There was a squealing noise, and Arthur looked forward with disdain. Lucy was sitting in the desk of a school, rocking it back and forth with headphones on her head, banging her head back and forward.
"Uhm, what?" Arthur asked, unsure of what the point was. She took off her headphones and smiled at him.
"How's it feel, knowing you got a date?" She asked, leaning forward with her extended arms on the desk. Arthur looked at her, confused as to her knowledge and reaction.
"What? It feels kinda weird, I guess. It's nothing special, she's doing it because it's a favor. And how'd you know I got a date?" He responded, sitting down with his arms crossed once more and a dead stare.
"I asked my brother, and he had a dream that you had a girlfriend," she told him.
"A dream? Really?"
"We're part of the Dream Dragon family, so naturally our dreams are a bit different, y'know? His dreams can rewrite reality, though only to small events. Or rather, they can set in stone events he wants, but small stuff, like you getting a date and stuff."
That was her answer. And it was one which surprised Arthur, and actually soothed his heart a lot. He touched his chin, nodding his head in agreement.
'That makes a lot more sense. For someone like me to need a reality warper to get a date, yes, that fits much better than a woman actually liking me. Naturally.'
"Thanks, actually," Arthur gratefully replied. Now, it was truly believable.
In Arthur's past, as stated previously, his interactions with women were not so favorable. He was never chased out of a store due to his ugliness, but they would ask him out as a joke, and it was indeed very humiliating.
So that belief, that he would never have a woman who loved him romantically, was set in stone. Being a heterosexual male, he did want the attention of women, but he knew it would never happen.
Akin to man's dreams of flying through the skies freely. Though one could yearn, it would never happen. And so, he shut his heart, refusing to believe any such thing could happen.
Not that it mattered. He had his friends, that alone was an improvement and they were all he needed. Needing anything more would just be asking too much, and would demonstrate a complete lack of self awareness.
But here, in this situation, it fits really well. No woman could properly love him, so she was just showing him gratitude for "saving" her, and it was all due to literal reality manipulation. It felt so exceedingly natural that his heart was put at ease from it.
"No problem!" She exclaimed, smiling pretty nicely at him.
"Though, that said, why would you do that for me? Am I a bother? Do you believe I need a date to keep me from looking at you?" Arthur said, slightly panicked.
She shook her head, saying "No, but you've had some really bad times recently, so I wanted to cheer you up. Since, well, y'know, you don't really have a girl in your life, I thought that filling in that area of your life might help you a lot. That's why I was so excited not too long ago, since it seemed like it could be really good for you!"
Arthur hummed an agreement. Though, he did have an objection.
"Doesn't that make things kinda… gross?" He asked. Lucy's eyes widened, and she was quite taken aback.
"What do you mean?"
"Reality was manipulated to make her date me, all to cheer me up. If she didn't consent, then while it's not that, as I won't lay a finger on her, it's still pretty gross," Arthur said in a very, very serious tone.
He was a man with a weak heart. Naturally, his moral compass was a bit strong. Self defense was obviously excusable, murder, if done in self defense, was passable. However, an unwarranted, nonconsensual date went beyond the limitations of his moral compass.
Assuming that in order to get her to date him, she would have to deal with a stalker, and by proxy get kidnapped, just how could he be okay with that? Some random woman was kidnapped, all to get her to date him.
That was absolutely inexcusable, unforgivable and something that Arthur wholeheartedly rejected.
"Ah… well, no, I think she did consent, didn't she? My brother's reality manipulation only made certain that you two would go on a date, so anything that happened to make her date you was still her. All it did was set up the events in which she would naturally want to date you, if that makes sense."
"Mm. I see," Arthur replied nonchalantly. "That said, you don't know the events that happened to make her want to date me. They were really awful things, and the ends don't justify the means."
"Oh…" Lucy said with a frown. "Are you gonna stand her up?"
"No, I'd feel bad in that case too, because her feelings are apparently somewhat real. I don't know how she's guided to want to go on a date with me, but I'll respond, for now at least," Arthur said, sighing.
"You're a girl, aren't you supposed to be on her side?" .
