She goes home, and reads over her notes, and thinks of a few more things to say, and waits.

And so John goes home, and says hello to his parents (and tells them he'll be back out later to see Rosy, and they're clearly assuming he's doing homework first which he feels, bad about... but it's probably fine) and goes up to his room to read. 

It turns out he had counted wrong and missed the chapter he was on so there are five chapters to get through, not four. But with some skimming speeding him up (and some jerking off slowing him down) he does manage to get to the end in a couple hours. Or well, "end", since apparently the story isn't finished yet and the last update was a while ago, which he hadn't expected, though he supposes it's far enough along for there not need to be any more. (He does want there to be more.) 

He messages Rosy. 

I've finished! And I'd be happy to talk it over with you. I'll head over to you now, if you're still up for it?

Happy isn't exactly accurate, since he's still not sure how he feels about the whole thing, but it is the right word to use here. So he sends it, and goes to get ready to head to the Blake Mansion (which he apparently can visit now).

I'll meet you at the edge of the woods! ✨

And so that's where he heads! 

When he arrives, is she there by then, or does he need to wait? 

She is there and twirling delightedly. She waves.

(Twirling? She's stupidly cute, help.)

He waves back and bikes over to her. 

"Hi! How did you like the story? I guess that's actually a conversation we should save for my bedroom."

She zooms off up the road, her skates sparkling.

"...yeah it might be a better idea to wait to have it somewhere in private." He's not sure how he's going to feel about talking about it in private even. But he's going to try! "I was surprised it wasn't actually finished yet, I didn't fully realize that was a thing." 

He follows behind, pedaling to keep up with her and no faster. 

"Oh, right. Yes, most fanfiction and fanfiction-style stories are unfinished. I want to say 'especially the good ones' but I don't actually think that's true, it just feels that way."

"That's... pretty unfortunate honestly. It's like a canceled season of a tv show or something! Possibly we'll still get updates to this one? I hope so." 

"I hope so too."

She's skating much faster than she did yesterday, probably because she has a goal in mind. It's starting to leave her a little out of breath, though.

He's perfectly capable of keeping up! Also it's cute when she exerts herself. (He might find a lot of the things she does attractive, now? Is this what being in love is like? He's not sure and not sure he knows how to deal with the concept of being in love here.) 

When they reach the house, she does a neat little half-twirl up to the front step, sits down, and in record time has her skates off and slung over her arm by their tied laces. By this point John is hopefully off his bike and she can lead him inside and scamper up to her room without even bothering to take off her helmet or knee and elbow pads.

He is and she can and also he's enamored. Enamored and endeared? She's very cute. 

Up in her room with the door closed behind her, she plonks the skates down and sits on the floor to take off her various safety equipment, and then she's sitting on the floor leaning back on her hands and beaming up at him excitedly.

She's very cute! John has plopped onto the (familiar) bed while waiting. And the way she looks at him makes him smile happily and blush at the same time. "Hi," he says, grinning. (He really likes the way she looks at him and it might be making it difficult for him to think of sensible things to say.) 

"You're so cute. Okay. So do you want to read through my notes, or tell me what you thought first? I might want to hear what you thought first because I am insatiably interested in everything you have to say."

"I could tell you what I thought of it?" he says, with some uncertainty. Can he do that? "I um. I liked it?" He did it's true. Possibly something with more substance this time. "I definitely can see the um, similarity to our current situation? She's offering herself up to him in a very... similar way. I mean, you're not putting yourself in a box and brainwashing yourself, but you are presenting yourself as um, potential property? Kinda?" Was that the right word to use? Maybe that was a bad word to use. He blanches a little, she doesn't seem to think it was a bad word to use from her face but maybe he's wrong about that. 

"Yes, there are definitely a lot of parallels! One of the things I went into in my notes is how I feel like she's treating him kind of poorly, about that? Because - it did turn out that he wanted her, but can you imagine if I'd actually managed to deliver myself to you in a box, even if I'd done it completely privately with no chance of anyone noticing before you'd unboxed me? It would've been terrifying, right, to have to decide with no chance to back out, and your only choice being whether you'd own me yourself or pass me off to someone else to be their brainwashed slave instead?"

"I... would not have responded as well as Kaida did, no," he says. "I would have freaked out quite a bit." What would he have done? Would he have fucked her and then possibly felt guilty about it? Something else? He's not certain. He probably wouldn't have, right? It would be wrong. He probably would regret not doing it too... "I would have had a hard time, yeah," he says.

She scoots across the floor and leans her head on his knee.

"See, it's really important to me not to force you into that choice. I want you to have me only if you want to have me."

"...I appreciate that," he says. And then shifts as best he can to not disturb her and also cover his crotch with his free leg. (He might not have entirely succeeded.) It's not just not the head on the knee (which is affectionate and cute) but also the concept of him wanting her that's doing that. (And he does want her. Or at least to try it. He does want to try it, though. Possibly now is a good time to bring that up?) "I am a bit freaked out by the concept enough already." 

"I know." She hugs his leg and gives his knee an affectionate nuzzle. "You don't have to claim me until you're ready and you don't have to be ready. I want you to but—I want too much and I know this."

He should say something he should say something he should say something "you said something about how this weekend is the best time to do it, comparatively? Since it's a full moon? Or something like that?" Okay he said something. 

"Mhm! But we can always wait until the next full moon if you'd rather. Or do it in between. Like I said, I've done all the calculations."