I'm very flattered… I really, truly am…" I took a quick breath. "Um… okay… I'm sorry. This has never happened to me before… I mean, probably not, so… I don't, um… I don't know what to say or do or-"
My rambling was cut off quickly by a large yelp escaping from Luna as she clutched her arm in distress.
"Luna, what's wrong?" I asked hurriedly.
"My arm's hurting…" She cringed. Luna groaned, clutching her arm as her Signer Mark started glowing, brighter than it had during our Duel against Lester.
The glow of her Mark intensified, eventually forcing me to shut my eyes and turn away. I felt Luna inch closer to me, and I cringed hearing an uneasy moan coming from her. When the light's intensity had died down, I opened my eyes to find that everything in my immediate view had a strange red tint to it.
It took me longer than it should have for me to realize that Luna and I were being surrounded by a bubble produced by her Signer Mark, similarly to when Rex's brother Roman brought out his Earthbound Immortal during his Duel with Yusei.
The sphere shimmered, and I instinctively reached out to touch it. The surface was firm. Absolutely no give to it. So we sat there and waited for something to happen, but nothing really did. It shimmered once more, before slowly fading away, and then it was just gone completely, along with the glow from Luna's Signer Mark.
"What was that about?" I asked out loud.
"I don't know…" Luna answered, looking up at me, and then down at her arm. "It never used to hurt like that…" she breathed. "And usually the bubble appears as a sort of protection, but…"
"But there's no one around… unless someone's inside…" I muttered, suddenly thinking of Lester's words in the Combat Lane now as less of an ominous warning and more of a direct threat to Luna.
I got up from Luna's bed quickly. Too quickly, and I ended up getting little white dots peppering my vision briefly, not that I really gave a crap about that. I made my way out of Luna's room. "T-Tyler…!" she called, seemingly deciding to follow me.
Against my better judgment, I said nothing, as opposed to instructing her to stay in her room and lock the door. Heading down the steps as quickly as I could without tripping, I started looking around for any potential threats, like the one's we'd faced where the bubble had protected us before. "Who's there!?" I called. Silence. Of course I knew upon saying anything that no one would answer me. No potential threat would reveal itself, lest losing the element of surprise it would have.
I kept Luna behind me as I looked around. There was someone, something somewhere, watching me. Watching us. I couldn't see it but I could feel it. Their eyes, their unrelenting stare. The silence that accompanied it was almost deafening.
I held my breath as my body shook with every step. I slowly turned around the corner, Luna's hands against my back, but there was nothing in sight, except for the empty living room. I sighed, the feeling of being watched having left me, replaced instead with senseless paranoia.
The silence broke immediately as my phone sounded, a message tone, coming through the speaker and giving me a fright. I felt my heartbeat pick up as I reached into my pocket and saw the message on the screen.
From Akiza.
Yusei's asked that you and Luna come to his place ASAP. It's important.
"What is it?" Luna asked, almost sensing my apprehension.
I turned to her. "Akiza messaged me. Yusei wants us over at Poppo Time, apparently. Says it's important."
"Well… I, um…" Luna mumbled.
"If you don't feel like going, that's fine. You've been through a lot." I spoke softly. "You deserve some time to yourself. To rest."
"I-it's not that…!" Luna wavered. "I just thought that maybe you and I… um…" she blushed again.
My breathing quickened. The kiss.
I honestly didn't know how to feel about it. It definitely wasn't something that I was going to forget about or pretend didn't happen, but I just had no earthly idea on how to talk about what happened with her. I mean, I liked Luna, but it was obvious now that she felt differently about me than how I felt about her.
"Luna, I…" I sighed, turning around as I got down on my knees, now just a little apprehensive about being so close to her. "I know this is something that you want us to talk about, but we should probably go and see what they want first. The last everyone else saw of you, you left on your own, crying. They probably want to see how you are. I left your brother with them to come and see you. I don't know any more than you do, but I think it's best we go and see what they want."
"B-but, Tyler, I-"
"Luna, I know. I'm sorry for interrupting you, but I just need some time to think about everything, okay?" I cautioned. "Just keep whatever thoughts you have until later. Once we've seen Yusei and the others, we can sort this out on our own, alright?"
