HOW'DYALL LIKE THAT HUH THEY FINALLY DID IT THEY FINALLY DID THE KISS- If I haven't mentioned it yet, I've been having a ton of fun writing this story, even if not many people are reading.

By the way, I finally bit the bullet and got into Epic Seven, so… there's that? Don't worry, I'm not gonna abandon SW anytime soon. I'll just be playing these games side-by-side. (As of right now, I'm farming DB10 in SW and the Eulogy for a Saint sidequest in E7 for the Unfading Memories artifact.)

Anyway, if you like my writings, don't be afraid to tell me in the comments down below, and if you think I can do something better, feel free to let me know too! I appreciate any little bit of advice or praise you may have!

Moment 6
Kissed a Guy for the First Time (in a While)

Baleygr finishes, "And then I kissed him."

Katarina's glad that she wasn't sipping her drink, or she would've choked on it by now. A solid day of trying to figure out what was going on with Baleygr has finally paid off; months of Baleygr lamenting about his lack of relationships and then a date with this really cute guy comes to a head.

"Yes! You finally did it! You finally kissed him! Hallelujah!" Katarina laughs, pumping her fists into the air, spinning around on her chair.

"Kat, dios mio, it's not that big of a deal," Baleygr groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. He pauses for a moment, before realizing, "…Actually, on second thought, he is a really good kisser. And he's cute. And nice."

Katarina just gives him the look.

"…Don't even say it."

"Hey, I didn't say anything!"

Baleygr groans and rolls his eyes. The scene is… pathetic, to say the least. Baleygr's lying on his bed, back pressed up against the mattress and hair spread out from under him. Katarina, meanwhile, is sitting at a chair at the side of his bed, idly spinning around in circles and sipping a from a juice box – a monster-brand juice box, of course; Katarina's no traitor to her kind.

His bedroom is an absolute mess; there's a couple shirts and a pair of jeans scattered here and there, but the mess mostly comes from the drawings and hair care items everywhere. In the few months he's lived there, Baleygr has managed to singlehandedly take up every inch of all four walls with his art, and now it's even spreading outside his room.

"But anyway, when's the next date gonna be?" Katarina asks, "With you and Taranys, I mean."

Baleygr falters at this, suddenly looking very interested in that one weird stain in the corner of the ceiling. It's a nice stain, really. It looks like someone defied physics and spilled coffee on it.

"…You don't have another date ready, do you." She says it as a statement rather than a question, but Baleygr gets the meaning behind it.

"Look, things are kinda weird between us," Baleygr groans as he sits up finally, letting his wavy hair run down his left shoulder.

Katarina narrows her eyes, "What do you mean weird?"

"Well, after that time I kissed him, everything just got all awkward. Like, I don't know, it felt so easy to chat with him before, and now that I've had his tongue in my mouth, I…" Baleygr pauses, "I feel like we're both avoiding each other, because we've got no idea how to continue our relationship."

"To be honest, I've been keeping myself busy in the Rift of Worlds, and I haven't been able to look Taranys in the eye since," He says.

"Why's this gotta be so different from the first date, eh?" Katarina asks, genuinely. "I mean, you said yourself that things were great before the first kiss. So why did lip-on-lip contact change everything?"

"That's what I've been asking, Kat!" Baleygr throws his hands up in the air, in exasperation. "Sure, we've already talked about the second date, but there's nothing decided yet. And besides, the second and third date is when things get a little more serious, ain't it?"

He runs his hands down his face, scrubbing it with the heel of his palms like he'd been crying. Not that he had, though; he's just so mentally exhausted.

"God, why do relationships have to be so difficult?" Baleygr laments, "I mean, I pretty much instantly knew with Tesarion. Why does Taranys have to be so difficult?"

"Love ain't easy, Baleygr," Katarina leans back, sipping on her juice box. Her helmet was haphazardly tossed off, leaving her mess of strawberry blonde hair to stick up in wild places like a newborn chick. "We're not 13 anymore. You can't just pass someone a note asking them to be your boyfriend and that's that."

"Well, then what do you suppose I do?"

