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Be Kind by Marshmello Halsey


*Chapter 202*

Although entirely steeped in nervousness, Turbo was thrilled that Throttle and Theo very kindly did what they could to get Turbo's mind off of the impending event to unfold, something that typically wouldn't be so grand to an ordinary gamer. Leaving Sugar Rush, for the first time since Arcadia, had Turbo's mind buzzing in fleeting colors of coming in and out of his typical gold stare, and right into said nervous, minty swathe of overthinking. With quick succession, Throttle, Turbo and Theo split from Tatum, Berri and Wren long enough to kick Turbo's physical appearance up a notch, or two. Due to being dipped into a vat of paparazzi and the like, Turbo was kindly assured he should probably clean up a bit. With all three men nonchalantly hovered in Sugar Rush's inner outlet, the hub to properly enter the game's wires, Turbo leaned against a far wall with Throttle and Theo in hovering wait, all three patiently anticipated Wren's, Berri's and Tatum's presence for their night out in EZ Living.

Although all three men were dressed casually, they each still held distinctive appearances in style and aesthetic, to their own personalities. With Turbo in his black motorcycle jeans, a dark grey button up properly unbuttoned down his broad, muscular chest and in reveal of a lighter colored, thinner undershirt, he knew full well he'd likely have Berri swooning, shortly. Excited to see the look on her face and hopefully wow her with his clean hair cut, properly shaved shorter on the sides of his head with longer, straightened tufts of his matte, dusty grey hair, the only thing he lacked was that confident, golden glow his eyes usually harbored. Still stationed in a minty show of dim nervousness, he allowed it to remain, he knew masking it wouldn't do him any good. He wore any and all colors proudly, from here on out, something Throttle and Theo continually encouraged and applauded him for. With Theo and Throttle dressed in similar attire, darker pants with a sexy drape of thinner shirts and a drape of over-shirts either entirely unbuttoned or hung in a gape of slight chest reveal, all three men quietly loitered in casual chit chat inside Sugar Rush's dim outlet. Archived Chaos's team of security hovered nearby in silent guard as gamers and passing fans quietly gawked in cute question.

"Can your eyes show anything but white, Tee?" Theo wondered tenderly, Throttle raised his black eyebrows in prickled delight and felt a wave of uncertainty come over him as he just barely glanced to Turbo's equally as curious minty gaze.

"O-Oh, uh... I'm positive they can," Throttle mumbled, Turbo eased a small smile and bobbed him a nod.

"Y'keep verbally rewarding me for keeping up this show of emotion, but you're about to get a taste of your own medicine, my guy," Turbo's deep voice so warmly pressed, to which Throttle bobbed a nervous nod and looked off, his white hands sagged into the dusty grey of his darker jeans' pockets.

"Yeah, since... Your incident with the nightmare you had and the turquoise color you showed to Tatum, Wren and Berri, Wren has, well..." Throttle sorrowfully raised his eyebrows, looked to his feet in hidden guilt and opened his mouth to nervously carry on, though Theo warmly beat him to it.

"Overloaded you with curiosity? Methinks Turbo and Berri are on to something, here, I think you guys should just let it all show, from here," Theo's mature disposition held solid; usually a goofy, boisterous soul, when he slowed down and got serious, everyone eagerly listened. Theo bobbed a nod and smiled Ralph's infamous, gap-toothed smile, the glints of emerald in his healthy hair twinkled underneath the dim lighting inside Sugar Rush's outlet, "Sure, it's a weird stigma that us guys have to be tough and reserved and hold back tears, but... That's stupid. Why can't we just... CRY."

"Y'need to cry, Teddy?" Turbo mumbled cutely, his tone was sarcastic and teasing in brotherly delight as he cocked an eyebrow and gave Theo a snarky side-eye.

"So, what if I did?" Theo barked with a laugh, he gently swat at Throttle, "C'mon, man, Turbo's now not afraid to just let it all show. I think it's great. Y'know what? Helps with all of our intuition, anyhow. NOW I can immediately tell what's wrong and we can all quickly work together to solve the problem."

