Reviews :

Nikki Firesong : Aww, WOW! Thank you so much ;_; You don't know what that means to me.

faolan1230 : LOL! Finally, huh :D I wish I could tell you that the Berbo ship all smooth sailing from here, but it's not xD

Snake557 : Haha yes indeed, she does definitely get picked on :P


Song Listened To :

Quarter Past Midnight by Bastille

Kids by One Republic


*Chapter 145*

Although the next three days trudged by as slowly as could be, Berri could feel as if the universe had hit fast forward on her life the second she stepped into Sugar Rush. Although hot on the heels of the steep, inescapable, avalanching slope of a downgrade her and Gunner just previously went through, she felt as light as a feather. With the finale of their last two shows inside Dig Dug, an awkward amount of touring without Gunner or their typical crew, the fight and struggle it was for Berri, Wren, Theo and Throttle to so much as remain in the same room as Gunner, they powered through with smiles and remained on top of the drama. With the thought of never wanting to disappoint their fans tight at the forefront of their perspective, the end of the tour ended a bit more seamlessly than Berri anticipated. Delightfully surprised, and feeling as free as a bird, she did everything she could to spend as much time with her family, inside Sugar Rush, before tidily excusing herself to her hovering tower on the palace lot; easily believed that she was extremely exhausted and absolutely had to get home to shower and sleep, she trudged home in a forced show of exhaustion and exploded into purpose the second her feet pressed into her bedroom.

Thankful Chester was likely spending time with the rest of the flyers, in the enclosure on the palace lot, she urgently shoved into her room and hurriedly began to mutter to herself in a rushed show of excited terror. Extremely relieved to be back home, she inhaled a deep breath of the familiar, homey smell of her bedroom and felt her heart nearly thud straight out of her chest. She could hardly wait to press into Turbo's abode and melt into his aura for the rest of the night, an entire speckle of unadulterated solace on top of the world. She basically tossed herself into her closet, ripped her clothes off of herself and urgently poked her head out of her closet, so to get a good look at the beautiful wall clock hanging in her bathroom. She grit her teeth in urgency and hissed an obscenity to herself; with only fifteen minutes left to spare, she did everything she could to pick the perfect outfit for her's and Turbo's first date, something she had been thinking of for every single minute since it was decided.

In a clumsy rush to her nearby body mirror, it showed the closet behind her in mild disarray. She furrowed her eyebrows and peered to herself in the mirror, though she rolled her eyes and urgently began to rip the fresh pair of clothes off of her body, once more. Berri grunted in now loud irritation and rushed to find something else to wear. She shook her head at herself and felt foreign in this situation. She always figured that, eventually, they'd have a first date and it'd be something to prepare for, outfit wise, though now that it was all upon her, so quickly, she felt brain dead. Having thrown on a very nice pair of jeans and a comfortable, sleek black shirt that daintily gaped at the neck in a beautiful, elegant way, she shrugged and figured she shouldn't get way too dolled up. With the raw idea that Turbo was to be picking her up at the palace, she figured he'd be on his motorcycle, and should likely dress accordingly for the drive. In the swipe to throw on a cute pair of her favorite grey converse, she flinched in terrified surprise as her phone urgently began to ring. In a stumbling swipe, she peered to her screen and felt her heart thud in continuous nervousness, though she rolled her eyes in annoyance and picked up the call.

"Lash, what's up," Berri grunted, she tried to act nonchalant.

"You busy, my dude?" Lash mumbled nervously, to which Berri firmly nodded, bugged her eyes and wildly gestured her arms down to her phone.

"No, not at all," Berri chimed daintily, she put Lash on speaker, swiped her phone into her hand and began to rush out of her larger closet. She pressed to her beautiful, marbled vanity and sinks so she could begin tidying her hair, "What's up?"

"I... I've been sitting here for the last HOUR debating on whether I should call you and tell you this, or not, but..." Lash trailed on nervously, though Berri finally halted all movement and peered hard into her own blue eyes, in the mirror. She held her breath, and upon hearing her heart beat loudly pounding away in her ears, Lash cutely carried on, "Turbo is, well... Going out on a date with someone, right now."

Berri sagged her shoulders in whole entire relief, crowned a wide, glowing smile, lulled her eyes closed and felt joy soak her circuits. As desperately as she wanted to throw her arm up and proudly state that that said, certain someone was, indeed, herself, she felt honored by the fact that Turbo was keeping their brand new little embers of a certain something under wraps. She beamed down to her phone as Lash nervously hovered in wait.

