After School

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari smiled softly, glad that her Ace was back. "I love you too, Ace. I missed you," she said, pulling away a little to look at him.

(And once again with the mush)

[Ace Stone]

((hahaha. they're the perfect couple for it.))

Ace smiled warmly like he usually did, his dimples creating smile craters in his cheeks. "We have a lot of catching up to do, don't we?" he said with a laugh.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari laughed. "You have no idea."

[Ace Stone]

He kissed her briefly once more before taking her hand and starting out of the room. "I guess we have to go face Crash first though.."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari cringed. "Yeah... we have to... that's not going to be fun."

[Ace Stone]

He gave her hand a comorting squeeze. "Don't worry babe, I've got your back if things get.. tough."

[Arianna Rivers]

She smiled softly at him and bit her lip, opening the door and walking downstairs with Ace in tow.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Hearing the opening of a door, Crash's eyes filcked upwards to the stairs, then saw Ace and Ari coming down. Having finished eating, he was now just sprawled over the couch and his eyes narrowed at the sight of them. "Well?" he almost snapped but managed to only make it a low growl.

[Ace Stone]

"Ari and I are still a couple," Ace announced proudly, putting his arm around her shoulders as he exchanged a hard look with Crash. "Sorry to break it to you, bud."

[Crash Bandicoot]

"....Why?" he asked, his voice hard as he looked between the two of them but mostly his gaze focused on Ace so he could return the cold stare. "Everything all perfect in Happy Couple Fantasy Land now? Awww, how sweet." His voice was mocking and this time he stared at Ari.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari glanced down at her feet before meeting Crash's gaze. "I'm sorry," she mouthed, biting her lip.

[Ace Stone]

Ace looked between the two uneasily, his expression hard. "Stop being such an ass," he muttered towards Crash. "Besides, you shouldn't care about this anyway. Don't you have some chick that you knocked up to take care of?" Ace spat, his rare anger showing.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash just stared at Ari, not acknowleding that she mouthed an apology to him before he let his gaze flick over to Ace. "It was just a question", he semi-snapped. He sighed and sat up on the couch like a normal person. "And what the hell should it matter to you if I'm taking care of Kyra or not? She's not dead yet, is she? Must be doing something right, huh boy-o?" But his words still hit something in Crash and he grit his teeth together. "And anyway, you're obviously the one doing something wrong here and you're always gonna be. It isn't anyone else's fault but your own you can't hold Ari's attention for more than a couple of weeks. So why don't you get over yourself? You're obviously gonna keep boring the kid." With that, he angrily stood up off the couch and walked into the kitchen. Milk time. He poured himself a glass.

[Ace Stone]

Ace's jaw slowly fell open until he tightened it and snapped it shut, his massive arm muscles flexing and unflexing beneath his tight muscle shirt. Taking a deep breath to control himself, Ace looked down to study Ari's face for a long moment, Crash's words ringing through his ears. Was he right? Had they really reached a point in their relationship that she was getting tired of him? If so, why hadn't he noticed? Why had everything seemed perfectly fine to him? "You need to learn to express your feelings more," he muttered to Ari, though his tone was cold it was only because of what Crash said. "If I'm such a boring boyfriend, you should have just said so."

He stepped away from her then, stalking slowly towards the kitchen where Crash had gone, his voice raising as he walked so both of them could hear him. "I try so fuckin' hard to be a good person to everyone - even my parents that don't give a shit about me.. yet it's not enough. Kindness is never enough.." Ace laid a heavy hand on Crash's shoulder, spinning him around so the punk was facing him. "ya know.. deep down inside, I'm really not a nice person at all," he growled, his fingers digging into Crash's skin. "And I know I'm boring.. trust me.. I know." Then, without much warning, Ace pulled his right hand back over his shoulder and snapped it forward, slugging Crash right in the nose.