"Can't that also be a bad thing, though?" Throttle worried with a nervous chuckle as Turbo now remained quiet and curiously watched the show, "What if I need a moment alone with my own emotion without someone coming to dive in to rescue me?"

"Well, then temporarily conceal, I don't think Theo's demanding we all be open books twenty-four-seven," Turbo mumbled with a shrug, he gave Theo another gloss of said snarky smile, "It's also not fair because you, Wren and Tatum don't have mood ring eyes. Us Turbotime creatures, which now includes Berri, can't really do much about it."

"Well, like you just said, you can pick and choose when to conceal," Theo urged gently, "Like Throttle said, what if you need a moment alone? Then, cool. Otherwise, I think we shouldn't be afraid doing that kind of thing, at least with each other."

"So much bromance to go around," Turbo cooed playfully, though his teasing smile still held enough humble honesty, something that proved to Theo that maybe he was okay with said show of tenderness amidst the guys closest to him.

"I think he's just trying to become the ultimate softy to further attract a certain someone," Throttle mumbled to Turbo with a smile; this notion was successful in bringing Turbo's minty gaze to a muted yellow of cheeriness.

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Theo snipped in now full irritation he desperately tried to front over the conceal of a bashful grin as he looked off, arms tightly crossed.

"Aw, what, Ted, c'mon... Tell us your feelings," Turbo cooed sweetly, though still laced with brotherly sarcasm and cheek; Throttle easily grinned and bobbed a nod.

"Yeah, be open," Throttle joined, him and Turbo shared in boyish, well-meaning laughter, though they were surprised to see Theo maturely take the medicine he was dishing and soften his stance in humility.

"Fine, yeah, I... I am trying to be softer," Theo nervously admitted, he gave Turbo and Throttle his honest, gentle emerald eye contact, cueing to Turbo and Throttle that he was being entirely serious here and wanted their respect, to which they immediately gave in the halted form of dropped smiles and stiffened, prolonged eye contact, "I... I really like Tatum. I see how soft you are with Wren, Throttle... A-and Turbo, you are so careful with Berri. I... I don't have brothers, okay? It's nice to have you guys to look up to, and I'm just trying to follow your guys' example."

Turbo and Throttle hovered in soft, prickled sweetness; a cute, brotherly splay of love they were well aware wouldn't dare leave the security and verbal safety of their tight bubble, here. What usually would be aggressively cleared throats and straightened out shirts and a few steps away of strict distance from each other was quickly eradicated as they hovered inside of their silent glom of love. Turbo eased a small smile into Throttle's eyes, a grip of quiet understanding; they both had little brothers, they both knew this realm and territory very well. Getting insight from Theo, in the fact that he was an only child, now immediately told Turbo and Throttle that Theo wasn't to be picked on, here. He needed a snug grip of support, and though Turbo and Throttle knew Theo would be just fine on his own, they both bobbed soft nods of understanding and knew, full well, they had an unfathomable amount of brotherly care just waiting in the wings at all times.

"That's really kind of you, Ted," Turbo mumbled warmly as he bobbed Theo a nod and eased a wide smile, his eyes finally twinkled to the normalcy of gold they always did, "Well, you're doing great. Tatum seems to be reserved and rather timid, at times. You've successfully caught on to that, I've seen instances where you could've maybe teased her or sent a joke her way but you replaced it with a compliment or maybe just a smile."

"You're sharper than you think, she's constantly giving you goo-goo eyes," Throttle stated quietly, his white eyes glossed the innards of Sugar Rush's outlet to see if Berri, Wren and Tatum were approaching, though still nothing.

"You're right, Theo, us men gotta look out for each other," Turbo stated bravely as he inhaled a deep breath, and though his confident glow held true for a few moments, it sank back to a minty swathe of nervousness the second his gaze was tossed to his right, where Sugar Rush's gape of an outlet lead into the glowing gold that was Game Central Station. Turbo exhaled said deep breath, though it trembled out of his rib cage in an anxiety-ridden mess, "I think that's probably why Gunner has so many issues... He didn't have a support team to mentally fall back on. A safe spot. I'm glad I have my brothers, and you know you and Wren are lobbed into that, Ted, right?"

