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Aria, Piper and all mentioned characters (c) Ketzio & GBB
Before the story: We would like to give a thank you to everyone slightly emotionally invested in our work and characters, the lovely comments, the faves, even just viewing it, means a lot to us :3 We really do appreciate the feedback.
Also, while not necessary to read, this story does follow
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Aria was never prone to sleeplessness before; despite only a few instances of sickness or grief had she ever found herself looking up at her ceiling for so long.
Her bra chafed and itched anxiously as she rolled furiously to the side to glare at the clock. The jerk flashed 4 am; glowing in its vibrant red glow inside the grim color of her darkened room. It was only then that it dawned on her how incredibly hungry she was.
Much to her pleasure, she could hear her dad fumbling around in the kitchen. Sure, it was 4 am, but it wasn't uncommon for him to be up so late with how his work schedule went. Perhaps at some point, during her sleep, he had gone to the store and got some groceries for the rest of the week. That would be a blessing.
Her tummy made a sound of agreement to that idea.
As she poured out of bed and slipped on her pajama pants, which barely clung onto her skinny thighs, she groggily dragged herself to her little smashed-up closet mirror and quickly ruffled her hair into a presentable form. Aria never wanted to be seen unkempt around her dad.
She took one last look at herself; absentmindedly checking her form out in the cracked mirror before slipping on the first shirt on the top of her drawer pile. As it fell loosely down her body, it felt clean but there was a certain not-her scent to it. Without even realizing it, she had put on one of Piper's shirts.
Aria goofily giggled to herself then yawned as she departed from her room.
The living room was dark apart from the hallway light leading to her dad's room and the kitchen. Aria could still hear her dad rustling about in the kitchen and her mouth began to water with images of what mysteries could possibly be in her refrigerator.
As lightly as she could, she tiptoed down the small hallway and rounded the corner into the kitchen with a large smile that showed off her gap tooth. "Hey, daaaad!"
Aria's dad, despite being much older, still retained the same handsome charm he had from his 20s and, in the dim light, he looked dashing as the shine caught off from his glasses -- giving him an alluring look. Even as he jumped a bit from Aria's sudden greeting, he looked so handsome.
"Oh! Uh... hey, sport." Aria's dad, Xavier, responded.
Much to her dismay, Aria quickly realized that there were no empty grocery bags... or any grocery bags at all. Her stomach turned in protest and her smile faded a bit. "Awww dang, still no food?"
"Yeah... sorry about that." Xavier rubbed his forehead and sighed; leaning back against the small plastic card table.
Next thing Aria noticed, which caused her smile to fade completely, was that her dad was fully dressed -- he even had his nice dress shoes on. Accusingly, she looked towards the living room and saw a duffle bag sitting stupidly, bulging and gross on the couch like some kind of stupid lazy slug thing. She hated that duffle bag as it was a dead giveaway that her dad would be going out for a couple of nights to be with some... woman.
She wasn't sure if she was more upset about that or her lack of food.
"Daaaad!" Aria whined; groaning loudly and pretending to beat her head against the wall. "Come on, you JUST got back a few days ago from seeing... whatever her name was. Can't you just stay a bit longer? Pleaaaase?"
"Her name is Margaret." Xavier coughed awkwardly and fiddled with the button on the cuff of his shirt. Aria knew that nervous fiddle of his and she knew something weird was up.
"What's the matter?" Aria vaguely asked as she folded her arms and leaned against the wall she was previously bumping her head against.
"I... well, the money I got from the last job I did hasn't really come through yet." he stood up from against the table and practically stumbled over towards the sink; turning it on to wash his hands. That was another nervous tell of his. "Sorry about the lack of food, sport."
Aria's hands fell to her sides and she looked away. "Well... what about the food stamps, daddy?"
"I turned in the paper for that," he turned off the faucet and dried his hands. "They just never responded, I guess. I called in on the card yesterday and... nothing."
Aria somberly looked to her right and to her left at nothing in particular. She then stared at her dad and fumbled with her thumbs a bit. "Were you just... going to leave me here? With no food?"
