Reviews :

TheMisterX : Hey! Thank you, so much. I love bringing things from WAY back when, full circle. I try to keep up with my own continuity, can't say I'm perfect at it tho xD Also, you're my 600th reviewer! CONGRATS! And thank you! :')

Snake557 : Hey thanks so much! :D Yes, Theo freaks out haha.

BananaSammich : You're not wrong! I'm so floored to expand on them, especially since Theo's a soft boi. Squee

faolan1230 : LMAO! Yeah Tatum has stayed informed. Ever since Berri went to school with Turbo's hoodie, and then the few times the band has gone to Sugarbucks with Turbo - pictures were bound to be snapped. I'm excited for you guys to read on as well! YAY!


Song Listened To :

Born to be Yours by Kygo and Imagine Dragons


*Chapter 172*

Enduring a much softer, easier landing, Berri's electric silver coding jolted into her bathroom, inside Castle Run's glorious, celebrity suite. She heavily panted through her nose and urgently looked about her bathroom. Pristine and left the same as she left it hours ago, she continued to remain frozen and inhale deep, heavy breaths through her nose. In sharp long-blinks of discombobulation, she allowed her coding to come back to grips with physical reality. Having just traversed the entirety of Arcade, whether that be by light cycle, train or electric wires, she felt the weight of exhaustion begin to crumple on top of her. Although she wanted to sag and be reminded that of her's and Turbo's current strife, she only allowed herself to wallow in it for a moment before she understood she had another pressing matter to deal with first. Although she was en route to emptying her pockets and returning her normal appearance back to long, luscious blue hair, she caught herself in the mirror and wondered if she should potentially just remain in disguise; she knew she needed to break the news of Tatum's arrival and have a convincing shred of evidence, for the three boys she cared for on this tour.

In the gentle clack of her heels on the stone tile underneath her, she inhaled a trembling breath, opened her bathroom door and pressed across her further-stone tiled bedroom. With the gentle clacks she eased her her bedroom door and cracked it ajar. She looked down to her phone and assessed the time, and although it was one in the morning, she could hear Theo, Wren and Throttle happily chatting away in the kitchen. Surely due to winding down eventually, Berri inhaled a readied breath, opened her door wider and dared to now step out into their house-like suite. With the slow clack of her heels that immediately cued the three boys, their bickering, cute, gentlemanly conversing very quickly came to a screeching, listening halt. The second Berri slowly came rounding the corner, past the quaint, empty little living room, she stepped into the dimly lit kitchen, with all three boys, and watched as their curious, wide eyes pierced Berri's figure with whole entire bewilderment.

"Whoa, whoa, what the heck?" Theo choked, all three boys were now entirely dressed down for the night, draped in comfortable tee's and sweats, Theo gently clutched his broad chest and huffed a shaky breath, "Berri, where... Your HAIR!"

"For User's SAKE, Bear," Wren hissed in whole dismay as he sagged his forehead into his palm and deflated in defeat; Throttle urgently dart his eyes between Wren and Berri.

"What is going on, here?" Throttle demanded with a small choke of a surprised laugh as Berri's heels softly clacked into the kitchen, she stood poised and tall, as beautiful as ever, though she looked exhausted, "Where are you going? At this hour? L-Looking... ENTIRELY different from your usual self?"

"The question you should be asking, instead, is where has she BEEN ALREADY," Wren grumbled loudly in further dismay, he shot Berri a sharp, cheeky look of becoming authority, "Bear, what the hell is happening, now."

"Alright, guys, I... I have a bit of a confession to tell," Berri's womanly voice splayed, though she easily tugged back the authority, in her favor, cued her silver coding, and slowly began to drape the four in a large dome of a silver coded bubble, to absolutely assure this conversation strictly was void from a shred of an opportunity of sneaky, listening ears, "As Sugar Rush's future Queen, I have a proposition for you guys, I need your full attention and cooperation, right now."

All three men froze and peered to her in the switch up, both Throttle and Theo looked way more shocked that Wren did, due to Berri's new appearance, though they hesitantly stole glances to each other. Understanding that Berri would eventually be in charge, and did, indeed, hold a much higher stature over the three, they softly sagged their masculine shoulders and peered their diligent, loyal, unwavering attention straight for their Queen. With small, silent nods, their dominant, cheeky and boisterous attitudes very easily settled to a calm in Berri's now authoritative presence, an easy strong hold of soft love Berri very quickly picked up from Tessa. She inhaled a shaky breath and looked down to her twiddling fingers, she crowned a sheepish smile and was glad to have the floor with such ease.

