Hey! We're back! Kind of. I like this chapter, I'm hyped for the next few chapters, we're rolling, we're going, we're keeping on moving.

That being said, I have kind of re-outlined the future of the fic and by the future of the fic, I mean the ending of the fic. I really thought about doing a time skip and I think that I'd rather do one-shots or shorter chaptered stories if I want to write Luca and Reese in high school and in the future. I don't want to be tied down by saying I'm going to write something when I'm not sure if I'm going to. I still intend to write like 40 chapters of Stardust Angel and THIS story here will be wrapped up at 50 chapters, and I'll do my best to make them all great.

I have lots of Big Hero 6 work that I want to or intend to write, but I'm going to close the book on this story for a while. It is not unlikely that I'll revisit these characters in little spin-offs, I just don't know for sure yet.

Zayne looked excited to be at the Tomago house for about one minute, and then Luca took Nova's hand and headed upstairs, not looking back, not asking Zayne if he was coming.

"What just happened," Zayne asked, looking shocked.

"Luca,exe has stopped working," Reese said, almost sympathetic, "It's just Nova now."

"Mph," Zayne grumbled, "I shouldn't have brought them along."

"Maybe. Maybe not. You want to play Horse?"

"I'm not really a basketball guy…" Zayne said, looking a little nervous.

"If you learn, you can play with Bonnie."

"Oh, yeah, okay, I'm in."

"Come on, Shane, I'll show you the ropes." Zayne frowned.

"It's Zayne."

"Is it? That sounds wrong."

"You're just trolling, right? You don't actually hate me? 'Cause it's really hard to tell with you." Zayne crossed his arms.

"Hard how?" Reese asked, grabbing them water bottles and heading out to the backyard basketball goal.

"Well, like, it's even hard to tell that you like your actual friends, you tease Addison and Sara and argue with Luca and Scout. You won't even call me by my real name and I've been to your house way more times than Nova and you know their name… It's just discouraging, Reese. See, I know your name. I don't call you like, Geese, or something."

"Well, now, I want to be called Geese," Reese said, before turning serious, "I don't hate you. I'll start using your real name if you want me to, Zayne."

"Really? You'd do that?" Zayne grinned.

"Yeah, of course, we're friends, right?"

"Are we? Feels like that hasn't ever been confirmed."

"Hmm," Reese said, standing back, "Yeah. We're friends if you want to be. Like you said, I'm not good at friendly affection. Or friend stuff, in general. This is the first time I've even ever had friends outside of Luca and my team so it's extra hard to make sure I'm doing the right thing. So uh, you're totally free to let me know if I'm hurting your feelings or anything."

"Oh, okay, wow. I'll keep that in mind. And uh, I know I'm not a good friend either. I didn't really have friends before Luca. And now I have Nova and Scout and you and Bonnie," Zayne fumbled and dropped the basketball, "Oh, gosh, Bonnie…"

Reese knew she was going to regret asking this immediately but Zayne was, technically, her friend. So she had to be friendly.

"Is everything going okay with you and Bonnie?"

"Oh, yeah, totally, she's amazing, except I just…"

Reese dropped down onto the ground and patted next to her, "Alright, what's going on? I'm not Luca, I won't give you some fluffy bullcrap from a broadway musical."

"I thought you liked musicals," Zayne said.

"I love musicals, but I can separate theatre from real life."

"Smart. So you're not going to tell me to talk less, smile more?"

Reese snorted, "I might tell you to talk less, the day is still young, now tell me about you and Bonnie."

"Oh, right. Me and Bonnie…"

"You're not breaking up with her, are you?" Reese frowned. She was pretty loyal to her team. Except for Charlotte, who had kind of quit the team anyway.

"No, I would never, I mean, I don't want to," Zayne started, sweating a little.

"But?" Reese prompted, feeling a little worried for her teammate.

"Bonnie deserves someone better than me."

"Talk less," Reese said.

