The White Stone [MsBloom & captain_bond]

"Adria," Isaac said, as Jack texted his mom again, wondering if she was all right. "Yeah," Jack said. "I dunno what keeps happening, but she keeps killing us just before we kill her. It's usually close, mind you, but not close enough."
 
Jules nodded.
"Well a level 70 220 PP might just be what you need then," they said and leaned back into the couch, their knees spread apart, seemingly quite relaxed, a lot more than they actually were. They would of course not admit to it but since that afternoon they were crushing heavily on Isaac.
 
Isaac noticed this, and smiled to himself as he thought about how good it was that Jules was starting to relax around them. He was crushing on her, hard, and was not gonna waste a single second of this summer. Jack sighed resignedly and was about to head to the kitchen to get their own snacks and drinks when Mrs. Woodrow came bustling through the door, with a large tray full of snack-size bags of chips, an ice bucket with a two-liter of Pepsi, and a stack of red Solo cups. "Sorry about that, Jack. I dropped my phone in the sink again, can you believe it?" The seventeen-year-old groaned good-naturedly. "Geez, Mom, at this rate you're gonna use more rice drying out your phone than to cook with!" Mrs. Woodrow chuckled and ruffled her son's hair, which he found profoundly embarrassing, and as if intentionally rubbing it in, she planted a wet kiss on his forehead. "You three have fun, now!", she said, and departed.
 
"So are we playing or not then," Jules asked once Mrs Woodrow had left.
They took a glass and poured some Pepsi into it taking a sip before leaning back into the couch again.
To their disappointment the oblivious Jack sat down between them and Isaac.
 
"Yes, we are. But, Jack, perhaps you could take the third console?" Isaac gestured over towards the computer monitor and the PS4 that was hooked up to it. The boy mentally kicked himself for his stupidity and took the other seat. There you go, stud. Enjoy, he thought but aloud he said, "My bad, guys. I'm used to it just being the two of us." Isaac looked at the side-by-side TV screens before him and said, "Right, shall we begin?" Both boys turned on their PS4s and loaded up Diablo 3.
 
Before going to the waypoint in the Survivor's Enclave Jules first sold off most of what was in their inventory, had the equipment repaired and stacked up on health potions which they then dropped for the boys.
"You'll probably need those," they said and ran their character over to the waypoint and soon the three of them found themselves at the entrance to The Great Hall in The Ruins of Corvus.
"Ok. Here's how the bitch fights ok."
They talked them through Adria's attacks and how and when she used them.
"Stay away from the blood pools and the blood oozes and don't run for the same healing well. And just follow my lead ok."
 
"You got it, boss," Isaac said, happy to follow Jules' lead. "Right, let's get this bitch," Jack said, his eyes fixed on the screen in concentration. Both of them were waiting for her to enter the Great Hall. "Let's do this," the boys said in unison.
 
Jules entered the great hall and triggered the cut scene at the end of which she triggered her Necromancer's skills summoning four demon dogs and a big golem that all instantly attacked Adria. They then moved in close and triggered their fetish army, a bunch of small rather cute demons that attacked with both blow guns, fire and tiny knives. They were quite effective though.

Once that was done they pulled back to a safe distance and began throwing Firebats at the witch.
"Feel free to join in at any time boys."
 
The boys had followed Jules' character into the Hall and promptly engaged Adria, following Jules' advice to surprisingly great effect. "Those are some cute demons, Jules," Isaac said as his character dodged an attack. "Don't think I've seen them before."
 
"Aren't they just," they said and giggled.
"Too bad you can't have them active all the time like the hounds and tiny. They do come in handy in a tight spot though."
They ha activated their fetish army twice more and there it was. Adria began to flail about before diving into the pool of blood at the center of the Great Hall.
"Ta da," they said and started picking up the loot she left behind, which included two legendary items, a couple of rare, a handful of low level gems and gold

"We'll share when we get back to town ok."
 
"Sure," both males said simultaneously, just happy that they could clear this boss and move onto the next part of the game. "Nice going, Jules," Isaac said, clearly impressed and more than a little taken with them. "You kick ass and look good doing it," he added, smiling at her.
 
Jules giggled and returned them all to town, trying to ignore the innuendo in Isaac's comment. Was he crushing on them as well?
"Anyhow. Here's what I picked up boys."
They brought up their inventory screen and cycled through the categories. Unfortunately most of the good equipment was locke until they reached level 70.
"You can put them in your chests though and unless you pick up something better before you can use them ..."
They left the rest unsaid as they felt it wasn't needed and dropped most of the items they had picked up on the ground and backed away from it.

