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Eli chewed his lip as he knocked on Steve's door. They'd been together for a while now, but after Aja beat Steve up he'd been acting pretty weird. He just wanted to make sure they were still going to be dating, even if it was in secret.It took Steve a few minutes to answer, but when he did he gave a big smile and pulled the smaller boy inside. “Hey babe! How's it going?” he chuckled. Eli smiled at that. This seemed like a good start at least. “H-Hey Steve.. I just wanted to make sure we were still okay, y'know? I mean, you've really had your eye on Aja ever since-” “Oh yeah she's so cool,” Steve sighed, blushing a bit as he caught the terrified look on Eli's face, “N-No I mean… Well she is super cool, but like- Look don't worry about it, babe. You're still my number one.”Eli nodded, looking away from Steve as he hesitantly wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist. “I just… She's really pretty and cool a-and.. I don't know.. I trust you though,” he mumbled, holding him just a bit tighter. Steve gently brushed his hand through his hair. “That's why I love you, babe. You're just so freaking sweet, but uh… I kind of need to get ready. I don't smell rank or anything, do I?”Eli raised a brow as he looked up at Steve. “Huh? G-Get ready for what? You never care about smelling nice for school,” he whimpered, giving a soft whine when Steve looked away. “I uh… There's gonna be a bonfire tonight. That's why I can't go with you to find the billycraggle,” the blonde muttered awkwardly. “Oh,” Eli breathed, looking down again, “well… Why do you need to get ready? It's not until tonight… I-I thought that was just a casual thing anyway.”Steve let out a heavy sigh and rested his hand on Eli's back. “I'm going to ask Aja if she wants to go.” Eli’s eyes widened as he pulled back from Steve. “What? B-But you just said I didn't need to worry about-” “Eli! Eli chill okay? Look it's not like it's really a date or anything we're just-” Steve paused when he saw the tears welling up in Eli's eyes. “Oh no babe.. Don't-” He reached out to hold him, but Eli just pushed him off.“N-No.. If you want to go out with her then- T-Then… W-Whatever! I-I'll just get Krel to come with me to find the billycraggle! Have fun on your date with Aja, Steve,” Eli whimpered out as he headed back out the door. Steve gave a soft sigh as he watched Eli storm out. He'd never seen him get mad about anything. He wasn't even sure if he was actually mad or just hurt. “Crap… I'm gonna have to do something for him later,” Steve muttered to himself before going back to his room to finish getting ready.
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“Hey Krel,” Eli said in a horribly cracked tone, effectively making the taller boy jump at the sudden appearance of the little nerd. “Oh hello Eli,” Krel responded as he turned to face the pasty boy, “what is up?” Eli blushed a bit at the question. He knew full well that what was up was that he was trying to show Steve how it felt for your boyfriend to flirt with someone else. “Um I-I was just wondering if you wanted to go with me to look for the billycraggle tonight.. You never got to answer me earlier.”Krel raised a brow. “What even is a 'billy-craggle’ anyway?” he asked. Eli's eyes widened before he gave a surprised little huff. “'What's a billycraggle’? He's an urban legend! He's one of the tons of creepers we've got and I finally think I'm mature enough to meet him! H-He's like Goatman but he's just known around here… But if I could find proof that he exists then he could be a million times more popular!”Krel couldn't help but to give an awkward chuckle at Eli's excited rambling. “You sure know a lot about this man goat. Is it dangerous?” He definitely seemed more intrigued now as Eli seemed to light up. Normally Eli was at least mildly annoying, but something about how excited he was getting just sparked a warm feeling in him. It was like showing a puppy a new toy. “Well he's not necessarily a goat, but I also don't think he's dangerous… I mean there's no accounts of anyone ever being attacked by him.. But it's not like there are accounts of him being friendly either… But the other creepers I've met seemed pretty nice! And either way if we found him we could be the first people to actually interact with him and learn about him! Doesn't that sound neat?”Krel nodded and gave a broad smile as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh most certainly! That sounds very lively. What time did you say you would be coming to meet me?” “7 o'clock sharp!” Eli answered just a little too quickly, “and don't forget the comfortable shoes! We're probably gonna be doing a lot of walking.” “Alright then is this a uh… What was it? A date?”Eli went beat-red at that. “N-No!” he squeaked, clearing his throat before continuing, “I-I uh.. I mean… Th-this can just be a friend thing for now.” Krel nodded and gave an amused smile. “Okay