Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a bright and sunny day outside. Edward decided it'd be the perfect day to test out his new solar panel upgrade on his drone, which would in theory, allow it to stay in the air for much longer. He was already out for around 15 minutes, which usually meant the drone's battery would have been dead by now, but here it was, still flying. He wasn't too sure if the panels alone would keep it powered indefinitely, but they were certainly a good boost. As much as he'd love to see how long it can really last, he had to hop on Fortnite with Zip in 30 minutes, so he decided to head back home.

However, about 10 minutes into his walk back, something peculiar happened. Everything became much darker, as if the sun had just been turned off. He checked the time with his phone; it was still 4:00… why had it gone dark? His drone hovered for a few moments before hitting the ground, thankfully unharmed. Edward looked up, and all his questions were answered.

Above him was some kind of floating robot, about 30 feet in diameter. It was circular, almost like some kind of UFO. It was hard to make out anything else about it, given how dark its bottom was. After a few seconds it shined a bright light downwards onto him as a metallic voice played from above: "TARGET LOCATED".

Edward wasn't too sure what it meant by that, or why he would be a target, but he knew it couldn't be good. He did what anybody reasonably would, and ran for his life. But the robot simply followed him, never letting him out of its light. He could hear the sounds of it charging something, presumably some kind of attack. Was this going to be how he died? From some random, giant robot randomly decided to smite him?

He braced himself as the robot fired its laser, but suprisingly, he wasn't dead. At the last moment, somebody dressed up in flashy, red attire swooped in and created a small bubble around the two of them, shielding Edward from the attack. "Don't worry Ed-" His savior cut himself off, "I mean, citizen! I-I, the Agent of Love, am here!" The way he stuttered didn't make Edward all that confident in his abilities, but given how he's still alive and not a pile of ash, he could probably trust this guy's barriers.

Once the construct's attack was over, the Agent fired a series of blasts from his scepter, but they all seemed to bounce off of the thick metal plating. However he seemed to have captured its attention enough for Edward to get the hell out of there. 

As it charged up another laser, the Agent consulted his sprite, a sentient half of an apple. "How do I stop this thing?!" he asked frantically.

The sprite took a moment to think before speaking, "Try hitting it where its beam comes from, I'd bet it's weaker there!"

The Agent nodded before twirling his staff and firing a giant love beam™. As his sprite had predicted, the construct was much weaker there, causing it to immediately detonate. Before the burning chunks of metal could wreak havoc on the city below, he cast another bubble around all of it, stopping it mid-air. His sprite then flew up, shrunk it all down, and pocketed it.

"Great work Agent!" the apple exclaimed.

The Agent of love scratched the back of his head, "Heheh… thanks… So uh… what now?"

"Well you have to go talk to the guy you saved, of course!"

"...I have to?"

"It's good for our image if you do. Cmon, it'll be quick!"

Edward was completely dumbfounded by what had just happened. He was a firm believer that everything could be explained with science, no matter how ridiculous. But this? This is just plain magic! There was no explanation for those bubbles, or lasers, or that weird apple thing… None of it makes any sense! He saw this "Agent of Love", this sorcerer bending the laws of physics so casually, nervously walking up to him.

Now that the initial shock had worn off, he was able to finally get a good look at him. He wore a white outfit with red outlines, he had a long, flowing red foil cape behind him, and his hair was dyed a bright red and tied into a ponytail. If Edward were to describe his outfit in one word, he'd say it was "shit". As the Agent got closer, he could smell the scent of fresh apples filling the air. Whether that was from his magic or just some form of cologne, he wasn't too sure.

"Uh… hey, are you… are you alright?" the Agent asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My drone might be fried though."

"Oh! Don't worry! I put a separate bubble to keep it safe! I uh… know it means a lot to you."

Edward raised an eyebrow, "How did you know that?"

The Agent yelped, "Uh… I erm… well… y-you see… you had and I… I don't think I've like… seen it around before, so I kinda just guessed." The way he stumbled over his words made it clear he wasn't telling the truth.

Having heard the magical boy stumble over his words, something clicked in Edward's mind. He knows this guy, and that's how he knows about the drone. It was right on the tip of his mind, but just out of reach. That was, until he saw the apple stem poking out of his head. "Oh shit! I know you! You're Abbie!"

