Your name is Aradia Megido, and you are currently waiting for your date to arrive. He should be here by now. In fact, he's about five minutes late to meet you at your respite block. As a heroine of time, this fact is slightly troubling. You decide to meander around the room for a few seconds more when a sharp knock on the door takes your attention. You fix your skirt and brush your hair behind your ears before answering.

"Hello!" you say pleasantly. Deep red begins to flush your gray skin as you notice your date. His imposing physique has been clothed in a dark gray, blue pinstripe button-up shirt. His hair is what you spend the most attention on. Its usual long-greasy self had been shorn into a choppy short cut since last you saw it.

"Hi… Hello, Aradia. Shall we leave?" Equius booms. He looks flustered himself. A single bead of milky sweat drips from his temple to his nose. He quickly wipes it away with a gloved hand.

"Sure," You smile.

Together, you exit the combination of respite blocks on the simulation meteor to find another, more interesting dream bubble. Your eyes focus straight front without truly paying attention to anything in particular. By glancing unintentionally, you can tell his are on you the entire time you walk. Most would find this unsettling, but you take interpret it as protective. It's nice to feel like you're the one being protected for once. The steel ground beneath your feet begins to blend with the familiar purple bricks of Derse. A staircase leads to a small table on a patio. You feel him move behind you to pull out a chair. You smooth your skirt and sit on the purple iron chair. Food appears instantly on the table because anything can happen in a dream bubble. A glass of milk is coincidentally placed in front of Equius, but he hasn't touched it. Your eyes draw upward and notice he's sweating profusely; beads of sweat are running down his face and the pits of his shirt are completely soaked. His facial expression is blank and his eyes gaze directly to yours.

"Equius…Equius," you practically sing. His expression is still locked.

"Hey cute, sweaty guy!" finally his head jerks up.

"Um, excuse me, Aradia… I, um seemed to have… I need a towel," You begin to giggle uncontrollably at his obvious nervousness. At first, he is taken aback by your uncouth laughter, but his expression begins to soften as he chuckles along with you. For the first time since his death it seems, he smiles a large broken toothed grin.

"Kanaya said a haircut would aid in perspiration prevention. I suppose this is not the case," He interjects

"I guess not!" you manage to say through your giggles. "Here, let me get that off for you," you move over to his seat and kneel before his chair.

"Aradia, why are you kneeling? Are you finally submitting authority to me of your own volition?" He smirks. Even though your game is over, he still likes to remind you of the blue team leadership debacle.

You grin a little while your fingers move to the top button. Slowly, you make your way down the shirt; your face goes closer to his revealed chest and abs. His scent isn't as unpleasant as you imagined it would be; it's sort of musky and manly. When arriving to the last button you notice a small stirring in his dress shorts. You blush a quickly move your face away. Removing yourself from the floor, you seat yourself on his leg; your faces are extremely close.

"Is that better?" You ask.

"Yes, very much so," He gives you a quick smile. You take the initiative and peck his cheek. Equius's face turns a shade bluer.

Your eyes meet for a second, though his are only white shells of what they once were. Sometimes, you like to imagine they have the familiar yellow tinge of your time on Alternia. If he were still alive, blue would have already seeped through the iris.

The two of you seem to gravitate naturally; your lips touch briefly, but long enough to be more than an accident. This kiss was not like your first kiss with him: that was filled with a mix of hatred and passion, absent of love. Being dead was not pleasant in the least, but it was a known quantity. The trials of emotion had been lifted from your shoulders. You were focused on orchestrating the inevitable failure of your session and nothing more. Nothingness was all consuming and you were okay. That was until you were forced into a vessel teeming with emotion you had become unaccustomed to: love. It wasn't your love. It was the culmination of a young troll's flush and black crush forced into your unwilling soul. As much as you hated him, the feelings overpowered you. Blood, blue and sticky, lubricated your hard metal lips and his. Then, the anger returned to you. You were able to overcome your programming. You were free of love's grasp.

This present kiss lasts for a few seconds more than you expect. His arms are in rigid fists beside him. Since reconciling with you, you can sense he's afraid of hurting you. You pull away hesitantly.

"Are you okay, Aradia?" His expression is quizzical.

"Yes, fine fine!"

"Was there something wrong… with the kiss?"

"No… I know you're trying to be gentle, but I don't need you to treat me as if I'm a porcelain doll. I'm stronger than you think. I can handle you," You give your best wink.

"Oh… Oh! My apologies, shall we resume?"

You resume and place your lips to his more forcefully this time. If you can say one thing about Equius, he can take a blatantly stated hint and execute an objective. His arms are no longer locked at his side; his hands tangle in your long black curls. You feel his strong arms around your shoulders. You can feel his tongue slip through your teeth now. Your hands wander around his muscular back and further to his butt. Butts are great, especially his. Your pace slows to a single closed kiss. His arms wrap around you securely you nuzzle into his neck, safe and warm.