Reviews :
Burgie : I'm SO glad! :D YAY!
BanannaSammich : Hey! YES you will! I actually have a doodle of Bedgy I've been meaning to upload to my Instagram. I'm going to try to get a painting of Berri and Gunner out, it's difficult because I'm not entirely one hundred percent invested in their relationship. Even though it stays solid for awhile, I think everyone here knows where my heart is more. A certain TurboTime boi.
Snake557 : Throttle tells him! And, it's spelled Wren, just to let you know.
Nikki Firesong : I've actually been wanting to write a LGBT couple since Defying Code, but the opportunity never arose. I wanted it to count, I wanted it to be something everyone could grasp onto, and I wanted it to be something that didn't just fall to the wayside. I know I've said it before, but I was VERRRRY close to pairing Ace with Nox. That was a tough one. So, it may have taken 4 books, but trust me, I've been thinking about it for a long while. I just wanted it to be very special. Thanks for understanding, and thank you for supporting me through this! :D I'm glad you're excited, cause I definitely am too! Throttle and Wren have a very spicy scene, coming up, within the next 2 chapters, so that'll be fun!
*Chapter 80*
"So, here I come, just TEARING around the bend," Turbo urged with a wide smile, almost entirely out of his shell, the group crowd about the island was all grins, and although Turbo was entirely terrible at speaking in front of a crowd, no matter how big or small, he attributed his burst of nonchalance to the few beers he had knocked back. Although he was telling a story back from his TurboTime days, he was floored to see the entire crew wide eyed and excitedly listening to his riveting story, which included Chester excitedly hovering near Turbo's left, "And, there in the straight away, is THROTTLE."
"It was an ACCIDENT," Throttle blurt, everyone loudly howled with laughter.
"Wait, this was a quarter alert? Like an actual human was playing?" Theo wondered, everyone wheezed and wiped the tears from their eyes.
"Yeah!" Turbo whined in a high pitched tone of unadulterated, agonizing delight. He tried his hardest to catch his breath, as did everyone else, "I just went barreling past the idiot, like... What the hell just happened?!"
"Trust me, I was thinking the same thing," Throttle struggled to get words out, and with this, Wren beamed him a curious, laughing smile and eased his hand to the middle of Throttle's back, as if to politely wonder if he was going to be alright. Throttle grunted a hard laugh, grappled his hand to the top of Wren's shoulder and jokingly steadied himself against him as everyone was entirely lost in laughter, "I needed a new pair of pants ASAP."
"Y'couldn't have just hit the dumb bastard? He had the balls to stand in the middle of the tracks, I was in first! I remember that day!" Nox loudly complained.
"That's why I just barreled past him, here's me, never lost a day in my entire life, just PANICKING," Turbo urgently gestured to himself as everyone continued to loudly laugh and encourage the story, "I see Nox just LEAGUES ahead of me and I was like, dude, I'm either gunna take Throttle's legs out from under him or I'm going to pancake him and keep going, I don't give a SHIT."
"You really didn't," Throttle finally caught his breath, wiped his eyes and stood tight to Wren's side, who was eagerly beaming a curious, equally as chuckling smile up to him in dewy curiosity.
"Something very similar happened to us, with Finn," Orph started as the story gently segued to him; each couple stood with each other, about Turbo's spacious island. Everyone had a drink and a partner, except for Theo and Turbo, though Turbo still stood confidently at the head of his island, "Same situation, too... I was just tearing around the corner and then when I came to the break away, there's Finn, just cleaning the vines off the tracks."
"Aww, the poor thing!" Penny cried with a sympathetic smile as everyone burst into hard laughter all over again.
"Except I actually DID hit him," Orph pointed, which had everyone further riled.
"Oooh," Wren grimaced his face into a tight scrunch of teasing dismay.
"Yeah, it wasn't pretty," Orph choked a laugh, "Though, Finn's such a softy, it scarred him for life and now he refuses to clean up the tracks. He always begs either me or Duke to do it."
"He's such a tender one," Penny giggled as Orph rolled his eyes and bobbed a nod.
"We should take a run around Sugar Rush's tracks, one of these days," Nox eagerly suggested to Turbo, who cocked an eyebrow and looked down to the island, as if that was potentially a good idea, "Old time's sake, Bo, whatdoyahsay?"