"Nooo, no, honey, of course not." Xavier defensively chuckled as he rushed towards an out-of-place statuette of a chicken. "You know, we have a couple of bags of recycling outside. There's probably 15 dollars there, or even more!"
He started adjusting the position of the chicken statuette. Yet another one of his nervous things. "Also, I already talked to Margaret and she might even send us some money so we can get groceries! Ain't that something?"
Aria's eyes lit up and her tail wagged. Her dad always had a plan, she was lucky. "That's good to hear, at least."
She then raised an eyebrow and squinted her left eye. "You... weren't going to leave without saying 'goodbye' though, right?"
"Whaaat? Of course not!" Xavier scurried over to Aria and practically bear-hugged her off the floor. "I'd never leave without saying bye to my princess! You're so silly."
Aria didn't forget that the last time he left, she just woke up to a sticky-note -- but that didn't matter. She rather adored the bear hugs he gave her, so it was distracting.
"Oh! Aria, dear..." Xavier placed her down gingerly and tilted his head away. "...that shirt stinks, sweetie. You should probably use some of that money to go get your clothes washed."
"Whaat?" Aria sniffed Piper's shirt again. "I like the smell."
"You like the smell of B.O. and Pringles? Okay." Xavier's gaze turned away as a pair of headlights glared through the blinds of their kitchen window. "Oh! What timing. Now, sweetie, you be good and you should head back to bed now."
"Okay, daddy." Aria turned away for a moment as Xavier went to grab his stupid duffle bag. "I love you, dad."
"You too, sweetie! Go to bed!" he said like it was an afterthought and, before Aria knew it, he had already rushed out of the trailer door.
Aria stood in silence for a few moments; feeling a little weird about what just happened. She hated the thought of her dad going out with some... bimbo. Though, she was too busy being ecstatic over him hugging her and responding to her 'I love you'.
After a few more moments, she started to head back to her room; giving Piper's shirt another little sniff. "...it's not that bad."
As she approached her bed, all she had to do was close her legs tightly and her pants just plopped down to the ground. She kept the shirt on, however, as she hopped back on her bed and rolled onto her back.
Her stomach growled in protest again as she slowly started to fall asleep.
~~
The Trouville Storm was definitely letting up as Aria stumbled around trying to get the two trash bags out of her trailer's driveway. Both bags were filled to exploding with aluminum cans that clattered wildly against the cement ground. The sound was grating to her, but to be fair, everything was grating to her at the moment. She was starving.
Aria lugged the banging bags behind her down the small road of the trailer park. It was a rather busy morning with it being the beginning of the month. She could see many other families just getting back from their trip to the grocery store as they almost tauntingly were complaining about having 'too many bags of food'.
"Try 'too many bags of dirty aluminum cans'." Aria thought.
"Hey Aria!" she heard a familiar voice that sprung her out of her bitter reverie. "I think you uh... sprung a leak there, bud."
Aria saw that it was Jericho, Devi's feline father, talking to her. She then turned around to see that, to her dismay, he was right. One of her bags had split and there was a trail of cans from her position all the way back to her trailer.
"FUCK EVERYTHING." Aria cried out and contemplated throwing the bag across the street. She then noticed almost everyone outside staring at her and she replied with a sheepish wave. "Sorry, lost my temperrrrr."
She groaned.
"Here, let me help you!" Jericho looked to have been doing something with his car but he stopped what he was doing and helped collect the cans.
With that completed, he got a bag from his trailer to put the residual cans in. The bag looked... so much better than Aria's, it was silly. Even their trash bags were better.
"So," Jericho started; clapping his hands together with their task done. "What were you gonna do with all these cans anyways?"
"Well, duh, I'm gonna go turn them in at the recycling place." Aria responded bitterly. "Unless there's something cooler I could do with these."
"Oh, honey," Jericho almost laughed at her misfortune. "It's closed today."
"FUCK ME WITH A RAKE!" Aria roared before, once again, sheepishly muttering: "Sorry... sorry about that."
