"Dude, are you seein' what I'm seein'?" his friend asked him.
He removed his headphones, hitting pause on the volume control button on his headphones. Begrudgingly, he put his cup of soda down and stared at his friend like he was an angry parent.
"See what?" he asked, covering up his urge to shout at him for not keeping his incessant talking to the bare minimum.
"A person over there." His friend pointed to a busy crowd of children, adolescents, and adults.
"Gee, that really narrows it down," he said sarcastically.
"Oh shut up. I think there's this girl-" There was a sudden gasp that was loud enough to be a gunshot.
Though, a sudden gunshot was a bit more tolerable on the ears.
"Starry Night, you're not checking out another girl, are you?" she asked.
Sunny Day was her name. The people at his school actually thought she was like a bright, sunny day. Probably where the name came from. However, he couldn't see it. To people like him, she was more comparable to a bad migraine headache than an actual sunny day. When his friend, Starry Night first told him about his new girlfriend, he expected to meet a blonde, unhumanly cheery, somewhat pretty, and dopey girl who would giggle at random intervals of the day. Instead, he met a brown-haired, yellow-skinned, humanly cheery, girl with a face that should have belonged to a fat girl.
Actually, now that he thought about it, she would have looked better if she was fat.
Sunny Day was not that memorable of a person. If you met her and then parted ways, you would have forgotten her name the second the thought of her came to your mind after that, if you thought of her at all. Her voice alone was enough to make him fall asleep before he could finish describing her.
"Of course not, baby, just pointing something out."
"Oh, okay." She placed a kiss on his cheek, which his friend returned. Sunny snuggled up to Starry Night, placing her head on his friend's neck.
He hated her. There didn't seem to be a single intelligent thought flowing through her head. He couldn't buy her as a real person. She was as annoying as a fly and looked like a rat. What did his friend even see in her?
"There's this girl over there with the biggest hair I have ever seen! Look at the cafe, and then look south from there."
After some searching, he saw it. In a crowd of people of all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors, there was this one that stood out. There was this girl with... really, really big hair. The hair looked like she had been out in the heat longer than she should have. And it wasn't even that hot out. It was approaching spring, and these parts weren't well known to have many sunny days. Maybe one, but she doesn't count. The hair was orange, with streaks of yellow throughout it, and a purple tiara restraining the flow of even more hair. If that was even possible for her.
He could barely believe his eyes. There she was. Just sitting there like she was a normal human being. She couldn't possibly be that. That hair spoke volumes, speaking about how she came from an alternate dimension where everybody had gigantic hair.
"She's going to be devoured by all that hair," Damon commented.
"Ew, that's scary!" Sunny said.
He wanted to smack her. And he almost did. But you can't just slap somebody in public. You had to do it at home.
Adagio Dazzle.
How the mighty doth fall.
"Why would you want me to put that in my mouth?" Adagio asked her... less than intelligent friend, Sonata Dusk. Or as Adagio liked to call her, 'Sonata Dunce.'
"Oh come on, tacos are great!" Taking another bite of hard-shelled cancer with lettuce, Sonata continued talking with a full mouth. "Just a bite."
"One bite is probably enough to kill ten men. Besides, I've had my fill." A plate of a half-eaten ham sandwich lay before her. She had lost her appetite after Sonata had sat down and begun chowing down on her... taco. Adagio found it difficult to even utter the word in her head.
"Suit yourself." And with another large bite, the taco was gone, like dust in the wind, like snow in the summer, like your dead relative, like her self-respect, like her pride, like her connections to home. Gone.
Like her powers. Gone.
"Where's Aria?" Adagio asked.
"Probably still getting her food." Sonata looked around for Aria, seeing no sign of her. Until she spotted her sitting at a table. With somebody else.
Sonata giggled softly. "Found her!"
"Where?" Sonata pointed out the pig-tailed girl at a nearby table, sharing some words with a stranger. A male stranger. One that didn't look all too bad. Gray hair, and a dark yellow skin tone. Aria was smiling, nodding her head and laughing at the things the stranger said.
Wait, Aria's laughing?
Adagio stared, awestruck. It was like she was watching a dog giving birth. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't turn her head away.
