Author's Note: I meant to write more on my other two stories, and I did. I wrote quite a bit, as seems to be my way these days. But this is sort of crawling beneath my skin, and I just felt like Matt had to talk (I begin to sense more and more that writing is becoming undeniable, even if my stuff is silly nonsense, lol). And so… I let him at it.

This chapter is part serious, at Matt's behest, and part silly and light, at Aveza's request (so all of you who had your head exploded last time by the drama bomb and need a break should thank her, lol).

This chapter contains mature content, because Joe can't seem to stop prying for delicate information from Izzy.

Jerry and Amy, Pt 4

Izzy couldn't say how long he held Amy as she slept. Time was a strange unknown at the moment, a worthless system laid to waste, as in the Salvidor Dali painting with the melted clocks. His thoughts tripped along erratically, barred from their normal organization by his emotions. But some of it was registering, and the more he analyzed Amy's story, the angrier he grew, until it was impossible to stay where he was.

The bed creaked as he eased himself off, but Amy didn't stir in the slightest. Izzy hesitated before walking away from her. Would she be upset if she awoke alone, just as he had been this morning? Hoping to prevent a misunderstanding, he went to her desk and scribbled a note for her, then frowned when he read it over. It was completely disjointed, and didn't offer any real explanation of why he had left, but at least it communicated that he was at her command, should she wish to see him again today.

It will have to do, he thought as he placed it on the far side of her pillow. I lack the skill to improve it at the moment. Amy's keyring was sitting on her desk, and Izzy removed a key as quietly as possible. Then he left the room, locked up, and slipped the key through the gap between the base of the door and the floor, returning it to Amy.

Leaving her alone right now went against all of his instincts. But he had a bone to pick with Matt, and he couldn't seem to help himself.

Elsewhere

The knock on the door had Matt scrambling to his feet, dislodging a sheet of paper from his desk in the process. He grabbed the knob and turned it, already smiling. He had been idling around the room all day, partly because he was trying to write down some lyrics that occurred to him last night, but also because he wanted to be available the moment Amy dropped by with her news about Izzy. He pictured himself, Amy, and Sora celebrating and eating ice cream as Amy finally, finally got a chance to chatter about something going right in her life. The image seemed a bit strange without Tai in it, but, judging by the way his best friend was avoiding him, Matt sensed that now wasn't the time to discuss Izzy in front of him.

When the door cleared the portal, Matt found himself standing face to face with Izzy. The smile evaporated from his face as he took in the redhead's expression. Those heavy black eyes had an odd, tunnel-like feel to them, suggesting a depth flooded with darkness. His skin was taut over the muscles and bones of his face, and he was both too pale and too flushed.

Izzy had never stopped by for a visit, except to quickly check if Amy was around. So what was he doing here now, and why was he… upset? Angry? Slightly insane? Completely insane?

"I need to speak with you," Izzy said. Despite his low volume, there was something almost ominous about his tone, a subdued sort of fury. Baffled, and more than a little concerned, Matt nodded and made way for the redhead, allowing him to slip into the room.

Izzy sat down on Matt's desk chair, never bothering to get any kind of permission. Matt lowered himself onto his bed, trying and failing to think of a reason for Izzy's behavior. The two of them got along just fine. Well, they didn't really talk much, but Izzy was reasonable, polite, and quiet. He was an easy guy to deal with, even if they didn't have a lot of common ground. So why had he shown up at his door in a complete snit?

Well, I think he's going to let me know, Matt thought, staring as Izzy crossed his arms and furrowed his brow.

"I don't know how to say this gently, so I'll be blunt. I've just spoken to Amy about her ex."

A pulsing sensation went through Matt's body, as if Izzy's words had set off an explosion. For the span of a few breaths, the world felt surreal, and everything seemed to shift. Matt's hands bunched up against his jeans. All at once, he was in a darkened room, hauling a dazed, stricken, half-naked girl to her feet. He spread her legs, trying to stuff them into over-sized pants, and his hands came away sticky with blood after the contact with her inner thighs. Her breathing was so sharp and pained that it sounded like high pitched whines, and he forced himself to croon to her, singing her favorite songs in an undertone, trying to soothe her. Singing grew more difficult each second, as his throat closed in on itself.