"... Thank you," Theo murmured as he looked down to his bare feet, a bigger build of a guy that looked just as intimidating as Ace, Ralph and Oliver, though, like all three men, Theo was equally as huge of a teddy bear. His broad chest inhaled a deep, confident breath as he finally drew his attention back to Throttle, "I've definitely been missing that. I mean, I had Wren growing up and all, but... Y'know..."

"Wren's a great guy, it's just hard to pin him down sometimes," Turbo mumbled cutely, to which Throttle choked a sly, deep laugh and looked off.

"Amateurs," Throttle bravely muttered as he concealed a sneaky grin; Turbo sharply furrowed his eyebrows and gave his big brother a look of wild bewilderment.

"... I meant mentally, not physically!" Turbo choked, him and Theo were easily rocketed into hard laughter, though before anything else could be said, Throttle's grin easily splayed to a healthy blush on his white cheeks, which ultimately dipped to that of a very stark show of a set of peachy, glowing eyes he nervously concealed by looking down. Turbo raised his eyebrows in sharp surprise, bent over and was floored to catch eyes with Throttle; seeing any other color, but white, was something he had never witnessed before, "Well, well, well, Ted... Y'got your wish!"

"YES, I KNEW you had more colors in there, somewhere," Theo hissed in success as Throttle finally looked up, looked off and tidied his jet-black hair in poised nervousness, and though he desperately tried to conceal a smile, the peachy glow of his eyes remained as Wren's brave, brash coding did whatever it could to eke out of his pores in any instance of sarcastic cheek it saw fit.

"Let's change the topic," Throttle muttered as he cleared his throat and continued to purse his lips in the form of further concealing a grin, though he raised his eyebrows in poised stun as he finally noticed Wren, Berri and Tatum approaching; with said gentle jolt of attention, both Turbo and Theo quickly caught on and tossed their gazes across the way.

Although the group wasn't dressed to the nines or decked in entirely formal wear, all six beings still held on to a bit sharper attire than what they'd normally be caught in. All three beings strut on with easy confidence, a press of fervor making it clear to Turbo, Theo and Throttle that they hadn't yet been spotted. Berri was dressed in tight, muted skinny jeans and heels, alongside a beautiful, sleeveless, halter of a blouse that tightly collared her throat. A canary yellow to appropriately compliment her hair, which was sleekly pulled into a straightened, higher ponytail, she had her right arm linked with Wren. He equally was dressed in a sleek button down lazily opened to expose the tops of his bare pecks and the strong center where his clavicles met. With Tatum cutely clad in a matte black dress that hugged her curvy figure and cuffed tight to the middle of her thighs, all three beings pressed on with a glow of purpose, nonchalance and unawares. They cutely carried on with each other, and although all three men, that loitered against Sugar Rush's inner outlet's walls, looked on in ogling stun, Turbo finally eased a sly smile, wet his lips and subtly gave the trio a confident wolf whistle.

With said string of a whistle that echoed through the hub, Berri furrowed her eyebrows in a stab of mild irritation, shot said stab of Queenly dominance across the way and was fully prepared to glare down unwarranted attention. In the flick of her gorgeous, straightened blue hair, the sharp glower of all three sassy beings delivered straight to Turbo, Theo and Throttle, kindly stood in frozen, delighted wait, said sharp, irritated glower immediately lifted off of the three once they realized just who was cutely trying to get their attention. With the scuff of Berri's and Tatum's heels, as well as Wren's heavier shoes, all three beings finally lifted from disgruntled facial expressions and delightfully lit up with cute, blushing surprise. Wren finally choked a cute laugh and mumbled something to Berri and Tatum in quiet, cute secrecy, to which Berri and Tatum silently volleyed him notions of mysterious agreeing. Once the three beings filled the gap of about two dozen feet and approached Turbo, Throttle and Theo, the magnetic field about the six somehow seemed to intensify. With the gain of eye contact between all six beings, Tatum, Berri and Wren easily began to lazily stifle laughter at one raw fact before them; Turbo and Throttle easily sat hovered with peachy, glowing eyes whilst Theo crowned a hard bruise of a blush across his cheeks. Although the three were easily given away in the realm of mood and hidden thoughts, Berri, Wren and Tatum relished in the amount of openness that had finally come about between them.

