Automne took short, heavy breaths as he pressed his back against a single square stone pillar in a sea of stone pillars. His weapons dangled loosely in his hands while sweat beaded up and dripped down his face. He tried to force himself to take deeper breaths, his scarf clinging to his mouth with each inhale, until a chill ran down his back.

He choked on the dry air, which tasted like scarf, as he snapped his pistol and ninjato against his chest in, a rather weak, flash.

'Alright, Dude.' His brain whispered to him as he tried to regain control of his still erratic breathing. 'She's gonna be on your left, so lead with the sword-thing, fade-out, and then try and put a round in her when she's disoriented.'

The chill ran down Automne's spine again; chilling his bones and threatening to suck the moisture from his took a quick breath and jumped around the corner, slashing his short sword outward toward his advancing foe; Sienaerde.

Unfortunately for Automne she had anticipated his move.

Sienaerde swiftly sidestepped his blade, and in turn thrust her musket forward; a few inches to the left of his head. Blindingly she maneuvered behind him and forced the forestock into the side of his neck while pulling the stock of her rifle into his underarm.

Automne let out a loud groan of pain as she pressed the rifle into his neck; driving him down to the floor. Automne attempted to give a wriggle of defiance, but was promptly knocked back down when she stomped the heel of her boot into the back of his knee. He grit his teeth in agony as the wood and metal of her rifle grinded against his scarf, tearing and burning his skin while his neck popped weakly.

Sienaerde pulled back on her rifle and slammed down on Automnes' neck again to make sure his face had become well acquainted with the floor. Quickly she sprang atop of Automne's back, like a predator securing it's kill, and pressed her knee into the rifle.

Automne sputtered loudly as the force from her rifle crushed his throat.

Sienaerde gave Automne a twisted smile as he writhed underneath her like a mouse caught in a trap. "You deserve this." Her agitated, venomous voice easing its way into his ear like a dagger as he struggled to breathe. "With every failure you make a mockery of yourself and everything we stand for. Yet, you have the audacity to stand amongst us, a weakling, and claim you can be better."

She stopped for a moment to stare at his free arm which flailed and skittered across the floor desperately. Her eyes narrowed and her smile faded into a grimace as she lightly pulled back on her rifle.

Automne took short breaths between moans of pain as air flooded back into his lungs.

Sienaerde gave him a stern frown and slowly began to apply pressure back onto his neck. "You're pathetic… You don't belong."

"Let him go." Ty said impatiently as he stepped out from behind a pillar a few yards away, his sword held out towards her.

A smile quickly spread across Sienaerde's lips. "I'm sorry, Mr. Inuhoozuki, I didn't quite catch that." She cheekily responded as she pressed her rifle down into Automne with renewed vigor. "I hate to speculate, but did you happen to say, 'Break his neck like a twig'?"

"Let him go, now!" Ty shouted as he took a step forward.

"Oh, of course, but first I wanted to ask you a question. Have I ever formally introduced you to my partner?"

Ty gave a heavy groan as a young man wearing a rather expensive looking tan suit stepped out from behind a pillar a few feet behind him with a rifle pointed at his back.

"Allow me to make you two acquainted." Sienaerde facetiously mocked. "That is Ecru Laurent and the weapon he is currently pointing at you, if you didn't already know, is called an airburst rifle. I'll spare you from the details. However, I feel inclined to bestow upon you the mental image of Beacon's janitorial department taking the next few days to scrape Mr. Noire and yourself off the walls."

Ty lowered his weapon slightly and glanced back over his shoulder to glare at the man holding him at gunpoint.

"Now, as you more than likely know, you have a couple of options." Sienaerde continued, grinding her rifle into Automne to elicit a moan of pain. "You can try and do something brash or-"

"Screw you!" Ty shouted, popping out of sight for a moment only to appear in front of Ecru with a loud pop a millisecond later.

Sienaerde gave a loud sigh, slid her rifle out from under Automne, and spun around to shoot a couple rounds into Ty's back as he and Ecru clashed.

Ty staggered forward, the rounds slamming into his back like sharpened bricks, and was immediately shot point-blank in the face by Ecru. Ty flew back through the air and slammed against the ground, his chest plate and sword falling with loud clatter.

