ROUGH DRAFT - Coye 6.15 (Patreon)

A little bit before that, Coye was pacing around his cabin and Shayla was on his case about a couple of things.

"You didn't tell her what time to come over, you didn't figure out if you are having dinner together, what else, big guy?"

"I already admitted I didn't plan this out well!" Coye grumbled as he finished a chocolate bar that was left over from the other day. "What more do you want from me? I just wanted to invite Dorothy over in the moment, and I didn't think about anything past that."

"You don't even have a couch. You either have to sit together at the table, or on the bed." She smirked at the implications.

"If this is you complaining about improving the house, will do something about it soon. We'll get a couch, or something, I don't care right now." Coye sighed.

"I wasn't complaining about the house, for your information. But a couch would make me pretty happy, I think. As long as I get to pick it out!"

Coye rolled his eyes at her predictability. He was about to say something back to her, but she perked up and suddenly flew towards his hat which was positioned on top of his nightstand where she could watch everything go down.

“ i’d recognize that anxiety anywhere,“ Shayla announced. “ she’s here!”

Coye was so excited and nervous he almost didn’t know what to do with himself. “Should I get the door?”

“Nah, give her a second. It’ll be better for her if she works up the courage herself.” Shayla said, unknowingly agreeing with Tammy as she slipped beneath his hat. They then waited for Dorothy to knock, only for the weight to end up being longer than they thought it would take. By the time she did, Shayla wasn't sure if it would actually happen or not.

Coye rushed to the door only for Shayla to tell him to make sure he was presentable. He stopped and adjusted his belt and wiped some dust off of his silk tunic, then ran a hand through his hair to make sure everything was all right. When he was satisfied he gave a nod to Shayla and then opened the door.

When he did, what he saw was amazing. Dorothy stood there at his doorstep, wearing an adorable outfit. He loved everything he saw. Her straightened hair, her cute little skirt, the tank top from the other day, especially the stockings. Everything about it was just so... Perfect.

Surprisingly, Shayla agreed. From her hiding spot, she couldn't stop staring at Dorothy. She was positively radiant, and she felt as if she saw what Coye saw. It was almost uncanny, like his feelings were in sync with hers, but she brushed it aside and waited eagerly for one of these awkward lovebirds to make the first move.

Dorothy was actually feeling the same thing about him. She looked at his dashing silk tunic, the fancy belt and nearly melted on the spot. She gulped as she looked at him before blurting, "wow. You look, um... Really good today, Coye. Um. I mean... hi."

Coye smiled, blushed and scratched his head. "You know I could say the same thing to you? I'm glad you listen to me and made yourself pretty." He teased.

"Pretty is a strong word-"

"and it's why I used it." Coye was firm, only making her blush even harder. He smiled to see it. "I'm glad you're here, Dorothy"

"Of course I am," Dorothy laughed nervously and undid the clasp of her cloak. "You told me to, so... er... I mean, that's not the only reason I'm here, but..." Already caught in a fluster, Dorothy sighed and asked, "do you have anywhere I can put this?"

"Sure," Coye smiled and took it before hanging up on a coat rack by the door. "Are you coming in?"

"Oh, sorry..." Dorothy took a step forward and finally entered his cabin.

'Is she doing okay?' Shayla asked, noticing the strange behavior. 'I mean, sure she's always acting like this but you might want to make sure nothing's wrong.'

Coye agreed and went back to Dorothy, asking, "are you sure you're good enough to be here tonight? I don't want to rush into anything when you're not feeling at your best."

"I'm doing as good as I can be, I think," she admitted. "I tried following your command to relax and take it easy, but... It didn't go as well as I hoped..."

Coye frowned to hear it and then took the cloak back from the hangar. "Really? Damn. Look, Dorothy... I'll walk you back to the Guild. We can do this another day when you're feeling better."

As he extended his hand to give back her cloak, Dorothy pushed him away and shook her head. "No, please don't worry about me! It's not like that. I... I don't think I'll be able to feel better until we have this talk of ours, Coye."

