A/N: Yay! Another Fire Emblem one-shot! I've been a busy bee lately! :P Okay, so this one's about Titania and Shinon. This is one of my all-time favorite pairings! A lot of people consider them a crack pairing, but to be completely honest, I do not. I think they make perfect sense together. Besides, there's worse ones out there, right? I would name a few I hate, but I'm afraid of getting flamed haha! *shudders* Those IkexSoren fangirls... :P So whether you like ShinonxTitania or not, I hope you enjoy the story anyway!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem. All characters you recognize belong to Nintendo/Intelligent Systems.
"Boyd! Would you stop pestering Mist, already?" Titania yelled at the drunken green haired axe-wielder. Said fighter was currently hitting on poor, defenseless Mist, who was hiding behind the safety of Titania. "Don't you have anything better to do?"
Boyd tilted his head up in thought for a moment, then came to a conclusion. "Not that I can think of," he slurred, shrugging his shoulders. He smiled wickedly at the young cleric, whose face was barely peeking out from behind Titania's back. Mist saw his rude smirk and scoffed, pulling her head out of his sight.
"Just go talk to Gatrie or something! And no more flirting with Mist!" she scolded. Boyd looked like he was about to protest, but he conceded to his 'mom,' and stumbled off to find Gatrie. Mist breathed a sigh of relief and walked around to Titania's front. She threw her arms around her in a tight embrace.
"Oh, thank you, Titania!" she said. "I like Boyd, but he's a real pain when he's drunk!"
Titania smiled and nodded. "I agree. But they all are," she laughed, looking over at the men of their group. It was a very rare occurrence when they all got drunk beyond coherence. But they had won a big battle today, and everyone insisted on celebrating. "I'm wondering if we should just one day take all the alcohol and hide it. It would be quite amusing to see how they reacted."
Mist let out a healthy giggle and joined her in watching them. It seemed that the only ones who weren't intoxicated were Rolf, Soren, and Rhys. Rolf, well, he was still a bit too young to drink, and Soren just detested the stuff more than anything in the world. One could tell simply by looking at him, that he was trying his hardest not to regurgitate his dinner as Ike's beer breath penetrated his nose. Rhys was sickly, so he always avoided anything that would damage his health even further. Everyone else, though, had clearly had a bit too much. Even Oscar, who usually stayed away from the substance, was a little buzzed.
"I'll raise you a hundred gold," Oscar said. He, Gatrie, Ike, and Soren were engaged in a game of poker. Soren was winning though, of course, since he was the only one who was still thinking clearly.
"Fold," Gatrie pouted, throwing his cards down and crossing his arms over his chest.
"I fold," Ike said also. "Oscar?"
Oscar laid his cards down on the table and an impish smile spread across his face. "Full house." He looked to Soren then, who was quite the pro at holding a 'poker face.'
Slowly and meticulously, Soren revealed his hand, and his opponents all went wide-eyed and gasped. "A royal flush," he said, rather emotionlessly.
"What?!" Gatrie exclaimed and flung his arms out, accidentally knocking over his glass of ale and spilling it all over the table. "Impossible!"
"Do the cards lie, Gatrie?" Soren asked, his voice as blunt and sarcastic as ever. The three drunk men all groaned and left the table to go find something else to do that they'd regret later. Soren stood up from his seat and began to scoop the gold coins into a bag.
"Soren," Titania, who had been watching them for the last five minutes, said as she approached the ale-drenched table. "Isn't that considered conning? You know it's not fair if they're drunk."
Soren continued to shove the coins into the bag. In all honesty, there were quite a few gold pieces on the table. "Don't worry, Titania. I'll give them their money back once they recover from their hangovers." The left corner of his mouth turned up ever so slightly, revealing the smallest of smirks. Titania smiled and laughed, giving him a friendly pat on the back. "Well, goodnight, Titania," he said once he finished with the coins. He then retreated to the safety of his tent, where he hoped he would be spared from everyone's drunken ranting.
Titania scanned the rest of the camp. Everyone looked so happy, despite the fact they were completely zonked. But that's what alcohol will do to you, she thought. She giggled when she pictured what they'd look like tomorrow. At that moment, her attention averted to the far side of the camp, where a certain marksman was sitting on a log alone. "I wonder what he's doing all by himself?" Titania said aloud as she made her way over there. When she reached him, she noticed he was holding a bottle of wine in his hand, and his head was hung in a rather sulking manner. His red ponytail was draped over his shoulder. Titania had hoped he wouldn't hear her coming, but when she got closer, his head snapped up suddenly.
"Oh, it's you, Titania," he said, relaxing a bit again. He set the bottle on the ground and rubbed both hands briskly over his face.
"Were you expecting someone else, Shinon?" Titania asked, taking a seat beside him without even asking. He turned to face her.
"Actually, I was expecting no one," he answered. His fingers intertwined themselves together and he stared down at them.
Titania's eyes were fixed on her own hands. She wanted to ask him what was troubling him, but she didn't quite know how to go about doing that. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, she got up the nerve and started a conversation. "So, what brings you way out here?" she asked.
Shinon shrugged. "I don't know. It's quieter out here."
"Oh," Titania said. "I guess it's just weird seeing you here and not off with Gatrie somewhere."
"You think Soren's the only one who needs some time to himself once in a while?" Shinon said, a little snarkier than he'd actually intended to. Titania was his superior, after all. "I apologize. That was rude of me."
"It's alright," Titania assured. There was a bit of an awkward pause. "It sure is a nice night."