Luna nodded quickly. "O-okay, Tyler. Sorry." She apologized needlessly.
The two of us made it to Poppo Time within fifteen minutes of getting Akiza's message. Luna was silent the whole ride over and I felt like shit. My stomach was in knots and my body was producing an amount of phlegm I hadn't thought humanly possible.
I hadn't even made it to the garage, and I thought I was going to choke. "Hey-" Yusei greeted us, but I moved past him, grabbing the bin from under his desk, which thankfully had a plastic bag stretched around it, and emptied my spill into it as quietly as I could. I positioned the bin so that nobody could see what I was doing, even though it was probably obvious to everyone. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Fine…!" I moaned, doing my best to not make eye contact with Akiza, Jack, or Leo, who were also present.
"You don't seem like it." Akiza stated.
"Trust me, I'm… I'm fine." I sighed, putting Yusei's bin back under his desk. "So what's up? Why'd you call us over here?"
Yusei, Jack, and Akiza looked to each other, before Leo spoke up. "I was mad at Lester for how he treated Luna, and so… We went to Lester's place, and… it's gone…!"
"What do you mean 'it's gone'?" I asked.
"There's no house there, just a vacant block of land." Akiza explained.
"What's more, Leo called Bob from his class, and he said he didn't know anyone called Lester." Yusei added.
"Which is so weird! He wanted Lester to autograph his face! Right, Luna?" Leo looked to his sister, noticing her expression. "Luna, are you okay? Don't be upset about Lester! We're gonna find out what's going on! And I'm a Signer now, so I'll protect you if he decides to try anything!" He assured her.
Luna glanced over at her brother, and then continued looking down at her feet. I had to close my eyes for a brief moment as I attempted to calm myself before speaking again.
"What Mark have you got anyway?" I asked Leo.
"Um…" he mumbled, pulling down his sleeve to show me the etching on his arm. "It's a Heart… I think…"
"The Heart of the Crimson Dragon…" Jack muttered.
"That's pretty cool, Leo." I smiled.
"Yeah, my Mark's cool, but I wanna know what my Signer Power is! You know, like how Luna can see and talk to Duel Spirits, and how Akiza can make monsters real! I want something cool like that!"
"I'm sure you'll get something down the track. You did only just get your Mark, remember…?" I said, deciding to try and move the discussion back to Lester before we got completely off-topic. "So are you saying that this Lester kid doesn't exist?" I asked.
"Not anymore…" Jack muttered.
"So, what does that mean then? That Leo, L-Luna and I Dueled against a figment, a phantom?"
"Phantom…" Yusei pondered. "It's got to have something to do with the Ghost." He said, all of us turning to him. "I don't know if you guys picked up on it, but Lester used a monster that looked very similar to the one the Ghost had, with a similar name as well! Even Lester's Duel style was similar to that of the Ghost's."
"I talked to Mina and she said she'd take care of everything! There shouldn't be any more Ghosts." Akiza said.
"Maybe not of that model," Jack began. "But maybe this one's different. Maybe it's a newer model built to look like a child. The other Ghost, the one we fought, looked like a man in his twenties, maybe a little bit older."
"Okay, well let's say this Lester is a new model of Ghost. Why would he enroll at Duel Academy, and then erase his existence? And why are we the only ones who can remember anything about him?" Akiza posed the question.
"I don't know…" Yusei muttered. "But there's clearly something going on."
"There might be a way to find out…" I spoke softly, noticing everyone's eyes, including Luna's, fall to me. "Lester arrived at Duel Academy on Monday, right? That's, like, a week. A week has gone by, this kid's come and gone, things have changed, but no one's noticed anything."
"What are you saying?" Yusei asked.
"You know how Luna and I had plans yesterday. Well she called and canceled, except it wasn't her, it was Lester somehow mimicking her voice, and pretending to be her. He was the one that canceled our plans, and I ended up hanging out with Joel for the night instead."
"So…?" Jack murmured.
"So, if Joel remembers that I hung out with him yesterday, and remember, I didn't even know about Lester at that time, then it means that everything that we remember happening did, and somehow, he or someone else has just been able to drop him off the face of the planet."