"Oh, really?" Berri eased cutely, a nonchalant air she tried to uphold, "That's great, though! Why do you sound so upset about it? He deserves to get out and do something fun."

"... You're REALLY not upset about it?" Lash barked in whole confusion, "Just a few weeks ago, you told me, and everyone important to Sugar Rush, INCLUDING Turbo, that you loved the guy. Surely this isn't easy for you, what the hell?"

"I-I mean... It's not, but I don't control what the poor guy does," Berri shrugged, "I'm away from Sugar Rush a lot, he's probably... Getting restless, then."

Berri began to quickly comb her hair, though she figured she'd be throwing it into a sloppy bun so to wear a helmet on the motorcycle trek to Turbo's loft. She was aware that a simple teleport would suffice, though she was grateful Turbo was willing to go the lengths of crafting this as a proper date, something a bit more serious and not so nonchalant. Upon Berri getting lost in her thoughts, she sharply furrowed her brows and realized just how many seconds of silence had passed between her and Lash. Still on a brushing spree, she shot her gaze down to her phone and saw that she was still on a phone call with Lash. She flinched as Lash's deep voice finally pierced her echoey bathroom via her speaker phone.

"... That 'someone' is you, isn't it," Lash muttered in annoyance, though Berri could hear him smiling.

"Yes, it is," Berri mumbled cutely, she smiled at herself in the mirror and finished brushing her hair out. She stood up straighter, tidied her clothes and quickly looked at the clock, "He bubbled you, didn't he."

"Yes, like over an hour ago and I'm so irritated," Lash barked loudly, he was prepared to now take out his irritation on the one person that was the cause of this all, "Can't he come over to your house, or something? I live here, now, too!"

"Dude, you got a lot of your rights taken away when you tried to murder my mother and I," Berri snapped with a Queenly air, she cocked an eyebrow down to her phone, swiped it up, pressed out of her bathroom and began to turn lights out in preparation to leave; she spritzed herself with one single spray of her favorite perfume and ogled herself in the mirror, once more, to make sure she looked alright, "I think Turbo and I deserve a nice, quiet dinner together. You can handle being bubbled while Turbo and I... For User's sake... Figure out what the hell is going on, even."

"Yeah, haven't you two been playing cat and mouse for like a century now?" Lash muttered in irritation, Berri knew that Lash was well aware he didn't have a single leg to stand on, here.

"Something like that," Berri heaved a long sigh, she furrowed her brows, shook her head and scrunched her eyes shut, "I-I gotta go, Lash, I... I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, and by 'later' you mean after y'all would've swapped codes, gotten married and had a whole army of weird half-Turbo-looking children," Lash rushed, though he hovered in cheeky pondering and blurt a small, cute laugh, "Wow, what would one of your's and Turbo's babies even look like? What an interesting combo-"

"You're... Two HUNDRED steps ahead of even US, there, dude," Berri rushed, she was certain her face was a harsh shade of red. She breathed a shy, exasperated giggle and shook her head, "I'll text you later."

"Alright, fine," Lash grumbled as Berri finally was able to end their call, though not before he cheekily shouted, "Use protection!"

Berri hung up firmly and grit her teeth down to her phone. With a riled, revved grunt, she jostled about her phone in whole, blushing irritation and flinched in surprise the second a text message popped up on her screen. She stood up straighter and felt her pupils tighten at the message before her. One of the palace guards had cutely notified her that her ride was here, outside the palace's main gates, and with Turbo's sweet, gentlemanly arrival, she bit her lip and wondered just how real all of this would feel. She knew Turbo as a best friend, a lone soul high above Sugar Rush, a romantic fling in few-second flits of desperately trying to resist the urge to get together, for good; she almost felt nervous to get to know Turbo on a deeper level. One that went beyond simply flirting and stealing kisses, one that delved into chivalry, Kingly respect, she heaved a trembling breath as her shoes tapped into her room's teleportation pad. She lulled her eyes closed in entire nervousness and wondered just why she was so scared, she would be with the one person she missed the most. Someone she knew better than anyone. This strange transition from flirty friends to potential, impending commitment made her head spin.

