"In conclusion, Rome was an empire built on the backs of slaves and the many, many people that they conquered. Many cultures and ethnicities were exterminated under Rome, yet you only hear about the few great people that helped shape western society today."

"It really is a great thing that we learned from that experience and never repeated that mistake in any of our major societies today." Daria deadpanned. Mack, Jodie, and a student she thought was native american instantly covered their mouths to hold in their laughs. Unfortunately the person she wanted most to silence themselves did no such thing.

"Yea man, we've really come a long way in ten thousand years or whatever."

"You're so smart Kevi!" Brittany said

Daria, Lapis, and Mr. Demartino shook their heads. Lapis had no idea how his family survived that long, as apparently from what Daria said his father wasn't much further up on the IQ scale. Some creatures really are just lucky to be born at the right place at the right time to continue their bloodline.

"Thank you DARIA and LAPIS hopefully some of your ASSOCIATES can form presentations that aren't COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE!" Everyone shirked a little bit at his final words, but they were kind to the people standing immediately in from of him at least. "You two get an A! At least there was one presentation I didn't have to SUFFER through."

Lapis smiled at Daria and she did her trademark little smirk. Without thinking he wrapped her in a bear hug and picked her up while rocking back and forth for a second. When his brain reconnected he realized he never asked if she liked being touched. He froze and in that second felt a pat on his head. "down boy."

He put her down and looked at her face, it was fairly neutral and unreadable as usual. Half the class had their mouths covered or their jaws were going to hit the floor. His ear twitched when he heard Jane whisper rather loudly to Jodie.

"She's going to kiiiiilll hiiiiim."

He turned his gaze back to Daria and began to stutter over an apology before she cut him off.

"It's okay, lets sit down so the next group can set up."

She then walked away and plopped herself down in her seat. When she heard that the entire room was still silent and Lapis was still staring at her like a deer in the headlights she turned the sarcasm on. "You have to put one leg in front of the other to start walking."

Finally he began walking back to his seat and everyone began whispering nonsensical things and staring at Daria or Lapis until Mr. Demartino brought the class back in order and called for the next pair to come up.

Luckily Jane was called so Daria didn't have to answer any questions or hear any of her jokes. When she was sure eyes were off her she let out a deep breathe she had been holding since he picked her up. Her heart was nearly beating out of her chest. She really wasn't mad at him, when some people get happy they give hugs. She didn't really expect it to happen to her though. Ever since she was a kid people seemed to fear her just for being herself.

"Daria, why don't you smile more? People would think you're more friendly." Her mom always said.

What her mom didn't take into account was that she simply didn't have much reason to smile most of the time. Her own parents wouldn't even put in the effort to get to know her likes and dislikes. The kids around her just called her a brain and ignored her. All while her sister wouldn't even claim her in any public setting. Yea, all of that gave her so many reasons to be perky.

All said she didn't hate the physical contact like she thought she would, she should probably explain to him that she in fact liked it. She folded her arms and looked at her desk, treating it like it gave her vision into another world. Alright, she knew she had an physical attraction to him. She knew he was really smart and she liked that, but did she wasn't sure if she was ready for a relationship. She saw what Jane was put through with that jerk Tom, she was afraid of going through the same thing herself.

Sure this guy liked her now, but what about when the puppy dog phase is over and he was just stuck with the real Daria. The sarcastic, mundane, average looking, and frankly, bitchy brain. She doubted she could hold his interest.

"I can't believe you!" Daria said while walking into the pizza place with Jane. She was currently a slightly nervous wreck. What she needed was time to think, unfortunately for her….

"What? I just figured you'd want to see the guy who held you in his tender loving embrace after class."

Daria frowned and stared at Jane, but her beet red face killed any semblance of intimidation that she had. Jane laughed and waved her off.

"Come on lovebird let's get a table."

After they ordered a full pie expecting him to come any minute, they took a seat. They stared at each other awkwardly before Daria broke the eye contact and rubbed her arm.

"Jane?"

"Yes?"

"What if he goes out with me and realizes he doesn't like the real me?"

Jane let the air of silence hang for a second then stated the obvious that Daria clearly hadn't thought of since emotional intimacy wasn't her strong suit. "Daria?"

"Yes?" She said with a sad face.

"How long has he been in your classes?"