"Mmm," Shinon agreed, nodding his head. He looked up at the black sky. It was a clear summer night, and the stars sparkled vividly. After a moment, he turned back to Titania. "Was there a reason you came over here?"
Titania's green eyes met with his. "Actually, it's kind of a silly reason," she said, a faint blush appearing on her face.
Shinon looked confused. "Why?" he asked.
"I thought maybe you were lonely," she said, looking away from him. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. I'll leave if you want me to." She started to get up, but to her surprise, Shinon grabbed a hold of her sleeve and pulled her back down.
"No, stay," he said. "You're not hurting anything." He picked up the bottle again and took a swig, wiping his mouth with his sleeve when he brought it away from his lips.
Titania suddenly felt very curious. "Shinon, how much of that have you drank?"
Shinon looked at her and shook the bottle a bit. The way the liquid sloshed about told her that it was near empty. "A little," Shinon answered, and Titania chuckled.
"I'm surprised," she said, grinning. "You're still pretty coherent yet." Her smile vanished as Shinon extended the bottle to her, and was replaced with a bewildered expression.
"Here," he said, forcing the bottle into her hands. "Taste it."
Titania gave him a wild look, but did as she was told. Carefully, she raised the bottle to her lips, not sure what to think in this situation. Once she got a good mouthful of the liquid, she swished it around in her mouth, trying to determine what it was. When she finally figured it out, the look on her face was even more perplexed. "Shinon, is this grape juice?" she asked, handing the bottle back to him.
Shinon chuckled a bit then, and Titania found that she was sorely and utterly confused. "Yeah, it is," he said, taking the bottle from her and setting it back down on the ground beside him. "Rolf thinks I should stop drinking so much. He says it'll cut my life in half."
Titania sighed. "Well, he's not wrong, you know. All that drinking you do really isn't good for your health. Your body might even start shutting down in the near future if you keep up that habit of yours."
Shinon smirked. "You're pretty wise, aren't you?"
Titania shrugged her shoulders. "It comes with age," she said. This caused Shinon to laugh.
"So that's why all those old codgers act like that," he jested. He then realized the error in what he'd said, and immediately tried to make amends for it. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't implying that you're old."
Titania smiled. "It's okay. I am old." She sighed deeply. "I'm only three years shy of forty now."
Shinon frowned. "If it makes you feel better, you don't look it," he said, and attempted to smile at her.
Titania laughed, her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink. "You know, I've been wondering why Rolf is being so protective of you lately," she said, backtracking in the conversation. "He seems to really like you."
It was Shinon's turn to blush now, and he mentally swore he'd get back at that loudmouth kid if he told anyone their secret. "Really? I haven't noticed," he lied through his teeth.
"He didn't tell me, Shinon," Titania said, and Shinon got a worried look on his face. "I found out on my own."
"How?" Shinon asked, knowing it would be useless to keep denying it.
"I overheard you two talking one day. You told him he was getting better as an archer, but he still had a long way to go," Titania said. She folded her hands in her lap and looked down at them.
"It's true," Shinon said after a while. "I'm teaching Rolf how to use a bow." He avoided Titania's gaze as she looked back at him.
"Well, I'd say you're a pretty good teacher," she said. "Rolf's skill gets better and better with each day that passes." Carefully and gently, she put her hand on Shinon's shoulder. "He really looks up to you." She wasn't sure where she was going with this, but she decided to let whatever ensued happen.
Shinon's eyes met with hers as he acknowledged the rough, yet gentle hand that rested on his shoulder. "You have to promise you won't tell anyone," he said. "If anyone would ever find out-"
"It'd be revealed that your heart isn't a complete and total block of ice?" Titania joked, cutting him off. "I'm kidding," she laughed. "I know it's not." The expression on her face became more serious. "You're just afraid of what everyone will think of you, right?"
"Right," Shinon said, gazing directly into her eyes. Had they always been so beautiful? Had Titania as a whole always been this gorgeous? The light of the moon shone down on her, making her look even more radiant. "Um," he cleared his throat.
Titania retracted her hand and placed it in her lap again. "Sorry, that was getting a little awkward, wasn't it?"
Shinon found that his tongue was completely devoid of words. The only thing he could think to do right at that moment, was something completely absurd and out of the question. Unfortunately, Shinon was the type of person to do just that. Without another moment's hesitation, he wrapped his arms around Titania's waist and pulled her body closer to his. Before she even had time to process what was happening, Shinon's lips crashed against hers. Shinon thought at first that she would smack him and run away, but when she began to move her tongue around inside his mouth, his heart melted. Her hands laced themselves in his ponytail and her fingers glided through his hair as if it were silk. And then, she let out a quiet, pleasant moan, which was like music to Shinon's ears. He ran his hands over her back, feeling the curves of her firm, feminine figure. After their lips had been locked for almost a minute, they parted, both of them breathing heavily.
"Nevermind what everyone else thinks," Titania said, panting. "I think you're wonderful."
Shinon smiled and they both moved in for another kiss. Suddenly, they heard a loud scream, and Soren came sprinting from his tent. A wasted Ike was stumbling after him, his arms outstretched, as if he were going to give Soren a hug.
"Soren, what's the matter?" Titania shouted to him. Soren turned to look at her. The expression on his face was nothing short of terrified.
"Ike's mistaken me for a woman!"
A/N: Poor Soren! He's such a fun character to torture! :P Hehe I hope you enjoyed this one! Before I write another one-shot, I'm gonna try to get the next chapter of Tides of Radiance up! Hopefully I can get around to it, cause I'm starting school next week. Blah. :( If only I could make a living writing fanfiction haha! Remember to favorite and review! And thanks for stopping by! :)