Reviews :
SamanthaR1987 : Hahaha. It'll set sail soon enough, don't you worry :)
Snake557 : Yeah, she gets pretty feisty about it haha.
WARNING :
The last half of this chapter has homosexual themes very briefly discussed (danced around, really), between Wren and Throttle, just for my more sensitive readers. Thank you!
Song Listened To :
Me the Machine by Imogen Heap
*Chapter 129*
"Dad," Berri urged in dire urgency, her urgent footwork pressed her into her parent's lovely, dim home and down into the larger span of a work den. There, at the stretch of a work table stood Rancis, Zed, Throttle, Nox and Wren, clearly a meeting that was previously focused but maybe turned a bit more lackadasical and was now meandering on warm, nonchalant conversation. Berri felt purpose in her step and was absolutely certain that the information, that she had secretly garnered on hers and Gunner's ice cream date, was about to rock the planet. As Berri burst into the lower-leveled, dim, inviting area, she was glad Zed's diligent, sharp eye contact immediately shot her way. She inhaled a shaky breath and shook her head, "Dad, I really need to talk to you."
"What's wrong?" Zed urged quietly, a soft tone of authority, he dropped his nonchalant smile, as well as his conversation with Throttle.
"Dad, Gunner and I were just near Cascadia Lake, at Gold Laced, and we saw Turbo... With Lash," Berri eased silently, and though the rest of the men, in the lazy group of conversing, easily lofted their curious eyes in Berri's and Zed's direction, they carried on with their topics, something Berri only barely noticed in her peripherals.
"Oh, babe," Zed huffed with a smile and a breath of relief, he sagged his masculine shoulders and adjusted his faded grey t-shirt in laziness, "You scared me. I know, I've instructed Turbo to keep Lash under his wing during the day. Lash will get bubbled whenever Turbo decides to go to sleep."
"... Wait, what?" Berri hissed in whole entire confusion, her pupils tightened, she nearly felt as if she was now being left behind, "Wh-why didn't anyone tell me? I had a damn-near panic attack seeing Turbo and Lash get into that... That... HELL of a car."
"Oh, Turbo's Lumos," Zed huffed a chuckle, shook his head, looked off and bugged his eyes in nervousness; him and Throttle easily shared apprehensive laughter, "I knew the second he had the money saved, he was going to take that course to get that space ship of a car. Doesn't drive it as often as I'm sure he'd like to, though."
"I remember the day he got that thing," Throttle choked a chuckle as him and Zed smiled and caught eyes, "I don't think I'd ever seen that idiot look so happy."
"Like a kid on Christmas," Zed huffed as he brought his sincere eyes back to Berri's, "Lash is in Turbo's supervision, we had a good, long meeting with Lash this morning and... Cleared a lot of things up."
"And that... Warrants him just loosely running around Orion City?" Berri urged, she had the desire to raise her voice, she felt as if she was left out of this decision-making, and due to it, she felt a brattier spirit come about.
"Babe, I'm... I'm sorry, Turbo's keeping him in line and is going to try and get him acclimated back into normal life," Zed stated cautiously, he flinched the second Berri cocked an eyebrow and gave her father a rather authoritative look of concern.
"And just who taught Turbo how to do that?" Berri wondered softly, though the challenge in her voice was apparent; she knew she shouldn't get so bent out of shape about it, though somehow, she felt entirely defensive about all of this. Zed raised his eyebrows in prickled concern and softly shot his nervous glance to Throttle, who tucked his shoulders up a bit and knew to stay out of this conversation.
"Berri, methinks you should go find your mother and maybe get more information from her," Zed stated in a low tone of wanting to potentially put out fires, though also was certain that any word out of his mouth would just end up fanning the flame, "I think you should trust Turbo with this task, hun."
"Turbo I trust, Lash?" Berri pressed in hovering wait as she gingerly pivoted to leave the calm, easiness of the work den. She gave her father a look of gentle irritation and began to walk away with purpose, "Not so much."
Zed inhaled a readied breath, so to call after her, though exhaled said breath in exasperated exhaustion, sagged his shoulders and shook his head in irritated defeat.
"Sounds like their ice-cream date might not have gone as planned," Throttle mumbled with a cheeky smile, to which Zed shot him a single nod of entire agreeing.
"Poor girl just has too much on her plate," Zed sighed, he shook his head and watched as Berri easily skipped a few steps up the stairs, leading to Tessa's and Zed's main corridor, of their lovely home. He finally shifted on his feet and began to mosey towards the work table, in which everyone was loosely around, he began to clean up a few papers whilst he lazily continued on, for Throttle to hear, "I'm hoping she mellows out after her tour. It seems to be causing her a great deal of stress."
"I don't think the tour alone is the only thing," Throttle mumbled in warm understanding, though he raised his eyebrows in prickled concern the second he saw Rancis, Nox and Wren begin to mosey towards the same exit that Berri escaped through; he was grateful that he caught eyes with Wren, and with such, Wren skillfully slipped out of the motion of leaving and hooked back around to wait for Throttle. With such, Rancis and Nox continued their riveting conversation and equally hooked back around, so to wait for everyone to join them.
"She's... Just figuring out her priorities," Zed concluded with a soft smile, he shook his head and gave Throttle a grateful smile, "I should probably go find Tessa before Berri explodes all over her..."
"You're a King AND a firefighter," Wren muttered with a cheeky smile as he sagged up to Throttle and Zed, he sagged his masculine hands into the pockets of his grey jeans, his tidy white button up showed the faint speckle of the sweet, faint vertical pinstripes down his chest.
