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The thing about Tenna was that he was a terrible liar.
And he knew it too. But the problem was that his attempts at hiding the lie were almost worse than the lie itself. He knew his plug tail gave him away most times. When on a show, it was rolled up easily under his tailcoat. Any other time it hung loosely behind him, swaying slightly as he made his way around the studio.
So when Angel saw that he had it wrapped around his ankle, her brow raised in suspicion. When he was agitated or angry, it lashed wildly behind him. Other times, when he was excited or in a particularly good mood, it practically wagged. Lately, when she was walking next to Tenna, it would occasionally graze her leg. The gentle touch had surprised her at first, and when she asked the CRT about it his screen flickered as he laughed nervously. “Not paying attention, sorry! Haha, sometimes it’s like it has a mind of its own!”
Yeah, she had thought, and that mind is a silly television.
When her soul had gained its vessel, Tenna could barely contain himself. His hands had come to cup her face gently, before lightly touching her shoulders and lifting her hands. Initially his tail was flicking back and forth rapidly in excitement, but soon had wrapped itself around her waist, pulling a very surprised, “Oh!” from Angel and a wash of scarlet light from Tenna’s screen as he quickly unwrapped it. She was disappointed, but took several breaths to try and force her own blush away. His touches were nice – like she was a precious thing.
That’s why the current position was very odd. He clearly didn’t want her to know something. She tilted her head at him and he grinned widely, “Hello my star!” Angel grinned at the nickname; he didn’t use it all the time but it still warmed her chest. “You’re not doing anything in, oh,” he looked at his wrist, comically bereft of a watch, “the next few minutes are you?”
She took a moment to think. It didn’t appear that Kris wanted her as the soul right now – not that they ever truly wanted her. Needed her might be a better word. She was hoping that could change. But, regardless, it seemed like she was free. “I’m not,” Angel said, and Tenna perked up. “Do you have something planned?”
Tenna’s scanlines wobbled and he wrung his hands. “No! No, I, uh, wanted to make sure. You know, just in case.” He nodded, as if that made total sense. “I’ll be right back!” Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and walked out of the Green Room. Angel watched as his tail slowly unwound from his ankle, screen brighter than it had been moments ago.
He was planning something.
Tenna was also terrible at surprises, so she knew she wouldn’t have to wait long to find out whatever it was that was planned. He was too excited to keep anything a secret for long. She figured it was just inherent to him. What more could a television want than joy and attention directed his way? As much as he tried to wave off his tail’s actions around her, he still did nothing to stop it from happening again. Not that Angel wanted it to stop. It was...nice, to have the physical reminder that Tenna enjoyed her presence. Hopefully as much as she enjoyed his.
It was only a few minutes before Tenna burst back in, causing a Pippin to flinch and curse as he lost the game he was playing on one of the TVs. Angel was going to ask Tenna what was going on, but words left her when he grabbed her hand in one of his much larger ones. “Come with me,” he said, as if she was going to do anything that would remove her hand from his. It was warm, the cotton of his gloves soft against her fingers.
Tenna might have pulled her quickly from the Green Room, but once outside the door fell to a much slower pace. Whether it was out of consideration for her smaller legs or because he too wanted to linger on their touch, Angel wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she felt lighter, especially when he turned, the glow of his screen bright as it washed over her. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a secret!”
The secret turned to be just the room down the hall, large screen across from a soft couch. “Video games?” It certainly wasn’t anything she expected.
Tenna placed a hand on the small of her back, guiding her to the couch and gesturing for her to sit. She swore the heat from his touch lingered. Angel did as he asked, while he flitted about the room excitedly. “So I was able to format this one a little differently,” he said as he passed her a controller. With a quick kneel to the floor, he turned the console on and jumped back up. “Oh, you’ll be so pleased!” His hands were clasped together, pixels flickering. Just as quickly, he mocked whispered to an unseen audience. “Just don’t tell the sponsors we’re skipping commercials this time and getting straight to the action!”
“Tenna, sit down,” Angel laughed, patting the cushion next to her.
