A/N: WELCOME! This is the longest fic I've ever written, so I hope you enjoy. I took liberty with the dialog from the original show a bit in the beginning, since I'm pulling from S2E46 Deja Vu, but it keeps the same atmosphere and hopefully blends well with the rest of my story.


For once in his young life, food wasn't the most important thing during Odd Della Robbia's lunchtime. Don't mistake, it was still important but he had found knowing the identity of the girl he had fallen for after just a few days much more stimulating than grabbing a second helping of meatballs.

Technology could be fascinating sometimes. In the case of Odd, it had allowed him to become head over heels for a girl before he even met her. While first impressions were important, actually getting to know someone over a chat website was a refreshing change of pace.

Over the course of the day, Odd had managed to think about nothing else but who his mystery girl could be.

At first, he thought anyone in his grade level was out of the question. He had dated nearly all of them and none of those girls had ever made him feel so incredibly inspired by romance before. But his internet sweetheart admitted to being in the same class as him, which had narrowed the window of who it could be considerably.

This girl was incredibly witty, had a great sense of humor, and knew just what to say to speak to his artistic heart. Odd had always been a sucker for romance and appreciated being the one receiving it this time around.

The only thing he knew for sure about this girl was that she attended the same school he did.

Typing away on the borrowed computer that sat in front of him, Odd's best friend leaned over and looked at the screen.

"So Odd," Ulrich said, "How's your cyber sweetheart?"

Odd smiled. Sweetheart was the perfect term to describe the infatuation he had for the online girl he hadn't met yet.

While he had a reputation for over exaggerating his involvement with the people he was in romantic relationships with, the girl he had met online had really struck a different chord in him. The bond that they shared felt different somehow and just thinking about their daily chats made him want to sigh.

"She is too cool!" He said, closing the laptop and moving to stand. "I've really got it bad, this time, guys. I'm going to meet her."

"When?" Yumi said, looking up as he grabbed the laptop from the table.

"Now!" he grinned and turned on his heels, heading for the door. "Later!"

His friends watched him leave while Odd's mind reeled at the endless possibilities his date could look like. He was honestly excited to meet her in person and there was a spring in his step as he made his way toward the vending machines, the place they had agreed to meet up.

It was a little jarring not personally knowing someone he was effectively dating. Odd liked to have face-to-face contact with his dates but it was sweet and the mystery made it more romantic, in his opinion.

The only identity he could recognize his date by was her screen name X90sbabeX. The cute name made her seem like a total bombshell. Odd's screen name was just as clever but they ended up calling each other nicknames to make up for the anonymity.

"I'm on the way, Bella." he said to himself.

When they finally agreed to meet up in person, Odd was over the moon.

Odd and his date had only given each other small hints as to their appearance while staying away from specifics so she truly was a mystery as far as how attractive she could be. Odd knew that the girl he was going to meet would have relatively dark hair, a good sense of style, and most likely be taller than him, as most girls were. It was more of a guess than actual knowledge but he was prepared for a beautiful tall girl in his life.

The image of his mysterious girl, wearing one of those cute tops that showed her belly and was tied with a string in the back, a flowy skirt, and maybe some platform shoes.

Odd stopped for a moment. Platforms would make her even taller than she would be normally. He shrugged and kept walking. She'd look great either way and he was confident that his personality would overshine when it came to his height.

As Odd made his way toward the vending machines, he saw a hint of black hair from around the corner. He sped up his walk a little until the girl came into view.

His eyes widened and Odd slammed on his heels abruptly. "I don't believe this!" he said, quickly darting around the back of a nearby tree.

Cautiously peeking behind the tree, Odd felt like he was swallowing his tongue as he looked on.

There, standing in all her irritatingly beautiful glory was Sissi Delmas, the local bully of their school. Well, Odd thought to himself, she wasn't as much of a bully as she was purely annoying.

"Hey," Odd heard behind him as a hand fell on his shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned around to find that Ulrich had followed him.

