Trigger Warning: Physical Assault and Blink-You-Can-Miss-It Implied Attempted Sexual Assault  

Wade squirmed a bit, feeling hot. There was a weight on her and when she opened her eyes, she realized Sorrento's arms were around her and that he was slightly laying on top of her. His hair, ruffled and untamed the night before, was back to its normal slicked appearance. As was usual in the OASIS, she was sure that aside from their clothes, the both of them looked as they usually did.

Taking a deep breath, she tilted her head back and observed his sleeping face. The two of them had been too exhausted to log out and sleep in the real world, and instead had slept in the OASIS in a sort of faux imitation, where their brain waves went into inactivity. Their real bodies wouldn't be getting actual sleep, but it'd be like meditation and at least some rest would be involved.

That said though, she wondered if this was how he really slept. He looked...kind of peaceful.

It was strange and unlike what people, what even she pictured of him to be. Peaceful wasn't exactly a word that came up when people thought of Nolan Sorrento. But...seeing him like this made her see again that he wasn't what she thought. He was different than what was expected of him. At least he was with her.

She remembered the rush to the bar last night, how she'd been so eager to get there and see him again. When she got there, she realized she was much too early and stood in the middle of the pathway feeling and looking lost. Then she'd glanced at the bar and had wandered inside, thinking that maybe she should wait for him there.

Finding a seat directly in front of the bar and near to where she'd sat before with Sorrento, she sat there in anxious wait. A napkin was set in front of her and the bartender of before smiled at her.

"What's your poison, darlin'?"

She blushed and shook her head. "I'm actually just waiting here for someone. Um, I don't really have anything to pay for a drink either, sorry."

He laughed. "It's alright. On the house, okay? So what will it be?"

Wade bit her lip, but smiled widely. "I'd like a Candy Cotton Cosmos, please!"

She had really liked the drink Sorrento had picked for her. She didn't often get to have sweet things and that drink had tasted really good.

"Coming right up," he said, beginning to make her drink in front of her.

As with last time, she watched him make it in fascination.

"Here you go," he put her drink on her napkin. "Name's Collins. I have a feeling I'll be seeing you around a lot."

"Parzival," she introduced herself and then realized that she hadn't actually introduced herself properly to Sorrento, who had gone without her name this entire time.

It wasn't long until Sorrento strolled into the bar and found her, heading towards her confidently. She made sure to introduce herself properly, but she barely remembered with the way he was looking at her like he wanted to devour her, all heat in his gaze. And she remembered him calling her his fae princess, which surprised and flattered her all at once, while making her want him just as intensely. When he leaned in close to her, her body felt hot all over and she was sure she was going to just burn up right then and there.

She felt like she was on fire every time she was with him.

"You're a right handsome bastard, you know that?" she murmured, hesitantly reaching up to touch his face.

"Why thank you," he replied, voice gruff with sleep still. He opened his eyes slowly, giving her a smirk as he reached up to entangle one of his hands in her hair, kissing her thoroughly after. "Glad to know I know how to design my avatar."

"You look handsome in real life too," she admitted hesitantly, which caused his smirk to turn into a smug grin. Her eyes traveled to a clock in the room and she freaked out, pulling away from him and nearly tripping off the bed in her haste to get off of it. "I-I have to go! I'm going to be late!"

She panicked as she started picking up her clothes, and she only had enough time to see his bewildered look turn amused as he got off the bed too. He stopped her from moving around.

"Command Actions," he reminded her and she let out an exasperated breath at herself. She gave him a sheepish grin while calling up her interface controls and looked up her Actions Panel, digitizing her clothes back on.

"Seeing as you look like you have something urgent to do, can we meet again tonight?" he asked her and she felt herself become surprised. It really seemed like this was becoming not just a reoccurring thing, but a nightly thing that was happening between them. She didn't know how she felt about that.

"Okay," she answered firmly, deciding she was going to keep going along with this. Before she could hesitate, she leaned up and kissed him square on the mouth before she pulled back with a smile. "I'll see you then."

She rushed out of the door with burning cheeks, refusing to look back at him.

~*~*~

As she hurried out, she called up her interface and looked at the time. She was cutting it close to getting to school, but she worried more that she'd missed Lacero. Sighing to herself, she just made herself rush towards school. By the time she reached it, she already knew that she was beyond late by the empty look around the building. Cursing silently, she just focused on getting to her classroom, where everyone turned to look at her when she entered.

"Sorry, overslept," she muttered, avoiding looking at anyone.

"Try not to oversleep next time," Mr. Avenovich warned and she nodded.

Settling into her seat, she logged on to her assigned computer and pretended to pay attention while discreetly finding her and Lacero's chatroom and logging into that. She hoped Lacero was logged on, but felt disappointment at seeing him absent. Her disappointment didn't last long as his username lit up, indicating he was now on. She withheld a sigh of relief, glancing at the teacher carefully.

Lacero: Sorry I'm late.

She hurriedly began to type her reply.

Wade3: It's okay. I was too —almost got in trouble with my teacher.

Lacero: What a naughty girl. I didn't know I was associating with a delinquent.

Her cheeks warmed considerably.

