"Gotta hurry, gotta hurry...!" Lemmy ran to his guest bedroom with all his might, "Can't keep her waiting, absolutely can't!"

To preface this chapter told through the third person, this scene was happening at the same time as the previous one, though just a few rooms away. Lemmy had busted open his door with a kick filled with vigor, his Eyes staring at nothing but his pillow under which the condom he was to bring to Nelly's room and use resided.

"Come on, Lem! This is your one and only shot, DO NOT MESS THIS UP." His thoughts reminded him, "All your hard work is about to pay off, but it's essential you don't mess this step up. Right, this isn't the end. No no no, it's only the beginning! She said so herself—You guys are just friends. Yeah, but if I do well now, there's a tiny sliver of hope that she might want to try dating as well! It's a bit out of order, err well, a lot out of order, but you're left with no choice!"

His mind was everywhere but where it should've been right now. A total state of disarray. Imagining her tender embrace, a possible confession, their first date location, how he might try to be a bit brash and grab her hand, their first kiss... Again, this is also the guy who was about to go to his crush's room and engage in a lot more than that, but it's not like he wanted it to end up like this either. As Lemmy said, it was either this or he remained in the dreaded "friend zone" until the end of time.

"It's...!" He threw the pillow to the ground, "It's not here! Dammit, I definitely put it under the bedsheets where the pillow is! No no no, this isn't happening...!"

"Ahem." A man's voice cleared his throat from the darkness, "Retrace your steps, maybe you'll find something."

"That's not gonna work!" He continued looking everywhere but where the man was, "I know where I left it, and it's not there!"

"Ah, I see." The man muttered before raising it in front of himself, "Oh! I found it!"

"What? You did!?" Lem turned around immediately and snatched it away, "Nice going! Now I can... Wait a second."

"Took you long enough." Lune revealed himself as the man in his room, "I was actually worried you were gonna run right out and ignore me. Boy, would that be awkward for the girls..."

"So you were hiding in here the entire time..." Lemmy slowly stepped back, only to hit another person lying in wait behind him.

"Lemuel, why don't you have a seat right over there?" Issei pointed to a random chair in the room, "You know, we saw you exchanging quite a lot of inappropriate texts with a minor, right? I'm Chris Hansen, and this is To Catch a Predator."

"Texts? Dude, they don't have phones." Lune facepalmed.

"I was making a reference!" Issei bickered.

"I'm sorry!" Lemmy immediately ran to seek Lune's forgiveness, "Beat me up, kill me if you have to! But I had no other choice! R-Rather, how do I put this...?!"

"Excuses!" Issei cracked his knuckles menacingly, "Time to face retribution, sicko."

"Eep!"

At this very moment, Lemmy was actually considering jumping headfirst from the second story. It all fell apart so fast, everything went up in smoke, and he couldn't live with the fear and shame that came with it! He genuinely planned for nothing more than to put the idea of dating into her mind, but Lemmy was actually cursing her for forcing his hand and making him have to go through with this instead. Here stood the boy who wanted nothing but the girl he liked to like him back, but then she suddenly threw the curveball of sex into the equation, and he just couldn't say no. In his mind, if he did decline her in favor of taking it slow, he was afraid she might take that to mean he doesn't like her at all, and he worried they would never become more than friends. Or worse, he worried—Maybe they just might drift apart...

"Issei, you've done enough. I'll take it from here." Lune had him stop scaring Lemmy any further.

"Aww, fine." Issei pouted as he sat down on the bed.

"Thanks. Now then, Lemmy—From one guy to another, I'm sorry for the cockblock." Lune smiled.

"W-What? N-No, I..."

"Okay, let's ignore that we're talking about my daughter for a sec." He continued, "Nelly really is way too damned dense, isn't she?"

"Huh?" Lemmy thought in his mind, "Is this guy seriously saying this about his daughter?" The very fact Lune isn't beating him up right now is already golden for him, but he was more bewildered by that unwavering smile he has on his face. Turning back to look at Issei for help, it seems even the Foreigner was surprised by his friend's words.

"I-I... Yeah, she is pretty dense." Lemmy sheepishly replied.

"Right? Like okay, I get she has a crush on Meil, and honestly that's a whole 'nother can of worms I don't wanna get into, but damn can she not catch a hint about you!"

"I guess it's my fault for not being more obvious..." Lemmy pouted.

"Nah, lemme tell you, it was so obvious even Cene started to notice." Lune added, "Then again, it seems that was your plan from the start. Even back when we were in Simpleton, you made it very clear you wanted to date her."

"Is that so?" Lemmy actually found himself stifling laughter at this remark, "I'm glad her family's not as dense, at least..."

"Yeah, so when Ed told us about the bet she made with you, I couldn't believe we were talking about the same person." He announced.

"Gah! So it WAS that asshole! Gods damn you, Goldie Locks!" Lemmy waved his fist in the air, "In any case, you gonna kill me now?"

"No, instead I'm gonna give you a chance." Lune smiled.

"Heheheh..." Issei snickered to himself about something seemingly unrelated, "Booty Warrior..."

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***

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"What, gonna count to ten to give me time to run?" Lemmy joked.

"Lemmy, just to be clear—Ed told us everything." Lune explained, "This includes the fact that this was her idea, not yours. In fact, he even heard rumors of you wanting a purely wholesome relationship until you naturally reached this step, and were in fact quite unhappy with the current state of affairs."

"Good, so you know the full story." Lemmy shrugged, "Still, doing it in her family home's room while her family's in the house definitely doesn't feel right. Sorry about that."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"You know I lost my virginity in the living room, right?" Lune suddenly announced, "Pressed her up against the window and had my way with her."

