Repayment

Alex and Bryce sat at the empty lot they tried to watch fireworks at, enjoying a picnic. Bryce sipped on his favorite: porter beer. And Alex? He was enjoying a pack of fruit snacks, alongside the company. The last embers of twilight sent his dragon's scales ablaze with... purple? Never had he seen Bryce with a purple tint, but he wasn't was a gorgeous color on him.

Bryce was greeted with that goofy smile when he looked over. His own brightened significantly with a similar cheery grin. He patted the ground next to him as an invitation, one which Alex took. He scooted over and snuggled into that warm bulk. To say he was clear on his emotions was an understatement. That man wanted to stay like that forever...

"Hey Alex?" Bryce finally spoke up. His voice was just audible enough not to catch any unwanted attention. Alex couldn't and wouldn't ever take his eyes off those beautiful orbs of his.

"Yeah, babe?" The human answered in a highly amorous tone. His dragon didn't seem to aacknowledge the experiment in any way. It was quite curious of him, if that encounter at the bar just last night had anything to say.

"I need to tell you something." Tell him something? Now Alex was curious. Was this actually a dream? Oh, what did it matter. He was already anticipating his dragon to say something sweet. Or maybe... he'd say the words.

"Please... tell me, then." Alex spoke with the very anticipation that made him quake. That turned to anxiety when Bryce's smile fell, twisting into horrible scowl.

"I'm seeing someone else." Alex's heart skipped several beats the instant that came out of his dragon's mouth. Before he could even react, he opened it again. "I don't think this is going to work out." With just two sentences, his dragon, managed to shatter his heart into a million pieces...

"You have one new message." A robotic voice sounded through the living room. Alex jerked awake with a yelp, ramming the coffee table with his elbow in the process. As he swore and cringed from the pain, the landline began reading his singular voicemail.

"Hey. It's uh... it's Bryce. Listen, about last night... can we talk? I don't think we ended on the right foot. Just... call back if you want to schedule something. Ok, goodbye." Bryce wanted to forget? That sounded way too good to be true. Then again, that nightmare also made him want to make things up even more. The thought of what could happen if he finally remembered made his eyes mist over...

Town Library - Day 3, 2:59PM

"Let's see... Sebastian said this was where he worked. Maybe he's on the floor somewhere?" Alex found himself in the town library, where Remy supposedly was. He would call out, but was afraid he'd cause a scene. He'd wander the spacious main room, noting how well organized everything is. He wondered just who did all of this when a harsh yell echoed throughout the whole building. One he wished he didn't have to hear...

"Remy!" Emera's irritating voice reverberated through almost everything. A set of rapid footsteps hurried over to the source, slowing only when they neared.

"Oh. You're still here?" Remy's own voice emanated much more quietly. Alex silently thanked him for the consideration, sneaking over to to fully hear what he was saying. That, and to spy on the minister.

"Of course I am. I have business to attend to." Business? What was she talking about? He had to get closer...

"Certainly. I just assumed you'd be done by now, Emera." Remy said apologetically. What Alex wanted to know was the reason why she was being such a bitch. That harsh tone hadn't left her voice, even when she had someone over to help her. Was she seriously this way all the time?

"Looks like you were wrong. Be a good boy and bring me some coffee." Emera ordered. Alex genuinely felt horrible for the poor librarian. It sounded like he had more than enough stress to deal with as it was.

"Of course, Emera." Remy said. It sounded like he was straining. Alex didn't blame the poor thing either. If he were in his shoes, he'd tell her to go kick rocks. Then again, Remy probably couldn't afford to lose his job. The sound, and smell of a burbling caffeinated beverage signaled his time to leave. The last thing he wanted was to be kicked out.

"There you are." Remy set the cup down a little more forcefully than he cared to. Again, Alex didn't blame him.