"Y'already got us, y'know," Turbo muttered darkly, a sly, cute, seductive smile across his handsome face, he sagged his hands into his pockets and, although he was generally speaking to all three lovely beings before him, Throttle and Theo, his gaze hooked tight to his blue beauty.

"Almost permanently," Throttle choked and he shot Turbo a knowing look, "That one promised to eventually share our last name."

"So what, we wanted to get dolled up," Berri chimed in girly, sassy authority, she shrugged her pretty bare shoulders and hooked eyes with Tatum in sweet delight, "It's really not very often we get to, anyways."

"Bedgy's not gunna know what to do with any of us," Wren blurt a hard laugh and gestured about the group, which ultimately got easy, loosened smiles out of everyone; all three men, hovered tight to the wall, finally sagged in the tight presences of the three beautiful creatures that finally approached them.

"All three of you got some sort of peachiness going on," Tatum shyly pressed, her tone seemed as if she wanted to show a much more daring, confident side of herself, though she seemed timid and reserved in said intentions. She held the back of her dainty hand to her mouth and only subtly glanced in Theo's direction, her dark, rosey skin beautifully glistened underneath the outlet's much dimmer lighting. Although wearing a stark black dress and heels, it complimented her faded, light pink hair, a stark show of contrast that suited her beautifully. Her bashful maroon eyes only braved Theo's twinkling, emerald eyes for so long before she scrunched her shoulders, silently breathed a giggle and looked to Berri for certain support.

"They have good taste," Berri mumbled cutely, and although she eyed Turbo in sweet delight and knew exactly just what he wanted, just exactly what was on his mind, she ogled his sleek haircut in sweet surprise and softened so to deliver him a proper compliment, "Your hair looks awesome, Bo. It really suits you."

"O-Oh, thank you," Turbo sagged his masculine shoulders, his gentle fingertips only barely touched the matte grey hair on his scalp, though in the divert of attention to something other than his beautiful bride-to-be before him, his peachy eyes suddenly dipped back to that faded, minty show of hovered nervousness. With said switch up, he raised his eyebrows in prickled exposure, frowned a little and almost gave Berri a look as if to silently beg her to be patient with him in his second endeavor to leave the game. With said dip of color and switch in mood, everyone fell quiet and hovered in cute, readied anticipation as Turbo almost shakily carried on, a brave stroke of trying his best to be honest with his emotions and intentions, "I'm... I'm pretty nervous."

"That's okay," Berri cooed with a warm smile, the clack of her heels slowly and carefully approached Turbo's still, tall, hovering figure of frozen strength. Although the mix of peachy, blushing cheeks and inquiries was now something that was going to continue to be stirred among the group, it was all quickly dropped so to properly adhere to Turbo's feelings. Berri tenderly reached her hand for Turbo's and gave him an assured, confident flash of a smile, "C'mon, you got this. This time, we'll leave the game together."

"I'm sure last time wasn't easy at all," Tatum ushered warmly, to which Turbo bobbed a nod, inhaled a shaky breath, took Berri's hand in his and finally peeled himself from the wall; said motion encouraged Theo and Throttle to do the same.

