Dendra's house, or should I say her parents' house, was a simple suburban home at the edge of the city.
One story tall, picket fence at the front, wide yard in the back. As basic as a suburban home could get.
"Yosh! Here we are!" Dendra cheered as we reached the small gate at the front of her house, her arms throwing themselves into the air with a yell.
Seeing as my hand was held in Dendra's, however, the act of throwing her hands into the air caused a chain reaction. Pulling me along with her hands, causing me to trip into her, throwing the two of us onto the grass of her front lawn.
Dendra on her back, and me above her, my hands holding me upright as I stopped myself from falling on top of her, palms on the side of her head, meaning that to someone with an outside perspective, we looked like...
We looked like...!
"What do you think you're doing to my daughter!" I quickly stood up and took a step back, my eyes turning to look at the black-haired man with a pencil mustache standing at the open door to the house, A Hitmontop standing a step behind him.
"Dad!" Dendra yelled before she jumped up to her feet, showing off her athleticism, "This is Dishon, the coworker I told you about."
"Oh... the Novio..." He said as he walked out of the house, leaving the Hitmontop at the door, he walked past Dendra and stood in front of me.
The height difference forced me to look down to meet his eyes.
He silently stared at me, unblinking, as he looked me in the eyes.
As we looked into each other's eyes, The two of us reached a silent agreement, not as a defensive father and the guy his daughter brought home, but as Two Men.
An agreement that every man can understand the implications of.
An agreement that I lost as I blinked first.
As I closed my eyes for the briefest of seconds, his palm landed on my shoulder, holding me tightly as he turned back to his house and dragged me inside.
"You, Nino, have a lot more to prove..." He said with a toothy grin as he walked me into his living room and sat me on the couch, where Dendra soon joined me as her Father took the sofa on the other side of the room.
"So, as I said, Dishon needs a place to sleep for the night, it's only one night, that's not going to be a problem, right?" Dendra noticed the stiff atmosphere that surrounded the living room.
"..." Her father nodded silently, "One night? He can sleep outside..."
"Dad!" Dendra yelled at her father, who immediately seemed to have a change of heart.
"I'm joking! My sweet querida I'm joking! Please, do not be angry at me, we were merely joking, right?" As he asked that, he focused on me, forcing me to nod along.
"Yes, Haha, your father was merely joking," I felt Fanny climb up to my shoulders, her tongue flicking in and out of her mouth quickly as he tasted the sweat on my cheek.
That taste was the taste of a liar!
"Salandit!" Fanny yelled as she quickly slapped me on the cheek with her tail, before turning her tiny black head to Dendra's father, hissing at him.
"Do not play along with him, Dishon," Dendra said softly as she grabbed my hand in hers before turning back to her father, "And you, Dad, need to stop being so protective of me, I'm an adult!"
"Ellas crecen tan rapido..." Her father said quietly, a hand covering his eyes as he cried.
"Dishon will be sleeping here, and that's final!" Dendra said, standing up from the couch and dragging me along with her as she walked me deeper into the House.
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"Cariñito, please, Don't be mad at me!" Her father cried back in the living room as he watched us walk away.
"Ignore him," Dendra whispered to me with a smile, "He's just being dramatic,"
I just nodded along, my mind already confused as so many things happened in such a short amount of time.
Soon I found myself sitting on a spare mattress laying on the floor of a Bedroom.
The walls were painted yellow, and the bed looked old and used, On the wall were several framed medals and trophies, and on a small table in the corner was a photo of what I could only assume was a much younger Dendra, smiling up at the camera, showing off the braces on her teeth.
"I used to wear braces..." Dendra said softly as she sat down next to me on the floor, her eyes also looking at the photo.
A calm silence then followed as the two of us simply sat on the floor, the silence only being interrupted by Fanny trying to make her corner of the mattress comfortable.
"I want to apologize-" "I want to say sorry-" The two of us spoke up at the same time, breaking the silence.
"You go first," I give Dendra the go-ahead.
"No, You go first," Dendra shook her head and gave me the lead.
