Disclaimer: They're mine! Oh, wait … not they're not. My bad.
A/N: This was originally part of the As Deep as the Sky collection of ficlets, but it developed into a trio of sequential vignettes that told their own story, so I decided to give them their own space. The original brief of the collection was: 'Pick a fandom, turn on your music player and put it on shuffle, then write a ficlet inspired by each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over.' I'll admit by the time the third part of this trio came around I took a little extra time to finish the arc, but the first two vignettes stuck to this brief.
Extra Bit: According to WikiFic, Pegasus is actually from America, not Japan. Darn the dub for not making that clear.
A New York Love Story
© Scribbler, August 2008.
1. April Showers – Sugarland
"Cynthia?" Pegasus gasped in surprise when he opened the door.
She was wet through. Unsurprising, since it was raining buckets – the type of rain that was really just upright ocean with slots in it. Her usually flowing blonde hair was plastered to her skull and hung down the back of her sodden dress.
"Can I come in?" Even though the storm was loud, her voice kept its habitual softness, so that he barely heard her.
Embarrassed that he was still holding the door only half open, Pegasus immediately jumped backwards and ushered her inside. She dripped all over the expensive hall rug, but he was more worried about what had driven her out into such an abysmal night in the first place. Shepherding her into the drawing room, where there was already a fire in the grate, he fetched towels and blankets and one of his mother's robes. His parents were out of town, so it was just him and the servants, most of whom had gone home for the night. Only Wilkins, the groundskeeper, was still on the property. Presumably it was he who'd let Cynthia past the gates.
"What on earth is the matter?" Pegasus asked when he returned with a hot drink to warm her insides. He'd considered putting a nip of his father's brandy in, but decided against it. "Are you all right? You looked half-frozen. Is everything okay at home? Is it your father?"
Cynthia and her father had a difficult relationship, though Pegasus had always been under the impression he still cared for his daughter, despite disapproving of her choice in boyfriends. Mr. Delos wanted Cynthia to get married someday, but only to someone staid, perhaps a lawyer or a politician, and make lots of grandsons for him. The Crawford family had money, but Cynthia's father had no time for 'layabout artists'.
"I … yes." Cynthia stared into her hot chocolate as though searching for more than just how many marshmallows he'd put in. "I've left. Home, that is. I … they wouldn't let me see you. They locked me in. they were going to send me away to relatives in England, so I … I ran away."
Pegasus's eyes widened. "They locked you in your own house?"
She shook her head. "Not in the house, in my room. I climbed down the vines outside my window in the end. I've never done anything like this before, but when Daddy heard I wanted to marry you, he was livid -"
"Excuse me? When he heard what?"
She laughed then. He'd always loved her laugh, but right now he was too consumed with the sound of his own thundering heartbeat to hear it. "I'd decided to be a real modern woman and ask you instead of you asking me. I had a ring on order at the jeweller's. I was planning to pick it up yesterday, but they called to verify a collection time and Daddy answered the phone."
"Cynthia, let me just get this straight." Pegasus took one of her hands in his own, leaving the other to hold her drink. She was trembling. Fearing she'd scald herself, he removed the mug to the coffee table and clasped both her hands in his own. She had long, pianist fingers, while his were the hands of a painter – both of them talented artists in their own fields. "You … want to marry me?"
"I know were' young, but … I love you. I did have a flowery speech planned, but that's what it comes down to. I love you, Pegasus. I want to share my life with you, with or without my father's permission." She smiled. More than her laugh, he adored her smile. Shy and half-lidded, like a flickering candle flame, it never failed to captivate him.
Pegasus swallowed. He couldn't believe it. The rain thrumming against the window, the fire warming the room, the taste of her lips; these were things he understood and could frame in his mind. But marriage. Being Cynthia's husband …
They were seventeen and smitten. They'd been smitten since they were children and met at one of her father's dazzling parties, and from that day forward this moment had been inevitable. None of his friends had ever been able to understand, but then again they'd never taken Cynthia seriously about anything. They called her Rapunzel, but it was a cruel nickname, intended to highlight how she was kept away from the rest of the world in a tall tower, and had no idea what the world below it was like. To them, she was a child and not worth thinking about compared to other girls.
But not to Pegasus.
"I always imagined myself on one knee," he murmured into her rapidly drying hair. "Possibly with an orchestra crescendoing in the background."
She laughed. "I have relatives in New York who can help us. They fell out with Daddy years ago, but we'll have to be quick, otherwise I'm sure he'll find a way to stop us."
"It's April now, so … how does a May wedding sound to you?"
"Wonderful. May is when roses bloom. They're my favourite flower. I always wanted a wedding filled with roses."