"Fair enough," Coye blushed as he re-put her cloak on the coat rack. "You might as well come on in, then." He extended his hand for her and took her inside.

Dorothy had a look around the place, finding it so different from her mental idea of where Coye lived. "Wow..."

"Sorry, I know it's nothing special..." Coye felt exposed, showing someone new his house. Tammy sort of barged in the other day so that didn't count. "It needs a lot of work, but-"

"No, no. I like it quite a lot, actually. It's quaint. Cozy. It reminds me a little bit of my childhood home," Dorothy found herself giggling as she approached the table in the center of the room. "Before we expanded the house a little bit. Should I, um, have a seat?" She pointed at the chair.

'I'll give her points for liking my house,' Shayla crossed her arms and nodded with approval.

"Yeah, please. I don't really have a couch yet, so...", Coye looked away, suddenly feeling embarrassed again. "Did you already have something to eat?"

"Yes," Dorothy sat down and blushed softly, unaware of what to do. "You didn't say if we would have dinner or not, so..."

"I'm sorry," Coye sighed and felt it was time to admit to things. He took the seat opposite of her on the table and leaned forward putting his elbows on the counter. "I didn't plan this out very well at all. The other day when I asked you to come over-"

"when you commanded me to come over," Dorothy reminded him, blushing yet smiling softly.

"Right," he managed to laugh. "When I said that, I was mostly just winging it and I was super nervous. I didn't when did come over, whether we would eat, or what you do when you got here, I just... Thought about it and wanted you here with me as soon as you were able. Sorry."

"Wait-" she had trouble processing that for a moment. "You were nervous the other day?"

"Extremely," he admitted. "I still am."

Dorothy was on the verge of asking whether or not that's true, but one look at him told her the answer. She saw him for who he was. He was smiling softly, with rosy cheeks and upturned eyebrows that struggled to look at her for more than a few seconds. For as much as Coye had changed in recent times, she was blind to the fact that in many ways he was still the same as ever.

Nothing could've comforted her more than knowing that.

She felt so much relief knowing that Coye was still her cute little hero- er- her good friend, and he wasn't some drastically different person that she didn't know how to behave around. Dorothy smiled wide and was able to relax further.

"You didn't seem nervous at all, Coye."

"I couldn't afford to. I was trying to comfort and impress you."

Dorothy was silent for a moment as she continued staring at him before meekly looking away and laughing. "It's funny how you thought you'd still need to impress me after everything."

"Dorothy?" Coye leaned closer over the counter and stared into her eyes.

"...Yes?"

"You know why I asked you here. Right?"

Of course she did. She couldn't stop thinking about it ever since he left her office the other day, stealing not only the victory but all the air from her lungs.

"Because we need to have a serious discussion about us." Dorothy said. "Which I am very much in favor of. I mean, not very much, but, oh..." She got flustered in her enthusiasm, prompting him to smile. "I'm sorry. I'm all out of sorts."

"Hopefully with excitement?" He teased.

"And many other things," Dorothy had it in her to smiled softly. "I'm just unsure of how we proceed here. Do we jump right into it and talk about our, um, our feelings...?" Dorothy merely wanted to just burst out with everything and be done with it, but she couldn't. Not without clearing the air and covering everything that needed to be covered. She still had yet to tell him the full truth of why she fainted the other day and that was something she saw was important to tell.

"We can do this however you want," Coye offered. "I'm not sure, myself..."

'Really? You've waited all this time for a chance to be with her and now that it's here you don't know what to say?' Shayla chastised him.

'Trying my best here, Shayla,' Coye telepathically grumped at her.

'Try harder!' She snapped back. It was like all his recent experience with girls didn't mean a thing whenever it came to Dorothy. That was kind of cute, but cute didn't always get results. 'She's waiting for you to take the lead. I know I'm usually one to push you to extremes, but for now, why don't you start with the presents?'

