Dread
#3 of It's A Date! And a Date, and a Date...
The other monkeys were not entirely sure what to do with themselves, but they did drift apart as Antauri had suggested to try and sort out their feelings. Some might have wondered if they felt love or just friendship and attraction. Others might have worried that they were just interested in him because he was the only member of the team who didn't feel uncomfortably like a sibling. Mandarin paced restlessly around the training room, never quite managing to use his weapons despite his frustration, feeling pathetic and needy for wanting Chiro to return his feelings, and bitter because yet again things had not turned out as he had wanted. And yet he found that he was not angry at Chiro himself; Chiro had been a rainbow in the dark, and comforted him at his lowest point. When he had... transgressed against the rest of the team, he had been put on the outs and made simian non grata with the others. It had been Chiro who had shaken up their dynamics and offered Mandarin a chance at redemption, and the boy might never know how profoundly thankful Mandarin was to earn his siblings forgiveness, or how deeply he had loved Chiro from that moment on. If Chiro wanted to only be his friend, Mandarin would be grateful for that alone. But he still desperately hoped that Chiro could see him as being worthy.
Antauri did his best to meditate, finding himself unable to no matter how hard he tried to let himself relax. That was the thing, he couldn't relax, not when the thought of Chiro rejecting him kept running through his mind. It was ridiculous, of course, he knew that even if Chiro didn't accept his feelings, he wouldn't be rude about it, but it didn't leave his mind any sooner with that knowledge. He had developed his feeling relatively early on, seeing Chiro less as a son, and always as more a cute young man. Still, as he had gotten to know him, the feelings flourished, him growing more certain with each day that Chiro would be the perfect leader. And with him being the second in command, he didn't think a relationship with him would be too much of a stretch. If only he had voice his feelings sooner, perhaps, then things might be different. Of course, he realized how selfish that was towards his fellow teammates, and silently cursed himself.
Apollo punched the air in his room, but his heart wasn't in it. His hands felt too heavy, and he wound up wandering over to his bed to flop down and stare at the ceiling. He'd never pegged himself as the mushy type, not like Sprx and his efforts to flirt and play and bond with others like he did. But Chiro... Chiro seemed so vulnerable, and then he revealed this unbreakable core of determination, and when it seemed he would need rescuing he turned around and lead them to victory. Apollo had developed a crush over time, and then deluded himself into thinking that he could defeat his feelings by spending time with Chiro via sparring and training, but the more he got the know him, the more he'd grown to like him. Apollo sighed and rolled over on his side, and wondered how bad a rejection would hurt.
Otto meanwhile, idly worked on his machines, not sure what to build, or to improve, and instead busied himself with taking apart and reassembling various pieces of equipment he had lying around. He knew each of them by heart, so it was an exercise in stress relief. He was never the romantic type, he always preferred friendship, but there was something special about Chiro, how fun and lighthearted he could be, even though he was their leader who could seemingly conquer any obstacle before him... Otto fell quickly for him. The green monkey hadn't expected it, not after him trying to ask Gibson out that one time went so poorly, but it happened, and he was kind of dreading the time that was fast approaching.
Sprx wandered around the Super Robot with no clear destination in mind, only avoiding the others and distracting himself with using his magnets to swing from the ceiling, cling to the walls, and drag him forward down the halls. Despite the way he would flirt with the attractive aliens they came across, Apollo and anyone who caught his eye, Sprx had about as much experience with romance as any of the others did. Flirting was fun, and he enjoyed the way someone would light up or blush when he hit on them, but it never quite got past that stage. Then the kid had appeared one day to wake them up from the long sleep and swept Sprx right off his feet without even trying. He could play it cool, but here was a handsome, adorable little badass who pushed all of Sprx's buttons with a mallet. Sprx was definitely interested, and had wasted no time in using every trick he knew to catch Chiro's attention in return, but the kid wound up seeing him more as a brother, until Sprx finally coaxed him into seeing him as the little red stud he knew he was. Except that he'd messed up, wound up looking like a fool, and might have ruined his chances to even be Chiro's big bro. Sprx trudged glumly, his magnets dragging on the ground. It just figured the first time he'd really wanted someone, he'd flub it up this badly.
Gibson spent his time in the med bay, taking stock of all their supplies, but not really doing it well, constantly miscounting and skipping objects. He had thought he should take his mind off of what had happened, but it was doing the exact opposite, making him focus more on the upcoming announcement. He had always told himself that romance, love, all that nonsense wasn't for him. But over the past few months, something inside of him had apparently decided to disagree with that, and get a huge crush on their junior leader. He was an inquisitive mind at heart, Gibson could tell, and the boy was... very cute. That combined with his pleasant demeanor, and his willingness to put up with his introverted behavior wasn't something that Gibson came across often. Of course, being as inexperienced with the idea of romance as he was, he of course would completely mess it up.
