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Chapter Text

Friday, April 15 2011

Greg Veder

So apparently, my super healthy self leaving and returning with zero complications yesterday meant that the hospital could get away with discharging me a day earlier, even if to free up some beds.

However, this meant that it was back to school for me this morning. Back to Winslow, back to the gang recruiters, back to... Taylor.

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-:|Daily Quest: Training Regimen|:-

Push-ups[100/100]

Sit-ups[100/100]

Squats[100/100]

Running[10/10km]

Failure to complete the Daily Quest will result in an appropriate penalty.

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You have acquired Reward(s) x3.[OPEN]

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Long after getting in the bus, I regarded the rewards from my mandated morning workout. Maybe it was time to finally get rid of that last (E) amongst my attributes.

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STR: 75(E) → 105(D)

SP: 0

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Huh. I guess mental commanding the System works without me needing to physically speak. Good thing I tried that on a whim, so that I wouldn't worry Mum. Also, having my physical strength rise up a rank barely felt like much, but I guess that was what it was for barely stepping past the line while hoping for an actual physical change. My sudden interest in exercise may have surprised Mum, but now that I thought about it, the workout would also serve as an explanation to the one person in the world who knew me best about the sudden (and hopeful) appearance of never-seen-before muscles.

Stepping out of Mum's car, I waved her goodbye before heading towards the stairs. I had just put my foot on the last stair, only for my SNS to alert me of incoming trouble. Reacting on instinct, I stepped to the side and dodged the foot that would've tripped me before spinning about to grab the wrist of the hand about to shove me.

"What the fuck?!" Sophia Hess snarled as she ripped her hand free of my grip, albeit not without difficulty as she gingerly rubbed her wrist. "The fuck are you on, Vetard?"

"So me not being your punching bag for this morning means that I'm on drugs?" I scoffed as my annoyance grew. I hadn't even stepped inside the school building and there was already trouble to deal with. "I'm fresh out of the hospital and out of fucks to ever give to you again. Try that again, and I'll break your arm just like you did to me last year."

Flipping her the bird as I left, I relished her gobsmacked expression as I remembered the spoken incident a year ago. Hess had wanted my lunch money, and then stomped on my forearm after knocking me down to the ground as a response to my initial refusal. Then she'd gotten the audacity to not only claim that I was accusing her of injuring me when I'd injured myself by tripping, but also get away with it.

Well, not anymore. Sure I would hide the extreme parts of my powers, but there was no way I wouldn't use my increased physicality to push back against those who would try to harass me again.

"Something to think about next time you decide to sit back and do nothing."

Or others.

Entering the building, I made my way towards my locker and began checking around for which books I needed. Inside my bag, the boxed gift that I intended to give/return to Taylor as my apology was thankfully still intact. After all the effort I'd put into it for... something more, I hoped that using this as a physical token of my remorse for not helping Taylor would at least smoothen the rough patch between us-

I dodged aside from Hess's fist as it smashed into my locker, her punch actually denting the metal. "What now?"

"You think skipping school suddenly makes you better than the chump you actually are, Vetard?" Hess spoke in that unsettling calm way that emoted just how pissed she was, turning so that her scorching glare had a solid bead on me. "You think you can get away with mocking me?"

"...well, you're obviously determined to give me hell for whatever excuse you've cooked up today, so why not?" I shrugged with an obvious sigh. Given how much she was riled up, it was obvious that Hess had been previously pissed off by something else and had chosen him to vent, only to be denied one of her usual 'punching bags'. Now, all of her ire had been solidly redirected towards me.

Even while the surrounding students rearranged themselves to box us, or rather me, in, I was more preoccupied on the fact that this fight was really not stacked in my favor. My SNS alone gave me a rough idea that Hess was somewhere on par with me, and her muscular yet slender toned body didn't help my chances compared to my own body.

And to worsen matters, this was my first fight as a civilian, meaning that I couldn't use any of my Quirks to just finish her off as I'd done to the goblins and ogre. But for some reason... I didn't feel intimidated enough to cower as I would've normally done.

"Something to think about next time you decide to sit back and do nothing."

Prove your piety.