"He said he moved here like two months ago, why?"

"And have you acted any differently whatsoever in that time period before you realized he existed?"

"….No."

Jane raised her hands and smiled. "So he already knows what you're like! And what you look like."

"Oh god." She said in a deadpan fashion while putting her hands on herself trying to make herself tiny. Maybe she could disappear if she was tiny enough.

"Daria come on! He has no reason to expect you to act any differently if you got together. He likes you for you. Brains and all."

"I….kinda tried to hide it this weekend. For his benefit. I even flirted some."

Jane pursed her lips to contain her amusement at the humor this gave her, she felt lucky that her friend was too busy trying to curl herself into a ball to notice. "How does the great Ms. Morgendorffer flirt?"

"I told him I didn't hate his face, and that I liked his ideas on the assignment. I also didn't get mad at him when he pat me on the head by accident and just kept talking about roman architecture."

She had to be joking. She was trying to kill her in the form of comedy, her buried face said otherwise. Her sweet sweet romantically lost friend. "With hints like that how could he not realize how you feel?"

Daria let the sarcasm slide. She left herself open for that. She didn't quite understand why, but she knew flirting wasn't her strongest suit. As evidenced by her never even making it to a real first date.

"He can't really realize how I feel when I don't even know how I feel. I'm not sure if I'm ready for a relationship. He could lose interest in me."

For all her depth, Daria was incredibly transparent in her thought pattern sometimes. "You're talking about Tom aren't you?"

"You wouldn't leave your room for a week. After you cried all over my nice blazer the day you found out he cheated on you."

Jane let out a breathy short laugh. "Yeah. This guy doesn't seem like the type though. He's kind of hyperfocused. Not in the creepy way though."

"Hm." She said. She had an idea of what Jane was talking about but it wasn't really important. To her anyway. He sounded like he had the same issue that she had.

She saw Jane stare at the door and realized he must be here. For some reason at the very last second she started brushing down her frazzled hair with her hands. Like that mattered at this point.

"Heylo." he said with a wave before scratching his head. "Where should I sit?"

Once again Jane was able to read his real intent like a book, just as she had with Daria. He was asking where Daria wanted him to sit, and if she wanted him as far away as humanly possible because of the stunt he pulled in class earlier. She smirked to herself, with just a modicum of thought she could manipulate these two highly intelligent beings to her whim.

Well, manipulate them to do what they feel like doing but are too socially awkward to do, but same difference.

"Where do you want him to sit Daria? Do you want him to sit nice and close, or did you want to be able to look into his face that I don't-I mean you don't hate?"

If looks could kill then Jane would have spontaneously combusted. "Sit next to me."

Lapis gingerly sat next to Daria before he began another rambling apology. "I'm sorry I hugged you like that earlier. It's hard to explain but my mood is barely ever up. Aceing that with you put me over the edge since just being close to you puts me in a decent mood already. I should have asked if you liked being touched in the first place since I've never even seen someone shake your hand, let alone hug you in front of a large group of people."

She thought for a second. She could shut him down right now, but Jane did say he was hyperfocused on her. She put a lot of weight behind what Jane said, she seemed to have her best interests at heart when she was helping her with a guy, even if every other attempt ended terribly. Maybe she should at least put some thought behind it before she requested he just buzz off leaving them both in a terrible mood.

"It's fine, I didn't hate it."

"But don't do it again or I kill you." He said mocking her tone.

"I didn't say that."

"So I can hug you again?"

"Sure, preferably not while we're the center of attention standing in front of the entire class though." She said before taking a bite out of her pizza. Daria was fairly happy internally. She never believed her sister when she said such minuscule actions like this could be fun, but flirting was fun, or at least her heart couldn't tell the difference since it was racing despite her cool exterior.

Jane glanced between them and smirked while drinking her soda. She didn't know two autistic people flirting could be this cute. Well, she was assuming that's what he was. She was ninety nine percent sure about her friend but didn't care either way. Daria was Daria. It was just the cutest thing she had ever seen. Daria sitting there coming up with these minuscule awful ways to tease him that for some god forsaken reason worked, and him trying to decode if she was being flirty or not but not being able to tell since she's even harder to read socially for him than most people. If her name was Brittany she might have even awed at how cute they were.

