I went and hung out with my crush's friend without realizing it was actually my crush and then asked out the girl that I was sitting across from, light novel edition (rip verve's flight AND cognitive function)

## December 27, Camelot Park

It was a white Christmas in Halcyon, and a new dusting of snow has left the city looking pristine. It’ll be brown and slushy and gross by the afternoon, but for now it’s idyllic. It’s the kind of morning where you can close your eyes and pretend that everything is okay.

Boon opens her eyes and looks out across the park. The winter sky casts a cool grey daze over the snowy terrain. Her ashen eyes reflect the similarly colorless trails, now nearly empty as the masses do their best to remain indoors. Boon looks down at Brimstone and is reminded why she ventured out of her room. Brimstone trots alongside Boon smiling but wishing she would move faster, his paws melting the snow as they make contact with the ground.

A little off to the left of the path where Boon is walking, there’s a snow-muffled thud and a defeated, “Ow.” As Boon rounds the corner, she can see Verve on the ground in front of a small retaining wall. By the footprints in the snow and the amount of snow on her costume, Boon can tell it’s not the first time Verve’s fallen here and went back up.

“Oh come on!” Verve yells, slamming her fist down on the ground next to her. After a moment, she grimaces and rubs her hand.

Verve sees a different hand reach towards her out of the corner of her vision and looks over to see Boon offering to help her up. “Need help?” asks a tired looking Boon, donning a flannel, a warm carhartt beanie, and a blue denim jacket to match the bags under her eyes. Before Verve can answer she’s barraged with sloppy kisses as Brimstone eagerly greets her. “Down boy! That’s not how we great people remember?” She pulls a beggin’ strip out of one of her jacket pockets and holds it above Brimstone’s head “Brimstone sit”. The pitbull shifts focus away from Verve and now sits patiently, focused intently on the snack. “Good boy!” Boon gives Brimstone the treat and gives his neck a few scritches before turning her attention back to Verve. “How about take two? Sorry about that” Boon says nervously, extending her hand once again to help Verve get back to her feet.

Verve jumps when she sees the hand, flushing when she realizes that someone saw her. It deepens when she realizes it’s Boon. *Of course you were caught by a teammate*. She hesitates to take Boon’s hand, but fortunately her moment of indecision is covered up by Brimstone’s enthusiastic greeting. When Boon offers her a hand again, she takes it. “Um. Thanks.”

“No problem” Boon says in a says in a voice that Verve can tell would be enthusiastic if she were in better spirits. Boon looks up and down at Verve and the retaining wall, as well as the imprints where Verve has previously landed. “Parkour practice?” Boon asks with a puzzled expression.

“Parkour practice, yes, that’s a good excuse.” Verve freezes, realizing what she said. Her hands come up in front of herself, waving nonsensically as she continues. “I mean, it would be. If I needed one. But I don’t because what I’m doing is totally normal. By hero standards. And stuff. Because I’m, uh, training? To...fall short distances?” She grimaces. It’s an obvious lie, and she knows it. “Okay. Sorry. Um.” She tucks a stray curl behind her ear and looks down. “It’s just...I’m trying to fly.”

Boon blinks a few times and then gives a slight consoling smile “Flying huh? Yeah, that shit can be a bit difficult. My flight can be better described as falling with style, haven’t quite figured it out yet myself.” Boon scratches the back of her head nervously “So you like… turn into lighting right? That’s pretty sick. Can’t be affected by gravity that way probably.” Boon’s eyes wander as she recalls the fight with the rogue GAIA chassis a few weeks earlier, remembering Sapphomet cutting off her shapeshifting powers and causing her to fall just to fuck with her. “So uh… everything working okay? Having issues with it?”

“Um. Yeah. That’s why I’m here...in the middle of the park...in the cold...alone...falling on my butt...because it’s not working.” Verve sighs and leans over to pet Brimstone. “It hasn’t worked since…” she grimaces again, “Since we freed Casper.”

