Apr 24 21:46:42 <LipstickThespian>	To be fair, Austin had never given Yuki his number. So it was more of a bet that she could slip the note under his door and run off before he checked who did it.  Well, she had Miya do it actually.  A note under the door and Yuki was long gone before Austin would have a chance to catch her.  It was kind of creepy that she waited until he was in his room to do it.  'Austin, please meet me in the gym auditorium at ten tonight, -Yuki.'
Apr 24 21:51:36 <Knave>	Austin slides up to it once it catches his eye, snaps it up and flops back onto his bed - currently sitting slap in the middle of the room - to read it. "Oh. Well that's definitely not gonna end with my guts on the floor." He considered calling her about it. There was a curfew, after all, and if she wanted to talk there was no reason not to be... normal about it. Except that Austin was always telling people - and Yuki specifically - to embrace the weird. And he'd be damned if he was gonna be a hypocrite. Gym auditorium at ten, then.
Apr 24 21:56:03 <LipstickThespian>	At ten, Yuki has already been there an hour long after normal gym hours.  Standing around checking her phone for anything that might come from Austin about him bailing.  Still, it's Austin. Like he's ever going to back down from anything ever.  Not likely.  So at ten she's standing in the middle of the polished floor that's sometimes used for basketball, the lights in the gym half off at this late hour to encourage people not to be there.  It's oddly anime, the way a light seems to be framing her like a stage.  Dressed in a dress, an actual dress.  Yellow and princess cut, cut off at the thigh.  White tights, a small little white cardigan and her hair up in a pony tail.  To say she's dressed up would be an understatement, compared to her normal attire she's dressed for a dance.  When Austin comes in she turns and fiddles with the sides of her dress. Waiting for him to get a little closer before dipping into an anxious curtsey that she cuts short and straightens up from instantly.
Apr 24 22:02:23 <Knave>	It's clear from his slumped body language and the anticipation on his face that he'd expected he was coming here to be chewed out for being a generally shitty guy. When he sees Yuki, all pretty and highlighted, his face slides through shock, passes by disbelief and arrives at open-mouthed wonder, but not before an impressive double-take. He clearly doesn't know how to respond to the curtsy, and after a second performs one himself with the hem of his jacket. It's actually rather good. "Hey."
Apr 24 22:09:47 <LipstickThespian>	That was oddly good, for a boy.  What was Austin doing in his free time exactly?  I mean, with the way she dressed him up so easily it might not be as much of a surprise but still.  Yuki's cheeks grow a little red, still not using much makeup even for this.  It didn't matter, but then again she was cheating.  "Hi," she answers then glances down, "Austin-chan. I'm glad you came."
Apr 24 22:13:50 <Knave>	"Of course." He grins, hands in his jacket pockets, standing confidently a few feet away, "To be honest, I'm glad you wanted to see me. I was kinda worried you wouldn't want to talk to me again." He laughs nervously, which is hard to tell from him just laughing for no reason.
Apr 24 22:16:26 <LipstickThespian>	"Of course I want to talk to you again," Yuki says with a bit of a huff and a frown.   "I still have feelings for you, you know." It's only then that Yuki realizes she's just admitting to having feelings for Austin verbally and not just through her actions.
Apr 24 22:19:06 <Knave>	"Oh." And there goes the simple life. He clears his throat, "Wow. I didn't-" Austin stops himself before his tongue ties in knots, taking a deep breath, then locking Yuki's eyes with his own gentle blues, "I have feelings for you too, Yuki." His eyes race over body, "I really should have dressed up..."
Apr 24 22:25:01 <LipstickThespian>	Simple life, in a school filled with teenagers with hormones that they could barely control, and powers that they seemed to have an oddly unique grasp on sometimes in moments of emotional pressure.  Like now.  Yuki held her hand out and in a flash of light a white staff, with pink and gold decorations all over it and a large pink gem on the top appeared in her hand.  "It doesn't matter what you're wearing," she says with conviction, "when I'm done with you you're going to be dressed kawaii~!"  She points the end of the staff at him as she takes what can very simply be described as a fighting stance.  "Don't think I'm going to go easy on you just because we have feelings for each other!"
Apr 24 22:28:55 <Knave>	Austin raises both hands and one eyebrow into the air. "I... I feel like we skipped a page, here." He smirks, but it's coloured with uncertainty, "You're not meant to kick my ass until /after/ I say something stupid."
Apr 24 22:33:12 <LipstickThespian>	"I'm going to kick your ass because you lied to me!" Yuki says as the gem on her staff starts to glow brightly.
