✔️ | 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔 ─ 𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏

TWENTY-TWO

Riven felt like shit. He was too distracted with his life to focus. Watching Poppy made him think. He knew the girl was a good fighter, but this was another side he has never seen before. Her footwork was flawless, her moves were clean, she did just enough to make her opponent tired. This made him more motivated to do better to be the best specialist for Poppy. Because he needed to do everything he can to protect her from what's about to come.

"It's all about the um, the tensile strength of the cellulose." The boy heard Terra say to a specialist who just complimented how good she did today.

Riven sat down on the same bench as she did. "Ah, tensile strength. Hot." The girl ignored him. He didn't want to admit it but he was a big dick. He shouldn't have said those things about the girl and it only took him now to realize how amazing the girl was. There was a reason why Poppy liked her so much. "She's right, you know. You're a force out there."

Terra looked at the boy. Out of everyone here, she was the one who knew who he truly was. Who he really was under that cold exterior he puts out. And she can feel how much he cared for Poppy.

"Thanks. You too."

Riven scoffed. "Fuck off. I was shit. After two attempts on me, Aisha quit combat and switched to support so..."

"Well it's, it's been a weird week. I'm sorry. I know that you and Beatrix were close so this must be really hard."

Riven shook his head. "Everyone thinks it's about Beatrix, but it's not."

"Poppy?"

Riven nodded. "I'm giving her the space she needs but I'm so fucking lost without her. I need her in my life. I need her to tell me everything's gonna be alright. That we'll get through this." The boy weirdly felt a sense of trust when talking to the girl. Like she wouldn't judge her if he expressed his true feelings. 

Terra smiled. "She's almost there. Musa told me. Maybe you just gotta show her how much you love her by giving her gifts or doing something big and grand. Something to get her attention."

"Yeah, maybe."

Before any of them could say anything, Dane comes up to them. "Sweet moves Riv. I've never seen somebody die so many different ways so quickly. You should go for Alfea's Got Talent." Dane chuckled and walked away.

"What was that?" Terra asked.

Riven sighed. "That was a shitty burn from the first year monster I created. Or Beatrix created. He's still got like a hard-on for her, a weird hay hard on. Is he even gay? I don't know anything anymore. Well, see you in a bit."

Terra just sat there, wondering why the boy was suddenly so nice to her. They haven't had a normal conversation since forever, maybe he really was changing to be a better man for Poppy. Whatever it was, Terra liked that side of Riven.