He froze for a moment, before tugging at his sleeves nervously. “Yes, haha. Yes, of course. Sitting. Next to you. I’m on it.” Tenna sank slowly onto the couch, hands folded politely in his lap as the game booted up. The cushion dipped under his weight, causing her to shift slightly closer, thigh pressed up against his. He froze for a moment and she about to move, but the title screen appeared and he quickly snapped out of whatever thought he was caught in. “Get ready now!
Angel looked at the screen as she clicked past the “Legend of Tenna” title. She let out a small gasp when the stars coalesced into a pixel character that resembled her, small red heart in the center of the sweater. “Tenna, is that me?”
“Of course it is,” he grinned, light shining softly over her from his screen. He gestured at the one across from them. “Well, what are you waiting for?”
She laughed at his insistence, but did as he said. Angel moved the character about the level, giving the appropriate reactions at what was happening. An excited gasp for a treasure. A happy cheer for an upgrade. A snorted laugh for an accidental cactus injury.
His hand lightly on her shoulder surprised her, but Tenna didn’t seem to register his own action. “Look out,” he said with mock concern and gestured at a pixel Shadowguy that rushed towards her character.
Angel gave a laughing shriek of surprise as she tried to dodge, leaning into Tenna as she tried to steer her character away from the impending encounter. As if her moving would help the smaller version move faster. It obviously didn’t work, and she giggled to herself as the battle theme began to play. She felt Tenna chuckle against her, but he didn’t move away so she stayed as she was. Angel felt her cheeks get warm at the allowed contact and tried to ignore how his natural hum seemed to get a touch louder.
She finished the encounter, but just barely. “This just in,” Tenna leaned in, shoulder pressing more against hers. “Sources tell me that there’s a secret healing item behind the palm tree.” While he may have been cognizant of his casual touches, Angel was fairly certain he wasn’t aware that his tail had snuck behind her waist. She was definitely certain he hadn’t realized it was lazily wagging against her, plug tapping her hip.
“Are there other hidden secrets?” she asked, moving around her character and pressing the action button against several innocuous set pieces.
“There’s always hidden secrets in a video game,” he laughed easily, the sound deep and rich through his speakers. “It’s just a matter of finding them!”
Angel let out a sigh of content, listening to Tenna’s soft hum while he explained bits of the game as she searched for hidden objects and places. His touches came more often and easier, once he realized she enjoyed them just as much. Or at the very least didn’t tell him to stop. A brush against her leg to catch her attention here, a hand against her arm with a laugh there.
For her part, she reciprocated in turn. A hand fisted in his sleeve at an unexpected battle encounter or pressing her face into his shoulder when she lost in a particularly spectacular way. “I don’t think a contestant has ever done that,” Tenna had said, screen tilted. “I don’t know if I should offer congratulations or condolences.” He chuckled at her faux offended, ‘Hey!’ but allowed her to shove playfully at him regardless.
The game continued, but at a mildly slower pace due to Angel checking all sorts of areas for hidden secrets. She’d occasionally come across a healing item, or an armor upgrade, but mostly there wasn’t anything that was triggered by the action command. Just static pixel assets.
That was, until, she came across a rock that seemed to move out of her way when she pushed her character up into it. Below were stairs to another room. “Oh! I wonder what this is.”
Tenna had sat up straighter when she interacted with the stairs, bringing her character to a long hallway. “I, uh, haha, this part isn’t finished.” He scooted forward slightly on the couch, looking torn between wanting to stand and staying where he was. “This wasn’t- Ramb must have- ugh.” He put on a cheery smile as he turned to Angel and said, “There’s nothing beyond this point, you should just turn around. Very boring stuff.”
Well. That was certainly suspicious. “I don’t mind,” she answered airily, directing her character to continue down the hallway. Angel let out a noise of surprise when she saw Tenna reaching for the controller. “Hey!”
“It’s not worth the time,” he said, pouting as she moved her hands away from his reach. “Exploring the rest of the game will be more fun.”
She stuck out her tongue cheekily, “I am exploring the rest of the game.” The farther her character moved into the ‘unfinished’ area, the twitchier Tenna got. Now she really needed to see what was beyond this hallway. His focus flickered back and forth between the large screen and her hands, leg bouncing slightly. She didn’t get what he had meant, about it being unfinished. The tiles around seemed pretty polished, like she was walking down a replica of one of the studio hallways. Finally she reached a door, and interacted with it to enter the next area.
