Reviews :

faolan1230 : That's true! Everyone's got a bit of work to do, in this department of trust lol

Burgie : Definitely a reoccurring theme, here, in Wrecking Limits Land :P Thank you!

Nikki Firesong : Hey! Thank you for asking! I'm doing okay, I'm currently on day 9 of a quarantine. I have a month of paid leave I was allowed to take, so I'm just at home :) Getting paid to write and draw to my heart's content. Can't complain! And, thank you for the lovely feedback, as always! I appreciate your insight as such, every character definitely has their own conclusions to draw and opinions to form. Sunday is going to be a buuuusyyy day for Turbo, for sure!


Song Listened To :

Smoke ft. Amanda Fondell by Didrick


*Chapter 161*

Imdead : Hey man, got a few minutes to chat?

Wren cocked an eyebrow and froze in suspended terror; he knew that, a few days prior, he puffed his chest and felt pretty awesome standing up to Sugar Rush's King, though as the minutes, hours and days slowly crept by, Wren began to feel the onset of dread eventually swallow him whole into a vat of entire guilt, with only hindsight as his view. Wren inhaled a trembling breath and gently took off his big, over-ear headphones, he sat comfortably on his unmade bed in nothing but a lazy t-shirt crowned with a hole near the gape of his collar, and lazy grey sweats. As he quickly did what he could to scoot his laptop off of his knee and grapple for his phone, so he could give this conversation his undivided attention, his phone buzzed once more.

Imdead : You're leaving for tour tomorrow, right?

Wren furrowed his brow and felt a strange urge to distance himself from Zed, he shook his head and began to nervously reply a short quip of a response.

Songbird : Sorry Zed, I don't have time. I'm busy packing for tour.

Wren locked his phone shoved it into his pocket and felt a strange sweep of victory crown him proverbial king, any notion of terror or nervousness now was very quickly replaced with a vapid dollop of previously visited cockiness. He knew it wouldn't last forever, though felt good riding out the dregs of whatever power he could grapple to, in this instance. Due for a victory snack, congratulating himself likely a little too soon, Wren pushed any issues to the wayside and marched to his teleportation pad, in his bedroom. Upon teleporting to the empty kitchen and main room downstairs, he inhaled a deep, refreshed breath and let his eyes gloss the sunny place, kissed with Sugar Rush's warm, evening glow. In the gentle trail of his vivid eyes that glossed the kitchen, he felt his heart nearly come bursting out of his chest in a spark of entire terror at the icy blue gaze locked tight to his in a show of fatherly authority. Wren choked a noise, clutched his chest, jolted in a knee-jerk reaction of horror and finally shut his eyes tight as he hunkered into the kitchen's main teleportation pad for safety.

"HOLY shit, dude?" Wren staggered firmly in whole, scared irritation; Zed huffed a cocky chuckle and softly stood from the bend of the island's bar-like counter, he straightened out his shirt and slowly began to mosey from the gap to come into full view. Wren sharply furrowed his eyebrows and now sent Zed a rather frustrated glower of shaky, discombobulated irritation, his words carried on in uneducated grasping strictly out of shaken bewilderment, "I-I thought I locked the front door?"

Zed cocked an eyebrow and crowned a dominant, cheeky grin of annoyed delight, he inhaled a breath and tried not to laugh at Wren's clearly embarrassed spouts of words, "In case you forgot, I'm the pony-master in this grand ol' circus, my guy. I didn't even consider the front door. I built this damned tower, mind you."

Wren exhaled a shaky breath through his nose and knew his words were stupid; he nervously glossed his eyes to Zed's broad chest and shoulders in aimless worry, he knew he needed to somehow match Zed's energy. He stiffened, stepped out of the teleportation pad and began to hurriedly stomp towards their glossy, stainless steel refrigerator.

"Forgive me," Wren submitted, he could practically feel the entire Earth bevel underneath Zed's even still, calm disposition, still held Kingly with whole power; Wren avoided eye contact and opened the fridge.

"Wren," Zed stated knowingly, though his tone held great warmth, as if to kindly remind Wren that he wasn't here to fight or punish, he heaved a soft sigh and trailed it with a small chuckle, "Please, can I have your attention for just a minute?"