"So Odd," he said with a smile, "your fantastic girl, what's she like?"

Odd swallowed thickly. This was the opposite of what he had been expecting.

"Uhh- surprising." Odd said, wearily. He peered around the side of the tree again.

Unfortunately, his eyes hadn't betrayed him. The girl he was supposed to meet was Sissi Delmas, the resident loudmouth of his school. While she was incredibly popular among most students, Odd and his friends had always tried to stay clear of her.

Sissi was hopefully looking around, trying to spot her internet love, the incriminating laptop in her hand.

A jolt of embarrassment mixed with a fluttering hopefulness thrummed in his chest and into his throat.

Odd and Sissi had an incredibly complicated relationship. On a daily basis, they verbally sparred for dominance and fought to see who could get a rise out of the other quicker. Knowing that Sissi and him were compatible with each other was surprising, to say the least.

However, the fact that the incredibly attractive girl, whom Odd had seen as nothing more than eye candy and that he just so happened to find annoying, made a pulse flutter against the inside of his chest.

Odd slapped a hand over his mouth and cringed. Sissi was waiting for him, for her 'internet love' and that's exactly what they were to each other. It wasn't only one sided, Odd had been just as infatuated with the girl he had been talking to as she had been.

All the love poems they exchanged, all the nights he had spent messaging her, all the time he spent falling for the charming girl online, it had all been Sissi Delmas.

Suddenly she was looking towards Odd, their eyes locking, and it felt like all the breath was stolen from his chest.

"What's the matter with you?" Sissi said loudly, shifting the laptop in her arm to place a hand on her hip. "You act as if you've never saw me before."

This truly was the girl he had spent the week romancing. The more he thought about it, the more Sissi began to blend with the ideal girl he had fantasized about online. She had been sweet, really funny, and was just as cheesy in her romantic gestures as he was. Strangely, it didn't feel like much of a stretch to see Sissi in the same light.

Odd felt a blush creep up his neck into his cheeks.

"Never like that." he said with wonder in his voice.

Sissi simply rolled her eyes and turned away, her long black hair swaying as she moved.

While it was surprising to know that the girl he actively tried to annoy was the girl he also felt compelled to share romantic poems with, it was more surprising to suddenly see Sissi as soft and charming.

It was like his feet were grounded and it wasn't until Ulrich was slapping him on the back that he realized he had been openly staring at Sissi, unable to speak.

"So aren't you going to go say 'hi' to your sweetheart?"

Odd looked at him with an embarrassed scowl. "Cut it out, Ulrich!"

Ulrich simply walked away laughing, a hand on his stomach.

It wasn't like the girl he had fallen for was unattractive, quite the contrary, Sissi was objectively one of the most beautiful girls at Kadic Academy, in Odd's opinion, and if it hadn't been for his friendship with Ulrich and Sissi's sour personality he might have already tried his luck at dating her.

Odd stumbled as he followed his friend back toward the lunch area, turning only briefly when he heard Sissi speak again.

"I have not been stood up!" she shouted at the two boys she occasionally called her friends.

There was a knotting of guilt in his stomach at the sound of her shrill voice. Even if it was someone he tried not to care about, she didn't really deserve to be let down like that and it was his fault. But Odd had been so shocked by the idea that his mysterious digital girlfriend turned out to be someone he went out of his way to annoy, that stepping up and actually admitting he found his rival charming made him cringe with embarrassment.

However, the feeling was mutual. Sissi did her best to annoy Odd as much as he did to make her squirm with rage. It had almost become a game between the two, determining which one could provoke the other first. A game Odd could admit he quite liked and didn't want to disrupt with complicated emotions like soft fondness.

"Hey guys!" he heard Ulrich shout as they met up with their friends outside of the cafeteria.

"So, Odd?" Aelita said, a soft smile on her face.

Ulrich laughed. "You won't believe who it is."