"Are you kidding?" Jericho laughed. "You know how much of a potty mouth Devi is. But, I'll tell you what bud, if you're not busy I could use a hand. I got an extra box of donuts to pay you with, maybe."
"Hmmm. I don't know." Aria tried to play herself off as cool but her wagging tail had given away her desperation. "I guess I could."
"Cool, I could also use the company." Jericho walked back to his car; ushering Aria to follow him. "My husband is at work and Devi's inside with her girlfriend."
"Yuck." Aria said under her breath. "...Koudelka?"
"Yep! That's the one."
"Hm." Aria rolled her eyes. "I don't blame you for wanting to stay outside. That girl is a handful."
"She seems rather sweet. At least that's all I've seen of her." Jericho laughed as he picked up a funnel and a container of engine coolant. "Oh, also, the donuts are in the back seat. Help yourself."
"I bet Koudelka is helping herself to--" Aria covered her mouth; realizing that her snark shouldn't be so blunt around her best friend's freaking dad. "Uugh. Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean that."
"I mean... I know you're right, but don't bring it up please." Jericho laughed in good humor. "That's why I'm out here. It's not like I know what I'm doing with this car."
Aria smiled and sighed in relief before opening the door to the back seat and beholding the treasure trove of uneaten donuts. It almost felt like her stomach was trying to grow hands and lunge at the box.
Within a matter of seconds, she had a mouthful of donuts -- unable to control how much she was enjoying it. It was almost shameful when she saw that Jericho had been watching her the entire time. To make matters worse, she couldn't even apologize because her mouth was too stuffed.
"You know, Aria." Jericho started in a friendly tone; shutting the hood of his car and wiping his forehead with his forearm. "I'm going to guess you haven't had breakfast yet."
Aria, with cheeks still stuffed to capacity, furiously nodded with a weak little "Mmhmm".
"We should probably get you some actual breakfast, buddy." Jericho gently took the box of donuts away from Aria. "I'm pretty hungry too. So why not."
Aria shrugged, but her tail wagged furiously; giving her real thoughts away.
~~
Aria and Jericho mutually agreed on a place to eat; choosing a cozy little diner called Daisy's. Even though Daisy's was a standalone restaurant, it had quite the familiar chain restaurant feel.
Aria hadn't spoken too much once they arrived. The realization of being out in public with someone else, let alone her best friend's dad, finally made her self-conscious about how she looked. Her hair was messier than a junior league play and she was still in Piper's supposedly stinky shirt with a pair of ragged gym shorts hanging off her hips.
Meanwhile, her feline 'date' looked more pristine than anyone had a right to be this early in the morning.
It, however, wasn't just her appearance that was affecting her. As she glanced about the restaurant, she noticed that everyone in the restaurant were part of functioning family units with happy little kids and patient-looking adults. Perhaps it was the knowledge that her dad was gone again for a few days that made her feel so... alone.
She had a glazed stare as she looked down at her strawberry-syrup-coated waffle-stack. Even though she could hear the clattering of glasses and chatter from the other inhabitants of the restaurant, when Jericho finally spoke it was like he was cutting through silence.
"Aria, dear, something you said earlier sort of bothered me." he said while idly poking his spoon into his coffee.
"Oh!" Aria gulped. "Was it the rake thing? I'm sorry... bad morning and all."
"No, no, not that." Jericho chuckled. "That was funny. No, uh, the thing you said about Koudelka. You said she's a 'handful'? I wasn't aware that you two knew each other."
"We go to the same school, uh, yep." Aria raised an eyebrow; hating how Koudelka was being brought up so much to her lately. She searched Jericho's face and saw that he was genuinely concerned and, briefly, she felt a wicked desire to sabotage. "She's such a..."
Aria stopped herself; recalling how protective Koudelka was of Devi being picked on. She disliked Koudelka but she liked Devi more. If Koudelka made Devi happy, and Koudelka wasn't somehow taking advantage of Devi, then that's... good enough.