Wren frowned and now felt entire, immediate guilt as he finally threw in the towel, closed the fridge, turned around and stepped closer to the kitchen's island, across from Zed's stance. He faced Zed and held his breath, his wavering eyes peered into Zed's wholly for the first time in this encounter, and with such, Wren felt a wiggle of comfort in it. Although Berri was womanly and had beautiful, soft facial features, Wren held his breath and examined Zed's face in almost neediness, the way him and Berri were nearly spitting image, Wren heaved a shaky sigh and patiently soaked in Zed's familiar, still presence. Eyes that hooked tight to Wren's like Berri's would, filled with such depth and intuition, the inquisitive narrow of his lids in a squint had Wren reeling, even their mannerisms were so scarily similar. Zed finally smiled, something he very easily gifted to Berri, as well. He breathed a knowing chuckle, in Wren's direction, crossed his arms and leaned the side of his hip into the counter he was nearest in a relaxing stance.

"I wanted to let you know that I'm impressed with you," Zed's deep voice pressed as calmly and gently as he could, he was well aware Wren's feelings here were fragile, he hoped lofting a compliment his way would help him open up; like suspected, Wren's eyes brightened, if just a little, and hooked into Zed's once again.

"H-How?" Wren staggered as he furrowed his brow, Zed shrugged and chuckled as he aimlessly looked down to his feet in contemplation.

"I may be a softy, but I know standing up to me couldn't've been an easy task," Zed mumbled with a cute smile, he finally returned his gaze to Wren's, "You stood your ground against someone with much higher authority than you, and defended someone you vowed a valuable piece of your loyalty to. That took guts. You really are Rancis's son."

Wren softened and looked down to his able hands, his forearms and elbows lay planted into the cold counter he rested against. He inhaled a shaky breath, bobbed a nod and lulled his eyes closed in knowing.

"It was a lose lose, for me," Wren mumbled cutely, he finally crowned a smile, "I either hesitantly agreed with you and lost sleep over not defending my best friend and disregarding my morals, or... I defended my best friend to my whole ability and voiced that I disagreed with you. The entire King of Sugar Rush."

"... I don't think I'd view that as a lose-lose, Wren," Zed chuckled, he shook his head and gave Wren a cheeky smile of squinting delight, "Your choice was a win-win. You defended Turbo behind his back and stuck to your guns. Doesn't matter who it's against. Just because I'm King doesn't mean I'm always right, or have the right to claim that I am, over everyone under my word."

"Are you saying you were wrong?" Wren dared, he gave Zed a look of humble curiosity, to which Zed nodded with a shrug and looked off in exasperated contemplation.

"I'm saying... You're right that I should trust my gut and trust Turbo, for he hasn't given us reason to NOT trust him, but..." Zed trailed with a sigh and hesitantly pressed on, "I still think we should be wary of Lash."

"I never said we shouldn't be," Wren defended gently, he stood up a bit straighter and cleared his throat, "I said we shouldn't isolate him or keep him at arm's length."

"I agree," Zed's deep voice tenderly concluded, his twinkling blue eyes peered to Wren in soft curiosity, "Turbo chose well to keep you close by, and although I will be wary of Lash for a long while, I... I'm protective of my kingdom. I'm protective of my swap mate, my children, my family. Lash robbed me of all of those things, in one form or another."

"You have every right to be nervous," Wren mumbled with a conclusory nod as he looked back down to his hands, on the cold counter below him, "I didn't mean to cause a scene. That was immature of me."

"It's understandable, you were frustrated," Zed shrugged, "Been there, done that."

"Really?" Wren tenderly wondered, Zed blurt a knowing laugh and heavily nodded.

"Ho yeah. Ralph and I have gone toe-to-toe many-a palace meeting," Zed grunted with continued laughter, he wrinkled his nose and fixed a few vivid blue strands of his hair that got in his line of sight, "I guess it's different with my father-in-law. Something you won't have to worry about."

"I may not eventually have a father-in-law, but I will have three new bigger brothers," Wren bugged his eyes and peered to Zed in a spike of nervousness, "I have one big sister. I have to learn how to navigate three other dudes, all who love Throttle more than the next."

