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Aria, Piper and all mentioned characters (c) Ketzio & Gothbunnnyboy
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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Beginning with Aria's suspension.
Lastly, The contents of the story do not alter-character availability.
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A day of school is an eternity in waiting-time: Piper realized as he watched impatiently for the clock to round the hour and free him from class.
Only 31 minutes until freedom and he could feel a crisp 90 dollars burning an eager hole in his pocket: 90 whole dollars of monthly allowance that just for him to spend.
Piper was always a little schedule-obsessed and the weekend itinerary was set in stone: From North Trouville Jr. High, he would walk to Javie's Game Emporium to buy the holy grail of modern gaming: the newest edition of Gore-Gothic Reign: The Un-Mortal Chaos, for an immediate 60 dollars. He could even, while sitting in class, smell that crisp plastic of the package. Once the game was safely procured, he would head 4 blocks east along central grand avenue and into "Gusto Affamato", the gourmet pizza restaurant for fresh ingredients, artisan cheese, and stone-oven goodness.
Piper wasn't many things but, something he certainly was, was a connoisseur of fine pizza. There would be none of that frozen greasy sauce on bad biscuit dough for him tonight, no way.
He estimated Gusto Affamato would run him about $20, which was worth it for good food and perfect as that would leave him with just enough money to swing into Poundtree (where everything was a dollar) to get junk food and soda (provisions for his weekend of gaming).
If only the clock would strike faster -- curiously, however, it felt like time had slowed due to a lack of Aria whom Piper shared most of his classes with (by a mixture of luck and some schedule manipulation). Unfortunately, she was suspended two days beforehand and, alas, a day without the silly dog strangely felt like less of a day.
Piper's leg shook as he watched the hands of the clock tick slower and slower the closer it got to 3pm. His teacher was saying some crap about something -- something about the upcoming weekend. Piper didn't catch any of it as the sound of the second hand was deafening as it crawled around 2:59.
T-Minus 1 minute until freedom, pizza and games. He could already relish how jealous his online gaming friends would be that he was the first of them to get Gore-Gothic Reign. He could almost taste their tears as he would get all of the achievements before them.
If... only... the... clock... would... move... its... ass.
When the bell finally rang, Piper was the first person out of his seat; practically pushing people out of the way to get to the exit. The hallways on Fridays had the tendency to become very congested very quickly and he would be damned if he was caught in that mess.
With his backpack bouncing against his back with each step in his quick stride -- he found himself beating the foot-traffic; now running as more doors swung open.
Piper felt a little strange as he darted into the school's courtyard. He never got to see it this empty at the end of the day which is only because Aria always took forever to pack her bags when class was done. It didn't help that 6th period was the one period that Piper and Aria didn't share so he'd also have to wait at the door of her classroom; getting bumped by everyone's oversized backpacks. It also didn't help that that was the one class that she had with Koudelka Pavlov -- a girl that Aria completely despised. Often times Piper would have to wait for their bickering in addition to everything else. If he was lucky, they got to the courtyard about 10 minutes after the last bell rang.
As Piper neared the front gate, he took one last look at the courtyard that was slowly being infested by students and wondered what Aria was doing at her house at this time.
Oh well, she would be fine on her own and, in fact, maybe Piper was a little happy that he could have a bit of time away from her. He really wanted to just get to the game store, get gourmet pizza, retrieve junk food, and then merge with his couch for the weekend; talking shit to people online with his friends.
He could already imagine one of his friends, Remy, getting into an hour long pissing match with some asshole online. It happened almost every weekend.
At the gate, he hung the first right in hopes to avoid most of the idle parent-cars waiting for their kids and continued to be so absorbed by how his planned weekend was pretty much figured out. He was so absorbed, in fact, that he barely noticed the voice calling out to him.
Absently, he turned his head -- expecting that he had misheard his own name or something -- just to see Aria, still covered in bruises and bandages, perched like a gargoyle atop the rock wall most students waited for their parents on. Besides Piper's shock at seeing Aria here, he was also weirded out not seeing her carrying around her backpack (even if he carried it for her most of the time). It was also weird seeing that she was practically in her pajamas -- with the exception of a hoodie being thrown sloppily over her top. She had funny duck pattern pajama pants that she had no shame of.
Confused, Piper approached her and blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "I uh... don't think that Devi girl came to school today. I didn't see her."
"What, not even a 'hi'?" Aria raised an eyebrow as she hopped to her feet.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Piper stopped; starting to reach for her backpack which wasn't there, then awkwardly tried to play it off as him reaching for his head to scratch it. "You just uhh... caught me off-guard?"
"Well, you know me," Aria started; nodding her head with a smile. "I love school so much. I just couldn't stay away. Though, I'm a little disappointed. I saw you running and uh... thought maybe you saw me and were excited." Aria playfully punched his arm. "You're an asshole, dude."
"I was! I mean... I am?" Piper lied; holding his hands up guiltily and immediately getting 'the look' from Aria. "Okay, okay, I didn't see you. I was just in a hurry, is all."
"A hurry for what?" Aria laughed. "Your life revolves around me, doesn't it? What could you possibly be doing."
