Happy birthday, Vilya! Hope this year finds you well, and this fic greets your new year suitably!

She realized that there were different types of days.

There were good days; the glass was half full. These were the days where everything was possible, where she didn't mind walking down the street in a skirt that stopped before her knees, where there was a song in her heart and a skip in her step (and any other number of cheerful, sugary-sweet clichés).

There were the bad days; the glass was half empty. These were the days where everything seemed impossible to reach, where the wardrobe for the day consisted of pants and a long overcoat, where her soul played a gloomy dirge on a repeated loop and her feet felt heavy and left deeper-than-expected tracks in the snow.

There were the boring days; the glass was missing entirely. These were the days like today.

Nephry sighed as she flipped over on the couch. Her hair lay loosely around her, outside of its usual ponytail. She had convinced herself to take time off from working, using the lazy weekend day to rest and relax rather than wind her way through yet another report for class. It was tough, being fifteen. She was serving not only as a diligent student, but also as a secret tutor for certain unfocused monarchs-to-be.

She was vaguely aware that her thoughts were drifting off, slightly conscious of the fact that her body was becoming prone and her limbs limp against the soft, welcoming cushions of the couch. Then, as though it happened in an instant, she opened her eyes to the sound of tapping against her window, twilight seeping in through the glass, painting the floor in dim shades.

She pushed herself up (reluctantly, for the couch didn't seem to want to let go of her), yawning slightly as she stretched her body to wake it up. The tapping wouldn't stop. Nephry went over to the window, pulled the curtains back and opened the frame. Peony's smiling face popped up at her, sticking its way into her house, making her pull her body back in surprise. He took off his jacket and dropped it on the snow outside.

"Hello!" he beamed at her, pushing the window frame open more so he could try and pull himself in through the space.

"Peony!" she exclaimed, breathless. Then her senses got a hold of her and she hissed, "Wait, what are you doing? Go to the front and use the door!" Seeing Peony again had woken her up more effectively than any alarm clock.

She'd found the glass. It was half-full.

"Can't, the butler's out front walking the streets looking for me," he said offhandedly. He squiggled in the window more, consequently pushing snow from the window ledge into the house. Once he'd gotten his shoulders through, getting the rest of his body into the house was much less of a challenge. The only trick was not sliding in completely and hitting his head on the floor.

Nephry teetered nervously on her toes, watching Peony deposit more and more of the offending white stuff onto the carpet in his attempt to enter the house. Eventually, she turned away with a huff to find a dustpan to use to gather it. Peony was inside the house and on his feet, grinning broadly while pulling his jacket in (along with even more snow), when Nephry thrust the dustpan into his hands. Her face was a mix of bemusement and annoyance.

Peony blinked a few times. "So..."

Nephry, despite herself, let out a slow breath. She wanted to appear angry, but she got the feeling that it wasn't working. "What, Peony?"

He turned the dustpan over in his hands, looking at it from several angles. Then he started tapping it against the windowsill delicately. Each tap knocked more snow onto the carpet. "So... what is it?"

"...it... It's a dustpan." She was gaping, though she was trying very hard not to. It wasn't especially lady-like, and she did like to appear her best in front of Peony. She didn't honestly believe that he didn't know what a dustpan was (he was raised as a noble, but not a helpless one), but she couldn't stop herself for falling into his little game.

"Oh," he said, nodding to show he understood. "Well, if it's a dustpan... shouldn't it be full?"

Nephry massaged her temples with her fingers, rubbing them in slow circles. "It's going to be very soon..." He was joking, wasn't he?

"Oh, wonderful!" Peony smiled, holding out the dustpan for her to take. "I'm sure it won't take you very long at all!"

She resisted the urge to walk calmly to the table and clear it over hardcover books by throwing them at him. "Peony," she said delicately, as though explaining the process to a child, "you are going to use the dustpan to clean the living room."

"…I… um… okay, sure," he said at length. (If he was joking, this would be an excellent time to inform her of that, she decided.) "If that will make you happy, sure." He turned the dustpan over once or twice more, then looked back at her blankly. He grinned, embarrassed.

"What, Peony?" she sighed. If she knew he was kidding all along, then why was she falling for this so easily? She needed something, she realized quickly, to get him back with. It wouldn't do to keep being this close to him and not have something she could exploit.

"It's just that I don't see any dust to pick up with it," he replied in his usual confident swagger. That smirk was plastered all over his face, now, and Nephry knew he was only playing with her.

A moment later, Nephry was laughing as she used the snow on the carpet to pummel him with a snowball. He cried out in protest as the snow melted down his face. "Sometimes," she chuckled, all curiosity now gone, "I forget how absolutely clueless you can be, Peony."

He looked a little put off by her remark, saying, "You do know I was just teasing you, right?"

"Right, I'm sure," she teased, poking him in the shoulder with one finger. "I know you were raised to be a leader. It doesn't surprise me that you're… insufficient in the finer arts of home management."

