See, Livvyanne, I told you I wasn't going to forget about this completely.
Sorry for my absence. The previous chapter explains it.
This chapter does not contain Spoilers
I got this idea after reading another fanfiction from a different fandom about the main characters cheating, so don't come at me!
I will write one for Adrian as well, but not for Osby, because I honestly can't imagine Oscar doing something like this to Ruby, even if it's a mistake. Osby is too sacred to touch.
Takes place before Nova and Adrian are married but live in the same house/apartment/ whatever you want them to live in/can even be a yurt if you want.
Nova is over 21.
This chapter is not bad enough to be rated mature, but there are implications of mature themes. Please exercise caution when reading this one.
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Nova didn't always drink responsibly. One night, Adrian was gone, at some Renegades Convention. Nova wasn't invited. She thought it was rude. She was a good renegade, and her swordsmanship beat no one. How dare they invite Adrian but not Nova, who may actually be more powerful than Adrian?
Why, the thought made her blood boil!
She muttered angrily into her glass of jack and coke.
"Maybe it's time you stop," The bartender said, gently pushing a glass of water Nova's way. She smiled at Nova, encouraging her to drink the water instead.
"Don't teeeeeell me whaaat to d-do," Nova scoffed.
"Honey, your words are slurring," The bartender said. She tried to pry Nova's jack and coke out of her hands.
"Mine!" Nova screamed. The bartender was still concerned, but she left Nova alone and went to tend to other customers.
"Long night?" A man asked, sitting beside Nova.
"You don't knnnooow the halfff of it," Nova slurred.
"I'm sure I do," The man said, downing a shot.
"My girlfriend won't stop nagging me. Pick up some tampons, Jasper, I need chocolate. Go get some flour. It never stops."
Nova didn't really notice how none of those requests seemed hard or troublesome.
She wasn't in a right state of mind to realize that this man will soon be single not just because he cheated, but because he's a dick.
"I'm Jasper, by the way," He said, fingers grazing Nova's arm.
"Nova," Nova said. "Oh, Nova, trust me. I know you," Jasper said, touching her thighs. She didn't stop him.
Before Nova knew it, she ended up at her place, with Jasper tagging along.
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Nova didn't have clothes on. But that didn't make sense. She didn't sleep naked unless Adrian was with her. And she was pretty sure Adrian hadn't come back yet.
She calmly tried to remember last night's events despite her throbbing head.
She looked to the side,
"Ahhh!" Nova screamed.
There was a strange man in her bed.
And he wasn't even attractive.
The man woke up.
"Wha?" he asked.
No, Nova remembered. He was a ten. A God among mortals.
But this man... His eyebrows were a little too bushy. His teeth were crooked to an extreme, and she wasn't sure if the man knew what shampoo was.
"Oh, God, oh, God. Great skies, this will break Adrian's heart," Nova said, getting up. She quickly got dressed, and then threw Jasper's clothes at him, demanding that he leave her house and never talk to her again.
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Adrian came home that night.
Nova made dinner. She was never a great cook but living with Adrian and having weekly dinners with Simon and Hugh has made her better at the culinary arts.
She had thought about it all day, and she had decided to tell Adrian. She owed it to him. He had a right to know, even if he decided that he never wanted to see Nova again.
"Hi, Adrian," Nova said as he stepped in.
His smile reached his eyes.
"I missed you so much, my sweet Nova," Adrian said, giving her a hug and nuzzling his face in her neck.
Nova's heart shattered.
"I made dinner," Nova said. "Your favorite."
"Gnocchi?" Adrian asked. With Nova being Italian and Filipino, she had a cookbook from her father's side, as well as a cookbook from her mother's side, but Adrian seemed to love the recipes from her father's Italian side more, and once Nova got better at cooking, she loved to indulge him.
"That's right," Nova said.
Adrian ran straight to the dining room.
He sat eagerly at the table as Nova brought the pan over.
She and Adrian divvied up the food and he ate fast. Nova merely picked at her food, the guilt eating her up.
"Nova, what's wrong?" Adrian asked, finally slowing down.
"Adrian, do you love me?" She asked. "No matter what?"
"Nova... of course I do? Why would you even ask that?"
"Because I did something awful!" Nova cried.
'What is it?" Adrian asked. "Whatever it is, we can get through it..."
"I don't know if you'll be able to forgive me for this."
Adrian looked at his girlfriend's face. Nova rarely cried, so, no, she wasn't crying now, but Adrian still recognized the mixture of remorse, guilt, and disgust with herself on her face.
"Nova..."
"I slept with someone else," She said.
Adrian took a second to process her words.
His fork fell from his grip and clattered on his plate. Nova still didn't cry, but he could tell she was holding the tears in.
"You... You cheated on me, Nova? Is that what your saying?" Adrian asked, feeling tears prick at his eyes.
Nova slowly nodded.
"Why? How? Why would you... Why?" Adrian asked. "Am I not good enough, Nova? Do you not love me anymore? Is it something I did?"
"Adrian, no, no. It was all me. I made a stupid mistake. I regret it, but you are not at fault in any of this. And if you kick me out, and never want to see me again, well, I understand," Nova said.