While the boys debated who should get what they put the controller down and slipped a hand into their pocket to touch the stone.
 
When the boys finally decided who should get what, their characters deposited everything that was level-locked and Jack had the good sense to go to the bathroom. When they were alone, Isaac said, "So, Jules. Do you mind if I ask you something?" He smiled at them, his expression carrying no hint that there was a wrong answer to his inquiry.
 
Isaac smiled, remembering that was where Jules had put the stone. "It is quite smooth, isn't it? Almost like it was polished by unnatural means. But that's not what I was gonna ask you. Do you identify as male, female, or something else? I mean, I don't mind either way, you're cute no matter what. I just wanna know so I don't fuck it up by accident."
 
By unnatural means. Of course he must have meant by human hands but that was not the first image that popped into Jules head even if it did involve other parts of the human anatomy. They blushed at the thought but nodded for Isaac to go on and ask his question.

"I ... uhhh ..."
The blush on their face grew even more intense. In one way it was a rather rude question and part of them wanted to tell him that but at the same time it was perhaps a natural question from a teenage boy stuck in a small rural town. Especially if perhaps the boy had a crush on someone he didn't really know whether they were a boy or a girl.
"It depends. Sometimes I'm Julia, sometimes I'm Julian."
 
"Okay, cool! By the way...I didn't say you were cute just now for no reason..." Isaac's blush finished what his words failed to. "So, d'you wanna challenge me to a dare so I can hold the stone for a while? Maybe we can make it a regular thing. Something fun over which we can become friends..." Or more, he didn't say.
 
A dare! They could feel the stone against their skin even through the fabric of the pocket and blushed again at the thought of what kind of polishing it might be used for.
"I ... uhhh ... I dunno ..."
There were a few ideas popping into their head, dare him to kiss them in front of Jack or dare him to show them his ... no they didn't even finish that thought.
"Maybe if you repeat what you just said in front of Jack. That I'm really cute and not make a joke out of it."
Teen boys were, in their experience, rather embarrassed by expressing such things.
"And then you can have the stone until the morning."
 
"Is that all?" Isaac smiled and chuckled, thinking that he'd have liked to kiss them or something instead. "Done, but I could have done more if you'd asked." When Jack returned, he smiled at Jules and said, "You're the cutest person I've seen in a long time, possibly ever."
 
As Isaac spoke, with at least some conviction, Jack turned his head and looked curiously at him.
"You better be talking to our guest, Loverboy," he said, poked Isaac in the side and chuckle.
"I can take a walk if you two need som alone time," he added with another amused chuckle.
Jules watched with a smile on their face when Jack rolled his eyes at them. They rolled theirs back at Jack and then nodded at Isaac. Dare completed
 
"Of course I'm talking to our guest, numb nuts." Isaac turned to Jules. "Does he need to take a walk?", he asked suddenly, without thinking. But he seemed to realize the implications of his question and suddenly started blushing furiously, looking at his lap and the fidgeting fingers therein. "Uh, that is...if you..." He was mumbling to his knees and trailed off incoherently.
 
"We still have Battle fields of Eternity and Pandemonium Fortress to clear before we get to Malthael," Jules said ignoring Isaac's awkward ramble, even though they blushed heavily.
The comedy of it wasn't lost on Jack who chuckled to himself at his screen.
"Sell, Salvage, repair and let's go boys," they said with a happy smile on their face.
 
"Right!", the boys said simultaneously, putting their game faces back on and doing exactly what Jules said: selling, salvaging and repairing. They both actually held onto some of the choice gear they got from the fight with Adria, so that when they reached the appropriate level, they could equip it right away. "Right, on to the Battlefields of Eternity!", Isaac said, raising his controller as if it were a sword and pointing towards the TV with it.
 
Together the three of them finished the game, under Jules' guidance and once they had claimed their loot from Malthael, the final boss and easily the toughest one. Jules didn't say it out loud but they'd had to revive their character four times before taking him down when they first played the game. Mrs Woodrow had checked in on them before going to bed, telling them not to stay up too long, even if there was no school in the morning.

After the game was over Jules stood up and nodded subtly at Isaac to follow them out into the corridor so they could exchange the stone.
 
Isaac immediately got up and followed Jules out to the corridor, and when the door shut behind them both, he blushed slightly. "Uh, just so you know, I really do think you're cute." Before he lost his nerve, he quickly leaned in and briefly pecked Jules on the lips, before just as quickly withdrawing. "S-sorry," he mumbled. "Sh-should I not have done that?"
 
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