"Matt? Matt? Are you alright?"

Matt shook his head violently and pulled himself back into the present. "No," he said, shaking his head, not quite able to think about his words. "She doesn't talk about that. She never talks about that."

He could hear Izzy breathing from halfway across the room. "She didn't have much of a choice," he said darkly. "We… I suppose we started dating last night. We were… While we were kissing, we fell onto my bed, and… She had a violent panic attack. I want to continue seeing her, and so I needed to know why I frightened her, and how to avoid troubling her in the future. So, she told me about Jerry. But…" Izzy paused, caught Matt's eye, and frowned, a look of disapproval and suspicion. "There were some things about her story that I wanted to ask you about."

Normally, whenever Izzy asked for anything, even something simple, he was almost comically courteous about it. But there were no apologies, no queries about whether or not he was able to oblige him at the moment. He was making demands, and, although they were quiet and mostly calm, this still put Matt on guard. No comments were coming to his mind, despite his usual skill for snark, and so he faintly nodded, suddenly wishing that he were anywhere but here.

Izzy leaned back into the chair and glowered. "First, I want to know what happened when Amy approached you and Tai during the prom after party. She mentioned that she noticed something wrong with her body, and that she went to you for help. But then she skipped to Jerry driving her home." A pair of heavy, red eyebrows pressed down against Izzy's dark eyes, and he looked incredibly serious, like a bust of a disapproving writer. It might have been funny in a different context.

Matt closed his eyes as guilt swept over him. He leaned over his lap, pressing his forearms against his legs for support. God, she's still trying to protect us. A part of Matt wished that Amy would point fingers at the two of them, would acknowledge their failure and force them to own up to it. But no, she would rather dance around the fact that they were at fault, as if this would spare them from their shame and remorse.

For a moment, he focused on breathing, floundering to string his thoughts together. When he finally spoke, his voice was thick with strain. "She found us about halfway through the party. We took one look at her and assumed that she was drunk; she looked completely lost, and she was sort of swaying on her feet, like she couldn't walk straight." His hands formed fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palm. "Of course, we had never seen someone drugged before. Alcohol was the only substance we were familiar with."

Izzy's eyes seemed to intensify, as if lit from within with righteous fury, and Matt found himself delivering the rest of his speech to his lap. "She… She asked Tai to take her home. But the two of us had rented a limo for ourselves and our dates, and we didn't have cars. Amy told us that something was wrong with her, and when Tai said that she was drunk, she said that she hadn't had any alcohol."

Movement from near Matt's desk had him glancing up. Izzy was half-standing, but he frowned when their eyes met, and he settled back down in the chair. His entire face went pinched, and he grimaced hugely. "Could you kindly tell me why you didn't believe her?"

Matt never would have thought that there would come a day when Izzy would seethe at him, and he would shrink back. He wasn't afraid of Izzy, but the words went straight to his heart, stabbing at it like tiny lances, making it bleed out in his chest. His hands covered his face, and he rubbed it harshly.

"I… I don't have a good reason. It's just, she's usually so ditsy when she's drunk, and we were focused on our dates. We could have left then and taken our dates and Amy with us. God," Matt groaned, smushing his hair against his scalp as his hands roamed around, "we could have done that. The girls we were with wouldn't have liked it, but it was an option. One of us could have taken her back in a cab. Hell, a chaperon could have sorted something out. But…"

He ignored the blurring of his vision, the feeling of a hot tear slipping out from the corner of his eye. "We didn't. We both love her, but… Sometimes, she was underfoot. She always wanted to be doing what we were doing, always relied on us too much, and, honestly, it was a relief when she started dating Jerry. He took over for us, and she became more like a normal friend, someone you care about and do things with, but who isn't ridiculously interested in everything you do and wanting to be a part of it all. We thought it was good for her, too, to take a step back from us. So, when she came to us with a problem that night, we…" He paused, wiped his eyes, and sighed. "We directed her back to Jerry, and got back to what we were doing." Flirting shamelessly with our hot, tipsy dates, his mind filled in, but he couldn't bring himself to reveal that detail to Izzy.