Boon sighs “heh, I guess we both lost something this weekend… but you’re wrong though” Boon smiles “You’re not alone silly, I’m here!” Boon points to herself with her thumb. “I think I know what this needs and I’ve got a plan, I can pick you up and throw you as hard as I can, the fight or flight response will reactive your flight for sure. That’s what fight or flight means I think.” Boon looks intently at Verve. “Verve. Do you consent to me throwing you as hard as I can?”

Verve is halfway through asking what Boon lost when she realizes what Boon asked. “Uhhhh…” An array of emotions play out visibly on her face as she thinks through the request. “I mean...that’s kinda what I’ve been trying…” She looks between Boon and the retaining wall she was jumping off of earlier. After a moment, she shrugs. “Sure, why not? What could go wrong?”

Verve's agreement catches Boon off guard "Oh uh… oh worm? Didn't think you'd actually agree to be honest, but here goes" Boon cracks her knuckles and awkwardly grabs Verve's sides, lifting her up over her head with ease. "Um, yeet I guess?" Boon says before tossing Verve across the park with all her might.

Verve pales a little when Boon says she wasn’t serious, but goes with it. You know when you realize just how bad an idea is as soon as it happens? Yeah. Flying through the air when you’re in a physical form is a lot different from being lightning. It takes her a moment to get over *oh shit I’ve been yeeted* and concentrate on trying to fly. Boon can see a few sparks trail off of Verve before she hits the ground. Instead of crashing, though, Verve reaches out a hand. When it touches the ground, she stops gently before dropping onto the ground. After a moment laying on her face, she rolls over and stares up at the sky.

Boon and Brimstone run over to Verve's landing site in a panic. "Verve! Verve! Are you okay? Fuck. I'm so sorry that usually works" Boon thinks back to the times that G̷w̶e̵n̴ ̵h̴a̶d̶ ̴y̵o̸t̶e̸ ̶h̷e̴r̸ **Boon couldn't recall ever being thrown by somebody aside from Lancelot a few weeks ago and wasn't sure why she thought it would be a good idea.** For the third time that day Boon offers a hand to help Verve off the ground "Well, it looked like you were kinda starting to get it… you uh… you don't want me to do that again do you?" Boon asks nervously.

Verve sighs and takes the hand. After Boon pulls her up, she brushes snow off of her clothes. “I’m fine. I absorbed the energy of the impact. But that’s all it’s been doing since then. I spark a little, but nothing happens. It’s like there’s a block between me and being able to actually turn into lightning. But uh...no. I don’t want you to throw me again. I think...it might just be gone.” Verve’s voice breaks a little, and she keeps wiping the front of her costume, despite the snow already being gone, to stall.

Hearing the break in Verve's voice Boon decides to attempt to provide comfort. "Do you um… do you want a hug?" Boon offers awkwardly.

Not trusting her voice, Verve just nods.

Boon gives Verve a warm and strong hug. Brimstone nuzzles Verve's legs in an attempt to join in on comforting her. "There there" Boon says hushedly while patting Verve on the back "it'll be okay, well figure something out" Boon carefully breaks off the hug and glances over Verve's shoulder at the road behind. "Hey, why don't we find somewhere warm to sit down for a little?" Motioning towards a nearby bakery with her head.

After taking a moment to compose herself, Verve nods. “Yeah. That sounds good. I’m running out of creepy abyss fire, plus it smells bad.” She smiles like this was supposed to be a joke, but it falls flat. “Uh. So. A bakery sounds really nice is what I mean. In comparison.”

Boon is confused but nods along as if she got the joke. "Bakery it is. Let's go!" Boon trots off towards the bakery, her gait reflecting a noticeably better mood than earlier.

Verve pauses for a moment outside. In a flash of steam and the slight scent of...burning blood?...the wet spots evaporate off of her costume. Then she follows.