Just then, Abbie's apple sprite flew between the two. It waved one of its arms, which resembled a stick over anything else. "Woah woah woah! How do you know him?!"

Edward shrugged, "We go to the same school, and that apple leaf was a dead giveaway."

The sprite looked back at Abbie, "I told you to do something about that stem!"

"Oh man… I didn't think I'd run into anybody from school… could you not tell anybody about this?" Abbie said, sounding completely defeated.

"Yeah! Don't tell a soul about this! Or the identities of any other Agents either!"

Edward started to smirk, "So I know the other agents?"

"Nope! No you don't!" the sprite said.

"He does… they go to my school as well." Abbie said meekly.

"Don't tell him that!"

Edward laughed harshly, "But seriously, your secret's safe with me, promise."

Abbie wiped his forehead, "Phew, you're a lifesaver, Eddie."

Edward's drone suddenly sprung to life, floating up off of the ground. Edward gave a cocky smile while motioning over to it, "Heh, you see that? Solar power. Cashew's pretty much never dying on me again."

Abbie tilted his head a little, "But what about when you're inside? Isn't that sorta… most of the time?"

Edward thought for a bit, Cashew was definitely an indoor drone. "Uh… fuck. Back to the drawing board then."

Abbie laughed a little, "Well, good luck with that! I gotta go… like uh… keep saving people, y'know? That Dark Sorceress won't catch herself, am I right?"

"Sure uh, have fun with that."

And with that, the Agent of Love was off. He didn't learn how to fly yet, so he sorta just speedwalked off. Once they were out both sight and earshot of Edward, his companion spoke up. "Soooo, I can tell you like him," it said, a smug look on its face.

Abbie blushed and looked away, "I-I… uh… how do you even know that? I thought I kept my composure pretty well!"

"Oh don't worry, he doesn't know. But I'm the aspect of Love, silly, of course I'd be able to tell!"

"Oh… I guess that's a relief…"

The sprite leaned in closer, "Do you want to hear a secret?"

"Sure?" Abbie said, a little hesitant.

"Edward likes boys." The apple whispered.

Abbie's face grew even redder, "So does that mean he… might… actually… like me back?!"

The sprite shrugged, "If he does, he's pretty good at hiding it. I'm not perfect y'know?"

Just then, their conversation was cut short by the sounds of screaming coming from a nearby gas station. It must be getting robbed, thankfully, the Agent of Love was merely feet away from the entrance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edward walked through his front door and was instantly greeted by his mom, which was a surprise, since she usually wasn't home by then. "Hi mom!" Edward exclaimed, "I made some solar panels for Cashew, he shouldn't be dying as much!"

His mom greeted him with the same level of enthusiasm, "Hi Eddie! A solar panel, eh? That's a pretty smart idea, I'd just give it another power source just to be safe."

"Yeah, that sounds smart, I'll just need to find out what."

"Oh I'm sure you can do it honey, you always find a way." His mom said, rustling up his hair a bit. "Well, I'm sorry, but I was just here on a quick break, the lab needs me back. Dinner's in the fridge, cook it at 350 for 20 minutes, alright?"

Edward was a little upset upon hearing this, it was Saturday, and yet his mom was still working all day. But he knew she had some important work coming up… she always had important work to do. Still, he gave her a hug, "Well, guess I'll see you later then!"

His mom gave an awkward look, "I uh… I probably won't be back until you've gone to bed… so I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh… see you tomorrow then."

Edward's mom darted out of the front door, leaving him alone. He walked over Cashew's charging station and set him down with a sigh. Then, he went to his room to go play with Zip, but when he logged on, he saw she was already in a match. He knew what that meant, he must've taken too long, and she was going to be pissed.

After a few minutes of waiting, Edward got an invite to join Zip's party. He braced himself as he pressed the accept button.

"Edward! It's been fifteen minutes, where the hell were you?!" Zip shouted.

"Look, it's not my fault, alright? I got attacked by a UFO on my way home."

"Oh that's bullshit and you know that!"

"I'm telling the truth here!"

"Whatever! Let's just start already. Oh, and I'm getting all the mythics this game, since somebody can't keep track of time."

Edward scoffed, "You hoard all of those anyways."

