Misadventures at Prom

First topic message reminder :

"...yeah and yOU KNOW WHAT SCREW YOU, TOO. I DON'T NEED YOU AND YOU SURE AS HELL NEVER NEEDED ME!!!" Fox screamed at the person screaming at her from the bottom of the stairs. Of course they had to get on her nerves now. Fox had a lot of preparing to do, and the sun was already starting to sink it's way out of the sky. Panicking, Fox swallowed her tears and the knot in her chest and dashed into the bathroom for a quick shower before she started getting ready. Only Arceus knew if she would be ready before Wolf got there. Wolf could NOT meet her parents. That was certain.

Fox thanked Wolf politely for the staircase and waved goodbye to him as she ascended. Once she had safely toppled into her room, the politeness went away and the exhaustion became prominent on her face. The sweat from earlier had mixed with her makeup and had formed cakey streaks on her face, leaving a brittle mask that was gross to touch. She looked at the corage and smiled. It was still beautiful...... especially in the moonlight. It shone so nicely.... she wanted a picture. She had a photographic memory, but... she wanted a physical copy, too. She slipped the little flower off gently and grabbed a camera out from under her bed, snapping a shot of it with the moon shining in the background.

After that, she flung the bag with all her shit in it aside to wherever the fuck, completely forgetting about it. Fox yawned and stayed seated on the floor for a few seconds, almost considering not cleaning up and just flopping into bed. She quickly decided against it after touching the disgusting crust on her face.

She grabbed an oversized shirt and a towel and headed towards the bathroom, getting ready for the best, most earned shower of her entire life.

As she was stepping out of the shower, Fox though she heard the sound of a truck engine cutting out nearby... which was weird. Who was the stupid mug driving at this time of night? Was this just when the skeevy grocery store down the street thought it was appropriate to get deliveries? Yeesh. Ah well, it doesn't really matter anyways.

She put on her oversized white tee shirt and draped the towel over her head, rubbing it gently against her head to dry her hair out as she exited the bathroom and headed back to her room. Her eyelids felt heavy, and she felt very clean and cozy. Her lips drew themselves into a contented little smile as her feet padded against the hardwood, it had been a nice night. Her shirt started to get wet from her hair, making cold wet spots on the material.

As she opened the door, she could very clearly see Zash standing on the other end of the room. She had showered in darkness to avoid waking anyone up, so her eyes were still completely adjusted to low light. For a moment, she felt a pang of self conciousness, standing here in the state of dress that she was in. She very quickly brushed it off though, her window was open so often that she almost expected it. She wrapped a peice of towel around her pinky and used it to dry her ear out nonchalantly. She had not heard a word he said.

"What's up, buttercup?" she whispered snarkily, "Did you forget something in the limo or something? I probably put it in the bag over there." She gestured to the haphazardly flung bag in the corner as she went to flop herself onto her bed. She knew that Zash only came over this late when he had major issues or just when he needed somebody to talk to, so she skipped the part where she gave him shit for coming over so late. "....Problems at home? Need a place to sleep again?" she asked knowingly, "....or are you butthurt over something with Briana? I mean, I would have expected you to be over there." She was half-joking, half-not.

Zash could feel as she came into the room even before she spoke, it was a sixth sense he had so did Wolf and Fox ( she even have the best of it any of them had ever seen) but he wasn't a slouch himself. also the patter of her feet on the floor were a dead give but there was also the sound of was that water dripping?

As he turned he saw her in just her large white shirt that draped all the way down to the top of her thighs, but Zash being the eighteen year old boy he was looked immediately down to her legs and traced up them till he could see with that length that she had no under garments on. He looked up her body now, he had always been close to her seen her in some revealing things as she went through phases and found her style and such. But he had never seen her in such an intimate and passionate setting. He wasn't speechless he had been around the block a few times with other girls he wasn't a stranger to the female form. But there was something completely different about it with her, her wet shirt the water pooling in all the right places for her curves making her shirt transparent.

He blinked to stop from gawking, he had never been like this when it came to situations akin to this one. Normally he was the one in control the one that had everything his partner wanted, he could choose to give it or take it away with a few simple words. he had always held the power. But now he didn't, the ball was in her court completely and totally, he would do anything for her anything she would ask and he could not say that about anyone else.