"Hey, come on, now!" he complained, adeptly scooping up snow with the dustpan. "I can use these things as well as any servant." He held it out the window and turned it over, depositing snow back in a small pile at the base of the house. "See?"

"That's great, Peony," she smiled wryly, "but it works a lot better if you use a brush." She twirled the aforementioned in her hand deftly, spinning it and grabbing it by the base of the bristles so Peony could take the handle. All of a sudden, she realized, she knew exactly how to turn the tables on him and start getting him back.

He grumbled as he took it, but there was still a tone of joviality in his speech. "Sometimes you're no fun at all, you know that?"

She scoffed jokingly, throwing a hand on her hip and a knowing smile on her face. "If I didn't keep you in line, you'd never stop having fun!"

Laughing, he replied, "What's wrong with that? Once I become Emperor, I'll be working so much I bet I'll never be able to enjoy myself."

Nephry's gaze softened as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "You shouldn't talk like that," she said softly. "There's plenty of fun around even with the amount of work you'll have to do."

He handed the dustpan back to her, blushing slightly as he said, "…You're fun."

"…I know. I… wish."

He didn't press the point any further. He knew what she'd meant.

Peony holding her hand, she delicately dropped from the windowsill to the snow, her boots digging in with a slight crunching noise, her winter jacket firmly wrapped around her. She turned and slowly slid the window closed so that it wouldn't make much noise, aware that a loud thud might call attention to their presence at the side of the house. It was sunset now, though, so she'd hoped that even if someone heard, it would be dusky enough that he or she would be unable to see the couple.

(She was also faintly aware that the thud would likely not be heard from the street, but sometimes they did silly things.)

"I have something to show you," he said, starting to walk. He led her behind the house, their hands never losing contact. It was almost, Nephry found herself thinking, like he was worried that if he let go, she might slip away; like he was desperate to show her something, and wanted her at his side all the while.

Well, she was sure of the last point. The first she was almost scared of. Peony did not worry.

From behind the house, they entered a grove of trees that encircled Nephry's rear yard, cutting straight through it. After a minute or so of their footsteps making repetitive snow-crunching sounds against the ground, the trees thinned out, and they emerged at one of Keterburg's roads. He looked at her briefly, smiled, and began walking along the path. She followed, blushing slightly.

The glass was filling.

Peony led her down the path calmly, saying nothing and trying, very noticeably to Nephry though likely not to anyone else, not to burst from excitement or happiness. She couldn't decide upon which. Once or twice, Nephry had squeezed his hand and nudged him slightly, as though asking him where they were going. He had merely winked back, a twinkle shining in his eye.

They were passing houses, now. It was starting to snow faintly; a very light flurry, only enough to be pleasing to the eye and not annoying to the body, was falling. Every now and again, it would become heavy enough upon rooftops that had previously gathered snow to cause the white stuff to drop to the ground in a soft dusting, which danced on the wind during its descent. At one point, they were about to cross paths with Peony's searching butler; Peony dragged Nephry against the side of a house mere moments before the servant would have seen him. The butler passed by without spotting the pair.

Once they were sure he was gone, Nephry decided to use him to open conversation again. "You know," she smiled at him, "if you'd just do your homework earlier—"

"Do you have any idea how much work they want me to do?" he shot back, smirking. "Besides, I can get away for a while. This is worth it." He was smiling, still.

Nephry furrowed her brow as she eyed him up and down, taking in his expression. "What's this, exactly?" She was trying to piece him together before she spoke, but couldn't figure anything out.

"Since I don't want to ruin the surprise," he said smoothly, "let's just say this is walking in your company." She flushed, and spoke no more.

Eventually, they came to another grove of trees. Peony led her in. She let go of his hand, instead hugging onto his arm, resting her head against his shoulder.

The glass was full.

The only sounds were now that of the snow being squished underfoot, of their slow breathing as they walked, and of the occasional, if rare, loud sound of laughter or scream of joy from the city. They were starting to leave the town behind, though. They were going just far enough that the din of Keterburg would be absorbed by the leafless canopy of the trees, but not so much that they were in danger of a monster's attack. Peony knew where they were going, and he wouldn't allow her to be put in danger (naturally).

The trees began to thin a little. They were coming up to a hill. Nephry pulled her head away and asked, "How much farther are we going, Peony?"

"Over the hill," he replied, putting his free hand on his hip and smiling broadly. "That's all."

Nephry picked up her pace a little, anxious to see what Peony had been talking about. As she got closer to the top, she could have sworn that there was a glow coming from the other side, but she attributed it to the sun having almost set and casting diminishing sunlight on the far side of the peak. Night was nearing, but the sun was exerting its few last powerful rays on the evening, painting the sky with hues of deep red. Behind them, it was already dark.

