(takes place in the same continuity as 'Secret').

"- And that's when she hit him over the head! With a CHAIR!"

Yin nearly choked on her drink, having to place it aside as she scrambled around for a napkin before she got soda all over herself. It wasn't until she had wiped her mouth that she was able to let out the incredulous laugh she had been struggling to contain; "A chair? What?! Are you serious?"

Beside her, Yuck barked a laugh, waving his own soda on one paw while he grabbed a whole fistful of napkins and left them by her side with the other; "I know, right!? Saranoia didn't even bother with a spell or a wand or anything; she just grabbed the first folding chair she could find and started beating the crap out of Ultimoose with it!"

Then he raised his soda can towards the suns, the moisture over its metal surface glinting under the sunlight as brightly as his sharp grin. "It was SO funny."

And even though she probably shouldn't have agreed with that, Yin couldn't find it in her to disagree either. After all, it was Ultimoose; hard to find any sympathy for the sexist moose that kept undermining her just for being a girl. She grabbed her own soda with one napkin wrapped around it and raised it next to Yuck's; "Knowing him, he's got a skull thicker than a motorcycle helmet so he's probably fine."

"See? You get it!"

Laughing, they clinked their cans together before taking a swig.

It was a beautiful summer day at the outskirts of town, far away from all the noise and bustling – and most importantly, from prying eyes that had no business snooping on their date. After all, this date technically wasn't even supposed to take place; as far as everyone knew, Yin and Yuck were still sworn enemies.

But not today, not here. Here, out in the fieldlands beyond the forest, they would not be found so easily. Here, it was quiet and peaceful – something Yin had grown to appreciate more than ever after chaos had just become an aspect of her everyday life (and even if Yuck wasn't so vocal about it, she suspected this was something he appreciated, too). Here…it was the perfect spot for a picnic date.

All around them, the wheat that sheltered them swayed gently with the wind like ripples; an endless sea of liquid gold that shone under the three suns' summer light. The only sounds were the whispers of the wind through the grass, through the leaves and branches, through the wind chimes from faraway houses and temples spread out through the fieldlands. So calm, almost ethereal – to Yin, it was a moment taken right out of a dream.

A dream…

Even as she kept listening to Yuck talk about the latest villain in-fighting drama, the thought made her mind wander…

Even way back when she and Yang were street urchins no one cared about, that didn't stop Yin from having big dreams of her own. At such a young age, she already knew what she wanted: to be like the heroines from her favorite fairytales – kind, courageous, able to overcome both evil and tragedy in order to be finally rewarded with true love from a handsome, rich prince and live happily ever after. And even though they were just fairytales, in a world of martials arts, magic and monsters, it wasn't THAT farfetched to think it could happen to her too, right?

And then, when Master Yo took them in and taught them the ancient art of Woo Foo, it felt like a step closer to that dream. She wasn't a helpless little girl on the streets anymore; with the power of Magic, she could fight the forces of evil and be a heroine in her own right – and that kind of reputation would surely catch the attention of someone dreamy, famous and rich (or maybe even an actual prince, who basically had all of those bases covered by being, well, a prince).

And she had been right…kind of. It just never happened the way it was supposed to.

From Brett to Jobeaux to Terry to Clamuel; every time she thought she had found The One, there was always something that ended up ruining it. Half of the time, it turned out that the boy of her dreams was actually a villain taking advantage of her affection in order to destroy her – which was hardly HER fault. But in some cases like Jobeaux, she had let her own biases cloud her judgment of him – and by the time his true identity was revealed, she had already pushed him away (and also, he was already taken). As for Clamuel, she had only led him on to take advantage of his jewel-making abilities until she took it too far, and even after everything was resolved it didn't take long for him to kick her to the curb – literally.

But the worst of them all had been Coop. Coop, who Yin had originally pinned down as being annoying if not a little sad but ultimately harmless, only to find out he had been working for the Night Master behind their backs and willing to sell the world and everyone she loved just to get to her. Coop, who became corrupted by the Night Master's magic and decided to corrupt her against her will so they could be together. Coop, who never apologized for any of that yet still came crawling back to gain her love.

Coop, who she forgave despite everything because the Night Master's magic made him attractive just like she always wanted. Coop, who she tried to convince herself could love genuinely – even if it meant pushing all their other friends aside because hey, at this point he might really be the only one who wouldn't abandon her. Coop, who she accepted with open arms because she was lonely and still grieving over Master Yo's 'death' and she desperately needed something, anything, to be good in her life for once, and in that moment he was everything she thought she wanted.

