Romance Etude
"There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved." – George Sand (Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin)
Chapter 01
I was exhausted from the constant traveling, but my body refused to let me fall asleep. We were resting in the To Coda Ruins, trying desperately to catch up to Crescendo and Serenade, who planned to give themselves up for the sake of Baroque. Despite the urgency in our task, everyone agreed that it wouldn't hurt to stop for a little while. The pair we were chasing would also have to rest at some point as well.
The group had scattered within a small area to sleep. Only Jazz, Viola, and Falsetto remained awake to keep watch. Jazz and Falsetto had decided to patrol the surrounding area so that left me alone with Viola. I hugged my legs to my chest and stared at the fire in front of me in an effort to distract myself from all of my worries. Viola seemed to take interest in my actions.
"Lonely over there?" she called out softly. I jumped slightly at her question and only buried my face deeper into the folds of my skirt. Viola was most likely preparing to say something to tease me, so I made sure to choose my words carefully.
"I'm fine."
That was a complete lie, and she could see it.
"You know, Allegretto looks lonely over there, too," she commented. Unconsciously, my head automatically snapped over to where the boy in question was sleeping. For some reason, Frederic, Salsa, and March were lying a good couple feet away from him. Even Beat was a good distance away. "See," Viola nodded, "lonely."
I turned back to my friend with a blank expression. What exactly was she implying?
Viola turned her back to me and waved her hand dismissively. "You can go keep him company instead. I'll just leave you alone."
"E-eh? What?" She didn't turn at all and made no sound or gesture to answer me. I pouted slightly at the treatment but brushed it off quickly. More importantly…
I silently moved to Allegretto's side and took the time to study his sleeping face carefully. Viola had been kind enough to give me this chance, so I shouldn't waste it just because I was too embarrassed. His head lolled to the side and caused some of his hair to obscure my view of his face. I frowned a little and hesitantly reached out to brush it back.
"Polka."
The sound of my name from his lips made me squeak and flinch away in shame. My hands flew to my face in an effort to hide my mortification. A moment passed in uncomfortable silence and allowed me to recollect myself. Timidly, I peeked at him through my fingers. Heat rushed to my cheeks at the sight of his calm, unchanged face. Had I just imagined that?
Suddenly, he rolled over toward me, his arm now around my waist.
"A-Allegretto!" I squealed quietly. My eyes frantically flew over to where Viola should've been. She must've decided to join Jazz and Falsetto in their wandering… He started pulling me down beside him, and there was no way I could fight against his strong arms. Resisting was a futile effort, so I eventually allowed myself to lie with him.
Sleep came surprisingly easily after that.
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The weight on my chest was what forced me awake again. My eyes fluttered open to the sight of silver hair, and when I forced my body to sit up, I was met with one of the greatest surprises of my life. The movement caused Allegretto to wake up as well.
"Hmm?" He blinked tiredly and yawned. "Since when did we have pillows?"
"Allegretto," Viola, now back from her wandering, abruptly answered in a mischievous tone, "That's Polka's chest."
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A/N: I just randomly churned this out because I was disappointed in the lack of AllegrettoxPolka (so canon!) stories in the Eternal Sonata section here. Shame on you, guys.
Anyway, this is just the first of several one-shots. They'll all be independent from each other for the most part and occur at different points of the story (most likely in the latter half of the game's timeline and beyond).