"Jeremy, we need to talk."

It was with a knotted stomach that the young genius nodded, dragging his feet slightly as he followed the pinkette. Before, he wouldn't have been worried—that is, before Yumi had talked to him about it. He was a genius, as mentioned beforehand, but only in certain aspects. Even if those aspects were wide, they did not encompass romance. So naturally Jeremy had listened carefully when she had come to him, saying that she had a very important piece of romantic advice for him.

The "we need to talk" was always bad news. Those weren't exactly the words she used, but Jeremy had understood perfectly fine. He was slightly skeptical, however; how could those four words possibly be so bad?

Now he wondered whether it was karma that made Aelita's face look so serious, that or upset, as she broke off from their group for some privacy. Ulrich gave him a look of sympathy as he left and Jeremy really began to worry, frantically going through his mind for anything he had said or done recently that had been offensive. He hadn't said anything stupid (yet) or done anything stupid (…yet), so why was she looking at him like that?

Aelita stopped several yards away from the vending machine, leaning on the pillar at an angle that allowed her to be unseen by the rest of the group. Jeremy slouched a little, trying to appear casual, but he was making fists inside his pockets. They both stared at the ground between them, silent.

At last, Aelita began, "So—"

"I didn't do anything," Jeremy blurted impulsively. He then flushed as Aelita raised an eyebrow, continually hastily, "I mean, I didn't… I'm not trying—Yumi just told me—please, go on." He bit his tongue and stared at the ground, missing Aelita's smile of amusement.

"You sound like a guilty child. I know you didn't do anything, but don't change my mind. I just want to talk," she said.

Four sounded like the word death in Chinese, Jeremy thought absently. Maybe that was why that four-word sentence was so dangerous. "Alright," he said slowly. She didn't just want to talk. If she did, she would be saying it in front of everyone else. She wanted to talk, as Yumi had once put it, not talk. Whatever that meant. Jeremy was beginning to understand. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You and me." She looked up at him. "You know… us."

Jeremy felt a tingle go up his spine. He had entered dangerous territory. If he said one thing wrong, he'd step on a land mine. If he didn't say something, the ground would crumble beneath his feet. "What about us?" he asked carefully.

"I don't know, it's just… what are we? I mean, are we friends, or…?" She glanced at him hesitantly, then looked away.

Jeremy had no idea what to say. "Or?" he questioned.

"Or something more," she clarified, and Jeremy blushed. He rifled through his brain for something to say. Just friends. She could get upset and/or angry. She could be relieved, the thought of which for some reason made Jeremy slightly nauseous. More. No, he couldn't even think about that option.

He settled on a slow, "Well, what do you want us to be?" He looked at her quickly, afraid of her reaction, but she just seemed thoughtful. Good, he thought.

Jeremy was no longer slouching. He felt stiff and his palms felt sweaty; he stealthily slid them out of his pockets while wiping them on the rough fabric. Feeling too awkward with his arms hanging at his sides, he clasped them together. Then, still feeling odd, he decided to fold his arms while trying not to give off the impression that he was cross.

He was worrying too much.

"Well, I love what we have as friends," Aelita said, straightening against the pillar, "But…"

Jeremy thought it best to wait for her to finish her thought, lest he screw up by finishing it for her. But several uncomfortable seconds had gone by and she showed no sign of finishing, so he took a step across the field, praying that he hadn't disturbed a land mine.

"Do you… do you want something more?"

"Sort of. I think I do." She stepped closer; there was only one a foot between them, so it was almost impossible to look away from her without being impolite. "But what about you? What do you want?"

What did he want? Jeremy blinked as if startled. "Excuse me?"

"What do you want? There's no right or wrong answer, you know," she added.

If there was no right answer, what was he supposed to say? On the other hand, if there were no wrong answer, he couldn't upset her with his response, could he? But what was he supposed to say?

Maybe you could just answer the question, a voice in his mind said helpfully.

He didn't know what he wanted, though. "Ah… uh… Pass?"