Chapter Text

Abbie was sitting in his science class, listening to one of Miss Bloomie's lessons. He actually quite liked science, since all of his friends were able to sit at the same table together. Unfortunately, Miss Bloomie really, really doesn't tolerate people being distracted during her lessons. He would rather not get stabbed today, so he and all his friends listened diligently.

However, while he was listening, he noticed the Aspect of Love appearing underneath his desk. "Agent of Love!" It whispered, "The Dark Sorceress has been spotted in the city! You have to go face her!"

Abbie gave a nod of approval and raised his hand. "Uhm, Miss Bloomie, may I go use the bathroom?"

Bloomie stopped teaching and sighed, "Can it wait?"

Abbie shook his head, "No."

"Alright, fine, just be sure to take the pass."

Abbie got up from his seat and did exactly that. But instead of using the bathroom, he darted out the nearest exit and transformed into the Agent of Love. His sprite appeared in front of him, "Alright Agent! Now we just need to wait for the others!"

"Ooh… about that… they're all still in the science room… and uh… there's only one bathroom pass."

"What?! Well you can't just go alone! There's gotta be somebody you could get to help you!"

Abbie thought for a bit before giving a defeated sigh, "I… there's one person outside the Agents that know my identity… I think he's my best bet. He should be in Sasha's art room, and I helped her out the other day… so maybe she'd let me take him for a bit… it beats trying to negotiate with Bloomie…"

His sprite giggled, "Or you just wanna spend more time with him!" it teased.

"What? No! I just uh… he's the only one who can really help me right now."

"Alright, but before you do anything, could you do something about that apple stem? I don't want anybody else knowing your identity."

"Oh! Right!"

Abbie brushed his hair with his hand a bit until his apple stem was blended in, leaving only a bit of a leaf sticking out. Then, he steadied his nerves, and walked back into the school. He knocked the door to Sasha's art room, which should be where Edward was.

After a few moments the door swung open. Sasha immediately gasped upon seeing him, "Oh! The Agent of Love! What brings you here?"

"H-Hello… Is Edward here?"

"Yes, he's here."

"Great, may I… borrow him for a bit? It's very important!"

Sasha stepped aside, letting Abbie walk in. "Oh absolutely!"

All of the students stopped drawing the moment he walked in. It felt like giving a class presentation all over again… but somehow more awkward. "Uhm… Edward, I need you to come with me."

Edward and Zip looked up towards him, but before Edward could say anything, Zip bursted out laughing. "What the fuck is that outfit?!" she asked between laughs. She nudged Edward's arm with her elbow, "You gotta go with this guy?!" She was almost starting to get out of breath, but kept going, "Maybe you can teach him how to dress!"

This obviously did not help Abbie keep his nerves one bit… He actually thought his outfit was quite nice, he made it himself! But some people just might not have the same tastes as him.

Edward got up out of his seat, ignoring Zip's outburst. "I'll be back," he said as he walked up to the Agent. Once the two were far enough away from everyone else to where they couldn't be heard, Edward spoke up, "Dude, what the hell? What's this all about?"

"Listen, the Dark Sorceress is out there in the city right now, b-but the other Agents are still in Bloomie's class… I just need some help, could you round up a few of your gadgets maybe?"

"Alright, let me go get Cashew, he's charging right now, but with those solar upgrades, he'll last as long as we need him too." Of course Edward used this opportunity to boast about his solar panel, he's been talking about it non-stop for the past few days, even if this was the first time it'd actually come in handy.

They grabbed the drone out of the library and were finally ready(?) to face the Dark Sorceress. Thankfully, the city was mere minutes away, so it didn't take long at all to get there. When they got there, the streets were completely empty with not a soul in sight. There was a thick grey fog that made it hard to see much of anything. The whole thing sent chills down both of their spines.

Suddenly, the fog cleared up. They could hear a voice calling to them from one of the nearby rooftops. They looked up and saw a figure cloaked in a dark robe. "Ah, the oh-so brave heroes have finally arrived."

Abbie pointed his scepter towards the Sorceress, "What do you want from us?!"

She chuckled, "There's nothing I want from you, you're simply in the way."

"I-In the way of what?" Abbie asked. His nervous nature was showing now, he started to wonder if he was really cut out for this.