"Good. Now let me read in peace." Emera issued her last order, shooing him with a paw. If Remy could have his way... no matter. He was finally free to finish his work in-

"Aff!" The rigid yelp of someone rang out as he went past a bookshelf, slamming right into them.

"Oh dear! I'm so sorry. I should've been- ah. It's you again, uh..." Upon noticing just who he sent to the floor, Remy's tone changed to one much more blunt. Thrilled would be a bit of an overstatement when describing how he felt seeing Alex.

"Alex. I just wanted to come apologize again for the other night. Panicked or not, I shouldn't have been so quick to attack." Alex was quick to pick himself up and carry out his action. His stomach still felt heavy, even after supposedly clearing his conscience.

"It's alright now. What are you doing here anyway? Besides apologizing, that is." Remy stared curiously. His tone betrayed his looks by so much.

"Well, I was hoping to make it up with more than just that. Is there anything I can do for you? My conscience has been eating at me for far too long." Alex stated frankly. He didn't want to screw up what could be a potential friendship...

Potentially, one of his only friendships.

"Oh. I'm not sure off the top of my head. I guess you could just spend time with me until something pops up." Remy offered. It seemed he wasn't so sure either.

"I hope something comes along, then. But hey, what's Minister Emera doing here? I thought she'd be in her regular office at this time." Alex queried. His sudden knowledge caught Remy way off guard, as evidenced by his wide eyes. He began to wonder if anyone ever told him how pretty they were...

"You've met her already? Consider me stunned, Alex. When did you find the time?" Remy questioned with great shock. He hadn't seen him at all since their first meeting. Did he not notice, or had the two met when she was off work?

"I didn't. Reza said a few things in one of his letters. But anyway, I thought she worked somewhere different. Care to explain?" Alex remained focused on the topic at hand. He figured it better to know his enemy first. Not that she was much of a threat to begin with.

"Ah, I see. She's technically my boss. Speaking generally, though, I work for the council at large. I guess she's pretty fond of me..." Poor Remy shot an irritated glare toward her office. Oh, how he wore that on his sleeve...

"Yeah, I think everyone heard that exchange. What stick got shoved up her ass?" Alex spoke bluntly. He never cared for mistreating employees, especially not ones who won't fight back.

"I have no clue. Might be better I don't know. She seems more than a little angry." Remy shuffled into the light, his scales shining like pearls. It was a sight, if a distracting one. Alex recomposed himself and cleared his throat.

"I hope I don't have to come into contact with her. So this is where you work, huh?" He glazed over the room again. Its architecture was pretty traditional compared to that of his hometown.

"Most of the time, yes. Although, I'm not just in charge of the books here. I'm also a scholar who studies them. For example, if the council requires information on certain topics, it's part of my job to research and present them in an appropriate manner." Remy dumped a good chunk of information on his acquaintance, who took a moment to absorb everything.

"Ah, research; the one thing our jobs have in common." Alex mused. His own job research would wildly differ, but it's still research.

"I'll bet. Oh. So I've thought of something you could help with in the meantime." Remy said happily. His company perked up at the implication. Maybe he'd get to repay his way after all.

"Why didn't you say so sooner? Hit me with it." Alex chirped. His enthusiasm was appreciated by the other, but it should've probably been toned down a bit. He didn't even know what he'd be doing. For all he knew, he could be walking into servitude of Emera.

"Right. Just come with me." Remy replied, leading them to a large bookshelf. "I've got some books here that need to be sorted. Could you do that while I attend to my other tasks?" He requested, noting the slight drop in expression.

"Of course. So how are they sorted out?" Alex inspected each novel. There was the obvious sorting label, nearly faded into oblivion. This wouldn't be very easy under that condition alone.

"So, the arrangement you'll see is based on a sophisticated system that- seriously? Why are you playing on that thing while I'm talking?" Remy chided angrily... until Alex flipped that thing to face him.