He eyes raised to meet her. She spoke to him in a more terse voice than he had expected. His hands slipped into his pockets as she started to list the normal reasons he might be there. God do I... Do I really bug her that much. He was left with a moment of pause at that he had realized how much he came here and leaned on here before but they never talked about it in the open. Zash could never handle it before, outside of his home he was king. He was the charismatic and quick witted one that was how he survived. She never berated or brought attention to it and he silently thanked her time and time again. But now as she stood here the way she was now and the way she talked about Briana who Zash hadn't given a single thought to since before the dance ended even he realized that she had always been here always ready just waiting on him. He had been the one unable to accept it unable to give himself up ever so much to be able to be let her be an even bigger part of his life.

he ran a hand threw his hair, a gesture she would recognize anywhere by the way he lingered going through his black hair, the way the curls twined around his fingers and splayed out making it seem less like the controlled chaos it normally was and instead just a true showing of his internal dismay. He crouched down into a squat and was quite for a moment as he was running his hand through his hair before he finally answered in a hushed tone as he looked down to the floor. " You know something?" Zash said without angry or malicious feelings he gathered up all of that and threw it away as he managed the words he felt and wanted to speak. " It's funny, for the first time after a dance and also going home, none of that was on my mind..." He looked in wonder at Fox now straight into her eyes he couldn't lie that he was interested in the way she looked right now but at this instant he couldn't look anywhere else besides her eyes. " Not Briana, Not home, not figuring out where to sleep, nah the only thing on my mind was you." He smiled now and the glanced down unable to resist and his smile changed from one filled with intense amore and wonder to a mischievous grin. " I can totally see under your shirt like this." He followed up.

Fox wondered why Zash was looking at her and being so quiet as she sat cross-legged on the side of her bed. He was being a little weird, not acting like he ever had before around her. Had he ever acted like this? If there was a time, she couldn't recall. Sure, she had seen him in moments when he wasn't high on his ego, but it wasn't usually quite this... soft.... no, that wasn't quite right either, she had seen him get soft before. The difference was that now it was directed solely at her.

She felt her throat choke up with a mix of emotions (most a variant of giddiness with a hint of tense nerves), and her stomach buzzed with feelings she wasn't familiar with. She started to sense something... in his behavior, and it was exciting. She tried not to get carried away in her suspicions of what it was he was here for, numbing them down so that she actually heard the kind things he was saying. Her face softened, the small bit of bitterness melting away. On some level, she knew what was happening. She also knew that she didn't exactly need to point it out right now.

It almost didn't feel real, what was happening here. She had a feeling that the doofus had finally caught on. She had to take a moment to process. Briefly, she did feel slightly bad about being bitter She sighed and ran her fingers through her bangs, looking quite bothered herself.

"I... I didn't know it was like that..." Fox replied softly, and squirmed around nervously and shyly for a moment. She decided to distract herself by putting on some more appropriate clothes, getting up from the bed and walked over to her dresser beside Zash. Fox attempted to use her hair to hide the heat in her face as she did, as she was having trouble making direct eye contact with him overwhelming her with alien tension. Was it normal to be this giddy despite the awkwardness?

Fox choked once again as he made a comment about her damp clothes, that sweet magic now utterly dashed. Holy fucking shit,that's what he was doing?!?!?!?! Her ability to look him in the eye returned, and she bombarded him with a defensive, cheeky sneer. He made her grateful she had long hair and she pulled the shirt down with a flustered huff.

"Being a little forward aren't we?" she snorted, actually a bit flustered by it now that he was actually pointing it out. "I mean, you didn't exactly give me any time to change." She opened a drawer and started to pull out some actual clothes, a real shirt with an artistic tribal print of a butterfly and some pants similar to the ones she had wore to after prom, but grey. Clearly there was no point in staying in sleepywear now that he was here. Knowing this, she also snuck other things to the bottom of the pile. "You're real smug about it now, but I wonder how you'd feel if it had been Wolf who made it here first....? Or Pika. I bet it wouldn't so fun then," she smirked, flirting with him through taunts.