"Isn't it obvious? Look around you, heroes. There's so much potential in this world and its inhabitants. But you choose to blind yourselves, you choose to let it go untapped." She started to slowly turn around, "But none of that matters now, for I will crush all of you to pieces before y-" She stopped her dramatic speech once she laid eyes on who she was actually talking to. Her face was masked in the shadow of her cloak, but they could still tell what she was thinking. "I'm sorry, but where are the rest of you?"

"Uhm… they're still in science class," Abbie answered..

"Science class…" The sorceress muttered, "So then who's that?" she asked, pointing to Edward.

Edward put on a cocky smile, "Name's Edward," he said, pointing to himself with his thumb.

"Alright 'Edward', what can you do?"

"I've got this drone. I can like, pick things up with it."

"So you couldn't bring the other agents, but you could bring… Edward."

Abbie nodded, "Yeah… he didn't have science class…"

The Dark Sorceress opened a portal, and immediately a skeleton in full plate armor jumped out. "Skelenator reporting for duty!"

"Skelenator, there's been a slight change in plans. Could you get me three reanimated armors?"

The skeleton nodded and went back through the portal. After a few brief moments he returned with 3 suits of dark, spiky armor. With a snap of the Sorceress's fingers, they sprung to life with a bright purple glow behind their helmets. "My elite warriors will make short work of the two of you then. While I would want nothing more than to watch them chop you to bits, I'm afraid I have things to do."

And with that, the Dark Sorceress left through her portal, with Skelenator following behind her. Once she was gone, the suits of armor jumped down from the rooftop, cracking the pavement as they landed. "D-do you think you can take one of those guys?" Abbie asked.

Edward nodded, "Relax, man, I got this." He pulled out the controller for his drone.

Edward caught the attention of one of the warriors with his drone. The knight brandished a large greatsword made of some form of dark metal. It swung wildly, but Edward was practically a master at flying drones, especially Cashew. He weaved around every one of the armor's swings until it was his time to strike.

The knight raised its sword high above its head and swung down with all its might. When the sword hit the asphalt road its force was enough to send shockwaves that almost knocked Edward off his feet. However the swing had enough power to lodge the weapon into the ground, and while the knight attempted to pull it out, Edward struck.

He commanded Cashew to deliver a series of powerful hooks with its metal hands, all aimed at the armor's head. While the drone may have been made for grabbing large objects, Edward had discovered it was also rather good at combat too. (He used it to beat people up)

While the punches weren't powerful enough to leave even the slightest dent in the armor, the force caused it to stumble backwards. The warrior decided to forget about the sword, and attempted to jab at the drone with its fists, but Cashew grabbed its wrist. Edward knew that he had pretty much already won at this point.

Cashew used its leverage and grabbed onto the knight's other arm. Then, in what was probably an entirely unnecessary show of power, Edward made the drone spin around a couple times before bashing the armor against a nearby building. The resulting impact separated the armor apart, causing a small purple wisp to float out of the helmet and ascend upwards. Edward laughed as he stood over the pieces of his foe.

Meanwhile, Abbie was not having nearly as fun of a time. He was battling a suit wielding a shortsword, while another one stood nearby with its arms crossed. His love beams™ seemed to have very little effect on his opponent, with each one bouncing off. "W-What do I do?!" he asked his sprite.

The apple thought for a moment, "Just act defensively for now, maybe you can find a weak spot!"

Abbie decided to do exactly that, he tried to keep his distance and block attacks when needed. It was pretty exhausting, but he knew it was the only way he could hope to survive. At some point, the armor went for a dramatic spinning attack, and that's when Abbie saw it. On the knight's back there was a large purple spot, it looked like a gap in the armor! This one's suit wasn't perfect, and that meant Abbie had a chance to win this!

Abbie took a deep breath to calm his nerves. The next time the armor went for a lunging attack, he sidestepped it and shot him right in the weak spot, causing the armor to fall to the floor. "I… I did it!"

But before he could get too confident, he was humbled by a flying kick from the last suit of armor. The blow caused him to stumble, but thankfully he was able to catch his footing and avoid the following punch. He tried to follow the same defensive plan as before, but this one was far faster than the others. Any distance he gained was immediately closed by one of the armor's dashing strikes. He took a few more hits before his fight or flight kicked in… but Abbie was always more of a "flight" kind of guy.