Lucy clicked her tongue, saying, "What? Am I so bad for wanting my friend to be happy? You're so ungrateful!"
She pouted a bit, quickly letting go. Arthur shrugged his shoulders. "Fair enough, I guess. You did try to help me in any way you could, and now realizing that, it means so much. Thank you."
Assuming she did not lie, then the truth was that she wanted to cheer him up. This executed any idea that she wanted romance with him, so he could take safety to that, and naturally, he didn't view her in such a manner as well.
But what was best was that it meant she did care for him. She was a genuine friend, one that wouldn't betray him. It was a very, very delightful experience.
Arthur smiled and looked at her with gratitude.
"As thanks, you wanna play volleyball?" He asked.
She grinned and shook her head. "No, cause we gotta get you ready for your date, remember?"
Arthur was surprised, and the next moment, they both appeared inside of a giant closet.
"This is a recreation of my brother's closet. You two are similar in build, so I'll just steal his clothes and give it to you in the real world," she said cheerfully. Arthur nodded his head, and spoke.
"Yeah, but I don't even know if I'm going to be doing anything fancy with her. I'm in college and I drive a Toyota Corolla. I work at a freaking grocery store. I'm probably taking her to McDonalds or something, dressing up in a suit would make me look like a dork," he told her.
"Ohhhhh," Lucy said, putting her finger to her red, full lips. "Alrighty, let's still pick out an outfit. Tell me some basic vibes you wanna give off, and I'll pick an outfit for ya. I'm a fashionista, so don't worry!"
'Vibes? Hm… maybe a normal guy? Or maybe something… no, normal works just fine, actually.'
"Just a normal dude, honestly."
That was his answer, and the ideal he yearned for at this moment. She nodded her head and rummaged through the wardrobe, clicking her tongue in a song-like fashion as she shifted through clothes.
Finally, she arrived with her outfit. It was an outfit of a black sweater and gray ripped jeans.
"Well? Ya like it?" She asked, as his clothes were immediately put on him. He looked into the mirror.
'No matter how good an outfit is, an ugly face is an ugly face.'
Arthur clicked his tongue, shrugging his shoulders. "It's good enough," he told her deadpan. She let out a small "yay" and said goodbye before Arthur ended the dream.
…
Arthur awoke, sitting up and looking at Tyler. Arthur clicked his tongue, going over and shaking him awake. Tyler groaned, keeping his eyes closed.
"What…?" He said, as Arthur sighed. "I've got a date today, can you give me advice?"
"Agh… tell her she looks good…" Tyler said, slapping Arthur's hands away. Arthur left with a dead face, feeling quite tired. Once he checked his phone, he decided to give that woman, Melissa, a text.
"Good morning, this is Arthur. Would you be alright with getting lunch with me?"
Arthur put his phone away, going to the bathroom and brushing his teeth before deciding to play around with his ability.
Arthur could not hold any trust for safety in his new life. If he went on the date and were to be attacked, it would not end well for him.
So, Arthur put his finger in his mouth and bit down quite hard. The pain filled his finger, and after a few seconds, he let go, finding indentations on his skin.
'I'm not able to bite my finger hard enough, I'd assume that's cause I'm pretty chillax right now… hm.'
Arthur tried to summon a weapon of blood, without any prior conditions of blood. However, it was unable to be fulfilled. It was not that it was impossible, but rather that Arthur himself wasn't skilled enough to perform such a task, being unfamiliar with this ability of his.
So, he looked around his body for places that could bleed easily. And a few things came to mind.
Firstly, his eyes. If he jammed his thumb into his eye, blood would come out; blood that could be used as armor. However, it was scary.
Second, was the lips. If he bit his lips a lot, a small amount of blood would come out, but that wasn't exactly enough to make much use of it.
And thirdly, was his nails. Though it was a terrifying thought, he could bite his nails until they cracked, resulting in blood. And that blood was at his hands, ready to be turned into a weapon.
He decided to give it a shot. He took a deep breath, putting his thumb's nail in his mouth. And he bit down hard until he heard a crunch.
Surprisingly, it hurt less than he expected. However, it was still a mutilation which sent a shiver down his spine. Arthur attempted to form a knife, but failed. The little blood would not allow such a weapon to form.