...I guess I just couldn't acknowledge Sophia Hess as an enemy to be afraid of anymore. Not if I was serious about my resolve to change things from now on. I was Level 11 now, but would that be enough right now?

Hess moved faster than I could almost react, her fist smashing into my cheek as I kept myself from falling over or down.

"...my turn." My fist was a millisecond faster as it slammed home into her hastily raised forearm, knocking her back a few steps. "Brace yourself, Hess. Right now, I'm extremely invested in knocking your teeth out."

"Cocky shit!" Hess charged forward and punched at my face, suddenly dipping into a leg sweep just as I'd raised my hands to protect my face. When I nearly staggered from that, Hess landed a solid kick into my stomach that had me almost hurling my breakfast. However, this allowed me to get a solid grip on her leg and swing her off her own feet as well into a painful meeting with the floor.

Now that I had her momentarily dazed, I couldn't hesitate to capitalize on this brief chance. Just as I moved forward to stomp on her stomach, my SNS alerted me of one of the jocks coming in to shoulder tackle me from a 'blind' spot. Unfortunately, he was expected as I dodged back and stuck my foot out, letting him trip and hit his face against the lockers at full speed.

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+800EXP!

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Seriously? He gave less EXP than a goblin?

"Anybody else feel like stepping in?" My challenge went untaken as many students took a wary step back from me, especially as my grimace worsened at the sight of Hess getting back up.

(It would take a long while for me to learn that my blue eyes had glowed along with my growing anger.)

"Heh. I guess it's easy to be tough against a sure win." I scoffed at the other jocks I could see, a few of them having bullied me as well in this school. "I mean, it's all of you against just me... as usual."

"Big talk for a loser who's about to get-"

"Teacher incoming!"

Hess's taunt ended as all the students around immediately scattered at that warning, both of us fighters included as I spied the gym teacher making his way towards us, being hindered by the chaotic rush of the jock students deliberately using their collective bulk to take his attention of the perpetrators. Sighing at the weird disappointment I felt for not beating Hess, I left with the crowd.

And thus missed Taylor's wide-eyed reaction to this spat.

Taylor Hebert - Butcher XV - Weaver

What... the hell just happened?

"The nerdy kid has finally crashed out!" Sabertooth shouted as if he were a commentator. "I totally lost faith in him, but there's Teeth material right there!"

"I wonder what happened to cause such a change." Damascian hummed. "Perhaps it has to do with whatever hospitalized him."

"Does it even matter?" Sanguine scoffed. "So the nerd grew a pair. Big whoop. I'm not considering him worth anything unless he's actually Triggered. We have too little capes on our side, even with Spree."

What? Greg could've Triggered?

That... was a scary thought. Greg was like a puppy or a possum, not something one would consider frightening for any reason. Plus, the idea of recruiting him to join our raids was laughable, especially as I imagined him awkwardly holding a weapon.

"Taylor, look up the percentage of school shootings done by bullied kids." Fester chimed in, causing me to no longer find an armed Greg laughable. "Frankly, you outstand us with every moment you went in this hellhole without taking a page from Carrie's book."

Watching him step into class, he locked eyes with me briefly before turning towards Sparky.

"Sparky, I have been burdened with glorious purpose!" Greg exclaimed as he took his seat beside him, his words causing the normally despondent guy to regard the blond geek with wide-eyed shock. Those particular words had meant something between them.

"That was definitely code for something between them." Alkaline murmured. "Nerds always tend to do that."

"Really?" Sanguine questioned.

"I've fucked a few nerds, okay?" Alkaline revealed. "They make sweet pillow talk."

"You know, you could just ask him." Knockout suggested. "Unless that's changed, the nerd's gonna bend over for you regarding anything."

"Mr. Veder, you've missed school for the past few days." Mr. Gladly noted. "I hope you have a good reason for that."

"Well, I was hospitalized due to an E88 initiation gone wrong. They wanted me to stab some innocent girl, and I showed my disagreement by stabbing the knife they gave me into one of the guys' throat." Greg answered as he answered the teacher, his words cutting off all other voices in the classroom. "Sure I nearly died from what came next, but some other cape killed off the rest and saved me and the girl. Afterwards, I didn't even get charged with anything since it was clear self-defense. But hey, I'm at least glad that I learned one sure thing about myself."