A silence fell over the room, and Matt looked over at Izzy, wondering how he would take his speech. The shorter boy's face was red in the cheeks, as if Mimi had darted into the room and covered him with blush while Matt wasn't looking. His lips curled into a disgusted expression, and Matt realized that the redhead probably guessed what they had been up to that night.

Matt cleared his throat and took hold of his knees. "I've regretted that choice every day of my life since then, and I know Tai does, too. Tai… You have to understand. Jerry was his teammate for four years, and I think you form a certain amount of trust with the people you play with. I definitely had something similar with my band mates; you know they'll be there with the right note at the right time, that everyone will give every performance everything they've got. With soccer, you're trusting your teammates to be where they're supposed to be, to work with you, to play as a unit. To have your back if something goes wrong. And, since Tai trusted himself with Jerry, he trusted Jerry with Amy. And I trusted his judgment."

One of Izzy's dark eyes twitched a few times in rapid succession. "Those are excuses, and poor ones at that, as far as I'm concerned."

Once again, Izzy's words gutted his heart like a butcher ripping open a pig's carcass. More heat and pressure built up in Matt's eyes, and he bent over again, unable to sit up straight. "I know," he choked, desperately trying to keep his emotions in check. "I know." He knew he was letting Izzy see him vulnerable, knew that his cool persona had shattered a way's back in the conversation, but what could he do? There was no way he could talk about this with that front in place.

He could feel Izzy's gaze on him, as heavy and restricting as a full suit of armor. "You're upset," Izzy said blandly, and, despite everything, the words drew a snort of amusement out of Matt. "I meant to ask you quite a few questions, but I'll limit it to one more, for now. Amy seemed to be of the opinion that Jerry isn't… That she wasn't really a victim in this ordeal. I wondered if you could tell me what you think of the matter."

A surge of anger made its way through the haze of guilt and sorrow around Matt, burning away his lingering desire to cry. "Of course she's a victim," he growled. "Jerry's victim, Steve and Harry's victim… Hell, why stop there? She's her father's victim, and she's our victim, too, since we stepped aside and let it happen."

"So, you're of the opinion that she was raped." Some of the storms had cleared from Izzy's expression, but he still seemed on edge. His fingers were drumming against his knees, which was unusual; typically, he sat still, without twitching.

Matt closed his eyes and cursed. "She's still saying that she wasn't? Of course she is," he breathed. "Look, I'm not saying that Amy didn't make any mistakes in this. But… Tai and I invited Jerry to chip in and share our limo with us. He turned us down, which we thought was weird at the time, since we had never noticed him being short on cash before." He found himself growing much more animated and passionate than usual. His emotions ran strong, but he usually kept a firm grip on them. That grip went slack with the intensity of the subject matter. "Now, picture this, Izzy. You're at the after party, and your girlfriend tells you she feels sick. You don't know what's wrong with her, but you know she wants to go home. What do you do?"

Izzy scowled, and Matt belatedly realized that he was in no mood to be quizzed. However, after a moment of indulging his annoyance, the redhead's frown grew thoughtful. "Obviously, I would take her home and ensure that her parents understood that she took ill at prom, so that they could care for her."

Matt nodded and leaned closer to Izzy. "Right. That's what I'd do. But it's sure as hell not what Jerry did."

Izzy hissed softly and rubbed at the deep impressions in his forehead. "No. No, he took her to his home, instead, knowing that his mother was out."