In a skillful teleport to the gaping, front doors of the palace, she came into being and hovered, for a moment. She raised her eyebrows in gentle cuteness and peered back to the palace's glorious Great Hall; something that was kept from Sugar Rush's old castle, alongside the remodel, Berri peered back to the quiet emptiness in sweet, nostalgic readiness, as if the castle was cutely encouraging her to go, to run off and figure out the questions she had been asking herself for months now. As her hand hovered over the palace's massive double door's golden handle, she pressed down on the huge knob with the strength of her whole arm. With a firm push of the enormous front door, she gingerly stepped outside the palace's front, open-aired terrace of an entrance. In ginger curiosity, her eyes caught with the gorgeous white pillars, each lined with the touches of a confident blaze atop Sugar Rush's most delicious of giant marshmallows, Berri's eyes finally glossed past the palace's guards and to the sight patiently waiting in the sprawl of the palace's beautiful entrance.

Leaned against his incredible, powered-off bike, arms crossed, eyes aloft in aimless wandering, Turbo patiently stood. He wore an unzipped motorcycle jacket, a tighter black t-shirt underneath with his favorite pair of faded racing jeans. Berri immediately felt thrilled that she had picked the right attire, she knew, full well, Turbo wouldn't care what she wore to their date, though the fact that she could instinctually wear semi-casual attire to said first date had her confident that this night was going to go very well. Although the door silently opened, it firmly clacked shut, getting the attention of the guards, off to the side, as well as Turbo. He immediately released himself from his lazy lean, yanked his arms from his crossed position and straightened his clean jacket.

In the whirl of the gentle catch of their eyes, Berri felt the urge to glitch-hop the distance and bombard Turbo with a huge, glom of a hug, though she felt her coding bubble inside of her and urgently resist. She gently walked the gap in a steady pace, not too eager and not too nonchalant, she was glad Turbo caught on to her demeanor; as she almost silently proposed that the two of them were to potentially hit a reset on their flirtatious standing, to take a step back and maybe not act way too comfortable around each other. Although they both knew each other very well, Turbo also resisted the urge to dive headlong into a sweeping hug of her warm arms, he eagerly caught her subtle cues and adhered to it like his life depended on it. Easily soaking into the switch up, they still smiled into each other's eyes in knowing, festering, well-concealed eagerness, as if this feeling was way long over due. Trying to follow Berri's lead to take things one step at a time, Turbo felt an itch to at least get some sort of flirtatious notions in, no matter what.

"How... Do you keep getting prettier?" Turbo slowly wondered, although Berri sagged into a bashful smile and peered into Turbo's glowing eyes, she halted amidst the switch up and noted that Turbo was almost seriously asking her this question. Berri giggled and finally rolled her eyes in a loft of her gaze elsewhere, as if she was making clear that she teasingly didn't believe his words; he persisted, "No, I'm serious, what the heck?"

"Yeah, in the fifteen minutes I had to spare, to get ready, I look incredibly gorgeous in this casual outfit I picked," Berri grunted, clearly downplaying; her style was kissed with a cute, feminine show of daintiness, and although she wanted to continue loudly protesting Turbo's cute notions, she froze as he warmly scooped her left hand into his and began to slowly raise it up to himself.

"You're not wrong," Turbo mumbled, his deep voice coat the back of her left hand as his smiling lips gingerly pressed a warm kiss to the back of her hand.

Berri raised her eyebrows gently and felt her breath catch. Although not the first time Turbo had so sweetly kissed her hand, like such, this time he didn't succumb to a bow, he kept his spine straight and brought her hand to him. His golden eyes peered down to her in whole, warm confidence. A mildly cocky move for a first date, as well as the incredible stature she had over him, Berri felt as if the circumstance here was entirely different. She raised her eyebrows in poised surprise and peered up into Turbo's loving gaze, nothing but good intentions, though it was here did she feel her heart nearly stop in realization. A rather bold, silent statement he so simply gave to her, with nothing but body language, she quickly realized that his dominance laid the foundation for this instance, he claimed the night as his, something he now owned; flustered, she bashfully succumbed to said silent, massive conversation within the span of about five seconds. She understood that, from here on out, compliments volleyed were to be received and not shoved away; this night held a different air, this night was something Berri could tell that Turbo had been wanting for a very long time, now.

"... Thank you," Berri's womanly voice pressed in genuine love, she sagged her shoulders and almost felt entirely relieved to not really be in charge of the mood, tonight. She felt a wave of confidence eke off of Turbo as if he had uploaded a world of knowledge to his coding overnight. Turbo smiled into her eyes, lowered her hand and squeezed it in the continuous, warm grip he hand on her, something she easily returned. Berri inhaled a shaky breath and felt her heart throb in readiness, she peered to Turbo's bike and beamed, "I-I... I'm kind of nervous, here."

