Reviews :

Burgie : Thank you! I am as well, it's definitely different than anything I've ever written for :)

Snake557 : Tough, but not impossible! Odd, but the older someone gets, the less weird it is, I guess. But I do see your point haha.


Song Listened To :

Worst Nites by Foster the People (first half)

Mines (Star Lumpy) by ConcernedApe (Stardew Valley score - I adore this game and it's soundtrack lol)


*Chapter 69*

"Holy shit, man, how do you get ANYTHING done?" Nox staggered in whole annoyance, his bare feet lazily lined the round edges of Turbo's incredible glass code room, on top of the world.

Turbo, Nox and Throttle got together, that night, for a hang out in Turbo's loft. Although Turbo had a few things to finish up, work and code room related, Throttle and Nox easily hovered with him and patiently allowed Turbo to do just what he needed to do. Responsibilities, assignments and deadlines he needed to meet for the whole of Sugar Rush, memos and certain files of data he had to then relay to Tessa and Zed. Although he was glad to have a bit more of a bustling social life, he tried his very hardest not to get way too distracted from his important work, in which he was very nobly assigned. His eyes scanned the glorious silver tiers of glowing code files, out before him. He was lightly surrounded by a few code boxes and a few holographic screens, all splayed with information, a chore he was delighted to find Throttle eagerly hovering nearby in kind curiosity.

"It's rough, if I'm being real," Turbo mumbled, he bobbed a nod and donned a kind smile, "It's getting more difficult, now, if I'm being honest."

All three boys were dressed in slouches of comfortable t-shirts and hoodies, lazy pants and sweats, socks and bare feet alike. Nox held a half-empty beer in his hand, the brown bottle sweat a little as Nox just barely twirled it, his golden eyes cast far on the horizon, to Sugar Rush's incredible, glowing palace, seemingly galaxies away. Although Turbo had briefly insinuated that his work was now becoming more difficult due to his new, little social life, he felt his heart begin to thud in a rise of nervousness. He was well aware Throttle was an absolute expert at keeping secrets, the secret of Turbo fancying Berri, though he also knew that he had told Throttle that said secrets would eventually be spilled to Nox, as well; like clockwork, he could hear Throttle huff a knowing chuckle from Turbo's back diagonal, a few feet off. Turbo lulled his eyes closed and simply waited for it, now regretting allowing either of his brothers any alcohol.

"I'd imagine it'd be hard having a beautiful blue-haired princess constantly on your mind, huh," Throttle's words were of pure tease, though his voice held nothing but warmth and kindness; Turbo sagged in defeat the second Nox's neck wretched in surprise, across the way.

"Blue-haired-say-huh?" Nox barked, he eagerly began to mosey back over to where Turbo and Throttle were stood, which was the center of Turbo's code room.

"... I didn't think he heard me, sorry," Throttle mumbled in irritated sincerity.

"It's fine, it was due to come out eventually," Turbo eased back to Throttle in a monotone, as if somehow this revealed news was very quickly something that was past exciting and now just a mild slump of dread. Before Nox could carry on potentially teasing Turbo, he beat Nox right to it, "I'm interested in Berri, it's been rough on me, no she doesn't know, and no, this topic does not leave the three of us."

"'Interested' in Berri?" Throttle huffed in a tone of now entire disbelief, he cocked an eyebrow and gave Nox a knowing look; Turbo rolled his eyes and now bashfully began to bury himself deeper into his standing work.

"In love with, interested in, same difference," Turbo grunted in embarrassed sweetness, and although he was sure Nox was about to run away with this information, he softened for his big brother and gave him a kind smile.

"King Turbo Black," Nox tenderly rattled, he laced his arms behind his back, peered to Turbo down the bridge of his nose and was delighted to see Turbo's bashful, glowing golden eyes peer to Nox in secretive cuteness, over the top of his work, "Has a kickass ring to it, if I do say so myself."

"I'm not after the crown," Turbo volleyed, though he began to don a cute smile he so desperately tried to force away.

"Can't say you wouldn't enjoy the perks of waking up with her blue hair splayed all over your chest, raveled in each other's bare arms," Nox waggled his eyebrows as his masculine hands pressed into his broad chest, and although Turbo could feel his face heat up at the very thought of such a fantasy, he cocked an eyebrow and eyed his little brother; he was well aware Nox had a very real amount of experience with romance, far more than both Throttle and Turbo combined, "Queen Berri Black. I know you hear how cool that all sounds, yeah?"

"Expanding the Black family name," Throttle encouraged with a smile, he eyed Nox tenderly, "When're you going to give Koko our last name, dude?"