"From what I recall, it takes about two or three months of casual dating before one part starts asking 'what are we?' But, you two have been friends for a couple months now, so I guess we can call that the trial period of dating."

"Kat!"

"You know it's true!" Katarina says, "I've heard of stories where people that've been close friends for decades go on the first date, propose, and have been happily married since. Dating is all just about getting to know your partner, anyway."

Baleygr makes a noncommittal noise that neither of them knows the meaning to.

A thoughtful look passes Katarina's face. "Can you see yourself introducing Taranys to your mom, whether as a friend or partner?"

"Seriously?" Baleygr groans, "You're bringing M'ma into this?"

"C'mon, answer the question."

He shakes his head, deciding he might as well answer, "Yes, at some point I can."

Katarina asks a couple more questions that Baleygr more or less answers with generic "yes" or "nope, sorry." If you asked him what those questions were he'd totally blank out on you. All he really knows is his answers and how Katarina's expression changes based on what he says.

Finally, her expression becomes unreadable, and she finishes up her juice box. "I can't say any one-size-fits-all advice here, dude. You're gonna have to talk to him yourself."

"Are you kidding me? You asked all that and your advice is 'talk to him?'"

"Hey, your situation is weird," Katarina shrugs, "I wish I was able to tell you what to do, but then it all just got… y'know."

Baleygr seems to practically deflate, lying back down on his bed. "…This sucks."

"Okay, and? Just talk to him about how you feel!" Katarina is getting frustrated now, "See, you can't expect him to read your mind and realize you want to get in a relationship with him. I hate it when people think their partners should just automatically 'know' the problem."

It seems like that little nugget is enough to spur Baleygr on, and he smiles a bit. "…Thanks, Kat."

"Hey, that's what friends are for."

Alright, that's it, 'nuff moping around. Get up. Actually go talk to that incredibly cute guy you like.

Baleygr stares at himself in the mirror and grips the sides of the sink, glaring at his reflection, as if willing himself to get fully dressed and go to Taranys's place. After Katarina left the room (and the apartment, actually), Baleygr stripped his sweatshirt off; his intentions were to get into some halfway nice clothes and take initiative, but here he is, staring at his shirtless body.

Scars and nicks line the skin around his chest. There's a particularly long one slashed across his pectoral muscles, trailing down to his abs. Damn, those scars are nasty. Baleygr got them all in sometime in battle, and he'd be lying if he said the mere sight of the raised flesh littering his body isn't enough to make himself want to puke.

He snaps out of his disgusting pity party as the door knocks, causing him to jolt and make a mad dash to find a shirt. "Uh- uhh, coming!"

The shirt isn't like Baleygr's regular, fancier shirts – it's more of an undershirt, really, but it's enough to cover up those scars. As he practically bounds his way over to the door and throws it open, he's surprised to see who it is.

"Oh, Taranys, hey," Baleygr lowers his eyebrows and leans against the doorframe, in an attempt to look as if that, yeah, he's totally cool and collected, and hadn't been thinking about him for days on end. "Just the guy I was gonna go look for."

"Hey!" Taranys has a warm smile on his face, waving gently at Baleygr. "I…uh, brought flowers."

Indeed, Taranys is clutching a bouquet of roses in both hands. Eleven specifically, Baleygr realized.

"I grew them myself a couple nights ago, actually. You know, Druid and all. I hope you like roses – I didn't know what kind of flower you liked, so…" He trails off, staring down at the soft petals.

Baleygr takes the flowers, inhaling to take in the scent. They're a muted pink, the color of salmon. All those flowers smell so nice; sweet and lovely. "Aw, Taranys, I love them. I always did like the idea of blue roses."

It feels like the awkwardness has all but melted away between them.

"I could try to grow some myself later, but they usually can't be found in nature at all!" Taranys blushes, fiddling around with the edge of his jacket.

His smile drops, though, and when Baleygr looks back up Taranys is chewing on the inside of his mouth.

"…Can we talk?" Taranys asks.

There it is.

Well, there's no way around this now. Besides, Baleygr wants to get it over with by now. No more limbo. Either they date, stay friends, or break apart altogether.

"Yeah, sure, come on in. Let's talk in my bedroom."