"Yeah, you got your hands full with all those guys, they're a fun bunch," Zed bobbed a nod and gave Wren a sweet smile, "You'll be just fine. Nox is harmless, Turbo's your best friend, and, well... I guess just keep your eye on Lash."

"I guess him and Berri are actually getting on pretty well," Wren mumbled, he wondered if he was potentially telling on Berri, here, though he carried on, "Sometimes Lash calls her while we're on off hours, on tour. She laughs and jokes and they talk about nothing for a decent amount of time. Another reason why I'm not... Particularly worried about it all. I feel Berri has solid judgement on this kind of thing, right?"

"Yeah, she does," Zed furrowed his brow in now whole, reeling contemplation, his considerate eyes aimlessly glossed the kitchen behind Wren in thought as he carefully carried on, "She used to be so scared of all of the TurboTime men, when she was younger. Had horrid nightmares because of the memory Tessa unfortunately gifted to her, whilst she was pregnant with Berri. The memory of being deleted at Lash's will... If she's really warmed up to Lash like you say she has..."

"Don't take my word for it," Wren gently held up his hands, and though he opened his mouth to continue on, both men faltered in curiosity the second the tower's front door could be heard nonchalantly being unlocked from the outside.

Although said individual entering the building was out of sight, their entry into the building was easy going and casual, as if the person lived here. Wren and Zed hovered in tender, listening silence in anticipation for just who would be rounding the dimmer corridor's soft bend, though as said person approached, heavier footsteps gently slapped the tiles, cueing to both men that this individual was bare foot, furthering their clues of knowing that this person was comfortable here. Wren furrowed his brow in prickled, cute confusion and wondered if this person was potentially Throttle, due to Berri and Theo being upstairs packing, though the second this still hidden individual began to softly and cutely mumble the chorus of a sweet song, Wren raised his eyebrows in hard surprise and understood this individual's voice to be Turbo's. A deep press of sweet, hushed and mumbled words of beautiful singing, a depth of bass that even still reverberated the walls at such a quiet volume, Wren wrinkled a smile as Turbo's figure finally came about the corner.

In the lazy jostle of an added tinkering noise, Turbo swirled his keys on the key ring about his pointer finger, held nonchalantly up in the air before him. Upon seeing Zed's and Wren's silent, still figures, he immediately halted his jolt of shocked footwork, ceased his mumbly, deep singing, raised his eyebrows in prickled, concealed fear and pursed his lips in a manner of almost looking as if he was caught committing a crime. Turbo huffed a shaky breath, eased his keys into his lazy red sweat's pockets and rested his free hand on his broad chest, which was only lazily clothed with a thin, loose white tank that draped his strong, grey collar bones. Turbo crowned a small, sheepish smile and felt a weird wiggle of misstepping come over him as his eyes glanced between Wren's and Zed's. He huffed a nervous chuckle and wondered if he should likely leave the tower, he was well aware he potentially didn't have to explain himself to Zed, in the form of just why he was here at the gang's tower, though in the act of trying to find stable ground to stand on, he staggered a few nervous notions out to the two men before him.

"H-Hey, guys," Turbo cleared his throat and bravely pressed into the kitchen, his aura radiated uncertainty, "Wh-what're you doing here? Am I interrupting something?"

"No, we're just having a little chat," Zed stated with certainty, a confident being without even so much as trying, he shot Wren a small smile and volleyed said sting, confident eye contact back to Turbo's orbs in unwavering challenge, "What're YOU doing here?"

"I-I was just... W-Well," Turbo swallowed hard, eased his nervous hands into his pockets in hopes that if no one saw them trembling, no one would know how uncertain he was in this instance.

"Say it with your chest, bud, what are you up to?" Zed choked a small laugh, gestured to his own chest, held his head high and tried to lead by example.

"Berri, I'm... Here to see Berri," Turbo finally blurt with a nervous chuckle as he bashfully rubbed the back of his head, "I'm here to help her pack."

"How dare you," Wren muttered, to which him and Zed shared a good laugh.

"I'm surprised she didn't just tell you to use her teleport pad, the one in her bedroom," Zed delicately inquired, though Turbo raised his eyebrows a little and was at least surprised to be proven that Zed wasn't going to be overbearing in their brand new relationship, for every other person that was nosey about just what the two did behind closed doors, he was floored Zed was not one of them.

