Vol 1 Outline Pt 2 (Patreon)

This isn't done. I'm going to write more outline before resuming chapters, I just wanted you guys to see it so far. My plan is to end vol 1 at heart event 2 but idk how that will go yet. Need to scrap the early plans I had for heart event 2 and probably 4 because neither of those work anymore, but those were just practice to get me into the frame of mind.

If you comment an idea for Mia and Oliver's date I might use it. Can't be going out to dinner and can't be a movie. I want to save movie date for when they're actively touching each other and not right after their first hug lol.

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Working Out

• Oliver wakes up the next morning at around eleven. His body is feeling better, there is the same bad music playing. Once he's awake enough he questions if anything was even really yesterday or if it was all just some crazy dream. He opens up his phone and looks at his texting history with Mia, smiling when he realizes it's real.
• He makes a quick breakfast and is happy to make use of his new free ride skill. It's pretty wild and it's starting to sink in that he doesn't have to pay for basic crap anymore. Oliver tests it out by using a few eggs for his breakfast, and when he checks the carton after putting away, the eggs are replenished somehow. He jokes about how he could probably get rich the next time there's an egg shortage.
• Getting up late on a Friday is a new experience for him. He can't remember the last time he's done so, but it's nice. It isn't long until Bradley shows up after breakfast. Oliver lets him inside and we see some humorous example of his late-night adventures. He hasn't slept but doesn't need to. He comes bearing overpriced coffee, Oliver jokes about how he needs to be more specific. All coffee is overpriced coffee in Vista Venus. He's thankful, though. It's just the way he likes it.
• Bradley asks about the plan for today after high-fiving him for his progress with Mia. Oliver is embarrassed but does it anyway. He wants to get started on stat training today as early as he can, and since he's not very physically fit, he wants to start small. He's getting creative stuff with Mia tonight so strength training is the best place to start. He proposes that the walk around town for the next couple of hours together. Oliver will feel safer because Bradley will accompany him, otherwise he wouldn't usually propose something like this.
• Bradley thinks its a good idea but wants to make sure Oliver has recovered from his physical labor yesterday. Oliver is pretty sure, yeah. That's why it's only going to be walking and not something more strenuous, anyway. Bradley points out it's possible to hurt himself for walking too long but Oliver counters that he is on his feet for eight hours pretty much every day and that it should be fine as long as they pace themselves.
• Together, they set off and explore the city. It's another calm February day so mild jacket weather. We hear some details about the city as Oliver thinks about his history living here. He's done so his entire life and hasn't known anywhere else. It had its problems but what place didn't. The important thing was that walking around wasn't as scary as it was when he was alone. Oliver wondered how Mia put up with walking home every day, but of her apartment was that close to work it was in a better neighborhood than his place was so it's probably not as big of a deal for her.
• Even as he walked, Oliver was still thinking about his upcoming not quite date with Mia. Bradley points this out and they have a talk about it while they are going. He gets on Oliver's case for not phrasing it as a date and is pretty sure that Mia would've said yes if he had. Oliver pushes back he's not ready for that yet and Bradley gets him to compromise. He doesn't have to go that far but he shouldn't just let it go after theyre finished at the art store. Oliver should offer to take her out for dinner. It can be casual.
• Oliver tries to nervously say that it's Friday and everywhere is gonna be busy but Bradley points out that it's a excuse. Oliver recognizes he's right and backpedals immediately, agreeing to bring it up with her. Bradley cheers him on here and as they're walking they come across a small fitness store that he suggests they visit. Oliver is like yeah why not, thinking he might pick up something to help him train.
• He looks at the stuff and we get memories of how he always failed in gym class and never stood out except in the wrong way. Dropping out didn't do much good but PE was one thing he never regretted getting out of. It was going to be different from now on. Oliver didn't know what kinds of obstacles his powers were going to throw at him, but he needed to make an effort. He buys a pair of ten pound dumbbells while he's there and puts them in his inventory, thinking that they are cheap and a good investment.
• They've been walking for like two hours now and it's starting to take a toll. Oliver thought he was doing better after yesterday but some of the damage is coming back. Bradley tries to get him to pace himself better but Oliver is too worked up and insists they keep going.

Tessa run in at parking lot, Mia bench

• they're back at his apartment and he has deeply regretted his decision. The only took a couple of breaks during their four and a half hour walk and Oliver could barely stand. Bradley is giving him a kind lecture on not over exerting himself but Oliver defends himself saying he's not used to any of this and he just jumped into it thinking it was a good idea. Bradley explains that strength training should be done intermittently and not two days in a row, working hard at work didn't count as strength training but it still wore his muscles out.
• There's still time before the not a date to relax and Oliver takes some ibuprofen. Bradley recommends something more drastic, asking if Oliver trusts him. Oliver trusts him about as well as he can for a thought form that came out of his brain and who he's only known for one day. In that case, take off your pants. Oliver is flustered by this suggestion but Bradley points out he's going to give him a leg massage. Oh, yeah that makes sense.
• It's weird, but the massage actually helps and it's just about time to go pick up Mia from work. Bradley wishes him well and encourages him to try his best. Oliver is thankful for his strange friend and tells him to go enjoy whatever the hell he plans on doing.
• Oliver gets in his car and warps to his job right at five. He gets out to go and wait in front of the building, but he's stopped in the parking lot when Tessa notices him and makes a sarcastic jab at his expense. She's leaning against the building smoking a cigarette. Asks if he had a change of heart and is here to work the evening shift. Oliver is put on the spot and fumbles a bit. He was hoping this wouldn't happen but now he couldn't get out of it. He explains that he and Mia had plans.
• Tessa takes a long drag and is mildly interested but still very dismissive. She warns him not to do anything stupid but is trying to be more polite about it after the talk they had yesterday. Oliver has to give credit that she is not being as openly hostile as he's used to. He doesn't take it lying down, however. He wants to know why she thinks he would do something stupid.
• Tessa dismissively makes a comment about why did the scorpion sting the frog but refuses to elaborate. Oliver points out that it sounds like she's letting her experiences color the way she views the world but Tessa argues that's what experiences do, they create biases and some things can't really be helped. She finishes her smoke and tosses it in a nearby bin, complaining about the habit. Oliver didn't even know she smoked.
• Tessa usually doesn't, just once in a while when she's annoyed or stressed. This was a good point to let the conversation go, but Oliver doesn't. Almost against his own better judgment he asks why she stressed and she jokes about one of her employees saying he was busy only to swing by after hours to go on a date with his coworker. Oliver is flustered and says is not a date and Tessa is like Christ this is hard to watch.
• Tessa's quiet for a moment but eventually mentions that one of her 'sister's' cats got sick last night and now she's worried about it spreading to all the other ones. She quarantined it after she got home, of course, but still not something her 'sister' is looking forward to dealing with. Oliver remembers the way Tessa was smiling in that picture he saw of her and even though it didn't sound like this was all that serious he could still see that she was stressed. Again, he pushes himself to try and bridge the gap between himself and his boss even if only a little.
• He tells Tessa hope everything goes okay with that. The cats seem to mean a lot to her sister and he would hate for anything bad happen to any of them. Tessa's guard is up and she defensively looks at him and asked why would he care one way or another. Oliver tells her it's called being a decent person, which gets her to soften a little bit. She gains a single point of affection as she apologizes.
• Tessa tells him good luck on his not a date and then reminds him that he can use his employee discount on condoms if he needs to, which gets older flustered and said he's not going to need them. She is snarky and says no, probably not before leaving. Oliver is frustrated and he goes to sit on the bench in front of the store. He briefly reflects on the situation and how it felt good to see Tessa's affection increase. Maybe not as good as it did to see Mia's but he still worried it said something about him.
• Mia shows up after a bit longer than he expected to wait. The reason was pretty surprising. Like Stacy usually did, it appears Mia brought along a different outfit to change into after work. She's not dolled up or anything but it's not as casual as he is used to seeing. Shorts, black knee socks an anime T-shirt, and a boyish vest with a lot more pins than she usually wore on her apron, plus a backpack. Mia looks really cute and is casual when she greets him, asking if that spots taken. No, by all means. Good, she wouldn't mind just chilling for a second before they go.
• He's still looking at her and they are straight back to their usual dynamic. Oliver is flustered because she is hard to read and any advantage he had when they were texting is gone. Worse, Mia seems to know this and she points out that it looks like he has something he wants to say. He tries to be around the bush but she doesn't let up, saying he can't stop staring at her. Wonders why that is.
• Oliver knows what he supposed to say in this situation but it's difficult. He's going to try, though, but he's distracted by something he sees across the street. Bradley is waving a sign that says tell her she looks nice and Oliver is horrified by this. Bradley is very nonchalant about this and winks. Mia notices Oliver looks like he's freaking out and she tries to look over at the street, prompting a reaction out of him. Oliver picks up her hand unthinkingly and holds it, telling her he just wanted her know that she looks really nice today.
• Mia blushes, asking if he needed to hold her hand to tell her that or if he just wanted to. Oliver is suddenly flustered even worse than before and he struggles but manages to say it was for emphasis. Mia approves, +3 affection (84). He's frozen by how nice this feels to hold her hand and he gets lost in the fact that she likes him holding it. It's addicting.
• Her facade start to crack a little bit and she mentions that he is kind of hurting her. Oliver is surprised, thinking he wasn't even holding her hand that hard and then apologizes as he stops. She rubs her wrist and looks away awkwardly before trying to pivot the conversation and asking about his day. Mia notices that he looks better today but he seems kind of tired.
• Oliver asks if this is her observant artist eyes pointing out. Mia says something like that as she adjusts her glasses. Oliver makes a joke saying oh hey, you do wear glasses. Mia cracks a smile at this callback and jokes back with him. He explains that he was trying something new out today and went on a long walk with his friend. How long? Four and a half hours with a couple of small breaks. Mia is impressed but fusses over him, calling him dumb for doing that after working so hard yesterday. Oliver says yeah my friends of the same thing.
• Mia looks a little guarded as she asks about this friend. Oliver obviously doesn't want to talk about Bradley so he's dismissive and says he's just someone he went to high school with and recently reconnected with. Mia is relieved, gaining one affection point (85). Oliver is very overwhelmed by the implications here. He tries to dissect what that could mean but the only information he gave her was that his friend was a guy. The only thing he can draw from that is that Mia is happy he wasn't hanging out with a girl.
• There's no escaping the reality of the situation. He looks away, his heart is pounding, and he now realizes that Mia likes him without a shadow of a doubt. It wasn't even worth questioning at this point. This emboldens him but contradictorily embarrasses him, canceling each other out and making him the same Oliver as usual. Oliver is unhappy with that. He has the catalyst for change right here and now, and he wants to try and do something about it.
• Bradley catches his eye across the street once again, this time the sign says you can do it. Oliver really hopes that he's not going be following them this entire time. he downplays his reaction this time, knowing Mia will notice it if he doesn't. Still, Bradley's encouragement gives him the boost he needs. Oliver asks her if she had any plans after they're done at the art store. Mia reacts very carefully to this, eyeing him like a cat.
• She calmly states none at all and asks why he wants to know. He pushes through his struggling mind to says it'd be a waste of a perfectly good Friday night if all they did was pick up art supplies. She asked what he has in mind and he asks her if she wants to grab dinner after. She looks at him for a long time and it starts to make him nervous. When asked, she reveals she isn't sure what's come over him but she hopes it stays that way. Oliver blushes but says he's pretty sure it will.
• She tells him that everywhere is gonna be busy, Oliver counters that he don't mind waiting. Then I guess it's a...? Mia waits for him to finish her sentence and Oliver awkwardly fumbles that one, saying coworker hang out session? She stares at him before cracking a small smile saying close enough. No reason we have to rush this.
• Oliver is glad. He knows the implication and so does she, and the reality was that they were both nervous, awkward kids. They both knew what this was, but they didn't need to say it. They'd get there.