As the two enter the bakery the scent of warm pastries and freshly roasted coffee fills the air. A warm light illuminates a glass display of various cakes and pastries as well as a few copper boilers labelled with an assortment of roasts from various parts of the world. By the windows sit rustic wooden tables with high top chairs decorated with ferns. At the counter Boon eyes the pastries hungrily and calls out to the barista, "Heya! Can I get one- actually two chocolate croissants? And a pour-over of the Glamazonia blend?" Boon turns to Verve as she walks in behind her "Want anything? It's my treat!"

After looking at the menu for a moment, Verve nods. “Um. A cinnamon roll and English Breakfast tea, please. Thanks.”

“Sure thing, I’ll have it out to you in a sec.” The barista says, waving the girls toward the mostly empty seats.

Verve leads Boon to a booth near the back. She sits with one leg tucked under her and pets Brimstone under the table. “So...what brought you out here this morning?”

Boon looks wistfully down at Brimstone. "Well pretty much the only reason I've been leaving my room at this point is this little guy" She looks back up at Verve "It's been a… confusing last few weeks for me, but the daily walks have been helping. I've even quit smoking so I can have enough energy to keep up with the little rascal, which is good" Boon stares down at the table as if trying to memorize the grains and knots in the wooden slab "It was nice running into you this morning though Verve. You, Ernest, and Atlanta are like, the only people I've talked to since the attack" Boon breaks her gaze at the table and nervously makes eye contact with Verve "Hey speaking of, you're friends with Atlanta right?"

“Uhhhhhh.” *Play it cool, play it cool.* “Um. Yeah. Kinda?”

Boon takes off her beanie and fiddles with it in her hands. Verve can see that her cheeks are a similar shade of red to the horns on top of her head. "Does um- I was- do you know- do you think Atlanta-" Boon takes a deep breath and finds her words **"Do you think I should ask out Atlanta?"** She blurts out firmly.

Verve gapes for a moment, frozen. “You...want to ask out Atlanta?” *Does she mean me? How many other Atlantas can she know?* She blinks a few times before asking incredulously, “Why?”

Boon does her best to gauge Verve's unorthodox reaction and then frowns "You think it's a bad idea don't you…" Boon's eyes again wander down towards the table, "just like with…" A pained expression crosses Boon's brow as she struggles to recall a memory that isn't there. She looks back up at Verve, "sorry, that was, that was a dumb question. Forget it. I doubt she likes me anyway"

“No! It’s uh, not a bad idea! I just, uh, wasn’t expecting the question!” *Oh no what am I supposed to do.* “There’s a lot to like about you! I mean, I can’t like, speak for Atlanta or anything but I doubt she *dis*likes you or anything. Not that we talk about you or crushes or anything.” *You need to stop talking now.* A flush is creeping up Verve’s neck as she rambles.

She’s rescued by the barista coming up with their food and drinks. “Two croissants, a pour-over, black tea, and a cinnamon roll. Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Thanks,” Verve squeaks, then takes a sip of her tea to stop herself from talking more. It’s still too hot, though, and she grimaces as it burns her mouth.

"She… she doesn't talk about me?" Boon says dejectedly. She takes a bite out of her chocolate croissant, but it tastes bland, the warm lighting in the bakery now loses its saturation in Boon's eyes. "She must not like me very much. I don't blame her if I'm being honest. I'm… not a good person." Verve can see her demeanor shifting back to how it was at the beginning of the morning.

*Shoot, now you’ve made it worse.* “Hey. I don’t let anyone call Ellen a bad person, and the same goes for you.” Verve reaches out to touch Boon’s arm. “You’re my friend, and if anyone says that about you I will throw them off a roof for you. Got it? And if you keep doing it, I’ll sick Brimstone kisses on you until you recant, okay?” She squeezes Boon’s arm comfortingly and repeats, softer, “Okay?”

