Get a room already!

Chapter 20: Denied

Nitro's POV
I felt my face turn a bright red as I rushed out of the room and into the living room. 'Real fucking smooth Nitro!' My thoughts raced as I threw myself onto the couch.

"Jeez. What the hell has gotten into you?" Shrub asked. I quickly looked at her, "Nothing! Nothing at all!" I said in a panic. "Something has definitely gotten into him." Ash said from across the room. I snapped my head to look at Ash, "No! Shut the fuck up!" I exclaimed, "I think he got along a little too well with Neon!" Ash joked with Shrub snickering shortly after. My face turned a darker shade of red, "ASH NO! NO I DIDN'T!" I shouted. Shrub's snickering turned into full on laughter, Ash soon following.

Neon came out of my room and into the living room, still a bright red. She tapped my shoulder with her paw and whispered in my ear, "I need to talk to you… in private.." I lifted my head and looked at her. "Uh.. sure…?" She picked me up with her ribbons and rushed me back into my room as soon as I finished that sentence.

She set me back down on all fours, facing her. "What's up..?" I asked, "I.. need a h-honest answer.. from you…" She sheepishly requested. "Sure.. what is it?" She opened her mouth to speak, but paused and didn't say anything. "What is it Neo-.!!" I tried to say before Neon cut me off by yet again.. kissing me. "H-how do you feel about me..?" She asked. 'I feel like I should be surprised that she kissed me again, but weirdly enough.. I'm not.' I thought before speaking, "W-Well uhm.. I'd have to say a friend that I haven't talked to in a long time..?"

She looked down at the floor before speaking, "I-I knew it.. I'm nothing more t-than a friend to you..?" Her voice was shaky and had a sad undertone, "What..? Neon.. what are you talking about.? We just started talking to each other as friends again.. what are you yapping about..?" I asked, confused, my blush slowly fading. She looked up at me angrily, "Nitro this is serious!" She scolded, "Yeah.. right… sorry.." I quietly said. Neon sighed, "You know what. Nevermind.. you aren't going to take this seriously. Move."

She pushed me to the side and left the room with a slam of the door. I stood there in silence for a few seconds before I heard the front door slam shut. I sat on the floor, trying to process fully what she was talking about.

The realization hit me harder than when Ash and I got slapped by Gem. 'W-was she trying to confess to me again..?' I thought as I covered my face with my paws out of silent embarrassment.

Shrub's POV
Torch and I watched as Neon picked up Nitro and took him back to his room. "They are definitely doing something." I joked with Torch. He chuckled, "You want to know what they're doing?" I shook my head, "Nah. Let them have their privacy. I'm not that interested in what they're doing." He shrugged before getting off the couch, "I guess. Do you want anything to eat or snack on?" I shook my head again, "Nah, I'm good for now. Thanks for the offer though Torch!"

"Suit yourself." He replied before heading to the kitchen for something to eat.

I looked out the window, staring at the summer setting. Rather boring.. I prefer autumn or spring. The scenery is a lot more lively and vibrant.

I looked away from the window and caught a glimpse of Torch trying to cook. Keyword, trying. He was struggling. I'm pretty sure he was finding ways to burn water without trying to. I got off the couch to go help Torch from burning the house down. That's when Neon plowed through and out the front door, narrowly missing me. "Don't burn anything down Torch!" I said before trailing after her.

I heard Torch say, "Well you're talking to a Flareon for fucks sake!" as I followed Neon. 'Fuck she's fast!' I thought as I ran, quickly losing sight of her as she ran into the woods. "Well this sure feels familiar." I said to myself before following into the woods.

I called out for Neon. She didn't answer.. who would've guessed. I stood there for a minute, looking at my surroundings. I quickly recognized the area. It's near the path that leads up into Cliff's End. 'I'll definitely find her here looking at the view from the top of the path.' I thought, determined to find her.

I rushed to where the viewing area for the cliff was. Luckily, Neon was sitting on a bench, staring into the distance. "Neon?" I asked, "What do you want Shrub." She replied coldly. "Jeez, what got into you recently?" I questioned. She glanced over in my direction, "I want you to guess. See if you can figure it out."

"Yeah. I know who it is. What the fuck did he do now?" I asked before she turned back to face the distant mountains and ravine below. "He.. rejected me.." She responded, barely loud enough for me to hear clearly. "So you ran all the way out here because he rejected you..?" I questioned, a tone of confusion in my voice. "Yeah.. so what.?" She said, "That's.. such a petty reason to run away. You wouldn't run away because of something like that.. right?"

"If that's what you think.. then that's what you think." Neon said, hopping off the bench and turning towards me, "Neon, that just doesn't sound like you.." I stated, "IT'S BECAUSE I CAN'T HANDLE REJECTION WELL! I-.. love him.. I don't want to lose him again… I want him to love me too.." Neon said before turning away once again. "I can't really say I'm shocked, but I would've never guessed that you still loved him.." I responded as I walked up next to her, "Look.. we've all had that one sided love kind of situation. Unfortunately, not all of us would be successful with our confessions. Trust me on this one Neon, I'm talking from experience here."

"I-... I guess you're right.. we can't win them all.." Neon quietly replied. I nudged her shoulder after a few minutes of silence, "Let's head back, Nitro and Torch are probably worried about us." She suddenly hugged me, "Y-Yeah.. we should…" She released her hug and we started heading back from the cliff.

Torch's POV
I sat on the couch as Nitro finally came out of his room and took over the cooking. I sat nervously awaiting the return of the 2 girls as it was starting to get dark outside.

After some time, the door opened, revealing that they both made it home safely. Neither one appeared harmed. I immediately got up and hugged them. "Where the hell did you guys run off to?!" I asked, "Neon ran off to Cliff's End and we had a little talk." Willow answered.

Nitro called from the kitchen, "Food's done you three!" I looked over at the dining room and only counted 3 plates. "Nitro, are you not eating?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." He answered before leaving to his room once again.

'Strange' I thought as I went to the table and noticed that one plate looked more presentable than the rest. 'Probably Neon's.' I sat down and started eating.

After dinner and cleaning up the mess
"So uh, Torch?" Willow asked, "Hm? What's up?" I answered with another question. "Where are we going to sleep?"

"You can sleep in my room. I'll take the couch tonight." I responded, "What about me?" Neon questioned, "Oh.. uh.. I dunno. If you want, you can take the couch and I'll just sleep on the floor somewhere." They both gave me strange looks, "What?! It's comfortable!" I exclaimed. "Can't you just use one of the air mattresses from.. well… y'know.. that one night." Willow pointed out, "I mean.. I could. But I don't really feel like hauling those up here and making all that noise just to blow them up."

"You're weird as hell Torch." They both said before leaving to their sleeping spots. 'They just don't know real comfort.' I thought as I just plopped onto the ground. I laid on the ground thinking about how last year's autumn was.. great times. I drifted off to sleep with those pleasant memories in mind.

-end of chapter-

A/N
A little late for a chapter upload, but at least it's up! Anyway I have a boring test coming up this Wednesday and this will either have Tuesday or Thursday's upload to get scraped. If one of them doesn't have a chapter to go up, I won't be making it up, it'll just go to Saturday's upload.

So yah! There will only be at least 2 more uploads this week, so look forward to those!

Chapter info
Story words: 1425
Date finished: October 1st, 2023
Time finished: 11:12 pm