"O-Oh, she... Does, sometimes," Turbo so carefully revealed, he eyed Zed with gentle uncertainty and shrugged, "I always ask to use that teleport pad, before using it, but... She gave me a key to the tower to make life a little easier. I can just... Come inside the tower and she can come down from her room once she's decent, or ready, or whatever. No pressure."

"Is this a new installment?" Wren wondered cutely, to which Turbo shot him a dull look of mild, playful, smiling annoyance.

"Considering that our relationship is a new installment, yeah, it comes with new boundaries," Turbo jabbed, he crowned a cute, bashful smile and finally welcomed himself to Wren's and Zed's bubble, once and for all. He leaned his hands to the larger island's counter they shared and gave the two a curious smile, the evening sunshine hit the glow of his eyes just right, ultimately muting said glow altogether, leaving a creepy matte yellow that hugged crisp, black square pupils, "Not... That it's a bad thing that you're here, but... How come you're here, Zed?"

"Well, since everyone in Sugar Rush's hierarchy, excluding Berri, knows about your, well... Proposals, I discovered that you appointed Wren to be at your right hand," Zed stated cutely, to which Wren bashfully looked down to his hands and felt a wash of being discovered come over him. Zed's fatherly voiced pressed on, "We held an impromptu palace meeting last night, which... If I'm being honest, involved you and the notion of you being Sugar Rush's future, and, well... From the abrupt conclusion of the meeting, I was quickly made aware that you have picked well for yourself."

"Ah yeah?" Turbo pressed cutely, he eyed Wren in soft, teasing suspicion as Wren only barely glanced in his direction, a swathe of shyness coat his sunny soul, "How do you figure?"

"Turbo, any man that is willing to defend you in your absence is a man you do not want to let loose from your court," Zed stated wisely with a small nod, "We're all wary of Lash, I lost track of what was important in all of this, and... Wren was quick to bring it all back around, again, in your honor."

"Thanks, man," Turbo pressed in cute, gentle surprise as he gave Wren a smile full of elated gratitude, and though Wren bobbed a bashful nod and finally gave Turbo a humble smile, Turbo furrowed his brow and gave Zed a curiously apprehensive look of a narrowing gaze, "You're wary of Lash? I mean, I understand why, but... I-Is there anything I can do to make it easier on everyone?"

"Oh it's... Likely not something I should discuss, here, without Ralph, Rancis and Ace," Zed sighed nonchalantly, though he gave Turbo a sweet smile, "The meeting was just a formality... Make sure everyone was on the same page before we dove into our gathering coming up, this Sunday."

"WHY do I have to be on tour when all the fun happens," Wren grumbled, he eyed Turbo in annoyance, "Can you call me directly after, or something?"

"Yeah, I'll call you, crying," Turbo mumbled nervously, though Zed blurt a laugh and shook his head as both men before him eased into cute smiles.

"It's not like that," Zed heaved a chuckle and shook his head amidst a wide grin that mocked Berri's.

"I can't imagine you, of all people, CRYING," Wren spout, he wrinkled his nose and peered to Turbo, as if to attempt to imagine it.

"Doesn't happen often," Turbo mumbled cutely, though he furrowed his brow and gave Wren an annoyed smile.

"I've seen you cry," Zed muttered cheekily as he looked off, a playful air of snootiness, to which Wren gaped and shot Turbo a look of surprise.

"What? Why? When?" Wren quickly spout in high pitched frenzy, to which Turbo lazily bobbed his head and shrugged.

"Who, Where," Turbo listed in a mutter, Zed choked a laugh.

"It's not important, I've tortured the lot of you for long enough," Zed mumbled as he began to stand, so to officially see himself out, though in the tense of his core to bring himself to a stand, the kitchen's hub of a teleport pad gently buzzed and revealed said blue haired beauty of a hot topic, as of late.