The fated hour came at last, and it was with no small amount of reluctance that the team gathered in the common room, and there was general uncertainty as to how to present themselves for Chiro when he arrived. Looking miserable would only make him feel guilty, while looking happy would give him the impression that they each felt like they were going to be chosen, and pretending to be entirely nonchalant about the whole situation was probably impossible. By unspoken agreement, they each stayed away from each other, sitting on opposite sides of the room and giving everyone plenty of space. Their anxiety rose with each minute, and it was difficult not to stare at the door as they waited for their leader to arrive and give his decision.
Chiro came in slowly, smiling nervously, eyes panning from each team member to the other, "Uh... hey guys. Got your note." He chuckled shakily, before falling silent, rubbing the back of his head as he tried to continue. "So... you guys all really like me then, huh?"
Sprx had to bite back a reply that would have been too loud, and ended up making a kind of squeaking noise, but he nodded. He would have taken Chiro's hand to add to his sincerity, but he was pretty sure one of the others would have socked him. Apollo tried to smile reassuringly at him, and nodded as well. "We really do, Chiro." Mandarin squirmed in his seat, forced to openly admit his feelings once again, and wound up curling his legs up to his chest, and wrapping his arms and tail around them before looking and Chiro with sad eyes and nodding.
Chiro gulped, trying his best to gather his courage and say what was next, "Well um... I really like all of you guys. Like... I don't know who to choose so..." He drifted off, the silence deafening.
Gibson did his best not to say anything, he had a feeling this was how it was going to go. Chiro choosing none of them as to keep the team together the best he could. Antauri was frowning, thinking the same thing, but was reluctantly accepting it. "...I want to date all of you!" Chiro exclaimed. All of them are shocked, Otto the first to say anything. "Huh?"
Sprx and Apollo blinked, looking at each other in shock to confirm that they had really heard that, and Mandarin was slowly uncurling himself from the anxious ball he'd been, and looking surprisingly hopeful. "...Really?"
Chiro nodded, "Uh... yeah... I don't really prefer any of you and... I think you're all equally good looking, and... um... yeah." He really didn't know what else to say, he didn't want to play favorites, and he figured why not try all of them.
There was a quiet tension in the room as the team looked at one another, and then slowly all eyes turned to Mandarin, their body language suggesting that the orange monkey was holding a large bomb in his lap and his thumb hovered shakily over the trigger. When Mandarin saw their expressions, he glared at them. "What? What is it? You think I will be jealous? Ha! Chiro just said I am as good as the rest of you! So there!" He folded his arms and affected an attitude of triumph, as though he had somehow won their six-way contest between them all.
Chrio blushed, not sure what to do now. "So um... I've never been on a date with a guy before or anything like that. And I really mean it when I don't know which one of you I want to date first... so I figured I'd just pick at random?"
"You sure you don't want us to just claim a part of you and romance you like that, kid?" Sprx teased, trying to ease the tension in the room as the monkey team began to come to terms with the idea that they were not being rejected by Chiro and that they would actually get to share him, and that their world was not ending as they had feared. The red monkey hopped out of his seat and approached Chiro, taking the human's right hand and kissing it languidly. "Cause I gotta say, I'd be fine with that..." Sprx's large, soft lips actually felt very nice against the sensitive skin on the back of Chiro's hand, and the way he proceeded to nuzzle the hand after that might have left Chiro tingly.
It might have gotten further than that, had Apollo not stormed over to them both and yanked Sprx back by his tail. He yelped, but offered no resistance to the pink-eyed monkey, who turned to Chiro with a more gentle expression. "Chiro, what you've been doing so far was pretty much dating, only now we're all on the same page with what kind of emotions are involved. Don't be nervous, because believe me, we're all fine with this." He glanced around, looking for any disagreement, but it seemed the monkeys were unanimously in favor of the polyamory. It certainly beat the alternative.
Otto nodded happily, laughing at Sprx's antics, "Yeah, I don't mind it at all. As long as we can date and stuff, I think it'll be great." And to be honest, if Chiro was being polyamorous, there was no reason he and the other's couldn't be right? Because he was wondering if maybe he could try something with Gibson, sure last time had gone poorly, but maybe he had changed. But either way, he got to be with Chiro, so he would be happy.
The silver monkey nodded, "Indeed, if this makes you happy Chiro, I am sure we can all go along with it." Antauri smiled, although a small part of him, a very small, primitive part of him that he hated, was saying no; that Chiro should be his, and his alone. But he ignored it, after all, things would be better this way, right? The team would be closer, and hopefully, that small part of him would quiet, or learn to accept this.