"In other words, Jerry planned from the start to try and have sex with Amy that night. It's fairly typical," Matt said, frowning grimly at the floor. "Lots of teens see prom as chance to do that. Even if he didn't know that she was drugged, as he claims, then he still took her to his place, knowing full well that she wasn't feeling well and that she wasn't particularly interested in being physical. And, believe me, Izzy…"

Matt hissed and tipped his head back, gazing at a random point on the ceiling. "I saw her before, and… And I saw her after." A tremor traveled down his body, and he paused for a moment, trying not to remember the frightened, bruised look in her eyes when he approached her in Jerry's bedroom. "It was totally obvious that something was off about her. Even if, like us, Jerry assumed that she was drunk… It still would have been taking advantage of her. I guess he must have had himself convinced that she would want to sleep with him if he just got her alone. He had kind of an ego on him, and he was pretty popular with the girls. And… I hate to give him this much, but he was really into her. Maybe he was blinded by his feelings, and just assumed that she felt the same way he did. But, no matter how you cut it, it was a shitty thing to do to her. I don't care how bad he felt about it later, when his hormones were satisfied." He found himself struggling to get enough oxygen, even as his diaphragm expanded with his breathing. Matt felt overheated, antsy, constrained. "It doesn't excuse what he did."

"So… You believe he was remorseful afterward." Izzy's voice sounded incredibly distant, despite the fact that they were only about five feet away from each other. A spike of pain drove its way through Matt's skull, and he dropped his head into his hands, trying to rub it away.

"I don't care." A hard truth, and perhaps an unfair one, but there it was. "I don't care. Amy was really messed up for a while, Izzy, you have no idea. She didn't start making improvements until the school year ended, and the four of us- Tai, TK, Kari, and I- had lots of time to coax her back out of her withdrawal. So, no, I don't give a damn what Jerry felt, and, for once in my life, I didn't even try to stop Tai from doing something monumentally stupid." His hands dropped away from his face, and he sighed, acutely aware of the way his muscles were bunching up. That was another failure on his part, as far as he was concerned. He should have stopped that fight, but… On the other hand, if he had tried too hard, Tai might have mowed him down in order to get at Jerry.

There was a long pause, and, when Matt finally looked over at Izzy, he saw the tiny redhead staring at nothing with his fist against his chin. The movement must have caught his eye, because he looked up and gave a curt nod. "I see. Well, I've taken up enough of your time today; I believe I'll go back and see if Amy's woken from her nap yet." There was still a heaviness in Izzy's expression, and he got up and went for the door without waiting for any signs of acceptance or dismissal.

I think I made his shit list, Matt thought ruefully as he listened to the door open and close. Then, feeling suddenly fatigued, he collapsed onto his bed and sat there for a long time, all thoughts of celebrations and ice cream completely gone from his mind.

A Bit Later

Joe let himself into his dorm room, and was disappointed to see Izzy sitting in front of his desktop. He had hoped that the redhead would be out somewhere with Amy, but then… Maybe the two of them needed some space after their conversation.

It wasn't unusual for Izzy to not look away from his screens, even when someone entered the room, but, unless Joe was imagining things, there was a certain listlessness to the way he was sitting. "Are you alright?" Joe asked as he closed the door.

Izzy sighed at his monitors. "I've had better days," he said tonelessly.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Joe asked, already guessing the answer. He moved further into the room and deposited his messenger bag, which was bulging with textbooks and binders, onto his desk.

There was a pause, and then Izzy shut down the program he was working on and turned his desk chair around. "As a matter of fact, I would like to talk about anything but what's happened to me today."

Joe felt his brow rising. Although he was correct in assuming that Izzy would stay silent about his talk with Amy, he hadn't expected him to stop working on his computer. Was it possible that his friend was too distracted to fall back on his usual solutions to his problems (which was, of course, to ignore them and bury himself in computers or math)?

He hastened to think of some way to distract Izzy, and the solution sparked in his mind. God, this will annoy the hell out of him, but it should get his mind off of things. "Uh, anything?" Joe echoed, placing uncertain emphasis on the last word.

"Shall I repeat myself?" Izzy asked, somewhat airily. And that snotty tone had Joe smiling, because it would make Izzy feel all the more foolish when he dropped his topic of choice on that spiky red head. Still, he must be at his wits' end, to lead with that kind of snark. Usually I have to bug him a lot before he gets there. Ohhh, he is going to hate me for this.

"Fine, then. Anything." Joe pulled a binder out of his bag, opened it to a fresh page of loose leaf paper, readied a pen, and settled into his desk chair. "S-sex advice. Go."