"I'm not. I'm just taking a note so I don't forget." Alex brought up his phone for the class. On it was a list of the book titles taken from the box. Whatever was still legible from said labels was in the middle of being written down when he interrupted.

"Oh..." Remy scolded himself internally. "So this system is based on a number of criteria; that being genre, author, complexity and age. Did you get all that?" He stopped for the ambassador to catch up, hearing a confident 'and age' before he looked up.

"I should've. I just wrote down what to sort by, along with a bit of what was on the labels." Alex showed him the notes again. Everything seemed to check out at least.

"Ah, the labels... those things are going to be replaced soon. Not much we can do now. Doesn't mean that we can't make the best of it. These are part of a set by Haziq Aakil that was moved. All that needs to be done is them being sorted back how they were: chronologically. " Remy optimistically explained with some slightly less furious tapping from his companion.

"If we could bottle and sell optimism... or enthusiasm. I swear you'd make a fortune off that alone back home." Alex jabbed a thumb behind him in reference, to which he got a chuckle out of the dragon. At least he had that going for him.

"Wouldn't that be the best thing ever. Anyway, I'm off to do my stuff. Just let me know once you're finished." With that, Remy skipped off to another section nearby. It was up to Alex not to screw up his work now...

There were eight novels in total, having recorded what appeared to be the whole of the dragons' history. It was quite a comprehensive record for just one guy. He commended Haziq for his extensive work, as it reminded him of Chris. Never had he seen anyone work harder than him. It was like watching a super hero in action...

Pulling himself from that thought, he noticed he absentmindedly sorted three of the books already. They appeared fine upon closer inspection. Plucking two more from the box, he skimmed through the pages...

"Hopefully that'll do it..." Alex muttered to himself as he inspected the rest of his work. "Hey Remy? I think I'm all done." He called out, to which the dragon's head poked around a corner curiously.

"Already? I haven't even finished my third task yet. Let's have a look, then." Remy cocked a brow at the empty box. His tone didn't sound too optimistic until he moved to the shelf. He cocked a lopsided smile as each tome appeared to him in proper order...

"Ah no... you were so close. These two should've swapped places with each other." Remy stepped aside to show Alex his handiwork. Two troublesome books were pulled slightly out to emphasize the mistake. He frowned toward them out of annoyance.

"Oh, god dammit. I called it!" Alex blurted out, not really caring who heard him.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it." Remy tried to reassure him as he sorted them back into place. "It's alright. it's only two books. They're easily put back in order. It's really no big deal." More words rolled off Alex's back. His annoyance was getting the better of him.

"Remy, You're talking to the guy who made a big deal out of drunken shenanigans just last night. If that doesn't scream 'I'm the king', I don't know what will." Alex deadpanned. Despite it being a decent point for his argument, he still didn't really want to bring last night up...

"Drunken- you know what? I probably don't want to know. How about this? You get this box into storage for me while I finish everything up, and we're even. Sound good?" Remy proposed another chore. It wasn't like Alex felt he had a choice. He made the mistake. He just nodded and made for his cargo.

That box was a bit heavier than he thought. He could've swore he was just dealing with similar sized boxes a day before he left home. What was so different about this compared to those? Either way, he was gradually teetering more toward the edge with each step he took until...

"Whoa!" He tripped. One final misstep was all it took for both him, and all the trinkets to go clattering to the floor. He scrambled to pick everything back up before anyone would notice. Not that it helped in the grand scheme, as Remy's claws scraped the ground in his rush over.

"Is everything alright?" Remy asked as soon as he came to a stop. His bright eyes glazed over what remained of the spillage with an air of disapproval. Alex, in the meantime, put everything back in. He winced when he pressed a hand to his waist, making a mental note to look at that soon.

"Hardly." Alex groused. His current state not helping his attitude. Pain always had a tendency to do that...

"I was mainly talking about the priceless artifacts you just dropped." Remy muttered, just loud enough to be heard. His company chuckled dryly at the comment.