Jane grabbed one more slice for the road and stood up. "I have to go help Trent with some posters for the next mystik spiral performance. He thinks drawing stick people will show the simplicity and beauty of his music to passers by."

"A modern day Da Vinci." Daria said. "Want me to walk you?"

"I'm good. Stay here and finish the pizza. Don't want to waste money."

When Jane walked away Daria looked back at Lapis and realized she had been tricked into a date of sorts. Leaving now when he was invited here by Jane would be rude at best. "Dammit."

"Something wrong with the pizza."

"Pizza, taste in friends. Same thing."

"What?"

"What?"

They stared at each other for without worrying about the time. Both feeling their hearts race and sometimes smirks creeping up, but quickly going away due to nervousness.

"Daria?"

"Yes?"

"I could be wrong but I think you're interested in me, and from the start I said I was interested in you. Would you like to go on a date?"

Daria put her pizza slice down. "I'm not saying no, but I would need some time to think. I'll call you tomorrow. You can have the other half of the pizza on me and Jane. As kind of an apology for ditching you."

"Pizza for postponing the answer to a date. That's an interesting way you think Daria." He said sarcastically, although his tone wasn't displeased.

"There is no problem that can't be cured with more pizza."

In truth, she didn't really need time to think. One of the major problems was she had thought about this too much. She was much more adjusted to solving all of her problems logically, but this wasn't a logical issue. She needed to know what made it worth taking the dive for some people. Emotionally. Jane was obviously biased so she was out. That only left two other females that she talked to on a regular basis. She didn't really have male friends and she wasn't sure if her dad would blow a gasket for some random reason. Such as a misunderstanding about a guy not wanting his little princess. She almost puked just referring to herself in that manner in her mind.

First attempt at communication. Quinn. She loathed it but she was obviously experienced in dating. Although thinking about it now she was probably cerebral about it, not emotional. Unfortunately before she could walk away her little hellion sister noticed her standing at her door.

"Why are you staring at me!? You better not be planning some revenge on me or something, I have a date tonight and don't have time to deal with your creepy pranks."

"Uh, okay." Daria said meekly before attempting to walk away.

Quinn knew her sister, that response was weird. ""What did you say? If you want something spit it out. I'm busy." She said while comparing which top would look better. It was winter but the temperature was decent, so she could go a few different ways.

"Um, how do you know if a guy is worth dating?"

"How cute is he and how much money does he have? Does he have a boat?"

"The levels of your shallowness never cease to amaze me."

Quinn thought for a second, now she remembered, and was slightly annoyed at the memory. "If you're asking because of that black guy he isn't worth your time. He's really cute but has bad taste in girls"

"Excuse me?" Daria said, a frown beginning to form. Quinn failed to notice that Daria was almost gritting her teeth, if she did she may have realized the danger and shut her mouth.

"Well, there were three girls in front of him. The cutest one was twirling her hair seductively and everything but he chose the plainest one then lied to her face about how attractive she was. He might have bad eyesight or one of those brain problems or something." Quinn turned to look at Daria and she was smiling. "What?"

Downstairs Helen was on the phone with Eric when she heard a thump. Followed by a lot of whining and slaps. "Eric I'll have to call you back." She said in an almost singsong voice. When she made it up the stairs she raised her voice while making her way towards the source. "What on EARTH is going on up here!?"

She expected whatever commotion there was to stop immediately as soon as she spoke, but her girls weren't listening. She stood in the doorway for a second analyzing the situation and things were going about as she expected. Daria's glasses were hanging slightly off her face, but Quinn had clearly gotten the worst of it, as her shirt was heavily sagging and she had red marks on her neck and cheeks, She was continuously banging Quinn's head on the ground as they rolled around with her hands almost around Quinn's neck. Helen was happy she made sure the house she bought had carpeting now.

Helen approached and put her hands on her waist, within three seconds she was noticed. They began rambling trying to explain who did what. She put up a timeout sign signaling that they needed to be silent. "Quinn?"

"I was just giving Daria dating advice and she went crazy! Now I might have to wear concealer later or cancel my date. Ugh!"

Helen looked at Daria and her face wasn't one of indignation, which meant Quinn's story at least had some basis in reality. She grabbed Daria's wrist and took her downstairs to the couch. She sighed and shook her head.