He waved his staff and created a large barrier around himself. The armor continued to swing and kick, with each hit against the bubble causing a resounding thud. Abbie thought he was safe… until he noticed a crack forming in his shield.

"I'm not cut out for this!" he cried.

His apple sprite tried to console him, "Hey! Don't be like that! You can do this!"

"No I can't! I don't even know why you chose me in the first place!"

"You are the perfect person to be the Agent of Love. You always care for others, even when they're mean to you. That's why I chose you!"

Just then, the banging stopped. What happened? Did the bubble break? Did the armor find a way in? Was it standing there, just waiting for Abbie to look up at it? Was he going to die!? Abbie slowly looked up, but saw nothing. Confused, he looked all around him, but the armor was nowhere to be seen. However, a few moments later, the armor came crashing down from above.

Abbie yelped and jumped backwards, but the armor just laid there. It was completely motionless, which raised even more questions. That was until he looked up, and saw Cashew slowly hovering downwards.

Edward walked up to him with a smirk, "Heh, and you thought I couldn't handle one."

"Thanks Edward… I guess you were the real hero here… heh…" Abbie gave an awkward laugh.

Edward patted him on the shoulder, "Nah, if you hadn't kept that guy busy, I would'a been toast." he reassured.

"Heheh… thanks… So what now?"

"Well, we gotta get back to class, don't we?"

"Oh! Right!"

Abbie had almost forgotten that today was a school day. Not only that, but he was supposedly, "using the bathroom"... there's no way Bloomie would buy that. He'd have to come up with some kind of excuse that would explain his absence… Maybe he could say he fell down the stairs? That could explain why he looked so beat up… but for 20 minutes?

Abbie looked around and made sure no civilians were nearby before he transformed back to normal. "A-Alright, let's go."

But before they even started to go back to school, they heard somebody sprinting up to them. Abbie turned and saw his math teacher, Miss Circle, barrelling towards the two of them. How did she get here?! Once she caught up to him, she grabbed him by the arm, "Skipping school, are we?"

Abbie stumbled over his words, thankfully, Edward was much better at talking under pressure. "Yeah, sorry, but we had to do something super important. We were about to head back."

Circle scowled, "Well, the two of you can go somewhere even more important."

"Uhm… where would that be?" Abbie asked, mentally bracing himself.

"AFTERSCHOOL DETENTION!" Circle shouted as she dragged both Abbie and Edward back to school.

When Abbie was thrown back into science class, he went to go sit with his friends at table 2, but was stopped by Miss Bloomie. "Oh no you don't. You can't just skip my class and act like nothing happened. You're sitting elsewhere." She motioned for him to sit at table 5 instead… He really didn't want to sit at table 5.

You see, despite being the same size as all the other tables, table 5 only had one student. That one student being Skell, who outside of 1 or 2 close friends, really didn't like people. They had never spoken before, but Skell always had a foreboding aura about him, as if speaking to him would be a bad idea…

Abbie took a deep breath and sat down next to Skell. Skell simply glanced over at him for a few seconds before going back to working on his worksheet. He could tell he had one earbud in, seeing as how the music was so loud he could hear it from where he was sitting. He opted to just ignore it and focus on his work at first, but then he started to recognize the song Skell was listening to. It was some kind of heavy death metal, but when the lead vocalist started to sing, it clicked.

"Hey, Skell, are you uh… is that Miller?"

Skell looked over at him, despite how inexpressive his face always was, there was a faint look of both surprise and curiosity. "Mhm, it is. You know Miller?"

"Yep! My sister doesn't really want me listening to it at home though…"

"Aw that's the worst."

"I know right? She says it like… makes it less special when we go see them, or something."

Skell paused, "When you… see them?"

"Yeah. Like their uh… performances. My sister works security there, so we've been to pretty much all of them."

"No offense, but I never took you for the… hardcore type."

Abbie gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head, "I… guess I'm full of surprises."

Just then, the dismissal bell rang out. Abbie and Skell said their goodbyes before packing their things. The students poured out of the classroom, but before Abbie could leave, he was stopped by Miss Bloomie. She cleared her throat, "Ahem, you seem to be forgetting something, Abbie." She was holding out today's worksheet.