"Wait, why?" Turbo suddenly frowned as he froze, as if one single hiccup, in this night, was not something he wanted to think about affording.

"No, everything's fine, I just..." Berri skillfully deployed a move, her hand gingerly glossed down Turbo's upper arm and subtly squeezed, "I've never been on your bike, before. I've been on mine, and Wren's, but... Nothing THIS scarily fast."

"Are you worried?" Turbo patiently pressed, he glanced to his bike and huffed a gentle, humble chuckle, "It'll... It'll only go as fast as I allow it to. I can go a certain speed, if you'd prefer. Whatever you'd like."

Berri opened her mouth in a huff of nervousness, though she finally bit her lip and peered up into Turbo's confident, lovely, golden glowing eyes. He held fast to her, unwavering, patiently anticipating her decision; although Berri felt certain he was simply going to be in charge of everything, she held her breath and almost felt bad that she was tip toeing around Turbo's game plan. She heaved a gentle sigh through her nose and now understood the weight of this situation. She tried to wrap her head around the raw fact that, not only was she going on a date with the infamous Turbo, but she was about to get on the back of his bike; the greatest racer ever. She gently glossed her eyes down the incredible beast of a bike and understood that, no matter what would happen, Turbo would protect her. She lulled her eyes closed, gently rest her hand on the loved seat of Turbo's bike and gave him full eye contact, a humble smile of sweetness, the ability to let go of the control.

"No, no, I... I trust you," Berri assured warmly, and with such, she could see Turbo's confident demeanor rush back to him as he inhaled a deep breath and expanded his powerful, broad chest.

"It's not every day I get to transport precious cargo," Turbo chuckled, though he took a step back and gently began to take off his motorcycle jacket. With ease, he stepped into Berri's bubble and lovingly draped his jacket over her cute shoulders, and much to her surprise, she hovered for a moment before she finally succumbed to his silent request and slipped her arms into his jacket; she tried not to flutter her eyes at the irresistible scent it firmly radiated, likely her favorite thing in the whole world. Turbo gently helped her worm her way into it and securely began to zip it for her; once she finally did the rest, Turbo pulled out his materializer and effortlessly supplied the two with helmets, "I figured, y'know, if... This is going to be a proper date, I'd better do it right."

"I don't have any complaints," Berri huffed a small, surprised giggle, to which Turbo eased a playful smile and nervously shrugged.

"Yet," Turbo muttered, to which Berri gently swat his chest; he blurt a small chuckle and was thrilled the two could still fall into their easy, old habits of their close friendship.

"What's that supposed to mean! I'm not one to constantly complain about stuff," Berri beamed a wide smile, to which Turbo finally caved to his urges and lovingly pulled Berri into a warm almost-full hug.

"I was taking a stab at myself, love," Turbo choked a small laugh and was thrilled Berri wasted no time to sink into his warm side-embrace.

"I'm so sure," Berri muttered, she knew she couldn't wipe the grin from her face if her life depended on it.

"C'mon, I don't know about you, but I'm starving," Turbo mumbled cutely into the top of her lovely blue hair, and before he pulled away, he lovingly pressed a firm kiss into the side of her head, "No time to waste."

"Yes, sir," Berri lilted with cute anticipation, and with the mount they both took onto the back of Turbo's menacing bike, the palace trembled as Turbo turned the ignition.

"Thank you for flying Black Airlines tonight, Your Highness," Turbo chimed over the now evened out grumble of his idle bike; Berri blurt a hard laugh into the back of Turbo's head as they both began to secure their helmets over their heads. Turbo loudly chuckled and continued on, "We got a clear, lovely night here inside Sugar Rush, and hopefully, we won't run into any slow-driving snow birds. We'll be reaching our destination of Orion Tower within about twenty minutes... Ten if you're feeling brave."

"Just... Tell me where the emergency exits are," Berri loudly giggled at Turbo's sweet, charming notions, though before Turbo flipped his visor down, he gently shot Berri a cheeky look and cocked an eyebrow.

"There are none," Turbo mumbled through a cute, knowing smile as he finally flipped down his visor and prepared to grip the handles of his bike, "Hold on tight, babe."