"Figures. I guess a live human just isn't important compared to a bunch of stuff he could probably remake." Alex snarked. He was greeted by a deadpan stare when he stood up.

"No, it is, but it's not like we could just have you stuffed and put on display... On second thought..." Remy's eyes narrowed into a sinister, yet playful glare. Alex just smiled and flashed his pistol.

"Nice try. That's not happening without a fight. But seriously, what is all this?" Alex picked an artifact from the box, glazing it over. He could hardly make heads or tails of what it was supposed to be.

"Oh. In preparation for your arrival, I wanted to study what knowledge we had on humans." Remy stated rather enthusiastically. His attitude was becoming infectious, even if it didn't instill the same emotion.

"Huh. Learn anything you can't straight from me?" Alex asked simply. He tossed the little item back in its home, now disinterested... for now. He'd steal it back to study at home later. It was interesting to check out.

"I'm not sure. Humans are almost complete enigmas, and simultaneously creatures we share a history with." Remy furrowed his brow out of frustration. All that research, and he had nothing to show for it. How annoying...

"You too? We used to have dragons for the longest time. Not very friendly, those ones." Alex revealed. Remy's eyes shot wide open. He knew nothing of such a revelation. If anything, Reza's information revealed quite the opposite.

"You once lived with dragons like us?!" Remy exclaimed without much care for volume. His company only opened his mouth to speak after he got done rubbing his ears.

"Not you guys specifically. If anything, the ancient ones were much worse. We had to either hunt them out or go extinct ourselves." Alex's little history lesson took a sharp turn toward a dark place. Poor Remy was in shock at his kind's history with humans.

"I take it... you killed them all?" Remy questioned softly. He could hardly believe what he was hearing. Not only did his kind have a history with humans, not only was it dark and brutal, but now he found out that the ancient humans had to kill off the dragons to survive.

"We did what we had to. The ancient ones were nothing like yourself or anyone else, for that matter. But I don't blame them. They were doing what nature intended, even if that did destroy entire towns long ago..." Alex replied softly. This little lesson just kept getting worse...

"I wonder if that could've been us before cataloged history. We weren't exactly the friendliest things alive." Remy speculated, scratching his chin. This was clearly an unusual bit of information...

"Care to tell me about that, actually? You were starting to before I interrupted with my stuff." Alex pressed lightly. In spite fo everything, he did still want to learn a bit about his gracious hosts. They were giving him great digs, after all.

"Not in the slightest. Just don't take a club to me or something while I'm talking." Remy joked. "So anyway, before we started cataloging everything, a human arrived who performed miracles. They gave us the gifts of electricity and reason. We refer to this as our awakening." He let the tidbit soak in, allowing room for questions. He was enthusiastic, but didn't want to info-dump.

"A human? I wonder who they were." Alex pondered deeply. In the least, he kept an ear open so his company could talk.

"They say it was a divine creature. A supernatural being who saved our species by making peace between the ancient clans, thus uniting us, as our numbers were dwindling from pointless conflict. It's said they ascended to the heavens when everything was done. Either that, or they turned into a dragon and lived among us, ruling with kindness and wisdom until their passing. It really depends on who you ask." Remy summarized. Needless to say, Alex needed to ask a question...

"Seems like our histories may have ties after all. What do you make of this? What's your take on your history?" Alex questioned in the style of a reporter. He may be at risk of multiple info-dumps, but he wouldn't deny his intrigue now.

"As unlikely as it sounds, there is evidence of a sudden and unprecedented technological advancement in our timeline. We even have artifacts from that time that couldn't have been built back then." Remy explained. It was getting fascinating, taking a peek into his head.

"I smell a theory coming on..." Alex trailed off, glancing behind his acquaintance toward the row he just sorted.

"And here it is. I take it you're familiar with the way the portals work?" Remy assumed to a short nod. His company wondered what the portals had to do with this.