"It's not Sissi, is it?" Aelita said and she was completely joking but Odd knew the expression he made was telling enough that she had hit the mark.

"What?" they all said in unison.

Ulrich continued to laugh, getting quite a kick out of Odd's misfortune.

"Yeah, yeah." Odd said, a little defeated. "We all make mistakes sometimes."

Aelita laughed, "But I thought you were totally flipped over her?"

Odd simply waved a hand and laughed it off. "Don't exaggerate."

Jeremie spoke with a smirk, "And I quote: 'There's this fantastic girl that I've really flipped over. I've really got it bad this time.' Hmm?"

Odd shook his head.

"Well," Yumi said, "I guess that means you get your computer back, huh Jeremie?"

"Yeah, and a good thing too." Jeremie said as Odd handed the laptop over to him. "You never know when Xana will attack."

The others nodded.

Ulrich, finally finished with laughing, spoke up. "And it's a good thing for me. Now I can finally get a good night's rest without hearing a constant clicking away at the keyboard."

Yumi covered a hand over her mouth, her eyes creasing as she couldn't hold back a large grin.

"I don't know if I'm ever going to trust the internet again." Odd said.

It had been a few days since Odd's mishap with his digital romance and the fact that he had left Sissi with no explanation for his absence was eating away at him. He felt frozen with indecision. Odd had enjoyed his time messaging her but knowing that it was Sissi just shook him to the core. It was not only surprising but confusing to see such a softer side to his usual bitter rival.

While sitting in Jeremie's room, Odd and his friends had been discussing different ways they needed to approach Xana and his attacks but it was all things he had heard before. His mind couldn't help but wander to his romantic predicament.

Something must have been obvious in his expression because the girl beside him spoke softly, quiet enough that it was only meant for him to hear.

"So, how did Sissi take the news?" Aelita said.

Odd turned his head in confusion. "Huh, news?"

"That it was you-or, did you not talk to her?" She said, eyes widening slightly.

Odd just shrugged. "No. I'd rather skip the humiliation, thanks."

Shaking her head, Aelita put a hand on his shoulder cautiously. "But you did break it off with her gently, right?"

Looking away, Odd realized where this conversation was heading. He was embarrassed that Aelita was able to read him like a book and that someone like Sissi could affect him so deeply.

"Odd!" Aelita scolded quietly. "You can't just ignore her like that! Even though it is Sissi, and you two have a history of-" she thought for a moment, "let's just say unsavory communication with one another, you still need to tell her that you don't want to date her."

She looked at him expectantly. Odd closed his eyes, unable to make eye contact when she berated him, similar to Kiwi when he knew he was in trouble. Aelita was always good at seeing through his poorly covered emotions and while he appreciated the care she had for him, it could be a little unsettling.

Aelita sighed, turning to look at the others but she continued to speak to Odd. "At least tell her it's over. Say: I'm sorry, I don't want to do this anymore."

Odd clenched his fists and responded so automatically, it caught Aelita off guard. "But I don't want to stop and that's the problem!"

His other friends looked towards them at his outburst. It hadn't been loud but in a small room filled with too many people, even the smallest disturbance could easily disrupt the vibe of everyone around.

"Odd?" Ulrich said.

Jeremie chimed in. "Are you okay?"

Odd caught himself before he snapped at his friends and stood up.

"I'm just bored." he said instead, waving to them as he opened the door. "I'm going to take a walk."

Odd wasn't one to brood over a girl but bonding with Sissi had just turned his whole perspective of their relationship on its head.

"Guess I really am head over heels for her." He sighed to himself, a hand on his forehead.

Odd hadn't even made it to the stairs before he heard the sound of someone running up behind him.

"You know it's okay to want to talk to Sissi." Aelita said, running up to him.

Odd turned on his heel and put his hands across her mouth to shush her.

"Quiet!" he said, a little more than relieved that no one was in the hallway with them. "Don't say something dumb like that out loud."

