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Will paused for a few moments, as though making sure she hadn't missed something. "You've got a crush... on... me?"

Irma's smile didn't waver. "Yup, you got it."

"Okay, just so I'm clear on this, we're talking about a girl with a crush on another girl?"

"Sounds pretty strange, I know..."

She made a dismissive gesture. "Nah, believe me, it makes perfect sense."

"Well, I'll try to..." Irma did a double take. "Wait, it makes sense?"

"Sure. I mean, it makes sense if you think about it." Will started walking in circles around her friend. "First of all, you never miss a chance to hug one of us, or blow a kiss, or something like that. Nobody does that anywhere near as much as you do."

Irma knew that in any other situation she could whip out a witty retort, but something about how Will had turned their roles in the conversation around so quickly seemed to derail her. So all she managed was "I do?"

"You sure do. And then there's how you came about this close to groping Cornelia that day you told us about signing up for the Extreme Games, right?"

Irma blushed. "But... that wasn't what I was trying to do! Honest! I was just excited about it!"

Will gave her best imitation of Irma's disarming smile. "Hey, it's okay! I'm just saying. Anyway, there's also the time you got Hay Lin to be your 'date' for the school dance... y'know, the day that whole "trance marcher" thing went down?" She leaned closer, stealing another of Irma's trademarks - the mischievous smirk. "Were you testing the waters with her?"

"That was just because neither of us could find anyone else!"

"Oh, right, of course." Will never thought she was all that good at looking sly, but the moment clearly demanded it, so she gave it her best shot. "...and when we transform, well, it doesn't leave much to the imagination, does it?"

Silence reigned over the next few seconds, while Will waited for a reaction. The one she got, though - Irma nearly falling over in a laughing fit - definitely wasn't the one she expected. "Okay, better tell me what joke I missed there."

Irma took a moment to sit back down on the bed and regain composure. "I'm sorry... Heh heh... That look on your face was priceless! I wish I had a camera!" Will facepalmed, and Irma put a finger under her chin to make their eyes meet again. "Now then, I forgot... who was doing the explaining here?"

"Well, at first glance it looks like I am." Will sat again too and rested her chin in her hands. "But if you want to give it a try, go ahead and explain away."

"Good." Irma stood from the bed and started pacing the room. "Let's go from the beginning. I'd say it all started about last month. Hay Lin and I were talking, and she started going on about comics. You know how she gets when she talks about something she likes."

Will nodded. "She could be a teacher."

"Exactly. So anyway, she goes on for a bit, and then she says something I hadn't thought of before. Y'know what the hardest thing for comic super heroes is, besides saving the world and all that? Dating! Can you imagine?" She struck a dramatic pose and did her best impression of a super hero's deep voice. "Sorry Samantha, but I have to cancel dinner tonight. Why? Well, um, laundry. I have to take a suit of mine to the dry cleaners."

Will looked ponderous for a second. "I get it... You'd be copping out of things and ditching plans left and right because there'd always be new crimes to fight and all that."

"You hit the nail on the head." Irma gave a thumbs-up. "So, what's the solution to that problem? If you're a super hero, you try to get together with someone who understands what you are and what you do."

"Someone like Caleb?" Will leaned forward. "He understands."

"...and is so obviously infatuated with Cornelia..."

"Oh yeah. Okay, so reason number one is that we have the magical hero thing."

Another nod. "Mm-hmm."

Will paused a moment to process the idea. Odd as the overall concept seemed, she had to admit the way Irma explained their Guardian duties as a reason made as much sense as anything could. "So then, why a girl?"

Irma smirked. "There are parts to it. Take this for example." She ran one finger down Will's side, from about navel level to below the hip. Will squirmed slightly in response. "You see this line? The shape of this area of the body?" She repeated the motion on herself. "There's something about the shape of this line that just looks... attractive. The way it curves out a little near the hip, y'see? Boys just aren't built like that." She placed her hands on her hips. "There's also the way a girl walks. If you stand in the hall and look at the girls and the boys walking around, the girls always look more graceful. Boys walk like they're just doing it because it's the only way to get where they're going." She paced from one side of the room to the other, playing up the plodding steps and letting her arms hang loose.

