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"There's no way..." Ritchie stared at the romantically lit table, with candles adorning the center, while plates and utensils surrounded the edges. Trying to stifle the giggles coming out of my mouth, we both noticed the problem beside the small table, clothed in white. Before I could start my amazing narration, he unabashedly—that's a word, right?—interrupted me.
"It says that we need to..." He blushed red, turning into a boiling tomato. Making tomato soup is something I'm familiar with; after all, being stranded in the middle of nowhere and rampaging villages, bread and raw meat start to get a bit bland.
"Awww, afraid to say that you like me? Don't worry, your poor little butt, Ryan. I love—" A familiar hand then slapped me in the face. Rubbing the now reddening spot on my face, I stole a glance at him trying to hide his face. While I was glad to be the one embarrassing him this time, actually... nevermind, forget regrets. Morality? Throw that out the window. Sympathy? As dead as my family. When faced with choices such as power or humanity, we obviously chose the former. No brainer there. So when a sign reads, 'Share a kiss. Me-1 You-0,' I should maybe feel slightly overwhelmed. But I shouldn't let this one simple sign get to me; after all, this is for Bri.
"Dude, I never would've thought they would stoop this low." Even if I agreed with him on that, the unsettling butterflies in my stomach wouldn't calm down.
"I'd think they'd want us to sit down. At least, that's how you normally start a date." Taking my seat, helpfully labeled with paper name tags, and him taking the one across, I settled with a more than convinced expression of seriousness on my face when placing my order.
"What are you doing?" I lowered the menu from my face and revealed his less than happy face. My stomach twisted with apprehension.
"I'm ordering. Is there something you want?" As if I was acting serious, he actually started to look at the menu. I covered my laughter once again.
"Okay, is this like an actual restaurant or something else? Cause I doubt the kitsune has time for this."
"Well, we definitely don't." I finished with finality.
"Whatever. So, Austin, do you know how to like...?" He flippantly shut off any other sentences I tried to make without addressing his question. Annoyed by his ignoring, I surrendered and addressed his question.
"Date? Of course, I do! I mean, I'm the dating king." I proudly puffed my chest out and posed as if I were sitting on a throne, rather than a simple wooden chair. And if the slightest sliver of doubt was shown, it was waved away once a server came to our table.
"We welcome you to our—" We both jumped out of our seats and tried to reach for our weapons, but they disappeared. Instead of wielding weapons, we growled. A figure with obvious ears and powerful magic stood on the side, hinting that they were the one we were looking for.
"Hey! Back up your little dog mutts there; wouldn't want them to get eaten too quickly. Ever heard of savoring your meal?" The joke was not met with any laughs.
"We're about to savor you if you don't tell us what's going on." We both stole a glance at each other. Basically in our own secret language, saying, 'Yep, this is the guy.' I mean, after several isolated years, you'd have to develop a secret language with the person you were stranded with. It wasn't the greatest bonding with the guy who hated people. And me? I loved people, social gatherings too. Any party, sign me up. Just not a dinner one; that's definitely crossed off my list now.
"Yeah! What he said, Nogitsune!" They looked back at me, with what could be called a stare that meant, "You better run within the next 10 seconds." Let's just say I've had enough experience to know that kind of expression.
The 'Nogitsune' exclaimed in bafflement, "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!" Me and Ryan, now the baffled ones, stepped back from the surprise explosion of capitalized words. Confused by the sudden outburst, I took my chance and pounced at him, only to be met with the floor.
"Ow! What the—" He DODGED out of the way?!
"OK, first of all, don't call me 'Beardfox.' That's just a terrible name; I don't even have a beard. Second, this is my realm as you probably gathered; a little... pocket dimension? That's what you guys call it, anyways. And since it's MY dimension, you guys both are in, I control everything around here, got it?"
They pointed to themselves then flicked their hand. At the gesture, we were forced back into our seats while they were standing beside me again.
"Now, I hope this is a lesson learned," Struggling to get up and trying to interrupt them, but my mouth was closed shut. I couldn't move a muscle. And seeing Ritchie, it seemed neither could he. This guy was going to be more of a problem than we thought.
"You guys are on a date, unfortunately not me. All I ask from both of you is to enjoy yourselves—oh, also, don't call me a Nogitsune, it's just cringy. Call me..." They paused, then snapped their fingers in revelation, "Call me Sun! Not my real name, but it'll do." After renaming themselves, "Sun" started to list off all the required parts of the date; it's still uncomfortable just to have any thought about it. They then clapped their hands with a sparkle of magic flying out from the motion.
"Fine, Sun, right?" I bit back my anger in my throat from escaping into my words, but prying any information out of this guy would be necessary, and I knew that.
They nodded in agreement, "Once we check all those boxes, we'll get what we want, right?"
Reacting to the arrangement, Sun seemed lost. Ignoring the angry stare of my friend, they asked me again, and I restated what I said, though with more tacked words in there just to make it more... characterized.
When the pondering was done, they responded, "Yes... and no. You see, after this, I have a bit more stuff planned." They giggled and shoved a gloved hand in front of their face.
A clap echoed from the hands of our captor, "If—and ONLY IF—you guys are to share a romantic kiss with each other, then I shall reward you with whatever you desire."
A Cheshire smile grew on their face. Taking our silence as an answer, they took our supposed order, "Two waters, then, to get you started." Spinning around, they skipped away, and unfortunately, he was able to talk again.
"What. The. Hell." Smashing his head against the table, a headache was starting to form. Like I was the guy smashing his head against the table. The vibrations shook the table a little.