Aelita just removed his hand and smiled.

"It's not that I want to talk to her," he said, "it's just- I miss talking to her when I didn't know who she was."

Looking a little more intrigued than before, Aelita tilted her head in thought. "Oh? That seems fair I guess. It's not like either of you planned this."

Odd nodded. They certainly hadn't planned to spend day and night romancing one another instead of seeing who could come up with the most clever joke to verbally kick the other person down.

"God!" he said, a little exasperated. "Sissi is just- she's so vain, and she won't ever shut up when she sees me. She's so annoying and drives me insane! She makes me want to just-"

"Odd," Aelita said, cutting him off with a roll of her eyes. "Get to the point?"

Odd realized he had lifted his hands in a strangling motion, his shoulders coming up to his ears, and he dropped them by his side quickly.

Despite all of her annoying tendencies and past all of her ridiculous idiocy, he honestly didn't want to end their conversations with each other. He missed them. He liked them. He liked her, at least, how she presented herself to him over the internet. He liked talking to her, romanticizing her, and sharing open heart poems. It was so different from anyone he had dated before, not just because he hadn't known what she looked like but also because he felt like they had made a connection with one another.

"And you know," he said slowly. "I just really miss talking to her."

Aelita nodded quietly for a moment.

"Want to hear what I think?" Aelita said, her hands shifting to hold the laptop he had only just noticed she brought with her to her other arm.

"Sure," Odd said with a shrug.

"I think you're being childish."

Odd blinked for a moment. "What?"

Aelita nodded. "I think it's fair to want something that you possessed before knowing all of the variables, but thinking that after you've seen the larger picture, everything can be the same again is childish and a little naïve. You can't simply sit idle."

Odd stared at her for a moment and then put a hand on his hip with a smile. "Okay, again in English, please, Princess."

Aelita laughed. "It makes sense to want to continue but now that you know who she is, things have to change. One way or the other."

Every word she said was undeniably true and Odd understood that. Leaving things at a standstill wasn't fair to Sissi and while that should have been enough, Odd had to remind himself that it also wasn't fair to the girl he had started to fall for online. It was just so hard to move past the idea of combining them as one.

"Well," he said, tilting his head with a smile. "As usual, Aelita, you're right."

With a relieved grin, Aelita lifted the laptop in her hands and pushed it into Odd's arms.

"Take this," she said, pressing it against his chest. "Think about what you want to say to her. It doesn't have to be grand, but just let her know how you feel."

Odd drummed his fingers on the laptop and nodded. They turned, making their way toward their respective rooms.

"Come back when you're done." Aelita said, stopping at Jeremie's door. "You'll feel better. I promise."

Odd continued to walk in the direction of his own room and nodded, leaning over his shoulder with a wave.

"Thanks, Princess."

"Always, Odd." she said with a smile and then walked through the door to join their friends.

As he made his way into his room, he jumped on the bed and laid back, his head against the side of his wardrobe. Odd set the laptop down and opened it up.

"Alright." He told himself. "Mia Bella is actually-" Odd swallowed a lump in his throat and closed his eyes. "She's actually Sissi."

The distance he had with Sissi was an established comfortable relationship. It was safe and the little cat-and-mouse game they played was even something he looked forward to. Similarly, the mysterious girlfriend he had fallen for over chatting was also a comfortable relationship.

Mixing the two sounded terrifying.

There was a soft sound beside Odd and he looked to see his dog Kiwi jump on the covers, trotting up to him.

"Hey boy," he said fondly. "Be glad you don't have to deal with relationship problems."

Kiwi looked up at him and gave him a lick on the cheek.

"Trust me," Odd said as he scratched behind his dog's ears. "It's not as fun as it looks."

Kiwi yapped softly and curled up into a furry donut against Odd's leg.

Odd gave him a couple of pats on the side. "My good little diggity dog."

Turning back to the problem in his hands he brought up the chatroom that he had become familiar with over the past week.