At the art store

• Mia gave him directions on where to go and for the first time since getting his powers Oliver is manually driving again. It's distracting having a girl in his car. He was hit with dumb thoughts like she smells nice and it takes a concerted effort to keep focused on the road, making him question his decision not to teleport. It's not like Mia would find out, but luckily the art store is only a ten minute drive away. It's a pretty decently sized one but Oliver has never heard of it before.
• He makes a joke about only knowing the one that stole all those artifacts from the Middle East, Mia completing the job by saying yeah Hobby Lobby is fucking crazy. Her family is Catholic but she doesn't practice she tells him. She thinks there might be something but it doesn't keep her up at night. Oliver doesn't know what he believes in but he believes in a lot more than he used to. Mia asks him what he means that he makes a deadpan joke about how he thinks his edible gave him psychic powers.
• She's quiet for a second before smiling and laughing him off. They get out together and instead of rushing around for the drawing supplies, Mia dragged him around the store and they have a cute time together. We get some scattered examples of them doing things and looking at various art supplies. Oliver is having a crazy amount of fun and he's enjoying seeing the new side of Mia. She is more open and talkative, showing him random funny things she finds scattered throughout the aisles. Some how to draw books are mentioned in particular, including some really bad anime ones
• Eventually she takes him to the drawing section and she starts asking what kind of things he's interested in. Oliver is honest with her and tells her he's not really sure. He wants to give art a try but doesn't know where to begin. Mia asked him if he really wants to give it a shot or if he just said that last night to extend their conversation. She is very observant as always but Oliver admits that only half of it.
• He wants to try it but yes he also said it in the hopes that by doing so he might learn more about Mia. Mia respects this, telling him that you don't need a deep reason to do art. You can give it a try and maybe it'll click, and if it doesn't, it's not like I'd like you any less, or anything. That's reassuring to hear. Oliver asks Mia why she draws and gets a complicated answer. It's fun and it lets me explore sides of myself I couldn't otherwise is her main reason but she's vague about it.
• Oliver was clarification but Mia says if you don't remember I'm not going to tell you. He thinks he's missing a beat here- if I don't remember what? Mia seems disappointed in him for a second but it's a mild, sad looking disappointment and not angry. She gets over it pretty quick though because she's still on a not-date with Oliver and that reason enough to not be upset. Oliver thinks it was a weird moment but he gets over it soon too because he asks her for recommendations on what he should get.
• There are tons of pencil types, sketchbooks, and so on. She helps them find a good starter kit that comes with a bunch of different pencils, an X-Acto knife for sharpening which she explains is absolutely necessary, and she picks him out her favorite brand of sketchbook. He's welcome to try others but most people usually agree that they have the best paper. I'll come up with a total for all of this when actually writing it. But is probably somewhere from 30 to 50 dollars.
• Oliver takes this opportunity to ask about what kind of stuff Mia usually buys. She has a hybrid workflow- most of her serious art is done on a computer but she still uses physical media for sketching early drafts and studies. She bulks up on pencils and and sketchbooks in particular as well as lead for her lead holders. He asks if that's a mechanical pencil or something and she explains that lead holders are mechanical pencils for pretentious people. They're for really precise technical drawing. Think architect drawing, but she uses them for drafting and layout in her studies.
• He hopes this makes sense to him one day and she teases him that it will if he hangs out with her long enough. Oliver has every intention to do so and she cornered him on that. Do you? Oliver doesn't back down and she walks past him patting him on the shoulder saying he's got a lot of practice he needs to do in order to keep up with her then. He feels the basket in his hand has grown a tiny bit heavier and he looks to find out that Mia has secretly slipped in one of the atrocious how to draw manga books. He looks over his shoulder to see her smiling at him before leaving the aisle. He laughs at her and follows after.