Automne tried to force a rise out of himself as Sienaerde and Ecru watched Ty struggle to get off the floor. Mustering all the strength he had left in him he quickly rolled over and immediately froze like a deer in the middle of a twelve lane highway when he realized he wasn't holding either of his weapons.

Automne glanced around for them in a panic, but quickly shifted his attention forward when Sienaerde placed a boot down on his hand. He cringed in pain, but recoiled in horror as she raised her rifle behind her head like a golf club.

Before he knew it she swung down upon him, bashing the stock of her rifle clean into his jaw; sending him to the floor indefinitely.

'Okay… I think that killed me.' Automne's brain groaned as his vision grew dark and blurry.

"Round Winners; Sienaerde Gewehr- Tänzerin and Ecru Laurent." A feminine disembodied voice said loudly.

'Hmm, I really thought the spirit of the Dust would've been a man… Come to think of it, do spirits have genders?'

A low growl filled the air as the sound of footsteps scuffed across the floor towards Automne. "Automne, get up."

"No, I'm dead." Automne said spitefully as he stared into the black void of his eyelids.

"I'm not in the mood; get up now."

"That's what she said… You know… because the guy has erectile dysfunction." Automne slurred from the side of his mouth with a painful giggle.

"That's it." Ty stated, tiredly walking up and grabbing Automne by the ankle.

"Wait, dude, what're yo- oww oww oww, jackass, stop!" Automne shouted as Ty rolled him over and dragged him across the floor on his face.

"What, I thought you were dead?" Ty responded in an unamused tone as he began to walk in a zig-zag pattern to smear Automne's face across as much of the floor as possible.

"Stop it, jackass!" Automne screamed, kicking his legs wildly to free himself.

Ty gave the flailing loser a scornful glare and tossed his leg aside. "It's all your fault that we lost."

"The hell it is!" Automne slurred as he tried to push himself to his knees. He pulled his scarf down around his neck and raised his goggles up to his forehead in a single clumsy, infuriated motion. The entire left side of his face was a swollen, bruised purple mess that would've made the faint of heart turn their heads away in disgust. "You broke formation and went right." Automne slurred painfully from one side of his mouth as he staggered to his feet.

"Oh no," Anger, that is to say more of it, rising in Ty's voice. "The plan was you would take point, then I would Blink in front of you for support, then we would try and assault them together!"

"Yeah, well I was maintaining formation until you ducked off to the right." Automne fired back, his intensity almost entirely drowning out his pain.

"We were taking fire; I went for cover. And we would have been fine, if you hadn't ran off to the left and gotten pinned by Sienaerde."

"You broke formation!"

"You were supposed to follow me!"

"You never said that!"

"It was implied, I didn't think I had to say it!"

"Then it's your fault!"

"No, it's your fault!"

"Get off the training room floor, please." An irate feminine voice called out over the intercom.

Automne and Ty stared at each other, lava boiling in their eyes. Automne, without taking his eyes off of Ty, stooped down, scuttled about looking for his weapons, and upon retrieving them started to shuffle towards the exit.

Ty followed suit and the two partook in the act of awkwardly sulking off the training room floor with their eyes locked on each other.

"Oh, no." Eve said in alarm as she rushed up to Automne and lightly took his chin in her hand. Pulling and posing Automne's chin so she could catch the light on different parts of the purple skin she inadvertently brought his staring match to an early close.

"Oww!" Automne winced as she pressed lightly against the bruised skin. He swatted her hand away and held his hands around his face as he tried to defend the injury from her prodding.

"Sorry," Eve said in concern, pulling a small medical kit off her back, and beginning rummaging through it. "I think she may have broken your jaw."

"He deserves it." Ty grumbled sorely.

"Oh, screw you. I wouldn't even have these injuries if you knew how to direct in the field."

"Coming from the guy who's lost every single one-v-one match since he's been here." Ty fired back as Eve pulled out an ice pack and pressed it against Automne's face.

"Hey- ah, easy, Eve." Automne yipped, jumping backwards as the mixture of cold and pain flushed through his face.

"Sorry," Eve said quietly, guilt sweeping over her as she held the ice pack against her chest.