Separate, each relationship felt safe and comfortable, but together they became a completely different kind of unknown that Odd had never experienced before. He wished he could just use one of Lyoko's return trips to the past and forget that he ever found out about Sissi, but he knew that was useless since it would only be Sissi who wouldn't remember anything.

Odd sighed and thought about his options.

He could just tell Sissi that what they had wasn't working and he was going to stop messaging her but the idea struck a pang of sour in his chest. It would be lying and it would most certainly make Sissi upset, which made Odd frown at the thought.

Maybe he could ask again to meet her in person, this time actually going through with it and revealing to her who she had been romancing this whole time. Odd seized up in fear at the idea, not knowing how she would react or if she would even shut up long enough to listen to his side of the story.

Odd shook his head. All he wanted to do was continue messaging her like they had been before. It was the most appealing choice and also the worst but he couldn't help but be drawn by the idea of continuing his romantic escapade with Sissi.

When he pulled up the previous conversation that he and Sissi had been having, he saw that she had messaged him, quite a few times, since their agreed meeting time a couple of days ago.

As he read, all he could imagine was the sad look on Sissi's face. It made his heart ache.

"I don't like seeing a girl sad." he said to Kiwi beside him, shaking his head. "Even if it is Sissi."

X90sbabeX 7:05PM: To my amore, I dearly missed you at the vending machines today. Was I correct in the timing and place? Directly after lunch?
X90sbabeX 7:09PM: I hope you didn't see me and turn the other way lol :)
X90sbabeX 8:33AM: Good morning sweet love! Hopefully you are alright and nothing bad happened to you to make you miss our meeting date. Please return to me soon.
X90sbabeX 12:20PM: Is everything alright? Let me know how you've been, love.
X90sbabeX 7:45PM: I'm sorry if I misread your intentions or have scared you off. Hopefully there is an explanation for your absence.
X90sbabeX 7:09AM: good morning my sweet. hoping all is well.

Odd sighed.

Sissi had been waiting on him, obviously upset, and here he was, scared to even tell her that he might be falling for her charms. Odd couldn't leave her wondering, no matter how ridiculous and terrifying it was to respond, he knew Aelita was right. Sissi didn't deserve to be pushed away.

Odd began typing, coming up with a grand excuse as to why he couldn't be there. Something about his parents calling him away from school and his grandparents dying. But he quickly deleted it and started again. This time he came up with the idea of being stuck in detention but with a shake of his head he deleted the text again.

"None of that is true." he said out loud with a sigh.

Putting a few fingers on his lip, he thought to himself. While he didn't necessarily need to tell her the complete truth, he felt sleazy lying in such a harsh way. With a deep breath, he put his hands on the keys and began for a third time.

Sk8r_Trix633 6:49PM: Hello mia bella, I am deeply sorry for not meeting you at the chosen time. I can't tell you why I wasn't there, but I will tell you that I missed a lovely opportunity to really get to know you face to face. ;)

Odd sent the message and was about to close the computer when he saw the text bubble pop up on her side of the chat box.

He sat up straight in his bed and felt his face heat up.

Sissi was online.

X90sbabeX: Oh! It's you!
X90sbabeX: My love, are you alright? I was worried.
X90sbabeX: I'm so glad you're here. :)

Odd sighed with a smile. He honestly missed messaging Sissi. It had become something he looked forward to each day. She always knew how to bring a smile to his face, even now that he knew who it was that was making him smile.

While knowing it was Sissi he was messaging made things infinitely more complicated, it didn't necessarily make it a bad thing.

Sk8r_Trix633: Yes! I'm here.
X90sbabeX: 3
Sk8r_Trix633: Again, sorry I missed our meeting.
X90sbabeX: Are you okay? Nothing too serious?
Sk8r_Trix633: No, nothing like that but yeah, still can't really tell you what happened.
X90sbabeX: Okay. I trust you.