Thankful for her advice, Coye spoke. "I think it might be for the best if we ease into it. We can do other things for a while and just relax together, you know?"

"Um," Dorothy blinked, wondering what he meant by that. "Yes, that sounds lovely... What did you have in mind?"

"Hold on a moment, I got you something," Coye got up from his seat and kneeled before his bed, sliding out the two gift wrapped boxes of cards he won for his service. Dorothy watched him return and place them on the table, instantly blushing and feeling out of place.

"Coye, what is this? I... You didn't have to get me anything, I... Oh, dear..." She fidgeted in her seat. It was different than getting a fancy lingerie from Tammy. She was more happy and less humble about it, but she'd never gotten a present from a boy she liked before. What was the proper way to handle this? It didn't help that the presents were so big. She hoped he didn't spend a lot of money on her- ironic is that was.

"You really shouldn't have,"

"and why not? You've been through a lot lately. Consider this a get well present."

"Oh?"

"Or you could consider it as something more," he teased, blushing.

"More...?"

"Well, I don't want to make it seem like I'm trying to bribe you with gifts, but-"

Dorothy looked meekly at the two large presents placed before her and continued idling her hands to keep busy. "I, um, I wouldn't worry about that. I'm far past the part where you need to bribe me, Coye... I'm here, aren't I?"

Coye blushed but smiled when he understood the implications. "Yeah. I understand."

'Play it cool. She's already yours.' Shayla nodded.

'That's just making me more nervous about it.'

'Well suck it up!'

Coye did his best not to react to the fairy and focused his attention back on Dorothy. "Go ahead and open them up, then."

"Alright," Dorothy managed, gulping as she nervously looked down at the two boxes in front of her. They were so large and heavy when he placed them on the table, too. She reached out and began delicately unwrapping the first of the boxes, doing so in a way that reserve the wrapping paper as neatly as possible.

After her efforts were successful, she looked at her present in confusion. It was a heavy wooden box, and that was that. "Oh, um... It's... A box?" In her nervousness, Dorothy completely forgot about the possibility of their maybe being something inside of the box.

"Not quite," Coye laughed.

Dorothy stared at the box until she noticed a logo on the side that read 'Wizards of the Workshop'. It took her a few seconds to parse the meaning of this, but when she did, all her hesitation over accepting these presents melted like ice. She channeled her inner goblin and unsealed the wooden box in great haste, confirming what she thought. When she opened the case, inside was nine sealed boxes of RealMonster cards, three of different sets. All in all, there were hundred forty-four packs of cards within.

She looked at the box of cards and then at Coye. Then, at the cards, and then at Coye again. Her brain was overloaded with joy and humbleness.

"I... Coye, I..."

"Yes?" He smiled, enjoying the reaction.

"I know that a lot of collectors buy wholesale cards by the caseload, but I've never actually seen one myself... I don't know if I can accept this. It's far too much."

'Who didn't see that one coming?' Shayla rolled her eyes at the predictable humbleness.

Coye decided to be strict on her and said, "I don't want to ever hear you say you don't deserve nice things. These are for you, and that's that."

Dorothy's obedience surged, and it felt nice for Coye to reaffirm that she deserved this. She nervously smiled and reached to the box, sliding it closer. "Yes, Coye..." She replied dreamily. This made her deeply happy, almost enough to make her forget about the serious things she came here to discuss.

Then, she had a look at the opposite box and figured there must've been just as many cards inside of that one as well. A thought came to her and she looked to him and pitched a compromise. "Can I propose a counter offer?"

Coye tilted his head. "You're not going to put yourself down again, are you?"

"No, nothing of the sort..." Dorothy insisted. "It's just that... Well... This is a lot of cards, and recently I had to sell off a few of my rarer ones to a local collector to pay off a refund-"

"what?" Coye surprised her with how serious he sounded. It was like the idea of Dorothy having to stoop so low offended him.