"It's been on my mind," Nox complained, he crossed his arms and shook his head, "Proposals can't be rushed."

"It'd be awesome to have a sister," Turbo nodded in encouragement, he was glad the topic was swaying away from him and Berri.

"Yeah, then add Berri to the mix," Nox further pressed in sweetness, as if to be genuine in his words, though no matter the tenderness, Turbo still felt entirely agitated that the topic wasn't letting up, "Berri Black, Koko Black..."

"... Sorry I can't add a third woman to that line-up, there, guys," Throttle mumbled in a discouraged sag of defeat, and although he knew Turbo and Nox genuinely wouldn't be upset at said notion, he still was surprised to see the both of them eagerly loft Throttle looks of support.

"I could always go for another brother, Tee," Nox encouraged, he shook his head as him and Turbo quickly caught eyes in agreeing, "I mean... You and Turbo are enough, and... Lash, if he ever decides to get good, upon being unbubbled... Whenever that'd be."

"Wren can be pretty feminine as it is, Tee, so I wouldn't worry so much about that," Turbo huffed nonchalantly, and although Throttle suddenly stiffened and looked as if he wanted to urgently dispute what Turbo had just insinuated, both Nox and Turbo froze and peered Throttle down in kind, brotherly cheek, as if to firmly and silently state that it'd be a losing battle, and he's genuinely fooling no one.

"... That obvious?" Throttle worried in a sag of a mumble, he bashfully looked down, as if he should potentially be ashamed of it, though it was here did Turbo pause his work and face Throttle, alongside Nox.

"Yeah, it is," Nox choked a small laugh, to which Turbo bobbed a nod of encouragement.

"Pretty ballsy to court someone like Wren, Tee," Turbo lovingly prod, he put his hands on his hips and nodded, "He's more of a firecracker than Berri."

"More opinionated, too," Nox added, Turbo continued to nod in agreeing.

"If you can win over someone like Wren, you got more courage than all of us put together," Turbo rattled, to which Nox bugged his eyes.

"Considering who his father is?" Nox ogled with a nervous chuckle, though he shrugged and gently swat at Turbo's upper arm, "Well... I guess I had to go toe-to-toe with Ralph, and... Y'got King Zed to worry about."

"We're all screwed," Turbo beamed a wide smile and nodded in faked eagerness, to which Nox blurt out into hard laughter; Throttle bashfully smiled into Turbo's eyes as he continued on, "But, at least we can rely on each other. I think it's great that you and Wren got a little somethin' going on. Makes me not feel so alone, in my venture."

"I-I was going to tell you, the other night, but I wanted to make sure we focused on your issue, first," Throttle eased, though Nox furrowed his brow.

"Wait, what issue? Why wasn't I included in on this?" Nox argued, Turbo sagged his shoulders in annoyance and closed his eyes.

"It came out of nowhere, okay, I was already messaging Throttle and I came over later that night," Turbo prod in a huff of a single breath, "I was going to tell you, and come to you for advice, later."

"Throttle's got all the courting advice... I got all the swapping advice," Nox dorkily waggled his eyebrows, cheesed a cocky smile and gestured his thumbs to his broad chest; he choked a laugh of a noise and dropped it all once Turbo stabbed his pointer finger right below Nox's belly button.

"Isn't swapping a part of courting, anyways?" Throttle argued, Turbo shrugged, turned a little and continued to prod at his work as Nox took a decent swig of his beer.

"Swapping's one of the end goals, so I guess so," Turbo shrugged, he shook his head and heaved an already exhausted sigh, "Forget what that's even like."

"Sorry, boys," Nox continued on playfully being cocky, though before he could finish, Turbo shoved his hand over the entirety of Nox's face.

"We get it, you have constant sex with an awesome woman you're due to marrying, CHILL OUT," Turbo barked as he shoved Nox away; Turbo's lovely, glass code room was filled with an audible bounce of warm, brotherly laughter.

"Yeah, Berri's gunna wind up dragging you to your bedroom, literal minutes away from swapping codes, and you're going to be like... 'Oh shit, I should've asked Nox what to do!'," Nox staggered as he wobbled, though he dramatically held the side of his head and looked off, as if to playfully be nervous.

"I haven't forgotten EVERYTHING," Turbo loudly defended, him and Nox shared a hearty laugh.

"I... Don't think any of your advice will work out, for me," Throttle now choked a laugh, to which Turbo eagerly joined in on.

"Yeah, don't go filling Throttle's head with all the do's and don't's of swapping codes with a woman," Turbo egged, he smiled at Throttle and was thrilled he was opening up, a bit more.