Abbie grabbed the paper, "Oh! Right! And uh… sorry for leaving class…"

"Oh don't you worry, you'll have plenty of time to apologize to me in detention."

From the way Bloomie smiled, Abbie knew the next few hours were going to be nothing more than pure hell.

Chapter Text

Abbie watched his fellow classmates excitedly leave school at the end of the day, knowing he couldn't join them. He sighed and slowly made his way to detention, dragging his feet as he did. When he got inside, he saw that the room was empty besides a few rows of desks. Instinctively, he sat in the front, which was probably a mistake, but it was what he always did whenever he walked into a new classroom.

Soon after, Edward walked in. The spiky-haired bully took one look at Abbie before moving all the way to the back of the room. Once he made it to his desk of choice he laid back in his chair and propped his legs up onto the surface of the desk. There were a few minutes of silence before Miss Grace entered the room. "Hm, seems like everyone made it here on time."

It took a couple seconds for that to sink in. Was it just going to be him and Edward?! Abbie hadn't been to detention all too many times, but every time he did go, there would always be at least 5 people in there… In hindsight, given how small the school was, that was actually rather concerning.

Thankfully, Abbie wouldn't have to ask any questions, as Edward was far more comfortable speaking his mind. "The fu-" the glare Grace gave was enough to tell him to choose his words carefully, "Uh, I mean… Shouldn't there be more people right now?"

Miss Grace shook her head, "No, it's just the two of you, so you may as well move to the front of the class."

Edward groaned and moved seats. He was now only two seats away from Abbie.

The principal gave a nod of approval before speaking, "Now, as you two know, skipping class is a highly punishable offense. The typical punishment would be a three hour detention."

"Three hours?!" Edward cried.

"Indeed, but unfortunately, I have something planned for today. So instead of your standard punishment, I am proposing an alternative."

Abbie raised his hand, "Uhm… what would that be?"

"Since you two skipped one of your classes, I will let those teachers decide your fate." Grace said before snapping her fingers. Miss Bloomie and Miss Sasha walked in. They both seemed to be irritated.

Abbie's heart sank. This might be the worst possible thing to happen. Bloomie was one of the very few teachers he feared more than the Dark Sorceress and her army, and for good reason. Miss Bloomie was not somebody you wanted to be on the bad side of, period. Abbie just prayed he wouldn't be shot today, he had already taken quite a beating earlier.

His science teacher walked up to his desk with a packet of papers in her hand. The packet was so thick it made a thud when she dropped it on his desk. "This is a 100 question physics quiz, if you want to leave, then you need to get it all right." Her voice was a low grumble, as if she was pissed at just the thought of having to do this.

"Uhm… what happens if I fail?"

"Then I'll give you another one."

"Oh…"

Meanwhile, Edward was silently celebrating to himself. Miss Sasha was arguably the nicest teacher in the whole school, and he had a great excuse as to why he had to go. Sure, she looked pretty mad right now, but he could totally talk his way out of this. When she got to his desk, Edward put on his best smile. But he was interrupted before he could speak.

"Edward, I am very disappointed in you right now."

"What? But I was out helping the Agent of Love, remember?"

"You were supposed to return directly back to class once you were done."

"I was!"

Miss Sasha crossed her arms, "That's not what Miss Circle told me!"

"Why would I even want to skip your class anyways?! I love art!"

"Prove it."

"Uh… what?"

Sasha grabbed a sheet of paper and some drawing supplies. "I want you to draw something, colored and shaded, with proper perspective and values too."

"What do I draw?"

"Be creative."

That was when reality set in for Edward. He was not going to get out of this easily… not one bit. His art teacher sat on the surface of the teacher's desk in front of him, waiting for him to get to work. He stared at his blank paper for a bit, wondering what he could possibly make.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It'd been about thirty minutes, and Abbie was still only halfway done with his packet. He looked out the window, and saw a giant robot was attacking the city! But he knew he couldn't slip out, not again. Thankfully, he could tell the other agents were there. They were all launching their cool, flashy attacks (which were all way cooler than whatever he could do). Abbie couldn't help but feel a little left out.