Dinner

• they both paid for their stuff now and Oliver was initially surprised at how much junk Mia was buying but she expected it to last for several months so he guessed that made sense. Oliver was riding high from just how much fun he was having with Mia but Bradley's muscle massage was starting to wear off and he was a lot more fatigued now. Mia notices this as they put their stuff in the trunk and she says they don't have to do dinner tonight. Not since he plans on hanging out with her as much as he can, she teases.
• Oliver asked her to let that go but Mia says he should already know that she's not the type to let things go by now. Either way, Oliver insists. He's tired but that's it, he wants to keep hanging out with her and Mia can't argue with that. The only problem is it's Friday night and everywhere is gonna be busy unless they get takeout. She wouldn't mind that, she makes sure to emphasize, but Oliver says nah we can find somewhere nicer.
• Mia teases him on wanting to take her somewhere nice and Oliver put up a passionate defense that he's still sorry about yesterday and wants to make it up to her. Mia places her hand on his knee and assures him she's not mad anymore. He's nervous at the gesture and is comforted to see that she is too. This gives him the courage to actually reach down and place his hand on hers and they smile at each other in his car. She takes it away a second later, rubbing her wrist as she asks what kind of place he has in mind.
• He flips it on her and asks what sounds good and Mia says she's pretty much up for anything. Oliver presses her a little and she says maybe steak if you're really pushing for it, but pretty much all the steakhouses are going to be busy.
• Lucky bastard activates saying that Bradley has his back and then Oliver gets a text of potential restaurants that would suit them. A single steakhouse is included in the list. Mia asks him what's up and he brushes it off as a text from his friend before mentioning he knows a place they might be able to get some steak, and then they drive off.
• I'll come up with more actual details in the writing but when they get there it's not very promising looking. It's like a back alley steakhouse, very suspicious. Mia walks him down the alley and jokes that dude I'd just come back to your place if you asked me to, you don't need to lure me into an alley with the promise of fake steak. He tells her not to joke about that kind of crap but Mia is surprised when there actually is a steakhouse back here. Despite how shady it all still looks she inevitably shrugs and they go in together.
• It's still kind of bad inside and the employees aren't giving the best of impressions, either, but Mia is kind of into it at this point and she thinks it's funny. We are already here so we might as well. The waiter informs them of a special, pointing at a sign. It's half off for couples as a belated Valentine's Day special. Oliver almost puts his foot in his mouth but Mia saves it by grabbing his arm like a clingy girlfriend and thanking him for the surprise.
• He's very nervous but is not stupid enough to fuck it up, so he roleplays as Mia's boyfriend and awkwardly puts his arm around her hips. The waiter is polite and leads them to their table. Mia whispers smooth at him and he says he's trying his best but she is not making it easy. She counters that it's payback but won't elaborate as to what the payback is for. She has another surprise when she sits on his side of the booth right next to him, still playing up the clingy angle.
• There is no one else here so the order pretty much straightaway and Mia is smirking at him after that. So you really didn't know this place is having some kind of late Valentine's Day special and this wasn't some elaborate ruse. Oliver says it would be pretty pathetic of him if he did that intentionally, wouldn't it? Mia thinks about it and then actually agrees with him. Yeah, it would've been.
• He tries to apologize for how this whole thing might have been a bit disjointed and such but Mia doesn't really care. She's having fun is hanging out with them and if he's not in a hurry to make it a big deal or anything then neither she. Oliver is really appreciative about this and he wants her to know that has some issues that makes doing this kind of hard for him.
• Mia senses the change in atmosphere and encourages him to go on. Oliver obviously doesn't give the whole story right now but he just says that he used to have issues with girls and on top of that he's never been very good at talking to other people. He's nervous in social situations, he doesn't always pick up on cues, that kind of thing.
• Mia is supportive and seems to understand this more than she should, asking Stacy really did a number on you didn't she. Oliver gets hung up on the matter and says Stacy was only the start. I did a number on me. Mia get serious for a minute, feeling guilty, and says there's something she's been wanting to tell him for a while now, but their food is ready pretty quick and she gets interrupted. This curtails her courage and Mia is frazzled at herself so she orders an alcoholic drink with a sigh after showing her ID.
• Over tries to follow up on this but Mia is embarrassed and asks him to forget she said anything for now. She needs to work up to it and now wasn't the best time. She mumbles how he might be upset with her and it might ruin the night so she would prefer if they just put it off for now. Oliver respects her wishes but he doesn't think there's anything that could make him upset with her. Mia is despondent saying only you'd be surprised.
• They're interrupted by Mia's drink arriving and Oliver sees a chance to lighten the mood. He gets into the boyfriend role-play and asked her for a sip, saying it's pretty good. He asked the waiter if it comes as nonalcoholic, it does, Oliver jokes that he'll have one of what his girlfriend's having, then, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Of course, sir.
• This has the intended effect and Mia is quite charmed, taking a sip. He points out that if this were an anime she would be freaking out over the indirect kiss they just shared and she casually tells him to shut up while laughing it off.

After dinner

• to their surprise, the dinner was actually really good and they learned that they like this restaurant now. Conversation died out as it usually did when people ate but when it was time for the check they both had something to say about it. Their dinner ordinarily would've been sixty including the tip but because of the special it was only thirty. Oliver wanted to pay but Mia is being stubborn about it. They ultimately agree on a settlement which she enjoys the implications of- she can pay next time. This gets her to be okay with it.
• Satisfied, they leave the restaurant. Mia gives him her address and Oliver starts driving. Mia gets a call from her roommate and future heroine, Zoe. She takes on a slightly despondent tone. Zoe isn't being (that) rude but Mia just asked like that around her. Oliver can only hear Mia's dialogue. She is reiterating that she told her she was going to be out tonight and when she asked if Zoe needed anything before that Zoe said no. I don't care if you forgot to check your mini fridge you stupid gremlin, you should've done that when I asked. Look okay, I'll ask.
• Mia covers her phone and looks Oliver asking hey my roommate is a lazy cunt can we swing by a gas station to pick up some energy drinks. Oliver laughs at how blunt Mia is about it and says sure. Mia lets Zoe know and then the call is over.
• Oliver tries to ask her about Zoe politely but Mia said she's not as bad as it sounds, she's just lazy as fuck and barely leaves her room. That sounds rough but Mia clarifies not as rough as he is thinking. She works from home and in exchange for paying way more than half of the bills Mia takes care of basic household crap and errands.
• Oliver doesn't want to judge and he's just like that's cool with you? She's been her best friends since they were in grade school, reiterating once again that this is normal for them and that Zoe is like a pissy cat she can't bear to get rid of. Oliver jokes that sounds like a very normal and healthy friendship and Mia says it's not all that bad.
• They make a quick stop and they pick up Zoe's energy drinks along with a couple of assorted snacks for Mia, and then they drive off for her apartment. Oliver stops at the curb and the two have a moment together. They're happy and he does the predictable had a really fun time with you tonight thing and Mia simply says that it doesn't need to end so early.
• She cuts him off before he can have any funny ideas, insists that she isn't implying anything untoward. She asks him about a random anime and says she was planning on getting high tonight and watching it. No reason you couldn't come in and join me, those snacks aren't going to eat themselves. He is excited by this idea but asks what about Zoe.
• Mia jokes that once she hands off the energy drinks she won't wsee Zoe for like three days. Oliver questions the logistics of this, specifically the bathroom situation. Mia has personally never seen it but she thinks she crawls around on the ceiling like in the exorcist to get to the bathroom because there are never any piss bottles but she never notices Zoe leaving her room.
• It's tempting but Oliver thinks he's getting overstimulated and Mia kind of realizes this. Too much too soon? A little bit, yeah... that, and he's still pretty damn tired.
• Mia is a little bit pouty but she supposes she can't argue with that. It won't be very fun if he's just going to pass out, so it's probably for the best that they save it for next time. She unbuckles her seatbelt and in a romantic moment she leaned across the seat to rest her head on Oliver's shoulder. Tells him this was nice and she leaves with a smile, telling him to text her later. Plus five affection (90) and new milestone unlocked, hung out with Mia +10LP
• Oliver watches lovesick as she goes into her apartment.
• The moment was ruined by a jump scare as Bradley gets into his car with him asking how it went. Oliver screams, thinking that Bradley was some random carjacker who was about to press a gun to his forehead. He tells him never to do that again. Bradley apologizes but he's excited he couldn't help it. Oliver drives off manually, explaining things.
• they talk about the assist that Bradley gave him earlier. Oliver asks if he can teleport and it's revealed that yes he can go where he's needed. I'm the best wing man, remember. Oliver has to concede that yeah I guess so. He says he was really glad that Bradley didn't show up during the dinner part and Bradley reveals that he's not entirely tone deaf and that he knows when he would be a bother. Oliver is relieved to hear this but he does think Bradley for the help he gave them earlier.
• Bradley says he would've gotten it anyway but he just needed a push. They are outside the apartment now and Bradley asks him a very important question. Did he secure plans with Mia this weekend. Not exactly, but things are looking very positive and they've already agreed to a next time. Bradley asked him if he knows what he needs to do before that. Yeah. She's really close to getting her first heart event and Oliver wants to max out her affection. The next time he asks her to hang out he's going to make sure to phrase it in a way so that it's an actual date.
• Bradley is pleased to hear that and then asks about what they're going to do this weekend. Oliver asks we jokingly. He hasn't thought about it yet but is sure they can think of something. Probably going to try to do art tomorrow with his new purchases. Bradley is supportive and reminds Oliver to let him know if he needs anything and comments about how Oliver probably wants the rest of the night to himself. This is correct, so they say their goodbyes again. Oliver worries about what Bradley is going to do by himself but convinces himself it's none of his concern.
• Oliver showers, he's worn out and his body is aching. He thinks about continuing his dating sim but it doesn't seem that thrilling to him anymore for obvious reasons. The memories of his favorite games weren't going to go away and they were still very much a part of him, but his fixation on what's currently happening is dampening his desire to resume new one. He decides to do nothing at all and instead lays down early, thinking he would get to sleep pretty fast. He doesn't. He's tossing and turning, thinking about Mia. Her smile, the way she teases him, and so on.
• Even jacking off doesn't help him calm down. He tries texting her but she doesn't answer. Makes sense given that she's probably high right now. Doesn't do him any good, as he's worried about fucking this up somehow. He can't sleep, he's afraid, and decides to try and get some of the energy out of his system. He puts on a show and takes out his new dumbbell, deciding to do some intermittent training. He thinks will probably be fine because it's mostly his legs that are hurting and as long as he doesn't push himself he should be fine.
• He gets way too into it for his own good and is doing it for two hours. He has a habit of losing control when his mind is restless like this and by the time he's done he falls back onto the ground. His strength goes up by one, making it his first stat increase. He's proud of this but realizes how stupid this was of him because now he's feeling worse than before. Oliver tries to get up and go to bed but his body isn't responding. He kicks himself in the ass for this before passing out.