Automne sighed at Eve, indicating that he wouldn't hold it against her; Ty on the other hand was not so fortunate. Automne's eyes darted back to him like magnets. Scalding water bubbling in Automne's chest. "Don't even go there. What about all those team exercises that I glide through while you flounder around." Automne lied as he tried to figure out a better point of attack.

Ty gave an amused snort. "The only way you glide through those is on your face. You get your ass drilled more than a ten-cent whore at a bachelor party."

Automne's eyes darted around in a panic as Ty's insult, which he had to admit was pretty clever, sent him staggering. "W-w-well at least I'm not a weeaboo."

The air dropped about ten degrees as Ty hung his head.

A draft blew past them, sending a chill up Automne's spine as Ty shook his head ominously.

The sensation of death ran through Automne as Ty raised his head. Automne had just crossed one of the most heinous of nerd lines and he knew it.

"Oh, it's on now." Ty said boldly, springing forward and tackling Automne to the ground.

Automne slammed into the floor like a potato sack filled with stones as Ty threw his weight on him. "Bitc-ack!" Automne, mostly, exclaimed before Ty wrapped his hands around his throat and began to shake him as if he were an annoying baby.

Eve gave a gasp and quickly jumped into the fray; hooking her arm around Ty's throat. "Let him go." Eve demanded in a rather polite tone as she pressed Ty's head into her sleeper hold.

"Yo," Petunia said, casually sauntering up in a tacky orange Jumbo Juice track suit. "Have you guys tried this Banana 'N Berry Smoothie from Jumbo Juice?" Calling attention to a white Styrofoam cup in her hand. "It's like the bananas and berries are having a party in my mouth. It's packed with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberry sherbet. I'm tellin' ya' this thing turns the party up to eleven." She said with a large smile as if an imaginary camera crew was following her around. Which only made the way she described the beverage sound like she had read it off a script.

Eve, Ty, and Automne stopped strangling and suffocating one another to simultaneously turn and stare at the orange haired girl. They glanced her up and down from her gaudy green sneakers emblazoned with Jumbo Juice logos to her equally repulsive visor.

"What the hell are you doing?" Automne coughed, forgetting that Ty was in the middle of choking him.

"I'm advertising." Petunia said simply, taking a sip from her smoothie.

"Yeah, no duh, but why?"

"Cause if I start advertising Jumbo Juice people will start noticing me and then they'll be like 'Hey, you're the Jumbo Juice chick.' and I'll be like yeah, and then one thing leads to another and I'm getting laid." She finished with a fit pump

"Okay," Ty said judgmentally, releasing Automne's throat and standing straight up; Eve sliding off his back like water. "First off, I'm assuming you haven't been picked up by an actual marketing representative."

"No, I was figuring I'd let social media do most of the work and I'd just piggyback off that."

"Which makes you completely liable if Jumbo Juice wants to sue."

"I'll just tell them my name's 'Automne Ombre Noire' so I don't get sued." Petunia waved off coolly as she took another sip from her smoothie, which was sounding more and more like it was just some completely empty cup.

"Hey!" Automne shouted as he picked himself off the ground.

"Is for horses." Ty dismissed with a smirk. "Second, why aren't you hacking those servers? I thought you said you were going to be working on that."

"Eh, I got bored. I want to chase my dreams and be huge. And I figured if Pyrrha Nikos can do it why can't I?"

"Because she's not an untalented loser." Automne said with a pained smirk; Eve gently pressing her ice pack against his face.

"Says the guy who jerks off into a sock three times a day." Petunia shot back.

"Hey," Automne barked; pointing at her intently. "That's five times a day. If you're going to insult me at least get your facts straight."

Astonishment swept away Petunia's hostility. "You yank it five times a day?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Most guys can only spank it like three times."

"Oh," Automne said in genuine surprise. "Should… Should I be proud of that?"

"I wouldn't be." Petunia said with an honest shake of the head.

"Guys, this conversation is very inappropriate." Eve said quietly, as she meekly looked between the bunch.

"Eve, every conversation we have is inappropriate." Automne informed her with a raised eyebrow. "What do you think we should talk about?"

Eve stared at her shoes for a few seconds. "… Taxes?"

Automne gave her a flat stare. "Taxes?"