Izzy sputtered violently, and his hands flew to the seat of his chair, as if he needed the grip to stay in place. His elbow hit his mouse, and it fell to the floor with a loud clacking sound, but Izzy didn't seem to notice. Color rose to his face, even as his complexion drained to salt white. He looked like a pale porcelain doll with its cheeks liberally rouged.

It took all of Joe's willpower to stop himself from laughing hysterically, and he probably wouldn't have managed it if he wasn't feeling nervous about the topic he had brought up.

"Joe- really- what-"

Joe adjusted his glasses and removed the cap from his pen. "You did say anything."

Izzy gaped at him, and his eyes moved robotically from Joe's face to the paper. "And, and… You would actually write down whatever I have to say on the matter?"

A muscle twitched in Joe's face, more from embarrassment and nerves than anger. "Well, this is how I learn things!" he protested, his voice going high and strained. "What do you want me to do, Izzy? I stopped by Mimi's room before I went to study, and she was wearing-" Heat flooded to his face, then spread down his neck and beyond. The memory of her in wispy, pink negligee was enough to turn him into a sputtering idiot. His hands tightened around his binder, and the holes in the top piece of loose leaf tore apart against the binder rings. All of the necessary areas had been covered by a lacy film, but only just, and he could still see the darker spots in the middle of her tiny breasts…

Which was fairly impressive, really, because he had taken one look at her and done a jerky backwards dash down the hallway, not stopping until he reached the nearest library and hid his face in his orgo book for two hours. The sound of shocked, but still musical and tinkling, laughter had followed him until he reached the dorm stairwell, and it played on loop as he tried to get some studying done.

His eyes came back into focus on Izzy by degrees, and he found that his friend was gracing him with a tart, unimpressed expression. "You know, Joe," he began, tapping his knee in annoyance, "some of us have actual problems. Finding your attractive girlfriend wearing lingerie hardly qualifies."

Joe waved his hands frantically for a moment, then sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Listen, I know you've had a hard day, but you did say that you wanted to talk about something else. This is something else."

"It certainly is," Izzy muttered, flicking his dark eyes around the room. He was quiet for a long moment, and then he leaned over his lap, steepled his fingers, and caught Joe's eyes. "Alright. Alright. As hesitant as I am to engage you in this subject, I'll do so out of respect for our friendship, and for all the recent assistance you've given me."

Joe shut his eyes and exhaled with relief. "Izzy, thank you so much. You're a true friend."

"However," Izzy continued, raising his voice, "there are ground rules. I'm not going to speak of anything specific to Shauna. I don't want to hear anything specific to Mimi. And, of course, we're two eighteen-year-old men. We can talk about this like adults. I expect to use the proper language for everything. I'm not going to dance around simple biology with euphemisms. This process will only be uncomfortable if we allow it to be uncomfortable."

Joe blink and shook his head. "While I agree with your terms, I really don't see a way for this to not be at least a little uncomfortable."

"Kindly allow me my illusions," Izzy muttered. He turned his body towards the computer, then made a beckoning motion over his shoulder. Slightly bewildered, Joe rolled his chair over to his friend, who pulled up Wikipedia on his browser. He read over Izzy's shoulders as he typed into the search bar.

"Whoa, wait," Joe protested as Izzy moved to click the search button. "There's going to be visuals here?"

"You asked for this," Izzy said calmly. But Joe was certain that he detected the faintest trace of wicked amusement in his tone, mostly hidden behind his typical nasal monotone.

Good God. He's punishing me a little, isn't he. Joe paled as two pictures of female anatomy appeared on the screen, the labia pulled apart for ease of viewing. Okay, more than a little.

"I believe that the most important thing for you to understand is that, while a man can become aroused more or less in an instant, that process is more drawn out for females. To the left, you see the sex of an unaroused woman. To the right… The local flushing, the swelling here, here, and here, the lifting of the hood here… You want to ensure that these physical changes are complete before penetration. Women can find penetration painful when they aren't…" Izzy paused, and his pointing hand trembled for a moment. "When they aren't prepared for it," he finished quietly. Joe tore his eyes away from the pictures and looked at Izzy's face. It was tight and drawn, and Joe couldn't help but wonder at his sudden change in mood.