"And if he doesn't remember?" Akiza asked.
"Well then… I have no idea…" I sighed. Retrieving my cell from my pocket, I scrolled through my phone's contacts until I found Joel's number. "Just… if Joel does remember, he might be a little angry with me." I hesitantly pressed the call button before bringing the phone to my ear. On the sixth ring, I heard a clicking sound.
"Yep?" Joel's voice came through the other end.
"Hey, Joel." I greeted.
"Yep. What do you want?" he asked.
"I, uh… I just wanted to talk about what happened yesterday-"
"I'm done with yesterday, man. Let's talk about today. You were spoutin' all this shit off about how mentally fucked you are, well guess what? There's shit you can do about that. If you don't want to help yourself, then that's on you. That's what I was trying to do with the weed. Help you. If you can't see that, well that's your problem. I'm done. See ya!"
The line went dead. I lowered my phone from my ear and slid it back into my pocket. "Well… he remembers…" I sighed, looking down at my shoes.
"Why was he angry with you in the first place?" Jack asked.
"Well last night, he and I did drugs in the forest and I had a bad trip and he thinks it's just 'cause of how I am but I disagree." I looked up from my shoes, to meet the almost horrified gaze shared between Akiza and the twins, as well as Jack's and Yusei's looks of concern.
"What… what kind of drugs did you do?" Akiza asked softly.
"Marijuana, but I think it might've been laced with something, 'cause I saw faces in the trees. It's not as bad as it sounds." I stated. "Okay, maybe it is as bad as it sounds, but that's not the point. The point is, Joel remembers, which means we're not crazy, and we need to figure out why only certain people have their memories wiped."
"Right…" Yusei muttered, seemingly put-off or concerned by my confession. "It seems like it's everyone who's had a direct connection with Lester, aside from you two." Yusei said, looking over at the twins. "Hey, are you sure you're okay, Luna?" Yusei asked.
"Yes, I-I'm fine… I think… Um…" Luna mumbled, looking back over at me. Yusei nodded.
"Maybe it's 'cause we're all Signers that we can remember! Like, the Crimson Dragon protected us from getting our memories wiped, and everyone else, the students at school, the teachers, they've all forgotten because they don't have Marks!" Leo shouted.
"If that's the case, why does Tyler remember what happened?" Akiza asked.
I looked back over to Luna, our eyes meeting. "When I went to Luna's place to see if she was alright, her Mark lit up. It was only for a few minutes, but a bubble appeared around the two of us. At the time I thought someone dangerous might've been in the apartment, but now I'm thinking that might have been the moment when everyone else had their memories erased."
"So the Crimson Dragon protected you as well…" Jack murmured superfluously.
"That would explain it…" Yusei muttered.
"So what do we do now, Yusei?" Akiza asked.
"There's nothing we can do. At least, not right now anyway. We just have to wait and see what happens next. But there are obviously more of these Synchro-killing monsters out there, and we need to figure out an effective way to battle them."
"I thought what Leo did was really cool, using Eternal Rest." I piped up.
"Yes." Jack agreed. "But that was incredibly lucky. We can't just rely on one card to win every Duel for us."
"What would you suggest?" I asked.
"Let's not think about this anymore right now." Yusei interjected. "We'd just keep going over the same things. Until we know more about what we're fighting, it's pointless hypothesizing. Besides, Crow isn't here."
"Where is he anyway?"
"Off doing deliveries. He couldn't get away, that's why he wasn't with us before." Jack explained. He sighed. "But if this little meeting is over, I'm heading home…"
I nodded, turning to the twins. "Well alright then, do you guys want me to take you back to-" I stopped, Luna's attention focused solely on me once again, her expression burning into my eyes. "Your place…?" I finished slowly.
"If that's alright with you, sure." Leo smiled. "I mean, if we're done here and all." Leo looked over at his sister. "And I think Luna could use some rest too."
"N-no, Leo… I'm fine, really." Luna sighed before relenting. "Actually, having a little bit of a rest does sound nice."
"Well you've earned one." Yusei smiled. "And Luna, if you need to talk about anything, you know I'm more than happy to listen."
