The Cupid Complex (Original Version)

27. A New Beginning

Shortly after the four of them had buried Charming in the park, life resumed for Amethyst. She now had exactly one hour to finish getting ready to head to her job at the store. It left her with absolutely no time to dwell on the question of why Junho and Theo were suddenly in their lives. As she got dressed in her work uniform, her eyes flicked towards her bed where the hoodie Junho had lent her the night before laid.

'Why did he follow after me? Why does he care about me?' Amethyst thought.

A blush came to her cheeks when she realized that he had technically saved her twice. Both times he had felt oddly familiar.

Shaking her head to clear such thoughts from her mind, she finished getting dressed and walked out of the room. Amethyst nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Ruby standing outside her door when she opened it.

"Are you going to be alright? Maybe you should take another sick day. You look awful."

"Nice thing to say to your sister," said Amethyst with a half smirk, "But don't worry. I'll be fine."

Before fully stepping out of her room, Amethyst walked back over to her bed to grab Junho's hoodie. Holding it in her hands, she walked back over to Ruby and thrusted it at her. Amethyst was already trying to recover from the loss of Charming. She didn't want to have to think about anything else at the moment.

"Give this back to the neighbors."

"Why don't you?"

"Because I'm going to be late for work," said Amethyst as she brushed past Ruby to go get her shoes on.

"I have work too you know!"

Amethyst was already gone by the time Ruby finished what she was saying. Ruby sighed as she dug out her phone.

Ruby
Can I come over?
Ame gave me Junho's hoodie.

Dream Teamer Theo
Yeah that's fine.
We're both up.

Ruby moved to exit her apartment, walking across the hall to theirs and knocking on the door. Theo opened it for her almost immediately. Ruby held the gray hoodie out to him as Theo welcomed her in.

"Where's Junho?" asked Ruby as Theo shut the door behind her after taking the hoodie from her hands.

"Sitting out on the balcony," said Theo as he nodded his head towards the balcony where a disguised Junho sat, watching Amethyst walk off to her job at the store.

"Is there anything we can do for him?" asked Ruby.

"Nope. I suppose he'll just need some time to snap out of it," said Theo. "There's no need for Junho to be rude when we have a guest though."

Walking over to the sliding glass door, Theo moved to pound against the glass with the palm of his hand. The sudden knocking against the glass jumped Junho who turned to look at Theo.

"Yah! Get in here! We have company!" shouted Theo.

Getting up, Junho moved to walk back into the apartment. He gave a brief wave towards Ruby before moving to sit on the futon.

"You're not still feeling badly about yesterday, are you?" asked Ruby.

"I feel worse for Ame," said Junho as he then noticed the gray hoodie that Theo was holding. "So I see Amethyst returned it."

"She did," said Ruby.

"And she didn't want to see me?"

"I think she's still processing the loss of Charming," said Ruby. "We just need to approach her with caution right now."

Junho nodded from where he sat.

"Any ideas of what I could do to help her feel better?" Junho asked.

Theo looked at Ruby who was clearly lost in her thoughts as she tried to figure out what to do.

"What if we tried to get her a new pet?" Ruby finally suggested. "She might like a replacement for Charming, though no one will ever be him."

Replacing Charming was the only solution that Ruby thought would work. Amethyst was not a flower type of girl, so Ruby honestly wasn't sure what else to do. She looked over at Junho as he just nodded his head again.

"Let's go to the pet shop then," Junho said as he moved to get up. "I have to find her the perfect pet. I owe her that much."

"But Junho it's not your fault," said Ruby as he disappeared into the bedroom to get ready to head for the pet shop, shutting the door behind him.

"What is it with people walking off on me while I'm talking today?" muttered Ruby under her breath.

A small smirk tugged at the corners of Theo's lips. He was still standing near her and heard what she had just said.

"Not everyone is walking off," he said. "Don't I count?"

Ruby's cheeks heated with a blush as she looked down at the floor, wishing it would swallow her whole.

'He counts more than he'll ever realize,' thought Ruby.

- - -

'Ow. My head. My limbs. My everything. Is the ground moving? The Earth...is it breathing?'

Opening his eyes, all such thoughts came to a pause as he stared up at the almost cloudless blue sky above him. It took him a moment to regain control of his limbs as he tried to move.

'Ow. Wrong choice. Very wrong choice. Man my head is killing me.'

"Excuse me, sir? Is there a reason your leg is buried?"

Confused, he forced himself to try and sit up only to notice that his left leg - from the shin down - was buried in dirt.

'Wait...leg? Where's my fur? What's this tough blue stuff on my legs? And this thin white almost see through thing I'm wearing on my chest? Wait, chest? Legs?!'

Running his hand over the coarse material of his jeans, he soon slowly slid both hands up the length of the white t-shirt he was wearing, freezing when he had slid them halfway up.

'Wait...I have hands?! When did I get these?'

"Sir?"

Looking over to his left, he saw that whoever was talking to him was staring at him like he was an alien. He certainly felt like it.

"Let me call an ambulance," said the man. "You look lost."

"I..."

He paused when he realized he could talk. He wasn't just confined to thoughts anymore.

'What the heck is going on?' he thought as he slid his hands off his chest to touch his head. There was soft, smooth skin on his very human face. He soon slid his hands up until they reached his hair, tangling his fingers in it.

"What's your name, sir?"

"Charming," he said finally as he looked at the man in front of him while one hand remained rooted in his hair. "And I'll be fine. Just please...can you tell me where Ame is?"