As Grey got ready for his day (he was pretty groggy from the night before since he couldn't get Cedric out of his thoughts), most of the Freelancers (except for Cedric, Oliver, and Ash) had left for some missions. Ash straightened his tie, cleared his throat, combed his ethereal head, sprayed himself w/ cologne. Cedric couldn't help but cock an eyebrow at this.

"Dude. You are going to spend a day w/ Grey. Why are freshening as if you're going to fucking meet up w/ someone in power? S:(" Cedric asked.

"Bitch, please. It doesn't matter who I'm going to be meeting. I must ALWAYS look perfect and professional!" Ash said w/ an arrogant scoff.

"Egotistical is more like it," said Cedric w/ a mildly disgusted look on his face.

"Haters are always going to fucking hate," said Ash, unperturbed.

Cedric rolled his eyes, smiled a little, shook his head, and walked away. As Cedric walked over to his room, Grey walked down the hall over to the kitchen. As he passed Cedric, Cedric smiled at him. Grey awkwardly smiled, but it was a bit weaker than usual due to his grogginess. When he made it to the kitchen, Ash walked over to him w/ flair and addressed Grey.

"Hello, Grey! Today, it's my turn to spend the day w/ you. Lucky you, I'm the best member here!"

Oliver immediately turned, gave him a look of disbelief, and raised his middle finger. Ash just gave him a cocky look.

"Ignore him, Grey. We're going to have a wonderful time together!" said Ash w/ a flick of his wrist.

Grey, despite his grogginess, was a little wary because that 'wonderful' line reminded Grey a little too much of the emphasis that Pete had put on the word 'fun.'

"What's w/ that worried look?"

Grey jumped a little bit.

Oh, sorry! I was thinking of something unimportant. Are you going to punish me for that? Grey wrote.

"No, my good sir. Unless you do something terrible, I will not punish you. Even then, at most, I would only reprimand you," said Ash, "Now, let's go have breakfast."

When Grey sat down, Ash went over the weird box thing in the kitchen that was known as an "oven/stove." For the next few minutes, Ash used the stove to prepare food in a way that had he'd never seen before. Grey watched the whole process in rapture. He had never seen such an intriguing process! Once he finished, Ash put a plate on his spot as well as on Grey's, and then he sat down. The food was strange, round, pink slices w/ some weird yellow mushy stuff. He tried some of it and, his eyes watered a bit. He didn't know what exactly Ash did to the meal, but GOD did it taste good! He then proceeded to scarf it down.

"Is my superior cooking to your liking," Ash asked smugly.

Grey nodded and then went back to the food.

"Haha! Of course, it would be inconceivable that ANYONE would DARE to dislike my coo- no, not my cooking. My ART!" Ash said, voicing drowning in arrogance.

Both Cedric and Oliver had heard this. They, out of sight, rolled their eyes and groaned (Oliver's was under his breath, while Cedric's was a lot more vocal).









...







After finishing their meal, Ash got up and put the dishes in the kitchen.

"Come, Grey. We have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it!" he said as he strode over to his room.

Grey followed him. When they got to Ash and Oliver's room, Ash opened the door w/ a flair. Instead of going to Oliver's side, they went to Ash's side. On this side, there was a long, weird-looking chair w/ a more traditional-looking chair behind it (except it was puffy), a bed whose blanket looked like Ash's clothing, some odd-looking bottle things arranged neatly on a big, box-like thing. There was also a weird, metal-looking thing that had a lot of clothes on it. It reminded Grey of the metal thing in Benjamin's room. There was also a big, fuzzy thing on the floor that had a nice looking image on it. Finally, there was a long thing w/ a bowl-like thing at the end.

"Ah, here we are. Welcome to my cozy abode," said Ash proudly.

Grey had to admit this was his second favorite room so far (second only to the one he shared w/ Cedric due to Cedric being in there, of course). This room felt quite lovely and, even though Grey hadn't been in there for long, it felt like it would be incredibly comfortable to sit in either the chair or the bed and relax.

"You like?" Ash asked.