"Thanks, Yusei…" Luna smiled back.
Yusei turned to me. "But Tyler, are you sure you're alright to operate your Duel Runner?"
I nodded. "Don't worry, Yusei. I'm using auto-pilot until I'm sure everything's out of my system." I brought the attention of the twins to me. "Alright guys, I just need to make a quick call first, and then we'll hit the road."
I pulled up outside the Tops apartment complex, the late afternoon sun just peeking through the tall buildings and onto the path where Leo sat waiting for the two of us.
I'd actually forgotten, and Leo failed to remind me, that he still had his Duel Board in working order. So I ended up taking Luna back home by herself while Leo rode his Duel Board home, him of course not having to abide by road rules since he stuck to the pathways. I think his Duel Board still hadn't been registered anyway.
"Took you guys long enough." Leo teased.
"We were behind this guy the whole time over here that was just going so slow. Like, almost unbearable." I groaned.
"You go in without me Leo, okay? I need to talk with Tyler about a few things first." Luna explained, turning to her brother.
Leo nodded. "Alright. See ya later, Tyler!" he waved.
"See ya." I said, briefly waving back as Leo picked himself up and walked inside. Luna moved away and then turned to me, though her eyes averted mine. "What is it?"
"Was it really that bad when I kissed you?" Luna asked. "I mean, you were sick before, so-"
"Oh no, Luna. No." I sighed. "That was just nerves." I answered truthfully. "As you probably gathered from me telling you about my… drug doing, I'm… still sort of going through some stuff. Now, believe me when I say I'll never do something as stupid as that again. It's just… I know I said that if you gave me some time that I'd be able to give you a clear answer, but… I do just need a little more time."
"Well… I… when will I see you again?" Luna asked.
"Here. Seven o'clock. Tonight. We can talk about what happened and where we're gonna go from here."
"You… you promise?"
"I promise…"
"I… have to admit, Tyler, I was surprised to hear from you again." My psychiatrist said.
I sat across from him in his office. I was seated, uncomfortably from nerves, on his couch.
"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I really appreciate it. I promise I'm just here for a quick visit."
"The last time you dropped by without a formal appointment, it was because you had some sort of realization. An emotional epiphany. I certainly hope that's not the case here as well."
"Well…" I mumbled, averting his eyes as I saw them widen.
"What happened?"
"…Luna kissed me." I admitted.
"Well-"
"On the lips." I added.
My psychiatrist leaned forward in his seat. "You haven't been doing anything to encourage her, have you?"
"Well… I, um… maybe? I don't know. The last time I was here, I came from Luna's place. I'd given her chocolates as a thank you for being so supportive of me. On Friday, yesterday, we were going to go see a musical together, but…" I sighed. "It's a long story…"
The expression on his face changed. "I wish you had've told me all of this before… You said Luna was twelve now, didn't you?" He asked. I nodded. "Well it's perfectly normal for girls of Luna's age to develop crushes on older men, like a teacher, a babysitter, or a friend's older sibling. Normally, it can just be a phase, an infatuation that usually passes quickly… but it sounds to me like you've been encouraging her crush, whether intentional or not, so I'm not so sure if this will just be a phase with her."
"What should I do?" I asked.
He sighed. "I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but I'd recommend that you don't associate yourself with her anymore."
My mouth dropped open. "Are you serious?"
"I am."
"Well… I'm not doing that." I said plainly.
"People might get the wrong idea, and then you might get into trouble. I know you don't want that, for yourself or for Luna."
"I can't just… not hang out with her!" I shouted, all but struggling to come to grips with the idea, especially after everything I'd been through. "Even if I wanted to, it would just make it more awkward with Yusei and everyone. I can't get them to choose between hanging out with me and hanging out with Luna."
"Well then, perhaps it's time you re-evaluate your place in your current friend group and think about where you're headed in regards to your relationship with all of them. Do you think they would be supportive if you pursued a relationship with Luna? Do you think they'd turn a blind eye should anything happen?"
"I'm not gonna rape her!" I protested almost in defense.
"I was not at all insinuating that."