Sick day 1

• Oliver wakes up the next morning and is not doing so great. His muscles are still aching and on top of that he has a fever and is sweating. He's really regretting how obsessive compulsive he can be sometimes and is embarrassed about passing out in the middle of the floor. Lucky bastard activates to tell him congratulations, he has a fever of one hundred. Oliver reacts negatively to this, wondering how the hell this is supposed to be considered lucky.
• He sits up and it takes effort to do so, dragging himself to his phone reveals its already noon which he isn't surprised by. He figures he's probably going to need help today and figures he should let Bradley know but then he gets a text message from Mia apologizing for not answering last night as she got pretty high. Oliver has a hunch as to why getting sick might be considered lucky but is vague about it initially, referring to it only as a common trope. There's no harm in trying to see if it works, he figures.
• Oliver responds casually and says it's no big deal while telling her he is sick. Her tone shifts even though it's text, he can feel that she's more serious. She asks him about the details but says fuck it nevermind and just calls him. Oliver reacts nervously to this, he's never been on the phone with a girl before and he doesn't really like phone calls to begin with, but hey, free LP. He accepts the call and Mia starts grilling him for details.
• He doesn't sound good and she's upset when she gets it out of him that he did some dumbbell lifting last night after saying he was tired. Oliver is able to convince her that sleep and implies he was happy because of everything that happened, which Mia is quiet about. She accepts this as an appropriate reason, even if she still wasn't happy. She wants to know if he's going to be okay.
• This is the chance he's waiting for, Oliver thinks. He doesn't want to lead her on or anything but he says he's having trouble getting up which isn't a lie. She asks him about his living situation, if there is anyone who can take care of him, or if he needs someone to take care of him. Oliver tries to say he doesn't want to trouble her but Mia insists she wants to be troubled since it's her fault for making him so overexcited the night before. He laughs at this and decides she has a point.
• Oliver gives her his address and she says she'll be there as quick as she can and asks if he needs her to pick up anything. No, he's good on all basic goods he jokes. Mia ends the call and Oliver is excited about what's going to happen. The big trope he was referring to was girl coming over to take care of boy while he's sick, a classic which he's excited to experience.
• It takes him a second before he realizes there might be a downside. There is a waste bin next to his bed full of tissues and he has multiple types of personal lube on his nightstand. No big deal, he can clean it up, except he literally can't. He tries to get up but keeps faltering. Panic sets in, he wonders why Bradley missed that in his cleaning the other day but he was mostly focused on the kitchen so it made sense.
• Oliver has a realization about Bradley, calls him. Says he needs help and its an emergency. Oliver's door is knocked down and Bradley appears with his phone in hand, dramatically asking what the situation is. This startles Oliver for obvious reasons. Bradley sees Oliver on the ground and notices the fever. Guesses he couldn't sleep and overworked himself. Bradley then gets the idea that he could invite Mia to take care of him and Oliver says yeah that's where we're at right now she's on her way.
• He's like wait, but your cum bin! All of this is really overdramatic. Oliver says he can't get up so Bradley takes the initiative to clean up a little bit, because true bros take out each other's cum bins. Oliver highly fucking doubts that but he's still very grateful. Bradley hides the lube, tidies up a tiny bit, and sprays some air freshener. They debate hiding some of his lewd manga but she probably wouldn't care about that given some of the ones he knows that she's into. He's doing all of this in a hurry since they don't know when Mia will get here. Presumably it'll be a bit but it's better to be safe than sorry.
• Bradley suggests looking into his skills when he gets a chance. He thinks there might be something in tier 1 that can help him prevent this kind of over exhaustion. Oliver remembers seeing Physical Endurance Lv. 1 and thinks it might be worth the investment. It will put him further away from getting selective hearing but training his strength stat is more challenging then doing any of the others. Some help there might be nice and the stat seemed like it would be helpful in other things as well. It's something to think about.
• There's a knock on the door, Mia got here way faster than they expected. shit. Oliver really doesn't want to have to introduce Bradley and is thinking of how to, hide him but Bradley self-sacrifices himself by jumping out the third story window after dramatically wishing Oliver good luck. He can't believe he just saw that and really hopes that he's going to be okay. Mia calls out to him from outside and he says the door is open.
• She comes in and locks the door, explained that she biked here as fast as she could. When she sees how bad he looks she rushes goes to his side. He really doesn't look good, calls him stupid again and says these last couple days have been one things after another with him. She's getting tired of having to worry for him. Oliver jokingly asks why she does worry so much to which Mia quips if she could stop she could. Oliver thinks that's cold. Mia was only joking. She puts her hand on his head confirming that his temperature isn't good. Wants to know if he needs help getting up still.
• He probably needs it yeah. She offers him her hand and Oliver is able to pull himself up. Mia tries to lead him to his bed but he stumbles and falls forward, accidentally pushing her to the ground and mounting her. Her hair is ruffled, her glasses are tilted sideways, and she looks embarrassed. He's confused because he didn't buy Lucky pervert but then realizes these things can just happen naturally, too. The proximity between them is very dangerous and he struggles not to get excited. Mia is quiet for the most part before asking if he plans to get up anytime soon.
• He thoughtlessly asks if he has to. Mia finds amusement in this, telling him not to write checks he can't cash. She helps him upright again and leads him to bed successfully this time. She says to give her a moment while she gets him the basics.

