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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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Omake 3: Trip in Love (2)

Beta-Reader: Ant0nius

Thankfully, something will come up to her just in time.

Hope's ordeal at the beginning of her first year had been mostly forgotten about by the time she realized through Miles how she would have to depend on the human to finally make the progress she had long waited for in her relationship with Shin.

The first 'interaction' might have been quite troublesome due to how it diverted the White Tiger Prime's attention away from the odds of her being more romantically interested in him than others, but this wasn't the worst predicament. In fact, it opened a large door to gaining Frankie's immediate interest on the matter and coerced him into accepting her plans. Yes, as much as it pained the girl to say, there was a purpose behind the kiss, which had to be remembered and given weight for the sake of her success.

Nothing wrong in holding an extra incentive on the human due to his usefulness, but perhaps… she should have been more careful with the setting of their reunion. It would have prevented a few issues that wouldn't work her way. Or at least, in the way she wanted them to go. It was still wrong… and yet good.

It all started when she took the chance in dragging him around the hallways of the school with the excuse they were heading to their next lecture. It was just her, him and her plans. And her sudden bout of clumsiness matched the same intensity shown by the young man back when they first met. Maybe she could be honest to herself about the trouble starting the moment she thought that grasping his hand and pulling him around might have been the source of problems due to how difficult it was running around with a confused individual being dragged along. To be fair, she blamed her precision and… sudden interest in holding his hand. For curiosity's sake, to test how the warmth in a human's hand felt without fur on it. It was smooth, but warm and awfully soft and-

It only took one moment, for her to realize she had already made a mistake. Hope yelped as she realized a second too late that turning the corner tightly meant turning too fast and pushing her weight (and Frankie's) on the side. She felt her face suddenly leaning and falling fast towards the ground, enough to warrant a sudden rush from Frankie as he swiftly moved to keep her from completing that fall, just like last time. An arm wrapped around her neck, and another around her waist, yet she still felt a degree of pain despite the fact her fall was stopped. The suffering came from her left leg, just below her knee, and she realized she might have placed too much pressure there and hurt herself during the fall. Nothing truly damaging in the long run, but she still took a moment to gauge the situation… and noticed that Frankie had abs.

While she wasn't there to personally test it with her palms, she still felt the chiseled part of his stomach through the fact she was pressing on the brief touch of his belly with her right her side. The thought was sudden and unrelated to the matter, and left her blushing a scarlet hue when she was ultimately lifted up and given the chance to lean on a nearby wall. The leg still hurt, something that the human gained knowledge of from the little strain on her face tied to this.

"Are you hurt? Where?"

He didn't even let her reply to the first question. Part of her was annoyed by the buzzing, but she didn't mind the attention. Actually, deep down, she found it caring considering how he could have just 'mistakenly' touched her in awkward places. Hope allowed this much attention… just for this once, of course.

"L-Leg," She muttered while carefully curving her left leg so she could pat the area that was actually paining her. A minor mistake since the brief touch flared the pain momentarily and had her wincing again. He carefully looked over there, parting part of the fur to reveal that the spot was actually reddening and bruising.

"I think we'll have to skip the lecture to have that checked out," Frankie pointed out with a serious tone. "Of course, you can tell me why did you take me so far from where we were supposed to be going right now."

Tensing up at that second part, the Gazelle Prime knew she had messed up. The human had realized she was planning something different than just taking the lead and bringing them both to the next class.

"I… I wanted to ask for your help. About something."

He blinked, frowning in confusion. "Explain."

The young woman sighed. "Miles told me that you're close with Shin. A lot closer, friendly-wise."

The human nodded slowly. "Yes… and?"

"And I need help in trying to get him to notice me."

…

"You like Shin?" He asked flatly and she huffed.

"Yes!"

…

"Oh."

'Oh?' What was supposed to mean?

At first Hope thought the human was just shocked by this revelation, in a semi-disappointed way- which was technically expected due to Shin's age… but then she realized that his curt response was tied to a strange 'deflation' within his posture. It made her particularly… sad, and partly guilty. Of something. Something that also made her feel stupid for some other reason.

"Miles said that you… could help me."

His posture regained energy, just to give a disbelieving look. "Miles told you this?"

"Yeah… wait, was he lying or-"

"No, it's..." He paused, taking a moment to sigh and think about it. "It's complicated. I suppose you may need help on that."

Hope sucked up some air and pondered. It's been a few years now of her chances having flunked while acting on her own… Yes, she really needed help. Desperately so if she had to be honest about the entire mess she was waddling through.

"Yes. Which is why I need you to help me with this and in exchange I can help you… find yourself a girlfriend."

"What if I just… helped you without asking for anything in return?"

That would be ideal, but also dishonest due to the fact it would feel so… 'easy'. So 'cheap'. And she didn't want to bring that adjective anywhere close to her conquest for Shin's heart.

"Nope. You're getting yourself some love, buster," Hope remarked, putting some of herself into the matter as it was clear she couldn't just leave the guy to his own devices when he just appeared so clueless about love itself. It was like trying to help a puppy. A puppy with abs and… smooth and lovely lips. And now it was awkward twice over as she needed that picture to be.

"So, prepare yourself because I will not stop until you too shall feel the love to- nh."

A sharp pain erupted from her left leg, just as she unconsciously moved it back to the ground and put some pressure on the bruising part. Once more urging the human to adopt a caring and particularly frustrating approach with her.

"How about we talk about the details once I got you to the school's hospital ward?"

A nod, she almost allowed him to pull her closer, but stopped when the girl realized he wasn't just going for the old 'arms over shoulders' way to help people talk. He was trying to pull her in a bridal grab.

"H-Hold up, that's embarrassing."

"I prefer 'quicker'," Frankie bluntly replied.

"It's… you can't be serious- You know better than me that it will start some rumors. And those will hurt your chances of finding a girl interested in you."

He just shrugged and… waited for her to submit to the move.

'He is serious. Oh Gods, he is serious!'

Despite her awkward reaction to this, she knew that with an injury of that kind, it was accurate to rush and get some medical attention as quickly as possible.

….

A few moments later, a huffing Hope unconsciously snuggled her head close to the human chest as Frankie swiftly took her to their next destination, clearly enjoying the fresh scent on his clothes and body but also his warmth which made the entire ride particularly… interesting.

If only she had known that the real conquest of her heart and his started through the clumsiness born through real love…

AN

Love sure knows how to make people clumsy and easy to trip on.

Really? *Advances* Want to test that?

Shi- *trips while running* Wait, w-we can talk about it!

Cuddle time~!