"Well, I mean, yeah. But I meant, dating you guys officially and stuff, because I can't really count all that stuff before, on my part at least. I mean..." He blushed as he looked over them, "I want to know what you're all like when you're being open about it, and stuff." He didn't know how to aptly say it, but he wanted to see them courting him, loving him. And if spending time with them would be as pleasant as that kiss Sprx just gave him was, he thinks he'll definitely enjoy this; maybe even more than he did his time with Jinmay.
"So... who goes first, then? You said it was going to be at random, right?" Apollo ventured, slightly concerned that there was going to be a free-for-all when it came to trying to woo Chiro, and slightly more concerned that he might not win it. "Would dice work? For picking the one you want to start with, I mean."
Gibson nodded, agreeing with this plan, "There are six of us, and six sides on a dice." He looked around at all of them, "We would each take a number, and Chiro would roll the dice. The number he landed on would be the person he dates first." It seemed, in his mind to be the fairest approach.
"It would probably work best if we were assigned based on our pilot numbers. Which means that I would be one, Antauri would be two, Sprx would be three, and so on. Does that sound amicable?" Mandarin asked, his tone full of its usual sneer but he was making a genuine effort to show that he wasn't going to try and mess this up. He wanted to, of course. He wanted to drag Chiro off and claim him as his own and let no one else have him. But he had learned the hard truths about caring for others, and was determined not to ruin his present happiness with the selfish patterns of the past.
"I get to be four then!" Otto happily exclaimed, going along with the plan with ease, finding such an arrangement to more than suit his needs. If he went first, great! If he went last, just as good, it meant more time to plan the perfect date for Chiro! He had no problem sharing Chiro, just as long as they got to love each other at some point, he would be fine.
"Okay! Who's got some dice?" Sprx looked around at the rest of the team, certain that at least one of them would have picked up some dice somewhere. They collected plenty of miscellaneous junk for their rooms, and there was bound to be a small, vital dice somewhere.
"Yes, because obviously, one of us will have dice on us Sprx." Gibson rolled his eyes, smirking as he scanned the room, sure they had a board game stored away here somewhere. He was actually thinking in a manner similar to Otto, hoping he would actually get to go last, for planning purposes. He spotted one stowed away under the couch, and pulled it out, it looking to be some sort of Monopoly like game. He took the cover off and grabbed the dice from it, "All right then, here. I'll be six, if that's alright with you Apollo."
Apollo arched an eyebrow at that, not sure at all why the meticulous Gibson would want to go out of order, but he didn't care either way. The odds were the same no matter what the number was, so five was as good as six. He took the discarded cover from the game and wrote on the underside what their numbers were: Mandarin was One, Antauri was Two, Sprx was Three, Otto was Four, Apollo was Five and Gibson was Six. There was a collective intake of breath as they waited for Chiro to roll the dice.
Chiro too a deep breath and picked up the dice, shaking it for a moment before letting it fly. It landed on the table skittering to a stop in plain view, the number four head showing upright. "...well, you go first Otto." He looked up at the green monkey, who smiled.
"Cool! When do you want to go, tomorrow?" That should give him enough time to plan something.
Chiro nodded, tomorrow sounded fine to him. "Uh, sure, I can work with that."
That seemed to be that, and the rest of the team breathed a collective sigh of relief. It seemed their leader had guided them through yet another potential disaster, and things were looking up.
"So, kid, now that we're openly flirting, can I just tell you that you look real nice in that scarf? Seriously, I might swoon. You'd catch me, right?" Sprx, of course, couldn't leave well enough alone, and was smiling up at Chiro with half-lidded eyes, his tail forming a heart shape behind him.
"It's Otto's turn!" Apollo snapped at him.
"Otto isn't doing anything until tomorrow! Come on, Otto, at least hug him or something!" Sprx replied, as no one had said that they _weren't_allowed to flirt with Chiro when it wasn't their turn.
Chiro blushed heavily under the attention, certainly not used to more than the occasional mention from Jinmay that he had been looking nice that day. "Uh, that's alright. It's getting late and I was thinking I would go to bed early." Shuggazoom knows he needed the rest after a day as stressful as this.
Antauri nodded, "Well, I think that's fair Chiro. After all, you've been through quite a lot today, no one can deny that." He looked around at everyone, signaling them that they should let their leader rest.
The team filed out, some more reluctantly than others, and Mandarin was the last to leave. He gave Chiro one last glance over his shoulder before heading to his room, a repurposed storage area that had been allotted to him due to Chiro inheriting his old room.
Chiro watched them all leave, sighing as they finally closed the door behind them, and slowly headed up to his room, feeling completely drained. What had just happened? Had he really just agreed to date the entire team? The whole scenario was absolutely insane, and yet... something in him fluttered at the idea. And as he got ready for bed, he couldn't help but wonder what tomorrow would hold.