"Bullshit!" I snapped. "What? You think that just because I'm older than her that I'd, I'd automatically try and-"
"Tyler, stop. I was simply trying to say, look at the age difference between the two of you, when you were six years old, she was only just being born. And right now, you've got a lot of things that you're trying to deal with. Even if you and Luna were the same age, I still wouldn't recommend pursuing a relationship with her."
"What am I supposed to do then?" I asked. "The only other person I can hang out with is my stepbrother. And he's not exactly a law-abiding citizen. If I cut out Luna, I'd have to cut out Yusei and Akiza, and… I would have no one. And that's not an option, okay? Not an option! I've already been screwing around with Luna's feelings enough, and it's killing me!"
"Well it sounds like you made your mind up long before you came to see me. I just want you to understand that there are repercussions for everything you do, so before you do anything, you need to think long and hard about how this will affect you, and how this will affect Luna."
"I know that… and she knows that too… I've, I've told you this before, she's… she's been there for me through most of my crap… I… I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for her, and somehow, through everything, she… she still likes me… Now, I don't know anything about relationships. As far as I know, I've never been in one. But I do know that this world is a messed up place, and not everyone in it is kind or caring. Luna is, and I've been really lucky to have had her support. And if she… if she sees me as someone who can… who can make her happy, when she's been making me happy, then I'd just be the worst person in the world to deny her that."
I wasn't actually sure what I was trying to accomplish or justify by saying everything that I had. In the end, I probably wasn't even saying it to my psychiatrist, but more to myself, out loud, and my psychiatrist just happened to be in the room. I had to hear my thoughts, my words actually spoken, before everything could click and make sense. It was all much clearer to me than it had been.
My psychiatrist looked at me for a few moments, before shifting in his seat and smiling just a little. "You really do care about Luna, don't you…?"
"I do…" I muttered. "I'm sorry for swearing. I know I shouldn't."
"That's okay. Look, Tyler, listen. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck."
I rose to my feet, a smile on my face. "Thanks…"
I stood outside Leo and Luna's penthouse, my stomach full of butterflies. I had actually been just outside their door for a good five minutes, contemplating whether or not to knock on their door. Eventually, I was able to clear my head of all my hesitancy and just knock on the door, though my left hand, which was firmly grasping the end of a bouquet of red and white roses, started to sweat.
I was hoping that Luna would have been the one to open the door, as that would have saved me a bit of time and embarrassment with Leo. Unfortunately for me though, Leo was the one that came to answer the door, wearing a pair of blue pajamas. "Hey, Tyler." He greeted.
"Hey, Leo. Is your sister home? She awake?" I asked.
"Yeah, you can come in if you want. I think she's in her room."
"Thank you." I nodded. Leo walked back into the penthouse and I followed him in, removing my shoes and placing them by the door.
"What's with the flowers?" Leo asked, shutting the door.
"Oh, they're… they're for Luna." I said.
"Okay, that's nice." Leo yawned, before he walked back over to the couch and sat down, continuing to watch whatever was on TV. I stood there in silence for a few moments. Part of me felt like I had to say something to Leo. I had no idea if Luna had told him that she'd kissed me or not, but I knew how protective he was of her, and how he'd acted while Luna was with Sly and Lester. The last thing I wanted to do was cause a rift between Leo and Luna the way that Sly had done, and I didn't want Leo to hate me either.
"Hey, Leo… Um… can I ask you something?"
"Huh? Sure." Leo turned to me.
"Has Luna said anything to you?"
"About what?"
"Well, I dunno. Anything that you might find… upsetting, or… that you don't agree with?"
"She still thinks I should eat more vegetables. You mean something like that?"
"I…" I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Nothing like that. I mean… y-you know I care about her, don't you?"
"Yeah… You care about her like I do, and that's really cool…"
"Well, would you know if Luna's said anything about me recently?"
"How recent?"
"Like… today, recent."
"No, nothing apart from the usual."
"Usual?" I asked.
"Yeah." Leo nodded. "'Oh, I hope Tyler's okay!' 'Do you think I should call him?'" Leo whined, pitching his voice higher in an attempt to do an impression of Luna, which admittedly was actually really, really convincing. "There's also a couple of pages on her school note book with your name written on them." He said, his voice returning to normal. "It's pretty obvious she likes you."