<i>Oh, it's divine!</i> Grey wrote, mesmerized by the hominess of this room.

"Yes! Finally, SOMEONE appreciates my work in here!" Ash shouted, feeling incredibly gratified. "Now, I want you to sit in that long chair."

Grey walked over to the chair. He gingerly got onto it and laid back. It felt odd but very comfortable at the same time.

"Perfect. Now, you sit back and get comfy. I'm going to sit here and practice my psychology on you."

<i>What is psychology?</i> Grey wrote.

"Psychology is just talking to a person and getting to know what they're thinking and how their feeling," Ash stated matter-of-factly.











...





For the next couple of hours, Ash asked Grey some questions. Some about where he came from and some about what he liked and disliked. For lunch, Ash prepared a warm soup-like dish called 'stew.' It had bits of meat, vegetables, and cheese in it. The taste was heavenly, the ingredients not too soft yet not too crunchy, and the warmth was just right. After that wonderful meal, they went back to the questions. Eventually, Ash asked about Cedric.

"Now, the other Freelancers and I have noticed how you act when Cedric is w/ you. I would like you to tell me how you feel about him if you're willing," said Ash.

Grey got a nervous look on his face, took a deep breath, and slowly wrote how he felt about Cedric.

<i>He makes me feel weird. I like being w/ him. I enjoy it when he touches me. His gaze makes me feel strange but good at the same time. I don't know why I feel like this.</i> Grey wrote w/ that familiar weird feeling in his face and chest.

"My suspicions have been confirmed. You are madly in love w/ Cedric, aren't you?" asked Ash slyly.

<i>Cherry told me something similar.</i>

"Oh yeah, you're madly in love."

<i>Is this a bad thing?</i> Grey wrote.

"Oh no, not at all. In fact, if Cedric loves you back, it's a very wonderful thing indeed!"

<i>If you don't mind me asking, what do people who are in love do?</i> Grey asked.

"Oh, well, they tell each other how they love each other, occasionally get each other gifts to show that the two of them care for each other, look out for each other, hug each other, give each other kisses. If the two people are really in love, they'd get engaged and then married," explained Ash.

<i>Engaged and married?</i>

"An engagement is when one person asks another to marry them. To get married to someone means to form a personal relationship w/ them. It is the ultimate form of love where the two people involved choose to spend their entire lives w/ each other," Ash said dreamily.

<i>Are you saying I should marry Cedric?</i> Grey asked.

"Oh, fuck no, it's way too soon! You need to spend more time w/ him to see if he's the right man for you. You must get to know him more for now. It is a horrible idea for someone to rush into an intimate relationship so quickly. Let your relationship w/ him develop over time, spend some time w/ him, and above all, don't rush this or take it too slowly," Ash said.

<i>I think I understand.</i> Grey wrote, still a little confused, but getting the basic gist.

"Good," Ash said.

He then lifted one of his sleeves.

"Shit, our session lasted longer than I thought it would! Get up, Grey, we have to have our fight quickly!"

<i>Won't the fight take place in your room like how the others did?</i> Grey asked.

"And risk ruining my precious possessions? I think NOT! Now get up. We don't have much time left," said Ash impatiently.

They got up and left the room. Ash quickly led Grey over to the end of the hall. The wall here was bare aside from a thin line splitting it down the middle. Ash pressed something in the wall, and the wall split open. Grey was somewhat stunned but still followed Ash out at a quick pace. Outside, there was a closed-in area. It had one tall, brown thing that had a surplus of green stuff covering its top, a large blue hole, and soft, green things covering the floor.

"We will conduct our battle here," Ash said as he moved to the center of the medium-sized area and began to float, "Now, let us begin!"