She wanted to find her dream, even inside a nightmare.

And not even that worked out.

And she knew it was a good thing it didn't - that Coop's gorgeous bad boy ensemble didn't fix the wrong inside him, the wrong he had caused her, no matter how much she wanted to pretend otherwise – but it didn't make breaking up with him any easier. Because if she couldn't even make a relationship with the one boy whose entire world revolved around her, for better or for worse, work…that only left one final, terrible realization left:

That she was the problem.

That there was something fundamentally wrong with her that made her attract the worst kind of people to her; something that sabotaged any good in a relationship she could've had from the moment she entered one. That, maybe, she wasn't anywhere close to being the kind-hearted heroine she had hoped she was – the kind that got her true love in the form of a handsome prince or gallant knight.

…that maybe, she didn't deserve a happily ever after.

And then Yuck happened.

It was a long story, how she found her way back to him like this. And she had been so full of doubt at first, because unlike any of her past romantic interests, Yuck didn't have anything to offer to her. Even Coop had great looks in his favor thanks to the power he stole, but Yuck wasn't even above average by comparison; on top of being a villain, he had no money to his name and was closer in appearance to a trash can raccoon than any kind of nobility.

If she wanted to continue the fairytale metaphor, Yuck would be no prince or knight. He would probably be the dragon; he had the temper to match, too. In her eyes, he was nothing more than a selfish, violent, cruel jerk – what would he know about love, anyways?

(Why would he choose to love someone like her, anyways?)

"...Honey Bunny?"

Snapped abruptly out of her introspective thoughts, Yin focused back into reality – and her vision was overcome with warm, fiery orange.

"You okay?" Yuck's usually raspy voice was soft with concern that matched his eyes. She noticed his hand was inches away from hers, fingers itching to reach out but not daring to. "You've been quiet for a while…"

Her common sense told her that it was her cue to speak up – that she had to say something to reassure him instead of just awkwardly sitting there. But at that moment, nothing coherent seemed to come to mind – not with those orange eyes looking right at her.

"I brought a pie."

A bird cawed as it flew overhead.

Yin watched as Yuck's concern became confusion so quickly it was almost comical; he blinked, opened his mouth and then closed it before finally saying; "Oh. Uh, is…is that what's bothering you, or…?"

Any other time, she would've giggled at the expression on his face, except…she really had brought a pie. She had forgotten about it amidst their conversation and then her sad trip down Memory Lane, but now she had remembered about it…and almost wished it had stayed forgotten.

Cheeks flushed red, Yin's paws reached out to her side – and unfortunately, there it still was. Pulling the basket and placing it between them, her fingers grabbed a fistful of the cloth covering it before hesitating.

At least Yuck seemed to have forgotten about her mood from before for the time being; his eyes were now transfixed curiously on the basket. "Oh, is that what THIS is? I was wondering what you had there."

Then his purple nose twitched as he leaned over, and his eyes widened. "...Blueberry?"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't sure what else to make, and you mentioned it was your favorite flavor."

Yuck's head whipped to look at her, and once again she was rendered speechless by the emotion in those sunset eyes. "You…made my favorite pie?"

Oh, and he sounded so hopeful about it too. That was exactly the kind of reaction Yin had wanted to get out of him, and now she couldn't even enjoy it – not when she knew what the result was.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you." Her grip on the cloth became tighter as she pointed a finger at her partner; "Yuck, you gotta promise me you won't laugh."

"What? It can't be that bad – "

"Promise me, Yuck!"

"Okay, okay!" Yuck still looked very confused and not that reassured, but he still placed a hand in the air and had the other draw a cross over his heart; "I won't make fun of your pie, I promise."

Although Yin didn't feel at ease, she did feel a little better. Taking a deep breath, she pulled back the cloth over the basket and fought the urge to bite her nails as Yuck curiously leaned closer.

To her credit, it did have the basic features of a pie – but only barely. The dough that formed the crust was uneven and oozing with blueberry filling through the holes that weren't already covered in blobs of more dough. Just looking at the mess she had created made Yin's heart drop, made her resent her even more.

It was just so…ugly.

But so far, she hadn't heard anything from Yuck – not a gasp, or any disgusted sounds, or even a laugh despite his promise. It made Yin dread even looking at him in fear of his reaction, but when she finally mustered the courage to peek, she was surprised to see he didn't look happy or excited, but didn't look disgusted or disappointed either; he just…looked.

And looked.

And looked.