"Oh, don't worry-" Dorothy sighed. She really didn't want to think about Blanche and his stupid catalyst right now. "The collector agreed to hold them for me and I intend on buying them back- I was only trying to say that this gesture is very much appreciated and while I could use the cards, I would honestly prefer if you, um, opened the other box and kept the cards for yourself..."

Coye looked like he didn't want to let the topic go but forced himself to since he got the feeling it would only make Dorothy more upset. "Why are you so insistent?"

"Because the other day when we were actually playing the game together, it was some of the most fun I'd ever had and I, um, I know you don't have that many cards yet so... I was thinking that if you took one of these boxes and add them to your collection you would have more options to build different decks and we could play with each other more often and try out different styles and..." Her face got redder the more she expressed her desires.

Coye awkwardly scratched the back of his head. Now he felt guilty for cheating the other day and promised himself mentally he wouldn't do it again. Shayla just found it funny how things work out. "Actually..." Coye said as he went back to the hiding space and took out a third case before putting it on the table along with the others. "I already got one for myself, too."

Dorothy looked at it and then laughed nervously. Now she felt embarrassed. Even more than she already did. "Oh. Ahaha. I should've figured..." Then, she remembered how Suzette was the only person in town who sold RealMonster cards. "I'm guessing Suzette had something to do with this?"

Coye blushed as he recalled the days events and tightened his fist. He responded much more vigorously than he meant to, almost snapping, "I worked damn hard for these! Suzette had nothing to-"

afraid that Dorothy had offended him, she instinctively lowered her head and apologized profusely. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend, I-"

realizing how he just behaved, Coye felt ashamed too and sat back down on the table, this time at the seat to her left. "Sorry. That came out a lot more aggressive than I meant to..." He laughed awkwardly.

'Good job, dummy. You scared her. All you had to do was stand around wearing a cute little outfit all day, was it really that bad?' Shayla judged him.

"Oh, okay... I was just frightened that I actually, um, upset you-"

"I don't think that's possible," he gave her the most charming smile he could muster, which turned out to be pretty damn charming.

She blushed even deeper and looked away with a relieved smile. "So, what did you have to do to earn all these cards? There has to be at least several hundred gold's worth..."

'Tell her, baby. Tell her how you strutted your stuff to earn your lady love some presents!' Shayla teased, unable to make this easy for him.

"I performed a regrettable service that I was strong-armed into and I refuse to elaborate beyond that," Coye offered automatically, his tone of voice dead and low.

Dorothy blinked, her imagination running somewhat wild in the directions that it took her when she imagined how Coye must've worked to get these presents. It made her very happy to think he'd done something for her on top of how much he already did. Still, it didn't sit right with her. She just couldn't make herself except the present in full.

"Well in that case, I think you're deserving of even more, Coye..." She laced her fingers beneath the table and smiled at him as naturally as she could. "How about we each get one and a half cases?"

"But..." Predictably, Coye was stubborn. He didn't like the idea at first but Dorothy knew how to convince him.

"Before you say anything, hear me out. If these are meant to make me happy then this is the way it would do that the most. I wasn't kidding- playing with you was so fun and helping your collection grow would make me much happier than adding to my own."

"... Really?" He was starting to come around.

"Yes, really. I truly mean that."

"Then I guess I have no choice but to accept..." Coye smiled softly and Dorothy did the same. Both of them were embarrassed and they each struggled to look each other in the face.

'I swear, you fucking nerds are made for each other...' It pained Shayla to admit, but she had to.

"Good. Now that that's settled, I suppose we should... ah..." Dorothy knew they had more important things to talk about then RealMonster cards, but every time she tried thinking about having the relationship talk her attention just kept getting drawn back to the big boxes in front of her. They were comforting and not scary compared to everything she knew was coming.

"We can open the cards first if you want," Coye offered, sensing what the problem was. He was nervous as well and didn't mind a slight delay.