Leo said it so casually, so nonchalantly, that I didn't really know what to say, or moreover how he wanted me to respond. "And you're… okay with her liking me?" I probed.
"Well… yeah!" Leo smiled. "You're a really good Duelist and you're a really good friend!"
"I wasn't so good against Lester. I almost cost us the whole thing. You pretty much carried the team, Leo." I shook my head, not wanting to get off-topic as I'd done with him before. "S-so you don't see anything wrong with… like age or…? Nothing?"
"Well… Can you keep a secret?" Leo whispered, getting up off the couch and walking over to me.
"Yeah, o'course." I said. He beckoned for me to lean down as he whispered into my ear.
"I have a crush on Miss Bartlet." He said, pulling away, a faint blush on his face.
"Oh… Well, you don't have to worry about me telling anyone. Your secret's safe with me."
"Awesome." Leo grinned as his blush faded. "And Akiza's younger than Yusei, and they're happy. So I can't see why Luna can't be younger than you and the both of you can be happy."
"Well, thank you, Leo." I smiled.
"Will you be staying the night?" he asked.
"I don't know yet." I shrugged, my eyes turning to the staircase. "I'm gonna go and see Luna now, okay?"
"K." Leo simply replied, walking back to the couch and turning to watch the TV. I slowly made my way up the steps to Luna's bedroom, my heart racing, but a smile still on my face. I expected Leo to be at the very least a little resistant or displeased, and at the most, angry and overprotective. I didn't give Leo enough credit and I think I underestimated his maturity.
As I reached the top of the stairs, I could hear Taylor Swift's 'You Belong With Me' playing inside Luna's bedroom, with Luna faintly singing along. I straightened myself, took a deep breath, and knocked on Luna's door. It took only four seconds for Luna to stop singing, turn the music down and open the door.
"Tyler…!" Luna breathed.
"Hi…!" I greeted. "Sorry I'm a little later than I said I'd be. I wanted to get cleaned up. And… I had to see someone… And I wanted to get you these…" I brought my left hand forward, offering the bouquet of roses to Luna.
"Tyler!" she crimsoned, taking the bouquet. "You didn't have to get me anything! What are these for?"
"Well, part of it's 'cause I've been acting like a real tool, stringing you along for the whole day. And, it's also 'cause… I just wanted to get you some flowers."
"Well they're beautiful, thank you!" she chirped. With her free hand, she reached out and took mine in hers, leading me into her room, and over to her bed as she sat down on the edge of it, placing the bouquet on her bedside table and patting a space beside her on the bed.
"I just want to understand a couple of things though, I-if that's okay?"
"Of course, anything." Luna said. I sat down on her bed beside her. The two of us were almost in the exact same positions we were in as when she kissed me.
I closed my eyes. "I, um… I have to ask… how long have you felt this way about me…?"
"Honestly… ever since you first saved me from the Spirit World." Luna replied. My eyes widened.
"Th… that long…?"
Luna's blush returned, but I could see a seriousness in her eyes as well. "You were like a knight in shining armor, rescuing me from Zeman like you did, and then again from the Arcadia Movement. Even after that, I… I felt really safe around you too, like… like you'd protect me if things ever went bad."
Her expression was killing me. That cheerful expression… talking about me like I was someone who could be admired. I might've rescued Luna, sure, but that was all during the height of my problems. Back then, I felt absolutely inadequate next to someone like Yusei, and was unknowingly being completely betrayed by someone who I thought had my best interests at heart.
"Wh-what's wrong?" Luna asked, noticing my downed expression.
"I was, um… I was actually told by my psychiatrist not to… communicate anymore with you, and by extension, Yusei or your brother." I watched Luna gasp as her position shifted on the bed, obviously and rightly surprised by what I'd said. "Don't worry, Luna. I'm not gonna-I don't wanna leave you, it's just… I'm so messed up. I don't want to hurt you, but I'm afraid I might, because I don't trust myself."