"What?" Adagio questioned.
"Aww, who knew that Aria would end up liking somebody?" Sonata giggled over the aws.
"Oh please, how do we even know that they like each other? They're probably just... just-"
"She looks happy!" Sonata clapped.
"Happiness is like a firework. Brief and pointless. Eventually, she'll come back to us as her usual, 'you're the worst' attitude," Adagio snapped.
“I don’t think so. Look.”
Adagio looked back. The both of the supposed loves birds stared at one another not breaking eye contact, not saying a word to each other.
"Are... are they just staring at each other?" Adagio asked.
"Oh, they're staring into each other's eyes! That's so cute!"
"How is that cute? They're not even doing anything!"
"That's because that you don't even have any experience with romance. Everything is cute when you're in love!"
Adagio almost reached over the table and strangled her. "Love isn't real."
"Oh, don't be like that!"
"Well, it's true. It's not like denying that fact and believing in it with all your heart is going to make it true. That's like ignoring your dead cat. Thinking that denying the fact that he's dead we'll bring it back to life. It just doesn't work that way."
"With magic that's possible."
Adagio put her fingers to her temples and began rubbing. "Why do we keep you around?"
"I don't know. Oh, because I'm the adorable one!" Sonata smiled.
Adagio groaned even louder.
"I love you, Starry Night!" she said after he said something only mildly funny.
"I love you too, Sunny Day!" The two kissed like their lives depended on it.
He groaned as the sucking grew louder. The image of them locking lips and throwing up into each other's mouths was interrupting his... hairy thoughts.
That hair...
It wasn't until a particular sucking noise had drawnhim away from the hypnotic hair. When he did, he felt like he had just sinned. These two were giving him a headache that could only compare to the headache that they gave him last week.
"Oi, no public display of emotion," he said coldly.
"Oh come on, don't be jealous like that," Sunny said.
"Yeah, the day I get jealous is also the day I start liking pop music."
"We just love each other. Don't you believe in love?"
"No, I stopped believing in fairytales a long time ago."
Starry Night only offered a small smile. After spending most of high school with him, Night was used to his darker attitude on life and cynical attitude. By now, it was almost becoming funny to him. Much to the chagrin of his girlfriend.
"I'm sure that if you gave romance a try, you’d see that love is really great.”
"Okay, sure. And then I can go jump off a building and pursue my passion of trying to give people random air hugs."
She stood up and slammed her hands on the table. "You know what, I think that you're just scared of asking somebody out."
"Yeah, and I'm also scared of ladybugs and felt."
"He's not denying it." She sat back down, acting like she just won an argument with Stephen Hawking.
"Say what you want to say, believing that something is true doesn't mean it is."
"You know, ever since we lost our powers, I've felt... really weird," Sonata suddenly said.
"That might be the taco." Adagio tried to return to her thoughts.
"No, it's something different. Like, I'm -"
Stupid?
“Like... I’m less strong.”
“You mean weaker?”
“No... I mean not as strong as I used to be.”
“Weaker?”
“Stop saying words that aren’t words. I mean that I don’t feel the same as we did back at the school.”
“We lost our powers, of course you feel different.”
“But there’s something else.”
“What else could we have lost?”
“Our live forever powers.”
Adagio didn’t say anything. There was a moment where the world seemed to be slowing down around her, making everything happen in such intricate detail. The cars zooming by on the streets were moving at the pace of walking, the crowds of people who were once bustling around at the blink of an eye were taking steps so slow, a snail would have enough time to get out of the way. The words coming out of people's mouths around her were fresh, brand new, but she didn't recognize them as words. Everything that came out of people's mouths was a garbled mess of junk. Nothing made any sense to her anymore. What the little creatures crawling on the ground were was unknown to her. Where she came from, what her name was, what bloody world they were even on were the scariest questions to her for a moment.
When everything returned back to normal, the cars going back to their normal speed, the bustling crowd saying things that were comprehensible, the simple questions that she had were all answered again. But she recognized that she was just asked a question.
"Adagio, are we... mortal?"
