The name on Juniper’s screen caught Alice’s attention instantly: Chie.

  Juniper exhaled hard through her nose before swiping to answer. "What." Her tone was flat as hell.

  "Hey Jun-Jun~!" came a chipper voice from the other end of the line, so upbeat it physically pained Juniper to listen for more than two seconds straight.

  "...Don't call me that," she muttered under breath.

  Alice raised an eyebrow slightly as Chie kept speaking:

  "You sound mad. Didja two finally seal the deal yet? You owe me twenty bucks if you did!"

  Juniper froze mid-glare toward Alice (who went stiff beneath said glare). "...Excuse me?"

  "Oops!" Chie giggled over the speakerphone loud enough for both women to hear clearly now: "Guess I wasn't supposed to say anything huh?"

  A beat passed where even birds outside stopped chirping out of the sheer awkwardness radiating off the entire situation until…

  Juniper saw the moment Alice's expression shifted from flustered humiliation to something colder, something unreadable.

  And when that name, Pride, left Chie’s lips? Oh, Juniper knew. The way Alice had gone completely still beneath her, no more squirming, no more protesting. Just…silence.

  That single word alone changed everything in an instant.

  "Chie," Juniper said sharply into the phone before she could continue rambling about 'kicking Sin bootay.' "I'm caking."

  "You ain't gonna be caking when Pride kills ya~" Chie shot back with a sly giggle.

  "Oh, shut your trap, Chie." Juniper snapped irritably. "I'm handling it."

  There was a scoff on the other end, along with another one of Chie's annoying giggles.

  "Yeah, 'handling it' my ass.”

  "...What's that supposed to mean?"

  Juniper's voice was low, and dangerously flat. Her grip on her phone was white-knuckled as Chie's obnoxious chuckling rang through the speaker.

  She could only imagine that the girl on the other end of the phone was lounging around with that stupid smirk on her face. And it took every fiber of her being not to snap the damn thing in two.

  And then, almost as if Chie could hear Juniper's irritation through the phone, she suddenly went quiet.

  Finally.

  Except the silence wasn't much better, because it left Juniper's thoughts to roam freely in her head.

  Chie, still silent, was probably enjoying herself, waiting to see how long it took Juniper to break the silence first.

  Damn brat...

  She sat there for what felt like an eternity, before her temper got the best of her.

  "For the love of the Goddess. Say something.”

  There was another, very deliberate, moment of silence, accompanied by Chie's quiet, knowing laughter, like she was trying to stifle her snickers through the phone.

  "Aww, is the Jun-Jun getting all impatient?" she drawled sarcastically.

  There was that stupid nickname again. Juniper gritted her teeth, biting back a snarl.

  "Stop calling me that—”

  But Chie just ignored her, talking right over her.

  "Calm your panties, girl. I'm just messing with ya."

  Juniper felt her eye twitch.

  "I swear if you don't stop—"

  Chie cut her off mid-sentence. "I know where Pride is, alright?" she said abruptly, her tone turning from cheerful to all business-like within seconds.

  Finally. The one thing Juniper actually wanted to know. "Where.”

  Juniper's fingers tightened around her phone, the plastic casing creaking under the pressure.

  "Where." she repeated, this time in a tone that left no room for jokes.

  Chie let out an exaggerated sigh, but finally stopped being a pain in Juniper’s ass and answered. "Alright, alright! Heard rumors he's been lurking around Elysium lately, y'know, that high-end shopping district? Fancy-ass place with all those overpriced designer stores?" She paused just to be annoying again. "Anyways~ If I were you two dumbasses? I'd go check it out."

  And then, without warning, the call ended abruptly as Chie hung up on her.

  “...Bitch.”

  Juniper exhaled sharply, shoving her phone into her pocket with a growl.

  Of course Chie would drop that bomb and then just, hang up. Like the little gremlin she was.

  But Elysium? That was…a problem. A big one. Because if Pride really was there right now? Then this whole mission just got ten times more complicated.