She once again hit his arm.
"Well, actually--"
"Also!" Aria cut him off. "I'm impressed by your hustle. For a guy who doesn't get much exercise being the slobby gamer you are, you can actually run when you want to." she bumped him with her elbow. "Got a little hustle in your muscle, eh?"
"I guess...?" Piper blushed; unable to handle the rare compliment.
"And, for your information Mr. Assumer-pants," Aria spoke with a condescending tone. "No, I'm not here for Devi. I'm here for you."
Piper nervously looked around as he searched for something to say to that. He wasn't sure if she was joking or if there was some sort of hidden meaning in there. "Me? Why?"
"Unrelated." Aria sniffed and looked towards the crowd as they started to slowly dwindle; walking home or getting into cars. "You wouldn't, by chance, have seen Koudelka or-- you know what, never mind."
Aria brushed a loose bang away from her face. "Yup, I'm here for you."
"Did you just... want to walk me home or something?" Piper asked and immediately felt an immense guilt. In his mind, all he could think of was buying his game. "I'm really confused."
"What?" Aria squinted her eyes and leaned towards Piper. "Can't I want to hang out with you? I am supposed to be your GIRLFRIEND, right?"
Her saying that made Piper smile as, lately, Aria had been sort of downplaying that role of hers. They had an agreement that affection would be exclusive and mutual but they'd be more open with physical stuff. However, with that 'affection' stuff being a bit sparse lately, it was nice to hear her say that.
"Well, yes, yeah, you are -- but I uh..." Piper struggled. He thought Aria coming to school just to see him was one of the sweetest things she has ever done for him alone but he REALLY wanted to get his dang game. The world of Gore-Gothic Reign was calling -- why did this cute golden retriever have to get in the way.
"Also, also!" Aria continued; cutting Piper off again. "You get your allowance today right? We should totally do something fun. I mean uh... unless you don't want to?"
Aria put on a fake frown and wobbled her lips to get some form of sympathy points.
"Naahhh, who wouldn't want to hang out with me?" she smiled widely and wagged her tail.
The schedule in Piper's mind jolted. If he didn't do the gourmet pizza and, perhaps, cut back on the snacks -- maybe he could still buy the game a little bit later and still take Aria somewhere. But damn did he want that pizza.
"Yeah, sure, we can do something." Piper tried his hardest to not sound disappointed. He did like hanging out with her but he preferred things to be on schedule. At least there wouldn't be the massive downer that was Devi this time. That rabbit really knew how to bring down a room and, somehow, Aria was always unfazed by it.
"Whoooa," Aria laughed almost nervously. "Don't get too excited now."
She leaned on Piper's shoulder. "What's up, fagaroo? Got something to do today?"
"No, no, it's not that," Piper lied again and received the same look. Regardless, Aria knew when Piper was lying. "I was just not... uh... I didn't know you'd be here is all."
"What, are you cheating on me or something?" Aria held back a laugh and looked around; zeroing in on some raccoon girl sitting on the grass and texting. "Is it herrrr? Can I kill her?"
"No, no! It's not that at all!" Piper nearly shrieked in terror. "I'd love to hang out with... my sweetheart."
Aria burst into giggles. It seemed quite condescending but her tail was wagging so it hopefully amused her. "Well, awesome then... baaabe." Aria folded her arms; showing off her missing tooth with her wide smile. "So, do we need to stop at your house to get the moolah first or what? Because fuck your new house, it's so far away."
"I already have the money, it's ok." Piper assured; pulling out his wallet and wagging it around. "My mom is working tonight so she gave me th--"
Piper let out an odd guttural noise when Aria quickly swiped the wallet right out of his hands; opening it without any moral objection. "Oooh, 90 dollars."
"Hey! You can't just rummage through a man's wallet like that!" Piper demanded. "What if I had a condom in there or something?! How'd that make you feel?"
"I'd wonder why you bought something you'd never use." Aria tossed the wallet back at the shrew and rose an eyebrow. "Tell ya what. If there's a condom in there, I'll let you use it on me. But it's the only chance I'll ever give you."
"WAIT, WHAT? That's not fair!" Piper protested.
"What's unfair?" Aria condescendingly smiled. "It's a man's wallet after all. And you're the one trying to get your girlfriend to feel all self-conscious and paranoid -- wondering why you may or may not have condoms and shit. I will actually drop-kick that raccoon girl if you don't stop me."
"Please don't kill her, and I don't actually have a condom but I could go buy one right now!" Piper opened and closed his wallet in an almost Pac Man like fashion; his desperate eyes sending Aria into another fit of giggles.
"Piper, I'd love to see you go into a store and get kicked out trying to buy a piece of lubricated rubber but we got a date to go oooon!" Aria grabbed Piper's wallet-less hand with both of hers and tugged on him.
"O-okay!" Piper said. "But I only mentioned condoms because... like... it's like how girls carry maxi-pads and junk, right? I don't actually carry condoms."
"Maxi-pads? Condo--" Aria slowly shook her head. "Boy, you better stop saying dumb shit before I point at you and laugh cruelly. I don't even want to know how you think those two things go together but, babe, you're the wrongest you can possibly be."
