It turned out to be the howling of a dog

“You’re not serious.” Gina shook her head, staring at Nick in confusion when they arrived at their next location for their date. “Look- karaoke, I get it. I love singing so it’s a good fit, a good choice for a date.” And it had really helped Gina’s feeling of loss; she didn’t realize until she’d taken part, just how wonderful it felt to know she could still sing.

But this…

“What? You don’t like it?” Nick gestured to the room in front of them. They had left the Shopping District now, and had returned to the hotel. Nick had enlisted Nola’s help to find this room, and he looked at Gina with a genuine expression on his face; this really WAS his intention.

Much to her confusion.

Gina stammered and shook her head. “It’s just… w-well…” She didn’t quite know how to describe how she felt about what she was looking at. “…Don’t you think we’re a little old for this kind of thing? I mean, seriously?”

The room in front of them looked like something out of a theme park. LEGO Land. Because… that’s basically what it was.

Everywhere Gina looked she saw colorful bricks in wide tubs. Spotless tiles of marble glistened across the floor, reflecting the color of the LEGO bricks off them. The floor was possibly the only part of the room that WASN’T made out of LEGOs. Everything else, every table, every chair, from the lamps to the door, to the shelves themselves- it was all made with those colorful bricks.

Gina had no idea what Nick was even proposing with this.

“You didn’t play with LEGOs when you were a kid?” He asked her, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

Gina’s mouth fell open and she shook her head. “No!” She protested. “I was busy doing shit like having sex and going to parties.”

“No, I mean before that,” Nick said, carefully trying to maneuver through that topic given the sensitivity of it.

“…Oh.” Gina’s cheeks turned pinked. “W-well… I guess… not really, no,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s just… it wasn’t my thing, that’s all. I wasn’t really much of a builder. …Is that why you brought me here? You thought I was some huge LEGO fan when I was little or something.”

Nick nodded contemplatively. Actually, he wasn’t surprised at all to hear that about Gina. Even back when they were little he didn’t get that vibe from her. She’d been one of those girls who his little kid brain would have probably thought was too “girly” to play with a “boy’s toy” like LEGOs- whereas Dakota had always loved them.

But today wasn’t about Dakota.

“I thought it would be fun,” he said sincerely.

Gina flinched a little when she saw that look in his eye. He wasn’t messing with her, he really DID want to share this with her. He was serious, then? How was she supposed to react to that?

“…Is this really your idea of a date?” She muttered to herself, shaking her head. “Nick, I think you should get your head examined, if I’m being honest.”

Nick burst out laughing. He couldn’t help himself.

“What!?” Gina’s face turned red. “What’s so funny?” Gina was usually a pretty lax person. Most of the time. But she’d put a lot of effort into looking nice today, and she didn’t want that effort to go to waste. “I’m just saying, this doesn’t exactly feel like the sort of date I was promised!”

“Oh, really?” Nick leaned forward. “Why not?”

Gina flinched. “W-well… it… it just doesn’t,” she said, playing with the ribbon wrapped around her neck, straightening it. “You said we’d have a sincere date, right? And, well… this doesn’t exactly feel date-like, if you ask me. It feels more like… just hanging out.”

When Nick had promised her that he’d treat her to a real, genuine date, she’d been nervous and apprehensive for obvious reasons. But she’d gone along with it, because she believed that he meant what he said when he said he wanted to go out with her.

But… there were expectations there, right? Dressing up nice, doing something fancy and romantic together… wasn’t that what a date was supposed to be like? Sure, karaoke had been fun, but it had felt like two friends just hanging out together.

And now he wanted to play with LEGOs? What, were they little kids or something?

“…It feels like a weird choice to me,” Gina said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Like, I’m not even a LEGO kind of gal! So why?”

That was the part she didn’t understand. What about her made Nick think that she’d enjoy something like this?

But the way he was looking at her…

“Gina, I think you might actually enjoy playing with LEGOs,” Nick said sincerely. “If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have taken you here in the first place.”

Gina pouted. “So you know me better than I know myself, huh?” She’d meant it as a teasing barb, but it came out with a lot more venom than she’d anticipated. She winced when she heard her voice like that. “Err… look, I didn’t mean it that way…”

Nick shook his head. “No, it’s fine,” he assured her. “Really.”

Gina bit her lip. She wasn’t so sure.

“Nick…”

“A date doesn’t have to be some big romantic thing,” Nick pointed out. Especially not when it was only for the morning. “Today, I decided- I wanted to crush your assumptions about what you deserve and you don’t deserve, Gina.”

She perked up, surprised and slightly intrigued by his proposition. “R-really?”

Nick nodded. “Before we were… lovers… we were friends,” he reminded her. “But even when we played together, it was always at camp. And I’ll admit- I don’t know how you used to play back when you were a little girl, either. Like, did you have dolls?”

“…No…” Gina fidgeted awkwardly. Thinking back on her childhood wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience for her, given how things had turned out. “Look, Nick-”

“Just humor me?” He was almost begging her at this point. “I really think that we can have fun together, Gina, if you just humor me. Alright?”