"Okay…" Boon says softly "okay yeah, yes. Thank you. Sorry. I, I've been doing that a lot lately" Boon sighs and then smiles "You know what you're right. I'm fine. I'm not a bad person, and I'm sure Atlanta doesn't think so either." Boon takes a large swig of coffee and then sets get mug on the table grinning widely. "And you know what? I'm gonna ask her out right now." Boon pulls out her phone and sends a message to Atlanta.

`Hey, you're really cute and I think I really like you. I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date sometime?`

Boon puts her phone back in her pocket. "There, done. Now I just gotta wait for a reply. Thank you so much Verve"

Verve’s phone buzzes quietly, but she doesn’t move to answer. She does lean back and sip on her tea. She hopes her smile is more on the side of “genuinely happy for you” and not “gay panic.” “So, uh. Before you threw me, you said you lost something during the attack? Do you want to talk about that? Or we can talk about something else.”

"Oh." Boon frowns "That. Um… well, I'm gonna be completely honest I'm not entirely sure what I lost. But ever since the attack I've felt really off. I mean like, I had a huge fight with Gwen, and she said a bunch of stuff that confused me. And Yamato seemed to know a lot more about my Dad than I thought..." she trails off a bit "I don't know I just feel like there's pieces missing, things keep not adding up and it hurts to think about"

“Pieces of what missing?” Verve frowns, remembering what Gwen told her at Christmas about Boon’s memories maybe having been changed. She taps a finger against her mug as she thinks. “Like Yamato did something to you? Or something else?”

"I… I'm not sure… it just feels like I'm forgetting something important… there was… there was something I had to remember… where did it go…" With each fragment of a sentence Boon grows visibly more distressed. "Yamato, did *something* but I think she wanted to… help somehow…? I'm sorry I don't want to think about it too hard, it hurts"

“Okay. Sorry.” *Something is definitely up.* Verve’s concern is visible on her face, but she fishes around for another topic of conversation. “So. Uh. Did your mom send you anything for Christmas? Or do you do Christmas at all?” *Shoot, am I supposed to know about her mom? Too late.*

“Bold of you to assume I have a Mom” Boon jokes “I’m just kidding, yeah my Mom lives in Georgia. We don’t celebrate Christmas, we celebrate Yule, which is what Christmas is based on, er, appropriated from or whatever. I was supposed to head down to Georgia to celebrate with my Mom, do a little gift exchange, do some baking… but uh… I haven’t had it in me to make the trip…” Boon looks sad for a moment and then gives a half smile “She’s visiting soon though! She’s gonna come visit Halcyon! I’m- a little nervous to see her since I’ve been kind of a wreck lately and I don’t want her to worry about me. But it’ll be nice to see her. I love my Mom and it’s been a while”

Verve smiles. “I’m glad you’ll get to see her soon. And if you want to do some baking, I uh...well I’ve actually been banned from baking at my apartment until I clear all of the cupcakes out of our freezer,” she chuckles awkwardly. “So if you’d like to do some baking at the Center or at Shady Glen, I’d be happy to join you. Do you have anything you always bake for Yule?”

Boon smiles warmly "Well, my Mom and I make a bûche de Noël every year on the solstice, but I can never get it quite right on my own, it always cracks apart" Boon's face perks up. "OH! I know! You can help me! Then when my Mom visits I can surprise her with our favorite treats! Just umm… is it cool if we meet at the community center instead of Shady Glen? I've been trying to make myself scarce there."

Verve perks up. “For sure! I’ve never made one of those before, but it seems like fun! And yeah, Pix and I have an agreement, I’ve proven I won’t destroy the kitchen. So we can definitely meet there. I’d love to help you surprise your mom.” Her smile turns a little sad as she looks down at her cinnamon roll, but it passes.

“Great! That would be awesome! Here’s my number, my Mom’s visiting early January so let me know when you want to go meet up!” She scrawls her number on a napkin and hands it over to Verve. Boon notices Verve’s shift in mood and places a hand on hers. “Hey, Verve, I uh, I know stuff’s been a bit rough lately. For all of us. But we’re a team, and we’ve all got your back. Also, I’m really grateful for your help today. And I’m sorry about your flight, but, hey maybe we can figure out some cool new ways to use your energy stuff! If you ever need anything, feel free to call me!”