Zayne didn't heed her advice, "Don't you agree? I'm a jerk. I'm a bad person, you don't even know all the bad stuff I've done."

"Well. You can tell me. What bad stuff have you done?"

"Like, a lot of vandalism. A concerning amount of vandalism."

"Do you still do it?"

"No? I come here and do art instead."

"So, you're a reformed vandal. I don't think Bonnie would mind."

"I used to be really homophobic and transphobic before I became friends with Nova," Zayne added, keeping his head low, "I shouldn't need to have queer friends to not be bigoted."

"Well, yeah. That's obviously bad. But you recognize that it's bad and you're trying to do better. Bonnie isn't going to disown you for that either."

"Reese, there's one more really bad thing," Zayne said, looking mortified, "And you're going to hate me for it."

Reese stood up, eying him suspiciously, "Zayne Diaz, what did you do?"

Zayne scrambled to his feet, "I'm sorry, it was before we were friends."

"What did you do?" Reese asked again, staring through him.

"I wrote you that lewd note on Valentine's day. I'm so sorry, it was inappropriate and demeaning and if you hate me now I understand."

Rage entered Reese's eyes for a moment and she had to turn away to calm down. When she turned back to him, she still looked angry, but not like she was going to snap his neck.

"Why'd you do that?" She had to work hard to keep her voice even.

"I had a crush on you! I thought that was pretty obvious! I don't feel the same way now, obviously, because I have a girlfriend who I love, but I used to have a crush on you."

"Oh." Reese felt kind of sick, "Gross."

"I can't apologize for the feelings I had but I'm sorry that it's me. I wouldn't want a trash fire like myself to have a crush on me, either."

"It's not that, idiot. Uh… Who's your favorite Ninja Turtle?"

"Raphael, why?"

"Right, well the only guys, like actual dudes, I've ever had a crush on are Han Solo and Donatello from the Ninja Turtles. The one voiced by Josh Brener."

"Oh. So um… Are you…" Zayne blushed.

"Just say it. You've already pissed me off once today you can't possibly make it worse."

"Are you a lesbian?"

"I don't know," Reese said, "I guess I'll know eventually. I think women are pretty but that doesn't make someone a lesbian does it? And the idea of a relationship with anyone makes me feel bad. I can't explain it."

"Oh. Okay. I think that it's okay not to know, I'm not sure."

"Yeah. Mom and dad have told me the same thing." Reese picked up the basketball, hugging it close.

"I'm really sorry about the note. It was just a bad, dumb, cruel decision."

"I'll forgive you, eventually. I think you owe me like a soda or something. And you owe it to Bonnie to be better about that kind of thing. I think you and Bonnie are good together but not if you're going to be all creepy and stuff."

"I'm doing better about it, I promise. And I'll get you that soda." Zayne offered her his hand and they shook on the promise.

"Alright. Well, it'll take some time, but I will forgive you some time. Probably before summer's over. Anyway, let's play Horse."

Upstairs, only vaguely aware of the awkward basketball game, Nova was recreating an intricate makeup look from YouTube on Luca's face while Luca mumbled lines, rehearsing for the play.

"You've got your part memorized forwards and backwards, you're a talented actor, now shush up so I don't mess up your look."

"Sorry," Luca mumbled.

"You're fine. I could never get too mad at you. You're my favorite model to work with."

Luca looked a little flustered.

"You're just as good of an artist as I am," Luca said absently, "You just do your art with makeup. I'm really lucky to know you."

Now it was Nova's turn to look flustered, their face turning red.

"Shh," Nova said, "Stay still." It was easier to say that than to answer the compliment. It was easier to say that than to answer the compliment. It was easier to hold Luca's face in their hands and stare into his eyes than to address how odd it was that someone's eyes could contain the entire universe. Nova forgot what they were doing for a second, forgot the lip pencil in their hand, studying Luca's face and searching for answers. And then, without thought or warning, they pressed a kiss to Luca's cheek.

Luca,exe has stopped working.