Oh Boy! (BL)

19 - Cloud Nine (3/3)

"A date?"

"Yeah, it's on Thursday," I replied while leveling one of Lady Lad's bow-and-arro combinations. It was her favorite hunting bow; blackened silver with dark grey ornaments on the bow, and arrows that glistened in the sun only milliseconds before the enemy would realize that they were done for. It was high time for it to get a magical update.

By chance, Lady and I had met in the game, and while we'd been reorganizing our base, the words had just blurted out of my goofy mouth. "I have no idea what to wear on a date!" Which I really didn't... and since it was just the two of us on this Tuesday evening...why not tell her about my problem?

Lady Lad's ranger crossed the arms in front of her chest that was covered by an armor made of forest green troll leather. "Wait, how many dates have the two of you had?"

I blinked. "Why does that matter?"

"Believe me, it matters."

"Um...it's our first date."

Silence.

"Lady?"

"I...I just dunno what to say, boss." Lady's voice was pressed. "The first date on a weekday always has a deadline, you know. I guess both of you have school the other day and..."

"No," I barged in before her conspiracy theory thrived even more. "that's not it...he's leaving for a practice camp on Friday evening. And he wanted to take me out before that."

"Oh! Phew," she exhaled right into her mic. "Aww, okay, then, I guess, that's actually pretty cute."

I bit my lip. It was cute of him to be so considerate.

"Okay, okay," said Lady Lad more to herself than to me. "Let's talk about your outfit then. What do you usually wear when you go on a date?"

I made a face. "I told you, it's our first..."

"No," she interrupted. "I mean with other guys."

I stayed silent.

"You're kidding me!"

No, I wasn't.

"You've never been on a date before?!"

I shifted in my office chair. Yeah, I was a virgin in many ways, but why did she have to make such a big fuss over it?

While Lady Lad kept on expressing her disbelief, I made use of the wheels under my chair and rolled left to where my sideboard was standing against the wall. When I opened the upper drawer, it was no surprise that a pile of black hoodies welcomed me. I searched one piece after the other and crinkled my nose. Wow, way to make a good impression...

"Fine..." Lady Lad clapped her virtual hands together. "Let's start with the location. That should help."

I gulped.

"Boss?"

"I dunno?" I asked more than I replied and hurried to add "He wants it to be a surprise!" before she could jump to conclusions again.

"That's..."

"Hiyaaaaaaa!" Out of nowhere, an elven warrior jumped out of the bushes. "Boss! Lady Lad! Sooo nice to see ya!"

"Hi, Horny..."

Lady sighed. "Great."

"So, what're you talking about?" Lady Lad filled him in in neutral words. "A surprise date?" He chuckled. "Wear something sexy."

I snorted. Why was I not the least surprised?

Lady Lad sighed. "Horny, could you STFU for a sec, this is important to boss. He..."

"Hey, guys!"

I blinked. What the... two minutes apart, GoldenBoy92 and Clover joined us on the server. It was Tuesday for goodness's sake! Yet, five out of seven guildmates were here! So much for my private chat with Lady Lad. Sighing I closed the drawer again. Guess I had to find an outfit by myself after all.

"Boss is going on a date," singsonged Horny.

"With that rude guy?" Wondered Clover with obvious disgust in his voice which was a huge contrast to the ever-smiling face of his slim-figured druid alter ego.

I winced. "He's not rude..."

"Waiiiit a second!" Horny7 barged in. "How would Clover know about him?"

"Well...they met today."

"You, too, Brutus?!" Horny7 pounded. "That's so unfair! I wanna meet the boss, too!"

And here we went again...

"What does he look like," asked Horny curiously. "Is he hoooot?"

Clover was grumpy. "He's a pierced idiot."

"Ooooh, he's got piercings?" Horny's elf nudged my caster with his elbow. "Well, well, who knew our boss had a thing for the bad boys."

I snorted. Clay was as far away from being a bad boy as one could be.

"Yeah," Clover went on and I felt no worry until he added. "Three stupid silver rings and a stupid pin in his stupid ear."

"What?!"

I froze. This wasn't Horny's shocked outcry. It was...Cooper's.

Already thinking about reasonable ways to explain this to him, I wasn't a bit surprised when my phone vibrated one second later.

Boss, we need to talk.