“Jaxon! Jax! Get your ass up!” Shane shouted as he rushed into the room. 

“Shane let me sleep, some people need it you know,” Jaxon grumbled as he rolled over and covered his head with one of his pillows. 

“Fine, I guess I’ll just go hang out downstairs with Nova, while you sleep,” Shane smirked as he walked over to the door.  

“What? Nova’s here?” Jaxon said as he sprang up out of his bed. 

“No, but now you're awake,” Shane said as his signature smile spread across his face. Jaxon sighed as he flopped down on his bed. 

“I bet I could ask your mom for her number, flirt with her a bit then break her heart.” Shane laughed as Jaxon threw a pillow at him. 

“Shut up, as if she’d ever date you.” Jaxon huffed rolling his eyes. 

“You're right because I know when somebody’s out of my league, unlike you.” Shane laughed as Jaxon glared at him. He loved Shane like a brother, if he hadn't known Shane for so long he’d probably have beaten the shit out of him by now. 

“You really are obsessed with that girl aren't you?” Shane teased, moving Jaxon’s arm and sitting next to him on the bed. 

“Don't worry Shane the same thing will happen to you at one point.” Jaxon sighed as he ran a hand through his messy hair. 

“Nope, I shall never belong to just one girl. I’m an experience every girl needs in their life. Who am I to take that experience from all the other girls.” Shane smirked, obviously very proud of himself. 

“Like any girl would want to have sex with someone who has the mentality of a twelve-year-old.” Jaxon laughed as Shane scowled at him. Shanes' scowl softened as he stared at Jaxon for a few seconds. 

“She’s all you think about isn't she?” Shane asked, looking a little hurt. Jaxon paused for a moment, it had only been about four days since he met her. He was obsessed with her, wasn't he? 

“Jax!” Shane said snapping Jaxon back to the conversation as he waved his hand in front of Jaxon’s face. 

“Sorry,” Jaxon mumbled as he tried to think of something else to say. Shane just shook his head and stood up from the bed. Jaxon quickly sat up and searched his brain for something to say. Jaxon flinched and caught the clothes Shane threw at him. 

“Get dressed, I'll text Dale and Bryan. We're gonna go do something that’ll get your mind back on friends.” Shane smiled as he shoved Jaxon into his bathroom. Jaxon sighed and shook his head as he quickly got ready. Shane was probably right, he was letting Nova consume his mind. Besides anything Shane had planned was bound to be interesting. Jaxon finished getting ready and walked back into his room to find Shane going through his stuff. 

“Can I have these?” Shane asked, holding up a box of condoms. 

“Get your own Shane, besides you cant even fit those.” Jaxon chuckled as Shane just shrugged and put the box back. 

“Bigger Isn't always better.” Shane laughed as his stupid grin spread across his face. 

“Why do you even have them? Strippers don't fuck they perform.” Shane laughed as Jaxon smiled and shook his head. 

“I have the perfect thing to get your mind off this girl.” Shane smiled as he pat Jaxon’s shoulder and walked across the room. 

“I’m not going to a strip club.” Jaxon said he did not want to get dragged into one of those with Shane again.”Damn it! Now I gotta come up with a backup plan.” Shane pouted as Jaxon chuckled. 

“You’ll come up with something like you always do.” Jaxon smiled as he grabbed his jacket. 

“Let's go, Shane.” Jaxon chuckled as he pushed Shane out of his room. 

“You're absolutely right!” Shane said as his dopey grin returned. Jaxon just shook his head and smiled as he walked down the stairs, Shane was rarely anything but happy and optimistic. 

“Watch out!” Shane shouted as he slid down the stair's railing. 

“Shane!” Jaxon hissed in a hushed whisper as he grabbed Shane’s arm. “You know my mom hates it when you do that!” 

“oh, she won't know,” Shane whispered trying to be optimistic. 

“Shane Sebastian Daniels! What have I told you about sliding down my banister!?” Jaxon’s mom yelled from the kitchen. Jaxon watched as Shane’s face went pasty white. 

