SO sorry for the delay in updating all! D: Life's been getting in the way lately but I have returned! This chapter starts with a flashback to the days when Noah and Kitty unknowingly used to be in the same gaming alliance together. Hope you enjoy!

2 and a half years ago

({No POV})

Noah was plugged into his computer in more ways than one as he had his entire focus on what was happening in front of him.

Noah and his alliance members won the Canadian and North American Championship brackets for the annual "Kosmic Kaos" International Tournament just last week and have been trail blazing through and ended up in the final round. The Canadian team ended up beating Sweden during the North American and European Semi-Final round and were now facing a team that none of them had competed against before.

The Philippines.

The team was a dark horse that narrowly eked out an upset victory against Japan in Asia's Continental Bracket Championship and then decimated Brazil as the South American Champs that year in the tournament.

And so far… the Philippines was proving their worth to Noah's team in the final Championship round.

The whole session felt like nothing but a series of attacks and counter attacks that kept things in practically a frustrating stalemate.

Both teams kept up their strategies until one of the members of the Filipino team looked like they 'broke from the pack' and were trying to 'sneak up' on none other than one of the Canadian team's organizer's.

Cinderhella243 (Kitty Park, age 17).

Then without warning used a power-up and used a special attack to practically blind side Kitty's character and drained her H.P. down to zero. Kitty was out.

Everyone on both teams was so shocked by the 'rogue act' in the moment and there seemed to be a lull of silence between both teams.

Well it was silent for a moment until it seemed like the 'shock' of being the definition of 'pwned' wore off as Kitty called out, sounding the epitome of fuming rage and her teammates hearing things being thrown in the background, "OH, you BITCH! Who the FUCK are YOU?! AGH! YOU CAN JUST TAKE MY MAGIC STAFF AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR…"

Kitty's audio went dead and her team could no longer hear her.

Luckily, Noah was smart enough in the moment to take a regulated 'time out' for his team as all of them tried to 'regroup' and tried to figure out what was happening.

Even though Noah had never met any of his teammates before and vice versa, they all knew their team was a mostly 'male party' until they recruited Cinderhella243 to their team. And considering all of them were for the most part awkward teenage boys at that time with only one of them just recently turning 20 in the past week, all of them were a bit thrown off at first by the addition of a girl to the team at first.

Sure they gave her the invite after they saw how good she was on the Canadian servers and wanted to bring her on as an asset to their team, but… it's like none of them really knew what to do with her since she was the only girl most of them interacted with to any extent on a regular basis and always came across to them as a very nice, sweet, and cool girl (of which pretty much all of them had a bit of a crush on as the only girl in their group and respected her as a talented gamer despite having never met her).

Even Noah, who had never had a crush in his life or was even interested in girls or dating at all, seemed to 'respect' if not 'admire' her in a way for her skills on the server.

So for them to hear this girl who's usually always been nothing but 'bubbly and sweet' suddenly start swearing up a storm and sounding like she was 'raising hell' was certainly something new to the rest of the team.

Finally one of Noah's teammates spoke up as he reached out, "Uh… Cinder?... Cinderhella243, you there?"

Silence.

After a few more seconds of silence, Noah finally concluded and stated what he and all his teammates now knew was the obvious, "Uh, guys… Pretty sure we just had a hardcore 'rage quit' on our hands."

The Canadians ended up placing 2nd since Cinderhella never reappeared to any degree for the rest of the time and it wouldn't be until a week later that she would reach out and let them know she was stepping down from the group to 'take a break' and didn't know if she was ever coming back online.

Present day

(Noah's POV)

Oh no. Oh… no. Oh… shit.

UGH! Life, seriously, why do you hate me so?!

Can I just die? SERIOUSLY?! WHY?!

I live in a country with 38 million people in it and the ONE person I had to write about in that stupid prompt HAD to be Emma's sister?!

And right now Kitty was just looking at me like I was growing another head out of my shoulders, and not that I blame her as I felt like I was descending into madness, despair, and absolute insanity.

Mainly, and aside from feeling the impulse like I needed to burn my clothes and take a cold shower, that I was trying to figure out what to do to keep Emma from EVER finding out… or at the very least convince her if she does find out that I was never into her sister and just technically wrote Kitty as the answer because I was forced to and also had zero idea who she was.

Oh… crap.

WHAT DO I DO?!

"Uh, Noah? Seriously, are you okay? What's up?" I whipped my head back over (forgetting Kitty was still standing there).

Okay Noah… relax. Think logically here.

I tried to recompose myself as much as possible to try to figure out how to at least let Kitty know I'm not losing it, despite feeling like I was still going to go into a state of shock... and panic that Emma is going to break up with me.

Finally I looked back over at her as I started, just getting right to the point as I motioned to myself, "Kitty, I'm NMATH917." Kitty's eyes went wide before she broke out in a huge smile and clamped her hands on my shoulders as she started out in overly excited disbelief that reminded me of my sisters, "SHUT UP! We were in the same alliance?! Oh my God, that's so funny! I gotta tell Emma about this one."