Dorothy was very relieved he was the one who said it but she tried to not look as much. "Only if you're sure... There's so many packs to get through, it will surely take a few hours..."

"That's fine. I can walk you home no matter how late it gets."

What was meant as a totally innocuous statement ended up creating a moment of unexplainable tension as silence hung in the air. Dorothy's false calm gave way to her typical brand of fidgety anxiety and Coye realized what was putting her on edge without Shayla needing to spell it out. As soon as he understood, he got nervous as well. Shayla expected them both to move past it, but was surprised when Dorothy asked front what was on her mind.

"Am I... um... am I not, um, s-s-staying over...?" Her eyes were glued to the floor. She was sweating like she was in a sauna. Dorothy didn't even know how she managed to ask something so bold, it just sort of popped out there and now she couldn't take it back.

"I mean, I don't want to presume anything...?" Coye managed to say back. He was trying desperately hard not to think sexually about Dorothy but found even though he was drained nice and hard earlier in the day the prospect of it happening with her was more than enough to get his blood boiling.

'Keep it cool, big guy...' Shayla advised. 'I don't have to tell you how much courage it took her to ask that.'

'I'm doing my best. I promise.'

He couldn't see it, but Shayla nodded her approval.

"No, right, of course... I, um... I'm not sure where that came from..."

Wanting to make things easier on her and take the lead, Coye reached out and took her by the hand. She burned bright red at the contact but looked at him as he reassured her. "It's all right. We have a lot to talk about, so we'll see what happens. For now, let's just have fun and open some cards. Okay?"

Embarrassing as it was, it felt like everything would be all right when he took hold of her hand. "Okay. Yeah, that sounds nice. I think we are going to need more room than stable, though..."

Coye looked at it and figured that she was right. He solve the problem by scooting the table closer to the kitchen and taking some of the many pillows off his bed to make the wooden floor much more comfortable and provide two large seats somewhat far apart so they would have plenty of room in between them for putting down cards. Next, he opened the other two boxes and with Dorothy's help they sorted out the contents so that they each got an equal number of packs. The contents of the cases were not the same. Each case had three distinct sets. Every set in RealMonster was either themed after an entire realm as a whole or broken down into focused sets around monsters of a specific theme. For example, the monsters of Karnalle set had generic monsters, spells and items that you could find throughout the realm. By contrast, the set Karnalle: trolls of the mountains, focused entirely on that theme.

Each of the three cases had at least three boxes of Karnalle sets of different themes and three different sets of two other realms per case. Three sets from Hal Moldihr, Sylvandiel, Ikkuni, and the most exciting of all to Dorothy was the newly released Monsters of Gothicca expansion. A largely unexplored realm due to how dangerous it was, Gothicca took a long time to ever have any cards made of it because wizards of the workshop didn't have the means to gather enough reference material to ever make a set. Apparently, the realm was full of aberrations similar to the one Coye was familiar with and far, far worse ones. Neither Coye or Shayla were too pleased at the idea of seeing more like that, which Dorothy understood as she remembered the proof of kill Auguris brought back from his recent quest.

Insert math here later to show the exact number of packs each got. 144x9x3÷2. It was a veritable mountain of cards for them both to unpack, and Shayla was having doubts this was a good idea anymore.

'If you guys get started now, it might take all night! Something tells me she won't be able to hold herself back.'

'Probably not. Look how happy she is.' Coye pointed out, finding it adorable how Dorothy could barely keep herself still. She was looking at every pack on her side of the floor with such excitement and childlike wonder.

'I mean... I guess that's pretty cute...' Shayla admitted grumpily. It was strange, her emotions were acting up again and her hesitation decreased the more she looked at Dorothy. Again, she wondered if she was feeling some sort of excess connection to Coye's emotions because this really didn't feel like herself at all.

"Are you ready, Coye?" Dorothy looked up at him with a wide smile. She looked like she was about to dive in without waiting for him.

"Ready and waiting," he confirmed.