In the middle of the screen was a pixel version of Tenna. Angel grinned excitedly, before leaning back with a laugh as the real thing made a move to grab the controller again. “Aw, come on Tenna. Let me talk to the game version of you!”
He practically loomed over her as she continued to move sideways on the couch. “Absolutely not.” His answer was short, but it was clear he was nervous. Tenna made to reach again, but she tucked the controller closer to her abdomen and pulled her knees up, blocking his attempts. “Star, haha, come on, you don’t-”
Angel interacted with the small on screen version of the man who’s real life counterpart practically had her caged on the couch. A knee sunk into the couch cushion, while his opposite leg steadied himself on the ground. One hand was placed on the back of the couch, the other hovering over her. She herself was tucked up under him, practically on her back as she faced the screen.
A fun tune played from the game, and Tenna flushed; pink pixels darted across his screen. He tried to grab at her wrist, but her response was to curl up tighter and place a foot against his chest to hold him back. Not that it would have actually done anything, had he truly wanted to manipulate her. It was enough to startle him though, allowing her to read when was being presented on the larger screen.
“It’s for a grand prize! Why hide that from me, huh?”
Tenna laughed nervously. “Well, for a lot of reasons! One of which, is that it’s not finished-”
“-Seems finished to-”
“-and,” he continued loudly, talking over her interruption, “you weren’t supposed to find it. It’s, um, it’s probably not what you- What I mean is that-”
Angel took advantage of his rambling to flick her gaze over to the words that had appeared after she surreptitiously pressed the action button a moment earlier. “Oh,” she said softly, uncurling as she read the words.
Tenna took this lapse in attention to snatch the controller from her hands, only to freeze when he saw what had happened in the game. A mechanical whine was pulled from his speakers, heat rushing out of his vents. “It’s just something silly!” His voice was fast and high pitched. He was refusing to look at her, his screen locked onto the larger one.
‘It’s time for the grand prize! Pick one of these four options!
1. A kiss
2. A kiss
3. A kiss
4. A kiss’
The pixel Tenna was grinning in contrast to the real one’s tense frown. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, a rare sight for him. “I didn’t think-”
“Do I still get to choose?” Angel interrupted, feeling rather brave as her heart pounded in her chest. “It says I get to pick one, right?”
Tenna jolted, finally looking back at her. Scarlet pixels danced across his face. “You...want to pick one?” He sounded hopeful, but there was still an underlying anxiety about him with his body as tense as it was. Even his tail had frozen still.
“I might need some help though,” she answered, reaching up to tug gently at his tie. He followed the motion easily. “Do you think I can cheat and have you tell me the right answer?” Butterflies fluttered about in her stomach and she was sure her face was flushed with how warm she felt.
Tenna was wearing a wobbly grin, controller dropped and forgotten on the floor. “What, hah, what kind of host would I be if I failed to help our dearest contestant?” He leaned in closer, hum surrounding Angel as he placed both hands next to her head where she lay on the couch. “Like I said, it’s not finished,” he continued softly, light soft as it shone on her. “The fourth option should be ‘All of the above.’ A mistype.”
Before Angel could respond, Tenna pressed forward and caught her mouth with his own. She couldn’t help but gasp, the static he produced warm across her face. He grinned, and she could feel it against her lips. She pushed back, small content noises falling from her as he nipped at her, fangs grazing oh so carefully. Her hand slipped from his tie to instead have both fist the lapels of his tailcoat. Tenna made a throaty noise, pleased and hungry all at once.
Eventually, Angel had to pull away to breathe, giggling at the way Tenna practically followed her before catching himself. “How’s that for a grand prize?” He had grown in the meantime, his excellent mood translating to his height.
“I think,” she answered, glancing down at the plug that had wrapped itself around her waist and down to her thigh. It was squeezing at her gently. “I think that the host said the real answer was all of the above.” Angel pulled herself to press a chaste kiss on the side of his screen where his cheek would be if he had one. “That means I get more than one, right?”
“As much as you want,” Tenna answered, breathy and hopeful. He moved in closer, breath mingling with her own. “As many as you need to decide if it’s grand enough.”
“Oh,” Angel sighed against him. “I think we can figure that out together.”