"Huh?" Gladly weakly asked.

"You never what you're capable until right when you're about to die." Greg responded, an absentminded smile on his face. "And even up to this moment, I still haven't felt anything about killing that guy."

Several guys in E88 colors suddenly looked very uncomfortable in their seats.

"He is awakened to the call of blood." Sabertooth sniffled. Actually sniffled like a proud parent. "And look at that murderous intent. He's not even doing it consciously!"

True. Whether he knew it or not, Greg was causing my danger sense to ping slightly now and then after Gladly shakily got the class going, up until Sparky did something to calm him down. Through it all, Sparky was the most animated I'd ever seen him be, definitely grilling Greg for more details.

Answers that my unnoticed fly was were going to get me soon.

Greg Veder

"So what did I miss?" I asked after I'd given Sparky the details of that night without mentioning the Lord or the Carthenon Temple in case of any annoying eavesdroppers, deciding to later tell her the real story at a safer location. I'd instead gone with the fake story of the shadow teleporter killing the other E88 guys after I'd stabbed one of them.

"A lot." Sparky said after she managed to calm down. "For starters, the school got fumigated back on Wednesday, and Assault and Battery paid a visit."

What.

"Assault gave autographs, by the way. Then yesterday, Weaver robbed a bank and apparently absorbed the Undersiders into the Teeth."

What.

"Oh, and I strongly suspect Hebert to be Weaver."

WHAT.

That...

The Locker... If Taylor had Triggered back then... then...

"Calm down."

Sparky whispered with her hand on my forearm, startling me when I saw that frost had begun to creep out from my hands and onto the desk. Thankfully, it was still small enough that Sparky was the only other one who could see it.

"Sparky... what do I do?" I asked desperately.

"Nothing. Taylor's cape status is none of our business." Sparky immediately answered. "All you have to do is give her your apology and say your goodbye. And then you'll never have to bother each other ever again. Whether its true or not that she hates you, it's still a fact that she doesn't really have a positive view of you."

"...yeah. You're right, Sparky." Sparky was always right. Even when being gloomy to the point that she was perpetually unkempt and be often mistaken for a shaggy long-haired boy. Even when she was unlucky enough to often suffer absurd strokes of misfortune.

Sparky was right. From what she'd trusted me with, Sparky had Triggered young with a Thinker power that let her see the future through tarot cards. And she seen something in the future so bad that she'd never recovered from it, as far as I knew as she never told me or anybody the details.

Curiously, she'd also destroyed all of my hard-earned Scion merchandise without giving me a reason back then. If it wasn't for the fact that she was the closest thing I had to a friend, I probably wouldn't have forgiven her.

But regarding Taylor... "Well, she's gay, so it's not like I had any shot with her in the slightest. Hopefully, she'll accept my apology."

I sighed. And waved the away the fly that had settled in my hair. For some reason, it kept triggering my SNS and I didn't like it.

Still, lunchtime came with a surprising piece of good news.

"Greg...? Greg!"

I was suddenly tackled from my side, nearly shaking off my attacker until I saw that familiar streak of purple in her black hair. "Aisha? I can't believe that you go to Winslow, too!"

"And I can't believe that you're actually alive... I thought you'd died..." Aisha replied as she kept hugging me, tears of relief starting to well up from her eyes as she beheld me. "...did you grow taller?"

"Well, I'm clearly alive. And I'm in the middle of my overdue growth spurt." I added, which caused Aisha to chuckle and release me. "Let's restart. I'm Greg Veder. And this is Sparky. My... friend?"

Was it okay to actually label her as such? We often hung around, but never went beyond exchanging contacts...

"I'm Sparky. I'll tell you my real name later if you don't look it up yourself at another time." Sparky replied, neither confirming nor denying my words. "And you are?"

"Aisha Laborn." Aisha responded with a challenging smirk before returning her undivided attention to me. "Now, give me details."

Once again, I delved into the story of the Lord's dungeon, this time mentioning the System along with all that followed.

Becoming a Player.

Completing all given Quests.

Gaining EXP and superpowers in the forms of Quirks and Perks.