She bit her lip and looked doubtfully at him. She understood what he was trying to do here, but even so, she still…

“…I don’t like LEGOs, though,” she said quietly.

“Did you ever try them?” Nick asked her, doubting that Gina had ever really given them a fair shot, no matter what she said.

Pausing, Gina shook her head. “It just seemed boring,” she mumbled. “I’m not… the kind of girl that builds stuff, you know? I’m more the kind of girl who gets drunk, falls over, and crushes something that took two whole days to build!”

A laugh escaped Nick’s lips before he could stop himself. Gina’s face lit up and she glared at him. “H-hey! What’s so funny, huh!?” She demanded.

“Sorry, sorry!” Nick held up his hands and shook his head. “I didn’t, that… you’ve gotta admit, Gina, that’s a pretty hilarious mental image.”

Gina was blushing furiously. But slowly her expression relaxed and she gave Nick an awkward, almost sheepish smile. “Well… maybe a little bit,” she conceded with a nod.

The two shared another giggle. But it was Nick who turned serious first. He looked her in the eyes and she straightened up, feeling the pressure of his gaze.

“Gina, I think you’re wrong,” he said, earning himself an uncomfortable look from the punk girl.

“What… what do you mean?” Gina shifted awkwardly again, tearing her eyes away from his. The way he was staring at her, it was just so overwhelming. She couldn’t really help herself.

Nick was still staring though, even though she wasn’t looking at him.

“I think you’re more creative than you give yourself credit for,” he said, reaching out and taking her by the hand. “Remember the beach party, when we had that sandcastle competition?”

“And Ella fell on our sandcastle and pancaked it with her cheeks?” Gina turned back to him, pressing her lips together in a wry grin. “Gee, how could I forget?”

Nick blushed, remembering the awkwardness from that little exchange. “Well, that’s the thing, you were pretty chill about that, if memory serves. Helped calm her down.”

“Well, what else could I do?” Gina played with her bangs. “Girl was freaking out! I thought she’d burst into tears if I didn’t defuse the situation, so…”

She shrugged.

“I know,” Nick nodded. “And that was really great of you, Gina! You thought fast on your feet and you rebranded it as some post-apocalyptic punk castle, and I thought that was a great idea! Making it so that Ella’s little accident was actually part of the design! See? That’s pretty creative right there!”

“Eh… I mean, I guess so?” Gina could see where he was coming from, but that didn’t mean she agreed with him. It still seemed like way more trouble and awkwardness than it was worth. “You really think I’d enjoy… playing with LEGOs? Because I really doubt it.”

Nick reached out and took Gina by the hand. “I don’t think you take many chances to actually build things,” he said. After all, she had the impression that all she was good for was destroying them, and Nick couldn’t agree with that. “How about you give it a try at least? Try and make something for real? You might even find out that you like it!”

Gina bit her lip, uncertain. “Well…”

Nick took back his hand. “Hey, if Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin can figure out that she likes pottery, then anything is possible!” He said, remembering his date with the sly assassin. He never would have imagined in a million years that she would enjoy something like that, but she had. And if that was the case, maybe Gina would genuinely enjoy this.

It was worth a try. He really wanted to show her that she could be creative and build something- that she didn’t just have to be a girl who tore things down due to her own doubts and insecurities.

Gina chewed nervously on her lip, considering what Nick was saying for the first time. “…I… …Okay, I guess you’ve got a point,” she said finally, nodding. “If that’s really what you think, Nick, then yeah- I guess I could try.”

She didn’t know if she would actually like it or not. It seemed kind of crazy. Heck- LEGOs? They were for little kids!

But Nick clearly wasn’t half-assing today. He was really putting all of his effort into it. He WANTED to make today a good day.

Gina… she could try her best for his sake, couldn’t she?

Just this once?

“Oh man, look at this thing!” Gina’s eyes shined with excitement as she put the finishing touches on the wicked castle that she’d built. She’d scoured every bin for as many black bricks as she could find, stockpiling them together in a little hoard on the table, and then started building with them.

It wasn’t coming out the way she’d intended, unfortunately. In her mind, she pictured some sleek, cool design with jutting spikes and sharp edges, but what she was getting was more of a box.

Well, that was probably the best she could hope for at this point. She was only using simply LEGO bricks, after all.

But… she was having so much fun with them! There was just something so freeing about building things like this, she couldn’t describe it! But as she slotted the bricks into place and worked on crafting the moat with little flat blue tiles, she couldn’t get enough.

If she closed her eyes, the blocky castle looked exactly the way she intended it in her mind, and that was good enough for her, for now.

“You look like you’re having fun,” Nick said from across the table. He was working on something himself, which Gina just now noticed.

“Oh, uh… …Geez! Have we already been here THIS long?” Her mouth fell open in surprise as she glanced at the clock. It had almost been an hour! “Wait, what are you building?” Gina asked, noticing Nick’s creation for the first time.