That word was possibly the most terrifying thing Adagio had ever heard. She didn't even want to answer the question, it scared her so much. But Sonata would only beg the question more and more until she finally got the answer she craved. Adagio didn't know. Nor did she want to.
"I-"
Aria sat down next to the two. Her usually scowl stilled stapled onto her face instead of that unusual smile that people seem to have on their faces.
"What were you doing over there?" Sonata asked Aria.
Adagio was glad to get the awful question off of the table, even if it was brief. Adagio hoped that it would stay that way.
"I was trying to see if our powers were still working. This guy came up to me and asked if I wanted to eat lunch with him. I thought he was under our spell or something, because of the way he was acting. But it turns out that-"
Sonata giggled. "I get it."
"Get what?"
"Under our spell. You know, like our song that-"
"Put a sock in it, Sonata. Anyways, the guy just wanted to have lunch because he thought I was... attractive. Physically."
"Ohh, somebody was crushing on you!" Sonata almost jumped out of her seat to point that out to everybody within a mile radius.
"Shut up! It's not like I actually liked him back!" Aria looked down, forcing her hands into her jacket pockets.
If it wasn't absolute frightening, Adagio would have thought it was cute. Adagio could always tell when she lied. It was when she looked down and out her hands in her pockets, that always gave her away.
Perhaps they've been with the each other for too long.
"You're lying," Adagio said.
"What, t-t-that's not true!" Aria didn't even make eye contact.
"Oh, don't act like it's a bad thing. After all, what's there to do without our powers?"
Aria sat down, staring off into the distance, a frown on her face. But through the darkness of her frown, there was a certain light shining through it. It was faint, it would have escaped anyone's sight if they just glanced at it for less than a second. It was rare to see it, but when the light was seen, it was like something special had happened.
The light of a smile.
"I wish I had a boyfriend like she did." Sonata wistfully smiled.
"Wasn't my boyfriend! He wasn't anything!" Aria cried.
"I don't see why you would want one. It's not like they'll do you any good," Adagio said.
"It's better than just waiting for our powers to come back," Aria said, still staring off into the sky.
"Well it might mean something to you two, but it's nothing but a bunch of garbage to me."
"Don't be like that. I'm sure love means a lot to people," Sonata said.
"That isn't love! And besides, if it means so much, how come everybody here doesn't have a romance blooming. Look around you."
Adagio gestured all around her, turning herself around and looking around for one, just one couple. She didn't find a single one. Just as she thought.
"I can answer that!" Adagio put both hands on the table. "It's because most everybody here knows that romance is something for the weak, and stupid."
"Didn't the Rainbooms back at the school defeat us? They're good, and I guess that makes us evil," Sonata asked like a second grader asking his teacher if teddy bears were real bears.
"They might have won a battle in a war, but the war doesn't end until somebody important dies and their side dies with them."
"If we're fighting in a war, then why aren't we wearing those soldier clothes that people wear in war?"
"It's not that kind of a war, Sonata. And I thought somebody as dumb as you would have figured that out by now."
"Yeah? Well... Your hair is dumb." Sonata defended herself with as much ferocity as a gerbil.
Adagio slowly clapped. "Adorable. Just adorable."
He continued to stare at her big hair while his two "friends" bantered about something. Something stupid, probably.
I think I've seen her before.
"Hey, why do you isolate yourself?" she asked.
He would have ignored the question if wasn't for the fact that the question has been asked more than once that day. He would have let the question fly by if she didn't catch it and throw it back at him every time. She was about as stubborn as a stupid girlfriend.
Oh, right.
"Can you take your nonsense elsewhere, I'm kind of busy," he said.
"Busy doing what? You just look like you're staring into a crowd."
"I'm thinking. You should try it out sometime."
Starry Night had to fight back a laugh, but it was a struggle not to let something out. He squeaked like a mouse.
"You know what, I bet the reason why you're so bitter is because you don't have a girlfriend!" Sunny Day beamed like she had the winning accusation in a game of Clue.
"What makes you think me being bitter is because I don't have a girlfriend?"
"Everybody I know is always cheerier when they're in a couple. I know that for a fact."
"Why, because you've been in an unfulfilling relationship with a nimrod?"
