Button stepped out of the car as he bit his cheek and looked up. Overhead loomed Cronoc University, supposedly named after the founder’s wishes, someone who Button had a sneaking suspicion he knew now. He looked down, patting the watch as it sat in his pocket. Studying would be a lot easier with this and seeing as he barely scraped enough money together to come here that was going to be pretty necessary. He then reached back, touching his backpack and making sure his books were there. After all, this was his first day and he didn’t want to miss anything or run back home in stopped time for it.

He then heard the doors opening around him and bit his cheek, his face already becoming flushed with heat as he waited for everyone to say goodbye. After all, at least one of them would make him pay for running off without a kiss.

A kiss that came quite quickly as a peck on the cheek before Sunny Flare stood in front of him. “If you come back screaming that you don’t understand anything I am going to force you into six hours of Street Fighter.”

Button smiled a little at that before saying, “But you always beat me at it…”

“Yes, but I’m not actually allowed to kick your ass so I’ll have to put up with it being in a game.”

Marina came around the other side, a tight, white sweater replacing her sports top since this wasn’t yoga. Not that it was much better seeing as it was one size too small for her. Then again, Button wasn’t sure how many times he’d seen her breasts be outlined by her clothes since they had started dating three months ago. It was something Sunny was less than pleased about, especially since the best she could do was speedrun skips to get Button’s attention the same way. When she did though…

Marina came up and hugged Button, her breasts against his chest as she pecked him on the lips. His attention snapped right back to the older woman as she whispered, “I know you’ll do great today. We have all the faith in the world in you.”

Love Tap was the last one to stand up from the car as she had been the one forced to drive. It wasn’t always the case, but you could only win Rock Paper Scissors so many times before you were the first knocked out. She leaned against the roof of the small car with a sigh. “I really hope so myself. You’ve seemed a lot more focused after… Well, this Summer seems to have helped you really refocus yourself I guess.”

Button blushed hard at his mother’s words, though even Sunny joined him in glancing away at the reminder of what had led to them all being brought together like this. It had even been part of what had convinced Sunny to share him since she recognized that he was the best guy she knew and didn’t want to risk getting anyone else, even if she was going to have to compete with Marina. Marina had always been ready to share though, mostly due to her age. His mom though? Well, there was a reason he was still living with her instead of one of the other two after everything.

Marina stepped away, huffing a little as she put her hands on her hips. “I just wish your mom hadn’t let you sleep in for so long. I was really hoping to be able to give you the… excitement that would help pump you up for this.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow as she cocked a hip to the side. “Oh really? Yes, I bet his excitement was the only one you were thinking of.”

It was now Marina’s turn to blush as she said, ‘W-W-Well I’m sorry that I like doting on my boyfriend more than you. Maybe when you’re older you’ll come to appreciate things like this better.”

Sunny’s mouth split into a smile as she said, “Oh, I like it plenty, but my place is the only one that he’s allowed to stay at over the night so I don’t need to be so blatant.”

Love Tap interjected at this point as she said, “Or annoy me so much because you won’t stop.”

Marina glanced between the three of them, puffing out her cheeks but it was obvious she had no good response to the teasing. The poor woman had gone far too long without any sex before getting with Button and that had led to some issues for her. Luckily for her Sunny was willing to help by commenting, “Now, we don’t have the time for this so let’s stop bickering and let Button go play.”

Before anyone could respond Marina dropped to the ground, twitching and spasming as she lost all strength in her legs, panting there as she weakly tried, and failed, to move. Button, as he often did when this sort of thing happened, was simply whistling while Marina groaned. After all, Button wasn’t exactly secretive about his power, though it had taken Love Tap the longest to find out, and this wasn’t exactly the most uncommon use of his power.

Sunny bent over Marina, smirking at the other woman. “There, that exciting enough-” before it was her turn to collapse onto the pavement.

Button stopped whistling the second he could feel his mother’s eyes burning holes into his skull. He instead swallowed hard and turned to Love Tap. “Y-Y-Yes?”

“I let you sleep in so you’d have more energy for today, not for this.”

Button looked down, shuffling his feet before mumbling, “Yes mom. Sorry mom.”

She sighed and rubbed her temples before saying, “Now, get going. You have a big day ahead of you and you should be focusing on that.”

Button nodded before smiling back at his mom. “Thank you. I’m… I know I can be a handful sometimes so it means a lot to me that you’ve always got my back.”

Love Tap smiled back and in her gentle tone that always calmed Button she said, “I can say the same thing myself, especially what I put you through. Now,” her tone getting more forceful, “go, and if I hear about girls collapsing while you’re here I’m taking away all of your electronics and checking your saves each night so you can’t get away with your stupid time stop stuff.”

Button paled at the threat, even as his smile refused to fade before he hugged his mom and then ran off to the new chapter of his life. After all, it was time to let things move on rather than stay the way they always were.

Author's Note

So, the final twist has to do with what this story is. It is the last story I'm ever publishing on this site and I want to thank you all for joining me on this journey. The other thing is that it remind me of A Gamer's Journal where a story that could have had no thought or story put into it turned into something special and meaningful. That's also why, after I finished this, I converted it (while keeping most of it) to be Fanfiction disguised as Original Fiction. Pausing the Game is on Amazon and it would mean the world to me if you would help support me and leave reviews for me on it. A final way for us to join together and you all can give me something back for all of this.

No matter what though, thank you for joining me on this, and if you want to see more about me leaving the site, you can find it here. Goodbye.