"No, I insist, You should go-" Seeing where this was heading, Fanny did the smart thing and slapped me on the back with her tail, "Actually, yeah, I'll go first," I said with a smile as I pulled Fanny onto my lap, petting her like a scale-covered Cat.
I took a deep breath to collect my thoughts for a moment before I said, "I wanted to apologize for how I reacted after our date, You were being incredibly nice and my reaction was uncalled for," I paused for a moment to take another breath, feeling Fanny's temperature rise slightly in an effort to calm me from her spot in my lap.
"It's just... When you said that our visit to the Cafe was going to be a date, I thought you were serious," I let my fingers scratch the bandana flaps around Fanny's neck, "But when Tulip showed up, I thought 'Oh, this isn't an actual date, she just called it that to be teasing' so while I was kind of hurt by that, It was still fine, But then when we return to the Hotel, I find out that it actually was a Date, and I think that was enough for that day, I stormed off, worrying about my own feelings, when the one I should have been worrying about instead was bleeding from her head in front of me,"
"So I'm sorry for that, I hope you can forgive me... By paying for a second date once we reach Cascarrafa?" I asked with a hopeful tilt in my voice as I turned back to look at Dendra, seeing the Energetic girl vibrating on her spot, eyes wide and glistening.
"OF COURSE!!!" She yelled happily as she pulled me into a hug, her arms wrapping around my torso, constricting my arms in a vice-grip.
"Can't... Breath..." I manage to choke out before quickly taking in gulps of air as Dendra let go of me.
"Ehehe, Oops?"
As soon as I got my breathing back under control, I turned back to Dendra, "So, what was it that you wanted to say sorry about?"
"Oh... Yeah... I'm sorry for not telling you about Tulip joining the date," Dendra sheepishly looked away from me, "After you left us, we had a talk and she explained some social rules to me, and I think I broke many of them that day... So I apologize for that... You don't mind dating Tulip, though, right?"
"Not really," I answer simply, receiving a wide-eyed look of shock from the girl.
"Really?! I thought It'd take much longer to try and convince you in order for my super secret plan to work." Dendra said.
"It's fine, I had a talk about this with a Telepathic Beetle earlier today, actually. So I don't really have a problem with a throuple... Although I do not do Open-relationships, Those are a no-go for me."
"Cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool cool..." Dendra nodded her head as she quickly said 'Cool' over and over again, "So now I just need to get Tulip on board and everything is set..."
As I watched Dendra scheme her plan to slowly become a Harem protagonist, A knock on the door our attention.
"Querida, I'm sorry..." Dendra's father said from the other side of the door, "I made some of your favorite Gazpacho... And I made a bowl for your Amigo too..."
Dendra and I stared at the door for a moment before Dendra sighed and stood up, "Let's go eat dinner," She smiled softly at the door before pulling me to my feet.
And just like that, we ate dinner.
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Not even an hour passed before I had to throw up into the toilet bowl, I think the food was poisoned.
"You are simply weak, Chico, not everyone can understand the culinary depth of my famous Gazpacho!" Dendra's dad smirked down at me as he stood by the door to the bathroom, watching me puke into his toilet.
"I'm not weak..." I manage to croak out, "Your cooking just sucks..." I quickly returned to retching.
"Hmmph, well then, Next time Dendra brings you here, Why don't you show me how to cook? It'll be a nice little competencia, show you why I'm the father here,"
God, I want to say "Your daughter calls me Daddy too," so badly, but I know that not only is that a bald-faced lie, Dendra's dad will probably just kill me.
"I don't even know your name..." I croak out instead.
"Hmmph, Did I not tell you? I am Hernan, but while In my house, you will call me Sir..." Dendra's dad said, and I weakly nodded.
"Sure thing, Hernan,"
"Why you little-" He ground at me before scoffing and turning away, "Be lucky that you leave tomorrow, Nino, Because I'll be in a much better mood when I'm not forced to see you..."
I nodded, knowing that I shouldn't anger the head of the house more than necessary.
I'm too tired to argue.
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At seven in the morning, A pair of trainers left Alfronda, making their way towards the Alfronda Cavern to the west.
"Yosh! Cascarrafa, here we come!"