Thankfully, there was no sudden message or warning preventing me from telling them, so I assumed it was okay for them to know.

(After all, Aisha had already suffered half of the trouble with me.)

"So you're saying... that right now, there's a popup screen right before you that only you can see?" Aisha asked as she waved her hand before my face, her fingers easily rippling through the System's interface. "Talk about high risk, high reward... Looks like this really was some kind of hidden reward for finishing all of those... commandments gave you the ultimate power."

"Yeah..." I weakly replied.

"Still, I wonder just how powerful the perpetrator is if they could do all this." Sparky's observation presented a real worry I'd given some thought to as well. "To reiterate so far, they're capable of dragging individuals into alternate dimensions they most likely have full control over, creating 'keys' that can do that as well, turning you into a freaking video game character, interfering with superpowers like a Trump that'd make other Trumps weep and finally... discreetly observing you on a constant basis. Because there's no way they're not keeping some manner of surveillance on you right now."

I stiffened at Sparky's words, mentally slapping myself for never having considered that. Was this 'Lee Ju-Hee' person? No, Ms. Smith had clearly stated it to be a man who had dropped me at this hospital, and I knew enough Korean from online to recognize a woman's name... Did that mean that it could be a whole group? "So what do I do about that?"

"Does it really matter?" Aisha shrugged. "If it's not doing anything but making your personal life better, then why spoil a good thing? If you're a geek like the rumors say you are, I'm pretty sure the getting of the System that bothers you more than the having."

"...well, when you put it that way, you're totally right." I hummed in happy realization.

"Of course, I am." Aisha nodded sagely. "Now gimme your sandwich. It looks delicious compared to the cafeteria's stuff."

Sparky shamelessly stole my sandwich as Aisha reached for it.

Taylor Hebert - Butcher XV - Weaver

"Took you two long enough." I said after Emma and Sophia waltzed in, swallowing my latest chew of my lunch and putting it away. "I thought you might be getting cold feet."

"That would be incredibly ironic, given what's about to go down." Fester muttered.

"How the-" Emma started, only to cut herself off as her common sense began to catch up as she actually surveyed their surroundings.

Sophia, on the other hand, prowled forward with complete confidence and plenty of aggression. "First, you. Then, freaking Vetard. If only you two would just learn your damn places, we might have finally just ignored you both like the worms you were. But now you're the Teeth's newest whore, so we don't even need a reason to beat you up."

Bullshit. You never needed a reason to hurt people and even Greg knew that.

"Before you do..." Emma cut in. "Tell me Taylor, how can you even hold a cell phone knowing that was the weapon you used to kill your mum?"

"Oh, just how badly does this bitch want to die?" Fester growled.

I was of the same page, nearly losing it until I forced my anger down for the moment. I would need my cool for this. "Huh, maybe I did. Now that I think about it, the timing does match up."

Emma was clearly grasping for straws at this point when she saw me shrug. "Uncle Danny certainly believed it. I overheard him blathering on and on about how he blamed you for killing your mom when Dad picked him up while he was too drunk to remember you even existed."

"Wish I could get that drunk." Sophia quipped.

This caused both Emma and I to chuckle, albeit for very different reasons as she would soon learn. "Just what happened to you Taylor? What happened to that sweet girl who actually cared about her parents?"

"That's simple, Emma. You bitches killed her." I shot back calmly, enjoying the twitch Emma made with her face. How much more would it take to make her erupt? "Are you two done? If you are, then get the fuck out of my way. I've got shit to do."

As absolutely predicted, Sophia's fist took a direct path towards my stomach. I barely felt the impact, wondering how long it would take for either of them to catch on.

Sophia lashed out again, as fast as she could as her fist connected squarely with my jaw. Unlike the last time she tried this, I didn't let my head move even the tiniest inch as I sighed.

Either she'd snapped or she'd finally sensed my murderous intent towards her, Sophia was quite fast in drawing out a knife. Unfortunately, I was faster. Before she even had time to point the knife at me, my hand had already grabbed and twisted the black girl's hand to the point of breaking some bones. Then I lashed out with a kick that broke Sophia's shin and had her buckle under her own weight before kicking her away like the trash she was.