~~
It was nostalgic for it to just be him and Aria walking together again and for the second time this week too. Ever since that Devi girl moved to Trouville, he was becoming somewhat of a third wheel. But it wasn't just Devi, he was becoming more absorbed with his gaming life and his friends and Aria was busy with sports and having a good time with older guys so the both of them were doing their own thing for the most part.
Still, spending more time with her made him miss her constant company even more. And it felt like she was feeling the same thing as well. As they walked together, their conversation was the same-old same-old but their body language was a bit more apprehensive and shy.
Piper was so engrossed by their conversation that he hadn't noticed how far down central grand avenue they went; beyond any of the locations he was previously planning to go to.
Just as he was thinking about it, Aria piped up first. "Yo, so where the heck are we going anyways?"
"I was actually uh... just following you." Piper nervously smiled.
"You're the boy, you're supposed to know everythiiiiing." Aria sighed and observed her surroundings.
Piper looked around too and noticed a few interesting spots that could be doable. A nice restaurant for starters, the bowling alley was just a block away and an ice cream parlor was right next to them.
"Well, alright!" Aria started right as Piper opened his mouth. "If it's up to me then we should gooooo... there!"
She pointed at Patty O' Patrick's Pizza Parlor -- a literal animatronic nightmare building. It was a place that you were too old to go to when you were 10.
Piper inhaled to let out some sort of protest. He could picture slimy and greasy pizza, children chewing on and climbing all over broken down game machines, disturbing animatronics screaming obnoxious songs and a ball pit that smelled like piss.
Just as he formed the words to protest, he saw Aria with her hands clamped together and a starry-eyed look of whimsy and wonder. What the fuck? "I'm surprised you want to go there." Piper ended up saying; letting out a weak chuckle.
"Uhm. Because it's awesome?" Aria scoffed. "My dad used to take me there all the time and it was always so special. Plus, it's got sports stuff for me and loser stuff for you so it's win-win."
"Huh. I guess if it means that mu--" before Piper could finish, Aria grabbed him by the hand and pulled him towards the restaurant/playplace.
~~
"Where does a leprechaun go to get his clothes done?" an animatronic squirrel screeched from the wood-panelled stage that looked over the dining area.
Piper watched with amusement as, even with her mouth stuffed with pizza, Aria stood up from the table and finished the joke at the same time the robot did. "At Iron-land!"
"Wait, what?" Piper half-snickered and looked at his greasy mess of a pizza; taking a sip of his root beer instead. "I don't get it."
"Iron-land? Ireland?" Aria nodded her head. "Get it?"
She finally swallowed her food.
"Oh my fucking god." Piper said under his breath; still with a smile on his face.
Looking around, they seemed to be the oldest kids by a wide margin besides the parents. Concurrently, there was also a birthday party going on in the same dining area so there was a horde of children barely out of arm's reach of Piper.
Still, for what it was worth, they were having a nice time... even if Aria repetitiously kicked his ass at that basketball hoop game and, even if it was embarrassing to have his date singalong to the annoying animatronic music, it was nice. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing -- Piper still thought about the game he wanted to buy but he was happy letting it wait. Also, Aria hadn't called him a 'fagaroo' this entire time so something must have been going right.
Curiously, they hadn't seen anybody from the staff since they got their pizza and Piper was convinced that they would finish this entire meal without seeing any employee. Piper's timing was weird because, out of nowhere and on cue, a young, fit canine guy appeared clad in work attire. He was the kind of Adonis that could make the preposterous fake Irish leprechaun-looking uniform look good.
Immediately, Piper followed Aria's gaze as she stared at his strong arms which, to Piper, looked like a huge sock stuffed with tennis balls. "Sorry nobody has been out here to service you in a while," the guy said in a low and sultry baritone straight out of a porno. "Would you guys need refills?"
"Whoooa, that's crazy!" Aria leaned back in her chair; her tail wagging so hard that it was pounding the wood support. "Because I was totally just thinking of getting a refill too. Has anyone ever told you your arms are huge. They're huge."
The guy laughed. It wasn't a casual laugh but a strange one. Piper glared at him with suspicion. "No, I don't hear that a lot." his eyes glanced downward. "North Trouville Jr. High? Awesome, I went there too."
Piper rolled his eyes so hard that it was impossible for them not to notice. They didn't notice, though. "There are only 2 Jr. Highs in all of Trouville, OF COURSE YOU PROBABLY WENT TO THIS ONE -- THERE'S A NORTH AND SOUTH, FUCK!" Piper thought to himself.
"Fuck that place, amiright?" Aria immediately responded; stifling a dorky giggle.
"I know, right?" the guy laughed his weird laugh again. Piper could only see it as a laugh you force out while having brain surgery. "I remember being on their football team years back. Those were the days."
"Oooh, you were on their football team?!" Aria overdramatically gasped. "I'm on their soccer team! Well... and Track. And Volleyball. And swimming. But yeah!"