It was like my body immediately went into a reflexive fight or flight impulse response as I grabbed one of her wrists to stop her and yelled on impulse, "Don't!"

Well until I realized what I did and realized I made it a million times worse by even calling attention to it.

Dammit Noah.

Then Kitty gave me a weirded out look (as expected from her sister's boyfriend {i.e me} acting like a total weirdass lunatic) and responded, "Why not?"

Welp… no getting out of this one.

I already idiotically dug myself into this hole and there's no way I'm getting out of it now unless I just fess up.

After a minute of awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck and feeling like I still just wanted to turn myself inside out, I finally said, "Um… okay, look. What if… hypothetically… I said in a questionnaire several years ago that I 'technically' said I… kinda… would've… wanted to date you?"

"Um, what?" I looked behind me and felt like I was going to crap out my own stomach when I saw Emma standing right behind me on the stairs.

Ugh… Fuck.

Yup, can someone just end me right now?

15 minutes

You know, scratch what I said, I still want someone to end me.

But… not for the same reason.

All Emma and Kitty did was laugh for pretty much 5 straight minutes after I explained the whole 'situation'.

I mean, sure, I was glad Emma wasn't pissed about the fact that I technically and unknowingly admitted in a stupid interview questionnaire that was printed in magazines that I said I would date her sister and I really like getting Emma to laugh.

But, yeah… Emma laughing at me about this?... Not so much.

The only thing that gave me any sort of a 'reprieve' was when Kitty just casually ducked out to go sledding with Owen and her other friends while I was taking a moment to put my hand over my face in some stupidly pathetic hope that I could absorb the soul crushing embarrassment out of my head and into my hand.

Ugh… seriously, what the hell even is my life anymore?!

I stayed in that state of almost painful self-loathing until I felt a familiar hand on my shoulder and heard, "Noah?"

I spread my fingers out on my face to look through them for a second and saw Emma looking at me, almost looking apologetic now.

But, not like that stopped me from feeling like I was still partially dying a little inside.

After I still didn't say anything Emma kept going, sounding just as apologetic as she looked, "Look Noah, I'm sorry I laughed about that."

Finally I let my hand fall as I gave her a look and started, "Sure about that? Or was watching you and Kitty laughing to the point of tears for practically 5 minutes straight just a 'figment of my imagination' just now?"

She bit her lip and looked away until she let out a sigh and responded, "Look, I'm sorry Noah. But… seriously, you have to admit, even I think that's funny. And that's coming from 'me' here. But, honestly, I'm more surprised that you and Kitty didn't peg each other sooner. I mean, I don't know a lot about gaming, but I could hear Kitty talking to you guys on a headset whenever she was online."

I just shrugged and said, "You'd think, but that's not really how it works. These days, the only guy I know in my alliance is Cody after I got him in to take Kitty's place after that happened. Otherwise none of us in my alliance have ever seen each other or met in person. Seriously, despite technically knowing these guys for over a solid decade, I don't think any of us could pick each other out of a line up if our lives depended on it. Do you think you could pick me out of a line up if you only heard my voice but never met me?"

She smirked and gave me a slight look before responding playfully to the point, "Are you trying to paint me into a corner now or something?"

I just smirked and gave her a look back as I responded with an eyebrow raise, "You started it."

But, Emma snorted out a laugh in that cute way that always gets a smirk out of me. Then I was slightly caught off guard when she just leaned in and kissed me before I could even form another thought.

Eventually I just shrugged everything off and put my hands on her sides and kissed her back.

Hey, I'm just relieved my girlfriend didn't get pissed at me for me technically saying I wanted to date her sister in public writing years ago… even though I didn't know that until now and only wrote that because I was forced to.

Besides, Emma's got nothing to worry about.

No offense to Kitty but she's NOT anywhere near anything I would be attracted to. I mean, she's cute don't get me wrong, but she would probably literally drive me insane if she was my girlfriend. First of all, it would be like dating one of my sisters (as if that idea isn't mentally scarring at all) since she is WAY too happy and energetic for me.

I only need one 'Owen' in my life and I do not need or want a girlfriend like that ever.

Ugh… I was also trying to leave out the other reason why I also feel awkward as hell right now, which is mostly because of the 'Owen thing' with his crush on Kitty now.

Again, not gonna think about it since that's Owen's deal.

Besides, I just want to take advantage of being alone with Emma right now.

But, for real, what could actually go wrong from here?

I grew up the youngest of 9 and had to share a bathroom with the 'barrel of roid monkeys' that I call my brothers my whole childhood. That and Emma got smothered by my mother and humped by my dog in front of my entire immediate family... So just Emma, Kitty, and their parents here?

Easy.

I got this no problem.

We kept kissing until we heard someone behind us roughly clearing their throat and made us break apart immediately and look behind us.

Immediately I saw a man and woman probably in their early 50's just staring right at us.