"...hm." In stopping herself, Aria technically still had nothing good to say about the fox.
"She's such a... what?" Jericho asked with gentle concern.
"She's very rich." Aria blurted out; picking up her own coffee cup. "Like, stupid rich."
"Is that why she's a handful?" Jericho took a sip of his coffee with a suspicious expression plastered all over his face.
"...sure." Aria set her cup down without drinking with a sigh involuntarily escaping her. "She just kinda bugs me, okay? But that's a me problem. Nothing to do with Devi."
Suddenly Aria felt immensely guilty and weird. She didn't want Jericho to not like Koudelka, but she wanted him to know that she didn't like Koudelka... or something.
"I can say that I know they really like each other." Aria pointed out; noticing Jericho's still-concerned expression. "She's just dumb rich, that's all. I don't like it."
There was a noticeable interval of silence before, in a soft voice, Jericho spoke up.
"You remind me of myself, you know that?"
"We both like men?" Aria snarkily responded before catching herself too late and covering her mouth.
"You are not wrong about that!" Jericho tittered in delight. "But, what I mean is... hm... conditions, I suppose."
"Wut?" Aria squinted as she took another bite out of her waffle-stack.
"Basically just... I know how you feel." Jericho looked around and then leaned in to whisper: "Shit is really tough."
The novelty of a grown-up swearing to her still had some charm to it that caused her to explode into a fit of giggles. Regaining her composure, she wiped a tear from her eye.
"Mmkay, what do you mean?"
"I just mean... whenever you need help, I can always offer you some work or something." Jericho smiled. "Would that be fine with you?"
"Would you pay me in donuts?" Aria's tail wagged.
"Or money. Money is good too."
"Money IS good too!" Aria's tail wagged even more furiously.
It was funny, just having breakfast with her friend's dad was enough to make her feel like she was part of some form of family unit. Even if it was temporary and even if Jericho was the polar opposite of her actual dad, it felt nice to briefly be cared for in such a supportive way.
"Are you sure that I could just... ask you for work whenever?" Aria leaned forward; her voice stern. "Like, no bullshit?"
"I don't see why not." Jericho stated simply. "Between chores that need to be done that Devi won't do to dropping things off at the post office for my articles, there's plenty for you to do."
"You're not just... saying that to be nice, are you?"
"Hah! I told you we're very similar." Jericho snickered to himself. "It's good to be wary, but I'm not jerking you around so you don't need to worry about that. Speaking of! Would you be available to do something for me later on today?"
"Aww man, we're going to need to set up schedules or something." Aria laughed; still not quite sure of how happy she should be at the prospect of getting paid for work. "I was going to see Piper... later... on."
Aria slowed to a halt when she mentioned Piper. It felt weird that she hadn't just called him her 'boyfriend'.
Feeling her eyes start to well up, she smiled as she looked down at her shirt (Piper's shirt), and tenderly gripped the edges. She felt horrible, she felt wonderful, she felt so lucky to have someone like Piper who put up with all of her crap.
"HE'S MY BOYFRIEND!" she added assertively; adoring how it sounded.
"Well, I bet he's lucky to have you." Jericho nodded. "Then, would you like me to drop you off somewhere else when we're done eating or were you going back to your house?"
The sheer offer of being chauffeured around hyped Aria and her tail certainly made it obvious. "Uhm! Uhm!" she tried to think. "Well, I was going to go to the bus stop after this but uh... could you take me to my boyfriend's house?"
In hindsight, that request must have sounded rather odd but Jericho's nonchalant agreeable attitude towards it made it perfectly acceptable.
~~
As Aria and Jericho pulled into the gravel driveway of Piper's small and unassuming banana-colored house, the golden retriever sighed deeply and brushed her undone hair back with her hands. Aria didn't know why, but she was feeling particularly... apologetic and clingy today, and she really just wanted to let Piper know that.
The feeling had grown exponentially since they left the restaurant and now, as her eyes gazed upon the little red window that she knew Piper's room lied behind, the feeling had become overwhelming.