But suddenly, the blinds on the window closed. Miss Bloomie crossed her arms, "Focus, Abbie. I don't have all day."

"Oh, r-right! Sorry ma'am…" Abbie said before going back to work. He glanced over to his right a few minutes later and… was Edward looking at him?

Edward looked at his drawing, then back at Abbie. He had decided he was going to draw the Agent of Love doing a brave pose, since not only was it pretty fresh in his memory, but he could sorta cheat by using Abbie as a reference. Once he was done, he showed Sasha the drawing. She gave a nod, but still looked unsatisfied. "It looks great so far, but where is he? What's he doing?" she asked.

Edward hated drawing backgrounds. "He's uh… in the sky. It's just really cloudy." Edward bluffed.

"Last I checked, the Agent of Love can't fly, so what's he doing in the sky?"

"Uh… one of his friends is holding him up."

"Well then draw who's holding him up."

Shit. Edward did NOT want to do that, but he didn't really have a choice. He thinks he remembers seeing the Agent of Bravery once in a video… so he'd probably have to go with that. He got to work sketching him out. He drew out his short, fluffy, orange hair with the singular feather sticking out. He remembers hearing about how he always had a determined look on his face. He drew out the body and… wait a second… he knows this guy!

That's just Engel! There's no way! Maybe he really does know all the Agents personally. Okay well he probably doesn't know Engel all that well, but it's gotta count for something! Edward kept drawing, although he did definitely lose his focus for a while there.

It took him a while, but he got it done. He looked down at his art with a cocky grin on his face. "Damn, I killed this." he remarked to himself.

"You most certainly did." Sasha said from behind him, which startled him. "You're free to go!"

Edward got out of his seat, "Sick, can I keep this?"

Sasha smiled, "Absolutely!"

Edward grabbed the drawing off his desk, "Great, I'll see you tomorrow."

"You mean Monday, right?"

"Oh, right, heh, I nearly forgot. See you Monday!"

"See you Monday!"

Edward confidently strutted out of the detention room, ready to go home. But before he could even leave the building, he was stopped by a familiar person. It was Abbie's little apple fucker. "Hey, wait up! You have to help the Agent of Love!" it shouted.

Abbie stared at his completed test packet. He could feel his hands shaking a little as he called Miss Bloomie over. "I-I'm finished."

Without a word Bloomie grabbed the packet and flipped through it. "65," she said bluntly, "Not good enough." She pulled out another packet, and dropped it on his desk.

Back in the hallway, Edward sighed at the Aspect of Love. "What do I gotta do now?"

"Abbie can't help save people until he gets out of detention!"

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"He and I can telepathically communicate, so I can relay the answers to him!"

Edward gave a confused look, "So then… do that."

The sprite looked away nervously, "Well… I did that… and he got a 65… I don't really know this modern science stuff."

Edward sighed, "I guess you want me to help him cheat then, don't ya?"

"Yes."

"Fine, let's get this over with."

The sprite told him the first question, causing him to scoff. "That's easy as hell, it's 75 newtons at a 60 degree angle."

They kept this up until every question was complete. It was all a walk in the park for Edward, he'd seen it all before. After only 20 minutes, they were done. "Wow, great work Edward, Abbie got a 100!"

Edward turned and walked away, "Cool, guess we're done here."

He kept walking down the hallways, trying to find an exit, when he saw somebody. It was Oliver! He must be here visiting Alice. Oliver walked up to him, "Heh, would you look at that. Guess someone made it outta detention."

"Why are you saying it like that?"

Oliver gave a short chuckle, "No reason. Just that I heard you and Abbie had yourselves a little date outsida school."

"Dude, we're not dating."

Oliver nodded, "Mhm, so you were just hanging out."

"Uh… yeah."

"You aren't going soft on me, are ya, Eddie?"

"What? Of course not!"

Oliver moved a little closer with a mischievous grin across his face. "Then how about you prove it?"

Edward had done a lot of proving today, hasn't he? "Sure, what did you have in mind?"

Oliver reached into his backpack and pulled out… Holy shit, what the fuck is that?! It looked like an animal… or at least something that was an animal. Whatever it was, it'd been mauled and probably eaten. "I want you to put this in Abbie's locker. Make sure he knows it's from you and I."