"Sort of. A friend of mine explained it to me during her work on ours." And most of it sailed over his head. He worked on computers, yes, but that knowledge wasn't any help. The information dumped on him that day could satisfy any college thesis.

"A refresher, then. There are spontaneous wormholes that pop into existence now and then. But due to their unstable nature, they instantly collapse in on themselves..." Remy began.

"And now I remember. The portals themselves stabilize those so they can be used. We tried to harness them for faster transit between cities, but one of the only ones destabilized. Everyone they sent through was never heard from again." Alex told his side of the story regarding his portal. He made a mental note to try and get the rosters again when he got home...

If he got home.

"I've never heard of that happening. Maybe that's how that legendary person stumbled upon us at just the right time." Remy hypothesized further. Alex felt like he was in a lab or something. This speculation was loading his mind up.

"And it would explain neither you nor me fully knowing about it. That old program was years ago." Alex added. Remy's eyes widened in shock at the utterance of 'years'. Could time really distort itself, let alone that much?

"Alex... you did say 'years' just now, right? Regarding the first time a portal was ever successfully used?" Remy asked carefully. Just the thought of all of the dragons' history amounting to possibly less than a decade to him was baffling. He needed to sit down or something.

"Yes. Why do you ask?" Alex's eyes narrowed with suspicious confusion. He had a sneaking suspicion he'd have to fix that little mistake he just made very soon.

"It's only been a couple weeks since Reza's arrival. Does... did time really distort that much?" Remy whispered, his voice unsteady. "It's nothing. I was just making sure I heard correctly. Why don't you wait for me in my office? You'll find it on your right at the end of the hallway." He proposed, already ushering the human out of the main room.

"Oh-!" Alex was shoved into the hallway. Remy bolted before he could even say a word. That confirmed it: he'd have to make the poor thing forget ever hearing that... Just what he wanted...

He crept by Emera's office. She was obviously still in there reading. Her entire being was riddled with unknown anger, not that he cared. Perhaps she wouldn't be missed this time around. All it would take was one shot, and she wouldn't bother anyone again.

Of course, that came with its own set of problems. But then again... he could make them go away. He reached for his holster and pulled out- wait a minute. His dart launcher was gone! There went his plan. He clenched that weapon so hard he feared it would go off. He wanted to throw it across the hall, but that would get him caught.

He'd just have to deal with her later. Better she didn't know he was there. For now, he was to stay in Remy's office until he came back. Quiet footsteps padded their way over and inside. A near-deafening shout of 'Remy!' rattled the whole library right as the door clicked shut.

"Huh. This is actually pretty cozy. Reminds me of my old room." Alex skimmed over Remy's office. With the large bed right next to him, he'd have thought he walked into someone's home on accident. There wasn't too much actually signifying it as an office. Only a desk with a closed laptop sitting in the corner said anything professional about the space. That, and the minimal decoration. Scanning over it, Alex noticed a notebook right next to the PC. He hesitated for a moment before opening to the first page...

"Good god, how does he read this?" In front of him was a mess of scribbles slightly resembling something remotely legible. He could only make out the name 'Amelia' before he gave up entirely. How Remy was able to read his own handwriting was far beyond him.

"I wonder..." Next was the mirror. Alex did take some pride in his appearance, despite that being handsomely disheveled. He pondered giving himself a facial scar for a moment. The ones on his torso were already more than enough. And then there was the one Reza gave him. That fucking thing still hurt.

That PC looked all too tempting. Alex restrained himself for a good few minutes checking himself out in the mirror after inspecting his scar. Then he kept himself busy trying to decipher Remy's nigh-illegible handwriting. Then he sorted out the notes on his phone. He'd been patient long enough. That machine was his.

Opening the lid had a scene from some video game come up. It was a roleplaying game, quite similar to one he saw Mongoose playing. What a week that was. Every time he called her, she was playing it.