Already I noticed that Kitty and Emma's personality wasn't the only thing that's opposite between them. Even though I could see certain things about their appearance that Emma got. I could see Emma looked A LOT like her dad while Kitty seemed to look more like their mom, especially from the noses in particular.

Immediately Emma let go of me and started, sounding like she was trying to recover, "Mom, dad."

She immediately went over to them as I just stood there and processed.

Her mom smiled and hugged her as she said, sounding happy but more relaxed than how mom greeted her at my house (then again most things are more calm then my mom), "Merry Christmas, hun. How was your flight?"

Emma smiled and replied, "It was good! Honestly I think the drive with Kitty was more stressful than that."

They both shared a knowing laugh before Emma looked over at her dad and said, smiling even bigger, "Merry Christmas, dad! How was work?"

Her dad, who hadn't smiled this whole time and just kept looking at me, actually smiled at her and gave her a hug as he said, "Merry Christmas, kiddo. You know us this time of year. It's like after Halloween all the kids lose control and cavities come to us at an all time high."

As they hugged, her dad was just glaring at me over Emma's shoulder while Emma's mom was still just looking at Emma.

Look, I've been getting glares my entire life (especially from my dad), so that's nothing new to me. But there was something about the way her dad was glaring at me from behind his glasses that almost looked like he was trying to almost… 'cut through me' or something and reflexively made everything in my body tense up.

Uh… what the?...

Before I could even complete my thought, Emma backed away from her dad and went back over to me and grabbed my arm as she guided me over to her parents.

Look, I'm pretty oblivious with 'emotional stuff', but even I could tell there was something up, especially with Emma.

Is she… nervous?

Emma got me right in front of her parents as she motioned to me with her free hand and introduced, "Mom, dad… this is Noah. Noah, these are my parents, Dennis and Lisa."

Her mom smiled a little at me and shook my hand, looking like she was just trying to be polite but off, "Hello there… Emma's told us a lot about you."

I didn't know how to respond to that, but I shook her hand back and replied, "Hi."

I looked to her dad, who was still looking at me like the Destructive Drone from Space Battles about to incinerate a planet into oblivion.

Again, I don't get it?

My dad gives me pissed off glares all the time at home so… why the hell is this uptight dentist that's an inch shorter than me with glasses, a crew cut, and dressed up like he taught at a Catholic school (I would know since I went to one) making my stomach feel like it was turning inside out?

But, I was doing this for Emma and I didn't want to embarrass her by doing anything stupid.

So, I held out my hand to her dad, who was now still glaring at me hard as he tilted his head and crossed his arms at me, as I started, "Uh, hi. Nice to meet you, Mr. Park."

After several beats of painfully awkward silence, he said smooth but dead on point, "Doctor Park. If you don't mind?"

Um… Okay? That was 'fine', I guess?

After that her dad just walked off and her mom looked back and called out, "Dennis!..."

Her mom looked back at us, looking like she was majorly forcing a smile, "Um… I'm going to see if dinner I set up in the slow cooker this morning is ready."

Well… that all wasn't weird as hell just now.

I looked back down at Emma and saw hanging her head and scrunching her eyes a little. I tilted my head, not knowing what was going on, as I started, "Um, hey, you okay?"

Immediately, her expression almost flipped a complete 180 as she seemed like she was forcing a smile at me almost as much as her mom and said, even though I knew she was lying, "Yeah, I'm fine. I… just need to wash my hands in the bathroom. I'll meet you in the dining room over there, okay?"

After that she kissed me on the cheek again and walked off, leaving me confused as all get out in the living room.

Okay, seriously, I know I'm new to this whole 'meet the parents thing' but… seriously, what is happening right now?

Well, that just got awkward quickly. And I'm not even talking about the 'Noah-Kitty situation' that was quickly and comedically resolved much to Noah's relief and dismay. Lol. XD I won't give too much away since more will be expanded on this next chapter, but… looks like Emma's parents aren't too 'big of fans' of Noah thus far. Basically at this point, and despite this being the first time Noah and Emma are in a situation where their introducing each other to their parents. But, it looks like Noah isn't off to as good of a start with the Parks as Emma was with his parents since Noah's parents seem to really like Emma. Again, you probably may see where I'm taking this, but I'll leave you all to make your guesses regardless. ;) Thank you so much for your patience with me and hope you enjoyed seeing Kitty's 'smashing the console and the living room' after she got pwned online that caused her to give up gaming for the most part. Honestly, after I heard that in the show, I just thought it would be so funny if like Noah said in here that 'Kitty hardcore rage quits' when she's online and swears like a sailor. Because to me, nothing is more hilarious and mildly disturbing than seeing a cute, sweet, and bubbly person like Kitty get angry in a situation like that and lose her cool completely. It was just too funny of an image in my head to resist when I wrote this and had to do it. Thanks so much as always for reading and reviews are always very much appreciated.

Stay classy and safe all!

Dexter1995