"So, if it isn't any of that, then..... what's up?" Fox asked as she crossed to the other side of the room. She slid the barn door to her closet open, turned on the light, and stepped in. She slid it shut while she changed, leaving enough of a crack to allow her to hear his whispered response.

The sound of his laughter was immense as she got extremely defensive and berated him at his last comment. He made a show of wiping tears from his eyes as he fell back from his crouched position. He was incredibly satisfied with this kind of response from her from his playful teasing, he needed this kind of atmosphere to take the edge off actually exposing his true thoughts and feelings. It tore down his finely crafted 10 foot thick wall of crap he put between himself and his feelings, but it felt good to tear down the wall and let it out, it was hard for him to live life that way all these 18 years.

He sat up as Fox started to fire back at him calling Zash " forward" and "smug" he was rather happy with this assessment of himself since he was typically confident and enjoyed it but what he did not enjoy was the theoretical suggestion of Wolf or Pika making there way into Fox's room at this late hour. He made a sour face at that, not one of actual annoyance or anger but pouty all the least. She walked by him now to get to the dresser next to him and he took the opportunity to press forward with his poking fun at her as he reached up and gave her exposed butt a squeeze but was met with a hasty swat. Not to say it was an angry slap though.

The sourness in his expression didn't exactly leave as he fired back at her knowing he didn't want to mention anything with Briana since she had already seemed incredibly worried over that whole situation. The decision was made to go for a different approach one that could affirm her feelings for him in a more subtle way. " I mean I bet you would be a little quicker to cover up and a lot more shy with them coming around." He said evenly as she gathered up her clothes and slipped into the closet to change.

The crack in the door of her closet left way too much to Zash's puberty and hormone ridden imagination. He had not came here with those thoughts in his head but now with the situation developing as it was... he say her bare arms pass by the crack, her leg stretch out as he assumed she slipped on her underwear he say bent one of his knees and rested and elbow on them and his hand coming to his face, he bit his thumb softly as he patently awaited her to come out the door, he almost forgot to speak but then realized she had asked him what was up. " Oh yeah! I came to scoop you for after after prom princess your carriage awaits outside." he said in the grand dramatic manner he always had.

"And I bet you'd like it if I was, huh? Are you my dad now?" Fox sneered through the cracked door. Secretly, she was thrilled by the thought of him wanting her exclusively and the thought of him being a little envious over her was endearing and thrilling. She stepped back into the room fully dressed, sliding the door shut behind her. She tossed the wet shirt and towel into a nearby hamper and stretched her mildly aching limbs as she considered his response to her question.

"Princess? Man I must be in a lot of trouble if you're calling me that," she snorted, but she trailed off a bit at the end as she noted that his tone when using that name wasn't exactly the same as the other times he'd used it. "Also,After after prom? We're starting this soon?" she yawned, grabbing a bag and loading it up with the supplies she'd need to make whatever she'd end up needing later. She slung it over her shoulder and stood on the other side looking at him somewhat bleary-eyed as she tried to figure out if she had forgotten anything. "Where did my jacket go.....?" she asked herself.

She looked for her jacket for a few moments before finally giving up. "I think it's in the wash, actually. Eh, whatever, it's probably not going to be that cold anyways. Is it cold outside?" she asked as she tidied up after her short-lived search for her favorite jacket. A birthday present from Zash, it was a thermal piece he gave her so that she wouldn't freeze in cold places without him (after that whole Sinjoh Ruins accident where she came back with neurotoxin shock and frosbite). Once she finished tidying, she put her hands on her hips and looked back over at Zash. Contemplating. She suddenly broke out into a huge, mischievous smile.

"Well, if I'm the 'princess'........," she smirked, "then...... I guESSYOUBETTERCARRYME!!!!" She tried to laugh quietly as she launched herself onto the bed and then jumped off at Zash. She visibly flinched and yelped out an "ack!" as her haphazard jump caused her to pull something in her injured ankle.