great! ‘Just a friend thing’ definitely works for me. I'll see you at 7 then!” And with a pat to Eli's shoulder Krel headed off to his next class.Eli arrived at the Tarron home just around half an hour after Steve had left. He was a little surprised when Krel opened the door before he could even knock. “Hello Eli! So uh… Where was this creature we were looking for?” the tan boy hummed as he walked out of the house, shutting in the parent bots just before they could burst out and scare the poor kid like they did with Steve. “He's out in the woods of course! He lives in a cave and only comes out after dark… At least that's what the legend says,” Eli chirped. His enthusiasm for going out in the woods certainly seemed much stronger than Krel's. The tan boy nearly scowled at the idea of going out into the woods.“Isn't that place dirty and full of dirty animals? Why don't we look for something else?” Krel bargained but Eli just gave him a pout. “Oh c'mon Krel please,” the little nerd whined, “I've been waiting for years to go see the billycraggle!” Krel sighed and rested a hand on his hip. “Fine but if I step in one pile of animal poop I'm coming straight back here!” He pointed at the door for emphasis, but Eli didn't seem to mind his frustrated tone at all as he perked up and immediately wrapped his arms around him for a tight hug.“Sweet! Thanks Krel! I promise I'll warn you if you're about to step in anything!” Thankfully he didn't see the ship's defenses kicking in and aiming straight for him as he held the prince. “Ah stop stop! Lower defenses!” Krel whispered. “What?” Eli chuckled as he let go of him, once again missing the defenses retracting back into the well disguised ship, “You're weird… But I like it!” Krel raised a brow at that, but he didn't have much time to question it as Eli took him by the arm and started pulling him along.“So uh… Do you know if Aja likes Steve?” Eli asked timidly, lifting a branch out of his way as the pair went into the woods. “Well she doesn't hate him. I am not sure if she really dislikes anyone here,” Krel answered before letting out an irritated huff as he ducked under a branch. “N-No I mean like… Does she want to date him?” the little nerd reiterated. “Oh! Uh… I am.. not sure… She hasn't really talked about it. She was acting really strange before they left though.”“Oh..” Eli nodded and kept his gaze everywhere away from Krel as he tried to collect himself. The tan boy raised a brow as he watched him. “Ah.. Were you eh.. close with Steve?” Eli's cheeks were burning as he gave another nod. “Y-Yeah… We were just starting to get really close,” he muttered. Krel put on a comforting smile as he rested a hand on Eli's shoulder, getting him to finally look up at him again. “Well I am sure you two will continue to grow closer. It's not like Aja is going to be with him all of the time.”Eli gave a soft smile of his own. “Thanks Krel… I-I really needed that.” Of course he knew it still meant Steve would persu Aja, and deep down he knew that Krel would only be right if the two of them were just friends, but hearing someone tell him that they could still work out just made him feel a little better. “You're welcome… Now which way should we go to find this goatman?” With a newfound, though almost faux, sense of confidence Eli perked up again and immediately started hurrying deeper into the woods to find the distraction he so desperately needed.Eli knew exactly where the bonfire would be, so when he ran into the most unfriendly beast he'd seen yet he had to go there to warn the other kids and make sure Steve was safe. He was terrified when he saw that the jock had left the rest of the group, but was ready to immediately start his boyfriend's vespa when he came back out of the woods. If he were being honest he'd even say he was sort of glad to not see Aja returning with him. It made him feel a little guilty, but he knew she was tough and would be fine.Once they were far enough out of the woods he finally pulled over to let Steve drive again. “We need to go back! She could be in danger, Eli!” the blonde huffed as he stood beside his bike. “She'll be fine! She's with Krel and they're both super cool! I mean, with his brain and her butt-kicking I'm sure they're already back home!” Steve huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest and turned away from Eli.The little nerd sucked his lip between his teeth as he looked down. “I.. I-I'm sorry I messed your date up… Just take me home and I won't bug you anymore, okay?” he muttered after a moment, hands timidly reaching to grip his shirt. Steve let out a heavy sigh before he climbed back onto his vespa and waited for Eli to hold onto him. He could feel it as the brunette rested his head against his back. He didn't even have to look at him to know he was about to start crying, but in the moment he was too worried about Aja to try to console Eli. He just started the vespa back up and headed toward Eli's house.