Oh no, not again.

You’re too patient, too kind, too understanding.

What is wrong with you? You're the first to concern yourself with finding solutions to her broken comedy mask and truly persist, you've never once uttered an insult her way, you joke around with her like she's a real person, and you don't think she's an actual loser. Maybe you're heaven-sent (normal), or maybe the bar's just in hell.

It's like she's transported back to high school as the awkward, sensitive, nerdy girl she used to be (and still is). The one who stumbled around crushes and frequently lost her voice.

She wants to get closer to you, of course, she does. But it's not very obvious with the way she almost avoids you like the plague. You look in her direction to find her already sneaking small glances between you and her sketchbook, thinking she's being slick, and she immediately finds a new subject, playing it off with wide eyes and tense ribbons.

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She freezes up when you approach her, but pushes herself to hold a conversation. It's full of awkward apologies as she scrambles to find the right words, and your pleasant reassurance. She only falls deeper, and it feels like the world is ending.

She almost feels guilty for liking you, because, truthfully, having a crush feels nice. She likes you a lot; she can't deny it. Gangle, who somehow finds a way to screw up every adventure and annoys everyone with her whiny voice, has taken an interest in you, the patient saint you are. Sometimes she wishes it'd just go away so that she doesn't need to worry about risking your entire friendship with some silly slip-up.

Her instinct is to feel nervous and tense as if she might slip up at any moment, but you make her feel safe, assured, confident— all the things that made her fall so in love— and with time, she slowly allows herself to relax around you again. And it feels good.

Not eager about confessing. She wants to, but she fears rejection and ridicule. Not necessarily from you, but from Jax. He sucks. She doesn't want you to see her in a different light— what you have already is more than enough, more than she feels she deserves. She holds out for a very long time, instead choosing to hang out with you like nothing is out of the ordinary, or as close to ordinary as you can achieve.

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Eventually, she does let it slip, during a wacky adventure assigned by Caine that leaves both of you running for your lives. You, of course, bravely pulled her along with you to safety, and in the heat of the moment, she spilled her guts to you in the form of a winded rant, clutching the pieces of a broken comedy mask in each quivering hand.

At first, she's stunned at both her audacity and bravery to suddenly share her feelings, already angry at herself for making such a stupid decision. But when you set a gentle hand on her ribbon arm and tug her slightly closer with that warm smile, it melts into relief, joy. She's unsure if she should hug you, if she can. She wants to, but would you like that? She doesn't have much time to question herself, because you've already gone and alleviated her doubts, enveloping her in a ginger embrace so as to not get all tangled up in her ribbons.

At least you can say the adventure ended on a positive note for both of you. The others weren't so lucky, with disheveled hair and missing limbs. Of course, you were the target for plenty of comments from Jax, but they don't hit quite as hard when you have a gentle, loving grasp on one of her ribbon hands.

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As a partner, she's just as timid and gentle as she was prior, but she allows herself to feel fully at peace with you, without the worries of adventures or future taunting she'll have to face outside of your bedroom.

She's brimming with insecurity surrounding her digital body and irregular emotions; something about it all makes her feel less than human, and more like some unpredictable thing that others look down on. It can be difficult to console her, but your presence alone does a great deal to calm her nerves.