"Hey!" Starry Night shouted.
"What, you know it's true. You couldn't even count to forty if I wasn't there to help you!"
"Shut up!" Starry Night slammed his fists on the table.
He soon noticed that Starry Night was attracting a crowd. People all around them were staring in their direction, or even giving a quick glance to see what all of the commotion was.
Adagio heard something from behind her. It was a loud banging sound and some shouting to go along with it.
Contention, she thought to herself. A smile crossed her lips.
Turning around, Adagio saw two boys shouting at each other.
"Isn't it such a beautiful thing when you see anger around you when we don't even cause it?"
Aria and Sonata supplied a groan and a "not really."
"What do you mean?" Adagio sat back down.
"It's just bittersweet, that's all," said Aria wistfully.
"Yeah, it's just not as good as it used to be," Sonata said while playing around with her empty plate.
"Well, it's better than romance by a long shot!"
"You're still on that?" Aria groaned. "You know, I think that you think that anger and negative emotions are better because you haven't experienced what love really is."
Words like that? Coming from her? The audacity.
"Oh please, anything can beat a dinner with a bumbling idiot."
"No, there's much more to it than that!" Aria slammed her fist on the table.
"What, are you admitting that you had a silly little romance blooming with you and Romeo over there?"
"You know what, I do. While I don't know what love really is yet, I've only ever gotten the smallest taste of it. And that's more than you've ever gotten in your entire life!"
"Are you saying that I'm not good enough to get a date?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying. I bet you couldn't even get somebody to even sit at the same table as you."
"Oh please, I’m willing to bet that any guy here would practically gift wrap himself just to get with me.”
“Prove it.”
"Fine, I will."
Adagio looked around. If she was going to do this, she might as well find somebody that at least looks somewhat attractive.
It was nearly a fruitless effort, but it looked like luck was shining on her today. She glanced to where the noise from earlier came from. There was a brown-haired girl telling some guy off. The guy she was yelling at just looked up at her, not making a move. He looked bored like this had happened to him often. He started looking around. And for a moment, just one tiny moment, Adagio’s and the guy’s eyes met.
The guy’s head quickly turned back to the girl who was yelling at him. Adagio smirked.
“I accept your challenge. You’ll be the epitome of jealousy.” Adagio said, turning around to face Aria.
“Yeah, and Sonata will then get a Ph.D. in Psychology.”
“Really?”
“No, not really!”
Adagio left the two to bicker and argue as they always did. With confidence, she strode over to her prey.
"Should I have put money on it," Aria lamented
"Totes."
"You know what, fine! Be all alone! See if we care!" Sunny grabbed Starry Night's hand and dragged him away, slamming her feet with each step she took.
"Thanks! That's the best thing I've heard all day!" he yelled.
"Why do you even hang out with that creep?"
"I don't even know anymore." Starry Night looked back at him one last time before he disappeared into the crowd.
He slumped back into his chair, a smile on his lips. Finally some peace and quiet!
He stuck his headphones back into his ears, cranking up the volume up to its limit. The world around him went silent, and the noise was replaced by his ecstasy.
As he finished his food, he found himself staring at that girl's hair again. He didn't even know he was staring at her again. It was like the hair was catching his line of sight and making him stare at it. If he wasn't careful, she would have spotted him staring at him.
The voluptuous, curly, inhuman hair called out to him like a baby late at night. He couldn't just ignore something like that. He had to go take care of it, love it. He would do anything to make the baby stop crying. He would have died if he didn't do anything about it. But Anon could only sit and wait idly by as the hair continued to cry. And even though hair can't make any noise at all, he could have sworn that is making the most horrendous noise he had ever heard in his entire life. And if he didn't do anything about it the painful noise would play out forever.
That hair... is beautiful.
Oh good Lord, is she coming over here?
Confidence had been beaming off of Adagio's figure since she left the others. Estrogen was being catapulted off of her hips with each step she took. She could feel eyes of both male and female individuals on her like they were flies on an old banana peel.
For the first time since the Battle of the Bands, Adagio felt like all of the eyes were on her. The feeling of adoration and praise was like a warm bubble bath. It fueled her up like a car. She hit the gas, speedily striding over to the boy.