Four dragons stood in front of another, and one... human? It was humanoid at least. If that thing was what they thought humans looked like, well, he couldn't do much better himself if he only had a vague description of what something looked like. He shut the lid immediately when a cutscene began playing. Remy must've had his game saved so he could play it later. That looked cool, but he wasn't about to ruin Remy's game...

"Hey. What are you doing?" Remy came in another two minutes later. Alex lay on his bed with a medium-sized screen projecting a farm scene in front of him. He looked up from it with a greeting wave.

"Playing a game. Emera finally done with you?" The man said simply, going back to playing. An anthropomorphic cow on screen danced behind a lanky mailman as he sorted out his delivery. The mailman whipped around, and the cow was caught. That poor mailman fainted on the spot. And Alex? He just hissed out a disappointed 'damn'.

"Finally- wait, you play too?" Remy seemed a little caught off guard by this newest revelation. Alex paused and put his watch to sleep, dispelling the screen.

"Yeah. I didn't know you had games here. Caught me off guard when I opened your laptop and saw your RPG." Alex explained himself in short. Remy's eyes widened with anger as he whipped toward his device. Honestly, he'd have the same reaction if he found out someone was playing on his save.

"Tell me it's- oh good. Thanks for not playing. I had it saved at that point for later. Do you still want to see what ours are like?" Remy turned to his companion as soon as he made sure everything was in order. Alex shrugged and rolled off the bed.

"Sure. I was curious enough to open the lid in the first place." Alex stepped over, taking his place next to the dragon. The four dragons were displayed once again, right as they were last left...

"Have you come to beg for mercy?" A runner he hadn't seen spat maliciously. Another dragon who looked suspiciously like Remy stepped forward with what looked to be a scowl. Maybe it was a was always difficult to tell with 16-bit graphics.

"No, Aaliyah, I've come to stop you. Your reign of terror over Marmoa is over! You're outnumbered. Just give up, and this can end without bloodshed." The Remy clone, who's text box read Ryszard, tried to reason with the villain. This 'Aaliyah' seemed rather unimpressed, only laughing a crunchy laugh.

"This area is teeming with my soldiers. The only ones outnumbered here are you! Not like I'll even need them. Who knows Maybe if you can survive, you might get to see why they call me 'the Ascended'." Aaliyah bragged arrogantly. No wonder the party was there. Who wouldn't smack someone for lines like that?

"Oh, shut your yap, you pompous cunt!" A Wyvern named Aidith shouted from the back. Alex began to wonder how they rated video games here. Words like that would easily earn a game a mature rating back home, and he very much despised the system for it.

"Calm down now, Aidith. Focus." An earth dragon, Bonnar, beside the flier tried to calm her down. His hum sounded awfully similar to a certain someone. Alex took a mental note to compare their voices later on.

"I'm sorry it has to come to this, Aaliyah, but this ends now!" A short stomp from the Remy clone riled up his party. Things were building up to a boss battle quick!

"Ronan, get them!" Aaliyah shouted. The strange creature leaped forward to face Ryszard and his party. A menacing growl escaped the speakers as a large 'BATTLE START' banner displayed across the screen, initiating what seemed to be the game's final battle.

Remy selected Aidith first. There were four options: Fight, Skill, Heal, and Flee. Him clicking 'Fight' revealed a set of moves, of which Whirlwind is selected. Bonnar appeared to be next. Remy immediately clicked on 'Earthquake'. A typical move for any character involved with the ground.

Ryszard's turn had Remy clicking something Alex didn't notice, as his phone vibrated. A quick check revealed a text from Mongoose. Good thing Remy was absorbed in his game. The less questions, the better.

Aidith had already taken her turn by the time Alex put his phone up. Bonnar was in the middle of his earthquake, with a decent damage of 465. Ronan was next in line. His cosmic horror move devastated the party with each member taking over a thousand damage each. One final twist rattled both players...

