He pulled the trigger.

A wicked smile played at his lips as he watched the bullet fly perfectly.

He felt his chest explode, but not before her back erupted into a thousand shards.

He needed to see who died first.

Immediately his eyes went black and he woke up on the throne with his eyes wide and his hands shaking. He furiously brushed his dark hair out of his eyes and watched the screen within his visor intently; it'd been a while since his heart beat this hard.

Defeat flashed across his eyes.

He groaned, slumping deep into his Throne as a string of curses escaped his lips.

The holographic interface leapt before him. Omg, wtf, and noob flooded the spectator chat which he closed irritatingly with a swipe of his hand.

His pride was hurt.

To make matters worse, the Match Making Rank was only gold tier that match. On his very first account he'd made it to challenger tier, the pinnacle of the game, yet up there players were much more team-oriented, and they despised his "lone wolf" play tactics.

He'd made another account to escape the publicity, and only losing 2 games made him statistically the best ravager out there. Not to mention his friends, or more accurately, "friend", convinced him not to ascend to a higher tier. In the end he ended up garnering even more publicity than his previous account.

No doubt that arbiter-class-whatever player that shut him down would have his entire spectator club sending her friend requests.

Hell, maybe even he would, considering a so called "girl-gamer" had emasculated him. It'd been a while since someone made a duel so exciting, and however much he despised this new player, he couldn't shake the suspicion that they'd meet again.

A message notification popped up on his interface, and he was about to close it before he saw who it was from.

A flush rose to his cheeks.

Cherrypup [PM]: call me right now.

A buzzing phone hologram appeared on his interface. With a displeased sigh, he obliged and pressed "accept."

His visor was dominated by the picture of his waif-like friend. White hair fell gently around her shocked face as her voice boomed in his ears

"That was crazy! How did they hide their username?"

"No idea..." he sighed, "I've never seen that before."

"And you said you could boost my MMR," she said teasingly. "If we lose I can't jump tiers; I thought you said you could carry me to challenger."

"Sorry, you're pretty heavy."

The next few minutes he endured a very painful lecture about adolescent insecurity.

"After all," she pouted, and he could hear the displeasure in her voice, "That was my last promo to ascend tiers... and we lost."

"Jeez. I already said I'm sorry, Cherry."

"You can make it up to me..."

"How?" he said a bit too eagerly. He quickly realized his mistake.

Immediately he could hear laughter in her voice.

"Take me on a date."

Then she hung up.

*****

Wyck hated the outdoors if his appearance didn't already suggest it.

The city around him---Dana Efra---was fair and torrid, enough so that kids his age were spending it towards the bottom of the city, where the water lapped at submerged buildings.

Damn, it was hot. He had considered wearing some short sleeves yet thought better of himself...

Either way, he really didn't want to go out, but Cherry was the one person that could pull the strings in him. Even though he knew she jokingly said "date," it struck a strange chord within him that made him want to curl up and disappear.

Thus, he stood awkwardly, but with a fiery determination by the door to her favorite coffee place, when suddenly someone grabbed him from behind.

Admittedly he emitted a yelp (which he was not by any means proud of) and Cherry erupted in a fit of laughter.

"Hi."

"Hey!"

If he hadn't noticed Cherry's beauty before, he certainly did when she smiled like this. She wore one of those big funny-looking beach hats over her snowy hair.

Under his gaze she seemed to quiet a bit, holding one of her arms shyly with the other. She offered a coy grin, averting her eyes.

"Don't stare..."

"O-Oh," he stuttered, "I didn't mean to--"

"You could at least say something!"

When he raised a brow in confusion, she elaborated.

"Hello, Wyck," she said, clearing annunciating each word, "I really like how that thick coat and scarf look on you--wait a sec, why are you even wearing such heavy clothes in the SUMMER?"

He gave her a strange look, and she caught on.

"Oh, well I would flaunt your beautiful arm If i were you... Anyways, you still look nice. Your turn."

"Your hat is hot," he offered.

She laughed, and before he could say anything else, she laced her fingers in his real ones and led him in.

After ordering, they settled down in a two person booth. He cradled a bitter coffee and she sipped at a hot chocolate. He had to admit, it was kinda adorable, in a childish way, that she'd ordered hot coco at a coffee place... of course he'd never admit that.

He really didn't understand why she hung out with a loser like him, and the fact that they were hanging out as if to celebrate their most recent loss made him feel more uncomfortable than he already was. Some irritatingly sleek guy even brazenly approached them as soon as she walked in, as though to emphasize how much he didn't belong with someone like her.

"Hi, I'm Henr--" he began, and she simply waved him off, saying, "If you aren't challenger tier, I'm not interested."

He had to admit, he felt a twinge of happiness right then, and afterwards he even dared to stick out his tongue at the guy. Cherry saw this and when he thought she would scold him, she simply mirrored his actions.

"If you dont drink coffee, why do you come here anyway?" he asked.

"Because they have damn good hot chocolate," she said, as though it was obvious. A wisp of steam rose from her mug to kiss her nose.

He laughed, and soon found her staring intently at him. "What? Do you expect me to sparkle or something?"

She tittered softly. He was well-aware of her affection for a certain vampire book series.

"No, I was just wondering," he heard a twinge of inflection in her voice. "I saw that girl watching you before we came in and she sat down a couple tables away." She pointed, before grinning sheepishly. "Maybe I'm just a tad bit overreacting."

He was sure she was just imagining it, yet when he turned around and met the woman's eyes his mouth parted in shock.

Dark shades obscured the woman's eyes, but even he could tell she was staring right back. For one thing, despite the weather, she dressed like him: all black. However, one thing caught his eye: a silver pendant upon her neck with a tiny flower.

"I don't know her," he said.

"Shhh.. she's coming over."

As he glanced over, Cherry was right again: the woman rose, walking carefully towards them.

"Greetings, Reaver," she said firmly.

Their eyes widened. No one knew he was--

"H-hey!" he stammered. The stranger tugged at his arm roughly and he spilled his coffee.

"S'cuse me, bish, but you shouldn't be handling my dork like that," Cherry mustered the sternest face she could and failed horribly.

Under different circumstances, he would've died in laughter on the spot.

The woman whispered something to his ear as she began to pull him towards the door.

"I have a gunman at the door with his sights upon your lady friend. Come talk with me or never see her again."

He froze and he had some strange feeling by the sound of her voice that she wasn't lying.

The necklace swung upon her pearly neck and suddenly he recognized the flower upon it.

His eyes widened as he looked back at Cherry who had gotten up from her seat. The stranger was practically dragging him out the door now while everyone stared.

"Hey! you can't just--" Cherry's eyes were glassy as the door closed in Wyck's face.

*****

"What do girls like so much about this guy? I just dont get it," Henry muttered, watching the scene in awe while flexing his massive biceps.

lol if you catch all these little jokes i put it so far, i congratulate you! However, I'm as apt to write romance as a boiled cabbage.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, leave a comment or vote :D i'd greatly appreciate it.