But as she got closer and closer to her destination, her steps became slower and slower to the point of stopping. Her madwoman confidence was fading away into oblivion like a coward going back to his headquarters. She felt that she was shrinking down to the size of an ant. As titans stepped around her, she felt that one was going to squish her, leaving a puddle of blood and forgotten bones.
Adagio fought back the feelings. She came this far, she might as well go the rest of the way. And besides, he was already staring at her the entire time.
The girl with the really big hair sat down at the table, staring him down.
He stared back at her, perplexed as an average male can be. She pulled up on of the empty seats and sat herself down as elegantly as she could.
"Can I... help you?" he asked.
"Yes... you can," she snarked. "I have been sitting at a table all alone-"
"No, you weren't."
"Shut up. Anyways, I was sitting around, talking to my... sisters, and I thought, I really need to get into the "social" thing that the kids are doing-"
"Aren't you one of those kids?"
"Shut up. Anyways, I saw that scuffle you had with that girl earlier, and I thought to myself, there shouldn't be two lonely souls here. Specifically, a boy. You. And a girl. Me."
He just stared. "You're new to this, aren't you?"
"Look, the least you could do is chuckle a bit or something."
He looked over the girl's shoulder. He could see two girls at a table some few hundred feet away from them. A light blue girl with a big ponytail looked in another direction, shoving a taco into her face. A purple girl with big pigtails looked away as well, stealing a couple glances when she thought that he wasn't looking at her. He diverted his attention back to the girl in front of him and smiled without his teeth.
"So, let's start with some pleasantries. My name is Adagio. Adagio Dazzle."
"...Damon."
She chuckled. "Cute name."
"Oh please. You're calling mine cute. Doesn't adagio mean slowly?"
"Yeah, but I prefer one of its other definitions. A love duet in dance." She leaned forward as if hoping for a kiss.
"This seems a bit contrived."
"You can't force this stuff, darling. Now, what could I do to make your day... better?" Adagio bent down, letting her most prized possessions be exposed for all the world to see.
She had it in the bag now. No man can deny his inner lust.
Damon's eyes started to drift south. Then a little east. The hair was captivating him. Instead of staring at the object of every man's lust, he stared at the hair. Seeing it up close it was like he was looking at her bare chest. He felt drool forming in his mouth. He snapped out of his trance and managed to form some coherent words in his mouth.
"It would be better if you sat down," he said.
Adagio growled silently, hiding her angry face with her "cute" face. "As you wish."
Damon adjusted his line of sight to make it look like he was staring at her face when he was really staring at her hair. Why did he want to smother himself with it? What chemical or otherworldly magic had him stuck looking at her hair?
Come on, Adagio! What is some way that you can make this idiot fall for you? What if... What if you start out slower? General chat. Yeah. I'll lure him in and when he least expects it, I pull him into my domain and devour him!
"Listen, I don't know how to tell you this, but," Damon said quietly. "Your hair is really big. Like... what did you even do to make it that big."
"...My mom tells me that I just showed up like this. Straight from the womb, I had giant hair that nobody could control. Honestly, it's a bit of a blessing."
"I can't help but stare at it."
"Oh, um... hmm... What are you listening to?" she asked.
Damon took the headphone out of his ear and looked at it like he didn't realize that the thing had been in his ear this whole time.
"It's... uh..."
"No need to be shy about it." Adagio plucked the headphone from his fingers and stuck it in her own ear. The music was loud, but Damon adjusted it to a more suitable volume.
There was an electric guitar riff playing alongside what sounded like an orchestra. The drummer definitely took some happy pills, because he was hitting the drums at the speed of light. The riff ended, and a man started singing. If you call screaming singing.
Typical outcast, Adagio thought to herself. Still, he is kind of cute.
“Interesting,” she said with a conniving smile.
Damon looked beyond her. Again, those two girls were staring at them. The very light blue one played with her thumbs, making a jumbled drum solo on her chair. The purple one just eyed Damon and Adagio with placid concentration. Her arms were folded and her legs with crossed. Dots connected in Damon's head, and he realized what was going on.
"So... umm..."