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash looked up in time to see Ace's fist come flying at him and when he got socked in the nose, he cried out and let the glass fall from his fingers and smash to the floor. Milk spilled everywhere and for some reason, that fact alone made Crash way more pissed than anything that had happened thus far. You just didn't mess with his milk. It didn't work like that. He felt blood running down into the corner of his mouth and raised a hand to touch the wound. Ya. Broken. "God dammit, Ace!" he snapped, even though he'd only meant to say that in his head. In his blind rage, Crash's leg kicked out, nailing Ace hard in the stomach before he rammed him against the wall. "Quit tellin' me your sob story!!! In case you weren't aware, I don't give a damn. Maybe you should go see a psychiatrist so someone in your life can actually cry over you. What the hell does that even say that your parents don't give a shit? If all your looking for is sympathy, why not try killing yourself? Maybe then somebody will care enough to give you a hug."

[Ace Stone]

"What sob story?!" Ace shouted back after gathering his breath, the hit to his stomach knocking the wind out of him. "I don't want anyone's god damn sympathy!" He shoved Crash away from him, easily over powering the smaller guy even though he had to admit the kid sure could kick. "Especially not yours!"

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari sprinted in between them. "Both of you knock it off!You're ridiculous and acting like children. And I will not tolerate it! Especially in my house!"

[Crash Bandicoot]

Crash stumbled back. He made to lunge for the kid but stopped abruptly when Ari ran in between them. His teeth clenched together, a vein jumping in his jaw while his mind conflicted on choices. Letting out a short, irritated breath, Crash turned on his heel and stalked quickly out the door, slamming it shut behind him without a word to either of them. He'd wanted to say some things but figured that would only put them all in a worse situation. This fight wasn't worth it. 'Sides...he should probably get his nose checked out.

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari whipped around to face Ace. "What the hell was that???" she shouted, motioning towards the door the Crash just exited from.

[Ace Stone]

Ace's jaw was set tight, his eyes fixated at the door before he slowly lowered them to meet Ari's. "What did it look like?" he muttered, now looking down in shame. "I could only hold back my anger for so long.. I can't be the perfect nice guy forever - I have my limits too."

[Arianna Rivers]

"I understand you have your limits, but that is no reason to hit him!" she shouted, looking at him like she saw truly saw him for the first time.

[Ace Stone]

"He was asking for it!" he shouted back, slamming the side of his fists against the wall out of anger. "First he kisses my girl - then rubs it in my damn face!"

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari cringed; that stung. "Look, I know that Crash and I made a huge error in judgment, and I am so sorry that I hurt you- if I have to apologize for the rest of my life, I will- but that is no reason to hurt him. He was not rubbing the kiss in your face- he was telling you exactly what I told him, and a little more. So if there is anyone that you should be mad at, it's me. I kissed him back and told him things that should not have been said, things that I should have told you, not him. But, there was no reason for you to hit him," she said calmly and with her eyes closed.

[Ace Stone]

Ace just groaned out loudly, not able to calm down easily now that he was so worked up. "This is so fucked up," he muttered, going over to her couch and falling bck in it before sitting up and leaning forward, holding his head in his hands. "What am I supposed to do in this situation? I've never been cheated on before.. I've never been so.. angry."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari bit her lip, wanting to touch him yet not sure how he'd react. She moved her right hand to hold her left elbow and sighed. "Well, we just... go on. Forget it ever happened, I guess, and just... move on with our lives," she said before back tracking, "unless you don't want to move on; then I don't know what to do. I've never read anything about situations like this..."

[Ace Stone]

Ace was silent for a long time, not responding to that only because he wasn't sure what he wanted at this point. "I don't trust myself around Crash," he finally mumbled. "I'll hit him again if I see him.. I know it."

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari shrugged her shoulders. "Then don't see him again. It's not going to be that hard to avoid him; neither of you are in the same social sphere."

[Ace Stone]

Again, Ace went silent, slowly finding it in him to calm down a little. With a heavy sigh, Ace looked up at her, his red hair falling into his eyes. "Are you disappointed in me?"

[Arianna Rivers]

Ari shrugged her shoulders, silent for a little while. She tried to figure out how to word what she was about to say. "I'm not..." She started over again. "What do you mean? In general or in regards to what just happened?"

[Ace Stone]

Ace grimaced, shrugging as well as buried his hands in his face. "I dunno," he drug out childishly, suddenly just feeling like he wanted to curl up in a ball and break down. Why did he feel so weak all of the sudden, so.. helpless? He looked up at Ari then, studying her face for a long time. "Things aren't going to be okay after this.. I know it," he whispered in horror. "What should we do?"