Apparently, Emma was still in the midst of processing all this until I hoisted her by the front of her coat with a single hand and slammed her against a wall, immediately snapping out of it to ignite her fist and punch at my face with way more strength than the visible muscles on her limb could offer.

Just like before, it didn't earn even a flinch. Neither did the following knee to my stomach. "Well, you're stronger than Sophia, I'll give you that."

For some insane reason, Emma grinned at that. "Fucking finally, Taylor. What the hell took you so long? I mean, you're in a shitload of trouble but-"

"Shut up, Emma." I cut off Emma off with briefly added pressure to her chest. "Do you want to hear something sad?"

"Like how you had to join a gang before you finally decided to be a person instead of a victim? Or that you got powers that just let people beat you up better?"

"I... I think this girl might actually be stupid." Butcher marveled with genuine confusion.

I barked a laughter at that, making sure that I didn't accidentally slacken my grip. "No. The sad thing is that the Teeth treat me with more respect than anyone has in the past two years. Now, I wonder why that is?"

Emma managed a passable sneer. "Because you're fucking them?"

"See, I'm not good with people anymore." I continued with an idle-sounding tone. "Until last weekend, I didn't have friends. I barely even had family, because my mother died and my dad still hasn't recovered."

Should I consider Greg? He may have been an annoyance at times, but he had been one of the few points of... neutral human contacts that I'd had during that time-

Oh, Sophia was getting up. Crucio, bitch.

Sophia let out an aborted scream before collapsing on the ground, twitching and hissing. Still, she still had enough sense of self to try and reach for her phone.

"Say what you want about this one. She is committed." Alkaline commented.

I made a noncommittal hum of agreement as my roaches and beetles swarmed Sophia and snatched the phone the moment it left her pockets, bringing the device close enough so that I could crush it with a stomp that cracked the tile below my foot.

"Here's the thing, Emma." My swarm spoke with me, my voice coming from both my mouth and hundreds of meticulously timed mandible clicks and winged beats. Raising up my hand, I displayed Sophia's crushed blade before reshaping its matter into the form of a flower, a butterfly from outside the window coming in to land in it's petals. "I'm not the Teeth's new whore. I'm their boss."

"Remember it!" Ironsides crowed.

"No." Emma whispered in what I could see was stark terror mixed with desperate disbelief. "No, no no no. You can't be. That doesn't make any sense."

It didn't make sense? Of course, it didn't make sense! Nothing had ever made sense! Not for the last fucking two years!

"You know what doesn't make sense, Emma?" I didn't notice my hand beginning to press harder against Emma, doing worse than choking off her breath. "Throwing away ten years of-"

"Stop it, Taylor." An unexpected hand patted my extended forearm, carefully not trying to pull it away from her. "You might kill her."

"The fuck?" Stratego muttered, several of the other Butchers mirroring him.

"Greg?" I growled in disbelief as Greg took a careful step away, somehow having entered the girl's bathroom without any of us noticing. "What are you doing here?"

"I... really wanted to apologize, but I didn't find you at anywhere during lunch, so I searched around and around until I heard Julia talking to Emma Barnes regarding your location, so I came here..." Greg looked incredibly uncomfortable under my glare - as he should - but he still decided to keep talking. "Obviously, I guess I can't tell you not to kill Barnes or Hess, since I have no right to order you around-"

"Good. A smart conclusion. Now leave." I gave out a warning.

"No." Greg responded without hesitation. "I want to talk to you, and I need you to please spare me your time. Just a few minutes or so. After I'm done, I swear that I'll never bother you for anything again. I just..."

Greg paused to take a deep and careful breath. "I just want... I just want to clear the air between us... and get you to hopefully hate me less."

Hate? I didn't exactly hate Greg. I don't know why he believed such a thing, much less why he'd been so obsessed that he would pseudo-stalk me.

"Really?" Reflex sounded genuinely puzzled at my confusion. Due to the sole heroic Butcher rarely speaking, even the others had quietened down. "From your very brief interactions with Greg Veder, he has shown himself to be a generally disliked outcast within the school with no social skills and plenty of bullies. Who does this remind you of?"

