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His fingers almost missed a note as Roch realized something VERY important. Abigail came from UNDER the skirt, not a hole in it. And the higher she got, the higher the skirt went--

And the poor punk boil had a perfect panty shot thanks to the dancing snake. Not that Taryn realized it. He glanced down just briefly, then forced himself to focus on the snake dancing for him. Ooooh, well... y'know... that was kind of... awesome. Roch was still a true and honest butt man, after all.

"Like that song better, screech?" he asked the snake. "Me too. Let's try this one next!" he said, launching into the faster paced Bulldog Bite, like the red blooded sixteen year old boil he was.

He blinked, then grinned, finishing the song with her wrapped around his arm. Then he reached up, patting her head gently, much like he did Riff's. "Hey, screechie," he said fondly. "You and me can be pals, right?" Of course, panty shots were gone, alas, the sadness.

He gave her a proud grin in return. The snake yawn? So jackin' cute. "I think she's forgiven me for this morning," he said, as if some great feat had been accomplished. "So have you been stuck in here studying the entire time I was sleeping?" he asked curiously. "That's seriously cruel of me," he added, frowning as he thought about that.

..........

Why did the stretching make him want to ask for a hug instead? He was feeling vulnerable again, wasn't he? That was jackin' dangerous and not nice to her, he told himself quickly, shoving the thought out of his mind as quickly as it had snuck in. This was a friendship he wasn't going to jack up, not like he had with Xiu.

"Sure," he said, giving her a grin. "Anything is fine, seriously, I'll eat whatever's put in front of me--except blood and raw meat, really," he added quickly. "And while you're making it I can... ah... tell you how it went with Xiu?"

"I couldn't sleep, again, so I went for a walk and tried out my shadowstep--I'll have to show it to you sometime. Well, there I was, at the demon dorm, and jackin' terrified I'd run into her, cuz I thought I wasn't ready," he said, calmly. "And of course, there she was. So like an idiot, cuz I couldn't run for another minute--there's a recovery time between shadowsteps-- I try and apologize, then go off on a rant about how I WANT to keep liking her, even if she might have a guy already."

Then he snorted. "And she goes 'but don't you feel strongly about your other friends? Taryn? Danny?' and I sit there. And I realize." He fell silent for a moment, thinking it over, "That was strike three," he finally said. "I was out. And y'know, it also clicked in my head that maybe what I was feelin' for her was vulnerability, not liking. I don't LIKE people in my head, Taryn. Especially when they can do it any time they feel like it."

"I'm a lucid dreamer," he said. "I can control what I dream about, so most of the time I use it to flip through my memories, find out stuff I've forgotten. Kind of like... self hypnotism, I guess. And she jumped in on one of those dreams. She saw a lot of stuff about my past, stuff I would rather keep to myself. And she accepted it--I ain't sure she UNDERSTOOD it completely, now that I think about it, but I was caught up with being accepted even after all that," he admitted.

"I was vulnerable," he told her. "But I was stuck on this 'acceptance' thing, and I guess I convinced myself that... it meant I liked her. So I chased her. And finally, as she's just tossing names at me at random, I realized something. She's jackin' NAGGY," he said with a snort. "She's nosy, she's intrusive, and sure I like being accepted just fine, but being told how I feel? Just because I'm saying something--how I really thought I felt--to her? I'm tired of it. This ain't love. I don't know WHAT love is, but that ain't it."

He took a deep breath. "Don't tell her I said that?" he asked, running a hand over his face. "Sure, it's true, but she don't need it pointed out. She's sweet about it," he admitted.

"And then I did something I probably shouldn't have," he admitted. "I stole a little kiss. Then I told her if she broke into my dreams I would do it again," he said with a wicked little grin. "I doubt she'll be doing it again any time soon."

He looked at her. "I just admitted I abused someone--threatened someone with a kiss," he said. "I'm a real b*****d, aren't I?" he admitted, sighing. "But I can't have it happen again. My thoughts--my memories, I think I should be the one that picks who gets to see or hear them."

There was a frown on his face as he reached forward, playing with his food a bit. "But hell, I guess I can't blame her for not wanting to kiss me."