Sick day 2

• Mia and thorough care of him. She got an ice pack from the freezer and wrapped it in some washcloths for his head and brings him a ibuprofen to help with his fever. She double check that he doesn't have any cold symptoms because he has called stuff to do in his medicine cabinet but he's pretty sure it's just physical exertion and not that. She asks if he wants anything else and he's still pretty tired so some coffee would be nice. Mia shoots that down. He's sweating and coffee dehydrates people. He feels dumb for forgetting that but Mia let it pass because he's not at full capacity.
• She brings him some iced tea instead which is much better, only he can't hold it. Mia jokes wow we are really going the whole nine yards today aren't we, offering to hold it to his lips. Oliver guesses so because he can't do it without her. She helps him and he's thankful even if they're both a little embarrassed about it. Mia points out that she doesn't have anywhere to sit. Oliver says there are cushions at the coffee table but as an artist she gets enough pain in her lumbar as it is. Asks if it would be weird if she sat at the foot of his bed.
• Yeah, but it's a good kind of weird. How so? Never had a girl on my bed before. Mia smiles and says she's never been on a boys bed before. Didn't think this would be how it happened but there are worse ways it could've gone down. Things are awkward for a minute after she sits there. The flirting is too much for him and Oliver risks playing his hand early because he's never done this before, but they are picking up right where they left off last night. They're flirting like crazy and it's too much for him to take.
• Oliver tries to broach the subject but is predictably nervous about it. She calms him down saying he can say what he wants she's not going to judge. He wants to know if she finds it weird how well they've clicked these last couple of days. She asks how does he figure. They went from not knowing each other very well to hanging out and... flirting like it was nothing. We are flirting, right? Mia says well I am, are you? Oliver says he's been trying to. She says he's been doing a pretty good job of it.
• Things get quiet and Oliver asks if she thinks they need to have a talk about what's been going on between them. Mia says that would be nice but she's not interested in doing it while he's sick. That's fair. She circles back and says she doesn't find any of this weird, though. We've known each other for a long time. Yeah but we barely talked. Mia says I feel like I've known you longer than that, tries to lead him on to see if this sparks anything, but it doesn't work. This frustrates her but she lets it go.
• Oliver brings up the thing she wanted to tell him yesterday at the restaurant and Mia is evasive about it for a second before he gets a partial truth out of her. She admits that they do know each other longer than that and that she was in the same high school as him. Oliver sweats worse at this. So that's why you know about what happened with Stacy. Yeah. He asks which one because neither of them were good memories. She answers the first one which is the worst answer. He's obviously very troubled by this talk and doesn't like thinking about it. He apologizes that he doesn't remember her but says he tries to block out as much of his high school memories as possible.
• He asks if they ever talked or anything. They were partners on assignment once but otherwise no, but they had a few classes together. He's really sorry because he doesn't even remember that. Mia looks like she has something she wants to say but doesn't. He realizes this means that she saw him during his phase. She doesn't understand and he clarifies he tried to do the whole highschool debut thing you see in anime all the time because he didn't have many friends in middle school.
• Mia thinks that explains the spiky hair and the bomber jacket. Oliver burns even redder, asking her to do one of two things. Leave, or smother me with the pillow. He would prefer the first option but the second one is almost as good. She says she thought he looked cool. I thought I did too, he laughs.
• Things get quiet again and Mia worries if this is some kind of dealbreaker for him. She knows what happened to him back then and would understand if being around someone who's a reminder of that bad period in his life is something he can't get over. It's awkward, but it doesn't mean he's not still into her. It's not like your Stacy.
• Mia can't believe he still worked there after Stacy got hired. She remembered the look on his face when Tessa introduced the new part-timer during morning meetings. You looked like you were going to have a panic attack. I did have a panic attack when I got home that night. He almost quit, but stayed on because he thought it might work as some kind of exposure therapy. If I be around Stacy then I know I've gotten better.
• Mia says he seems to be doing pretty good around her these days. Oliver admits may be a little but he still can't stand her. He doesn't think he can never move past that. Mia says that's valid, you switched schools because of her and everything. Oliver says yeah but the implication is that there is way more to it than just that.
• Oliver asks if there was anything more to this revelation, because Mia made it sound like it was going to be worse than it was. Now Mia is the one being dishonest as she says no that's pretty much it. She apologizes. Shouldn't have sprung this on him when he was sick but it's been weighing on her a lot.
• It means a lot to him that she is honest about it which gets her having a guilty expression again but Oliver doesn't pick up on it. After a few seconds of delay Mia asks Oliver how does Monday sound. For what. We'll have that talk about us then and what's going on between us. Today she's going to hang out with him and take care of him, tomorrow she has to visit her family and she wants to spend more time with her thoughts on this topic anyway, but she doesn't want to keep putting it off for too long, either.
• Oliver's heart is beating really fast but he can tell that Mia's is, too. He thinks that sounds good. He's starting to get a little sleepy all of a sudden and Mia says he should take a nap. Tempting but wonders what she is going to do. She jokes that she's going to go through his laptop and look at his porn. This provokes a dramatic response where he jolt upright and shows no don't, hurting himself in the process.
• Mia laughs at this thinking wow there has got to be some really bad shit in there. She says it's okay, she doesn't judge as long as it's nothing illegal. No, nothing like that. Good. Tells him don't worry, she's into some pretty messed up stuff too. He's nervous about this but manages to ask like what. She blushes but manages to tease he might find out someday. He gets even more worked up and lays back down, declaring that was way too much stimulation for him. She laughs and says my bad.
• He asks what she's going to do and she takes out her backpack, removing some headphones and a sketchbook and pencil bag, saying she'll keep herself busy. Works for him.
• There is a transition to later on in the day. After he woke up he was feeling about halfway better and they had a nice, borderline platonic hang out session were they watched a couple of kung fu movies together at her suggestion. Mia still didn't let him see her sketchbook but it was hard to complain with how nice it was to be with her. She gets a text from her family around seven revealing that one of her brothers got in an accident today.
• She's weirdly calm about this and Oliver tries to comfort her but she's like no this happens all the time. All part of the family business. Which is? If I told you I'd have to kill you. Very funny (is actually a set up for Oliver having a very bad misunderstanding later). Either way, she should probably go and see what that's about. She doesn't want to but it's whatever.
• She takes off for now and tells him to text her later as usual. It was nice hanging out with him and they share a moment resulting in her getting five affection (95). After she leaves he unlocks a new milestone, get taken care of by Mia + 10 LP. He doesn't get a moment alone with his thoughts as somehow Bradley reenters the apartment through the third story window like he's Spider-Man, once again freaking Oliver out.
• Bradley gets filled in on everything that happened and Oliver asks him whether or not he knew that he knew Mia in high school, given how he came from Oliver's head and all that. Bradley said he thought she looked familiar but if you don't have a good recollection of something then neither do I. He wonders why it was bothering her so much, Bradley suggests that maybe there's more to it than she was letting on. Oliver doesn't know and there's not much he can do about it but wait for Mia to tell him herself.
• Bradley suggests that Oliver invest in that skill which will improve his physical condition. Oliver sees the merit in doing this and goes for it, thinking he's been getting points pretty fast so it's probably not a big deal and it will help him increase his strength stat faster. He gets it and get a plus one to strength (two). He doesn't feel that different, maybe a little sturdier but that's it. It will probably show its value in time, Bradley jokes like me.
• They get to talking on what the plan for tomorrow is. Assuming he heals up, Oliver wants to work on spark since he didn't get a chance to today. Bradley probably isn't necessary for that and he would be distracting for that. Bradley points out that he could serve as a model and Oliver is very uninterested in that prospect.
• Bradley tries to go thinking he's served his purpose but Oliver stops him and asks if he wants to watch a movie together since he's not gonna feel like doing anything else tonight. Bradley is obviously happy at this.

