Tyvan nodded resolutely. “I am feeling a bit peckish.”

Yes!

“Shay, I would absolutely love to share a meal with you.”

Double yes!!

“Briar Rose is on her way back. I asked her to pick up several burritos I can eat without interruption.” He gestured to her, “I’m willing to share with you. You don’t eat much.”

No!!

Err-- kinda yes! (A burrito sounded aWesome!) But mostly no! For someone who loved food so much, Tyvan offering to share was a gigantic win in and of itself. He was SO sweet! But that didn’t work with her plan!

Shay bared her teeth, “Can... we go out-- just us?”

Tyvan hesitated...

Was he going to say yes to that? He clearly wanted to say yes? He didn’t look like he was going to say no!

He shook his head!

Wait, WHAT???? Was the world she lived in a LIE??!? Who was the person in front of her-- was he NOT TYVAN???

Shay reached up to grab Tyvan’s shoulders, shaking him. “WhyyyYY?!”

He barely moved-- of course. And... he still smelled like Tyvan. So... Mm.

His cologne smelled so nice.

Tyvan gestured to the bags on the ground. “Unfortunately, I must prioritise the cleaning and disinfecting of the roof trims in preparation for installing the bird spikes.”

Ergh. Tyvan’s weird need to terrorize harmless avian creatures was really getting in her way.

So the setup wasn’t perfect. And her probability of success was abysmal. But... Shay still had heart! And conviction! Determination! And panic and fear and anxiety and the burning NEED to try anyway because maybe-- just maybe Tyvan would still say yes!

She stomped her front foot down and lowered into a martial artist’s stance. READY!

Oh, wait-- no. She stood up straight and folded her hands in front of her to look sweet and cute and loveable. (It was a mannerism she naturally picked up from Heidi.)

“What... what are you doing on Saturday?”

Tyvan looked down as if he was remembering something...

“It saddens me to say, but... I have a planned engagement.”

Shay narrowed her eyes, dropping the cutesy act. “Doing what?”

“Overseeing the installation of electric posts. Though I’ve admittedly done only cursory research on the matter, the logic is... that a would-be predator would seek to perch upon said posts...”

He clenched his fist, looking up melodramatically. “And the vengeance of the tens and thousands of unjustly fallen shall be realised in short order.”

Shay crossed her arms. That went far beyond terrorizing birds. Also, that did not, at all, sound legal.

...realistically, it probably wasn’t like that, though. He was probably talking about a bird-version of an electric fence. Animals that got close to those got a little, tingly shock

and they just... wouldn’t want to touch it again.

Explicitly lethal electrification traps were probably not available for commercial use.

“Can... can that wait? Or can Raia do that, instead?”

Shay gulped. She needed a date for Nuri’s gala. Going without one was a horrible social faux pas that would make her look socially incompetent!

Of course, going without a date was an option. She didn’t need a date to impress anyone. Maybe Nuri would make fun of her, but that was a basic expectation.

--but if Nuri’s other friends were the ones to judge her...

And what if they made fun of Nuri behind her back for having a dumb, date-less friend?

Shay couldn’t do that to her!

She needed a date, for sure-- and that date HAD to be Tyvan!

Her plan to trick him into going with her was SO PERFECT, TOO!!

The whole conversation was already outlined in her head. At first, Tyvan would politely reject her out of shyness. He’d say something like ‘I wish I could go with you, but it wouldn’t be appropriate. I hope you have a lovely time.’

And then she’d respond with, ‘Ahhh, how can you be so dense?! Can’t you tell that I want you to be my date?’

And then he’d be taken aback and say, ‘I had no idea. Is that really true? I’m honored-- but alas--’

And then, from there, Shay would just be like, ‘Say it! Say you’ll go with me to the gala!’

And then he’d say yes. There’d be fireworks. Music, maybe.

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And she’d get the final word in, too! She’d use a cool line like, ‘You should consider yourself lucky that I’m going with you!’

Tyvan would wear a tuxedo! (Knowing him, he probably already had one.) And then he’d agree to help her pick out the dress. And then they’d have a date. They’d drive to a national park. THEN, they’d watch the sun set together. And they’d kiss. A lot.

“--Shay?” Tyvan said. “Miss Yan?”

“hwuH?”

Tyvan gazed down at her-- was gazing down at her. Ah. His face was really close...