"I'm extremely rusty, dude, and I... Well..." Turbo grappled his chest, looked up and was due to saying something that he likely should just come out with, though everyone eagerly beat him to it.
"You just don't want to lose," Wren barked, everyone eagerly laughed.
"Ohhh, you should try racing my mom, or even Tessa," Koko encouraged with a firm nod, everyone bugged their eyes and began to coo loud, obnoxious notions towards Turbo, as if to assure he'd be doomed.
"Or even uncle Zed... Mr. Unbeatable," Theo waggled his eyebrows, which now had Turbo nervously smiling, rolling his eyes and looking off to his dimmer living room; the later into the night it got, the brighter Orion City shone.
"There's only one person in this entire Arcade I would gladly lose to," Turbo bravely barked as he held up a finger and confidently eyed everyone, though just as he was about to quell everyones shivering wonderings with the one name that he loved to allow fall from his lips, everyone jolted in hard, cold confusion as a deep, scary grumbling sound of an engine came erupting from Turbo's garage, just across the way from the dining room table.
With a wretch of his neck and a firm, nervous peer over his shoulder, Turbo's terrified, golden eyes honed tight to the garage's side door, nearly directly behind him, though the second the engine's loud rumbling cut, and the sound of clacking heels could be heard approaching, Turbo's garage's side door gently and apprehensively opened; the very person inside of his previous notion, tenderly peered her curious blue eyes inside, a shy show of wondering if she was welcomed, and with such a small peak, the whole group immediately perked up in unadulterated surprise and glee. With a huge gasp and an outburst from the whole crowd at the island, Berri beamed an enormously bashful smile, hung in the doorway and very slowly began to ease inside, as if to further wonder if she was welcomed.
As the group eagerly cooed her loud remarks of excitement that she was here, Turbo's still wretched neck was tight in a frozen angle of unadulterated shock. His nervous, now lightly trembling hand grappled the chest of his shirt as his eyes did anything and everything to soak in the whole angel that just welcomed herself into his house. Like a vision, a glowing beacon of womanly goodness, Berri's lithe, slender legs, wider hips and adorable saunter on her tall, thin, sleek black heels had Turbo's eyebrows raised nearly through the game's sky limit. He huffed a shaky breath of silent surprise and couldn't even begin to find the words to describe just how he was feeling in this instance. As the gentle clack of Berri's heels still slowly approached and got within a ten foot radius of Turbo, who was the closest to her at the island, she bashfully smiled down to the ground, tucked her incredible blue hair behind her ears and finally gave Turbo her full cheeky eye contact.
"...I-I know I wasn't invited, but, I figured since I have a key," Berri's gentle, loving tone trailed, and with her insinuation, everyone raised their eyebrows and lofted their surprised gazes tight to Turbo's.
"Holy shit, dude, you... You gave her a KEY to your place?" Nox stabbed with a hearty laugh as everyone stole entirely shocked glances to each other.
"You don't need any of Nox's advice, my man, it seems as if you're doing quite well for yourself," Orph loudly chuckled as Penny and Koko loudly giggled and clapped in entire amusement.
"Berri, you came JUST in time, Turbo was telling us some fantastic news," Wren called in great, cheeky delight, though it was here did Turbo's awestruck, loving gaze, hooked tight to Berri's presence, immediately rip from her and stab tight into Wren's with great, terrified authority.
"Yeah?" Berri innocently cued as she crossed her arms, and as she joined Turbo on his solitary end of the island, the two nearly touched shoulders.
Turbo huffed a shaky breath, as if to begin to start his sentence, though he cocked an eyebrow and peered hard into her eyes. The vivid, loving glow of his golden eyes very quickly began to sag to that of the shy, hidden show of peachy goodness, cueing to everyone that he was entirely, bashfully beside himself. Any air he had in his lungs was just sucked right out of him, as well as any power behind his cocky statement. Everyone eased him sweet notions of teasing in unison as Turbo choked a bashful laugh, tugged his collar and now couldn't dare take his shy eyes away from Berri's, as if somehow looking away from the crowd before him would make them all vanish. Berri raised her blue eyebrows in tender delight, the way she crossed her arms a little tighter had her naively deepening the gentle squish of her slightly revealed cleavage, and although Turbo could feel the alcohol coming back to haunt him, he didn't dare take his eyes off of Berri's sweet gaze.