"Daria, you can't beat up your sister every time she says something you don't like."

"Wanna bet?" Daria said, still fuming.

Normally Helen would have just grounded her, but being this emotional seemed very unlike her daughter. "Daria, what happened?"

"It went pretty much like she said. I asked for dating advice and didn't like what she had to say."

Helen would get to the dating bit later. "What exactly did she say that made you react that way?"

"Well, she said she was cuter than me," This caused Helen to roll her eyes but she didn't speak yet. "and that Lapis had bad taste for choosing me when he had the option to choose her since I'm so plain. So I shouldn't waste my time on him."

"But why did it make you so angry to hear that?" She asked semi rhetorically since she somewhat guessed what was happening.

Daria's face went from angry to saddened. "I don't know how to put it into words. It just sent me into a rage hearing it. On some level I think she's right, I might not be good enough for him. No one else gives me a second glance but he thinks I'm the most beautiful girl I've seen in his life? Yea right.

"Daria, did I ever tell you how your father and I met?"

"Just bits and pieces. Something about smoking weed then engaging in peace and love in a tent."

Helen had to try extremely hard to not to laugh. Her daughter was quite crude when she was joking even on the best of days. "In we met in our "Truth against power" protest group on campus at Middleton. He was quite the handsome man back then so he immediately caught my eye."

"When I woke up today I wanted to think of my father in that way. Thanks mom."

Helen ignored her and continued. "I could tell he had also caught someone else's eye. Her name was Gretchen but at the time we knew her as Aurora. Half the guys on campus thought she was really outtasight because of her big ocean like blue eyes, her permanently straight blonde hair that somehow managed to still be bouncy, and she always knew just what to wear to get their attention but never make it seem like it was on purpose or too much. No matter what I did I always felt like I couldn't look quite as good as her."

"Hm." Daria said. Hoping she wasn't displaying her slight discomfort. Although her mother's slight smirk made it obvious that it wasn't working.

"We all became friends, and she continued to show her attraction to him. I always disliked her going after him because she would move on as soon as she got bored. Free love and all that."

"You sound just ecstatic about that."

"One day she told me she had gotten him to agree to come to her dorm under the pretense of listening to some records, and that there was no way she was going to let him squirm away that night. I didn't even go to class that day since it was all I could think about. I wrapped myself up in a handmade quilt and listened to some slightly depressing songs while it rained that night, along with some jazz. Sometimes even a hippie didn't want to hear some upbeat happy song while the world is crashing down around them."

Daria kept her mouth shut as her mother almost looked….nostalgic. Times really haven't changed that much.

"I was in the middle of a pretty good cry then I heard a loud banging on my door while your father screamed my name. It was the cutest thing."

Daria had a flashback to his numerous screams and flinched reflexively. "You find that cute?"

Helen smiled and gave her hand a pat to signify she'd get it later. "As soon as I slightly opened the door he came in and began rambling about how Aurora tried to jump on him, but the only thing he could see when he looked at her was me. The closer she got the higher his heart rate got and he felt like he had to tell me how he felt, despite the fact that a girl like me could have any guy I wanted. He never did get why I was crying when he looked at me that night, but I did let him know I felt the same. Thankfully I was the only girl that got to kiss him that night.

"Um, mom. Can I ask why you told me this story? Not that it wasn't romantic or anything."

Helen brushed her little girl's frazzled hair and smiled. "My point is you might not be the most outtasight girl to everybody, but you're the most outtasight girl to somebody, and that's all that matters.

Daria stared blankly at her mom for a few seconds and thought about what she was saying. When it caught up with her she raised her eyebrows in concern before running away. She felt like the room was spinning and her breath was short. He actually just finds her extremely attractive despite her glaring flaws. She wasn't invisible anymore. She actually had to think about her fear of intimacy at length for the first time in her life. No excuses could be made.

Helen watched as her daughter had a mini panic attack, then sipped her coffee with a smile as she ran up the stairs and slammed her door. She knew how to break things to her daughter gently, but she did deserve a little punishment for beating up her sister.

Once again I hope you all like this chapter. Thought about it for a while. I have some ideas for the next one but nothing has solidified yet. If you have any ideas let me know. I'd love to know how you felt about the chapter since I liked it a lot, but I'm not sure if that translates into quality work.