"...well, when you say it like that, he sounds so lonely." Fester hummed. "And if we go by your memories, he's been like this for much longer than your two years."

...I knew Greg as early as 5th grade. That's six whole years.

"Ah, then his 'stupidity' might be a mental defense." Stratego mused. "If he tried to mask his insecurities for so long, he would've eventually fallen too deep into the pretense."

"...wait your turn, Greg." I finally decided, the blond boy nodding and stepping back as I returned my attention to Emma. "You know, I've fantasized about this ever since I Triggered. Using my powers to finally fight back, to take down the bitches that ruined my life... But now? It feels... hollow."

And wasn't that startling to realize. I had both Emma and Sophia at her complete mercy, and I wasn't even in the mood to enjoy it. All because I literally had better uses for my time. Properly cultivating the Teeth, doing away with the Empire, resolving things with Greg...

When and how the fuck did Greg become a higher priority than Emma?

"When Greg Veder finally owned up... and Emma Barnes didn't." Damascian answered my rhetorical question.

I took a steadying breath. "I never gave in, even after I inherited, even after you used my mum's death as a weapon against me. Even as I had thirteen voices in my head screaming at me to end you, I held my ground. I stayed strong in the face of every temptation I had to just be done with it, and let me tell you, my predecessors can be creative and vindictive little fuckers."

"Guilty as charged." Fester readily admitted.

"Damn right." Damascian agreed.

"I'm still up for the surprise teleport fifty meters up in the air." Pyro suggested... again.

"No, I told you, the slow squeeze 'n' hug works better." Ironsides complained. "Especially with the useless struggling as their spine and ribs implode afterwards."

"Please. She should go for the simple and brutal: RIP AND TEEAAAAR!" Butcher finished with a roar, which prompted Sanguine and many others to mimic him.

"The PRT will..." Emma still managed to gurgle. The PRT? Really? Not much of a concern at this point.

Dropping her, I walked over to where I'd dropped my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. "I'm done playing this game. Winslow is mine now. If you try to bring the PRT down on me, I'll make sure you receive a personal visit at home. Hell, the PRT might not even listen to you, since a Butcher spending eight hours a day in school isn't using that time to wreck the city."

"And without taking lives, you could still give them hell." Greg suddenly spoke up. "When Brockton Bay inevitably runs out of bug spray, you could kick off a one-girl pranking war directly on the workers... sorry, please ignore me."

"What? No. Please, keep talking." Sabertooth beckoned.

"I haven't had a proper prank war since I was a kid." Stratego reminisced. "So many criers born from sheer annoyance at my victories..."

"I wanna see the entire PRT building doused in pink paint... and watch the reactions." Quarrel mused.

"Approved! We gonna need so much fucking paint!" Butcher decided.

"Do we have stop at just the PRT building, though?" Sanguine asked.

"And now they're arguing about raining rainbow paint allover the city. Thanks a lot, Greg." I chuckled with no heat. Any argument within the chorus that didn't involve some sort of murder or depravity was a welcome reprieve. "Well, I'm just about done here. Ah, I almost forgot. Greg, you listen to this too. There's this funny gentlemen's agreement among capes to avoid searching out or acting on secret identities, which is really important to me because I happen to be enjoying my civilian life for the first time in years. And while the Unwritten Rules are just that and really only apply to capes, I would be more than happy to make an exception if any one of you so much as think about telling anyone about me."

"I won't tell anybody." Greg immediately answered, which earned him an approving nod from me.

"Tell the authorities you slipped and fell or something, I don't really care. I have actual problems to deal with, like an Empire that is long overdue its fall." I stepped past Emma and gave Sophia a pointed glare when she didn't give me a vocal reply like Greg had. Leaning down, I grabbed her face and forced her to look me in the eye. "Did you get all of that?"

To Sophia's credit, she managed a stilted nod even if it was accompanied by a groan. That was good enough, I suppose... Oh, she was bleeding internally. Better put a quick fix on that. "Come along, Greg."

Leaving the bathroom, I kept half of my attention on two of the Trio while' I led Greg towards the nearest classroom. It was just the two of us (plus fourteen Butchers) now, in this empty classroom. "So? Get with it."