"I need some air," Adrian said, walking out of the house and onto the back balcony. He leaned on the railing, looking down. He was furious. Him and Nova had been through so much, and now this?
He tried to stay calm. Not to scream and kick the wall and just let it out.
So he sat down and clenched his fists. He shook his head and promised to hurt the man who had seduced Nova.
He didn't know what to do, so he called Oscar.
Oscar picked up after the fifth ring.
'I was eating chips and I had to finish them fast or else Ruby would steal them all." He explained.
"Oscar," Adrian's voice cracked.
"Adrian? What's wrong? You sound really sad." Oscar said. Adrian still heard crunching, so he knew Oscar was still eating.
"Nova... She... Nova slept with someone. Someone that's not me." Adrian said.
The crunching stopped.
"Adrian, I'm gonna put you on speaker phone. I think Ruby needs to know, too."
Adrian heard the phone shift and Ruby saying "What? What happened?" to Oscar.
"Adrian, please repeat what you said."
Adrian saw Nova not so subtly looking at Adrian through the balcony window.
"Nova had intercourse with someone else," Adrian said, turning away.
"What?" Ruby snapped. "I will kill her. I am going to hurt her... Where is Danna! Phone Danna in!"
"Danna will only make him feel worse. I'm sure you're not helping, Rubes," Oscar said.
"Oscar, Adrian is a sweet little cinnamon roll and I'm not about to let Nova hurt him like that," Ruby argued.
Oscar was right. This is making Adrian feel worse.
Oscar sighed, taking Adrian off speaker.
"I'm sorry, Adrian. I thought Ruby would help but... Ah, never mind. How does Nova feel about it?" Oscar asked.
"She regrets it. I know that much," Adrian said.
"Well, at least she feels remorse! That's more than what Voldemort felt in his entire life."
"Great, so Nova's not a psychopath like wizard Hitler. Glad we got that out of the way," Adrian said, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"It's really crappy, what she did, Adrian. I can't believe she would do this. I thought she loved you." Oscar said. "How do you feel about it all?"
"I feel a lot of things, Oscar. Anger. Rage. I want to punch her and the guy who seduced her. I want to kick the wall. I want to scream at the top of my lungs. But I'm also so sad. I want to cry. I want to hide under the covers and just cry. But I also feel love. I still love her and I appreciate that she didn't try to hide it. I think that says a lot about her."
Adrian turned around and saw Nova sitting on the couch, her face in her hands.
"And she looks like she feels bad about it. And she is disgusted with herself. And I know that she wouldn't feel that way if she didn't love me."
Oscar exhaled. "Adrian, I can't tell you what to do. And I know what your next question will be and I'm telling you right now that the only person to make that decision is you. Only you can decide what to do."
Adrian took a breath and then let it out.
"You're right, Oscar. Thank you," Adrian said,
He walked back in. Nova was muttering something to herself.
"You absolute piece of crap. How could you do that to him? You are a despicable human being..."
Adrian grabbed her arm and moved it down, sitting next to her.
"I'm not leaving you."
She let out a breath.
"But you are on very thin ice," Adrian added.
"Yes... Yes, I completely... Yes, I understand." Nova said, still shocked that he was staying.
"You'll be sleeping on the couch for a while. And it's going to take a long time to gain my trust back." Adrian said.
Nova nodded.
"And don't ever do something like this again."
"Never again," Nova stated. "I'm so... I hate myself, Adrian. And I am so sorry."
"You should be," Adrian said.
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That night, they slept in separate beds. Adrian was still upset, but after Nova explained that she was drunk, he felt a tiny bit better. Nova slept on the couch, and still felt like a piece of crap, but she was slowly starting to accept the fact that something in their relationship had changed, and it was her fault.
But they both knew that even after a major screw-up like this, they'd still be alright.
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Forget Nova. I'm the piece of crap here! I can't believe I wrote this.
What is wrong with me?
Anyway, I want to personally apologize to Adrian. You did not deserve this.
And Nova, I am also sorry for making you the bad guy once again.
Also I love you, Adrian and Nova. This is just fantasy. Not canon in any way, shape, or form. I'm not entitled to do anything with the Renegades Universe besides writing fan fiction.
Anyway, I feel like I mention that I minored in psychology. I like to mention it, because it reminds me that I only have a year of college left. But it's also very relevant when you're a bookworm like me. You start to analyze characters and see them in a different way. You'll also see humans in general in a different way.
And I'm not even sure if my textbook mentioned this or if my mom did (she also minored in psychology), or both, but when you say "It's ok" when someone says sorry, it's not really the right way. You're basically saying "Ah, it's ok that you screwed up. Feel free to do it again!" You're supposed to say "I forgive you" to know that they are forgiven, but that they should not do it again. If you don't forgive them, well, argue? Say nothing? I don't really care. I always choose to forgive so I wouldn't know. But that is why Adrian didn't say "It's okay" or "I forgive you" and instead said "You should be". I know it might have come off as harsh and out of Adrian's character, but how did you expect him to react?
Just a little public service announcement. Don't feel like you had to read it. If you skipped, I understand.
Okay, I'll shut up now.
Until next time,
Keep reading!