"... Wow, I never even thought about that, how would the act of swapping codes work, in your case, anyways?" Nox now wondered in kind, genuine concern, and although Turbo furrowed his brows in a gentle slump of unknowing defeat, both boys lofted their curious gazes to Throttle and were thrilled to see Throttle bashfully look off with a nervous, knowing smile on his face.

"I-I've been doing some research," Throttle assured, though his curt tone lead to suggest that said statement was not only an invitation, but also an abrupt conclusion to the topic at hand.


In the still of the night, of which had very quickly crept upon midnight, Berri laid on the splay of her comfortable Queen sized bed, on her stomach. She wore a comfortable canary yellow t-shirt and lazy grey leggings, she bobbed her head from side to side, a little, as she quietly jammed out to the fun music blaring into her ears, via the headphones she wore. She patiently scribbled down some notes and made sure to keep her notebooks and binders tidy, and in the midst of finishing up homework and preparing for the next school day, she cocked an eyebrow as her phone, which had been lofted off to her side, gently buzzed a silent few vibrates. Her honed blue eyes unfocused from her writing as her screen lit up, and with a wide smile that bashfully donned her face, she noticed Gunner send her a few messages.

Ko : Hey Blue. User, I'm... I'm going over a few things with Bedgy, and I just can't wait for you to meet her.

Ko : She said hopefully whatever you guys are working on, for protection against the whole, y'know... deleted faux-codes thing, can get worked out quick, cause she's beginning to contemplate ways to sneak into Academy to come meet you haha

Ko : Y'think this dweeb can pull off being as cool as us self-programmed gamers?

Berri breathed bashful giggle, and as she sat up, she thumbed further down her messages, with Gunner, and beamed an even wider smile at the fact that Gunner had sent Berri a goofy selfie he had just taken with his manager Bedgy. Although she was rather humanoid, Berri was quick to discover that Bedgy was a gorgeous, cute barn owl creature. She had gorgeous, big grey eyes, a white feathery coat and blue-grey specks of freckles that lined down her forehead to her grey beak. She had one wing loosely hugged about Gunner's neck, as if to playfully choke him, in which Gunner had his eyes closed and was pretending to be dead. Berri blurt a harder laugh and felt her heart just race with excitement. She felt a hard itch to just dive over to EZ Living right this instance, to jump into new shenanigans with new friends, to explore just where these friendships would take her, she wanted nothing more but to just drop everything she was doing and see what the world had to offer. She sagged her shoulders in mild, desperate defeat and finally donned a proper, sorrowful frown.

Blue : Man, you have no idea how badly I want to come hang with you guys. Say hi to Bedgy for me! I was planning on killing you tomorrow, but it looks like she already beat me to it!

Ko : Yeah, make me endure Bedgy's terrible death. At least death by Berri would be sweeter, I'm sure. Berri Schweet!

Berri cocked an eyebrow and sagged back, she sat criss-cross on her bed, slumped her phone and hands into her lap and now looked off in mild, contemplating irritation. She furrowed her brow and held her eyes tight to Chester, who slept comfortably across her glorious, dimly lit bedroom. He laid haphazardly on his back, he began to snore, an audible groan of cuteness Berri was overjoyed to hear, and although she laid eyes to Chester's glorious orange pelt, her mind ran wild, beyond Sugar Rush's entrance. She heaved a long sigh through her nose and peered back down to her phone as it vibrated against her thigh.

Ko : ... What if my security met you right at Sugar Rush's outlet?

Berri raised her eyebrows and now felt her heart do an entire somersault. She knew it wasn't wise, she knew just where her head was turning, she was well aware that if this escapade were to get back to literally anyone important inside Sugar Rush, she'd be dead meat. She shook her head, inhaled a deep breath through her nose and tried her very hardest to think like a Queen, and not like an unruly princess, cooped high away in a tower, guarded by a fire breathing dragon. She scrunched her eyes tight and did absolutely everything to resist temptation, and as soon as she thought she was maybe making headway with herself and was due to very hesitantly denying Gunner's polite request, her phone buzzed once more, eradicating her firm stance entirely.

Ko : Surely that princess tiara can be taken off but for one night... Right?

Berri furrowed her brows and knew this wasn't wise, though with the rush of her racing heart, the shoot of adrenaline through her silver circuits, the desire for adventure and spontaneity, she sat up a little straighter, bit her lip and tried to conceal a bashful, devious smile into the glow of her phone.

Blue : Tell your security that I'll meet you at EZ Living's outlet in fifteen. Tell Wren and Theo this is happening and I really WILL kill you.

Ko : You're the boss.