Apr 24 22:35:15 <Knave>	"Right." Austin nods slightly. Lied isn't exactly the word he'd use, but he wasn't going to argue semantics. He keeps his hands up, "Whenever you're ready, then."
Apr 24 22:36:16 <LipstickThespian>	"Y-you're supposed to fight back," Yuki says as she grows a little more animated in her anger.  Despite how mild that anger may be.  "Not just let me hit you!"
Apr 24 22:37:24 <Knave>	"I'm not gonna /fight/ you." He says, eyebrows lowered, "I think I've been enough of an asshole already, don't you?" He beckons lazily with one hand, still above his head, "Come on."
Apr 24 22:38:28 <LipstickThespian>	"If you're not going to fight me," Yuki says as she lowers her staff and it stops glowing, "then how am I going to make up for being so mean to you?"
Apr 24 22:41:07 <Knave>	Austin's hands drop to his sides with a soft thwap. "Okay, now I'm not even sure we're reading from the same script." He takes a step forward, and gestures with two fingers between them, "/You/ were mean to /me/?"
Apr 24 22:43:14 <LipstickThespian>	"You're such an idiot sometimes Austin-chan," Yuki says as she plants the staff into the flooring of the gym. Managing to break it a crack, probably the staff more than her. "I made you feel bad because I was too scared to admit my feelings to you.  It's simple, if I had just told you I wanted to date then you wouldn't have done any of those things."
Apr 24 22:45:14 <Knave>	"Well, yeah, I guess." He says uncertainly, rubbing the back of his neck and not really noticing the staff cracking the floor, "But I was still a jerk to you. It's not like I mistook your intentions, I just... I just didn't talk about it because it was fun to pretend what I was doing was fine."
Apr 24 22:48:49 <LipstickThespian>	"It did make me feel bad," Yuki says as she leans on the staff and pouts a little. "I thought that we were having good times together.  I just, got the idea that we were going to be a couple and didn't even think to ask you about it."
Apr 24 22:51:02 <Knave>	"We were. Yuki, you're great I'm just..." He looks off to one side and a hand runs from the back of his hair to the fringe, "Kind of an asshole." His expression is uncomfortable and his voice sounds as ashamed as one can imagine Austin sounding.
Apr 24 22:53:45 <LipstickThespian>	"You are," Yuki says very confidently before she glances down to the floor in front of her and suddenly feels as small as the boy across from her. "But I guess you, ah," she hesitates over it because it sounds kind of weird but Austin is kind of weird anyway. "You're my kind of asshole."
Apr 24 22:55:00 <Knave>	"Huh." Austin says, smiling brightly in reaction. He chuckles a little, "I'm way luckier than I deserve to be."
Apr 24 22:58:46 <LipstickThespian>	"You are," Yuki says as she grips the staff and pulls it free from the floor.  "Why didn't you come to me to say you're sorry, anyway?"
Apr 24 23:02:23 <Knave>	"Well, like I said. I kind of got the impression that you'd rather just never see me again." He develops a sudden interest in his shoes, and his shoulders slump forward as his hands dive into his pockets, "Sorry. I guess I mean I was too busy wallowing in self-pity to man up and say sorry. Sorry."
Apr 24 23:06:52 <LipstickThespian>	"You're such an idiot, Austin-chan." Yuki says with a frown as she watches the boy stand there, she tosses her staff aside and it disappears as quickly as it came.  Then, she walks over to him with as much confidence as she can. Which melts away with each step until she's standing in front of him about as much of a nervous wreck as he is.
Apr 24 23:09:38 <Knave>	He doesn't bring his head fully up, just raises it enough to look at her. And, frankly, if he doesn't stand in front of the mirror practising that move and that look, it has no right looking like it came out of every movie ever aimed at teenage girls. Composed and confident as it is, it probably doesn't help Yuki's confidence any. "Yeah." He agrees with a little nod, and his impish smirk and his rebellious posture. And he wonders why girls like him.
Apr 24 23:14:40 <LipstickThespian>	There's a part of Yuki that feels like it was too smooth, but that rational part of her is lost to the feelings she's been balling up inside her for a while.  That look? It came too easy to him in such a harsh moment that she had to feel a part of it was a play on her emotions, or maybe that's just what the last few weeks had done to her confidence.  She reaches up and hits his chest with a balled up fist, but it's more of a light tap than an actual hit meant to hurt.  Leaving it there to remind herself the two were rather close, and might still be.  "I don't want to ask you out," she says defiantly as she looks at him. "Okay?"