Eve glanced around skeptically. "Nnnnno?"

"Hey, I know what we can talk about." Ty said with a large grin. "Let's talk about Automne's shitty track record."

Petunia gave a tired groan. "That sounds like a pretty long talk."

"Oh, screw you guys! Ow, Eve!" Automne growled making Eve hastily withdraw her ice pack.

"Sorry," Eve muttered. "But your jaw is in really bad condition. We should go see the nurse."

"Eve, don't give him medical treatment on account of him being an insubordinate douche." Ty demanded with the crossing of his arms.

"You know what, screw you, dude. You don't deserve to be team leader."

"And you don't deserve to be at this school."

Automne recoiled at Ty's words. Pain swelled in his eyes as he grit his teeth. "I hope you get pancreas cancer! Eve, come on, let's go to the nurse!" Automne shouted as he stormed off down the corridor.

"Wait, Automne!" Eve called after him as he pushed through a pair of double doors. "Automne, you and Ty need to talk this out."

"No I don't… In fact, I have a plan that'll fix this whole thing for good." A sinister grin crossing Automne's lips as he pushed through another set of doors and stepped out into the open campus, gloomy clouds rolling in above them.

"What are you going to do?" Concern and curiosity exuding from every fiber of Eve's being.

"I'll tell you when we get to town. C'mon if we hurry we can make the next flight." He said with an invigorated smile as he sprinted off towards the landing pads.

"Wait, Automne, what about the nurse? Automne?"

"Errgh, he's such a dumbass." Ty grunted, his voice almost entirely drowned out by the clatter and whir of students bustling around the gym. "He can't even manage to follow through with the simplest of plans." He barked as his fist collided into a brick red heavy bag. "Honestly, the school's application system must be horribly broken considering someone as brain-dead as Automne can get in." The bag creaking loudly as he delivered a flurry of punches.

"Could be worse, they could've placed you with a Beowolf." Petunia said, thumbing through her Scroll with one hand and curling a dumbbell with the other. "At least then you'd know your partner was always trying to kill you."

"I think if we replaced Automne with a rock we'd immediately improve." Ty said between breaths as he relentlessly beat the punching bag.

"And rocks can't stare at ya' in y'er sleep so that's another plus." Petunia grumbled under her breath as she continued to swipe her finger across her Scroll. A dissatisfied scowl crossed her lips as her swiping sped up. "Nobody's posting any pictures of me on Chattr. Do you think I should check that new site or do you think it's just a hipster thing?"

"You're thinking too mainstream." Ty said, stepping away from the bag which was practically pleading for a five minute break. "If you want to get noticed by marketing reps you want to be about five months behind the curve."

"Right." Petunia said with a smile as she tucked her Scroll into her underarm and shifted the dumbbell to her other hand.

Ty walked over to his water bottle and took a swig, unease resting contently upon his face. He ground his teeth and looked off into the far corner of the gym.

When Petunia stopped hearing complaints slam into her like tidal waves she briefly glanced up from her Scroll. "Dude, what's up?"

Ty gave a groan filled to the brim with exhaustion and frustration. "Nothing."

Petunia lowered her dumbbell to her side and gave Ty a hard stare. "You thinkin' 'bout your butt buddy?"

"Go hack those servers." Ty spat as he turned around and went back to punching the bag.

"I'll do it later. Right now I'm tryin' to get famous."

"You're as famous as Polio."

"Dude," Shock heavy in her voice. "Don't joke about that shit; Polio's not funny." She said as if she actually had a sympathetic bone in her body.

"Yeah… But back on track, Automne's an asshat and I'm tired of his shit." An absolutely fed up Ty stated with one more punch into the heavy bag.

"Well, we can't kill him and throw him off a cliff so, what're ya' gonna do?" Petunia said disinterestedly as she started to swipe her finger across her Scroll again.

Ty gave a heavy sigh and placed his hands on his hips. He stared at the floor, running ideas through his brain before an idea flitted through his mind like a swallow. He lifted his eyes off the floor slowly and let them rest upon a girl using a nearby leg press machine.

A devilish smirk gradually began to cross his lips. "I think I have an idea."

"Automne, no." Eve said defiantly puffing out her cheeks.

