Slowly (A Brawl Stars Fanfic)

A Bit Confusing

"SHE WHAT?" Shelly roared at him. Pfft, I'm not jealous... am I?

Colt winced and nodded in confirmation. "That was what she said."

"Wait, so she just told you she loves you, out of the blue?" Shelly probed.

"Eh, well I kinda saved her, like, three times." Colt wasn't meeting Shelly's eyes.

Shelly crossed her arms and tapped her foot, thinking for a moment. Should I try to crash this, help it along, or leave it be?

Eh, I choose help it. She decided. Since she wasn't jealous.

"Okay." Shelly said simply.

"Okay? That's it? Shelly, I need help. I don't know what to do!" Colt pressed his temples. "I don't know her that well or like her all that much."

"First things first, let's move away from the respawn platform that Piper could appear on at any moment." Shelly lead Colt to the edge of the crowd.

"Okay, so how will you approach it?" She asked.

"Uh, I guess I'll, um, get to know her first before I either let her down or date her." Colt said unsure of himself. Like he was ashamed to say this in front of Shelly.

"Hmm, on the right track." Shelly nodded. "Now tell me, how exactly did you save her three times?"

"Well, Gene tried to pull her in as he did you, but I jumped in the way and knocked him out. Then Mom-"

"Wait, didn't you say Pam had already been killed?" Shelly interrupted for a fact check.

"Yeah, well I got that wrong. Anyway, Mom almost got Piper with those dreaded screws but I shoved her out of the way. The last time was a couple minutes ago, the death of me, when we all forgot Gene's unconscious body. Turns out he wasn't unconscious." Colt winced, probably remembering some awful way he died.

"Oof." Shelly sympathized.

Just then, Piper, Pam, and Gene spawned on the platform. Pam and Gene appeared a second before Piper, which meant Piper won.

Rosa came through the crowd and gave Piper a hug. A lovely, thorny hug. Piper squirmed away with a tight smile.

Shelly glanced over at Colt, who was looking at Piper with new light in his eyes. And Shelly hated it.

~

At the Bar, the hangout spot for every brawler, almost everyone was gathered.

"Way to go!"
"Good job!"
"Nice work!"

Many people were saying to Piper.

Shelly was envious of the praise, or maybe it was just because Piper was getting it. Shelly hated her all of a sudden. I don't know why, or maybe I do- NOPE YOU DON'T SHUT UP STUPID THOUGHTS.

Colt sat down beside Shelly, as he always did, though this time, it was different. He sat a bit farther away, though not too much farther. Shelly decided to ignore it and pivoted to see who was watching her. (Instinct.) It was Tara. No surprise there.

The oracle/assassin/witch was watching Shelly from the bar, sipping tea, as though that was threatening. Her eye spoke 'next time.'

Shelly forced a smile and turned around. "Tara, 6 o' clock. Be careful." She whispered sideways to Colt, who looked back.

"Noted." He said softly.

~

Dusk faded to twilight and twilight faded to night, all the while the brawlers sat around chatting. Almost everyone was awake, except the youths Nita, Leon, and Jessie.

Shelly twiddled her thumbs and took a sip of root beer. She wasn't in the mood for adult drinks tonight.

Everyone was discussing today's events, sharing stories of who they kille- erm, defeated and how. The victims of the storyteller shared their perspective of that story, surprisingly not getting mad or anything. "It's all part of the fun." They said.

Shelly idly listened to Bull nearby prattling on about how easy it was to take down Carl. She agreed that it was easy, but winced on behalf of the robot child conversing with Rico.

She turned her attention to that conversation, and was shocked to hear what she did.

"I, I like her, Carl. I don't know what to do."

"Aw come on man, you'll get Piper if you work hard enough."

"Maybe, but I heard a rumor that she likes Colt."

"Well I think Colt likes Shelly, so I dunno."

Shelly scrunched her nose, trying not to blush.

Anyway, what shall I do with this tasty bit of information? Mwah ha ha ha ha... Her brain said evilly, as if brains could do that.

Spread rumors, leave it be, or ruin everything?

~

Later that night, Shelly lay face down on her pillow. "Ughhhhhhh this is so confusinggggg, ewwwwwww feelinggsss." She thought about all the he-likes-her-she-likes-him nonsense she'd seen today.

Rico x Piper vs. Colt x Piper. Who am I rooting for? The first one, of course- oh, ahem, I meant the second one.

"Arghhhhhh." Shelly made an attempt to fall asleep, but that was long time coming.

~

The next morning, Shelly woke up with back pains. "You got to be kidding me. I'm not even, like, old or anything!"

She hissed all the way down the hallway. "Or maybe it was the position I slept in. A bit wonky, yes?" She said to herself and pulled the box of croissants she'd bought off the top of the fridge. Since they were modestly small, Shelly ate three.

Afterwards, she headed to the Bar, like everyday. As she came in the entrance, it was quieter than usual. Shelly looked around to see Carl, Rico, Bull, Piper, Tara, and El Primo sitting about.

In the corner, Carl and Rico were arguing, which was mildly surprising considering they'd been best buds last night. Piper sat not to far from them, eavesdropping rather inconspicuously.

Shelly took a seat not too far away and pulled out her phone. She wanted to take a picture of any priceless expressions just in case Piper overheard them saying anything about her. Hehehe...