<i>FIGHT START!</i>

(Song: Slam Down from Megaman ZX Advent)

Ash manifested two fingers and snapped them. Underneath Grey, a big, dark square appeared and began to glow intensely. Grey, not stupid, dashed quickly away from the eerie square. A moment after his foot left it, intense darkness burst forth from the square. Ash snapped his fingers again and this time five squares appeared and Grey was on one of them. He quickly dashed and narrowly avoided getting blasted by the deadly squares. Ash then floated back down, snapped his "fingers" w/ a greater intensity, and rushed towards Grey w/ his hand engulfed in dark energy. Grey managed to sidestep out of the way, but he then noticed the square underneath him and realized that it was a trap. He dashed as quickly as he could, but the explosion still ended up grazing him and it knocked his health down to 93%. Grey then noticed that squares were appearing haphazardly one after the other all over the floor and that one was underneath him again. He dashed just as the dark square erupted and Ash came at him again. Not really seeing a way to dodge Ash, Grey waited for a bit and then crouched just as soon as Ash came. Ash, unable to cancel his action, tripped over Grey and tumbled down onto the ground. Grey, seeing a square underneath him, immediately dashed away. He then saw Ash gingerly getting up as a square appeared underneath him! Grey silently gasped, dashed over to Ash, and pushed him out of the way. The square then blasted Grey. The blast hurt quite a bit and Grey clenched his gapped teeth to keep from screaming. When the explosion was done, Grey collapsed onto the soft, green floor. His health was down to 57%. Ash looked down at Grey w/ a worried expression.

"Oh fuck, I think I took this too far," said Ash as he snapped his "fingers".

The squares all disappeared.

"Oh jeez, I'm sorry, I was so caught up in our fight that I didn't consider how chaotic that attack would be! I'm ending this right now."

<i>NO WINNER...</i>

"Here take my hand," Ash said holding his plumy hand out.

Grey gingerly raised his hand took Ash's hand. Ash slowly helped him up w/ Grey cringing.

"Hold on a minute," Ash said as placed his hand on Grey's chest.

Ash then muttered something unintelligible under his "breath". Some dark energy swirled around Grey. He was scared at first, but the feeling quickly passed. The shadows felt so soothing and Grey felt at ease. His health slowly went up until it was back up at 100%. Ash stopped muttering.

"You okay now?" He asked.

Grey nodded.

"Good. Let's just go have our dinner," Ash said calmly.

They walked back into the home. As they walked down the hall, Ash paused and stopped Grey.

"Again, I'm SO sorry about what happened back there. I didn't intend for that to happen. Please don't mention this to the others."

<i>I won't tell.</i> Grey wrote.

"Good good. Thank you," said Ash.

They walked into the living room. Vicky was sipping from a cup, Cherry was munching on a sandwich, and Cedric and Oliver were sitting together on the couch, playing video games.

"Hey shits, how was it?" Cherry asked.

"Isn't it obvious? It was fucking glorious because Grey was hanging out w/ me!" Ash shouted proudly.

Cherry did nothing but raise both of her middle fingers, bit her bottom lip while tightly smiling, and held a long f sound. Cedric joined her.

"Welp, your time w/ me is up," Ash said and then he whispered slyly, "Go to your man."

Grey's face got that weird feeling again. He smiled awkwardly and left for the table.

Ash couldn't help but snicker under his breath as he knew this would be a good ship.

As Grey made his to the table, Cedric got up and went over to the kitchen. When he was done there, he brought two sandwiches over to the table.

"Heya buddy," Cedric said w/ a calm smile as he sat down.

Grey gave him a big awkward smile.

"So how did your day go?"

<i>It went well.</i> Grey wrote nervously.

"That's good to see. Welp, eat up. It's almost time for bed."

Vicky had already left and Cherry and was having a giggling fit.

"Get a ROOM already you too!" said Cherry.

"Oh get STFU, Cherry," said Cedric, annoyed.

Cherry lazily gave him a middle finger and a smirk as she got up and left.

<i>But we already have a room.</i> Grey wrote.

"Um, Grey, she meant something completely different. Don't ask me what she meant because now's not the time for questions like that."

They then ate away at their sandwiches until they were done.











...



Once they were both ready for bed, Cedric climbed up onto the top bed, and Grey, of course, went into the bottom one.

"G'night love," said Cedric as he dozed off.

Grey, feeling very awkward and hot at that comment, tried to doze off. It took a while, but thankfully he didn't have a repeat of the night before and he eventually dozed off.