Apr 24 23:18:34 <Knave>	The fist almost looks like it jolted him awake, the calm confidence shattered for panicked awareness that he's probably done something wrong again. "Um," The hand that covers hers on his chest seems to be instinctive, maybe even a reaction to the hit, "Okay." His face wobbles with uncertainty.
Apr 24 23:20:24 <LipstickThespian>	At least they weren't at the point where touching each other was suddenly taboo.  "I want you to ask me out," she says as she looks down at their feet.  "Not now, and only if you really want to.  If you want to be with Tara-chan too that's fine, I'm just not going to wait around for you or chase you. Okay?"
Apr 24 23:22:05 <Knave>	"I-" He clears his throat gently, squares his features, and he sounds serious, like he's afraid to take the situation lightly again, "I guess I'll have to talk to her about it. Probably both of you. I really don't deserve either of you." Without any joke in his voice, it sounds almost lifeless.
Apr 24 23:26:15 <LipstickThespian>	Yuki might actually fight him if he makes a joke out of it again, based on the look in her eyes.  "We get to decide if you deserve us, idiot." She says with some authority on the subject.  "Do you have feelings for her? Real ones? Not just attraction, but do you care for her?"
Apr 24 23:28:03 <Knave>	And now he most resembles a child being chastised. "Yeah." His voice is caught between defensive and nervous to admit it, "She's- Well, you probably don't wanna hear, right?" He tries a smile, but it doesn't take, "You're both great. I- I don't know."
Apr 24 23:31:34 <LipstickThespian>	"Have you two gone out a lot?" Yuki isn't exactly prying but a part of her wants to know, and she really feels like now is the best time to ask. "Does she kiss better than me?"  She looks at him with investigating eyes as she tries to read his face for the answer, no matter what he says.
Apr 24 23:33:15 <Knave>	Austin blushes pink, "Not /a lot/, but we've hung out." He shakes his head softly as he thinks, "No, she doesn't kiss better than you, I guess. It feels weird comparing you."
Apr 24 23:36:08 <LipstickThespian>	"How else are you supposed to decide who you want to be with?" Yuki asks with some sincerity. She honestly had no idea how the other people she had flirted with chose someone else over her.
Apr 24 23:38:45 <Knave>	"I don't know..." Austin grumbles, "But you're people, you know, not, like... competing brands. And I know, I know, hypocrite for getting myself into this situation in the first place. But you both just... you wanted me and I didn't want to say no."
Apr 24 23:42:35 <LipstickThespian>	They were competing, it was just like a dating sim. They both had stats and different dates and plot lines and outfits and how else was she supposed to understand dating?  "You should go with her," she says with some hint of rejection in her voice, "if she cares about you and you care about her. Then it's an easy choice."
Apr 24 23:44:51 <Knave>	"What, just like that?" He throws out his hands plaintively, "I mean, not that I'm offended or anything," He sounds a little offended, "But are you really not that interested in me?"
Apr 24 23:46:33 <LipstickThespian>	"Of course I'm interested in you," Yuki says as she suddenly gets offended he would think so little of her. "But I also care about you, so I don't want you to have to worry about pleasing me."
Apr 24 23:51:40 <Knave>	He looks at her gently, putting a hand on her shoulder, "That's really big of you." He briefly cocks his head, "But it's not that simple. I can't just choose Tara over you just like that." /And I kind of don't think you want me to./ Austin Silver, nonsensically good at avoiding the easy way out.
Apr 24 23:53:27 <LipstickThespian>	"Why can't you?" Yuki seems more like a complaining little sister than an almost adult in the way she's complaining about complicated relationship statuses.  She stares at him like she's challenging him to give her a reason to bring the staff back.
Apr 24 23:58:50 <Knave>	"Because- Because..." He looks at her with growing frustration, then one hand is either side of her head, woven haphazard into her hair, "Because I've got an ego the size of Texas and part of me thinks I can make you happy." He says, all eyes screwing themselves shut and annoyed voice. True to his performative nature, he sounds like nothing more than a big brother speaking out of frustration.
Apr 25 00:02:10 <LipstickThespian>	There's surprise painted on her face at the hands holding her head.  She wants to call him an idiot until the end of times, but Austin did want to make her happy. Or he wouldn't have put up with everything she had done to him over the past few weeks.  He really did care.  "You can make me happy by just being my friend," she says with rejection in her voice.  All she could ever hope to be was a little sister people cared about, but at least she could be in their lives.
Apr 25 00:06:57 <Knave>	He brushes hair around her ear as he pauses to collect himself. He's stood really quite close to her. "Say it again." He says gently, "Say you can be perfectly happy with me just being your friend, and I'll walk you back to the dorm and that's all we'll be. But only say it if you really mean it. Because I really don't like it when people lie."