"You okay?" Jericho asked; the concern in his voice catching Aria off guard.
"Huh? Yeah! Yeah, I'm okay." Aria restlessly rubbed her hands together; her eyes glued to Piper's window. "You can drop me off here, if you want."
"Sure. I'll wait here until you go inside though," Jericho stated, "Wouldn't want you to get stuck all the way out here by yourself."
"Ahh, you..." Aria brushed her hair back again as she trailed off. "...worry too much. Huh. You know, you don't have to be so nice to me. You're sort of breaking my image of you just being a super nice neighbor and turning it into some sort of saint neighbor or something."
"You're Devi's best friend, of course. Also we give you breakfast almost every morning, Aria." Jericho chuckled. "I'm literally being about as nice as I always have been -- but I appreciate you saying that. I like the idea of being a saint."
Aria felt a faint and goofy smile touch her lips as she nodded at the cat. Jericho smiled back and, with that, Aria left the car.
Though it wasn't even noon yet, the Trouville Storm had turned the sky into a gray tapestry of haphazardly splotched paint; making it feel much later than it actually was. Being inside of a warm car made the bite of the cold air abrupt and striking. Aria felt the need to grab herself to keep warm as she dashed to Piper's front door; leaving sloshing footprints on the gravel.
With Piper, Aria actually used the front door instead of just climbing in through the window. There was no reason for this, especially since she knew Piper's mother wouldn't be home, but maybe she just liked the idea of Piper opening the door and letting her in on his own volition.
After a few knocks, it didn't take long before hearing the familiar shuffle of the chain lock being opened for her. As the door opened, Aria could only imagine how pathetic she looked; hunched over from the cold with an uncharacteristically nervous smile on her face.
Piper had clearly just woken up not too long ago; his green plaid pajama pants barely hanging onto his slender, girlish hips and large, stained shirt drooping over most of his body were a telltale sign of this. His medium length hair fell like curtains to either side of his face near the dark, late-night-gamer circles under his eyes.
The shrew boy squinted his eyes in tired confusion and, before he had a chance to say anything, Aria lunged forward; throwing all of her body weight into a tight hug.
With that, Aria heard Jericho's car leaving the driveway.
"Huh... who was that?" Piper strained to ask; obviously having a hard time breathing.
"Devi's dad. Shhh." Aria squeezed harder; burying her face around his collarbone. "Hey."
"...hi?" Piper strained again. "Would you... like to... come inside... maybe?"
"Mmhmm." Aria's response was heavily muffled but she nodded her head as well; finally freeing herself and taking Piper up on his offer.
The door closed behind her and she could feel nothing but the warmth of his heater and the coziness of his living room. There was a scent of toaster strudel that involuntarily made Aria's tail wag and her head turned to the kitchen, then back to Piper.
"Making breakfast?" Aria stated the obvious.
"Yup. Did you want some?" Piper started to make his way into his kitchen when he was stopped by a hand tightly grabbing onto his.
"Wouldn't... you uh... want something sweeter?" Aria did her best to avoid eye contact; her brain just barely catching up to how hard she was immediately flirting.
"Did you bring something to eat or... something?" Piper asked with mild confusion; searching around for a bag that didn't exist.
"Noooo, I mean..." Aria groaned and sighed. "...what would be... sweeter to you?"
"I dunno, like strawberries or something?" Piper said.
"...Hm." Aria looked down at the linoleum tile beneath her. "What else?"
"Are you making a joke or something?" Piper turned to face Aria. "What're you doing?"
"Blech, I had a weird night that led to a weird morning that led to a weird day."
"But it's still mornin--"
"Shh." Aria sighed. "I dunno, I feel weird and I feel cheap and... I feel poor and all sorts of bad stuff."
"You're not--"
"Shut uuuup! I'm trying to tell you stuff! Like..." Aria scuttled over her words. "...how you're a good boyfriend and how I'm a bad girlfriend and you can do much better than me but I appreciate you not doing better than me and putting up with my dumb shit and--"
"...are you still weirded out by Amanda?" Piper interjected.
