94 Blush

"F-fat fill- I don't think that's what you should be worried about right now," Antonin stuttered.

Regan cocked her head in confusion, "Then what should I be worried about?"

"Um… how about the fact that YOU'RE STANDING IN FRONT OF A MAN HALF NAKED! WHAT HAPPENED TO DIGNITY??" Antonin scolded, his blush growing stronger by the second.

"Dignity?" Regan thought to herself and remembered the words Vixen told her, "it's not like you'd do something to me anyway so why should I be worried?"

"What are yo-" Antonin flinched, feeling the coldness from her words and the emptiness it held. 'That wasn't a joke was it?' he thought to himself, 'what type of girl-'

"You can stay like that until I'm done if you're that worried," Regan muttered.

"Hmm, I will," Antonin nodded immediately, keeping his head firmly turned away from Regan. "Tell me when you're done."

"Haha…ok, I will," Regan chuckled.

They sat in silence for a few moments, one that Regan treasured. It gave her time to think.

'What do I do now?' Regan thought to herself and she picked up the shirt from the cart and stared at its color. ' should I even do anything?'

She slipped the shirt over her head. 'I tried my best. I put away my thoughts, stopped calling myself pathetic, thought about something more positive, and tried to swim instead of drowning. But yet… because of one move, it's all brought crumbling down. All my efforts were wasted, and by the person whose words made me want to change.'

She pulled down the shirt and cringed at the way it hugged her body. It felt tight when she stood still, strangling her and when she moved, too free; like it could fall off her body at any moment.

It was just one day but her emotions had been thrown off their usual steam. She didn't even feel like talking, meanwhile Antonin was exactly the type of person she would have gotten along with. She could have talked for hours with him on topics they didn't even know, getting off-track, back on track, and then back off-track. He was her ideal closest friend and yet she felt like throwing him down a 10-story building. Even his chittering that she would have normally engaged in felt like scratching on a chalkboard. Unpleasant and annoying. 

'All for what?' Regan thought to herself. She was already discombobulated before but now she felt like her personality was switched with another's and the silence in her head was threatening. She wasn't able to believe it. 'After all the wor- haha… who am I kidding,' Regan chuckled in her mind, 'I didn't even do anything.' 

"Regan?' Antonin called out again, holding her head in his hand, "Hellooo? Earth to Regan."

Regan's eyes brightened up as she glanced up and ended up locking eyes with Antonin. 

"Are you ok?" Antonin asked, lifting her head up and turning it from side to side.

"I'm fine," Regan mumbled absentmindedly. Although she nodded, she hadn't realized what was happening yet and was still trying to comprehend why his face was so close to hers. 

"Are you sure?' Antonin muttered, looking down at her outfit. "Is it too big? Tight? Too hot? You looked dazed. Like you were about to collapse at any time."

"Did I?" Regan muttered, her eyes not breaking contact with Antonin's. 'Am I sick?' she thought to herself as she searched Antonin's eyes, looking for something she knew wasn't going to be there. It was there. 'Why… is he concerned?'

"Yes you did," Antonin nodded sympathetically. 'Does she not know how weak she looks? Her figure might be great and her face...stunning but it's pale and there are bags under her eyes. Those eyes-'

"I guess I am," Regan chuckled, her lips spreading into a genuine smile. 

"Ah…" Antonin flinched, a blush spreading on his chocolate face and he tried to look away but he was stuck on her emerald eyes.

"Hm," Regan smiled, her head turning sideways slightly in his hands and raised her eyebrows, "but… why are you so close? … Are you going to do something to me?" 

"Heh?" Antonin stuttered, blinking suddenly in surprise. "D-do something to you?" he muttered, his eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips momentarily. He jumped back immediately and covered his face in shame, "a-ah.. I'm so sorry."

"Hahaha," Regan burst into laughter, she hunched over giggled, "what are you doing? Haha, I was just teasing you. Hehe, you're fine."

Antonin squatted and buried his face completely in his hands and then placed them on his knee. "N-no I'm not… I'm sorry, forgive me."