Both of them took up one of their packs and smiled each other, Dorothy giving a small countdown from three two one and then they were off. What followed was wonderful. Coye watched Dorothy go through so many highs and lows that her manic behavior threatened to give Britni a run for her gold. She would get upset whenever getting duplicate cards, excitement whenever pulling when she was looking for, and his favorite- thinly veiled jealousy when Coye would pull one she wanted. Her pouty lips and begrudging congratulations were the telltale sign of such a card, and it was absolutely adorable.

Coye didn't know much about what he was getting on the other hand, just going through the motions and looking at all the amazing art. Now that he knew how to play the game, though, the cards had more significance. He started reading some of their descriptions and albeit at a very basic level he started to theory craft and speculate on whether certain cards were good or bad. His favorite set to open cards from was Sylvandiel, as the illustrations rendering his mother's homerealm and the many beautiful creatures that dwell within it obviously appealed to him. They seem so peaceful and serene compared to the monsters you find in Karnalle.

Dorothy was more interested in Gothicca as was already stated, but her excitement was spread throughout every set evenly. Opening the cards may not of taken more than and hour or two, but it stretched on because this was a card game about monsters and Dorothy would take any chance to she'd get to drone on about her favorite topic. Every new pack was the beginning of a new lecture that broadened Coye's mind- or at least by as much of it as he could retain. It wasn't that he couldn't follow along with her monologues- she was exempt from that rule- but more so that he and Dorothy had never spend this much time alone together before and he could scarcely follow along with anything besides how cute she was.

Shayla had seen Dorothy going off on several of these rents before in the past. Strangely, she was now finding them entertaining instead of boring, and her desire to make sarcastic jokes about her obsession with monsters was at an all-time low. Shayla wondered if she was getting sick or something, because this wasn't like her at all. More than her concern with whatever she was feeling toward Dorothy, Shayla was starting to find these cards very suspicious.

The whole light and music show was shady enough, but watching them open so many made them look downright addicted. The more they open cards, the more they wanted to keep opening, and the more excited they felt when they got something they wanted. Shayla had to appreciate the grift. Whoever came up with this junk was a prime manipulator. Just watching made her want to open some cards, too.

At the end of their card opening session, which lasted a little over four hours to the point where they had to light candles, a gigantic pile of cards swallowed the surface of Coye's floor. Many trades were made, many Commons were gifted to each other after receiving duplicates, and many chroma crystals were used to make their favorite cards even prettier. Both of them were feeling somewhat exhausted and burnt out by the time they were done.

"Is it always this intense...?" Coye asked as he slumped against his bed from the side.

"I... I don't rightly know. I've never open so many at once before."

"I feel strung out..."

"Same... Honestly, I was hoping we would have time to build some decks together and play a couple of game, but I don't think I have it in me anymore..."

"That's okay. Tonight is about more than just the cards, you know. We'll have a lot of time to play together in the future. Presumably, I mean..."

"Yes, that's right..." Dorothy blushed and felt some of her nervousness returning. Having spent so long at Coye's house left her definitely doing better than she was, however. It wasn't as bad as it was before. "I think I'm ready to talk about it now, if you are."

Coye lit up brightly and tried to downplay his excitement, but Dorothy sighed and found it adorable. "I am, yeah."

"How about we clean up first and then sit on the-" Dorothy tried to sit up, but much to her embarrassment, she found out her lower back had locked up because of how long they'd spent sitting on the floor. Not only that, but her legs were far more sleep than she noticed.

"You okay?" Coye noticed the awkward way she tried getting up and leaned forward to help her, only to be stopped by the ocean of trading cards in his way.

"Yes, I'm fine, I think... Just... Probably shouldn't have sat around for so long, ahaha..."

Coye tiptoed his way past the many stacks of cards, his expert sense of balance preventing him from making any errors along the way. He extended his hand to her and waited for her to take it, but she blushed and looked away.

