Friends

"Normal speech"

'Thoughts'

"Speech over phone or terminal"

Setsuna

Setsuna opened the door to his and Saji's apartment, a smile on his face. He had just come back from his and Feldt's second date and hadn't felt this good is a long while. It had only been a week since their first date, but he felt like a happier man. Being able to hang out and be with her in person was something that he hadn't expected to be something he looked forward to, but he could still feel the happiness that came from their last kiss on the date. It was only on the lips, but just to be able to kiss her was a rush. 'I can't believe I never asked where she lived before.' His friends would be teasing him if they saw him blushing and smiling like this. 'Oh, shit! Tonight's gaming night!'

He rushed to his computer, knowing his friends were waiting for him. The group called themselves the Meisters, which he still had no idea where it came from and just ran with it, being the newest person to the group. They regularly played games together, usually co-op and online shooters maybe once or twice a week. He used to play and talk with them more, but after he met Feldt, that had dropped off a little. The group had met through a gaming forum and inevitably began to talk over a voice chat together after a month or two on the forum. The group was made up of two Irish twins, one named Neil and the other Lyle, Neil's boyfriend turned Fiancé, Tieria, and Allelujah. Setsuna was the youngest of the group, the others having a few years on him at least.

Booting up the chat, he plugged his headphones in and joined the group call. In an apologetic tone, he spoke to the group, "Sorry about being late guys. I got caught up in something."

Lyle spoke in a slightly annoyed tone, "What was it this time? Another session of being too caught up in building a model?"

Setsuna began to reply, "Actually it wa-"

"You know you get on him about that, but you aren't exactly the most punctual yourself. What did that last boss of yours say?" Neil's tone was teasing as he interrupted Setsuna to speak to his brother.

Lyle snapped back, "Listen, he was a-"

"Guys, I was coming back from a date." The chat went silent as the raven-haired man knew this must be a shock to them. Lyle had regularly teased him that he would never get a date if he acted so cold. Neil had said he would find a girl someday, but he made it sound like it was far away. 'I guess it was closer than he thought.'

Lyle spoke up first, his tone full of doubt, "Really, a date? You don't need to come up with an excuse. I'm going to need proof!"

Neil added in his own two-cents, "Is it that Nena girl? I know she was bothering you for a long while."

Setsuna rolled his eyes, replying to Neil, "No, it's not her. I blocked Nena a long time ago." He then sent a picture of Feldt kissing his cheek, from only thirty minutes ago, to the chat. It had been a surprise when she did and there was a bright blush on his face because of that. He had only been expecting her to hold onto his arm, not kiss him on the cheek. Lyle's voice was raised, "Oh that's just great! Mr. Ice Prince gets a date! And yet I can't get a girl after like five years of trying!" Setsuna just quietly laughed. Lyle calling him an ice prince stretched back when they first met, when Setsuna was less open. He became more sociable in college, but the name stuck.

Allelujah spoke up for the first time since he jumped in the call, "Congrats! You got a hot one. How did you meet her?"

Setsuna smiled, "Remember that person I play the mech game with?" The group all responded in the affirmative. Only Tieria was interested in playing it, but he was usually busy, so Setsuna only had Feldt to play it with most of the time. But he had told them about her, though not mentioning that she was a girl. He continued, "Well it turns out she lived in Laplace City and we met up and well… we clicked and now she's my girlfriend."

Setsuna could hear the mirth in Neil's voice, "Well I did say you would find a girl. Though I admit I didn't expect that level of coincidence."

Lyle's voice was slightly desperate, "Does she have a friend? Care to hook a guy up?" Setsuna rolled his eyes at that. He had met Christina, Feldt's roommate and even if she didn't already have boyfriend, she wouldn't have been interested in him.

Setsuna spoke evenly, "No."

Allelujah added to that, "Lyle, acting desperate isn't going to get you a girl. Also do you really want a long-term relationship anyway? Didn't you say the last one you tried didn't work out?"

Lyle was caught by surprise, "Well I…maybe this one…? Fuck you guys!" Setsuna saw Lyle mute himself and Setsuna began to laugh, the others joining in.

Neil spoke while laughing, "Man, he really isn't ready to take the heat sometimes." The laughter died down and Neil continued, "Congrats dude. She's a cute one. You got lucky!"

Setsuna blushed, "She would say she's the lucky one, but you are right. I guess we both got lucky."

Neil then asked, "What's her name?"

Setsuna smiled dreamily at her name, "Her name is Feldt Grace."

Allelujah replied happily, "That's a good name. It looks like it fits her. And you got hit by serendipity dude. What are the odds that she lived in the same city?" His voice became teasing, "I'm wondering if Lyle is going to call her your ball-and-chain."

Setsuna heard Tieria's voice in the background of Neil's mic, "If I get called a ball-and-chain one more time, I'm going to strangle him."