Regan's fit of laughter came to a stop when she saw Antonin's troubled pose. "I said I did though? It was just a joke?" 

Antonin looked up at Regan shyly and then looked back down, groaning, "it might have been, but I wavered."

"Ok…? And? That was the purpose haha," Regan chuckled, walking over to her couch and taking a seat in front of her table. 

Antonin stopped whining and looked up at Regan again, before looking away with more shame displayed on his face than before. "I knowww but what am I going to do what Vixen finds out..?"

"Huh?" Regan stopped her fork in the middle of its flight into her mouth. "Vixen?"

"If he finds out that I touched his possession, then what will I do?" Antonin groaned, raising his hand to his head and scratching wildly.

"Possession?" Regan scoffed, as she shoved the fork full of spaghetti into her mouth "I ain't no one's possession. Definitely not his too."

"Huh? You guys… aren't a thing?" Antonin muttered, his head poking out of his knee slowly.

Regan coughed, almost choking on her spaghetti from Antonin's question. She glared at Antonin like she had been offended, "HELL NO!! I don't even like him in the slightest, at most he annoys the fuck out of me." 

"Oh…" Antonin muttered absentmindedly as he handed Regan a tissue to wipe her mouth. 

Regan wiped her mouth and looked up at Antonin curiously. "Where did you even get that from?" 

"Oh…" Antonin blushed, his hand reaching to touch his neck again. His voice dropped to a whisper, "when you started to get undressed."

Regan looked up from her bowl of spaghetti, her freshly wiped lips already stained with sauce. "What was that?" she asked, leaning in closer to Antonin.

"When you got undressed," Antonin muttered, his voice rising bit a half-step.

"Huh???" Regan leaned in closer, having still not heard what he said. 

Antonin gripped the hems of his shirt, gathering up courage. Finally, he yelled, "WHEN YOU STARTED GETTING UNDRESSED IN FRONT OF ME!! I THOUGHT IT WAS A HABIT CAUSED BY A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH VIXEN IN WHICH… UM.. WELL IN WHICH YOU COULD FREELY UNDRESS YOURSELF BEFORE HIM!!!" his words ran past quickly despite the fact that they were yelled. 

Finally, when he was done, his shoulders slumped like a weight had been lifted off them and he let out a deep breath and looked up at the flabbergasted Regan, "right?"

Regan blinked, her body leaning away from Antonin protectively when he yelled. His fast words running through her head once again before she slowly got out of her guarded pose and stared at Antonin blankly. Her shoulder trembled, then from the pits of her belly, she let out a guffaw, her hands numbing and tears quickly filling her eyes. 

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," She laughed, her fists slamming into the table repeatedly as she giggled hysterically.

Antonin simply stared, completely confused but hypnotized by her smile. He was still staring when her loud laugh reduced to a chortle. 

She looked up at him, brushing away the tears in her eyes, and her lips spread into another smile. "You're so innocent," she grinned.

Antonin flinched, another idea forming in his mind. "Innocence…?" he murmured for a second before his cheeks turned bright red. "If you aren't dating then...OmG.. so..you guys...are like that?" he stuttered.

Regan shivered, an image popping into her mind, "Never. NEVER." 

Antonin let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure how he was going to face Vixen if that was how it was between them. "Hmm.. ok then. Are you guys in a flirting sta-"

"Nono, stop it," Regan sighed, her hands running through her hair, "Stop thinking about it so personally cuz… ugh. No. He'd suffocate me."

"Ahh…" Antonin chuckled, nervously touching his neck again, "I was really far off there, huh?"

"Of course!" Regan huffed, turning back to her spaghetti.

Another question popped up in his mind and he turned to Regan, catching her attention. Regan locked eyes with him for a second ad looked away with a groan, she knew what that gaze meant.

"What is itttt?" Regan asked, her words dragged out by annoyance and the fact that she had a mouthful of spaghetti in her mouth. 

Antonin grinned, happy Regan figured it out without him asking. "If that's not the reason why.. Then why do you get undressed in front of him?" 

"Because he doesn't care."