Stacy run in

• next day, afternoon. Oliver is fully refreshed now and feeling more on top of his game than ever before thanks to his new skill. His body feels generally stronger and it feels like he has bit more endurance, he's able to jog in place without getting winded for a couple of minutes before someone on the lower floor hits the ceiling and yells at him to quiet down. Before he gets to starting his spark training, Oliver decides on getting some coffee as a treat.
• He leaves and decides to walk there himself, hedging his bets. Mia does just fine on the streets so he's probably overly paranoid of the homeless and is not fair to them that Oliver judges them like that. Besides, he probably has more stamina than them now, anyway. On his way, Oliver wonders if his new skill means an increase to sexual stamina as well. Probably not but it's not like he can openly test that yet.
• As he approaches the coffee shop he blushes, thinking of Mia yesterday. He can't get over that there was a girl in his bed. He couldn't do anything about it, sure, and things between them were a bit complicated at the moment, but if you would tell Oliver a week ago that he'd be hanging out with Mia and almost dating her he wouldn't believe you. He has a contented sigh as he walks inside.
• Lucky bastard activates, saying something like Stacy is in trouble. Oliver takes a hold of the situation. The coffee shop is empty aside from Stacy and one barista. The barista is being incredibly creepy towards her and refusing to give her her order unless she gives him her number and agrees to a date. Stacy is giving him barbed insult, but for the first time ever, it's not working and the guy seems to get off on it. Stacy already paid so she wants her shit, threatens that her boyfriend is meeting up with her here anyway and if he doesn't hurry up he'll kick his ass.
• Oliver is frozen in place. This isn't his problem. Stacy probably deserves this on some level, anyway. He has no reason to help her, not after everything she put him through. He wants to leave, but he doesn't. Oliver acts without thinking, his character when push comes to shove. Even now early in the story he still has a strong core.
• He interrupts this interaction, telling him to just give her the fucking coffee already. Stacy is surprised and when asked, Oliver inserts himself as her boyfriend in this scenario. Stacy leans into this, acting overly affectionate and scared. Oliver is uncomfortable about that but plays it cool. The barista is unimpressed, calling Oliver a shrimp. Oliver has it in him to respond that short people will fuck you up because they have to work harder to prove they can back up what they're saying. He's just threatening enough to make it work but the barista acts like this isn't worth the hassle.
• Oliver says good and then asks for one of 'what his girlfriend's having', setting up parallels with Mia. The man begrudgingly makes another coffee and hands them off. Oliver and Stacy share a quick look at each other before leaving together. When they're outside, Stacy is impressed and amused at how ironic what just happened was. He reminds her that maybe she should thank him instead of bringing that up. Stacy is quiet for a second but she does think him and it is sincere.
• She goes back to saying it's funny how he still can't keep his nose out of other people's business. Oliver shrugs it off and says he just doesn't like seeing people in trouble. He didn't go out of his way to do it for her or anything. Stacy still finds it nice of him and she gains a single point of affection (-49). Oliver tries to deny how good it feels to see number go up and dismiss how cute she looks.
• He then tries to go away without talking to her any further but she takes offense at this, saying he should sit with her for a second. It's not like he has anything better to do. Oliver says I thought you were waiting for your boyfriend, she jokingly dismisses the notion of having one implying men aren't really worth her time. Oliver asks women? Stacy probes him for being invasive but qualifies she's always been a loner. Never had any interest in dating. This kind of surprises him, mumbling something about bad experiences? Something like that. There is some lingering hurt behind her words.
• He counters that Stacy probably has better things to do than hanging out with him and she fires back that maybe she's trying to be nice. It's hard for him to imagine that. He's like what reason do I have to keep talking to you, and he's interrupted by his very first quest notification. 'Ask Stacy for style advice +10LP'.
• Shit, he thinks. That's not the kind of sum he can ignore, he just wishes his first quest didn't have something to do with Stacy. He apologizes for trying to dismiss her and they sit down to have their coffee together at a public table outside the coffee shop. It's incredibly awkward for him and it doesn't help that he looks so out of place next to Stacy.
• He wants to try and maneuver the conversation to ask her for advice but it's not so easy when he literally has trouble looking her in the eyes. Stacy is overly aware of this tension and tries to reach out, asking if she can say something. He asked if she's going to apologize for freshman year. She is nonchalant and says yes. I was a bitch. A worse one than I am now. What I did was inexcusable, and so on and so forth. How sincere of you he says. She's only putting it like that because he's so dismissive of her. He has every right to be, Stacy says yeah I know that's why I've stayed the fuck out of your way ever since I started working with you.
• Tessa told me you told her that you still have issues with me and I respect that, which is why I've tried to give you space and never bother you if I can help it. This makes Oliver waver a little bit and says you bothered me the other morning, yeah because I was worried about you, you little shit. Oliver takes a deep breath and wants to know why any of this matters. If she is content to keep away from him out of respect then why try and to bridge that gap.
• Does she still feel guilty? Is this so she can feel better about herself? Because he's not going to just say hey it's okay when part of him still wants her to feel bad about it. Stacy is taken aback by this. He's not entirely wrong but she doesn't understand why his hatred seems to be THIS deep. She wants to know if she's missing something, and he sort of snaps and says she's missing a lot, yeah. She didn't just bully him hard enough to switch schools, I-
• he stops himself from going on, just vaguely implying that his whole life fell apart because she knocked the first domino over. Stacy gets very quiet and remarks about how that usually all it takes, isn't it. One domino to knock over everything and break you completely. He asks what would she know about that, with her perfect, popular little life. Stacy says nothing at all, but he picks up some sarcasm in that implying is more to what she's saying.
• Things are quiet and she offers if there's anything she can do for him to make up for the help he gave. He doesn't have to like her, but she at least wants to make an effort to show she's not that bad. This seems like the best opportunity to ask for her help- if the mood between them hadn't been utterly destroyed.
• He doesn't want to do it, and the only reason he's entertaining possibility is for the LP. Ultimately, Oliver thinks of Mia and how much good the points might do him. He wasn't going to have another opportunity to ask her like this, so he sucks up all of the negativity he's feeling to embark on his quest.
• He mentions there is one thing she can do for him, bringing up what she said about his hair the other day. Oliver asks if she'd be willing to give him some more detailed advice. There is almost a glimmer in Stacy's eye, as if she's looking at a blank canvas. It feels threatening. She asks if he's doing anything this afternoon. He was just going to go home after this. Stacy invites him to hang out, saying she knows some good men's stylists and fashion stores. He wonders why she would know about that kind of thing. Just because she doesn't do dating doesn't mean she doesn't have male friends she hangs out with. Fair.
• So what will it be? Stacy is giving him a catlike smile, still obviously scheming as she looks at him. Oliver considers all the factors and makes what he hopes is a good decision.