"I…I just wanted to make it fancy, you know?" Not knowing how to react, Yin found herself talking away. "And there were all these recipes and tutorials on how to decorate pies by making shapes with…with the dough…"

No answer.

She needed to explain herself.

"B-but I couldn't ask Master Yo for help, because if he asked why I was making a pie, what would I say?" Yin tightened her grip on the cloth she still held, hoping it would make the trembling of her hands less noticeable. "So I had to make it on my own from scratch, and I wanted to make this pretty criss-cross pattern with dough leaves, b-but then the dough lost all its shape while in the oven, and the filling got everywhere and I didn't have time to start over but I also didn't want to throw it away a-and…"

Still no answer.

(She needed him to know she was sorry it wasn't good enough).

"Yuck, will you PLEASE say something already!?"

He didn't.

Instead, he shoved his entire hand inside the pie.

Yin's jaw dropped as she watched Yuck tear out a fistful of pie before shoving it in his mouth, filling and crumbs flying everywhere. Through her shock, she still managed to think to herself: well, at least he cleaned himself up for this – not that it lasted, but still. "W-w-what are you doing!?"

He didn't seem to hear her, or maybe his mouth was too full of pie to properly give her an answer. And it only got worse when he suddenly grabbed her, paws sticky with blueberry filling that seeped into her sleeves and fur. It only made her more frustrated as she squirmed against his grip; "Yuck–NO! Your paws, they're…"

She stopped squirming.

"This is the best pie I EVER had!" Never in her life had she seen so much innocent, unfiltered joy in his eyes; making him look for once like the child he actually was. And oh, the smile he gave her – it was such a far cry from the angry scowls or the sinister grins of the cruel rabbit she once called her enemy.

(A far cry from the mindless terror, the helplessness as he sobbed in her arms about black robes and grim reapers and pain and pain and pain and)

"R-really?" Yin's eyes turned to the remains of her eviscerated dessert; at least she didn't feel bad, since she didn't really believe Yuck had made much of a difference to its appearance. Still… "But it…came out so ugly–"

"Who cares!?" A yelp as the ground vanished under her feet and the world spun all around her – until she realized it was Yuck spinning the two of them in circles. "It's the best thing I've ever tasted, and you made it for ME!"

And then he laughed – and his laughter was everything Yin heard, his smile all over his blueberry-smeared face everything she saw. The world around them had become a blur of luminous gold, sunlight gleaming off Yuck's fangs and the blueberry filling rolling all the way down his chin like diamonds, reflecting off of his eyes that shined brighter than the suns – and never looking away from her.

And in that moment, Yin thought to herself that Yuck wasn't rich or famous like any of the boys she had liked before, and he definitely wasn't handsome like them. And maybe he never would be.

And in that moment, Yin realized that she didn't care. Because none of those boys would ever be as beautiful as him, anyways.

"Wait…ah, crap!"

And suddenly the dream stopped, and the world of gold blurred back into focus, and Yin found herself back on the ground as Yuck released his grip on her. And when she looked back at him, he was scrambling for as many napkins as he could hold before rubbing them all over his hands and face, flushed with embarrassment.

"How the hell did I not notice!?" He muttered angrily to himself, rubbing at his own fur until Yin feared he would actually scrape it off; "Grabbing a whole pie with my hands; the hell was I thinking!?"

Then his gaze fell on her mid-rubbing his face – specifically on her sleeves, where he had left his gooey blueberry handprints on. And before Yin could argue, Yuck was frantically trying to rub it off her while going through more napkins than she could register.

"Damn it, just come off already!" Yuck hissed between teeth, but when his eyes met hers, his ears drooped. "I'm sorry, I know you hate dirt, I don't know what I was thinking–!"

From there, his words devolved into a string of angry muttering as he continued to clean Yin up – it was completely absurd coming from the person Yin once thought was a heartless monster, and the sight filled her chest with affection.

(So different from the cold, the sorrow as she cried into his chest about corruption and powerlessness and fear and fear and fear and)

She held Yuck's face in her hands, watching him stop mid-cleaning. "Yin? I-I can get the filling off, I swear."

"I love you."

And before she could gauge his reaction, she closed the gap between them.

…

Huh, he was right. For her first attempt, the pie had come out pretty great.

It was soft, and it was short. But when it was over her cheeks still burned, and her chest glowed even brighter, and when she opened her eyes, Yuck's eyes shone the brightest even with the way his blush reached all the way up his ears almost comically.

And when she laughed, he laughed too. And when he spun her around again, the world became of gold and sunlight again.

And for once, she wouldn't trade any dream for it.