"R-Right." Greg gulped nervously before digging into his bag and pulling a small box out. "I... Half a year ago, I saw when... Barnes destroyed this, and how badly it hurt you. To the point of throwing away the pieces."

I stiffened, both in my human body and my bugs. Half a year ago...No... He couldn't have...

I never noticed Fester shushing the other Butchers as I mentally mapped out the objects that could fit into the box.

"I wanted it to, you know, get me a leg in. Give you something absolutely positive to think in regards of me. But now that I know you like girls, it almost feels laughable." Greg dropped the box on the table between them and gently shifted it towards her. "It took me so long so carefully fix the pieces and make sure it could still work fine without messing it up even worse..."

Hesitantly, I reached out and took the box into my hands. Reshaping the box's wrapping paper and ribbons into confetti, I pulled off the lid and gasped heavily at the sight of Mum's flute, returned to it's former glory.

"H-H-How?" Gently lifting it up, I turned it over and surveyed the very faint cracks that had used to be the broken pieces as well as the identifying scratches I had personally put there myself. This meant that not only had Greg returned this priceless treasure to me, he'd also repaired it meticulously rather than going the simpler route of buying a whole new one. "Why... Why did you do this...?"

Greg blinked in surprise at my question before giving me a sad smile. "Because... I like you. Like, like-like you. I've always had a crush on you since you saved me from a high schooler when we were kids. You probably don't remember it, though."

Eh? My first thought was to dismiss his words as a joke, but that was just distasteful with mum's flute miraculously repaired. It was all just too much! When did this happen?!

"No, wait. It's here." Damascian noted as she dragged up the needed memories, my breath catching as I recognized the small chubby blond boy as an eleven-year old Greg while Emma and I as kids chased off the drunk teenager. "Huh. The childhood romantic interest lost? This is bullshit!"

"Oh, the childhood friend loses all the time!" Fester challenged. "Out with the old and in with the new!"

"But doesn't this make it an Archie-Betty-Veronica Scenario?" Sabertooth pointed out.

"Yeah, but Weaver's the brunette Veronica here, with Veder being the blond Betty and Vex being the redhead Archie. The dynamic's been keelhauled from the start." Stratego noted, which caused a new wave of arguments to spring forth.

My cheeks warmed against my will as someone threw in the option of having both Chrissie and Greg at once, which was taking worrisome traction.

"Well, it looks like you like it. Thank goodness." Greg sighed in oblivious relief before stepping away. "With this, I say goodbye. We'll probably never speak with each other again-"

What.

"-but that's fine." Greg perked up, even despite the obvious pain in his eyes. "I can't be the lame clingy guy..."

Greg lowered his head before me, surprising me and a few of the Butchers. "Taylor Hebert, I sincerely give my apologies for never helping you with Emma Barnes and Sophia Hess. The only excuse I have is that I never wanted to become a worse social pariah than I was already currently living as."

Right... He'd been a victim far longer than I'd been...

"You don't have to accept it, but I'm truly sorry. Goodbye." Greg raised his head and tried to leave only to stiffen when I pushed the table out of the way and grabbed him into a crushing hug(while carefully securing the flute and making sure I didn't break any of his bones).

"Thank you. Thank you." I whispered into his shoulder, Greg floundering between whether to hug me back or stay stiff in my arms. Pulling back, I put the flute back into the box and resisted the urge to teleport straight home and lock it in the safest spot I knew.

"Tell Greg that he's a good kid." Reflex spoke up. "And that I personally wish him good luck in his future endeavors."

"The same goes for me." Fester added with a grin. "I don't really have good opinions of most men, but Greg's clearly a lovely exception."

"Ask him if he's interested in joining the Teeth." Sabertooth asked. "That bloodlust of his can't be wasted!"

"And his ice, too." Chisel pointed out, remembering that brief flash of frost we'd earlier seen from him.

They all made good points, even as I only gave out Reflex's and Fester's messages to Greg, who was shocked to hear them. None of us had never seen an ice-type cape ever, from either a hero or a villain. He would've been so useful against Lung...

But I wouldn't ask Greg to join the Teeth.

I wanted Greg as my friend, not my subordinate.