God she just called me dad, Arceus don't have a daddy kink. He thought to himself debating on how to handle this situation. He was fairly certain she would call him daddy just to bug him if he showed that he thought it was strange which probably wasn't helped by the way he had cringed at her saying dad. But regardless he replied with " Does this mean your gonna call me daddy now?" He made a funny face as he spoke. She scrambled around looking for her favorite jacket which he could only imagine was the jacket he had gotten her for her 16th birthday since she wore it all the time. He still found her story about that whole mix up at the ruins skeptical at best but she did dangerous things as did he. He figured they would have to accept that weird aspect of this relationship since he had never babied her about it before he certainly shouldn't now.

He then was laughed out of his stupor as Fox shouted something excitedly as she jumped off of the bed at him. He heard her grunt in pain and he knew she had managed to twink her ankle again. There was a strange pleasantness to this situation even with the miss fortune of Fox managing to hurt herself again he was happy he was catching now this time, he admittedly had been a tad bit upset with himself that he had let Wolf beat him to saving her earlier in the day. But now it was okay Zash could do this effortlessly, even though she was a short of him because of the surprise of her weak ankle he closed the distance and braced her in his arms. He was gingerly with her even in the sudden moment he held her close to his body her head just beneath his chin and her legs bent and curled up along the length of his body.

" You really got to be more careful girl, I wouldn't want you getting hurt." His voice had an immense kindness to it as he ended it with a soft kiss on the top of her head and changed his grip to a bridal style and with a well placed forward lunging jump cleared them both through the window. The night air blew a breeze around them as they seemed to float down to the ground in that eerie way that Zash had with his acrobatics. He continue to carry her to the truck as he said with a shy like childish excitement he couldn't mask. " Oh yeah it's a little chilly don't worry I got a jacket with your name on it." He assured her.

With only shifting her slightly in his arms he was able to get the door open and set her gently in the seat. Once he got her nice and settled he closed the door and circled back around to the drivers side to sling himself on in. Inside the cab wasn't very classy or stylistic but there hopefully hadn't been much expectation. There was at least the jacket Zash had promised, not only a jacket but his favorite leather jacket along with the tie he had worn to the dance in the console in between.

She noticed he seemed a little weird when she made a dad joke. Why would that be weird? She couldn't fathom what in the world he was talking about, it as a joke....? "I mean... I didn't call you 'daddy,' I called you 'dad.' Cause you're totally being a dad, weirdo," she teased as he held her. "The jokes are usually funnier when you don't make me explain them." She rolled her eyes and huffed, dismissing his lack of humor as him just being a mug.

She felt so comfortable wrapped up his arms, so secure in his careful grip. She sighed a happy little sigh. "Hmmm... I guess don't even really need a jacket when we're like this," she sighed, nestling in a little further into his chest. She reached up to wrap an arm around his neck and flushed red at the sensation of a small kiss being planted on the top of her head. She was completely wrapped up in his words whenever he spoke. "I try my best..... but a little extra attention is worth a little extra bump or scrape sometimes....," she replied softly with a wink, ".....oh for the love of hoLY ARCEUS!!!"

They plummeted from the window and Fox had to try her very best not to yelp in surprise. His impulsive jump left her heart pounding, even as they touched down on the ground lightly. She adjusted her hair as he brought her over to the car, trying to play things off as if she had totally been expecting it.

"Heh, little late with the answer aren't we?" she smirked lightheartedly as he set her in the car, his sheepishness melting her. She beamed at him. "Thanks, though, I didn't expect you........ to.........................."

She froze when she saw the jacket. THE jacket. HIS jacket.

She..... she looked at him for a moment, as if to confirm what he was implying. He nodded.

It took her a moment of confidence building before she reached for hi leather jacket. She slipped it on gingerly, as if handling fine china. Nobody had ever touched the signature jacket before, nobody was ever allowed. They usually got beat up. She had a moment of realization of, oh wow, this is really serious, surreal... wow.... it's still actually kind of warm, but was he even wearing it?! She blushed deeper, curling herself into a little ball in the seat she was planted in. She gripped the tie tightly, like she didn't know what to do with it but it was going to protect her somehow.

The moment of truth:

She left her hair tucked into the jacket as she sat there, curled up and staring at the sleeves on her arms as if she didn't believe they were there. "Ummm... thank you for letting me use your jacket," she murmured softly. The sound of her own voice caused more heat to rise in her face. She sounded exactly how she felt.