Aelita smiled. "You can't pass." Her smiled quickly disappeared. "I was just wondering, because any time I try something, it… it embarrasses you."

"Well of course it embarrasses me," Jeremy burst out, then backtracked as Aelita frowned. "No! I don't mean like that. It's not that bad," he said.

"Not that bad. Thank you," Aelita said dryly.

Oops. Land mine. "I didn't mean it like that," he said hastily. "Not that it's not that bad, because it's not—it's not bad at all—I just—I'm… not good at this," he finished lamely.

"I can tell." This time she was smiling slightly.

Jeremy swallowed. He forced himself to look at her, and spoke before he could think about what he was trying to say. "It was just a little embarrassing because—because, I like you. I really like you." He blushed heavily and averted his eyes. Suddenly, Jeremy found himself smiling. It felt good to say that.

Aelita broke into a grin. "You have no idea how long I've been wanting to hear that."

"Really?"

Aelita kissed him. His eyes widened.

"Yes, really," she said after several moments of smiling at him. She had turned pink. "You're getting better," she teased, "Last time, you froze up."

"Oh, don't remind me. That was too embarrassing. Odd brings it up every time he wants something from me," he said, but he was grinning wildly. "So… are we… uh… then?"

Aelita blinked.

"Are we… you know…? You know what I'm talking about?"

"No," she said slowly, but a smile was creeping onto her face. "Alright, yes."

"So… are we?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You just said that you did."

"I do." She raised both of her eyebrows and grinned. "But I want you to say it."

"But—"

"Say it. Ask me."

"Okay," he said shakily. "Aelita, will you—um—be my girlfriend?"

"Absolutely." Looking satisfied, she happily took his hand. "Don't look so confused, Jer."

"But I've never had a girlfriend before," he said in a flustered tone.

"I've never had a boyfriend before either, so I guess this can be a new experience for both of us."

He glanced at her. "Yeah, but the difference is that I didn't have a girlfriend because girls don't look twice at nerds. People are surprised to see me with you," he admitted, though he knew Aelita was most likely aware of this herself. "Frankly, I am too."

"Don't say that," she urged, gently shoving her shoulder against Jeremy's. He retailed with a playful poke to the side that made Aelita jerk away, a funny look on her face.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked, frowning.

"No," Aelita said, trying to get the look under control. Jeremy poked her again and she made an odd noise, stepping away from him completely and wrapping her arms against her stomach.

"Oh," Jeremy said, slowly breaking into a grin as comprehension dawned. "You're ticklish."

The look on his face made Aelita shake her head vigorously. "Oh no, Belpois, don't you dare."

But he did dare. He dared, pinning her against the wall and tickling the girl mercilessly. She writhed and gasped between laughs, crying out more than once for help. He was glad that no one was around; it would be a little odd to be caught in this position.

Aelita suddenly leaned forward, kissing him full on the lips. Jeremy stopped tickling her immediately, making a muffled noise of surprise.

She grinned at him breathlessly when she pulled away.

Aware that his face was flushed and his eyes were wide but not caring at all, Jeremy managed, "H-hey… That's cheating!" And they both burst into laughter.

"Perfect!"

They both turned. Millie was pumping a fist in the air while Tamiya waved a camera around, grinning. "And it's about time too," the black haired girl said, looping it around her neck.

"Hope you like the front page," Millie said teasingly, and she and Tamiya darted off.

A second later, Jeremy turned to Aelita, face flushed. "It's not that I want to hide our relationship—"

"—but you don't want everyone in the school to be bothering you about it," she finished. "Right. Let's catch up to them."

And it was times like these when Jeremy cursed his lack of athletic ability.

You guys didn't really think I'd be doing the serious "This isn't working" talk. haha no thank you

Because it's not super obvious that I love taking advantage of Jeremy's freezing/surprise when he gets kissed *cough*

ahem, stay tuned for more Jerlita. ALSO

I will be illustrating two scenes from this drabble, and you guys will decide which ones! Just leave your pick (one only, please) as a review or pm. Top two scenes will be drawn.

Thanks!~