Nope, not a bash—abash.

Fortunately, it wasn't the former because in all honesty I wasn't entirely fond of the idea. The idea of having my face wrecked. I mean; yes, appearance isn't the most important thing in the world but still its importance wasn't exactly negligible either. In fact, it was absolutely critical in a society much like the one we live in.

Wait, why is this chapter even titled abash? I-I'm not abashed. I'm not some bashful Chip running around blushing at every breath Xander takes or every word he says (although yes, I agree that everything about him was absolutely A++). It was an accident; I swear. And I'm not embarrassed or shy about it one bit.

Not at all.

I've seen naked bodies all the time. Sure.

Okay, no I haven't; and yes, fine—maybe I was a little shy when Blake emerged from shower dripping wet and holy-banana-towel-less. But come on, who wouldn't be? It didn't help one bit that I had assumed everything under his clothes to be average, so in my defense I was just shocked. That's all.

I was so wrong, and damn I'm glad I was.

Back to the undressed Blake, I guess I should explain how we arrived at this standpoint. Obviously (sarcasm), it had something to do with us sharing a room. And of course, this was all thanks to that stupid (blessed) business trip that Blake and I were obliged to go for.

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I believe I slept for an hour or two before I was woken by the delicious scent of breakfast. Naturally, being the clueless ditz I was, I had to pause and register my surroundings before I could safely recall that I was on a plane. Beside me, Blake was plugged in to the on flight entertainment—probably watching a movie since he looked barely interested in the cart up front.

I could hear the flight attendant's voice as she proceeded row by row, serving passengers in a navy blue uniform.

Since I was busy wondering what was for breakfast, I failed to recognize her voice until she came round to our row.

"Good morning sir, would you—" Her face hardened.

Eyes widening, I could not help but stutter an awkward greeting. "Er, I, um—yeah. Hi."

My sister looked as if she was ready to throw me out the window.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed, false smile disappearing all together as she leaned closer. "Since when could you afford a business class ticket?"

"Um, well I." I turned to Blake for backup, but he, too, was surprised.

"You didn't say your sister's working for this airline."

"I didn't know either! She refused to tell me."

Blake laughed shortly. "Hm," He glanced at her briefly, "she hasn't changed."

Vicky frowned, as if confused, and I figured that she didn't remember Blake from high school. That wasn't really her fault however, since she didn't exactly have the best memory ever.

"Whatever. Just leave," My sister flicked my forehead, "I don't like it when you sit here."

"Hey, what does that mean?" I asked. "Besides, I can't leave—we're forty-thousand feet in the air!"

"Then I'll just throw you out of the window!" She hissed; a little too loudly because passengers were beginning to stare.

Blake raised a brow. "Sorry Miss. If you're against serving us perhaps we could call for another flight attendant. You're being very rude."

Vicky looked practically enraged.

She proceeded to slam the breakfast trays on our table; pour some tea into our cups without asking, and leave without a word.

Or handing us utensils and sugar, for the matter.

"She really didn't change at all, did she?" Blake sighed, pressing the button to call for another flight attendant.

I laughed apologetically, feeling slightly ashamed.

And upon feeling ashamed—felt extremely guilty for doing so. 

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"Ace? Do you know where's the—why's there only one bed?"

I was about to turn around when tell him off for realizing only now when, from the corner of my eye, I saw that he was completely naked. "HolybananasBlakewhatdoyouthinkyou'redoing?" I spluttered, "put some clothes on!"

He laughed, and I could tell from this that he was smirking. "Why so sensitive? You have what I have—it doesn't matter."

Yeah but only not as good (or big as the matter but of course I shouldn't be saying that)!

I cleared my throat, forcing my gaze to stay on his face. "Er, yeah. Okay. But um—wait, what was I going to say? Oh yeah right, uh I transferred a soft copy to my notebook so that we can work on it at the same time. Makes it faster."

"Good going," Blake closed the distance and I panicked. "Let me see your progress."

"Uh, um, yeah okay. Sure," I was about to get up and scoot further away from him when he forced me back down on the office chair.

"What's this?" He raised a careful brow. "Running away because you're scared that I might punish you for your mistakes?"

P-P-Punish? Holy bananas get your mind out of the gutter Ace!

"Uh, well I uh yes—I mean no! I totally meant no. Yeah."

He laughed, gaze turning to the screen to scan through my work.

After a couple of awkward minutes—him dripping wet and still not bothering to put on any clothes or find a towel to dry himself for the matter—I asked if he needed something like a bathrobe, or else he could catch a cold.

"No, I'm done reading," Blake shook his head, turning to me with a satisfied smirk. "I didn't think you'd do a good job honestly. You're learning fast, and you actually went on to do five extra pages."

I felt a strange warmth swell in my chest; and I looked away in effort to hide such minor happiness. "Really? Thanks."

"Right—you want to head into the bath now? If you do I'll continue from here."

"Nah it's fine," I shook my head. "I'll take a shower after we finish this."

Blake nodded, impressed.

"Great. I'll start from seventy on my copy while you continue from forty-six—I'll leave the twenty-five pages to you while I do the rest."

"Are you sure? It's...well, it's a lot from seventy," I pointed out.

He waved, dismissing my worries. "Used to it. Let's start."

I nodded, turning back to my screen and was scanning half a page when Blake brought up the first matter at hand once more.

"So...one bed?"

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TLDR; Ace gets blessed with a scenic view, Vicky is still a duck, and Blake is a tease. They also run into lots of trouble because of Xander :x (WHO TOOK LEAVE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THREE YEARS BECAUSE HE WAS EMOTIONALLY STABLE ENOUGH TO GIVE IN TO HIS HEART'S DESIRE: CHIP :'D)

-Cuppie