Lyle's voice chimed in as he unmuted, sounding calmer, "You are marrying my brother, so of course you are a ball-and-chain. Now before I go insane, can we start? Let's talk about Feldt while we are playing."

Feldt

Feldt rushed to her apartment, breathing heavily. The service had been slow and the dinner had taken longer than they expected. Most Sunday nights she, Christina, Christina's boyfriend Lichty and their friend Lasse played D&D. That had been going on since her junior year in college and she was rarely late, seeing that most Sundays she was usually in the apartment. But for the first time in a long time, she had actually been out of her apartment Sunday night.

She was happy and the blush after their last kiss took a bit to subside. The memory and feeling rushed back as the elevator door opened and she began to run again, reaching the door and inserting the key in the door. She pushed the door open, trying to catch her breath. Without looking, she called out, "Sorry…guys…it went…a little late!" She noticed that Chris, Lichty and Lasse were all sitting around their circular dinner table, character sheets and dice already out.

The first person to react to her was Lichty, a skinny brown-haired boy in a t-shirt and sweatpants. His tone was a little annoyed, "Not that I'm complaining about you getting out of here, but why were you so late?"

She stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind her and without thinking, she responded, "Well my date ran long because the service was…" She trailed off, realizing what she just said. It's not that she didn't want to say, she just would have loved her mouth to not jump ahead of mind.

Lasse, a man in a tank top with short black hair, spoke incredulously, "Did you say date? When did you get a boyfriend?"

Feldt looked at Christina, looking for support, but Christina just smiled at her, silently telling her she was on her own. Feldt let out a groan and both Lichty and Lasse smirked at her, knowing she was hiding something from them. Feldt began to blush as she explained rapidly, "So the guy I hung out with online and played games with turned out to live in the city and also is hot and he likes me like I like him and…" She began to ramble and the brown-haired girl came over, putting her hands on her shoulders. Feldt's face felt like it was on fire, her cheeks matching her hair.

In a worried voice, Christina spoke to her, "Relax Feldt. Just take a breath and continue."

Smiling appreciatively at Christina, Feldt took a few seconds to catch her breath, the two men waiting patiently. She took a breath then continued at a more even pace, "After I found out we both lived in the same city, we met at Eric's and hung out for a few hours. I didn't know if it was a date, but after I asked and he said yes, we kissed and he asked me out tonight. So yeah, that's why I'm late." She looked down at the ground, trying and failing to hide her blush.

Lichty looked incredulously at his girlfriend, "Chris, you have known this for a week and you didn't tell me!"

Christina looked at him sheepishly, "It wasn't my secret to tell and I wanted to tell you, but Feldt made me promise to keep it secret." She walked over and kissed him on the cheek, her voice teasing, "You wouldn't want me telling your secrets, would you?"

Lichty rubbed the back of his head, "I guess not." He pulled the brown-haired girl in for a quick kiss, both of them smiling, before she pulled him in for another one.

Lasse rolled his eyes at the two of them continuing to kiss. He was the oldest of the group and had always reacted that way when he saw the couples PDA. Turning his attention to Feldt, he smiled at her curiously, "Who's the lucky guy? Do I need to give him a warning?"

The pink-haired woman shook her head at that, "No need to warn him. He's really nice and it's not like he's a stranger. His name is Soran, though he prefers to be called Setsuna." She brought out her phone to show him the picture of her kissing his cheek.

Lasse looked at the picture curiously, before he called out, "Hey, I know that guy!"

Lichty, breaking from a kiss, which Christina frowned at, looked at the black-haired man, slighty out of breath, "Where have you seen him?" Feldt looked at him equally curious, wanting to know the same.

Lasse responded to him, "I've seen him at Crossroad Convenience. I think he's the assistant manager?"

Feldt asked curiously, "What was he like?"

Lasse shrugged his shoulders, "He was kind of…cold? Stoic? Not bad, just not the most emotional person. The other workers seemed to like him at least."

Feldt smiled as her cheeks continued to burn. 'So…he's more open with me? Not as cold?' The fact that Setsuna was so open and relatively vulnerable with her filled her with warmth and happiness. Chris and Lichty had broken apart by this point and were looking at how happy Feldt looked.

Lichty gave her a warm smile, "This guy really looks like he makes you happy." Feldt nodded, not responded with her words.

Christina gave her a mischievous smile, "You should have seen her after the-"

Feldt rushed over, putting a hand over her mouth, her voice squeaking, "Why don't we just start?! I'll go get my stuff!" She rushed off into her room after letting go of Christina, hearing her friends laughing at her reaction. Maybe in time she would be ok with the teasing and get less embarrassed, but right now, she just wanted her best friend to not tell embarrassing stories about her reaction to Setsuna and their date.

Author Note

Friend groups are fun to write! I hope you love them and writing Christina and Lichty together is fun as well! They deserved better.

More ages-

Lasse: 33

Lichty: 24

See you guys next week and please like, review, comment, etc.!