“Fuck, Fuck! Go run!” Shane whispered as he turned and ran to the front door. 

“Good going idiot.” Jaxon sighed as he followed Shane out the door. Shane panted as he collapsed into the passenger seat of Jaxon’s car. 

“Hurry! Drive before she comes out here and kills me!” Shane said out of breath his voice full of panic and fear, as Jaxon climbed into the car. 

“Alright, alright.” Jaxon chuckled as he quickly stepped on the gas and blasted out of the driveway. 

“Now let the adventure begin!” Shane cheered as Jaxon laughed with him. Today was definitely going to be an adventure.

“Hey, that's cheating!” Chadwick cried out as Alfred’s points surpassed Chadwicks. 

“If it was cheating the game wouldn’t allow me to do it,” Alfred stated as he pushed Chadwick's avatar off the edge of the map. Nova shook her head, why did she let them hang out here? She had to admit it got a little lonely living in the penthouse by herself, but this was not exactly the company she wanted. Rigby gave Nova an apologetic look as Chadwick shouted in rage as Alfred laughed at him. 

“Why don't you play Fletcher?” Rigby asked him, trying to find a way to have anyone other than Chadwick play. 

“I don’t know how to play this game.” Fletcher shrugged trying not to get involved. Nova knew for a face Fletcher played that game all the time. 

“Give the controller here.” Nova huffed as she held out her hand to Chadwick. 

“Whatever,” Chadwick grumbled as he shoved the controller into Nova’s hand. 

“Alright! Bring it on pipsqueak!” Alfred cheered as he prepared for Nova’s avatar to attack. 

Within a few minutes, Nova had beaten Alfred’s score and gotten a new high score. 

“Damn.” Alfred sighed as he set his controller down. 

“Is there anything you're not good at?” Alfred asked her as she set her controller down. 

“I'm not good at a lot of stuff,” Nova said, shaking her head. 

“That's a lie.” Fletcher laughed as Nova rolled her eyes and went to answer the door. 

“Nova where are you going?” Malorie asked as everyone gave Nova a confused look. 

“Thorsten is bringing up some mail,” Nova said as a knock sounded from the door. Nova walked over to the door and opened it, sure enough, it was Thorsten. Thorsten was around 32, with a constant mellow and calm look plastered on his face. Thorsten nodded his head and handed Nova the letter and walked off. Nova and Thorsten had a general understanding of each other and tried to respect each other's boundaries and walls they had up. Nova closed the door and took the letters back into the living room. 

“How do you do that?” Fletcher asked, amazed at her ability as Nova started to flip through the letters. 

“Alfred, Rigby, and Ruby you all got a letter,” Nova said as she passed the letters out, ignoring Fletcher's question. 

“What's that?” Ruby asked, pointing at the letter left in Nova’s hands. 

“Oh, it’s just the invitation to the PearlTech gala.” Nova shrugged as she went to throw the letter away. 

“No! Don’t throw that away!” Ruby shouted as she ran over and grabbed the letter out of the trash. 

“Why not? What’s so great about that gala anyway?” Chadwick asked as Ruby scoffed and glared at him. 

“Chadwick you don’t know anything, why would you know about it any way you uncultured swine.” Ruby huffed rolling her eyes and holding onto the invitation like it was her child. Chadwick scowled and was about to say something else but Ruby interrupted him before he could speak. 

“The PearlTech gala is the most exclusive event of the year! Famous people from all over the world come to this event! Nova, how did you even get this?” Ruby exclaimed as she stared at the invitation.

 “The mafia gets an invitation every year. We're one of their patrons. Donated them a huge chunk of money to get started, so they send us an invitation every year.” Nova shrugged as Ruby looked at her like she was psychotic. Nova couldn’t wrap her head around why Ruby was making this such a big deal, it was just a big party with a bunch of random strangers. 

“We have to go! We can turn it into a bonding experience since we're all going to be a team, and it can be an early last hurrah of our last few weeks as trainees!” Ruby said as she was trying her best to convince everyone. 