"Whoooa, sporty girl." the guy pulled up a seat and sat at their table which is the moment Piper decided to stand up. "You know," the guy continued, "It's very rare to see a girl who understands sports. Most of the girls around here are just princesses."
"IT'S BECAUSE THEY'RE 8, YOU SMUGLORD." Piper thought as he angrily strode towards the arcade.
So often, video games were the haven from his problems -- whether it be his overworked mom or his girlfriend talking to some jock idiot. Once again, they had agreed it was okay but not when they were hanging out with each other and not on literal dates -- jeez.
The arcade had no cohesive theme -- looking like it was once space-themed but that was obviously a relic of the past; half repainted and sporting any genre of video game that they could get their hands on. There was a fucking arm wrestling game in the corner -- what kid was meant to beat that? Well, he answered his own question.
Many of the machines were practically antiques at this point. They were so old that they belonged in some retro arcade restoration exhibit or something -- not being drooled on by soda-crazed babies. But he counted his lucky stars that at least the arcade wasn't very populated.
As he roamed around, suspiciously eyeing the machines, he noticed that there was actually only one other kid sharing the arcade with him. Interestingly, it was a raccoon girl that was around his age. Weird, Aria was just bitching about a raccoon earlier that day. Fortunately, this wasn't the same person, but still a queer coincidence.
She was perched at a fighting cabinet; just leaning tiredly like she had been waiting for a while.
"Huh. Alright, I'll bite." Piper thought as he nervously approached.
The girl turned to him with a bewildered look. "Did you want to play? Sorry if I'm hogging it." she had a slight Australian accent.
"It's a 2 player game, isn't it?" Piper knocked on the side of the machine; a franchise that was now in the double digits but this was the first game in the fighting series. "The machine cheats super hard in 1 player mode, right? Wanna play?"
"Oh! Sure, but I'm going to destroy you, you know." the girl snarkily stated while keeping this air of exhaustion about her. "My name is Amanda, by the way."
"My name's Piper," he took a quarter out of his pocket, deposited it into the machine, and coolly grabbed the player 2 joystick. "And I've been playing this game since I was 5 so..."
"Me too." she responded; grabbing the player 1 stick.
"Then this will be interesting." he said as the game began.
Amusingly, the pace of the game was so slow that -- as they were playing -- Piper found it comfortable to talk. "So, what are you even doing here? You look kind of miserable."
"My little brother is having a birthday party or whatever so," she sighed heavily. "Yeah. I really wanted to get Gore-Gothic Reign today but I was dragged here. Ever heard of it?"
"What the hell, that's literally what happened to me." Piper furrowed his brow.
"What, your little brother is having a birthday party?"
"Well, no, I was dragged here by my..." he glanced back for a second, seeing Aria laughing at their table with chunky-muffin-butthole-surfer over there. "...friend. BUT EVERYTHING ELSE IS THE SAME."
"Is that her over there?" Amanda pointed with her eyes still glued to the game. "The dog girl?"
"Yup, that would be her." Piper also kept his eyes glued on the screen as no gamer worth his weight in salt would be so dumb to fall for that look-away tactic. "My original plan was to pick up Gore-Gothic and junk but she wanted to come here because... I don't know, her dad used to take her here."
"Wait, for real?" Amanda finally turned to him as their first round ended -- with her the victor. "I don't get an allowance or anything so I can't get it myself -- and my dad says it's too violent but fuck."
"I mean... it IS called Gore-Gothic Reign." the next round started.
"Yeah, yeah, I know but fuck that." Amanda paused for a moment. "You don't mind if I curse, right? I don't know."
"Pfft, I don't care." Piper responded. "It's not like it's anything I haven't heard before."
"Anyways," Amanda continued, "It's not like games make people violent. Now, what DOES make people violent is listening to this fucking song on a loop for hours." she mentioned the 1 looping song the animatronics performed which only stopped for one of them to tell a joke. Then they'd continue. "Piper... that was your name right? Piper, let me tell you something. Animatronics and video games just don't mix."
"You're not wrong." Piper snickered and, before long, both of them burst into uproarious laughter as the animatronics stopped, on cue, to tell some other joke.
"What do you call a big Irish spider?" the animatronic squirrel asked.
Piper half-expected to hear Aria call out the response.
"A Paddy-long-legs!" no Aria that time. Maybe it was the only joke she didn't actually know but it still felt weird to not hear her respond.
"5 Nights at Shut-the-fuck-up." Amanda groaned as Piper won the second round. "Also, you're not half bad at this game. Most of the time when someone says they're good at something... they're not."
"Yeah, you're pretty good too." Piper blushed a bit. "Random question but uh... do you have an Xbox or anything? Ever play online?"
"What, gonna invite me to your big group of gamer friends or something?"
"...yeah?" Piper didn't know if her predicting his intentions was good or bad. Her accent made sarcasm seem weird.
"That would be pretty cool actually," she gave a wide smile. "Though, only if I can pretend to be a guy. I don't want your friends to go all nuts."
"I... don't think they will," Piper laughed, paused, and thought about the times his friends have shown off their... katanas and anime collections and shit. "But that might not be the worst idea anyone has ever had. Some of my friends can be pretty cringey a lot of the time."