"GOD, JUST LET ME FINISH. ALSO, FUCK THAT BITCH." Aria growled and lowered her shoulders. "Uugh, my dad left again this morning so... I dunno. I just... had a very weird time earlier and I just wanted to see you because you make me feel... not weird. Well, no, you make me feel like I'm worthless sometimes but in a good way."
"...how could that possibl--"
"DO YOU EVER SHUT THE FUCK UP?" Aria put a hand over Piper's mouth playfully. "Shuuush, shrew boy. I meant like... we have a weird relationship but you make it feel not weird, which makes me feel like trash but also not like trash because you don't complain about it and... uuugh. I don't know. It's just... you're some kind of fucking moron who loves me for some reason and I have no idea why you do. And no, that's not a plea for you to compliment me."
Piper remained silent.
"...do you have nothing to say?" Aria frowned.
Piper muffled something in protest.
"Oh, right." Aria removed her hand from his mouth and, in response, Piper stuttered to breathe and gasped. "Whoops."
"I don't know what to say." Piper said.
"W-well... why not?!"
"You told me not to compliment you. I'm just following orders." Piper folded his arms with a playful smile.
"You're such a dick." Aria turned around and walked towards the front door just to be stopped by Piper grabbing her shoulders. With the amount of force given to stop her, Aria could appreciate whenever Piper handled her this way.
"You always do that." Piper said as he proceeded to wrap his arms around her from behind. In response, Aria stiffened up. "You keep trying to walk away before anything gets solved. I'm starting to think it's because you just like it when I go out of my way to stop you from leaving."
"...maybe." Aria sniffled.
"Whoa, are you crying?" Piper tried to turn her over to see her face, but Aria resisted and covered herself with her palms. "Aria, I was just teasing. I can't say I understand why you've been so... needing my approval lately, but I don't mind saying that I love you and that you're very special to me -- so even if you think you're not deserving of that, or whatever it is you think -- that's not true."
"...I don't need your approval." Aria sniffled again. "I just like it."
"Okay then." Piper rubbed her already-messy hair around. "You are an amazing person who really doesn't need my approval, but just know that I love having you around and I love being around you. How's that?"
Aria wiped away little beads of residue tears off of her face. "I was just faking crying to get you to say all that crap anyways."
"I know." Piper poked her cheek. "Now, are you sure you wouldn't like anything? Because I'm gonna go finish off my--"
"Nooo, I already ate at that Daisy's place. It's okay." Aria said; walking over to Piper's couch and daintily sitting on it. "I love you too, by the way."
"Well, now that you're here," Piper called from the kitchen, "What did you want to do? I didn't have any plans for today anyways except for playing games."
"It kinda looked like you were doing that all night yesterday too." Aria kicked her feet from the couch. "Am I wrong?"
"...you are not." Piper poked his head back in before disappearing back into the kitchen. Aria giggled a bit.
"I didn't have any plans either. I just wanted to see your dumb face." Aria kicked her feet up onto the coffee table after taking off her shoes. "Was kinda hoping your dumb face and my dumb face could touch and stuff."
"O-oh. Uh. Yeah, I'd like that."
"Actions are better than words when it comes to kissing, dumb-ass." Aria groaned and flopped her upper torso down against a pillow. "Also, I wanted to watch you play games cuz I know how much of a boner that gives you."
"250 boners!" Piper called from the kitchen after the sound of pots and pans clattering against each other was heard.
"That's a lotta boners!" Aria snickered as she called back before quickly adding: "Do you have one right now?"
"Do you even have to ask?"
"I like to hear you say it!" Aria's tail wagged.
Piper's head popped back into the living room for a moment. "It's making it hard to not bump into things."
"It's not THAT big!" Aria laughed. "But I might need evidence, you know!"
"Then go to my room, I'm gonna take my breakfast in there anyways."
"Oooh, how spontaneous and romantic!" Aria teased as she stood up and walked through the hallway towards Piper's bedroom. "Just 'go to my bedroom so I can show you my dick'? Big gentleman."