What is wrong with you? You're better than this! Adagio mentally shouted.
"Um..." Adagio pondered.
Damon justed stared off into the distance like he was in a trance. Adagio stared at him with unexplainable interest. She thought about the obvious before, but it was pushed away by her own brain. Damon really was kind of cute. I guess there's nothing too bad about this.
What? No, don't think like that! You're just trying to prove something, there's no-
Damon suddenly spoke up. "What of music do you listen to?"
Adagio froze. The question came out of nowhere, like the unexpected car that comes around the corner and hits you. She managed to collect enough of her senses to make a comprehensible answer.
"I'm partial to all kinds of music. But I tend to listen to stuff that I'm recently exposed to. For instance, my sisters like to listen to a lot of pop while driving."
"Never really liked pop. I do like a couple songs from the genre, but as a whole—" Damon shook his head.
"Me too. I just listened to it for... reasons."
"Like?" Damon questioned.
Adagio had to think about the answer. What are you doing, you idiot? Answer the question, it’s not like your life hangs in the balance.
“I... performed some song for... my school."
"I see. Are you feeling kind of sick of it now?"
"Oh, don't even get me started!" Adagio stated. "I actually write my own songs, and I expect a much more grueling challenge when writing the stupid thing. But instead, I just have to write the same line over and over."
Damon smiled. He placed both of his elbows on the table and put both hands under his chin. "That's exactly how I feel about it. There's not even much to really think about when listening to them. It's just explicitly telling us things instead of letting the listener come to their own thoughts and interpretations of it."
"And most of them are just talking about banal parties."
"And basically reusing the same phrase like it's supposed to mean something."
"So instead of putting more effort, they do that because they can't be asked to do something more."
"How about instead-"
"-of throwing the same crap at us-"
"-you actually write something deep and-"
"-inspiring, that makes people think."
"Enthrall-"
"-me."
The two strangers looked up at each other.
Adagio looked down at the table, blushing. Damon did the same. His smile wanted to show itself, but he held it back. Damon never thought that his smile never looked any good, so he just wore a permanent scowl on his face. He's been doing that for far too long. Maybe now it's finally time to start expressing some feelings.
"Where, uh... where do you live?"
"A bit personal," Adagio teased.
"I mean... I don't know what I mean. What city are you from?"
Adagio hesitated. She had nearly forgotten about the backup plan that she had prepared for a situation like this. Usually, it was just to serenade them and make them forget all about it, but Adagio knew the strategy wouldn't work one day. She just didn't expect it to fail this soon.
"Baltimore. I'm just here for... family reasons. There was this guy that my... mom married... let's just say that he's not the greatest guy when he's drunk." Adagio did her best attempt at something that she liked to call "the past hurts." Looking down at the ground. Closing her eyes. Sniffling softly. It was the perfect way to make anybody feel sorry for her. Her hand moved to the table, acting as a pillow to rest on if she really wanted to hit it out of the park.
He didn't say anything. There was no way he could have possibly prepare for this. Here was this girl, a good looking one at that, (especially her northern hemisphere), sitting in front of him, looking like she was about to cry. Damon didn't think anybody knew how to handle a situation like this. He didn't even think people who have done this before really knew what to do.
With his non-existent experience with romance, he decided to go for physical contact. Hopefully, she wouldn't slap him. The last couple times he tried to hug somebody, he was slapped. Hopefully now would be different. She came to him, so she couldn't possibly react negatively.
As Adagio readied herself for the final part of her plan, she felt something warm place itself on her hand. She looked up.
"I'm sorry," he said with a reassuring look in his eyes.
Adagio felt her fake tears do something odd. It felt like a straw was sucking them back into her eyes. The dry tears became moist in less than a second. They left her eyes the moment they were ready. She felt inclined to put her hand over his. But she quickly threw that thought away.
Just bring your hand back, you idiot. It's not rocket science.
Adagio reluctantly brought her hand back to her side, unclenching her fist.
Unwillingly, she felt her lips form a smile without her consent. There was a word coming out of her mouth that she didn't recognize. She tried sounding it out in her mind.
Th...Tha, thah-
"Thank you."