But, after a slight pause, Izzy rallied. "Any questions so far?"

"Uh!" Joe stared down at his blank paper and scribbled a few things down, completely ignoring Izzy's beleaguered sigh. "Alright, uh… There is one thing." Izzy invited him to continue by cocking an eyebrow. "Well, er… H-how exactly do you… Uh…"

Izzy's finger slid down an inch against the screen, and he hissed when he saw the resulting smudge. There was a faint fwip sound as he pulled a tissue out of the box and rubbed the monitor clean. "Honestly, Joe," he said as he scrubbed, "surely you have some idea of how to arouse a woman. I trust that you've been aroused before."

"Yeah, but I don't think my wearing negligee is going to do anything for Mimi," Joe shot back, too annoyed and distressed to speak reasonably. Izzy made a choking sound, which thankfully hid the squeak that popped out of Joe.

"Alright," he said, forcing the word out through clenched teeth. "Alright. I see. Well, the most natural place to start is probably kissing- and I'm not teaching you how to kiss, I trust that Mimi has that covered." Izzy paused, then typed something else in the search bar. His dark eyes scanned the new page for a moment, and he stopped scrolling when he came to a graphic showing an outline of a female body, with certain areas color coded.

"This image depicts nerve endings in women. They are most sensitive in areas where the nerve endings cluster. You'll want to pay attention to the red areas, which appear to be marking sensitive spots." Joe took in the graphic eagerly, glad to see an innocuous image this time. According to the picture, the genitals and breasts were sensitive, as was to be expected, but so were the neck, the inner wrists, the underside of the knees, and a few other interesting places. "You'll have to experiment to find which areas are the most stimulating, as it would appear that different people favor different locations."

Joe scribbled down the url for the image. "How are you able to just pull this stuff up?" he asked. Izzy glanced over at him and shrugged.

"I had the same questions as you at one point," he mumbled. "I just researched them on my own."

"I guess that makes sense. But, was this research limited to Wikipedia articles?" Joe asked, somehow managing to keep the teasing undertone out of his voice.

Izzy scowled at him. "Do you want my assistance or not?" he snapped, and Joe raised his palms, holding them out towards his friend.

"Sorry, sorry!" he said hastily. I forgot that he's snappish at the moment. I guess I should be more careful. Izzy's frown slowly disappeared, and Joe breathed a sigh of relief.

"If you would care to peruse pornography in your… studies, I would caution you that they tend to be horrifically unrealistic, and that they often depict extremely male-oriented behaviors that a woman would find uncomfortable at best."

Izzy's voice was level and calm, but Joe still colored and went stiff. "You… You've watched porn," he said, somewhat incredulously. Izzy turned his dark eyes to him and lifted a brow. He tried to play it cool, but Joe saw the color creeping into his cheeks.

"Shortly after I hit puberty, yes, chiefly out of curiosity. I haven't tried it since then. I found it… unpalatable."

Part of Joe wasn't sure if he even wanted to ask, but some sign of interest must have shown on his face, because Izzy sighed and faced his monitors.

"My distaste was chiefly due to the discomfort caused by witnessing something so intimate. I also deeply took issue with the way women were portrayed and treated in most of the videos and images I encountered. Treating women- well, any person, really- in a way that would make them feel belittled and hurt…" His fingers began to drum against the surface of his desk. "Perhaps I overreacted. Perhaps there are people of both sexes who enjoy sex as it's depicted in pornography. If there are, then that's fine, and that's their business. But I personally found it… Well, I haven't tried it since then."

There was a bit of a pause, during which Joe admitted to feeling mixed confusion and admiration for his friend. But, on the other hand, he couldn't help but wonder why Izzy was telling him all of this.