"That sounds a little far, man."

Oliver shook his head, "Nah, it's harmless. Just don't let it touch any of his stuff and it'll be fine," he said, holding the corpse forwards. "Cmon, take it!"

Edward took the dead creature. It felt slimy in his hands. "Alright, I'll go put this in his locker."

Oliver started to walk away, "Great, if he ever gives you that back, leave it in front of Alice's door."

"Will do."

Edward made his way to Abbie's locker. He entered the combination he mesmerized (which is very normal behavior by the way) but before he could do anything, he heard Abbie from behind him.

"Uh… Edward? What're you doing?"

Well, that's unfortunate. Looks like there's been a slight change in plans. "Oh, hey Abbie. Me and Ollie thought we'd get you a gift."

From the look on Abbie's face he could tell he wasn't really buying that. "Oh, really?" he asked, his voice also conveying the fact that he was not falling for Edward's bullshit.

"Yep! Here, catch!" he exclaimed as he tossed his "gift" over. Abbie caught the corpse in his hands and stared at it for a few seconds, confused.

After a few moments, he looked back up at Edward. Was he… smiling? "Well thanks! That saves me a lot of trouble!"

Edward decided to play along with it, "Oh… You're welcome, man."

"Well, I'll see you around!" Abbie said before walking off.

Edward left too, but he decided to take a different exit. It'd be way too awkward to go the same way as him. The walk home felt longer than it really was. He thought back to earlier; why did Abbie seem so happy? But also, why did seeing him like that make him happy too? He shouldn't care about what Abbie thinks, not one bit!

Think back, he's been acting far too nice to him. He was going to have to show him that things aren't going to be any different between them. He was going to- CLANK

Edward's thought process was interrupted by him walking directly into a metal pole. He stumbled back a bit before grumbling and continuing with his walk. Maybe he should do the rest of his scheming at home.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abbie opened the door to his sister's cabin, only to find her standing with her usual blank expression. Her arms were crossed, "Abraham…" she spoke in her usual deadpan manner. The fact that she used his full name meant she probably knew about his detention.

"H-Hey Aiden."

"The school called."

"Oh…"

"Why did you leave?" she asked.

Abbie was already starting to sweat a little, "I uh… I had something important to do."

"You need to take learning seriously, Abraham."

"I-I know, I just-"

Aiden cut him off. "No excuses, do better."

"Okay…"

She turned her attention to the "gift" Abbie got from Edward. "Is that a hare?"

"Oh, right! Edward gave it to me!"

If Aiden were one to show emotion, she would've had a confused look on her face. "Edward? Your enemy?" Abbie had often complained about him to her.

"Uh… yeah. Maybe he had a change of heart?"

"Or he wishes to gain your trust. Be on your guard."

"I will…"

Aiden walked over to the kitchen. "You can put it in the fridge, I'm already making something."

"Sure thing!"

The rest of the day went by on auto pilot. Abbie ate dinner, played a few games, and before he knew it, it was time for bed. He laid down, staring at his ceiling, just thinking. He thought about the Dark Sorceress and her speech. He thought about his friends. But most of all, he thought about Edward.

He had an idea. It was a crazy idea, he knew that, but an idea nonetheless. Maybe… he could get Edward to join the team. He wouldn't be able to be an Agent, but he could still join them. He'd probably try to ask him about that tomorrow… if he could find him. He didn't really know where he goes on weekends, if he even leaves his house. Meh, worst case scenario he can just talk with him on Monday.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edward laid in bed, restless. He checked the time on his phone; it was 11:00 already. He'd been trying to fall asleep for the past 2 hours, but he just couldn't. He just couldn't stop himself from thinking about that stupid dork. Abbie's a weirdo… something was clearly wrong with him. He always talks with a nervous stutter like he did something wrong and he's hoping you wouldn't find out. He's into weird shit, like… like that dead animal he showed him! Who gets happy after being gifted roadkill?! I mean, who smiles at tha-- Fuck he had a cute smile.

Wait, no, that's gay. That's like, super gay. Edward might be a lot of things, but a homosexual was not one of them! (Loud incorrect buzzer) He got out of bed to go get a glass of water. It was going to be a long night tonight, wasn't it?