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So many things had fallen to s**t since that night. What had started off as perhaps the best night turned to be the worse. Stargazing, talking, cuddling, a firm affirmation in his mind that they were now 'a couple'. A tentative couple, but a couple none the less. Then it had fallen apart. Her folks had fallen to the coma that plagued the city, and Elzo couldn't do anything. When he first came into the Collin's residence, he hoped it would be for something like a invite to family dinner. To be hounded by Audrey's father. Something he almost hope for, expected. The invite he got, was to keep Audrey safe, to hold her while she cried and her parents remained motionless. He had no idea what had caused it.
Well, one idea, but there were no signs of struggle, no forced entry. The negaverse were attacking people in the streets, not in their homes. There he had stayed with her, comforting, even as the paramedics arrived and they drilled her for information. He remembered what she had told them. He was her boyfriend. That simple statement made Elzo realize how much she trusted him. She called him to comfort her. She was in her arms as she cried. His own heart was torn. He was her boyfriend. It was his place to be her support, the one she could depend on.

A week had passed, he kept his distance. Mostly due to the fact he couldn't provide support when his own had crumbled from beneath him. Marlo had fallen into the same coma. His father had expressed his thoughts on the matter. 'Why waste money when he won't wake up anyway?' 'Let him sleep his life away. Better then have him as a vegetable.' The saving grace had been the fact that due to the nature of the pandemic, a cure might exist, and doctors wouldn't pull the plug until they could properly deduce what had caused the massive black out.
His brother still had a chance, but right now, all Elzo could do what sit by his brother's bedside, and pray for a recovery. A slim chance, but it was a chance. Marlo had never been one to give up. He'd always seen things through. Elzo couldn't give up. He just couldn't.

A chance meeting with Audrey at the hospital. The first time she had seen his brother, tubes stuck into his body, machine clicking away as a IV drip sustained his life. for a time tjhey had sat, speaking little, her invite going almost unnoticed.

But soon enough, he needed her. He needed to hold her, to feel like something was left in this world he had to fight for, to protect. Audrey was one of the few things that made Elzo feel so deeply, and the separation he felt from her was almost painful. The Guard had stopped him twice along the way. the fact he wasn't in his uniform and that he was 18 allowed him to pass, but soon, he wouldn't be allowed on the streets. He might have to spend the night.
That didn't bother Elzo. He'd slept with Audrey before. He didn't intend to do anything. Not with their nerves so frayed. The engine was killed just outside her house. His helmet locked in the side containers.

Seeing her on the front porch swing, he felt a sense of comfort. She was still safe. She was okay as could be. He'd woried about her. About how she was doing, if she was eating right or binging on cinnamon buns, and if she was lonely. He certainly felt that way at Hillworth in the past few days.
"Hey." His voice was subdued. "Got room for one more?" He was wearing a new leather jacket. He'd never asked for his old one back.

Hearing her voice brought him more of that comfort. She was still the same Audrey, putting her self down as usual. "Sorry Audrey." He made his way over, taking his seat beside her. "I like big butts and I cannot lie. I also like cute little ones. They type of which you own and need to scoot closer my way." He removed his jacket, wrapping it around her, pulling her to his side. It was something he did often. Pull her close, hold her. Something about having her near gave him a sense of completion. It was just natural, the right thing to do.

He kissed her forehead. They hadn't even had a real kiss yet. Just little pecks to get attention or to comfort. These days, they needed more comfort then kisses to a cheek or forehead could provide. "I missed you too. You've been eating okay? Nobody bothering you? I heard the dorms at crystal were getting crowded and I worried you might not be happy and-" He concern was bleeding into frantic worry exposer, showing just how much he had worried about her. He kicked the swing into motion.
"Sorry we can't seek out to go star gazing tonight." Quarantine, such a fun status. "But, still, I'm glad you know you're alright."

It was peaceful out in sub-urban area of the city. Even more so now that half of it's population was in a coma. Even without the fact looming like a dark cloud, it was the first time Elzo had the chance to relax. The last few days had been hectic at best, abysmal at worse. His hand ran down her hair, brushing out tiny knots with his fingers. "All I have to do is show them a picture of you and they all go walking. Nobody can't beat you and they know it." He did have a picture of her on his phone now. Just sitting in the corner of Shufflepuck, a gooey cinnamon bun half in her mouth. It was a rather cute impromptu picture. Even if she hated it.

He pulled her hair from her fingers. She was always such a fidgeter. Then again, he was always running his hands in her hair and massaging her scalp. Touching. Some sort of physical contact. It was a slow transformation to the PDA couple they had mocked but a few weeks ago. "It's been just been a lot of phone tag with my dad and, well..." He'd been at the hospital daily, checking in to see his brother. He hated it. He hated the smell of the hospital, the lack of personal care. As justified as the hospital was for doing what it did, he still felt like Marlo was better. He deserved better. It was utterly unjustifiable as Marlo would have blankly told him, but Elzo still wanted it. His brother was in a coma, and that was what mattered most to him.

His feet kept the swing rocking. "I can come get you during the day. As long as it's light out and I'm not in uniform, all they ask for is to be home by sundown." They being the National Guard. Elzo pulled her a bit closer as a brush of wind sent a small chill down his back. "Well I'm your boyfriend right? It's what you told them." The question had been on his mind now. "I hope I'm your boyfriend..Unless that's not what you want. I won't leave if you say no, but I-" Moment of truth. "I want to be. Your boyfriend that is."