"What, do they have katanas, fedoras and anime collections?"
Yikes, Piper totally forgot about the fedoras thing. "Wow, you're too good at this."
"Why, thank you~ But seriously? I was right?" she said; resting her elbow on the machine as the match was over and Piper won. "Also, wow, fuck you for beating me."
"Get good, I guess." Piper weakly rose an arm in victory as Amanda rolled her eyes. "But, to be fair, you're only half right. Half of my friends are cringey but the other ones are cool."
"Is she one of them?" Amanda pointed behind Piper. "Because she doesn't look very happ--"
"BITCH!" Aria startled the hell out of Piper as, before he was even able to turn around, Aria's shrill voice was ringing in his sensitive ears. "Hi, how's it going?!"
"A-Aria?" the amount of shock and guilt in Piper's voice was even surprising to him.
"Whooa, it's okay, we were just playing games." Amanda calmly responded; her half-lit eyes never widening.
"Yeah, sure, how's about not being a condescending shitlord and take me seriously. I'm not an idiot." Aria loomed over both of them; using her height to her advantage. Piper heard an odd quivering in her voice, though -- it wasn't very characteristic of her. "I saw the way you were looking at him. Not cool, bitch."
"Uh... once again, just playing games." Amanda repeated herself. "You're being awfully defensive. It's not like he's your boyfriend or anything."
Piper cringed so hard; he could feel Aria's glare burn a hole through his head. What was worse, he knew he didn't do anything wrong but he still felt terrible. After all, it's not like she wasn't just flirting with some older guy barely even 6 minutes ago.
"Actually, that's exactly what he is." Aria let out an odd and spastic laugh. "So yeah, how's about that shit? Ain't that just weird?!"
"Oookay. I didn't get dragged to this party to get yelled at by some psycho." Amanda stood up with her hands raised defensively. "You really need to work on that anger there, girl."
Before Piper was prepared, Aria smashed her fist against the arcade cabinet which produced a thunderous bang. "I'm not angry at all." Aria growled through her gritted teeth.
"Okay. Okay." Amanda walked backwards away from Aria who was furiously panting at this point. "See you later, maybe, Piper."
It was then that Piper jumped up, knowing that that would seriously get Aria's goat. He grabbed her by the waist and held her back as she attempted to pounce forward which finally forced a reaction out of Amanda. That reaction was a bit of a squeaking whimper and a cower but she quickly recomposed herself and walked into a different row of arcade cabinets.
"Aria, chill out!" Piper was still holding her squirming body back. "Come on, she didn't do anything wrong!"
Expecting a few more tugs forward, Piper was surprised when Aria immediately ceased her attempted murder and let out a loud sigh. He could still feel her heart pounding.
"Heyyy. It's okay." Piper tried to say but Aria shoved his loosened arm off of her and silently stormed towards the exit.
Without hesitation, Piper scooped up his backpack from their table and followed her outside; leaving a silent and awkward party of kids who were curious on what was going on.
~~
The evening weather was fittingly dramatic as the Trouville storm had caused it to become prematurely dark. The wind whipped Piper's hair around as the sliding doors let him out of the building.
The parking lot might as well have been the distance of a football field with how tired he already was. Holding Aria back really took a lot out of him and now he had to run after her.
Catching the golden retriever walking down the sidewalk, seemingly heading home, Piper grabbed her shoulder and tried to force her around to look at him but he could barely budge her. Instead, she turned around at her own accord with her brows furrowed deeply.
"Please! Come on!" Piper wheezed; trying to catch his breath. "You can't just storm off like that. You have to tell me what's wrong... please?"
"Just fuck off." Aria groaned. "Nothing's wrong. Go hang out with raccoon bitch. I'm sorry I don't have a perpetual thief mask made out of fur. Fuck."
"Wha--" Piper stuttered. "What are you even talking about?"
"I don't know, Piper." Aria sighed loudly; obviously exasperated. Her hands were clenched into shaking fists. "I shouldn't have to explain myself."
Piper squinted his eyes suspiciously at her; the gears in his head churning as he connected to points from this day together. "Do you not like raccoons...?"
"What? No, uuugh, just go away!" Aria took one long step forward when, suddenly, huge glob droplets began to splatter down from the sky. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID NOW!"
"MADE IT RAIN?!" Piper whimpered in retaliation. "I don't know who you think I am, but I don't make it rain. Please, Aria, let me know what I did wrong. I like you too much to see you all mad like this."
"Pfft, you obviously like her more." Aria folded her arms. "Fuck you."
"Wait... you think I like Amanda or something?"
"AMANDA, HUH?" Aria huffed.
"The girl I literally just met?" Piper scoffed and put his hands on his hips. "Were you jealous?"
Aria sniffed and turned around to look at him; witnessing his pose of hubris. "You look like a fag."
"ANSWER THE QUESTION!" Piper asserted himself; searching his lexicon desperately for a matching insult. "...you ding-dong."
"So what if I was." Aria shook her head; trying to get the rain water out of her hair.
