[ look. you’re a good cousin. he loves you like he loves his sister, and mom. but that doesn’t stop him from going a little red around the ears. it looks like that one time when eren was little, and his mother ushered him into saying hello to his cousin. he was shy, red, and frowning, and tried to hide behind her leg. until she told him to act like a young man. ]
[ Luckily for Eren, Alice doesn't take the reaction personally. She loves him too but this is suddenly not about him. If she'd been subjected to Retrospec for longer, she might feel differently about it, but for now she's frowning and glaring at the bat. ]
So the people who run this app have turned these things loose to force people to kiss?
[ at least the frown is a mutual thing. eren shrugs, though, because he’s . . . got his own way to deal with it that has worked fairly well. for five seconds. then he got thrown into a mall fountain.. ]
I slapped a guy and they took it.
[ which is to say: it doesn’t have to be an actual kiss! ]
I guess so. [ so— allow him to do the honors? this is a little embarrassing, he feels like a kid again, but . . . with a sharp inhale through the nose, he holds his hand out, like it’s holding something and ready to give it to her. ]
This is a kiss.
[ “embarrassed” was part of the whole nostalgia thing, but there’s one thing that eren also was as a kid: a devil. he’s smiling as he does it, pinching his fingers together to touch her cheek and imitate a peck— except his hand goes out of control and ruffles up her beautiful blond hair. being surrounded by girls and few boys to play with . . . he was the family’s demonic little brother. ]
[ Alice is confused at first. His hand is empty, isn't it? Stil, she watches when he follows through and-- ]
Ah! Eren!
[ She's laughing, though, and doing her best to reach for him to do the exact same thing--two can play at this! Somewhere just above them, a satisfied bat chirps and takes its leave. ]
[ Are they in the middle of the mall? Sure. Does it matter? Not at all, if the way Alice is now trying to drag Eren's jacket over his head is any indication. Keep stretching your arms up, cousin, it's helping! ]
[ ack, no—! he’s been covered! a muffled chuckle erupts from under the jacket as he tries to unravel it with his shoulders, and once he’s free, he’ll flick his hand at her hair. this is fine. he’s feeling better, and look, no bats! best cousin. ]
[ Success! She considers holding him like that for a while but he did help her get rid of the bat so it's fine. She starts trying to fix her hair while he frees himself, scoffing at his suggestion. ]
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After . . . Some kind of. Kiss.
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So the people who run this app have turned these things loose to force people to kiss?
[ Perverts. She's very unimpressed. ]
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I slapped a guy and they took it.
[ which is to say: it doesn’t have to be an actual kiss! ]
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I don't think think either of us slapping the other will end well. How does this system decide what it will and won't allow? Trial and error?
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I guess so. [ so— allow him to do the honors? this is a little embarrassing, he feels like a kid again, but . . . with a sharp inhale through the nose, he holds his hand out, like it’s holding something and ready to give it to her. ]
This is a kiss.
[ “embarrassed” was part of the whole nostalgia thing, but there’s one thing that eren also was as a kid: a devil. he’s smiling as he does it, pinching his fingers together to touch her cheek and imitate a peck— except his hand goes out of control and ruffles up her beautiful blond hair. being surrounded by girls and few boys to play with . . . he was the family’s demonic little brother. ]
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Ah! Eren!
[ She's laughing, though, and doing her best to reach for him to do the exact same thing--two can play at this! Somewhere just above them, a satisfied bat chirps and takes its leave. ]
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[ oh, now it’s on. one grubby hand turns into two, two hands all up into messing her hair up and try to get away from his own mess! ]
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You could use a hair cut.
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Absolutely not, this is years of hard work.
[ And that's just getting out of the shower. ]