"A job I signed up for," Zed stated in teasing regret as he raised his eyebrows, bobbed a nod of mild disinterest and finally brought his gentle, smiling gaze to Throttle and Wren, "It'll all be fine. I know having Lash out and about has put everyone on edge, no?"
"I'm relieved, but... You're not wrong," Throttle muttered with a shaky sigh as he gently eyed Wren in a glancing sweep of rising apprehension, said apprehension that Wren's intuitive nature immediately cued to, "I've missed Lash dearly, but... The guy is such a wild card, I just have no clue what this new-found freedom is going to do for him."
"Well, I trust Turbo will keep a heavy hand on him," Zed stated in warm confidence as he finally gathered the papers he was tidying, he stood up straight and gave Wren and Throttle a look of teasing apprehension, "If you'll excuse me... I need to go save my Queen from Sugar Rush's future Queen."
"User-speed," Wren mumbled with the bulge of his eyes, he blurt a chuckle as Zed playfully nudged his shoulder in the brushing motion of excusing himself from the conversation. Wren smiled and gave Throttle a refreshed look of newness, the topic of Lash being unbubbled set an electrifying air upon the place, though Throttle looked stiff as a board. Wren sagged his shoulders, shook his head and allowed Rancis's and Nox's eager conversing to drown out Wren's low, quiet words to Throttle's nervous disposition, "Y'okay babe? I... I'm sure this isn't easy for you."
"I-I'm okay, it just... Makes me nervous," Throttle heaved a shaky sigh, his shorter black hair had grown out a little and begun to hang over his thicker black eyebrows. Throttle's softly glowing white eyes, and black pixel-cubed pupils, nervously dimmed and peered into Wren's eyes in a secretive plea of urgency, "I-I know what that guy is capable of, and... That, alone, assures me that I'm going to get absolutely no sleep tonight."
"I'm sorry," Wren huffed softly, though as quickly as he was about to suggest maybe staying the night, he dart his eyes across the den and immediately halted himself. He bit his lip in quick thinking and gently side-stepped a potential quarry of more worries Throttle would likely be lofted with, the notion of potentially deeper romance, something neither boys had ever experienced or pursued, "I-Is there maybe... Some sort of coding exercise that Turbo or even Tessa can teach you? I have no clue what any of that entails, seeing that I can't glitch..."
"Well, neither can I," Throttle heaved a shaky breath and looked off; although not nearly as intuitive as Wren, he still easily caught on to Wren's shivering, secretive thoughts. How desperately Throttle wanted to jump out on a limb and bravely invite Wren to spend the night, an escape from Sugar Rush's cooler, spring time nights, Throttle's dimly glowing eyes scanned the ground in desperate searching, "I'm sure there's probably something Turbo can maybe do to my coding to ease my nerves... Or, maybe I can just go to Turbo's loft and actually BE with him and Lash... So I know what's going on, at all times, until I'm... Maybe more comfortable with this whole ordeal."
"Yeah, maybe, a hot cup of tea and a good night's sleep after that," Wren innocently suggested, how eagerly he wanted to dive into this fragile, new experience with Throttle, he could see Throttle's high walls go up. Due to instinct, Wren wondered if maybe he shouldn't go barreling down said wall, he wondered if Throttle's whole entire lifetime of inner turmoil, a whole entire near-forty years of hiding away maybe took a toll on Throttle's willingness to go diving head first into a foreign situation. Wren shrugged and gave Throttle a bashful smile, he wondered if he could at least try and be brave, "I-I give a pretty mean shoulder rub. If... There's anything you'd need me to do for you, you know I'm always here for you, Tee. It's my job as your boyfriend, y'know?"
"I-I appreciate it," Throttle mumbled nervously; he was well aware the two were now officially together, though somehow, hearing it out loud made him feel triggered, the urge to recoil and hide away, the idea that Wren was perfectly comfortable with this brave transition had him curling away even more so, an insecure wave of entire uncertainty. Throttle nervously put his hands in his pockets and bobbed Wren an appreciative nod, though he held an apologetic smile, "S-sorry, I just... I-I think I need some alone time. I'll maybe stop over to see Turbo and Lash before bed, just to ease my mind, but..."
"You don't need to justify yourself, babe, I understand," Wren cooed gently, and as warmly as he could, he gripped Throttle's lower arm and gave him a loving squeeze. The two hooked eyes, Wren's coy look of innocent cuteness had Throttle freezing in the midst of a switch-up, "Take as much time for yourself as you need."
"Thank you," Throttle sighed with a small smile and easily wormed his hand out of his pocket, so to gently hold Wren's hand, though in the fluid motion of Wren gripping Throttle's hand, Wren began to gently step away in the string of held hands until it was no longer possible.
Throttle raised his eyebrows and now felt thwarted by all of this. The secretive game of keep-away, that he was skillfully playing, now very easily swung in Wren's favor due to Wren throwing in the towel and not pushing the topic any farther. An easy show of genuine respect so successfully laced with a coy turn-around of skill. With Wren's gentle footsteps now parting from Throttle and escaping the den with Rancis and Nox, still easily lost in conversation, Throttle was well aware Wren had now put the ball in Throttle's court, that if Throttle wanted a shred of what Wren had to offer, he now had to be the one to go chasing after it; a notion he was entirely certain he wasn't capable of outside of sheer desperation, something that had begun to itch the undersides of his fragile red circuits.