"You were literally flirting with a guy right in front of me. Mr. He-Man McCrunchyournumbers." Piper nodded to himself at that ad-libbed name.
"Is that why you left?" Aria's tone had become more sympathetic. She finally seemed genuinely hurt as opposed to... wanting to hurt someone else. "I was a little confused at that."
"We agreed that our relationship would be a bit open and junk... but it's still annoying to see you flirt with muscled guys because... uugh... I don't have muscles and you never look at me that way." Piper sighed. "And all I wanted to do was buy a video game, buy junk food and stupid gourmet pizza and shit."
"Well, why didn't you, asshole?" Aria sniffed. "I asked if you had something to do, earlier."
"Because I'd obviously rather hang out with you, dummy." Piper rolled his eyes as the rain started to really pour; smacking cars in the parking lot loudly beside them. "We can do junk with other people but you forget that I really like hanging out with you. Period. I miss us just hanging out and having fun together. When we're alone, sure, we can do that but... uugh."
"So you hung out with that girl just to make me jealous?" Aria frowned.
"No, I hung out with her because she just happened to be playing games and... I dunno." Piper smiled. "Plus, you seemed busy so..."
"So this was my fault." Aria bit her lip and looked to the side. "I'm pretty dumb, huh? Well, you're the stupid asshole who... who had this whole 'downplay our relationship' thing!"
"I only did that because I didn't want you to feel so trapped." Piper divulged; getting a little closer to Aria. "You're not dumb and this isn't your fault."
"What does that matter?" Aria slid a wet strand of hair off of her nose. "I never actually have sex with any of these guys... my underwear never even comes off. But uh... I don't know, imagining you with a girl doing that kinda drives me nuts in a bad way. It's like... if you asked me what ingredients make me up when I'm thinking about you in a bed with another girl and I'd be like '100% nut' but you know, whatever."
"I've never... slept with a girl before. Hell, I've never slept with a guy." Piper blinked awkwardly as a stray drop of rain plopped on his eyelid.
"You were JUST talking about how you fucked a guy with your tail the other week." Aria giggled a bit but then quickly recomposed her 'angry' look. "You're a terrible liar."
"I..." Piper stared off into the void; having a hard time not being a condescending asshole to Aria. "...I was being as literal as possible. I did things to his dick with my tail. My actual tail. Not the hole under it. I'm still a... v-virgin."
The way he said 'virgin' was like it was some sort of filthy swear.
Aria desperately looked around; feeling like she was losing this argument overwhelmingly. "But we literally fucked around in a group before. Why did you get all weird when I was just talking to some guy?"
"The same reason you got all weird that I was talking to some girl." Piper pouted as he continued. "Also, neither of us fucked. Stop making it sound like we're grosser than we are."
"I... uugh." Aria rubbed her forehead. "It's funny. I don't mind when you talk to other guys. In fact, it's kind of hot. But that doesn't mean that you're not MY boyfriend. I see you over there with some dumb bitch getting all personal with your video games and your nerdiness and... stuff that I don't know because I'm cool. And I'm over here all like 'whaaat?'. I'm sorry I'm not a nerd."
A look of horror crossed Piper's face as she spoke.
"See? Even right now you're judging me and shit." Aria growled. "Do I have to spell it out that I love you just the way you are even if you don't have muscles and don't like the same things I do -- you're like that gay guy friend a girl knows but they can't date because he's gay but you're my gay guy friend boyfriend so.. uugh!"
She searched his face for a reply before carrying on. "Okay, fine, I won't keep calling you gay. You're bi, fiiiine. But... maybe it's a little wishful thinking on my part, maybe I'm just trying to test waters but I like the idea that... I'm the only girl you like."
"I-It's not that." Piper replied in a hushed and dire tone. "I totally forgot to pay."
"...excuse me?"
"I forgot to pay for our meal! Oh gosh!" Piper grabbed chunks of his hair between his fingers. "I just ran out after you, oh man! Do we go back? What do we do?"
Aria tried to sustain a disappointed expression but the sheer terror emanating from Piper was too much to handle. All of this for like... 15 dollars. Oh no, what a criminal. Aria stifled a giggle; raising her soaked hands to cover her mouth.
"You are too much to handle, fagaroo." Aria snickered and started to continue her walk. "Let's just leave. I think I'm about to catch pneumonia."
"B-but, we didn't--" Piper inhaled deeply and followed her. "Okay, okay! I'll walk you home then! I'm just scared that Muscleman McMichaelPeanutButterFingers will follow us."
"Dude, how many names are you gonna make for that guy?" Aria stopped dead in her tracks; turning around to face him which caused him to bump into her chest. "Come to think of it, I didn't even get his name. Yet, you learned AMANDA's name. You asshole, making me the bad guy in this. You owe me big time, jerk."
"W-- I-- fine, okay, whatever." Piper sighed. "As long as you're happy."
"I totally am~" Aria took big, exaggerated steps forward in a very cartoony manner. "Don't worry, the thing I'm thinking for you to do isn't bad at all. You might even like it."
"Could you at least give me a hint?" Piper looked up at her.