Wade3: Geez, catch me a break. I was

She swallowed and thought back to what she had been doing. She'd slept with an older man (for the second time), even if it was with his avatar. Maybe she was a delinquent.

Lacero: You were?

She winced and tried to come up with some lie.

Wade3: Sleeping. I was really tired and ended up oversleeping this morning.

It had been the excuse she'd been using and it was believable enough.

Lacero: Ah well; less naughty, more lazy.

For some reason, she could picture him having a smirk while saying that. She inwardly huffed.

Wade3: Hush up, you. Anyway, I was wondering what was your favorite show? I know last time you told me your favorite book was The Art of War, but we didn't get to TV shows.

Lacero: Knight Rider. I loved Knight Rider when I was younger, and I'd always wanted to own the car. Too bad Halliday never had much to do with Knight Rider, otherwise I'd be able to figure out a clue or two, I bet.

Wade3: Speaking of gunting, you know —I'm an excellent gunter. The best, I tell you!

Lacero: Oh yeah? I bet you are.

Wade3: I know you were being dry and sarcastic! I'm telling the truth. Everything in Artie's Missives is everything I've already known and figured out about Halliday.

Lacero: You should start your own blog then.

Wade paused, blinking. That was...She had never really thought of doing anything like that.

Wade3: ...Oh. I don't...know about that. I don't think it'd do as well anyway.

Lacero: Don't be ridiculous. I think you're very witty and funny, and it'll translate great into writing. Our conversations are proof of that. Your blog will be entertaining. I'll be your first subscriber.

Wade3: I guess I'll think about it.

But it didn't sound as bad as she first thought when he'd brought it up.

~*~*~

Heading home after some time away always brought her down. But she was hungry and most of the time, there wasn't any other way for her to eat than to make herself go home and face Aunt Alice and Rick and beg for food.

Quietly walking up the stairs, she daydreamed of living elsewhere. Maybe with Sorrento, in his nice, big house or apartment or wherever the hell he lived —

Wade shook her head, shaking those ridiculous thoughts out of her. She was being silly. Like that would ever happen. It made her smile bittersweetly to herself. Sorrento was just interested for the moment, and would move along once he found something else to amuse him or once he got bored of her. It was just sex, she knew. Besides, he would never like or be interested in the real her at all. Wade in real life was nowhere near as pretty as her avatar was.

She entered her trailer, feeling miserable now, only to find herself being yanked forward and falling to the floor. A heavy weight was on her back as she felt whoever it was straddle her.

"Look...look who's finally back," she heard Rick slur.

"Get off me!" she croaked out, trying to wriggle away.

His hand gripped her hair, pulling her head up before slamming it against the floor, her face smacking against the hard surface. She screamed, instinctively lashing a hand out and hitting him, which led to him gripping that hand and twisting her arm behind her back. Rick dragged her up, and for being drunk, he was amazingly capable of functional movement.

While one arm kept her locked against him, the other moved to grip her hip, nails digging into her skin and she was sure some of them had pierced through and had made her bleed. She moved her head and then slammed it back, certain that she had hit his chin hard. It was enough to make him stumble back and lose his hold on her, and she was sure him being drunk helped with that. She ran like hell to her room, locking it just as he slammed against it.

"Fucking —! Open the door, you little bitch! Stupid whore! Open up! I'll fucking kill you if you don't open this goddamn door, you ungrateful brat!"

She bit back her crying, shaking her head and covering her ears as she fell to the floor and curled up. Seeing her window, she clumsily climbed to her feet and headed towards it, ignoring her pain as she opened the window and carefully sat on the ledge. Bringing her feet up, she slipped them out the window. She grasped onto the rope she'd tied outside of her window and then slowly began the climb down.

She wasn't going to stay there a moment longer. She'd rather starve for a while longer if it meant staying away.

Her feet hit the ground running and she blindly made her way to her special hiding spot. Without stopping, she hardly cared for the tears obscuring her sight and ran as fast as she could, her feet occasionally tripping over themselves or her running into things. Finding her half-demolished van, she entered it and closed the back doors behind her. She stopped and took several deep breaths, shaking and feeling pain.

Wade searched out her OASIS gear and put it on, logging back into the system. The OASIS was her safe place. It was her real home. She had nothing and no one in real life, but at least in the OASIS she had Aech and...and...Lacero.

Even in a twisted way, she even had Nolan Sorrento.

Once in the OASIS, she started walking and found herself heading towards the Halliday Archives. It was empty, as nowadays everyone had given up on it and assumed they had seen and studied everything they could in there. All that was left inside was the Curator, who stood behind his desk and watched her come in curiously.

"Oh, it's just you, Parzival," he said sarcastically. "What's the name for me today? Nathaniel? Gandalf? George?"

"Y-you look like a-a Edward," she said, smiling through her tears, even as she gasped that out through incoming sobs. When she fully started sobbing, the Curator walked over in alarm.

"Parzival?"

She brought her hands up and wiped her eyes continuously. She didn't normally cry in front of anyone, but she always made the exception for the Curator.

"S-sorry, Q," she cried. "I can't stop."

He pulled her close and embraced her, letting her cry into him. Through his usually neutral expression, it softened a bit as he held onto her.

Parzival had always been one of his favorite visitors.