Odd felt a pang in his chest. She wasn't even aware of who she was trusting but she felt the need to tell him so. More than likely, she was just saying it to make him feel better.

Sk8r_Trix633: Nice to see I'm well appreciated. You wouldn't believe me if I told you about the problem I've got going on.
X90sbabeX: Oh?
X90sbabeX: Anything I can help with?
Sk8r_Trix633: Maybe. How about telling me what a lovely girl like you did today?
X90sbabeX: You flirt.
Sk8r_Trix633: Only for you.

Sissi relayed her day to him, the ups and the downs. They caught up with each other's social life, still keeping within the confines of anonymity, and shared a few romantic poems that left Odd feeling a content warm pulse in his chest.

As they chatted, he imagined Sissi in her room, covered in bright posters and pink sheets, her laptop on her bed while her feet were in the air, lying flat on her stomach. Happily reminiscing with her internet love.

Odd blushed at the thought, if anything because it was incredibly cute.

They talked about their day and laughed about their teachers. Odd couldn't stop smiling. Sissi was incredibly charming and actually funny when she wanted to be. Plus, all of that added with how much of a knockout she was in person made Odd sigh like a love-struck teenager.

"She's a babe, okay!" He said defensively to his dog, who looked up at him with sleepy eyes. "Don't give me that look, everyone knows that. I don't make the rules."

It was true that from the first moment he saw her, Odd couldn't keep his eyes or mind off of her lovely curves. She was tall, slender, had amazing silky hair and all he wanted to do was kiss her stupid pink glossy lips.

The minute Sissi walked through the doors of their classroom on the first day of school, all he could pay attention to was how insanely attractive she was. Yet another conquest of romance. Out of all the girls in the school, Sissi was the one he saw first. Immediately drawn to spark something between them. But as he got to know her through the eyes of Ulrich and his friends, her tenacious personality when it came to winning the affections of his friend stripped the surface beauty he had first seen. She was annoying at best and he was unable to separate this side of her from any redeeming qualities she possessed.

And now, that all of his bias had been stripped away and what remained was her aching heart and sweet words, he saw her as a girl who just wanted to find love.

Odd felt a knot in his throat and tried to swallow over it.

Perhaps she had found it.

"Fuck." Odd mumbled to himself. His face was hot and his heart was beating loudly in his chest.

He turned back to the computer and propped it up on his knees.

It wasn't until much later after he had lost all sense of time, that he heard the door opening and saw his roommate walk in.

"Hey Ulrich." He said with a distracted wave.

"Hey Odd." Ulrich said, as he sat down on his bed and began taking his shoes off. "Where have you been? You missed the oh-so-interesting technical stuff Jeremie had to explain to us."

"Oh-" Odd said.

Looking up, he saw the window that had previously shown a sunny afternoon had turned into a clear starry night.

"Um, I- well," He started to explain, "I wanted to get this assignment done tonight."

Ulrich was changing into his pajamas but he stopped to give Odd an over exaggerated look.

"You? Finishing something before the last minute?"

"Well, you see, it is last minute. It's actually due tomorrow morning." he shrugged and looked down at his conversation.

X90sbabeX: So… you wouldn't want to try to meet again tomorrow, would you?

Odd sighed and almost closed the laptop when Ulrich looked over at him. Instead, he shifted to sit up so his screen was facing away from his friend and crossed his legs.

"I just- I gotta finish this one part." He said looking back at the keyboard.

Sk8r_Trix633: I'm sorry, cara, I think right now isn't a good time to meet but you can always talk to me.
Sk8r_Trix633: Anytime.
X90sbabeX: Okay.
X90sbabeX: I understand. :)
Sk8r_Trix633: Thank you, mia cara.
Sk8r_Trix633: I've got to go now. Sweet dreams and pleasant thoughts. ;)
X90sbabeX: Goodnight love of mine. 3

Odd's cheeks flared with warmth and there was no hiding the dopey grin on his face as he slowly closed the laptop.