"Spit it out, my dude," Throttle encouraged teasingly, and although everyone began to join in on the teasing, it was sweet and lighthearted, an overdue show of at least tip toeing around the idea of Turbo expressing his lovely feelings for Berri, if even a little.
"What's this all about?" Berri wondered as she finally brought her attention to the rowdy crowd around her, though Penny cocked an eyebrow, whirled around to Turbo's fridge, yanked the door open, swiped an individual bottle of beer and brought it out for Berri.
"You should probably catch up to us, it'll make sense then," Penny blurt a hard laugh as she was successful in handing off Tapper's elixir to Berri.
"User, it'll take me a minute, I didn't drink on my date," Berri grumbled, though upon receiving her bottle, she tilted the cap to Turbo's counter, and in a swift pop, the cap came flying off with a gentle jolt of her sharp movement, which included a bump of her hip; Turbo cocked an eyebrow and peered to her in further astonishment, as if he was just drowning, at this point.
"Wait, what? Why didn't Gunner buy you a drink?" Wren argued in irritation, Berri rolled her eyes and gently looked off.
"I don't know, he stopped drinking cause I guess his ex girlfriend drank a lot and it turned him off to it," Berri shrugged, and although she knew exactly who Gunner's ex girlfriend was, she politely kept his business on the down-low, due to the whole Arcade not knowing Sama, Gunner's guitarist, was also his previous girlfriend.
"Well, you're here now, so bottoms up," Theo encouraged as he raised his bottle, and with such, everyone joined him with all smiles; in loud clacks of the bottoms of everyone's bottles firmly tapping to one another, Berri smiled a wide smile of relief and eagerly joined everyone in taking a hearty swig.
"So, anyways, back to Turbo's notion, you were saying?" Nox wondered cheekily, and although the peachy glow in Turbo's eyes was only now subsiding, it very quickly came right back.
"No, I'm good, the alcohol is gunna make me run away with myself," Turbo muttered nervously with a bashful smile, a very stark difference in his demeanor now that Berri had showed up; he apprehensively glanced in Berri's direction and was now due to avoiding eye contact with her.
"I'm just now realizing that your statement was entirely a euphemism," Penny choked a hard laugh and rested her forehead on the counter; the second Koko furrowed her eyebrows and thought about it for a second, both girls eagerly wailed with laughter, and as the notion hit everyone head on, they urgently volleyed Turbo cheeky notions of irritation.
"Yeah, this is what I get for allowing myself more than three of these stupid things," Turbo muttered with a smile that so desperately wanted to crack across his entire face; he set down his own bottle and began to cheekily scoot it away from his person.
"Well, what were you about to say? You have me all intrigued, now," Berri urged sweetly, she finally unravelled her arms and held them to the broad of Turbo's glossy dark island. It was here did Chester huff a hard exhale of a chuckle, he flattened his ears and hung his head, as if to insinuate Turbo was doomed.
"Hey, c'mon, man," Turbo grunted to Chester, who sat on his hind quarters, directly to Turbo's left; everyone laughed at Turbo's and Chester's little argument, "Whose side are you on?"
"Turbo, the greatest racer ever, places second to NO ONE," Nox staged dramatically as he sprawled his palms, held his hands up and shot Berri a sweet, cheeky smile of conclusion, "... Except..."
Berri raised her eyebrows, honed tight to Nox's familiar eyes, and as the sweet notion hit her head on, she huffed a small, surprised giggle, shot her elated gaze to Turbo's and was entirely floored to see he had his gaze narrowed in cheeky, nearly teeth-gritting apprehension. Berri blurt a small laugh as everyone began to coo sweet notions of anticipation towards the two, and as Berri lovingly reached for Turbo's shoulder, he finally huffed a silent scoff of a chuckle, looked off and grew even more bashful and shy. The fact that all eyes were on the two had the tender glow, of his eyes, reaching a delightful peak of peachy goodness that Berri was uncertain was even real, at this point.
"That is so sweet," Berri chimed in delightful sorrow as her hand gripped Turbo's right shoulder, and with her loving touch, he finally lofted his gaze to her and gave her a broken, shell-shocked, nervous smile, "You'd really place second for me? ... I can see how that could be a weird insinuation, by the way, I'm... I'm assuming y-you meant... Well-"
"Racing, RACING," Turbo suddenly barked to the lot of everyone at the island, which had everyone howling with laughter, "Racing. I'd gladly lose to you, THERE, everyone happy? Got to see my eyes a different color for once? Y'don't want to see them change from peach to red, so knock it off."