"But, um. What am.... what am I supposed to do with this?"

Zash managed a wry smile at first as she picked up on his discomfort with the Daddy topic. But he was quickly able to get his revenge by means of her exclamations from his sudden jump out the window. A small bit of laughter escaped him despite his efforts so he didn't even respond as she tried to play it off and then instead poked fun at him for answering her questions late.

As he got himself into the cab and slid the keys into the ignition the engine purred to life and he turned to look at her to his surprised she was staring at him. He could see it was in reference to his leather jacket he had left for her to wear. He knew there was a certain level of impact to this, the jacket was his distinct article of clothing and would not only make them seem like an item but the jacket actually held some significance for him that was unknown in it's specific to Fox but he was sure she knew by the way that he had asked her to fix it several times over for him. So as she starred at him as though for approve he simply nodded back and then started on the way down the rode.

He made an exaggerated shrug as she thanked him for the jacket he didn't want to make her think that it was something he needed to be thanked for. He didn't need to elaborate further as she asked him rather confusedly what to do with the tie. He laughed thinking it was very cute as he took it with one hand and then gently donned it over her head to hang loosely around her neck. " It's like a notch on my belt . You know to mark my sexual conquests." He replied with faked confidence as he moved his attention back to the rode and started making their way out of the small town. He intended to take them off the rode a little ways down to the lake where he'd take them down to their cliff.

Fox choked on her breath for like the third time that night, whirling her head around to look at Zash with her eyes wide open and her jaw forced open as wide as it would possibly go. She looked down at the tie, and then up at him, and then down at the tie, and then up at him, and...... holy crap, he was being pretty serious with this? It- Oh- good lord, Fox had NO CLUE what she was doing now, just sitting in the midst of her inexperience. How..... she didn't know how, and..... or... why............................? What was the best way to return the interest...?

"I- uh WHAT," Fox exclaimed with pure, genuine shock, "I- WHAT?!?!?! You, I, we, UH, ME????? hah..... hoo hoo, now we're really being forward.... hoo, that's a... funny joke....?" Fox sputtered with every word as her brain frantically tried to wrap itself around the implication. He wanted.... to do what?!?! With WOLF around??? How was he planning to get around that, was he planning on just.... With Wolf THERE????!!! And like.... oh holy Arceus, those were some heavy implications and he had to be joking. There was no way any of that would happen with the third member around... Zash would never have it like that.

hopefully.................???

"I........ mean.........," she coughed, ".....Isn't Wolf meeting us or something.....? That would, be uh, heh, kinda awkward for him, yeah....?" She had no idea what she was doing. "And, uh... well you know...... I was his date tonight....."

He couldn't bring himself to stop her throughout this entire mess of a reaction and tried his darnest to keep his expression neutral at best but eventually the moment came when he had to burst out laughing as she considered the implications of Wolf being there for them if they were to do anything along her line of thought.

Eventually when he stopped laughing he replied to her worries with " Nah I didn't call Wolf yet, though we totally should. But first I thought we'd have some alone time." He tried to sound more casual and heart warming then his previous advance as he reached a hand out to settle on her knee in a reassuring manner.

He pulled off the rode and started up the beaten path winding path that lead up to their little hidden area. He turned off the headlights and got on out of the cab but not before saying to Fox " Hey be careful with your ankle. I'll come help you." He said as he made his way around the back of the truck he put the tail gate down glancing quickly to make sure he had brought all the stuff for camping tents and bedrolls and such. since the cursory glance proved well he made his way to Fox's side of the truck and offered a hand.

He was...... laughing at her. Of course he was laughing at her.... he had done this before and it was probably completely normal to him. She sucked in her cheeks a bit in a pouty manner, her eyebrows scrunching up as well. "Look.... not all of us spent our time rolling around in their opposite gender. Some of us weren't the type that attracted that kind of attention," she mumbled with an eye roll, a little defensive and a lot embarrassed. She fiddled with her fingers as she regrouped in her head. She tensed up for a bit after that, feeling way out of her element again. A little ray of hope and relief returned, however, when he expressed how he wanted to spend sometime together.