All cozily dressed in a lovely, lazy, yellow sweater and faded, light brown sweats, Berri gently stepped off the pad coincidentally mumbling the same little tune Turbo was previously singing, and in the single step off the pad, Berri jolted in silver glitch lines and froze as solid as a statue. With the peer of said three men back at her, all with a different twinkle of concern in their eye, Berri raised her eyebrows in girly, prickled surprise and peered to Turbo, then Wren, and finally her father. She exhaled a shaky breath, bashfully tucked her hair behind her ears and finally dart her eyes about in whole, girly suspicion. She gently crossed her arms, her beautiful, natural, wavy blue hair tucked into the folds of her lazy, quick seal of her arms and the thick, yellow cloth of her sweater.

"What's going on, here?" Berri pressed in a gentle ease of authority, as high of a stature Zed had over literally everyone, the gang knew that the women on palace grounds held rank, no matter what. All three boys' eyes looked down in a cute, nervous act of being discovered as Berri hurriedly pressed on, "Such a valiant 'meeting of the minds', surely I should be involved. What's being discussed?"

"Oh, I went with Rancis this morning on a trip about Orion City's perimeter. We got a bit swamped with a few of the city's needs and thought it'd be helpful to have a third set of eyes, with us," Turbo so skillfully maneuvered, something that had Zed giving Turbo a secretive look of floored, impressed bewilderment. Turbo softly radiated honesty, though it was soiled by the sheepish smile he crowned, something Zed was certain Berri would navigate like Turbo wouldn't believe, "We were just asking if Wren would like to join. Something Zed would oversee."

"That's bullshit," Berri snipped quickly through a pursed look of seriousness, a deathly look of Queenly authority, to which Zed choked a hard laugh and shook his head.

"It's not bullshit, love, that's a real thing," Zed pressed firmly with a wide smile; in any other case, Zed would willingly let Berri climb all over Turbo and set him straight, though in this fragile predicament, Zed knew he needed to keep Turbo's secret just that. Zed firmly stood and softly peered to Wren, praying he'd play along, "Wren, you good for that first Sunday you're back in Sugar Rush, then?"

"Yeah, I'll be there," Wren cooly stated with a small nod, to which Berri furrowed her brows and looked about the group in nervous contemplation, as if she was certain she could sniff lies from a million miles away; having known just how the game, the code room and the city ran, she took a proverbial step back and wondered if her ducks had fallen out of the row they were so tidily in. Wren inhaled a deep breath and acted nonchalantly, as if to pretend they were genuinely in the depths of said unassuming conversation, "You want me to take the northern side of the city, then?"

"Yeah, that whole bend, Rancis usually has the eastern bend, where the freeway hugs, and Turbo usually takes the south and the west, the closest to his tower," Zed lazily instructed with hand movements, and though Wren nodded and was eager to continue playing along, the conversation softly dipped to a gentle stop, in which Turbo furrowed his brow and gave Berri a cheeky look of playful hurt.

"Ouch, by the way," Turbo muttered in her direction, and with such, Berri softened and felt bad for potentially thwarting Turbo's words.

"I-I'm... I'm sorry, I'm in a mood," Berri mumbled as she put her hand to her forehead, though it was here did Turbo see the angry splay of stress marks on her temples. Turbo gingerly opened his arm to her and was glad she eased closer to him. She finally sagged into his arm for a tight side hug, their adorable height difference, so close and tucked tight into each other, now had Zed and Wren staring in warm, unassuming curiosity, "Gunner won't stop texting me."

"Gunner?" Turbo pressed in a rise of becoming-firm annoyance as he peered to Wren over the top of Berri's fluffy blue head of hair. He gently squeezed her into his chest as her littler arms came about his middle, she sighed and lulled her eyes closed as he carried on, "Want me to text him?"

"Hoo kay, I'm leaving before the tower burns down," Zed blurt a chuckle and held his hands up in defense, he began to slowly mosey towards the gape of the entry corridor and smiled back at the group, "See you guys later, and, seriously... Please don't burn the tower down."

"I won't let him," Wren mumbled to Zed with a lazy smile and a gentle wave of his hand, to which Zed chuckled and kindly saw himself out.

"What's he saying to you?" Turbo pressed in stern frustration as he tilted his head down and tried to gain eye contact with Berri, though she sagged and slumped her shoulders, as if to show exhaustion.

"You're not gunna like it," Berri concluded in exasperated defeat.