Damon smiled. It worked? It worked! Okay, now let’s trying steering away from the topic at hand.
“Do you have any favorite songs?” Damon asked, keeping his smile away from his face.
"That's... a tough question," Adagio wiped away the tears from her eyes. She held down her surprise as best as she could. How was she feeling something that strong from a lie? More importantly, what was that feeling in her gut? "I mean, that's about as hard as... picking a candy in a store when you were a kid."
"I can agree with you on that."
The tears were finally starting to disappear. "Then why bother asking."
"I've been to a lot of dances, more than I'm willing to admit. Every girl I danced with asked me that question."
"Girls? You never went to a dance with a specific girl?"
"Nope."
"Oh. Well, I... find that very hard to believe."
"Don't start getting flirty with me. That ship has sailed, and sunk."
"Fine. You can't blame a girl for trying."
Damon looked back to those girls who were staring at the two of them. One of them, the purple one, was tapping her chair and stamping her feet. The look in her eyes was practically piercing into the back of Adagio's back.
The other one seemed content to do anything random.
He analyzed the way the purple one looked at her. His suspicion was correct. As much as it pained him to confront her about what she was here to do, he had to do it. Not yet. But soon.
"Listen, uh... I need to say something. The real reason I-"
That was it. That was all it really took to make a silence so unbearably still and tense melt away to reveal the unspoken connection the two shared when their gazes met.
A good fifteen seconds passed.
Don't forget what you're here to do.
As much as she hated to do this, she decided to seal the deal with a kiss full of lies.
She came some close to scoring a home run. So close, that if she was wearing glasses his breath would have started fogging them up.
Before she could plant the seed, Damon put his hands over her mouth. He let out a long sigh like he wasn't prepared to do something. Adagio was afraid she knew why.
"You're just here to prove something, aren't you?"
Adagio looked up. For the first time, she had a connection. A real relationship with somebody. Even though it was a small, minuscule one that stood upon the clouds, doomed to fall and splatter on the ground. She didn't want it to leave her. Not in a million years.
"...It's true."
"You shouldn't feel too bad. This isn't the first time that this happened to me."
Adagio let the tears fall like icicles from the ceiling. "Really?"
"No." Damon shook his head.
Adagio almost started sobbing. There was no chance that he was going to accept her after that. She was heartbroken.
"What were you going to say?" he asked.
"I... I was going to say that I was just here to... prove something."
"...Eh, at least you tried to apologize."
Adagio looked up. She felt like a school kid learning that the test she failed wouldn't be counted on her grade.
"If you're willing to-"
"Can we start over? Real emotions, real talk? Please?" Adagio asked.
"...Yeah. Why don't we, uh, meet up and... I don't know, catch a movie?" He said, not thinking straight.
"Okay! Let's do that."
Adagio and Damon smiled at each other.
"Can I get your number?" Damon asked.
"Oh, yeah... sure." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone. It was an old phone, but it certainly got the job done.
Adagio told him her number, saying that he's welcome to call her at any time in the day.
They both said their goodbyes as hesitantly as they could. Though they would see each other again soon.
Adagio soon left his left line of sight. As soon as he was certain that she was gone, he whipped his phone back out to tell Starry Night about—
He remembered how his relationship with Starry Night made a nose dive so hard that it was going to crash into the earth at 500 miles per hour.
Guess I might-
Before he could finish his thought, he got a popup from his phone. Which was odd, because that phone wasn't really supposed to have service or Internet in that universe.
His jaw nearly dropped when he tapped the notification.
Staring him right through his brain like the ghost of his mother.
A picture of Adagio with a dog on her face.
The caption spoke volumes that broke his eardrums, though it was completely silent.
Adogeio.
"Adogeio." He felt an unwanted feeling inside of him that he didn't want to feel every again. "It's perfect."
"Oh my God, did I really just see that happen?" Aria asked. Her eyes were as wide as a corpulent man.
"...You did," Adagio admitted.
"That was adorable!" Sonata threw her arms around Adagio, squeezing as hard as she could.
"...You guys were right. I've... never experienced anything like that."
"Welcome to the club."
Adagio Dazzle.
How the mighty doth fall in love.