"That'd be nice; it'll balance out Prom a little bit," she chuckled, seeing as they really didn't spend much time together at Prom. She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. "It's already really late though... won't he be asleep soon? So... you're going to call him tomorrow, I guess?" The contact with her knee was nice, familiar. More like things were when they normally hung out.... still though, she could sense faint undertones still hanging in the atmosphere between them. It was all a little overwhelming and confusing, honestly.

They arrived at a familiar cliff, the cliff she recognized as being the cliff containing Poshie's old pad. She smiled at the fond memories that the place harbored, and of their cheatsy victory over Poshie in his fire game thing. She was content in basking in them blearily while Zash came around to help her out of the car.

"Good campsite. Can't wait to sleep on musky old grave," Fox joked lightheartedly. "Was Poshie a little homesick when you were picking the place?" Admittedly, the cliff was beautiful, sporting a view of the verdant, peaceful forest and the calm glistening waters of Lake Solemar.... Wait. Fox's eyes darted to Zash's hand, confirming that Poshie's ring was indeed there... her face grew visibly pensive. Was..... okay, hold on. Fox was definitely not ready for that kind of a leap.

"Uh, hey, listen," Fox began, "You know I love Poshie and all, but.... I don't... uh.... I already can't handle you both on a communication basis alone.....?" She sputtered a bit, hoping he'd get the picture.

His guilt started to show on his face as she continued to mention his past relationships but he didn't let her see his face as he imagined she would be upset by it. Do you really think that way Fox? Jeez i didn't think you thought I was such a man whore. He couldn't stop the thoughts from filtering in. But just as they did she switched gears again being flattered and then thoughtful. She was quite hard to get a handle on even with all his experience with her.

As she came out of the truck and onto the ground with his help he moved to pick her up princess style again not letting her go anywhere on that ankle until he saw her heal it with alchemy. Even then he was hesitant to let her do much. She questioned him about Poshie seeing the ring on his finger still, quite honestly Zash had forgotten to take it off he didn't have any particular attachment to the ring but it had become habit to keep it on ever since he had mined into Poshie's thought for his secrete pyromanic arts back in Atlantis he had been rather quite.

" We don't really talk much. Like he's there but it feels weird to ask him about stuff like if he feels homesick." He finally answered as he set Fox down gently on a log next to the fire pit. He slipped Poshie's ring off as he walked back over to the truck and grabbed the camping supplies, he chucked him into the bed after he had clear it out and jokingly said to the ring " Don't go running off now." He then got it all back a little ways from the fire pit and he started to get the tent out to set up. " Hey can I ask you something?" He spoke but then felt rather strange asking her for permission to ask her they had always been able to talk and that hadn't changed. He shook the hesitation from his manner. " Does it bother you? That I... You know have been with other girls? Cause I wanna tell you Fox, that this is nothing like when I was with them. " He tried to assure her and then he recalled what she had said earlier seeming upset that she had not been with someone else like he had so he added. " It's okay that you haven't, trust me not all of it was enjoyable."

"Aww, trouble in paradise?" Fox grinned, using his words from earlier to make a joke. It was noticeably half-hearted, however, a thin layer on top of something else lying beneath. In truth, she was still thinking about everything, trying to straighten herself out. She had never really felt so obstinate in her pestering of him before, but then again... she had never had this many questions. She leaned over to alleviate some of the stinging in her ankle, peaking at Zash through her hair every once in a while.

She just needed some closure. Just enough for her to understand and let it go. And with just a few words, it seemed like Zash was willing to give that to her.

She tiredly smiled just a bit. "No.... no it doesn't really bother me that you've been with other girls, if you want the honest truth," she started, slowly and quietly. "I really do mean that... I'm not mad that you had relationships.... I mean, it'd be kind of ridiculous if I was. Everybody's gotta get out there and pursue what makes them happy, and I want you to do that too. If anything, it's something I'd expect anyone to do. I'm sure you're smart about it..... I don't believe everything I hear."

She fidgeted a little bit, looking at her shoes now. Unable to make eye contact.

"What upsets me... is that I fell behind, I guess... I don't know, maybe if I had started looking sooner this could have already happened... or something like that. I... once I saw you off with other girls though... well, like I said, I just figured it was something that would happen... but then... I guess, honestly....... gauh, it's kind of selfish of me......" She slipped her face into her hands.