"Hoooo, no that's not a pretty sight," Nox suddenly stabbed through the grit of his teeth in a show of cheeky terror, though Berri furrowed her eyebrows in gentle curiosity and shot Turbo a look of gentle inquiry.
"... You mean, they turn red when you're mad, right?" Berri wondered cautiously.
"An absolute rarity," Throttle choked with a smile as he crossed his arms, "I've seen Nox's eyes go red, before, and even Lash, but... I can MAYBE name only two instances where I've seen Turbo's gaze go red."
"It's damn-near impossible to make that guy red-mad," Nox prod towards Turbo with a kind smile, "Long fuse, that one."
"Interesting," Berri chimed as she fingered her lip and gave him a look of further smiling curiosity.
"I try not to let stuff get to me," Turbo shrugged in nonchalance, though Berri beamed in further intrigue, a weird mixture of wanting to know just what Turbo looked like in the heat of full anger, though not wanting to be the one to instigate such emotion.
"When Turbo's eyes go red, you KNOW you're absolutely screwed," Throttle huffed through the grit of his teeth as he shook his head.
"I want cool mood ring eyes, what the heck," Wren suddenly stabbed, which had everyone eager agreeing and laughing with his outburst. Wren flagged his hand and only briefly glanced to Throttle in a soft show of nervousness, "I hate being NORMAL."
"I told you, we can be normal together, chill," Throttle eased as he confidently slung his arm about Wren's shoulders, Wren being a decent amount of height shorter than Throttle.
"So how many colors can your guys' eyes change, then?" Penny wondered excitedly, everyone honed their eyes to the three TurboTime men, at the island, and it was here did Berri perk up and feel further anticipation lick her skin.
"There's technically three or four really common colors, and... Probably a whole slew of other colors that none of us have ever seen," Turbo mumbled, and although the feeling of letting people in and showing a more confident, social side of him was slowly becoming normal, somehow talking about the more intimate details of his inner workings had his heart pulsing in anxiety, "Th-there's red, for anger, yellow is normal. If, well... Say something makes us sad or scared, or we're simply in a resting state or are just waking up, our eyes dim, sometimes to no color. So just grey."
"Then y'got that cute peachy color you were just sporting, what's that one all about?" Penny kindly inquired, though she waggled her eyebrows and shot Berri a sweet and rather sassy smile of knowing.
"It means he's about to board a train on a one-way ticket to boner-ville," Nox suddenly blurt, everyone suddenly howled with laughter as Turbo wildly furrowed his eyebrows and shot Nox a look of entire detest.
"Okay, NO?" Turbo barked with a hearty, nervous laugh, to which Berri eagerly covered her face and burst into bashful laughter, "It's the equivalent to blushing or being embarrassed!"
"Turbo, I'm swap mates with one of you TurboTime guys, I know full well what it could potentially mean," Koko eased in girly confidence, to which everyone loudly eased notions towards Turbo, the fact that he was now thwarted.
"You guys suck," Turbo choked in annoyance, though he nonchalantly turned to Chester and rested his hand on the broad of Chester's fluffy chest, "Chester gets me. You won't make fun of me, will you?"
"If that fluff ball could talk, trust me, he'd be making fun of all of us, right about now," Berri loudly laughed as she finally removed her hands from her face, she hoped she also wasn't too red in the face, as well.
Although the group continued to bicker and laugh the night away, Berri was very well aware she caught the tail end of this party due to just how close the clock was now pushing two in the morning. She sagged her shoulders and soaked in everything her night consisted of. Although she had a wonderful evening with Gunner, she was thrilled to be back home, where she was at her most comfortable. She tried desperately to hold onto agitated feelings towards Turbo, irritation from the keypoints of his past that he couldn't help whatsoever, though she knew holding it all against him was useless and unproductive. Berri soaked in the sound and conversation of all the people she loved, she knew she'd likely make up some excuse to stay back and help Turbo clean up his home, just so she could get some alone time with him and seek clarity from his convoluted, crazy past. She was aware she owed him a listening ear, and an understanding heart. She knew exactly why it was so difficult to hear of Turbo being wrapped in love with another woman, even someone so far removed from his current life, though she swore she would never admit it all to herself, no matter how big of a land mine it was becoming.