Replacing it, Arthur made a ring. It wrapped around his ring finger, and Arthur immediately healed his nail at the cost of little stamina, so he breathed a sigh of relief.
That relief came from his wound being healed, not his ability. Because from what he just saw, his Dragon Art, Blood Armory, was kind of bad.
Chad was able to be pretty much invincible, Lucy could go to dreams to escape any fight, her brother could perform small-scale reality warping, and all Arthur could do was make weapons from blood.
That in itself wasn't bad, but because only maybe, like, 20 drops of blood could come out willy nilly, without slicing his hand open or anything, he couldn't make anything of note.
Arthur wasn't too bummed out, as he had the capability of using other's blood as weapons as well. So while it was weak on its own, under the right usage, with some preparation/experience, it could become quite versatile.
…
Arthur, having lost a bit of confidence in the talent of his Art, decided that he should do what he should have done a while ago. He gave the MMA gym a call, and told them he'd be coming in.
They offered free classes to participate in to get a feel for the gym before making the decision. So, he showered and went there, entering and seeing a pretty muscular man near the punching bags. That same man looked at Arthur with somewhat wide eyes and went over to him.
"Hey! You're Arthur, right?" The man asked, and Arthur shook his head. The man extended his arm and Arthur took his hand, shaking it. The man looked at Arthur's appearance, not judging it. Rather, the appearance was one that seemed very familiar, and it was one he'd seen many times coaching his students.
In fact, he was quite delighted to see someone like Arthur enter. Those who have something to prove, usually that they are good enough, would make for the best students, as they are fiercely dedicated and, if kept in check, are less likely to dull their skills due to arrogance over time.
"Okay, so you're currently visiting the boxing class, is that alright?" He asked, and Arthur hummed an agreement. The man took some red gloves and let Arthur try them on, with them fitting well.
After that, the class began, with Arthur being instructed on how to throw a proper punch. It took some time before Arthur got it down correctly, and when he practiced it properly, throwing it at his genuine speed, the coach's eyes widened.
The jab that Arthur had thrown, it blew a gust of wind at the coach's face, and it was no mere blow, it was indeed one which had slightly shoved back an unprepared man. The speed itself might have surpassed the human eye.
"H-hey, can you do that again? A proper 1-2, without slowing it down…" the man asked him. If he was as sane as he believed himself to be, then there was a chance that he'd stumbled across a gem.
Without launching an attack against a punching bag, Arthur readied himself, throwing a one-two combination, letting out small exhales of "tch" with each punch.
And the coach, who made sure to study those punches with full attention, full of an open mind, was once more blown away. Not by the wind, but by the sheer talent that this new youngster possessed.
It seemed to blow away all known human limitations, creating punches that were seemingly unable to be seen, the only method of acknowledging their existence being the shock created by them.
"If I can have him, then even a bag is worth sacrificing," the man thought to himself, before bringing Arthur to a punching bag. It was far in the back, and he told Arthur to throw a straight right at the bag.
Arthur, being a man with a weak heart, didn't want to reject him.
'Fuck, if I break it, then he'll know I'm a dragon. Um, what do I even do? Won't I be targeted by even more dragons if it's found that I revealed bad info to the human world? Agh… whatever, just one punch.'
That one punch was yet another then-and-there decision.
Arthur kept his fist loose, threw the straight, and at the instant before impact, clenched his fists.
…
It wasn't for him.
He'd refused to throw a true punch, which in turn caused the coach to be a bit upset with him. Arthur, who hated to make people upset, threw another, proper punch which destroyed the bag. He got terrible stares from all across the gym, and gave the coach his contact information in order to pay for the bag.
Arthur profusely apologized, and left the gym, unable to withstand all those stares. Now, here he was, in his car.
'I need more money… now I gotta pay him back, gosh darn it… I hate my life.'
Money was an issue.
When he checked his phone, Arthur saw the woman, Melissa, had responded. He read her message and immediately groaned.
…
He got clothes from Lucy, put them on, and went to the restaurant.
It was McDonalds.
A splendid place for a first date, surely.