"Having Chester helped, but... Yeah, it... Wasn't easy," Turbo staggered, he eased a forced smile and a shaky laugh, the glow of his minty eyes began to press with a bit brighter of a glow, making clear that the emotion was beginning to become a bit more intense. With such, his pupils began to just barely broaden, something Berri curiously took note of as she properly linked arms with him and began to ever so slowly press closer to Sugar Rush's beckoning outlet. Turbo's masculine, broad chest inhaled a deep, shaky breath as his minty eyes peered forward in rising terror, "I-I think it helped that Chester allowed me to have my eyes closed, I didn't really physically SEE myself leave the outlet..."

"... You had a blind creature lead you out into the station while you had your eyes closed?" Throttle wondered loudly, a warm, goofy air that came over the group engulfed everyone in warm laughter; Turbo sagged into Berri's confident, stable grip and finally grinned in annoyed defeat.

"I know, the blind leading the blind," Turbo muttered with the continuation of said grin, "Look, I've done a lot of stupid shit in my life, you really gunna attempt to put it past me?"

"Well, whatever Chester did, I'm grateful," Berri eased sweetly as the group began to finally ease closer to Game Central Station's tiles, Turbo's figure began to grow a bit more stiff and unwavering, though they pressed on nonetheless, "This time, let's keep our eyes open. I know this is still fresh and scary to you, but once you're out..."

"It'll be like ripping off a bandaid," Wren bobbed a nod as him and Throttle sagged into a cute sling of a lazy side embrace, Throttle's longer, gangly arm draped over Wren's broad shoulders in a saunter out of Sugar Rush's outlet once and for all, with Turbo and Berri tight at the lead.

Berri smiled in cute anticipation, and as the group very slowly pressed out of the security of Sugar Rush's golden outlet, they came into the glow of Game Central Station's nighttime beam. Turbo gently squinted with the switch up in lighting and nervously peered about in quick succession, as if he was certain he now had a target on his back. He swallowed hard as his brightly glowing minty eyes peered about the familiar setting, as if his past trauma had successfully erased all of the good things that came about the last time he left the game. With said notion of unwarranted worry, Berri stood tight to Turbo's side and was thrilled the six came to a slow scuff of a stop in the gape between Sugar Rush and the game directly across from it. Berri grinned and cutely eyed Turbo in curious delight, though once the two finally caught eyes, Berri showed her teeth a little harder and shrugged her bare shoulders.

"...Easy!" Berri huffed a giggle, to which everyone cutely cooed Turbo notions of encouragement, alongside back and arm pats of loving support; Turbo sagged a bit, bashfully peered his eyes to each of his peers, swallowed hard in continued agitation and allowed himself one last gloss of apprehension about himself.

"Easy," Turbo chirped, his tone was light and airy, though it was blatantly clear it held absolutely no depth, his minty-glowing eyes made extremely apparent that he didn't truly mean that.

"Be honest," Berri calmly instructed as the two caught eyes, and with such a switch up, Turbo raised his eyebrows in submissive, sensitive tenderness and long-blinked in humility.

"Not easy, I'm... I'm nervous," Turbo muttered honestly, "This time around feels a lot more real."

"It's like I said earlier, you've had all day to stew on this moment," Tatum cutely chimed with a nod, "Last time, you ran out of the game without hesitation or premeditation. But, if it's any consolation... You're doing great!"

"You are," Wren encouraged, to which Turbo raised his eyebrows in sweet delight and looked about his group of friends.

"Oh, entirely," Throttle grinned, he pat Turbo's upper back and heaved a shaky laugh of kind surprise, "It's really cool to witness YOU, of all people, actually LEAVE. I know we saw you outside of Sugar Rush when we were all in Arcadia, but it's really cool to witness, in real time."

"It really is," Berri sweetly encouraged, her eyes honed tight to Turbo's and was relieved to see that anxious, lingering minty color finally begin to dip to that of a muted yellow, a promise of a return of pure, cute joy.

"Thanks, guys," Turbo mumbled with a small smile, he heaved a shaky breath and finally peered into Berri's eyes, the glow of gold finally began to just barely glint through the gape of his dilated, square, black pupils.

"C'mon," Berri concluded with a confident smile and a bob of a nod, "We got a fun night ahead of us."