Taranys nods and steps through as Baleygr sweeps himself to the side. These roses are nice. Baleygr didn't want to be a basic boy, but yes, he loved roses. Always have, always will. Baleygr takes one of the Druid's hands and leads him through the apartment, pushing his bedroom door open with his foot.

"I would've cleaned up if I'd known that you were coming," Baleygr shrugs, setting the flowers down on a free spot somewhere on his desk. "So, you'll just have to deal with my mess. Sorry."

Taranys seems to be only half-listening, instead staring at one of the drawings on the wall. It's one of Baleygr's favorites that he made; a forest of pine trees split in two by a river twisting and bending around. He'd spent hours drawing the moving water alone, to give it a sense of motion. Baleygr had worn down one of his pencils from working on that piece.

"Did you make all these?" Taranys asks, reaching out to the drawing as if wanting to touch it, with just the tips of his fingers.

"Yeah. I like drawing, I guess."

He gushes, "Bay, you're great at this! I love the textures on the trees, here!"

The compliment is enough for Baleygr to start blushing again. "T-thanks…"

He suddenly seems to remember why Taranys is here in the first place, he sobers up real quick. "Taranys, is this about that date?"

Taranys seems to falter now, and it doesn't look like he can find it in him to look Baleygr in the eye. "…y-yeah, actually."

Oh, there's the pit in Baleygr's stomach now, forming and crusting over like a clam and it's pearl. Taranys opens his mouth, ready to start talking, but Baleygr starts up first.

"Wait, wait, wait, I want to talk."

He purses his lips tight, but nevertheless nods.

"Look, Taranys, I don't want to ruin any possible good thing we may have forming here by not being on the same page, but…" Here goes nothing. "I like you, Taranys. Like, a lot."

He's saying Taranys's name a lot more than he'd like to, but now he can't stop talking even if he wants to.

"I can't stop thinking about you at the most random times of the day. Like – like – like I'd be working on a drink for someone, then I'd remember that time you came over to the bar, and then I can't get you out of my head." Baleygr says, shaking his head, "And ever since we kissed, I've been feeling so happy and so nervous at the same time. I admit, yes, I've been avoiding you, because, to be honest? I have no idea what to do to move forward."

Should he be rambling on? Probably not. Can he even stop himself? Also probably not.

"I – I just – look. Taranys. As of right now, I don't know about what you want for your relationship, but what I know is that I'd like to date you. Like, really like to. And at the same time, I don't want to scare you off and ruin our perfectly good friendship, either. Because I like spending time with you, y'know?"

It's all just coming out with one big word vomit now; Baleygr isn't even trying to filter himself anymore. He takes a break now to catch his breath.

Baleygr looks up when he hears Taranys's voice.

"…You really feel the same way?"

Taranys's face is slightly red around the cheeks, and his eyes are trained on the Lightning Emperor like he couldn't believe what he was hearing or seeing.

"Huh?" For once, Baleygr's the one left without an idea of what to say.

Taranys swallows, and he starts talking now.

"I'd love to be with you, Bay. But, this whole time, I was so worried. Worried that you didn't have the same… sexuality, you weren't even into me, you were just going on that date as friends and you were just being nice, or –"

Taranys abruptly shuts up now, staring down at his feet.

"…Oh, I've already said too much, haven't I?"

Baleygr wishes he knew what to say, but an awkward silence passes through the air; thick and practically choking him.

"…So, I guess we've had our 'what are we' conversation, huh?" Baleygr chuckles dryly, without humor.

"Yeah…"

Baleygr stares at the bouquet Taranys had made for him. The salmon color truly is beautiful, and brings a smile to his face.

Taranys breaks the silence again, "Does- uh, does this mean we're dating now?"

Baleygr always thought the next time he got into a relationship, he'd just know – he and the other boy would kiss until they're breathless, and without saying a single word they'd start dating, get married eventually, you name it. But honestly, he wouldn't change this for the world.

"Well, we might as well seal it with a kiss." Baleygr smiles, only half-expecting Taranys to take the bait.

But then there they are, kissing until they're breathless. And Baleygr wouldn't have it any other way.