"It's not like I'm gonna do it in the kitchen, babe."
"HAH! You called me 'babe'!" Aria's voice was barely audible from the hallway. "But, you know it's easier to clean cum off of a kitchen floor right?"
"I said I was going to show it to you, not do things to myself for you!" Piper's voice was equally barely audible from the kitchen.
"I was gonna do the things to you, but that's fine too!" Aria sat at the foot of Piper's bed.
His room was compact with how much junk was cluttered all about. She looked around to see if anything had changed since her last visit and, the first thing she always searched for just to make sure it was still there was the picture of them from several years ago. A little selfie they took that they got printed out and, after it was framed, Aria vandalized it by writing '4ever' on the paneling.
She always loved seeing that it was still there in the same spot it has been for years and seeing it this time reinforced her overly-emotional state.
"Uuuugh, I hate this!" Aria loudly proclaimed as she plopped down upon Piper's bed as he walked in with his paper plate of toaster strudels.
"...toaster strudels?" Piper asked.
"What?" Aria frowned. "No, fuck no, I love toaster strudels. I'm just so... weird right now. I see Devi with her bitch-friend and I guess it just made me feel lonely. That's what I hate."
"You're all over the map today." Piper said as he set his plate down on his nightstand besides his gaming memorabilia. "Why not just focus on one thing and be happy? You're here and we can do whatever you want. Unless you saying you're lonely because of Devi means you're like... a lesbian or something. Which is fine, you know."
"What?! God dammit, you're so fucking disgusting!" Aria beat her fist down on Piper's mattress. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?!"
"Probably the same amount as you liking it if I was with a boy." Piper thought about that for a moment. "Uh... but you don't have to do that."
Aria glared at him for a second.
"Good... because I probably would do it if you wanted me to but I'd probably kill myself." Aria sighed deeply. "Uugh. You have no idea how much power you have over me."
"Still not gonna ask you for sex." Piper stated with a goofy smile. "Not saying I wouldn't want to, by the way, because you're uh... really hot but uh... you know... when you're ready."
Aria squinted at Piper for an uncomfortably long time, then, inhaled deeply and burst into laughter. "You are such a weenie, but that's what I love about you."
"...so were you serious about the game thing, by the way?" Piper brought up.
"I dunno, were you serious about the dick thing?" Aria wagged her tail.
"...How come we always talk about emotional stuff and then suddenly we get all flirty?" Piper asked with complete sincerity.
"Not true, I was like this since before I even got here." Aria nodded. "And, I literally asked for our dumb faces to touch, so there's that. I just happened to have an annoying day as well."
"I'm not complaining," Piper took a bite out of his toaster strudel. "I just like to get into your head, doggo."
"I'd rather you get into something else."
"What, really?!" Piper almost jumped off of the bed.
"I'm joking! I'm kidding." Aria stuck her tongue out. "Just because I'm not ready doesn't mean I don't like to tease you. Also, how come you understand that sex joke but you didn't get the one from earlier?!"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Piper slapped himself on the forehead. "It's context, Aria! It's just... you show up at my door and you're like 'I'm sad and horny'."
"But I am sad and horny."
"I mean..." Piper tried to rub the stinging pain sensation away from his forehead. "...would you like to talk about it? Like... your dad. Devi. Any of that?"
"Shrew-child, please." Aria rolled her eyes. "That's not how I roll. I think seeing your dick is more therapeutic."
"I'm trying to be a good person!" Piper almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. "You came here and you thought you were a bad person an-- I... just... noticed you're wearing my shirt."
"Yuppers!" Aria's eyes lit up. "It smells like you."
"I'm... sorry."
"No, I like it, it's my shirt now." Aria grabbed the collar of the shirt defensively; turning away and taking a few overdramatic sniffs. "Buuut... if you asked, I could take it off for a little bit."
"Well... I mean... uh..." Piper gulped. "It's up to you."
"Ask me!" Aria pouted.