"I've already told Wren all of this, and, due to the shocked looks on Throttle's and Teddy's faces, I can safely say any secret you may have is infinitely secure with Wren," Berri sweetly volleyed to Wren, he finally cracked a bashful smile and looked down; although Throttle urgently peered to him, as if to silently wonder just why Wren had left him out of the loop of this information, he softened and peered a grateful smile Berri's way, understanding that maybe this wasn't technically his business, anyhow. Berri cutely smiled at Wren and bobbed him a nod with entire gratitude, "Thank you... I told you something in whole confidence, and although it was major gossip material, you didn't tell anyone. That means the world to me."

"Gotch'ya, babe," Wren mumbled shyly with a small nod and a cute, little smile down to his feet; he blurt a quiet chuckle once Theo and Throttle lovingly pat his arms and shoulders in a quick gesture of a job well done.

"Turbo made me this disguise, a very long time ago, and told me that if I ever needed to escape tour for a night, I could go about Arcade without being recognized," Berri sighed, she looked down and knew she wasn't going to go delving into the troubles her and Turbo were having, so she side-stepped it and left out the secretive night she vanished to spend the night with Turbo, "Twice now, I've left to find any place to play at open mics, a stage where I can play and sing and not be recognized."

"What the HECK, count us in too?" Theo huffed a soft laugh and gestured to himself, though Wren shrugged and gave Theo a dull look.

"Trust me, I considered that too, but if the lot of us go to one stage, we'll be discovered," Wren quickly muttered, thwarting Theo's desires; Berri eased a shaky, agreeing giggle and carried on.

"While you guys were out with Gunner and Bedgy, and crew, I... I went to EZ Living to play at a few open mics happening about town," Berri sighed shakily, Throttle and Theo held their unadulterated, surprised attention to her, totally beside themselves, though Berri cocked an eyebrow and cheekily pressed on, "You will never guess who I bumped into..."

"For User's sake, who," Wren mumbled in exhausted, smiling cheek.

"Sama," Berri hissed, though she jolted in unadulterated shock the second Theo bugged his eyes and stiffened in lightning-quick elatedness.

"WHAT?!" Theo's deep voice barked into the security of their silver coded bubble, "D-Did you get her autograph?! Did you tell her I'm her HUGEST fan?"

"Theo, would you believe me if I told you that she's at the palace and will be staying with us temporarily?" Berri huffed a shaky giggle, though Theo sharply furrowed his eyebrows and scoffed a small laugh.

"No, what? That's ridiculous," Theo beamed in incredulous cuteness, though as Berri remained frozen and everyone was silent in entire shock, Theo's nervous eyes dart about the group in a rising spike of impending terror, "W-wait, you... You're SERIOUSLY not joking? What the hell do you MEAN she's at the palace? Why does she need to stay with us when she has her own shindig high in EZ Living's hills?"

"Alright, guys, I'm... I'm going to say this fast, and I need you to keep up with me," Berri instructed tenderly, all three boys' eyes were wider than watermelons, they urgently peered to Berri in shell-shocked surprise as she took a step closer to the three and continued, "Tonight, I went into EZ Living for no other reason than to just sing on a few smaller stages and get it out of my system without being recognized. On my way out of my third open mic event, I was pick-pocketed."

"What was stolen?" Throttle worried quietly, Wren shook his head in ironic agreeing.

"Did you catch them?" Wren hissed.

"... Yes, I caught her, she's at the palace," Berri blurt with a hard laugh, though Theo sharply furrowed his eyebrows and gestured his larger wrecking hand in frustration.

"That's not her, Bear, Sama's not going to be out on the streets STEALING from people," Theo rushed in agitation, "I'm positive she has better things to do."

"Listen to me... Sama is homeless, Gunner started that nasty rumor about Sama, kicked her out with only a shred of her earnings, and then shortly after, Rye left and she couldn't keep up with rent, any longer," Berri rushed, which ultimately shut all three boys up, "She's from Castle Run's older version that got unplugged last year, she has... NO one to turn to. She caught up with me and admitted to stealing my phone once she saw my lock screen, which was a picture of me and Turbo."

"Shit, she probably saw that and was like 'nope, not this one'," Throttle quietly stifled a laugh, as did everyone else.

"She's... In a real bad place, I hardly recognized her," Berri shook her head, "I just spent the last two hours with her, in our tower, getting her set up so she has a place to lay her head. For the past year or so, she's been sleeping underneath a bridge..."