Hang out and spark

• the opportunity was too good to decline. Not only would he get LP for completing his quest, but he would also presumably get the same hung out with LP milestone that he got with Mia. Maybe at the end of it he would be daring enough to come up with a plausible reason to ask for her number as well, even if he didn't really want it.
• Stacy and he walked into a little stripmall, she had a pep in her step and is a little excited despite the previous tension between them. Oliver still had that tension but was continually thinking of the reason he was putting up with this. The first thing Stacy wants to do is get something done about his hair. Oliver is skeptical about any of this but she asks him if he trusts her to know what looks good or not. He has to admit that's probably the one thing he does trust her on, so that's good enough for him.
• She leads him into a men's hair salon. Right off the bat he can tell immediately that most of the patrons here and stylists are gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course, it's just that some places had a pervasive aura of gayness and didn't do anything to hide that. One of the stylists greets Stacy and then some of the others all greet her as well. Stacy is very affectionate with the one that approaches them, giving him a kiss on both cheeks. Asks if she's coming to see the show tonight which she says obviously.
• Probably not going be clarified here but this guy is a drag performer and I'm thinking that Stacy has a lot of friends in the drag scene, sometimes helping with their makeup and stuff. It wasn't in her bio, I'm just thinking of this as I write it. I think that she went to a drag show out of curiosity one time and then started getting into the culture because it gave her a safe place to hang out and the people are very nice to her.
• Oliver feels out of place until he finally gets the spotlight, though the stylist is in disbelief asking if she finally picked up a boytoy. Oliver is incredibly dismissive but she clarifies this is her coworker in the stylist has an oh moment, implying he knows of Oliver. Stacy tells him about what happened a bit ago and he wants some advice on how to be more stylish.
• The stylist is like yeah that's something we can help with. The first thing is to cut his hair and stop getting all your fashion advice from the broom closet. That hurts but Oliver can't argue really. He wants to improve himself and is willing to put up with the jabs. Stacy then questions him about why he wants this anyway and Oliver clarifies he wants to look better to impress someone.
• Stacy mumbles if she actually did it or not, thinking of Mia. Oliver doesn't catch this. The stylist is shown to be very nice and offers to give Oliver a free haircut as thanks for helping out Stacy. He's nervous about this but Stacy pushes him into it, and Oliver concedes because he has to work on style somehow anyway and he doesn't think he knows enough about it to do it alone.
• The haircut passes by quickly. Oliver was somehow talked into a perm along the way and by the end of it he looks like a completely different person. He is very surprised, and on top of that, the stylist and Stacy both gave him lots of tips for how to maintain it and keep it looking good.
• Stacy and the stylist are both pleased with the results and even Oliver has to admit that he looks good. He's nervous about the attention it's giving him, though. He's never really stood out before. The stylist asks if they're gonna do something about his clothes next, Stacy saying she's up for it if he can keep tolerating her company. This makes him frazzled but he's already in this deep. They say goodbye and on their way out she reiterates that he really does look good, gaining another affection point (-48). Her smile is super effective but he doesn't understand why she's being so friendly if her score is in the negative.
• There is a decent men's fashion store a block away and Oliver sets a budget before they start to seriously look. He tries to go up to a hundred but she talks him into three hundred because he really needs the help. She gets one over on him by saying I guess you don't want to impress Mia then? He argues that no one brought her up while Stacy says no one had do. Oliver won't elaborate, she teases him saying he can be coy if he wants to.
• They spend an hour and a half at the fashion store, Stacy treating him as a dress-up doll the entire time as they figured out what looked good on him or not. Oliver didn't understand any of what she was saying, but he tries to remember it anyway because he wants to improve his style stat. To her credit, she was a good teacher and tried to explain things in ways he could understand. He had to admit that she was really trying to help him and he didn't know how to process that. You can't just stop being afraid of the bogeyman just because they're nice to you now. There were years of trauma to work through and Oliver didn't ever think that knot would be undone.
• After they check out with a bunch of bags of clothes, Oliver's style increases by one. This makes him feel all that was worth it and he even says something nice to Stacy as they're going outside now. She thinks that's about enough for today as she has other things to do while she is out. He thanks her. She asks bluntly if he still hates her, and this time he tries to be soft about the fact that he doesn't think he's capable of not but that doesn't mean he's incapable of understanding that she has changed a lot. It's embedded in his psyche and he can't get past that. Stacy apologizes again and offers to help him if he ever needs more advice.
• Oliver realizes this might be a good chance but it's the hardest thing he's had to do all day. He fights against himself before finally asking for her number. Stacy is shocked at this, and not in a good way. Suddenly, she looks like she's on guard. She suddenly loses one affection point (-49) before she defensively asks what for. Oliver is very confused by the shift in her behavior and the seemingly random loss. He says it's about what she just said. Advice. He wants to keep getting better at looking good and it would be helpful if he could text her sometime if he's wondering whether or not something would look good on him.
• Stacy relaxes a bit and instantly regains the affection point (-48), confusing him even further. She says yeah that makes sense, sorry. She gives him his number and then she parts ways with him, leaving him to wonder what that was all about. As she walks away, he gets three notifications. Hung out with Stacy, +10, asked Stacy for fashion advice quest + whatever I said earlier, and got Stacy's number +5. Oliver stored his bags of fashion and started his way home, trying to sort out his complicated feelings regarding Stacy. At least he had a lot to show for today.
• When he gets home he goes back to his original plan, spending his day alone while sitting at his coffee table. he puts on youtube on his tv and looks up simple how to draw things of characters he likes and spends his time poorly following along the instructions until as late at night in his wrist is hurting, he doesn't understand how Mia does it. His spark doesn't go up but at least he has a start. He goes to bed, excited to see Mia tomorrow and have that talk about their relationship.

New work day

• Monday. Oliver is up in the morning and getting ready for work. He staring in the mirror, very unsure about what he's looking at. He doesn't recognize himself and that's kind of a good thing. He uses the advice he got to style his hair the way that the stylist taught him, but because of his lack of experience it obviously doesn't look as good. It's still a big improvement over his old style. He's able to spend a little bit more time on himself in the morning because he can just warp to his job.
• He gets a little carried away, though, and arrives at 7:50 or so. He goes back to the employee's lounge since Mia is probably back there by now. She's not, but Stacy is. She's friendly again and comes up to him, which gets some of the people talking around them when they realize it's Oliver. They don't recognize him and he gets a few compliments from his coworkers. It feels nice, even if he doesn't like the attention.
• Mia comes in, she is running a bit late today and strips off her jacket, putting it on the hook. She joins the circle and she sees Oliver right away and becomes very confused. She almost doesn't even believe it's him at first, and when she realizes she gets maxed out affection and a notification telling him to wait for the heart event to occur. Before he can process that, she calls out to him and if confused about how good he looks, asking him what he got up to.
• Stacy, while not in a super taunting way, teases Mia about how Oliver saved her yesterday and as a reward he asked for advice. He then took her out and they spent the afternoon together. Mia sours at this immediately, losing the 5 points she just got and taking away the HE readiness. Oliver tries to make Stacy take it back and not to put it that way but the damage is already done and Mia is passive aggressive about him hanging out with Stacy.
• She's not being a cunt about it but is aloof, saying she needs to bathroom before meeting. Oliver asks Stacy why she did that and she points out its to help him. How the fuck does that help me. She's jealous. Oliver thinks its conceited to think Mia would be jealous because they hung out once but he does kind of get off on thinking she might be. It makes him feel desirable, and maybe that's what being stylish is all about.
• Mia comes back out and is still giving him the cold shoulder, but verifies that he looks nice. He asks how her brother is doing and she jokes sadly he'll live. Oliver tries to explain that he really just ran into Stacy and he wanted her advice for real, but Tessa comes in and interrupts the conversation. She's about to get on with her usual routine but she stops and looks at Oliver, publicly remarking on what the fuck is she looking at. Oliver is put on the spotlight and he says he's trying something new.
• Tessa stares at him for a second before gaining 1 AP telling him to keep it up. She likes it. Oliver doesn't know how to take that. Tessa clears her throat and says it's a routine day nothing special to look forward to but they do have a new hire to replace Jeff. Oliver thinks that was awful fast but when the person enters into the room he is like oh no because it's Bradley. He introduces himself as Bradley Brody and he's delighted to get to know everyone.
• Mia recognizes him, asking Oliver 'wasn't that guy your friend in highschool'? Stacy does too. Oliver remembers that Bradley claims his creation affected it so that he 'always was', and this is what that meant. Oliver leans into it. Yeah. We still are. He was the one I was hanging out with the other day. Mia is still aloof, 'huh'.
• Tessa thanks Oliver for recommending Bradley to work here and giving her a fine new cog for her well-oiled machine. Oliver accepts credit for it after Bradley winks at him, allowing Tessa to think it was his idea for Bradley to apply. This gets him another 1 AP with Tessa.
• Bradley is Stacy's new partner. The rest of orientation goes as normal, and they get to work.