"Eve, yes." Automne urged in embarrassment, his once purple face now a dull gray.

"Automne, no."

"Eve, yes."

"Yeah, c'mon, Eve, don't be a stick in the mud." A man with a cracked tooth and a thin mustache butted in with a wide smile.

"Please, stay out of this." Automne snapped, holding his hand up to indicate that his assistance wasn't needed or wanted.

"Automne, we are not going to buy drugs from this man." Eve said with a foot stomp into the dealer's grimy carpet.

"Eve, we're not buying drugs, we're buying marijuana." Automne said as if he were correcting a four year old's math homework.

"Marijuana is illegal."

"Well, it shouldn't be, and besides we're not even going to smoke any of it. We're just going to plant it in Ty's suitcase, tell security that he's a drug dealer, and get him thrown out of Beacon." Automne said with a large smile as he gestured through the steps by hand. The complete insanity of his plan flying so far above his head that it was probably oxygen deprived.

"We're not going to frame Ty and we're not going to buy any drugs." Eve said defiantly, not buying into Automne's scheme for a second. Eve calmly turned to the dealer and gave him a small bow. "We're sorry for wasting your time, but we won't be-"

"Eve, hold up, let's think this through." Automne said desperately as he stepped between her and the dealer. "You know Ty's a bad leader; you've said it before."

"Wha- I've never said that. I just think he… needs improvement is all."

"He's mean, he's overly demanding, and he constantly throws hissy fits when he doesn't get his way." Automne persisted, listing off Ty's shortcomings on his fingers.

Eve's eyes darted around unsurely. "He… can be a bit short tempered, yes, but I'm sure he has the best intentions."

"Eve, he's unreasonable and he doesn't try to work with us at all. AND he stole from the swear boxes so he could buy manga!"

"Pffft, that's not cool." The dealer interjected as he shook his head in disapproval.

Eve stared down at her shoes letting the conversation come to a stop as she tried to justify Ty's actions.

"Eve, I want to like Ty too, but we deserve better." Automne took a step forward and placed his hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch. "So, let's buy some pot and plant it in his suitcase so I can be the team leader."

There was a brief pause as Eve scanned over him with her gentle eyes.

"No," She said softly.

"Dust damn it." Automne moaned, placing his face in his hand. Automne took a deep breath. "Alright," Automne started again as he released his breath. "How about…" Automne snapped his fingers as an excited, yet unmistakably relieved expression washed over him. "I'll make you dinner; anything you want."

Eve gave an offended sigh. "Automne, you can't bribe me with food. Food doesn't solve-"

"I'll make you crème brûlée." Automne said, happily letting the letters roll off his tongue.

Eve gave a gasp. "Really?!" She paused, pushing the desert out of her mind to keep hold of her integrity. "No, I won't let you force me into this." Eve said resolutely crossing her arms.

"Yo, do we have a deal here or not?" The dealer barked as a reminder that he was still in the room.

"Look, guy, give us a minute." Automne said before turning back to Eve.

The dealer nodded his head and squinted at them. "No, you know what, get out of my house. I'm not gonna sell you squat."

Automne gave a tired sigh. "Nothing ever goes right." He muttered under his breath. Automne swiftly took hold of his Escrima, spun around, and smacked the dealer squarely on the side of the head, sending him toppling over onto the floor.

Eve let out a gasp. "Automne!"

"To be fair," Automne said tiredly, "We were going to rob him anyways."

"What?" Eve squeaked in horror.

"It's not like he'd call the cops! 'Oh no, they stole my weed. Durr, I better call the police'," Automne mocked as he sauntered into the dealer's bedroom and began pulling open drawers. "Street rules, Eve, no one's going to call the cops if it's illegal."

"So, w-we're just going to take all his drugs?" Eve said in a frustrated panic as she laid the dealer on his back and pried his eyes open.

"Of course not, we only need a little bit to frame Ty. We'll just take what we need and call the cops with his phone so they can come and arrest him. We're not criminals, Eve" Automne said as he lifted up the man's mattress. "Found it!" Automne declared cheerfully as he pulled a novelty lunchbox out from under the bed.