“It’s supposed to be a boat,” he said, picking up the blocky chunk of brown cubes he’d built.

“It looks like a piece of shit,” Gina said, snickering. Then she gasped. “Oh! No, I didn’t mean it like- …No, I meant that it literally looks like a piece of shit,” she hastily clarified.

Nick stared at her.

“…That doesn’t make it better, does it?” Gina said after considering her words for a second.

“Not really, no,” Nick said with an amused grin, shaking his head. “But hey, I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. I had fun!”

It had been a long time since he’d been able to just turn off his brain and play with LEGOs like this. It was one of those hobbies that he’d loved when he was a kid, but as he grew older had just fallen by the wayside somehow.

Gina glanced at Nick’s boat, and noticed, to her surprise, that it looked a lot sloppier than her own castle did.

Like… had Gina actually done something better than somebody else, for once?

“…What do you think of mine?” She couldn’t help but ask, presenting her eerie black, jagged castle for Nick’s assessment.

Nick’s eyes widened when he saw what she had built. “Wow, Gina, that looks really cool,” he said, his voice overloaded with sincerity and almost making Gina blush. “It’s clear you really put a lot of effort into that.”

Gina grinned, her eyelashes fluttering bashfully. “Well… I’ve never really done anything like this before,” she reminded him. “Do you really think it looks that good? For real?”

Nick nodded. “Definitely. It’s got some good work put into it! I used to build stuff like that all the time, back when I was a kid. Maybe you’ve got a knack for it!”

“No, no way!” Gina shook her head adamantly, but she couldn’t fight back the smile that kept tugging at her lips. “This is just… just a fluke, that’s all.”

Nick shrugged. “Well, maybe,” he agreed, which irritated Gina. It wasn’t a fluke! She’d really tried hard! Where did he get off?!

“…But the important thing is that it looks like you’re really enjoying himself,” he added.

Gina glanced down at her castle.

She blushed.

“Well… I guess so…” Truth be told, Gina had really enjoyed the rush. Nick was right- she’d never really built anything with her own two hands before. Not like this. She’d had fun building the sandcastle on the beach. And… she’d had fun building this.

Now, looking at the castle and thinking about what to do next, Gina finally realized why.

“I think it’s ‘cause… I’m in control, you know?” She murmured, stroking her chin thoughtfully as she looked at the building in front of her.

“Oh?” Nick leaned forward, intrigued.

Gina nodded. “I mean, that’s not to say I’m not in control with other stuff! But like… I get to do whatever I want with it! I get to build it however I want! If I want to give it a space cannon, I can do that! Or spiky walls, or… whatever!”

It was so… freeing.

In a way that Gina never really got to experience before.

If you asked Gina today what her childhood was like, she’d probably say it was stifling and oppressive. But a lot of that was colored by her present perceptions of her parents, and her mother’s rules.

If you went back in time and asked a little Gina was her childhood was like and if she was enjoying herself, you were probably more likely to get an accurate answer.

But regardless of which Gina you asked, neither of them would tell you that they’d had the privilege of enjoying playing with LEGOs this way. It just wasn’t something that she ever got into. Sure, if she’d asked her mother, she would have bought them, but she never did.

Maybe she should have.

“I’ve never really built stuff before,” Gina admitted sheepishly. “…Not that I had dolls or anything like that! It’s just… my friends weren’t really the ‘LEGO’ type, you know? And after I moved schools, well… I didn’t really HAVE any friends.”

Well, you don’t need friends to enjoy building something,” Nick pointed out. “Although having friends to play with always makes it a little better.”

Gina nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I guess,” she conceded. “…But still, come on, Nick, do you really think that way?” She laughed and shook her head. “I mean, come on, this is fun, but what, you expect me to go out and start building LEGO sets when we get home?”

Not only were those things obscenely expensive, she figured, but come on.

“If I walk into the children’s section and buy a LEGO set, then someone’s going to start following me in the store like they think I’m a weirdo or something!” Gina pointed out. “It’s weird! For adults like us to play with kids’ toys!”

That was another reason she’d been hesitant to humor Nick on this date idea. LEGOs… they were for little kids.

And Gina had stopped being a kid a long time ago.

“I don’t see it that way,” Nick said, shaking his head.

Gina stared at him. “Huh?”

“Adults our age can play with LEGOs,” he said. “And you don’t have to walk into a store to buy them. It’s all about whether you’re having fun or not. So? Are you having fun?”

Gina’s eyes jumped to her creation again.

That was the thing- Nick wasn’t wrong.

The truth was? She was having fun.

More fun than she would have expected.

“It’s not… what I thought it would be,” she admitted, playing with a couple bricks in her hand. “Getting to build stuff like this. It’s not the worst thing… it’s not what I expected, either.”

She wasn’t sure if it was good content for a date or not, but she could admit- she was enjoying herself. If that was Nick’s intention today, then he was certainly accomplishing it. Even if she felt a little sheepish in the process.

But hey- she wasn’t having such a bad time, was she?