There was a God. And it was not only looking down on Elzo, it was smiling. A deep sigh left his body as she told what he's been wanting to hear for practically forever. Pulling her fully onto his lap, (well more like the last parts of her, she was almost completely on him anyway), Elzo gave her a very entrapping hug. "You have no idea..." His hand slid under her chin, making her face him. "How ******** long I have wanted to be able to do this."

It was the first true kiss. A soft kiss, a tender brush of lips. Simple and clean. Yet, for all it's softness, it was over as quickly as it began, and it left him just as breathless as any other. "You're my girlfriend now Audrey Collins. Mine." He squeezed her close. "That means I get full cuddling rights, a one kiss per day, and all your base. This is non, well, slightly negotiable." The first time since the week began, and he could feel that sunshine. He finally felt a ray of happiness through all the darkness that had invaded Destiny City. "Is it too soon to say that I have been wanting to call you that since forever? My girlfriend? Because I kind of want to tell everyone I know." Utter jubilation. "I got the best girl in town."

At this point Elzo had one thing running in his head. And that was the sound of utter spastic joy. It was glowstick drinking Demitri down the hall kind of joy. The kind you couldn't shut up even if you wanted too. Unable to really hold it in, Elzo did what he did best.

Pick up chicks.
Literally.

Pulling Audrey into his arms, he stood up and danced with her, the same dance they had been practicing not even over week ago. Laughing as the sun started to fade, he kept spinning her. All the way down the steps and into the lawn. Then finally, finally, he set her down, grinning like the fool he was. "Five a day or five million." He kissed her left cheek. "All at once or over a 24 hour period." A kiss to her right. "All my base and every zig." A kiss to her forehead. He stopped kissing her, and just looked into the honey browns he'd come to adore. "I want to make you as happy as possible. I want more then anything, to be your boyfriend." Fianlly, a kiss on her lips. Fifth kiss. Not that he was keeping track. He'd never do anything like that.

"That makes five kisses." Of course he would. He was Elzo for god's sake. "I require extra for late night body guarding. Cuddling is free and payment can be deferred to the form of dances to the radio for extra practice." He sighed again. It was a happy sigh.
"I want to stay...I say this in case my blabbering confused you and nothing I just said made no sense what so ever."

It was every guy's dream to have a house to no one but himself and his girlfriend. It was a bad thing waiting to happen. Elzo thought it was perfect however, and for all the right reasons. None of them having to do with anything beyond maybe getting to spoon in a real bed and not in the open outdoors.
And even that was a big maybe. Audrey was shy and he knew it. Teasing was fine, but acting on her words? He wouldn't press her.
"I already know how to pay you back for such a sight." He chuckled, bending over to nuzzle her neck properly. "You can see me in mine." There was that dark side of Elzo, tease, taunting, but never serious. Well, almost never. Occasionally his true yearnings slipped out, but, they could be masked over. Held in until a time when maybe someday.
Someday...

"By the way, my pajamas are known as boxers. And you will happy to know I wore them today and they are blue with a tiny whale etched on the side. Why a whale? I have no idea. They're just comfortab- I'm babbling again." He laughed at himself. Feeling awkward for the first time in a long time. A girlfriend. A full on, I think I am in love with this girl, girlfriend. "Shall we go inside and you show me your cooking skills? Or do you have other skills I need be aware of?" His actions of rocking back and forth with her in his arms and his words hardly matched up.

"As for underwear, I don't think you'll have to worry about that...unless you have a favorite pair you don't want me stealing. I mean, you don't wear skirts so I can never quite catch a glimpse..." He laughed, letting her go and running up the steps. A night of just them for once, and no one to bother them. No worries about being caught out late. Having to sneak in and out. Just them. Together.
Finally.

The first time he'd entered the Collin's home, it had been in under less then ideal circumstances. Now, it was ideal. OR semi- ideal. Ideal was when he was invited by her dad. Then he'd know he was welcomed. But, still. It was like his first real time in Audrey's house. Crazy trauma night just didn't count. "You should wear a skirt sometime. If just so I can tell everyone how cute you look in it." His mind wondered how she would look in one of those light pastel skirts that ran to about they knee. He could see her in that come the warmer days of summer. Maybe even without the leggings!

"Drew Collins just better be aware that the second he tries to do more then adore I will call him a massive p***k and shove that towel he used to snap down his throat." Elzo still didn't like the idea that his old assistant gym teacher was teaching his girlfriend how to fight. Sure, it was good for her, but it was Drew Collins. He was just...Ugh. Bad memories of running laps. "Besides your obvious seductive abilities with food, and your charming ability to render me a slave to your every whim with just a smile, I have to also say you can make me laugh, you can amaze, you can surprise, and of course," an arm went around her waist and another took her hand. A dancing pose. "You can dance."

And dance they did, to soundless music and silly little laughter all the way into the kitchen. "If I can place an order, how about something simple? Like pasta?" Elzo loved a good pasta dish. It was his comfort food. And Audrey was also his comfort. Pasta and Audrey. Double comfort, double Elzo's awesome day factor.