"Nope, but I can think of something else though." Aria turned around and continued her walk with Piper following close by. "Your mom is working tonight, right?"
"Yeaaah? She works every night. You know that."
"Yup, yup." Aria nodded. "You're staying the night at my house then. And before you get all 'nyeeeeh nyeh' my dad is out with some... bitch... so we got the place to ourselves. AND, before you get all iffy about staying over, you know my dad likes you so shush."
"I suppose this is how I'm paying you back...? By spending the night at your place?"
"Well, now you're making it sound like a chore." Aria frowned. "Asshole."
"That's not what I meant."
~~
Piper paced Aria's trailer's small living room as the golden retriever took a hot shower. He clutched a towel in his hand and frantically dried his hair off. Luckily, his clothes seemed to have been dried quickly from the heater blasting in the room.
He sat on the futon couch; unsure of how to spend his time and too shy to even turn on her TV. They had spent so much of their time growing up together but he could never get passed his 'intruder anxiety'. He always felt like he was trespassing even when directly invited to someone's house.
The cacophony of rain banging against the roof of the trailer made him even more nervous.
Instead of watching the TV, he looked around the room; as always, it was all very minimalistic. It was funny, considering how cluttered Aria's room and her dad's room were -- especially considering her dad reminded him of a swinger from a 70s movie or something. Sleazy, cheesy and greasy. He expected more out of the living room.
Finally, the water stopped and Piper started the countdown for her to dry herself off and get clothed.
Her record, so far, was 6 minutes. She got out, this night, around 9 minutes. Oh well.
"Yo, Piper." she strolled out of the bathroom in a pink towel tightly wrapped around her body. Oddly enough, her braided ponytail had been undone. "You need a shower too? You probably wanna get that dirty rain water out of your precious haiiiir -- plus, hypothermia isn't that great."
Piper made an odd squeak noise at the suggestion and tensed up; putting his hands between his thighs.
"What...?" Aria raised an eyebrow. "Afraid to get all naked in my house? I calls bullshit on that, by the way, with your sexist double standard, Piper."
"My sexist double what?" Piper cringed defensively.
"You were talking about how I never look at you and junk and here I am giving you an option to get all naked and now you're like 'myeeeeeh myeeeeeh'." Aria tossed her hair like a blanket and sat on her knees in front of the heater.
"I didn't say no... I was just thinking about it. Also that's going to take hours." Piper pointed at Aria's hair.
"Whatever, I got time." Aria smiled. "Besides, it normally dries up 20 minutes tops. I assure you. Now don't try to change the subject. Areya or aintcha?"
"What?"
"Take a dang shower, dude!" Aria grilled some more; her hair blowing against the heater.
"You just want to see me naked, don't you." Piper teased; figuring it was just one of those other times when they'd be playful with each other. However, Aria would normally answer with 'yeah, like I'd want to see that' instead, tonight was different.
"Yep, that's it." she said matter-of-factly which was specifically jarring to Piper because he knew that this was a sign.
Ever since they both turned 11, Aria's telltale sign of being amorous was being direct and blunt while Piper's was being shy and uncomfortable.
"Oh. Oh... I see." Piper gulped. Every time this happened, he always calculated his chances of actually being able to lose his virginity with her -- but he was too much of a shy creature to ever directly ask or explore these possibilites while Aria was too steadfast in her desire to wait until marriage. "That wouldn't be fair though, I didn't get to see you nude."
He shot back playfully again. His mouth curled up with stress this time as his hands retreated around his waist; almost hugging himself.
"Dude, I left the door open." Aria shot back; almost sounding annoyed. "You could've pulled up a chair. Free show, my treat."
"I... didn't want to be creepy?" Piper squinted; hoping that was a valid response.
"There are only 2 people in this world allowed to see me nude, Pipes." Aria only called him when she was in this mood. She scooped up a throw-pillow from off the floor and hugged it; turning away from the heater. "You're one of them."
"I assume your dad hasn't lost that to someone else, right?" Piper always felt weird talking about her dad. 5/10 chances that it'd send her on a tirade.
"Well duuuuuuh. Also, guess what stupid, if you say 'I didn't want to be creepy', guess what it becomes." Aria frowned.
"Uh..."
"It gets CREEPY!" she threw the pillow at Piper who almost caught it but it ended up bouncing off of his chest and onto the carpeted floor. "Can't you just take off your pants, dude? Come on, I'm getting antsy over here."
"You never do this for me." Piper whined; knowing there was no getting out of this when she was like this.
"The difference is: you never ask. So I leave bathroom doors open for you which you don't take advantage of." Aria stood up; brushing her fingers through her undone hair. "So, why don't you ask?"
"Well uh..." Piper gulped; looking away from her. He felt like his heart was going to break through his ribcage like some kind of cartoon character. "...I don't want to seem pushy."
As Piper looked back towards Aria, she was looming over him -- with one hand on her hip and the other clutching the towel to her chest -- just staring at him with 'that look'. If she wasn't so intimidating, he would have tried to look up the towel skirt.
"Whaaat?" Piper whined.