Will smiled. "You look more like a monster from some horror book."

"So do some boys. Anyway, when you see a girl walk..." She crossed the room again, this time deliberately being smooth and relaxed. "... it's always more fluid, more energetic and yet simple. Like art in sneakers."

Will did an eyeroll. "Uh-huh."

"Glad you agree." Irma twirled some of her brown hair around one finger. "Girls also have this thing about bathing regularly, and I kinda dig that too."

Will giggled in response. "Okay, I guess all that makes sense too. But why..."

"Already one step ahead of you." Irma held up one finger. "Y'know why I've got a crush on you and not, oh, Corny?"

"I couldn't drop a really big rock on your head if I got peeved at you?"

It was Irma's turn to look ponderous. "Okay, y'know why else?"

"Because I know History better than you and I'll help you with the homework?"

"Y'know why else?"

"Because... Mmph!" A hand over her mouth cut Will short again.

"Didn't we have this talk?" Irma smiled as she removed her hand. "If you keep that up we'll be here all night. Of course, I wouldn't complain about that..."

"Okay, okay... why?"

"Because you're like a balancing point for us." She raised one hand and ticked her fingers down one at a time. "Corny's a hothead sometimes, plus she's already after Caleb. Taranee's cute too, but she's so shy that even if she did feel like I do, I'd be lucky to ever get the truth of it out of her. Hay Lin's just a bit too hyper, and a little too chatty. Plus, there are those sneezes..."

Will remembered those all too well. "Let's hope she never winds up with allergies or a cold."

"Exactly." Irma pointed back at Will again. "You, though, you're level all around. That's probably why you've got the Heart out of all of us - you're so stable and balanced. Then there's the fact that you're my teammate, and that naturally means I've learned to trust you more heavily than pretty much anyone else in my life. In fact, we regularly trust each other with our lives, don't we?" She leaned a little closer. "Plus, you're so very pretty..."

That last part threw Will a bit, as her face demonstrated by looking as blank as a movie screen.

"I guess it's time for more explaining." Before a now-blushing Will could respond, she knelt down on the bed and continued "First there's your hair - long hair like Corny's might look elegant, but short hair looks cute. Plus, it's not a common color, like hers or mine; it's red, the color of love." She leaned closer then, until their noses were almost touching. "Then there're your eyes. I never really noticed before, that they're naturally that pretty red-brown. I always thought it was an effect of your hair color." The last words were almost a sigh. "It's enchanting."

Will's mind spent the next two seconds or so in a semi-nervous overdrive. The strangeness of the situation was clear, but it was opposed by the feelings brought up by everything Irma had been saying. She certainly did share a very deep bond with her best friends and fellow Guardians, but she wasn't entirely sure she thought of any of them quite that way. Still, there was something in Irma's eyes, in the look she wore; a smile, but not the sly kind or the mischievous kind that was almost always there. This one was genuinely happy. Caring. And, she realized a second later, more than a little unsure. She obviously wasn't certain just what Will was thinking, but a statement was clearly there; 'it's your move'.

A smile curved the corner of Will's mouth. It was okay - the moment was right. Everything else could be sorted out later. She slowly leaned closer, and was rewarded by a new show of joy in Irma's expression. 'Close your eyes', she told herself silently. 'That's how it's done.'

It wasn't fireworks, like some of the magazines would have said, but it was still a very nice feeling. It was affection, nothing more or less, soft and easy. It took Will a moment to realize that her hands had moved to her friend's shoulders, and that Irma had responded by leaning backward a little, placing a hand of her own behind Will's shoulder-blade and supporting herself with the other.

The moment was nothing short of perfect, which must have been why Irma's mom chose that time to arrive and end it, as announced by Will's mom knocking on the door and causing both their hearts to skip.

"So, meet tomorrow and sort things out?"

"It's a date."

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