"Oh, no! My game!" Remy shouted inadvertently. His paws hit his face with the force of a solid punch, pulling down his eyelids as they fell. It was a Blue Screen of Death. Alex felt the poor guy. He'd faced a similar crash just the night prior to his 'trip'. Games getting ruined was never fun.

"Ah shit. How far were you since you last saved?" Alex asked with great concern. He initially thought Remy as quite calm and collected, maybe a little stressed. But now, he was so heartbroken. It looked like he lost far too much progress to want to play again for a while.

"Too far. All that grinding and preparation... I can't do all that again!" Poor Remy hid his face in his paws with a frustrated groan. That confirmed it: Way too much progress was in that one play session. If only he could do something about that...

"Hey, I feel you. Just the night before I came through, I lost like six hours on that game I was playing when you walked in." Alex put a hand on the dragon's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. Remy just looked up to his soft smile. He sighed, looking back to his lock screen.

"I'm guessing you were just as angry...?" He exhaled. His sapphire eyes glazed over his desktop. There were... one too many things on it for Alex's liking. He wasn't about to complain about it, though. At least everything seemed organized. Still, he preferred to see the image underneath.

"Oh, I was livid. Chucked my controller onto the floor. But then I grabbed a notebook and started drawing. Then I felt a lot better. My point is, it's how you handle your frustration in the moment. You're going to feel worse the more you wallow in it. So, how about we do something else for the time being?" Alex offered after a small lecture. He brought up his watch's home on a holographic screen in front of them. The somewhat see-through nature of it overlapped the desktops, placing Alex's files over Remy's.

"Well... okay. If you think this will help calm me down. The library closes at six, though, so keep that in mind." Remy stood back up as Alex took a side of his bed. The brunette patted the spot next to him, to which he lay down himself. His wings spread out as he got comfortable, forcing Alex into the crook of one.

"Alright. Pick whichever game interests you. I promise it won't crash." Alex joked lightheartedly. Remy seemed more focused on the hologram in front of him. Several games in a folder were laid out in front of him. It was admittedly a little hard to pick...

"Hey... which one was the one you were playing? I think I want to try that..." Remy hesitantly requested. Alex just smiled like a dad would and clicked on a traffic sign with a dancing animal on it.

"It's that one. Shall we?" With that, their play session began...

Over the next two hours, Alex and Remy bonded over their shared hobby. They talked and joked about them whilst Remy played. Remy started off having trouble with the keyboard, but was amazed and relieved when it was resized for him. In a mere second, he was dominating the minigames thrown at him. He was admittedly a little disappointed when the closing bell finally chimed...

"Aw... already? I was just getting good. Well, if there's anything you want to ask me, now's the time." Remy glanced to Alex. He'd just saved and closed the game when he looked over.

"Well, why don't we hang some more? I... still feel a bit bad about what I did." Alex said to a slightly surprised Remy. His eyes widened a little at the statement, as though Alex just said he were a time-traveling alien or something. Eventually though, his mouth did curve into a grin.

"Now look who's wallowing." Remy cracked a joke at his company's expense. Said company mocked offense with a scoff.

"I never said I was perfect. But seriously, what do you think?" Alex replied after 'recovering' from Remy's totally-vicious and-uncalled-for reply. In all seriousness, he was starting to get a little tired. He still had a lot to do tomorrow, too.

"Alright. You have my number, so feel free to call when you feel like it." Remy placidly stated. Alex handed him his phone so he could put down his number. He shrugged, slipping off so he could go do just that.

"And there. I guess I can call to make plans now too. Or just to annoy you." Remy joked again. Alex gave a light chuckle and a thumbs up. Those kinds of jokes reminded him a bit of this one guy Chris set him up with. It was almost a shame he didn't end up as more than a friend... almost.

"Annoy me all you want. I will bear it in full. Catch you." With that final note, the two parted rather amicably. Alex found it kind of funny how close they'd become after just one outing. Maybe he'd fixed things after all...