Automne pried the lunchbox open as he sauntered back into the living room to find Eve placing a throw pillow under the dealer's head. Automne threw open the lid to reveal multiple sandwich baggies filled with marijuana, a small money roll, and a small scale. Automne pulled out one of the bags and held it up with a smirk.

"This should do." Automne said as he poured the rest of the lunchboxes contents onto the stomach of the unconscious dealer and placed his bag back into the tin. "Alright, did you grab his phone?"

"Automne," Eve said miserably, crouched down next to the dealer. "I feel sick."

Guilt quickly washed over Automne. He crouched down near the knees of the dealer and gave Eve a regretful frown. "Look, Eve, I don't like this either, but trust me this is going to turn out fine… Also, if you need to throw up don't do it in here. Cause then they'll have our DNA and then they'll track us down and then we'll both rot in jail."

Eve gave a large gasp. "Jail, but-but we haven't done anything- I can't go to jail! Do you know what they do to Huntresses in jail? Automne, what're we going to do? If they catch us we'll get thrown out of Beacon. This is all your fault. Why can't you-"

'Smooth like butter.' Automne hissed internally as he gave a frustrated sigh.

"Sooooo," Automne said tentatively as him and Eve stepped off the airship cones of vanilla ice cream in hand and the novelty lunchbox tucked under Automne's arm. "Are you still mad at me?"

Eve glanced over at him from the corner of her eye and quietly quickened her pace.

"Oh, come on," Automne pleaded as he followed after her. "I bought you ice cream."

"You stole it." Eve snapped bitterly, refusing to look back at him.

"I did not steal it; I just took some money from the dealer so we could pay for it."

"You stole from him."

"Eve, he was a drug dealer. Stealing from a drug dealer isn't a crime. If anything it's basically community service. Besides, we called the cops on him, so I don't know what the problem is."

Eve came to an abrupt halt and turned around to give him an infuriated stare, which came across as rather comical since she was still holding her ice cream. She didn't say anything for a few moments, she just glared at Automne; the crisp, dry autumn wind swaying her hair and clothes. She opened her mouth as if she were about to utter a truly profound statement, the kind that would leave Automne reeling from guilt, but then she closed it and tossed her ice cream at him.

Automne ducked to the side, narrowly avoiding the cone which splattered against the floor with a light crack.

"You're a jerk." Eve declared with the stomping of her feet. "I'm sorry, but you're-you're petty and-and manipulative!"

"Hey," Fire rushing into Automne's chest as he pointed at Eve with his ice cream. "I'm not the one who treats his teammates like garbage and makes them feel crappy about themselves."

"You're trying to get him thrown out of Beacon."

"He shouldn't be here." Automne said pointing his ice cream towards the dormitories. "If he thinks he's so much better and that he doesn't need to improve then why is he here? He should be fine on the streets if he doesn't need to learn anything." Automne griped sarcastically as he turned towards the dormitories. "It's not like this school is a place to learn and improve. Yeah, the only reason we're here is to win training matches, you stupid jackass!" He shouted as he threw his ice cream into the distance.

Automne exhaled heavily as he scowled at the dormitories, the tin lunchbox crackling slightly as Automne squeezed it against himself.

"Automne, I think you and Ty need to talk."

Automne forced out a laugh as he turned back to Eve. "Yeah, because Ty seems like the considerate, nice guy who's willing to sit down and talk about his feelings."

"Automne, you have to at least try." Eve tried to reason, her anger now replaced with sympathy. "You can't avoid this."

"I could avoid him." Spite heavy in his tone.

"Do you really think that'll help?"

Automne looked down at his feet with a grimace. He glanced over at the tin lunchbox, its contents almost silently shifting around within. He raised his head to glare back over at the dormitories, which for some reason towered above every other building around it. Automne let out a loud groan. "Come on." Automne growled as he briskly headed off towards their dorm.

"Automne, what're you-"

"Just come on."

"Automne," Eve moaned uneasily as he marched down the hallway towards their dorm room. "I think you should take a minute-"

"I don't need a minute." Automne blurted out as he pulled his Scroll from his pocket and rushed over to the door. "What I need is to give Ty a piece of my mind!" Automne exclaimed as he threw the door to the dorm open.