"Well, you're going to need to learn to trust yourself, because I do." Luna smiled, taking both of her hands in mine. "I wish that you could see yourself the way I see you, even if it's only for a second. You are an incredible, amazing person, who tries his hardest to do the right thing by everyone. You've been so good to me, and it makes me so upset to know that you don't know what I see in you, and how much I…" Luna's eyes averted mine, going silent for a few moments, before looking back at me. "How much I…" a shallow breath escaped Luna's lips. "Love you… I love you, Tyler."
"Y… you love me…? I don't know what to say…" I mumbled as I started blushing. An intense warm and fuzzy feeling moved through my body. Only Luna could make me feel as good as I did. Her expression was killing me, but not at all like before. Not only had Luna been my first kiss, but she'd also told me that she loved me.
"I'm gonna kiss you now, okay…?" Luna mumbled, leaning just a little closer towards me.
"Okay…" I whispered softly, her lips touching mine for a brief moment before she pulled away, her hair, no longer in pigtails as it was during the day, brushing my face.
"I… know it's probably a little too much for me to have said all this now," Luna fidgeted. "But I… I've been feeling this way for a long time and… I couldn't not tell you how much you mean to me, and how much I care about you."
"No, no. That's perfectly okay, Luna, I just…" I trailed off. "I've never had someone tell me they love me, so… thank you." My eyes shifted from hers. "Look, Luna, I… I hadn't really thought of you as anything other than a really good friend, but… no one cares about me the way that you do, and… I think it's because I've… I've never experienced love, that I've never really thought about you o-or anyone else that way. But if you can love this." I motioned to myself. "This horrible, disgusting mess of a person, then-"
"Tyler, you're not-"
"Then I can at least try… to love you…" I smiled. "But I know, that I'll never be able to make you feel as good as you've made me feel tonight, and all those other times before, when I've been down and… you've pulled me out of my funk. You shouldn't have to do that – it's not your responsibility, but I am thankful for it, more than you know." I looked over at her clock. Quarter to ten. I sighed. "It's pretty late for you, right? I'm sorry, I really should have come earlier. I'll, um, I'll… I'll let you get some sleep." I said, getting up off her bed.
"I don't want you to go. Please stay." Luna urged.
It didn't take much convincing for me to agree. "Okay. I'll… I'll wait until Leo's gone to bed, and then I'll go and sleep on the couch."
"Leo won't be going to bed for another few hours since it's Saturday. Why don't you sleep here with me?"
"You mean, like, here on the floor and stuff?"
"No, I mean here with me." Luna said. "In my bed."
A lump formed in my throat. "Um, are you s-"
"I-I didn't mean that to sound h-how it did. I just mean, you know, we've slept close together before, and… Well, I don't think you'd be comfortable sleeping on the floor."
"The mattress I've got at home is terrible, I wouldn't even notice I was sleeping on the floor. I can make do. I don't need a pillow or anything." I said.
"If that's the case, I definitely can't let you sleep on the floor, Tyler. Come on." Luna mumbled as she pulled her bed sheets and duvét back, gently sliding into bed. She looked at me with an almost cheeky smile on her face.
"Alright." I caved, walking back over to the bed as Luna moved to one side. I crouched down, shifting my weight as I got onto the bed. It would've been a little too small for me length-wise had my body been completely straightened out, but I wasn't one to normally sleep with my body completely straight anyway.
Luna pulled the covers over the both of us, smiling at me all the while. "So what do you think of the bed?"
"This is pretty comfy." I admitted. I'd only been in her bed for less than a few seconds and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get a good night's sleep in my own bed ever again.
"I'm glad you like it." Luna's smile faded as she looked away for a brief moment. "Tyler…" she whispered. "Thank you. You… honestly don't know how happy you've made me…"
"Well you deserve to be happy, and for what it's worth… I'm really sorry about what you went through with Sly and Lester. I promise I'll do my best to treat you the way you should be treated…"
"I know you will…" Luna murmured, her smile returning as her eyelids drooped a little. It was only a few minutes until Luna seemed to be fast asleep, a peaceful expression across her face. I smiled, shifting in the bed as I turned to face the ceiling.
As I began drifting off to sleep, I knew that, in the days that followed, I'd have to change. For real. Not just talk about changing. It would be difficult sure, but I also knew that, with someone like Luna supporting me, I'd be able to do it.
I had to do it.