"...I don't know how." Piper shriveled up at the pressure. "Uhm... take your shirt off... please?"
"Okay." Aria complied matter-of-factly and slid the shirt off with ease. She revealed her long and slender body along with her barely protruding breasts. The last fading remnants of the fight she had with Devi's bully finally fading off her body; and she was close to having that all-golden sheen to her fur again.
Without being prompted, she hooked her thumbs under the elastic band of her gym shorts and slid them down her thigh. She was left standing only in a pair of socks and panties; rather confident with her body as she looked back to see Piper's reaction.
Although he always tried hard not to, he could not get his eyes off of her body. He stared with intensity and started to hunch forward out of sheer nervousness.
"Oh, pshaw, you've seen all this before." Aria baited. "I was thinking of the last time you stayed over at my house, though."
"H-huh?"
"You know... how you CRUELLY REJECTED my offer to join me in the shower?" Aria folded her arms; covering her breasts. "And I was thinking of maybe giving you another chance."
"W-what do you m-mean?" Piper knew he had seen her like this before, but every time he did, he was paralyzed. Still, his practical mind prevailed as he stupidly blurted: "You know... we just have one of those stand up showers, right?"
"No, I wasn't thinking of a shower." Aria smiled wide; showing her gap tooth. "What I mean is... I'd like to be naked and close to my boyfriend... if my boyfriend ASKED."
Piper's arms hit his sides as his entire body stiffened up. He shut his eyes tightly and uncomfortably raised his head towards the ceiling as he choked out: "PLEASE?"
"Please what?" Aria enjoyed having Piper under her thumb this way; it was always so fun.
"P-please... take everything off...?"
Even though it came out sounding like a question, Aria was satisfied with that.
"Okay!" she sounded excited as she eagerly wiggled her underwear down her legs and kicked them off against the wall. "You can look now, by the way."
Piper opened his eyes just to quickly shut them again as his shivering intensified. He liked to imagine that he was taking a clear mental snapshot for future reference -- knowing that Aria wouldn't go for him taking a picture of her fully nude.
"You're such a weirdo..." Aria stated; finally sounding like she was starting to lose control of the situation. Her voice quivered a tiny bit as she climbed onto Piper's bed and sat down cross-legged; wagging her tail and beating Piper's sheets.
Piper still stood there like a statue; visibly shaking as he gritted his teeth until he took a deep breath and, all in one attempt, seemed to have become calm again as he rubbed his forehead.
"Jeez... you really know how to destroy my brain." Piper almost drunkenly said.
"I'm glad me taking off my clothes is able to turn you into even more of a drooling moron." Aria stuck her tongue out playfully. "So are you going to do something or uh... are you going to stare more? Either is fine. Seriously."
"...well, what do you want?" Piper asked; his voice still staggering a bit.
Aria shivered. She didn't really know what she wanted. She lied down in contemplation; poking her finger against her lips as Piper awkwardly stared at her form.
"I guess I don't know." she said honestly. "I kinda wanna have you jack off on me, but I wanna... I dunno, switch it up! But I dunno what else we could do."
"Uhm..." Piper rubbed the back of his head. "...well, whenever we do things like this, you normally like to watch me jack off so uh... hmm..."
Piper was silent for too long which prompted a response from Aria -- a very rude: "What is it?!"
"Could I watch you... jack off?" Piper stupidly asked.
"...huh." Aria put her finger in her mouth and squinted in contemplation. "Normally I'd make fun of you for calling it 'jacking off' since it's... not... called that... I think... but uh... hm... I guess we could do that?"
"R-really?"
"Well, you'd have to do it too." Aria brushed her hair back. "It'd be awkward if I was the only one doing it."
"Isn't that normally how we do it for me?"
"Yeaaaah, but I'm special." Aria puckered her lips. "Yup. Yup. You have to do it too... but uh... I also get to cover myself with your shirt."
"But... I want to see it too." Piper pouted.
"That's my answer." Aria stubbornly responded with a sly smile. "Take it or leave it."