  Alice hadn't moved an inch beneath Juniper since the call started, still frozen in place, still avoiding eye contact after hearing Pride's name leave Chie's lips like it was nothing.

  Juniper gritted her teeth again before finally looking down at Alice properly for the first time since they’d stopped wrestling over earlier nonsense...

  "...We gotta go tomorrow." Her voice came out rougher than intended.

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  Alice's eyes flickered up to meet Juniper's for a split-second before instantly shifting to stare at the wall.

  The moment was quick, but it was definitely there.

  She let out a low breath before looking away, staying absolutely still. The sudden change in Juniper's mood...it was almost frightening, if Alice was being honest with herself.

  "Tomorrow," she agreed quietly. "We'll...go tomorrow.”

  Juniper's gaze lingered on Alice for a moment longer, taking in the way she pointedly refused to meet her eyes.

  Her annoyance from the call had vanished, replaced with a strange sense of unease, not entirely about the mission, either.

  She clenched her jaw, hating how...awkward things suddenly felt.

  This wasn't how it was supposed to go. They were in the middle of something before Chie called, and then...now? Now it just felt like there was a damn invisible wall between them. Dammit.

  This was...uncomfortable.

  Juniper was used to having Alice's full attention, being able to tease the other girl and get her flustered with just a few choice words and touches.

  And now? Now the same girl was avoiding her gaze like a plague.

  She let out a slow, frustrated breath before finally speaking again, hoping to break through the sudden tension between them.

  "Look, Alice..." she started, voice softer, more hesitant this time. "Can you-can you look at me for two seconds? Please?”

  Alice's eyes, still stubbornly fixated on the wall, flickered back to Juniper for a brief moment.

  Just like before, the eye contact only lasted a few seconds before she glanced away again, shifting awkwardly in place.

  Juniper felt like banging her head against a rock.

  "I just..." She stopped herself abruptly, running a hand through her hair and sighing. "...Can you say something? Anything. God, you're being quiet. It's freaking me out.”

  That, at the very least, got Alice to glance back in Juniper's direction. She looked confused, tilting her head just slightly to indicate she was listening.

  That was something, at least.

  Juniper let out a quiet huff, dropping her hand and crossing her arms over her chest. She felt more than a little frustrated with the whole "not looking at each other" thing right now.

  "I just don't get why you're acting all weird and quiet now," she muttered out, voice edged with irritation. "Like you're avoiding me.”

  The words came out a bit sharper than intended, and Juniper hated herself for it instantly.

  She hadn't meant to sound accusatory, exactly, just confused. But the second the sentence left her mouth, it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

  And Alice's reaction didn't make it any better.

  She winced visibly, almost like she'd been slapped, and something like hurt flashed in her eyes.

  Juniper mentally cursed again.

  "Alice," she said quietly, gentler this time. "I didn't...that's not what I meant.”

  Alice's jaw visibly tensed the second Juniper spoke, and the hurt look in her eyes hardened ever-so-slightly.

  She was definitely hurt by Juniper's words, and that little wince...damn.

  Juniper felt that in her gut, and it twisted sickeningly.

  She tried again, forcing her voice to soften even further.

  "I just...I didn't mean it like that. You being all quiet and avoiding me...after being such a flustered mess before Chie called?"

  She hesitated, searching for the right words. "It's...it's strange.”

  That much was true. Seeing Alice, the same girl who'd been an absolute adorable, flustered mess with her a few minutes ago, go from that to this? Quiet, tense...avoiding eye contact like she'd done something wrong, it all felt wrong.

  Hell, Juniper missed seeing Alice so flustered.

  That thought sent a strange shockwave through Juniper, and she mentally cursed herself again.

  She'd gotten used to Alice blushing and stuttering and squirming, damn it. To have the tables turn was like a cold bucket of water in the face.

  She wasn't used to it.

  And the fact that Chie was the reason for the sudden change only made her annoyance flare up again.

  "...You went from, like, a red mess who could barely look at me without stuttering, to this. What the hell happened?”

  The more she thought about it, the more it bothered her.