Then, as if he had read his mind, Izzy turned to him and furrowed his brow. "I'm telling you this merely as a warning, because I wouldn't want you to emulate something you saw, not knowing that it… Well, I don't claim to be an expert, but…"

"I understand," Joe said, more to let Izzy off the hook than anything else. The poor guy looked incredibly uncomfortable, all of a sudden, and Joe couldn't help but wonder if there was some reason for Izzy's display of feelings against seeing and putting women in sexually compromising positions.

The answer hit him like a slap, and he edged backwards under its influence. Amy. Her story with her ex must have been sexual, somehow. Ahh, hell, and then I ask him to talk about sex…!

Joe leaned heavily on Izzy's desk and sighed. "Izzy. I'm sorry. You really don't want to talk about this topic at the moment, do you?"

Izzy's eyes widened for a moment. "What makes you say that?" he asked slowly, tilting his head to the side.

"I just… You keep…" Joe fidgeted and made a frustrated sound. "It seems like maybe Amy's story was somehow sexual, and that this is the last thing you want to discuss at the moment."

Izzy stared at him for along, strained moment. Then, finally, he pushed himself away from the desk, cleared his browser history, and shut down the system. "I-Izzy?" Joe stammered.

"Pace yourself," Izzy said quietly. "Go slow. You're unlikely to last long the first time, simply due to lack of experience. That isn't a failing on your part. Make sure to ask her what she likes; since she has experience, she's likely to know. Ask questions. It's going to be awkward, so don't go into a panic about that. It would seem that women generally enjoy being touched during intimacy. Simply blindly thrusting probably isn't going to please her. Most importantly, don't lose sight of the fact that you're trying to deepen your relationship, and that you trust and regard her. Occasional uninspiring sex isn't a problem if the two of you remember that."

Izzy's speech ended with more than a trace of bitterness, and Joe wasn't sure if the redhead was thinking about his time with Shauna, or about whatever Amy had told him. But he quickly moved his effort into memorizing what he had said, since it all seemed like sound, and surprisingly kind, advice.

"Where are you going?" Joe asked, his voice somewhat hollow and lost. Izzy was rapidly making his way towards the door.

"Amy's been asleep since I spoke to her. I…" He cleared his throat, toyed nervously with his keys, and sighed. "I suddenly feel compelled to see her."

Joe wanted to wish him luck and thank him for his help, but Izzy practically fled from the room, not bothering to lock the door behind him. Joe stared at the closed door for a long time, frozen under feelings of gratitude, worry, and traces of guilt.

Good luck, Izzy, he thought at last, rolling his chair towards his desk. I really hope the two of you can get through whatever is going on between you.

Author's Note: Haaaaaaahahahaha, oh man, Joe. Joe, Joe, Joe. I love you, you silly little bugger. I hope you'll forgive me for my blatant indulgence in that crazy scene.

Two things I really liked about the "sex talk" scene. One is that I love when Izzy is snarky. We mostly see it when he interacts with Joe, who he is most comfortable with, and therefore most likely to show his true feelings to. I also love how he just throws himself into the discussion, once he decides that he's going to do it. Of course, I do think he was taking a bit of a jab at Joe, since he was annoyed with him and he knew that he could make him uncomfortable. But I also think that Izzy is a natural born teacher, and that his passion for gaining knowledge is only slightly stronger than his passion for passing knowledge to others (hence his role as exposition man in Digimon Adventures 02). Of course he has material at the ready, no matter what the subject, lol! Love you, Izzy XD

As for the conversation with Matt… I really feel bad for him, having seen Amy like that. It's obviously had an impact on him. But my real reason for writing this scene is to explore something that I personally find fascinating, which is watching two people react to the same stimulus. Amy and Matt clearly have very different opinions about what happened to her, but I feel like I can understand where both of them are coming from.

Alright, so, this is the last chapter in the Jerry and Amy arc. The issue will definitely come up again, but we're dropping it for now, mostly for my sanity. It will take me a little bit to decide where to take the story next (although Mimi seems to be pulling it in a, ah, certain direction). I will probably update GUWY next, but nothing is certain yet.

Aiming for full fluff and happiness next chapter, whatever ends up happening in it.