She reached the top of the hill and gasped. They were standing atop the hill at the end of the lake (which had been frozen over, of course). Somehow, in a way she could not determine from her first, cursory glance, the lake was alive with colour. Greens and golds were mixing and dancing around each other beneath the ice (or perhaps, she mused, the ice, itself, was coming alive in colours). There was also some red and blue mingling with them; and everywhere the latter pair touched each other, the lake turned purple. She beheld the lake and the sky with wonder, unable to find the proper words to describe her own feelings at that exact moment. It was a blending of art and nature.

Peony wrapped his arms around her from behind. "By the way," he replied, "happy birthday."

The glass was overflowing.

Peony had planned well ahead. He had set Saphir working on a set of five fon machines that would each dispel a concentration of fonons. Two were to be set to water, and the other three were for fire, earth and wind fonons. They'd come a few days prior and chopped holes in the ice using pick-axes and augurs. Once the holes were set properly and they could be assured the machines would hold position against the ice and not break through the bottom to sink in the water below, they dropped the machines in and reflooded the holes to encase the machines. The machines were frozen in place within the ice.

Four of the fon machines were designed to emit fonons in such a concentration that they would release visible hues through the ice. To make sure the ice remained solid with all the fonic interference threatening to destabilize its water-based nature, Peony thought ahead and had Saphir make a fifth machine set to release more water fonons, which would serve to stabilize the ice and prevent it from melting due to the fire fonons, or from sinking or floating from the earth and air fonons. The end result was a visual euphoria.

Peony's plans hadn't ended there, of course. When she looked at the bottom of the hill, there was a pair of skates waiting for them.

Nephry couldn't help herself. She turned from the scene—only momentarily—to kiss Peony as lovingly as she could muster. Peony held her close, giving her all the appreciation he could by making it tangible in that one, physical moment. When they had broken off, she all but dragged him down the hill to the skates. When they were laced up, they set off, metal dancing over the colours.

"This is amazing, Peony," she said, still breathless from the view. "It must have taken you forever!"

"Not so long that it wasn't worth seeing the look on your face, Nephry," he smiled, taking her hand and spinning her on the ice. "I was considering inviting Saphir and everyone else in town we know to come join us… but I thought you might like it more if it was just the two of us."

She spun herself in close to him. "Well," she admitted, giving him another quick kiss, "it's a lot harder to do that when everyone else is watching."

"…yeah," he said slowly.

And then they were lost, simultaneously falling into each other's eyes with only the grins on their faces to show their pleasure. The sun set completely, and they were turning around each other, the new moon offering no light so that the entire evening was just them, the lights at their feet and the stars in the sky.

After nearly an hour of circling, Nephry's feet grew tired and Peony's back began to ache, so they skated for the hill and sat against the hill to remove their skates. When their boots were back on, Peony leaned back against the hill and pulled Nephry against him. They laid in silence against the snow, their breath fogging in front of them and floating in eternally whisper-like motions up to the sky, thinning and fading with height.

In the starlight, on the far side of the lake, atop a distant hill, Nephry saw something out of the corner of her eye. She craned her head up to look. She'd already known there was a larger hill on the other shore; it overlooked the whole lake better than this vantage point did. But there seemed to be something on it, tonight… she just wasn't certain what. It certainly hadn't been there the last time she'd come out this way. Curious, she tried to make it out, but it was too dark to tell what it might be.

"Peony," she said, squinting to see in the starlight. "What's that?" She pointed to make it more obvious what she was looking at.

"That?" Peony said, glancing only briefly before he laid his head back into the snow groove he'd created. "That's the mansion you're going to live in when you're older."

She nearly choked. "Wh-what?"

He squeezed her with his free arm, then let his arm lay loosely over her. "One day, if you should choose to live in Keterburg, that house is yours. Think of it as an actual present, since you can't take the lake home with you."

The glass was full… and made of diamond and aquamarine.

"P-Peony!" she protested. "You can't just put up a whole house for me and…! How did you even convince anyone to build that for me?"

"Well…" he blushed, though it was so dark that the act ended up being imperceptible. "I told them that it was to be my summer home." She couldn't respond. "But once it's built, I'll have it passed over to you."

"Peony…" she trailed off, her voice sounding small and emotional, even to her.

"Don't sound like that," he said. "Who knows? One day I…"

She held her breath. "One day?"

"One day I might… even live in it with you."

She couldn't find an answer to that, and he wasn't prepared to offer anything else on top of that statement, so they said nothing, just reflecting upon the evening and what was said in the starlight. Half an hour had passed when Peony suggested they should be leaving soon, since it was going to get colder and neither of them was prepared to sit outside all night. But he did ask her, before they left and as she squinted at the house, what she wanted to name it.

"If you don't mind," she said softly, hugging his arm again, "the Glass House."

Today, the House stands atop the hill, looking over the lake… and is empty.