“You were... nonresponsive for several moments-- more so than usual.”

Shay furrowed her brows. More than... usual?

Tyvan gestured with his hand. “What is occurring on Saturday that you would need my presence?”

Ah.

Shay was thinking way too far into the future. She still needed to start that wave of events in motion or all was naught!

Date at the gala. Tyvan wearing a tux. Her in a dress that he helped pick out.

Those were the necessary points she had to communicate.

So, naturally, what came out of her mouth was:

“I want you to wear my dress.”

Oh.

Huh.

“Ah,” Tyvan said.

Shay raised her chin.

Then... she...

She felt her knees buckle.

And she fell.

She just fell-- plopped right down onto the courtyard grass.

Tyvan caught her, one hand on her waist, the other supporting her back. Shay felt her face burning up, knowing he was looking at her... so she let her head droop back and she closed her eyes, pretending to be unconscious.

Everything was fine. She wasn’t a person. She was just a living blob of cringe and embarrassment.

She heard footsteps stride across the courtyard grass.

And, then she heard Yeonha’s voice.

“Boss...... are you... gonna. do a crime?”

“No.”

“......Do you... want. to?”

“Also no.”

Yeonha made a disappointed ‘che’ sound-- which was a little rude, but also not surprising.

She was probably joking.

(She was hopefully joking.)

Shay felt Tyvan take her wrist. His touch made her face steadily warm from uncomfortably burning to boiling the insides of her skull.

Then-- oh! OhhHh?? He lifted her up in a princess-carry.

She liked that! She liked that a lot!!!

Wait. Did that mean...? But he said he didn’t want to--

Ah. She got handed her off-- presumably to Yeonha.

...It was weird how Yeonha could carry her so easily. She wasn’t much bigger than she was. Maybe she had crazy back muscles like Heidi.

“I checked her pulse. No abnormalities,” Tyvan said. “But I think I heard her say something... rather odd, just now.”

Shay shut her eyes harder. She didn’t want to hear that!

“Yeonha, take her to convalesce in the common room. I aim to continue my work here.”

Yeonha made a positive ‘Nn’ noise before turning away and carrying her off.

A short walk later, Yeonha sat down on the rec. room couch, while Shay wallowed in misery and self-loathing. But then Yeonha laid her head down on her lap-- which was sweet of her. That did come at a minor cost, though: getting poked in the cheek-- along with the accompanying sound effect.

“Poke. Poke.”

Shay loosely hugged Yeonha at the waist, burying her face into her French maid apron.

“I’m an embarrassment,” she mumbled.

“There’s. always. tomorrow,” Yeonha said, patting her head.

Shay sighed loudly. That was true. Tomorrow, she’d have yet another chance to embarrass herself even worse.

But it would also be another chance to get Tyvan to agree to be her date.

----------------------------------------

Shay recovered a few hours later... but she purposely avoided Tyvan until the day after.

Thursday went a bit better. She managed to clear everything up with Tyvan.

The conversation should have really been approximately two sentences.

Sentence one: ‘I don’t actually want to see you in a dress.’

Sentence two: ‘Please be my date to the gala on Saturday.’

It took half an hour. And Shay didn’t remember what exactly she said, but... by the end of it, she was fairly sure Tyvan forgave her.

Maybe. He did say he was relieved-- which she had to take at face value because embarrassment and relief weren’t emotions of his that she’d seen enough to recognize it.

But, then, she screwed up.

Typical. Screwing up was what she did.

She didn’t ask Tyvan on a date.

She asked him... to help her with her mission.

Maybe if she actually said it was a date, he would have said yes. (Or he could have said no and she’d have been absolutely cRusheD and wallowing in despair-- probably crying in Heidi’s room and/or Yeonha’s lap.)

But she didn’t say that. She got scared at the last moment. She said it was a mission.

Tyvan, of course, agreed. He agreed right away.

He got excited-- like he did when he was talking about cooking or Briar Rose was bringing home takeout food. He started asking about dangers and stuff-- about the specific goals she wanted to achieve and what supplies she thought would behoove the operating environment.

He promised to assist and advise her as effectively as he could.

It was always cool to see him do his best at a thing he was obviously good at.

But... the result was her not getting Tyvan as a date.

Instead, she was assigned a battle-buddy.