"I'll be fine, just give me a moment for my legs to-"

"let me help you." He reminded her.

She looked up at him, red-faced and embarrassed. "Damn it. I'm not going to get used to you pulling that one on me, am I?"

"I hope not. The face you make is priceless." He smiled, earning an even more priceless face from her as she hesitantly allowed him to help her up. It went smoothly until the part where she actually had to stand on her legs and for a moment, Shayla thought she would have to use magic to keep them from falling on all of their cards but Coye had things covered and he caught her as her wobbly knees gave out. For a moment, she leaned forward and shoved her breasts into his face and he couldn't have been happier. Against all odds, he didn't freeze up at this- forcing himself into a Zen like state to avoid arousal as he and instead helped her sit down properly on the bed.

"Sorry-" Dorothy blushed and winced as feeling returned to her legs. "I, um, gave out for a moment there..."

"Trust me, you don't need to be sorry," Coye let free just a hint of his perversions but Dorothy was naive enough not to understand what he was talking about.

'Geez, at least try and restrain yourself...' Shayla rolled her eyes.

'Just be quiet and help me heal her,' Coye clapped back.

'Fine, fine.'

"Turn around and show me your back for a moment," Coye commanded.

"Um, why?" Dorothy blinked and then felt her embarrassment rise- even more so when she realized her body did as she was told and now sat facing the wall.

"So I can make you feel better." He said, snapping his fingers while Shayla did all the work for him.

Dorothy was surprised at the sudden relief she experienced but more so by the reminder of Coye's newfound affinity for magic. "Oh, that's much better... Thank you... but..."

"I'm going to explain everything," Coye confirmed, feeling a knot in his stomach. "I know it's weird that I suddenly know magic, but everything will make sense. I don't want there to be any secrets between us."

"Honestly, I feel the same..." She admitted. Then, her attention turned to all the cards on the floor. "Did you maybe want help picking all of those up, or..."

"I got it," he snapped his fingers again, this time without giving Shayla heads up. There was a slight delay followed by the cards which were already sorted into big piles of Commons, rares and so on to float up onto the table in a much neater fashion. She was able to cut down the clutter significantly and somehow managed to make everything fit.

Dorothy, who was obviously no stranger to magic, watch the display with mild interest. It mostly made her think about how she wished do something like that but with all of her paperwork. Gloria had that fancy ring of hers that suspended the clipboards, but starts to think that if she had one of those it would make her work way too hard again. Probably for the best she avoid splurging on anything that would make her overly efficient.

"So... How are we going to do this...?" Dorothy felt her heart race at the simple question.

"Do you mind if I sit on the bed with you?"

Dorothy gulped. "It's your bed."

Coye smiled and sat at the foot while Dorothy went back up to the headboard where all the pillows were. Things were awkward as they stared each other, but after a moment of quiet tension Coye got more used to the situation and he used his comfort to push the momentum forward.

"Are you ready?"

"I think so. I don't know where we would even begin, though."

"I do."

"Really? You sound so confident..." It reassured her.

"Probably because I've needed to say this for a very long time."

"Oh..." Even in spite of her nerves, she knew where this was going and she lowered her head. "Okay. Um. I want to apologize in advance if I mess this up somehow or if I get really quiet, or if I don't know how to respond. All of these feelings I felt lately are so new and so... So all-encompassing that I don't know how to react to them other than ride them out..."

"It's okay." He smiled at her. "Really. You're not the only nervous one, remember?"

Dorothy smiled meekly and nodded. "You can start however you'd like, then."

"All right." Coye shut his eyes and steeled himself. Remarkably, he found he didn't need to fight against his nerves for very long to get it all out there. Confessing his feelings was like ridding himself of a colossal weight that held him down for two years and never let go until now. It all came out in one go.

"I'm in love with you, Dorothy. I have been for a very long time, and I want to be with you. If you let me be a little selfish about it, the more specifically, I want you to be mine and no one else's."