Once the onslaught of head ramming ceased, both of us were too stunned to speak. Hands twitching from anxiety, I tried to placate the mood.
"Hey Ryan, look, I know that this isn't how you wanted to reveal your—" He glared at me with red in his eyes, and yep, that's probably not a good thing, so I let myself shut up. I couldn't spare thinking of how a date was our only way out. Or the fact that we'd been kidnapped and kinda forced to kiss. And I can't tell which one's worse.
Sensing my staring, Ritchie raised his head and reflected right back. Now a staring contest, we sat and stared. No noises, no nothing. Just silence. Until he began, "Before you say anything," A visible and audible gulp, he started to reach over the table. Taken aback, I retracted my hand that lay on top of the table and blinked. Finding my way back to his face, a proud smirk broke his frown.
"You blinked before me; that means I win." Mentally slapping myself, I then tried to make my move next. Copying his movements, I reached over the table, and once reaching the edge, I dipped my hand—
"WOAH HEY WAIT—" I then stopped my attack and responded in the most innocent manner, "But isn't this what you wanted?" Despite the flamboyant decorations and chairs, the table is quite small compared to the tables back in Ashbourne. If you halved a normal table, that'd be about the size. It's very convenient when you're trying to seduce someone, which isn't currently working out as well as I hoped. The stabbing from the edges and the angle of my legs are not doing any wonders for my body. But according to where Ryan's eyes are, I'd say he's preoccupied glaring at their best friend invading their personal space. Or in other words, "I can feel your breath against my face, so can you just back off?" Trying to stand his ground, though his blush is rapidly reappearing, I humbly reply to his order. But, and only but, I'm able to move my hand up to cradle his face. Never said anything about my hands; boom, loophole. I then pucker my lips annnd... miss.
"Ugh, what the hell?" My cries were muffled by his armpit, loosely translating to, "DUDE LET GO!" Being tortured like this isn't the first time it's happened, actually, this has occurred multiple times. And as the smart, somewhat, escape artist I am... I spit in his armpit.
"Eww, what the hell?" Works every time. I stole my head back and landed back where we started. Only this time, with a more grossed out and annoyed date.
"What were you even trying to do?"
"Trying to steal a kiss and to get us out of this!" I mumbled out, dipping lower under the table. But being seized from my second attack.
He started, "...Damn it, I'll say it once, but never say it again. You're..." Red eyes boring straight through my soul, though hot, is very intimidating. He sighed out, "Right. There, I said it! Now, for whatever Michael or whoever is—" Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by contact, his lips on mine. I'm not going to sugarcoat this... it was bad. I mean, first-kiss-wise, probably okay at best, but a doggy slobber at worst. I don't want to prove any stereotypes towards werewolves, but—
"OH my God, there's no way I just did that, nononono..." Thoughts paused by a now panicking Ritchie saying "no" over and over again. I was starting to feel bad for the guy; that's not usually normal, but at least we were going to get out of here.
"Ryan, chill, dude," I gripped his arms and tried my absolute best to ground him.
"It's okay, alright? I'm fine, you're fine," Coaxing him into a more relaxed position, I walked around the table and carefully eased my way closer.
Sniffling continued as he leaned his head against my shoulder, while I kept my arms wrapped around him.
After the awful sounds stopped, I started to ask, "Why are you getting so worked up, Ryan? I mean really, we kill people and you don't even bat an eye," Seeking confirmation to continue, a nod was reaffirmed. Glad to have gotten his attention, "but when it's a kiss, you lose your mind. We've been best friends for years; you can tell me anything you want." I made sure to add on, "As long as it's not shaming me!"
I wiggled my finger, and at the gesture, he started to laugh. Until it started to turn into a cackle and full-blown bellowing of gasping sounds. Even if I wished for his death, the one where he laughs his way out is not one I want to picture. Trying to calm him down, I slapped my hand against his mouth, trying to muffle the sounds. And I mean... it worked... or he died. His head fell into his criss-crossed arms atop the table. Worried that he died, I checked his pulse; he still had one.
"Whew, thank goodness. Wait a sec—WHERE'S THE WAY OUT?" Rechecking what "Sun" had said, it seemed that something was up.
Luckily, they did come back with cups in hand, "Aww, that's so cute. Anyways, I heard you had a question for me?" They really read my thoughts... well, that's new.
Nodding my head mechanically, "Yeah, so I was wondering why didn't we get out of this room? We kissed, but nothing happened." They looked at me, up and down, and I swear to you they said, "You're lying." I was just stunned. Jaw dropped, eyes wide. Shocked. Then I felt an arm move and found him glancing at them too. His expression was priceless. Just as appalled as I was. He cleared his throat, "I don't know what you take us for, but we are not THAT stupid." He gripped his shirt and started to tense up. Sun only stared at us, appearing innocent despite the meaning of those words. "Fine then. Kiss right here, right now, and I'll let you guys go." Like a flash, I was now facing Ryan, with his breath ghosting against mine. His blush somehow redder than before, he smashed our lips together. At the impact, closing my eyes, all I could feel was pressure and heat. Melting and molding right into the kiss. Pressing at the seam of my lips, his tongue prodded, and I willingly let him delve deeper into my mouth. But as the adrenaline died down, I gripped his face and reluctantly stopped the event.
Both of us gasping, I opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was him licking his lips, and God, does that make me want to kiss again, but it's over. Then, all too suddenly, I faded to black.
'Me-1 You-1'