"I..... missed being the person that's special to you. I realized that when you found someone else..... you wouldn't really need me anymore. They'd be taking care of you, and we'd have to move on... and honestly, I started to get more and more terrified of that." Fox let out a shaky sigh. "And then.... in addition to that...... I just feel so far behind you now. We laugh and make jokes and I tease you, but.... I don't even really know what it's like. You know a lot more about yourself and how things work than I do, and I'm not even nearly on the level you are......and I hate not being to understand." Her voice was quiet and wavering, and would break occasionally. She retreated a little bit deeper into his coat for safety.

He had not been expecting such an answer from her, he thought maybe she would say she was a little jealous but it wasn't something they couldn't work through. He had expected the answer so much that he hadn't skipped a beat finishing pitching the tent as she eventually started to reveal her insecurity with the whole situation. He dusted off the dirt from his jeans as he stood up he noticed her peeking at him almost shyly. He stuck his hands in his back pockets and raised up on is tip toes as she started on about it all the words already started to collect in his throat. This is me pursuing my happiness! What I was doing before that was running away from it!

But he had to hold it all back as she continued on. She seemed so upset by the fact that she didn't pursue him but Zash had never though she needed to. This was all his fault he hadn't given her a chance he had always been so unapproachable on that front, dipping in and out of relationships with Julia, and then his one year fling with Veronica, Marie and Arianna had been a couple months each, and then don't even get him started on Lilly and Vivian.

Damn I have been around the block a little too much... He silently scolded himself for that. But now was not the time for any of that now was the time for him to be the hero for Fox that he had always wanted to be. He spoke softly to her not holding back any of his admiration or adoration for her. He wanted her to know he was her whole world always had been and always will be and he was just too stupid to know what was good for him.

"Your not behind at all Foxy," He said using his affectionate nickname for her besides princess. " Your light years ahead of me. You've always know exactly who you are and what you wanna do, I can't say the same about myself. I've always loved that about you." He sat down next to her now and put his arm around her pulling her close to him as he continued to speak softly to her. "I've been beating around the bush for a long time Fox and that isn't you that's me. I thought things would change if I pursued what I felt so instead I distracted myself because I was scared that something would change." He found her hand with the arm that was around her and intertwined his fingers with hers. " I know you will always be there to take care of me and I won't ever leave you. I love you Fox I'm sorry I left you waiting so long. "He said as he leaned in kissing the top of her head and then her cheek and then finally finding her lips again not wanting to have to pull away from her this time like he had to do at the dance. He loosened his arm from her so that she could turn into him more.

There was so much to respond to all at once, and all of it was encouraging. She couldn't decide whether to fix her gaze on him or look away, causing her eyes to dart between the two options as he talked through his thought process. There were many things she wanted to disagree with, wanted to thank him for, wanted to just say in general, but none of them felt like the appropriate response. Nothing felt just quite right... but it seemed like Zash had the right idea. She felt the quick press of his lips on her head, and then on her cheek, and then a much longer press on her lips as she turned her head to meet him. Ultimately, that was what they both had wanted, right?

The kiss lasted much longer than it did at the dance, and it was significantly more involved this time. She leaned into him, a bit hesitantly at first. It was largely a experiment for her, trying to learn the boundaries of what she could do and what she couldn't do. Breathing was one thing she found she couldn't do yet. Things were still pretty warm and slow, but for some reason she was just not having the best time remembering to breathe while enjoying this.

"....me too... I, me too....." Fox mumbled in an overwhelming stupor as the two of them broke apart for the air she desperately needed. She still lingered very close to his face, feeling the heat from it radiating into hers. It was still hard to believe this was happening.... but not as hard now. "I mean..... what I mean is I love you too. I always will," she cooed softly, warm breath brushing against his face. Her breathing was a little heavier now.

She rested her forehead on his cheek softly, enjoying the feeling of being close. Her hand clung to his, her other hand finding its way around his waist. For once, she really didn't have much to say. The look in her eyes was like straight English on a printed page, so easily read and understood. She smirked softly.

"...You were worth the wait."