Verve puts her other hand on top of Boon’s. “Thanks. And the same goes for you, you know. You’re not alone here.” She squeezes Boon’s hand, then pulls back as she flushes a little. “So, uh. Yeah. We can meet up a few days before your mom gets here so the cake doesn’t sit for too long before you can eat it.”

Boon polishes off her second chocolate croissant with and continues with a mouthful of pastry “I’m looking forward to it!” She swallows the rest of it so that she can continue talking “Damn, I wasn’t too eager to leave the house today. But I’m glad I ran into you Verve! I feel like we don’t get enough chances to talk, and besides, Brimstone really seems to like you” The dog barks in the affirmative.

Verve grins. “I’m glad we ran into each other, too.” She scritches Brimstone’s ears. “This is a lot better than jumping off of walls and feeling sorry for myself.”

"Haha. Feeling sorry for yourself is like, my middle name, er, middle names, are my middle names. Yeah" Boon grins after finally making it through her joke. "Anyway, this guy's got a routine vet check-up at noon so I should probably get going" Boon gets to her feet and gathers her empty plates and mug "you'd be surprised how knowledgeable the vets here are about hellhounds"

Verve laughs. “You’d be surprised how little about Halcyon really surprises me. I’ve lived here my whole life. Like, Carmilla’s a cat, you have horns, must be Tuesday, you know?”

Boon reaches up to feel the horns on her head, "oh yeah! I'm not used to these, I keep forgetting they're there. Also. I've been wondering like, if Carm had an ear infection, would she go to a doctor or a vet? Would it be rude to ask? It's probably rude to ask" Boon looks at Verve and smiles, "anyway I hope you enjoyed your cinnamon roll and tea! I'm looking forward to hanging out again!" Boon gives Verve another firm hug before leaving out the front door with Brimstone in tow, the bell ringing on the way out.

Once Boon is sure she's out of earshot she turns to vent to brimstone "maybe I should've asked out Verve instead…" she shrugs and continues walking "One cutie at a time Babs..."

As soon as Boon is out of sight, Verve sinks down into the bench and screams internally. Verve.exe has stopped working, please wait while we reboot. After about a minute, she sits up cross-legged on the bench and pulls out her phone.

`**1 unread message from Boon**
Hey, you're really cute and I think I really like you. I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date sometime?`

“It’s okay. This is fine. Oh god, she actually asked you out.” She stares at it for another minute before she puts down the phone and sits on her hands. Then rubs her face. Then looks around like she’s hoping to find answers in the large pictures of baked goods decorating the walls. “What am I supposed to do now?”

A few seconds later, she picks up her phone again and opens up a different chat.

`**To Ellen**`

`Atlanta: Boon just asked me out a;dkfasdkfj what do I do???`

`**To Lanta**`

`Ellen: do u want 2 date hr?`

`**To Ellen**`

`Atlanta: I think so??? she’s nice and pretty and stuff. no one’s asked me out before`

`**To Lanta**`

`Ellen: so go out with her`

`Ellen: not like it’s 4ever if it turns out she sucks`

`Ellen: but u already like her so y not?`

`Ellen: u told me 2 go 4 it so back at u`

`**To Ellen**`

`Atlanta:it’s a lot easier when I’m telling you to do it`

`Atlanta: ok`

`Atlanta: ok I’m gonna say yes`

`Atlanta: thanks`

`**To Lanta**`

`Ellen: no prob dude`

`Ellen: have fun`

`Ellen: girlfriends are nice u deserve nice people in ur life`

Verve smiles down at her phone, incredibly happy that Ellen was her friend. After taking a deep breath and a sip of tea, she opens up the other conversation.

`**To Boon**`

`Atlanta: yeah! I’d like that`