"Can confirm, I was there and saw it with my own Eyes." Issei casually raised his hand.

"The fuck...? I didn't wanna know that!" Lemmy scowled.

"Yeah, well too bad. We had to listen to the story of a dense and curious girl making the worst leaps in mental gymnastics in order to come to the conclusion that fucking a twerp like you is valid." Issei leaned on Lemmy's head as an armrest, "Honestly, it's a miracle my buddy Lune here isn't mopping the floor with you, going off of how horrible you are and all."

"He's not bad." Lune refuted, "Hell, I'm not against these two getting together at all."

"You're not?" Lemmy furrowed his brows at him, "So does that mean I can go...?"

"You have the balls to ask that even after talking with her dad?" Lune chuckled, "I mean, you can try, but you'd need to convince her mother to let you as well."

"Ah, so we're both getting chewed out." He snorted in a self-deprecating manner, "You guys got us good."

"Right? You two really underestimated the power of adults." Lune made a circle with his fingers and placed it on his forehead, "We see all~ Ooooooh~"

"So, what's the deal here?" Lemmy gave up trying to guess at this point, "You're not against it, but you stopped me all the same. You know the situation, yet you're neither punishing nor helping me. It's confusing, you know?"

"Chill, chill, I'm getting there." Lune calmed him down, "Lemmy, you're a good kid. Honestly, if I had to pick someone to date my daughter, I'd rather it be someone with 5 years on her than someone with 15."

"It ain't easy for you either, I see."

"Not in the slightest." Lune replied with a tired sigh, "But that doesn't mean I think you're a bad pick. We're just faced with another dilemma—You went so deep into being the nice guy of her life that you actually zeroed over into impossible to escape levels of the friend zone."

"I mean I had a chance to leave it, kinda." He shrugged, "I just didn't quite like it, but if she was gonna offer, then I wasn't gonna say no."

"Makes sense, I would've done the same." Lune admitted.

"I wish Marina offered her services to me at least once..." Issei muttered offhandedly, "She was like the opposite of Nelly, she led you on but never gave squat."

"...Issei, you can leave now." Lune glared at him, "We'll talk about you with the girls later."

"Agh, I just got engaged, man~! Don't snitch now!" Issei whined.

"I'll pass it off as your drunken mutters, but don't ever say that shit again."

"Fine..."

And with that, Issei left the room to the two men. Unsure of what to talk about, Lemmy's curiosity got the better of him, and he was inclined to pop the question.

"Who's Marina?"

"My ex wife." Lune replied warmly, "Well, I say ex, but it was death that separated us."

"Oh, I didn't know you had someone else before your wife." Lemmy fidgeted in place, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, it's not something I mention too often anyways." Lune smiled, "But you know, we're actually kind of similar in that regard. She wanted us to be together so bad, but I just didn't allow for it."

"Why not? It feels weird to turn down a girl." Lemmy noted.

"Boy does it, especially when she's tossing her body at you in every waking moment. But I had my reasons." Lune kept his recollections vague, "You know, at the moment she finally broke the camel's back, our situations were quite similar."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep. We were kinda tipsy, uncertain, not in the right headspace and most importantly—Young and dumb." Lune smiled, "Back then I just wanted someone's comfort, and I didn't have my parents to knock some sense into me like you two have now. In my mind I said it was just gonna be once, but we ended up doing it all night."

"Thanks for letting me know what I'm missing out on."

"Again, sorry about the cockblock." Lune stuck his tongue out, "In the end, Marina and I kept going at it every night. Nothing felt out of place, until she one day fell unconscious at work, and I was informed she was pregnant."

"Ain't that a surprise..."

"I rushed to marry her so the child wouldn't be born a bastard, you know." Lune smirked, "But when the time came to give our vows, I'm ashamed to admit I didn't remember any pleasant memories we shared outside of the bed."

"That's... kinda sad." Lemmy spoke honestly.

"I know, it's why I'm telling you in the first place." Lune looked him in the Eye, "Lemmy, in terms of dating Nelly—You have my blessing. But please, one step at a time, and let those steps follow a natural order. I'll only accept you if you have a huge list of cherished, wholesome memories with her to share once you exchange vows."

"I... I see." Lemmy nodded, "Thanks for, I dunno, believing in me, I guess."

"How come?"

"Well, most would write me off as a rough around the edges bandit kid, just like that Goldie Locks and Slanted-Eyes do, but you entrusted your daughter to me."

"I judge a person based on their merits and intentions." Lune smirked, "Besides, my word means nothing if you don't pull your weight around her."

"I'll do my best, father-in-law." Lemmy smirked.

"Again, that's quite a lot of chickens you've counted before they even had the chance to hatch." Lune said as he left the room, "Ah, word of advice—Make your intentions painfully clear with her. Trust me when I say it'll save you a lot of trouble."

"And if she declines?"

"With that much doubt in your head, I'm sure she will." Lune groaned as he closed the door, "Now go to sleep. We've got the second story framework to install tomorrow, and your Command buffs are gonna need to go overdrive."

"Gahh, I could've kissed my virginity goodbye by now...!"

The doors closed as he was left alone in the dark and lonely room. Nothing but the moonlight from the window lit the room up enough for him to find his way to the bed. Devoid of any energy in his body now that the adrenaline left him, Lemmy laid in bed as the chirping crickets lulled his Eyes shut. Just then, he noticed he was still holding the contraceptive in his left hand. With a tired yet motivated smirk, he hid it back under the pillow before going to sleep. He still has a way to go before the time comes to use it.