  Seeing Alice so flustered with just a few touches and words from her before, only for everything to switch as soon as Chie called and just- ugh.

  It was like a switch had been flipped, and it pissed Juniper off.

  Alice muttered a simple, "Sorry."

  Juniper's eyes narrowed the second Alice tried to brush it off with a weak excuse.

  "Sorry?" she repeated, voice laced with disbelief. "You're just, what? Gonna sit there and act like you didn't go from this, " She gestured wildly at the mess of flustered reactions she had been getting out of Alice earlier, "to this. In two damn seconds."

  She scowled deeply now.

  "No way in hell am I letting that slide.”

  Alice stiffened, her eyes widening the smallest fraction as Juniper's irritation became more and more apparent.

  But, again, it was the truth. Seeing Alice go from a blushing, stuttering mess with a few touches from her...to this, quiet, avoiding-eye-contact girl,

  Nope. Not happening.

  She missed having Alice a flustered mess with her.

  "Explain," Juniper snapped, her eyes boring into Alice. "Now.”

  Alice's throat bobbed at the icy tone in Juniper's voice, and she swallowed visibly.

  In all honesty, she looked like she was afraid Juniper might slap her at any second, something that definitely wasn't helping with the growing irritation in Juniper's chest.

  She didn't want Alice to look afraid.

  The second the thought hit her, Juniper winced. The hell was going on with her right now? Why did that bother her so much?

  She shook the thought away, focusing on Alice instead.

  There was a moment of deafening silence, where the only sounds were the faint ticking of the clock on the wall and Alice's slightly shaky breaths.

  Juniper could all-but feel the girl's tension, like a coiled spring waiting to go off at any second.

  The fact that she was acting so scared of her only made Juniper's temper flare.

  She gritted her teeth, trying to keep her temper in check.

  "Alice."

  The word came out as more of a growl this time.

  Alice tensed even further, flinching slightly at Juniper's rough-sounding growl.

  And there it was, the thing Juniper hated seeing.

  The look in Alice's eyes as Juniper's voice sounded harsher than intended, the way Alice winced like she was afraid Juniper would lunge at her.

  Juniper's temper flared even further, because that look pissed her off.

  Alice was afraid of her, and that felt wrong.

  She wanted to yell, wanted to grab Alice by the shoulders and shake her hard, or do something stupid like pin her back to the wall and just…

  God, what was wrong with her right now? She was getting way too worked up over this.

  Clenching her fists at her sides, Juniper forced herself to speak again, trying to keep her tone from sounding sharp this time.

  "Stop bein’ so goddamn scared of me all of a sudden," she snapped, frustration bleeding through.

  Alice finally looked at Juniper, really looked at her.

  And for a split second, something flickered in Alice's expression, something between guilt and anger.

  But it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced with the same guarded quiet from before.

  Juniper felt like she’d been punched in the gut when Alice muttered that tiny "Okay." So small, so defeated. Like Juniper had just crushed whatever little bravery was left in her to speak up.

  The silence stretched on again after that single word slipped out of Alice’s mouth.

  Juniper couldn't take it anymore.

  With a frustrated groan, she suddenly grabbed onto one of the nearby couch cushions and hurled it across the room with an angry yell: "FUCK!”

  Alice jumped at the sudden outburst, her entire body flinching hard enough that Juniper could practically see the other girl's pulse hammering in her throat.

  For a second, just one second, Juniper felt something ugly twist inside of her chest when she saw how terrified Alice looked right now.

  But then anger flared back up like wildfire, and all she wanted to do was shake some sense into this stupidly quiet girl who refused to just talk for once!

  "You're acting like I'm about to hit you!" Juniper hissed through gritted teeth, voice sharp as glass. "What is your problem?!"

  Alice stayed frozen in place behind clenched hands.

  Juniper didn't know if it was from fear or something else entirely...but seeing that reaction only made everything ten times worse.

  And then, without warning, a plain wooden door suddenly appeared in the middle of the luxurious room.

  Tenzing stood there mid-yawn with an eyebrow raised at them both before deadpanning:

  "...What's happening?”