"Hey," Ty called out from his bed, looking up from a manga. "Go easy on the door. Ozpin said he's not replaci-" Ty stopped mid-sentence and raised his manga to shield his face as Automne hurled the tin lunchbox at the wall behind him.

"You're an ass." Automne said simply as the lunchbox fell to the floor with a clatter.

"Well," Ty started, determination dawning in him like he was about to go to war. "At least I'm-"

"Shut up!" Automne ordered with a pointed finger and a bitter scowl. "You're an ass." Automne reiterated, losing some of his ferocity. "You act like you're the best Dust damn Hunter in the whole school! So, every time we screw up you act like it's our fault. And-and you harp on every single mistake we make, and that's bullshit. You make us feel like crap just so you can look better and-and that sucks!

"Do you know how shitty it feels to have your leader tell you you're doing a crappy job when you know you're doing a crappy job?" Tears of rage began to bud in the corners of Automne's eyes as he stepped forward, throwing his hands around in the air. "I know I suck, but you know what? I'm trying. I'm sorry I don't live up to your incredibly stupid standards, but I'm trying to improve. And you being a complete douchebag doesn't help… It hurts."

Ty gave Automne a flat stare.

The dry air stung Automne's bloodshot eyes as Ty closed his book and gave Automne a stern look. "Are you on your period?"

Automne paused for a second before letting out a loud chortle. He covered his mouth and bit into his tongue as he tried to maintain a serious glare, but it was futile. He choked on his giggles as Ty's retort rolled around in his mind. "I hate you." Automne muttered as he tried to suppress his laughter.

"I love you too, ya faggit." Ty said with a broad smile as he stood up.

"I seriously hope someone shoves a watermelon up your ass." Automne laughed as tears flowed out of his eyes.

"Why ya gotta be a bitch?" Ty chuckled as he walked over and patted Automne on the shoulder. "Also, while we're on the subject I slept with Chartreuse."

Automne stopped giggling as the name Chartreuse hit him like a clump of wet clay. As he rolled the name across the surface of his brain an almost sickeningly unpleasant chord was strummed a few times that Automne couldn't make heads or tails of. "Chartreuse… who's that?"

"The green haired chick from your Biology class" Ty revealed with an obvious amount of discomfort.

And then Automne's smile dropped off his face like a baby wearing a sweater-vest made out of lead. "What?" He said, an eye beginning to twitch as he bore his gaze into Ty.

"I uh… I slept with the girl you like." Ty responded with a slight amount of guilt. "We're actually dating now… We've got quite a bit in common."

Automne's heart stopped beating as his eyes turned glassy. He placed his hand on Ty's shoulder with a loud slap and began to nod his head.

"Umm, Automne," Eve said quietly from the doorway as Automne continued to bob his head like his neck had transformed into a spring. "Are you alright?"

"I will be." Automne squealed in a high pitched voice as he quickly clapped both his hands against Ty's throat and began squeezing.

"Shit!" Ty croaked, falling back onto the floor with a thud as Automne clamped down.

"You dick!"

"You were being a bitch. I was teaching you a lesson." Ty croaked as the two began to roll around.

"I called dibs!"

"You didn't even know her name!"

"I would've figured it out!"

"Guys, please stop fighting." Eve urged as the two rolled back and forth like an indecisive tumbleweed.

"What'd I miss?!" Petunia called out as she ran into the room panting. "My gay-dar was going nuts. Were they being gay?"

"I suppose." Eve said skeptically as Ty slapped Automne across the face, making him fall back in agony.

"Damn it," An aggravated Petunia growled. "First the cease and desist from Jumbo Juice and now I missed the gayness. Today is bullshit."

"Well, it could be worse." Eve said optimistically. "At least Automne and Ty resolved their issues…"

"I'm gonna shove my moccasins down your throat!" Automne screamed as Ty wrestled him into a headlock.

"…Sort of."

Hey every body, sorry this one took so long, I've been really busy. I hope you enjoyed it and if you haven't already follow, favorite, and review if you feel like it.

Thanks to all of you for the support, I love this story and I love sharing it with all of you, and trust me I hate these delays ten times as much as all of you.

Unfortunately, I gotta run, don't worry, there's still more to come, but until next time peace out.