"Oh nothing." Aria snickered as she sat down next to him and started to pull at her hair; showing the first stages of fashioning it back into her trademark braided ponytail. "You're lucky you're such a cutiepie or else you'd be completely hopeless. Also, take out your dick."
"Excuse me...?" Piper mumbled; covering his still-covered private area with both hands.
"It's not like this is the first time we've done this." Aria squinted as she fiddled fruitlessly with her hair; having difficulty with its wildness.
"I mean..." Aria could see Piper's face nearly begin to glow red. "...what if your dad gets back?"
"Told you, not happening tonight but, fine," Aria stood up, hair still in hand, and began to walk to the kitchen. "I'll give you a few minutes to get it out. Also, it better be hard or I'll be really self-conscious about myseeeeeelf!"
Both of her hands fumbled with something in front of her as she walked away and, before Piper was ready, Aria's towel plopped to the ground unceremoniously into a heap. Piper could almost hear angelic choirs going off in his head as she walked into the kitchen completely nude. She was rattling her cabinets and drawers looking for something as casually as she could but taking conspicuous amounts of time to bend over slightly and curve her slender body over the counter.
Piper's jaw dropped as he made an unintelligible grunting sound and, before he knew it and/or before he wanted it to end, it ended. She vanished into her room after dropping a bag of potato chips on the counter.
The prerogative in his brain and the prerogative in his pants were fighting each other at this point. His heart was somewhat of a mediator but it did no good as the fight was over in only seconds.
Piper, however, didn't have enough time to make up his own mind.
The ever-impatient Aria then, ungraciously, flew down the hallway only in her socks. She peered around the corner and inhaled deeply through her nose. "YOU STILL HAVE YOUR PANTS ON? WHAT THE HELL, MAN?"
"I'm sorry! I j--"
"Uugh, Piper!" Aria folded her arms; still nude and seemingly unfazed by it. Piper didn't know whether to look north or south... jeez. "You're kind of legitimately making me feel ugly. You're also making me sound really stupid when I have to keep asking you to just take your dang pants off, uuuuuuuuugh!"
"Okay, okay!" Piper obediently stood up and dropped his pants with a loud jingle of coins. "There!"
"Ah, there ya gooooo." Aria said in an odd and off-putting sing-song tone. "You finally threw me a bone. Now take off the boxers toooooo."
She vanished into her room again with an ecstatic giggle.
Dumbfounded, Piper fought himself; confused if this was another test or something. He was always tested within these walls. He really should have gotten used to it by now.
He wiggled his boxers down to his ankles; already feeling cold and... fully exposed... and stood there. He stood there for a long while as he idly listened to the patter of rain outside.
His mental war had only pulled his underwear down; revealing himself -- but it did nothing to actually have him get up or do anything. He just sat there... almost frozen in time with his dick throbbing. It was quite embarrassing.
Piper looked down at his dick like a foreign object as it bounced around stupidly. He was always so ashamed showing it to Aria considering he knew he was quite ill-equipped. He smiled, though, because Aria always made it a point to make him feel like he was gigantic.
He dropped backwards onto the futon couch; staring at the ceiling with his pants down. He could never get used to this... but that just proved to always make it exciting when it happened.
Without much fanfare, Aria returned -- dressed, blanket it one arm and the bag of potato chips in the other.
"Ooooh, I really turned you on, huh?" Aria snickered with a huge grin on her face.
The small snarky part of Piper's brain wanted to point out the huge amount of fighting that happened before she got what she wanted but he decided to let it go. "Mmhmm."
"Didja see my butt?" Aria dropped the blanket on the floor and plopped down on the couch next to him.
"Yes. Yes I did."
"Didja like it?"
"I rarely get to see it." Piper gulped. "I loved it."
"You loved my butt? You're such a fucking weirdo!" Aria playfully hit him on the arm. "You always have to word it in the worst possible ways, huh?"
"I guess so..." Piper silently chuckled to himself.
"Well, lucky for you!" Aria said as she opened up her bag of chips and loudly crunched on a hand-full of them. "You'll probably get to see it again tonight. You know, ammunition and whatnot."
She seemed to proud of herself.
"Can I see it again now?" Piper asked without certainty as he was now in that realm of no return regarding arousal.
"Ooooh, assertiveness!" Aria nodded. "You actually asked for it. Though, HOW DARE YOU! I JUST GOT FULLY NAKED AND YOU DON'T EVEN TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO TAKE IT IN? UUUGH, I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO MAKE YOU HAPPY."
Before Piper could properly register what she was yelling about, she seemed to change tone just as quickly.
"Nah, I'm just fucking with ya." Aria smiled and kissed Piper on the cheek. "Though, I did just sit down and I'm feeling lazy right now so you're gonna have to wait. Besides, these chips need mad-macking, yo."
"That's... reasonable." Piper said in a small voice; still feeling his heart pounding and his arousal fogging his memory. He completely forgot what his original plans for this day even were. Something about pizza...? And a video game? Eh. "Hey... I-I really like you."
"Pfft. I like you too." Aria bumped her cheek against his and munched on another chip. "Sooo... you gonna jerk off or wha? That huge thing looks like it's about to explode, dude."