Apr 25 00:12:04 <LipstickThespian>	It's close, but well, Yuki didn't exactly put on a dress so he would keep his distance.  "You can't do that," Yuki says defensively, "make all of those demands of me.  It's not lying to you if I'm doing it to make you happy you know."
Apr 25 00:13:44 <Knave>	"Yes it is." He says, touch of that sibling-like banter in the tone, "And you know it is. And lying's not okay. And I should have been more honest with you from the start."
Apr 25 00:15:55 <LipstickThespian>	"Lying's okay if you don't want your stupid crush to leave someone he might be happy with," Yuki says defensively as she hits his chest again playfully.  "You're being difficult."
Apr 25 00:17:51 <Knave>	"Well it makes a change of pace." He says chuckling, "And I might be happy with /you/, thank you very much. And I really want you to be happy." He hugs her to him, "Look, I'm sorry, okay. I'm really sorry that I have feelings for you and that you have feelings for me and just.. all of it. Sorry. I'm trying, honest."
Apr 25 00:22:04 <LipstickThespian>	"I am hap-" then Yuki is pulled into a hug with her arms pinned between them and she finds herself blushing and becomming a bit flustered.  "You're really bad at this," she says to him as she's held, "are you sure you're a boy? I mean, you look really cute in a skirt and..."
Apr 25 00:23:30 <Knave>	"Of course I'm a boy," He steps back and lets his arms drop. Touching her probably isn't helping either of them, "Only a boy could be this stupid."
Apr 25 00:24:32 <LipstickThespian>	Well, distance at least lets her breath. Yuki takes a step back as well.  "You are really stupid."
Apr 25 00:25:48 <Knave>	"It's my secret second superpower." He winks, and grins, "Stupider than a drooling terrier."
Apr 25 00:28:10 <LipstickThespian>	"You wanted me to be honest, right?" Yuki says as she holds her hands in front of herself.
Apr 25 00:31:17 <Knave>	"Always." Austin says back earnestly, hands finding their way to his trouser pockets.
Apr 26 22:54:12 <LipstickThespian>	"You should be with Tara-chan," Yuki says very plainly, "it's only fair to her."
Apr 26 22:54:53 <Knave>	His face twitches into boyish confusion, "And how do you figure that, exactly?"
Apr 26 22:58:37 <LipstickThespian>	"Even if we don't end up dating," Yuki says with some girlish clarity, "I'll still have my fiance.  She might not be lucky enough to say the same."
Apr 26 23:01:44 <Knave>	His brow furrows, the gears turn. "You mean..." He cocks his head, the confusion on his face also tinged with just a little panic, "You've got a- You have a- You're engaged?"
Apr 26 23:05:39 <LipstickThespian>	Yuki nods her head and smiles like it's the most normal thing in the world for a girl her age and as innocently adorable as her to be engaged.  "Yes, which is why I think it's the right thing for you to date her instead of me."
Apr 26 23:09:12 <Knave>	Austin looks up at the ceiling for a little bit. The way he exhales kind of uncharacteristically intensely for a second before returning his gaze to Yuki might clue in more perceptive viewers to his train of thought. "Sure. Yeah. I guess that makes sense."
Apr 26 23:12:00 <LipstickThespian>	Yuki watches Austin's reaction with a bit of interest, her mind wanders a few places and eventually it settles back on Earth.  "I'm glad you understand," she says with a nod. "You might be an idiot sometimes, but no matter what you're always sweet."
Apr 26 23:15:55 <Knave>	He smiles, blushing a little, "Thanks. That actually means a lot coming from someone who's taken the full brunt of my being an ass." He nods softly to himself, then plays with the back of his hair, "So, uh, you want me to walk you home? As, like... friends?"
Apr 26 23:18:06 <LipstickThespian>	Yuki and Austin had become veterans of a war of emotional turmoil between the two.  Still, the highs were very high, and the lows were very far between.  "I'd like that," Yuki says with a nod as she grabs her bag from the floor and waits for him to lead the two out of there.  "Thank you, Austin-chan. For everything you've done for me."  There was a genuine character to her voice and a
Apr 26 23:18:07 <LipstickThespian>	smile on her face that spoke of much warmer days than the cold autumn night they were going to walk into.
Apr 26 23:20:29 <Knave>	"Hey, it's what I do." He chuckles, walking backwards out of the gym hyper-casually. He was still Austin. As usual, if he'd learned anything, he wasn't in a hurry to let it show.
Apr 26 23:23:19 <LipstickThespian>	-scene friendzone-