“That's not a bad idea Ruby, we definitely could use the bonding,” Rigby said as he glanced over at Alfred and Chadwick giving each other death glares. Nova sighed, if Rigby thought it was a good idea Alfred was going to make everyone go. 

“We can make it our first date!” Malorie said excitedly as Fletcher looked slightly stunned. 

“Oh, of course! If that's what you want we can absolutely do it.” Fletcher said, looking a little relieved. Nova knew he had been struggling to think of the first date for them. Malorie squealed happily and kissed Fletcher. 

“You all have fun with that and have a great time. I however will not be attending.” Nova said as she turned to leave. 

“Come on Nova, come with us,” Fletcher said, trying to convince her to go with them. Nova turned around and was about to protest when she heard Egil approaching. Nova sighed she knew exactly what was going to happen now. 

“It’ll be good for you Nova, you're going.” Egil chuckled as he appeared behind her. Nova sighed, why couldn’t she have been wrong? 

“How am I supposed to go if I don't have anything to wear?” Nova said smugly as Egil pondered her question for a moment. 

“You can go dress shopping with Malorie and Ruby and I'll pay for anything you girls get,” Egil said with the same smugness Nova had a moment ago. 

“Yes! We can help you pick out the perfect dress!” Ruby said excitedly. Nova could tell Ruby was already trying to construct the perfect dress for her. 

“Rigby can go dress shopping with you as well.  He needs a new dress as well.” Alfred smirked as Rigby turned into a tomato. 

“First I've never worn a dress before, Second I'm not gonna wear a dress,” Rigby mumbled as he crossed his arms and looked at the floor. 

“Awww!” Alfred whined trying to sound disappointed.

 “Come on Rig’s at least wear one for me.” Alfred tilted Rigby’s face up and kissed him. 

“Fine, but only for you,” Rigby mumbled as he kissed him back. 

“There it's settled then, I’ll stay here and make sure the guys have things they can wear and you girls and Rigby can go and get your dresses,” Egil said as he placed a hand on Nova’s shoulder. Nova blew a stray hand of hair out of her face, she did not want to socialize with strangers. 

 “Come on! We need to go and get dresses!” Ruby said as she grabbed Rigby’s hand and dragged him out of the penthouse. 

“Come on M let's follow before Ruby tries to do the same to us.” Nova huffed as Malorie smiled and followed Ruby. Nova sighed and followed them closing the door behind her, today was going to be a long day.

“Uhh I don't know how I feel about this one, why can't I just wear what I usually do?” Nova said to Malorie, Rigby, and Ruby from the dressing room. They had already picked out their dresses, now they were forcing Nova to try on everything they thought would look good on her. 

“Nova it's a gala no one's wearing leggings and leather jackets. The girls are all wearing beautiful flowing dresses.” Ruby called to her from outside the dressing room, Nova sighed and picked up the last dress. It was a beautiful flowing dress with sleeves that wrapped around her shoulders, so her shoulders showed. The top started as black and faded into a deep red. It was the only one Nova had liked that was picked out. Nova put the dress on and stared at herself in the mirror the dress wasn't practical but Nova had to admit it looked good on her, It showed her curves perfectly. 

“Alright, this is the last dress,” Nova said to them admiring the dress from inside the dressing room. She had never worn something like this before. 

“Let us see,” Malorie called from the waiting room. Nova stepped out of the dressing room. Ruby’s jaw dropped as Malorie squealed in delight, Rigby stared at her in shock. 

“That one is perfect for you, you look amazing Nova!” Malorie squealed as she circled Nova. 

“Holy crap, Nova. when you want to you could turn a gay man straight.” Rigby said, admiring her. 

“Alright enough, I'll get the dress.” Nova rolled her eyes while smiling as she walked back into the dressing room and changed. 

“Let's head back we don't have a lot of time to get ready,” Ruby said excitedly as she grabbed Malorie’s hand and started to lead her to the front of the store. They paid for the dresses and walked out of the store. 

“I wonder what the guys are up too?” Ruby asked as they piled into the car. 

“I don't think I want to know,” Nova said as they drove back to the base, hopefully, it wasn't in flames.