"Wait, you're like... GENUINELY serious," Theo's eyes began to fill with a washed, healthy mix of glee and horror, "Sh-she's... She's like... She's at our TOWER? RIGHT NOW?"

"Look, I know it sounds ridiculous," Berri held up her hands and eased a shaky giggle.

"Berri," Theo choked, he looked as if he was about to have a heart attack, "Y-You're telling me..."

"Teddy, SAMA IS IN OUR HOME," Berri clapped her hands as everyone erupted into soft laughter, due to her outburst, though Theo looked as if he was about to whisk away in the breeze, "I told her she's welcome to stay for-"

"FOREVER," Theo barked with a trembling, widening grin, "Y-You're seriously not joking?!"

"No, I'm NOT joking, I wouldn't DREAM of doing something like this to you, Ted," Berri huffed a laugh as the group became a bit more animated, she shook her head and smiled into his lovely emerald eyes, "Babe, I just... Really have to hand it to you. You advocated for her without even knowing the whole situation, and you were dead on. Gunner absolutely wronged her. SHE was the lead singer before she went on to teach and encourage Gunner, that's why she's called Sama. He gave her that nickname. Her real name is-"

"Tatum," Theo sighed in trembling, gooey nervousness, though everyone peered to him in soft, cute, suspended shock. He shakily rubbed the back of his head and sagged into himself with a dorky smile, "I-I... I've listened to their OLD garage band stuff, you're right, Bear... She was in charge prior to all the nonsense."

"I just wanted to warn everyone of her presence. Dad and I built her a wing off of the main, common room in the tower. Her room is snug next to the sound studio," Berri explained, "I told her she could stay as long as she wanted, and if she wanted to leave we could find a place for her inside Sugar Rush."

"She's not like... Able to freely roam our tower, or the palace, is she?" Wren worried, "I know it's Sama-er... Tatum... But, she's still a perfect stranger."

"She has only basic rights, right now, and she's house bound on the first floor of the tower," Berri instructed softly, "Mom and dad are keeping silent tabs on her, I told her she could do what she wanted just as long as she was careful. I mean, she cried in my arms... She's... Really beaten up, she looks terrible."

"Hoooo man," Theo puffed his chest, beamed Wren and Throttle a sneaky, eyebrow-waggling grin and clutched his chest, "She can cry in my arms all day long."

"Gotcha some brushing up, to do, huh," Wren muttered with a wide smile as he crossed his arms, "Welcome to the club, dude. You said you wanted a lady friend of your own."

"She literally stole her way right into our hearts," Throttle choked a hard laugh and nudged Wren, everyone was all smiles, though it was clear by Theo's doughy, nervous disposition that he was likely not going to get any shred of sleep tonight.

"I must be dreaming," Theo huffed shakily as he peered to Berri with a wide smile, "Thank you so much for abandoning us so you can get your phone stolen by my HUGEST IDOL."

"You're oh so welcome," Berri muttered, though she gave Theo a sweet, understanding smile and bobbed a nod, "It'll be a good distraction to have. Though, don't hog her, Theo, I finally have a GIRL to hang out with."

"HEY?" Wren barked in irritation as he waggled his hand, "Am I chopped liver? I let you paint my nails and we brush each other's hair and talk about the coziest material for underwear and the best waterproof makeup, what... The heck? I'm RIGHT here!"

"There's a difference, Bub," Throttle huffed quietly, he gave Wren an apologetic smile.

"I wouldn't trade our relationship for the world, Wren, stop it," Berri gave Wren a loving smile, though Theo now began to so nervously tidy his hair and look as if he was ready to scrutinize every single last detail about himself.

"I-I gotta shave," Theo muttered nervously, he gestured to himself and gave Berri a worried look of impending terror, "Y-You think I look okay? What should I wear? Holy USER, she's like... Actually THERE? RIGHT NOW?"

"I swear on my WHOLE life, Teddy, she is IN our tower, RIGHT now," Berri eased a giggle and crossed her arms, "I told her to sleep in and to not feel as if she HAS to come out and greet us once we're home, so... Give her space, dude. Let her come around, I'm sure she's exhausted."

"We all are, dude, don't you want to go home and sleep?" Throttle wondered cutely, Theo urgently gestured to himself.

"WHAT part of 'my idol is going to be under the same roof as me' do you guys not understand!" Theo squealed in a high-pitched tone of crazed, excited terror; everyone erupted into hard laughter, and though he now felt as if this night would last forever, he knew the faster he went to sleep, the faster he'd be able to meet his celebrity crush.