Freezer incident

• this morning, they are unloading things from the freezer together. It's its own room and lots of things are kept back there. They are coming and going with a little cart, stocking up before things open at nine. Mia is still pouting over him getting close with Stacy and most of his attempts to close the distance have been teasing him for it. Oliver didn't think this would impact his relationship, all he did was hang out with Stacy for a few hours, but Mia wasn't giving him the chance to explain himself.
• After accepting the silence for a little while, he asks her if she'll hear him out. Mia sighs and says she'll get over it later. She knows that there is no reason for her to be upset and she's being irrational but she still doesn't like the idea of him hanging out with Stacy. He'll remember that and promises he won't. She acknowledges this but is still grumpy. After loading up another cart, Mia has him open the door for her. He trips and falls, pulling the handle.
• Lucky bastard activates and says he's stuck in their with Mia, have fun. He's having severe buyers remorse over this damn skill. It's given him opportunities, but none of them have seemed very lucky. Mia gets worried and tries to jostle the door but it's no use. They really are trapped. Fuck. Mia gets out her phone and messages Tessa because the boss is going to take it better from her. She also says she'll take the blame. Oliver is thankful for this but he tries to insist. She won't hear it and says she already took credit for it. Tessa is on her way.
• When she gets there, Tessa is obviously not very happy and demands to know what happened. They can hear each other through the door. She takes Mia's explanation at face value and says she'll call a handyman to come and fix this but it's probably going to take a few hours. Tessa grumbles and wants to know if she can trust in them to behave in there. She doesn't want to have to keep checking back on them but she will if they're going to get into funny business and contaminate the products.
• Oliver is embarrassed by this suggestion and says of course they're going to behave. She begrudgingly accepts this and tells them if it takes more than a couple hours they can have the rest of the day off to make sure they don't get sick. She leaves, leaving them alone. Well, fuck.
• It's only like thirty-five degrees in there but to their sensitive Californian skin it might as well have been subzero temperatures. It isn't long until they are shivering and cold. Their arms were exposed because of the uniform and the only extra protection from the elements they had were their aprons. Mia sits down next him saying there's no point in keeping up her pretenses. Oliver checks to see if this means is she still mad at him and she reiterates that she wasn't mad at him. She's a girl. She gets dumb emotions sometime and she doesn't like the idea of him hanging around Stacy.
• Why? Because she's prettier than me and also I fucking hate her. Are you happy now? No. I thought you hated her, too. How the heck did that even happen? She was in trouble and I thought about ignoring her but... You jumped right in to try and save her? Yeah. Mia sighs, God some things just never change. He doesn't catch that fully but she shakes her head. Oliver tries to make this better by telling her why he did it. He thinks that Mia is really cute and he wanted to try to start putting a better foot forward, only he doesn't know how to do that himself. She was offering if there was any way she could try and clear the air between them and he figured he would ask her for advice. He tells her he wanted to look better for her.
• Mia gets really embarrassed about this. You looked fine the way you were. Oliver teases her on which definition of fine she means but she dismisses it. She gets him to admit that it wasn't entirely for her and that he wanted to look better, too. He hasn't tried to apply himself in any way for a very long time and this is just part of it. Mia thinks that's respectable, but she can't get over the fact that he wants it so bad he would hang out with Stacy to get better.
• Oliver admits that he doesn't think she's as bad as she used to be but he'll never be able to move past the hangups he still has about her. Mia is quiet for a moment before telling him she's cold. So is he. I'm thinking we should do something about that. Oliver is nervous but jokes we might contaminate the products. She smiles at this and says she wasn't thinking of going that far but there are ways they could warm each other up without getting bodily fluids all over the produce. Oliver understands what she's hinting at and despite being nervous he scoots behind her and pulls her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist.
• He unlocks a new milestone, hugged Mia
• They're quiet, both of them awkward, but they both like this a lot. Neither of them say anything for a while until Mia leans even further back into him, pressing her head against his chest. She tells him this is nice. He agrees. She wouldn't mind if this freezer door stayed broken for another few hours, and neither would he. Because of how tender everything is, Oliver thinks this is the best moment to strike. He tells her that he really likes her. He feels her hands touching his arms and she confirms her feelings as well.
• Her affection meter goes back to max and he gets a notification telling him that the heart event is beginning now.
• He's not prepared, he's worried, anxious, but is going to do his best anyway. Mia shifts the conversation and says before they can do anything about liking each other, she needs to tell him the truth.

Heart event 1

• Mia goes back to what they were talking about the other day. She wasn't honest with him when she told him they knew each other in high school. There was a reason she couldn't tell him the full truth and a reason why she was afraid of doing so. There's a real chance you might think differently about me once you know. Oliver is unsure how to take all of this but tells her to try him. She hits him with a sucker punch he really wasn't expecting.
• I was the girl that Stacy was bullying, Ollie. The one you stood up for and got a target painted on your back for.
• This genuinely does shock him and he gets really quiet, prompting her to break their hug and turn around to face him. He almost looks like he's having a PTSD flashback. She tries to snap him out of it, suddenly worried, and he shakes his head and apologizes. This doesn't make any sense to him. You don't look like her. She was-
• fat and covered in pimples? Yeah, I grew out of both of those. Still don't think I'm all that cute but you seem to think otherwise so I must be doing something right. Oliver is quiet. She starts to feel bad. This changes things, doesn't it. I knew it would, but it's not like I couldn't tell you. I was hoping you would recognize me sooner or later but you never fucking did.
• Did Stacy know this entire time? Yes. I went to high school with her for a full four years, Ollie. She stopped bullying me after you did what you did, but she still knew what I looked like. I asked her not to say anything about it because you still didn't know.
• Oliver slumps over and is like I'm so fucking stupid. He's feeling depressive and says some things he doesn't mean. That was the worst decision in my life, you know. I didn't just transfer schools. That whole thing- the bullying she and her friends put me through- Mia, I...
• She tries to get him to say it but he won't. He doesn't want to talk about everything that happened to him after he switched schools. Suffice to say, it was bad. Mia wants to know where this leaves them. She'd understand if he doesn't want to continue to pursue this. Oliver has an emotional, mature a moment where he points out that he doesn't hate her and he never did. Stacy was bullying you. Why would I blame the victim for what happened to me? I only have myself and her to blame.
• Mia says why would you blame yourself. He says not for standing up but for everything that came after. He made a lot of bad choices, but none of those were Mia's fault and he doesn't not like her because of this. He just wishes that he knew sooner. A moment of clarity hits Oliver. So that's why you wouldn't show me your drawings.
• Yeah, they're pretty... distinct.
• Oliver remembers the incident in question. He was still in his high school debut phase, trying to be more outgoing and talk to people. A nerdy girl was being picked on after school, cornered by Stacy and some of her bitchy friends. They were making fun of her for her drawings and for her appearance. Oliver inserted himself into the situation, wrestling back the sketchbook from Stacy. It was full of hard-core hentai. He still remembers what he said to her. "Looks like you're just jealous because she has more creativity than you'll ever have." Something like that, but worded better. Stacy tried to insult him but it bounced off, only to leave shortly after.
• Oliver thought he was in the clear and he helped her a girl in trouble, but all he accomplished was becoming Stacy's number one target, and Stacy was the most popular girl in school. There wasn't a lot she couldn't accomplish, and that included making his life a living hell. Back then, he simply gave me a back her sketchbook and she ran away, nervous and without even being able to thank him.
• Mia looks him in the eyes and tells him something she's wanted to for eight years now. Thank you. Oliver is inspired to hug her again and she hugs him back. He kind of ruins the moment purposefully as a joke, asking her if she still draws a lot of porn. She asks him if he's really going to ask her that now, but he thinks he's owed the right to ruin the moment if he so chooses. That's fair, and yes. She still draws tons of porn and even takes commissions for it online sometimes. No shit? Yeah. If you have a problem with dirty girls, now is the time to jump off the boat.
• Oliver jokes that he's going to duct tape himself to the mast and go down the ship. Mia says wow, that's so lame actually circles back into being somewhat cool. Really? No, but I'm into it anyway. They both laugh and the mood is warm. Oliver has an important question for Mia. Yes, I will go on a real date with you. He looks at her funny for being so presumptuous. Can't blame a girl for trying. No, that's actually what I was about to ask and you kind of ruined my big moment.
• Shit. Pretend I didn't say that. Oliver is kind enough to do so and asks Mia out on a date later tonight. Sound good, what did you have in mind? I have no idea, I'm cold as hell and still in shock from everything you've told me, I just wanted to stake my claim and make sure you knew I don't have any hard feelings towards you. Mia looks at him nervously and says she doesn't think she got the point. He might need to reiterate. She's drawing closer and Oliver's eyes go wide as he processes what is happening. He starts to lean forward too, only for the door to finally open.
• There is an engineer on the other side who has just removed the hinges and Tessa is standing behind him. They see them about to kiss and both of them are extremely embarrassed. Tessa yells at them, what the fuck did I say? No wonder you didn't hear us knocking or calling out to you. Oliver looks at Mia did you hear anything, no, did you? No. It makes them even more embarrassed that they were so far in their own little world but they both smile and laugh at each other.
• Tessa groans that this disgusting display of romance. The engineer got there faster than she expected so she's expecting them both to get back to work after they warm up, asks if they need to get different partners for today to make sure they're able to concentrate. They both promise that they're going to be on their best behavior. Tessa grumbles get out of my sight. The engineer says something about young love after they're gone and Tessa is like I'm sorry who the fuck are you and why do you think I care about what you have to say. He lowers his head sadly.