Another one where I severely blanked on the title, I'm afraid.

I had originally intended to update something else entirely, but the need to write this thing seized me for the past two days. I really like how it turned out, and I was just a little too excited to share it with everyone. It's kind of a different pairing, but one that I'm coming to enjoy. I also really wanted to explore this aspect of relationships, so it was a fun challenge in that department as well.

The door to Minerva's office at the guild flew open and smacked against the wall with enough force to undoubtedly leave a divot in the wall plaster. Disgruntled at the thought of having to repair it, Minerva turned her baleful gaze on her blonde guild master.

A cutting bard poised on the tip of her tongue, Minerva hesitated at the look of panic on Sting's face. Instead of giving him a verbal lashing for the door, she instead raised an eyebrow at him. "Is something the matter, Sting?"

"Minerva," he said weakly, his continued grip on the door handle rattling as his limb shook violently. "The guild entranceway. It's… it's filled with flowers. And chocolate. No one can get in or out."

Dread and horror washed through the mage, and with a growl she stood from her desk. "That's the third time this month," she hissed, the sound of which caused Sting to flinch violently. "Show me."

Abruptly pivoting, Sting strode quickly through the guild halls, feeling the angry, unnerving stare of his guildmate on his back the entire way. When they reached the guild hall proper, he made a vague gesture of 'here it is' at the mess before them and stepped primly out of the path of her ire. And not a second too soon.

"That… little…" Whatever it was she was going to tack on was lost to the force of her rage, the words unable to leave her throat.

Roses spilled into the guild hall from the entranceway, the overwhelming riot of colorful blooms blocking all ingress and egress. Nestled amongst the tower of flowers lay great baskets full of confections, and several giant stuffed animals that Sting had neglected to mention earlier.

Damn that ice mage! Him and his stupidly grand romantic gestures! How much capital did the silly man even have at his disposal, anyway?!

With a wave of her hand, the mess was swiftly tucked away into one of her many Territories. She would sort through it all in the privacy of her room.

Beside her, Sting heaved a great sigh of relief at the cleared doorway. "Thank you, Minerva." He glanced at her hesitantly, shuddering at the sight of her oddly calm smile. The tightness of her jaw belied the depths of her anger, however, and Sting took a surreptitious step away from her in the name of self-preservation. He cleared his throat, and then tried not to flinch when she turned that terrifying smile in his direction. "So… what are you going to do about your… admirer?" he asked.

"Carve him into tiny pieces and then feed them to my koi," she responded, almost pleasantly, before stalking back towards her office.

Sting stared after her in terrified bewilderment. He pitied the poor, dumb sap that that had brought this down upon himself. Fish food was not a fate he wished upon anyone, no matter how foolish their actions.

Furthermore, he'd had no idea she even had a koi pond.

As soon as she had returned to her private chambers, Minerva opened up her Territory and dumped the excessive gifts out upon the floor. They were just as overmuch as she'd initially thought. The cloying smell of the flowers swiftly filled the room, forcing a gag out of her and prompting her to open a window for ventilation. She had no earthly clue what she was going to do with any of it. Her quarters weren't lavish by any stretch of the imagination. The only things of real world value she owned were the three koi she cared for in the pond she kept.

With a heavy frown, Minerva took out her mobile lacrima, rapidly punching a series of numbers into the device and then bringing it to her ear. It rang twice, a snarl forming on her lips even before the recipient picked up the other end.

"Minerva!" The voice that called her name was jubilant and warm, practically overflowing with affection. "It's good to hear from you! Have you gotten my gifts, yet?"

Carefully enunciating each word, her jaw pulled tight and clipping every syllable short, she replied, "If you mean the flowers, then yes."

There was a slight pause on the other end, in which Minerva could practically hear the wheels in his head turning. Good. Maybe he would get what was wrong without her having to spell out the whole embarrassing ordeal too much.

"…Just the flowers?" he finally responded, sounding perplexed rather than chastised. "There should have been stuffed animals and chocolates as well… If they weren't delivered, I'll have to have to check with the company and see about getting you those as soon as possible. I'm so sorry about that."

"No." Minerva could feel her teeth grating against each other and hear the distant despair of her dentist as she did. "I… definitely… received those."

"Oh." It was silent for a moment. "Did… did you… like… them?"

"No, I did not. They blocked the entranceway to the guild hall, Lyon. No one could get in or out, and I had to be called from my work to deal with the entire mess. Do you have any idea how humiliating that is?"

Her boyfriend was dead quiet.

"Talk to me, Lyon!" she demanded. "What was going through your mind? What made you feel like embarrassing me that badly was something that I would appreciate?" Her anger refused to cool, her cheeks flushed with remembered mortification.

"…I'm sorry, Minerva." Lyon sighed into the lacrima. "I really wasn't thinking about it, and I should have. What can I do to make this up to you?"

The sincerity in his words, and how readily he owned up to the error, through her for a loop. Minerva was far more used to males doubling down when they were in the wrong or cowering before her. Not a single excuse had passed Lyon's lips, nor did he drown her in apologies.

She was at a bit of a loss. She wasn't accustomed to or prepared for this type of response.

When the silence had stretched on a little too long, Lyon nervously asked, "Minerva?"

Letting out a heavy sigh of her own, Minerva rubbed her temples with her free hand. "Look, I'm not… into gift-giving. I don't like being used as a way to display someone else's wealth and power. And I'm also trying to keep this relationship as quiet as possible from my guildmates as long as possible. They're too nosy… and noisy, so I would like to keep them out of my private life. A girl has to have some sort of sanctuary to fall back on."

Her words cut off abruptly, and her eye widened a fraction. She hadn't meant to let that last part slip out. It was a frequent predicament she found herself in nowadays. Something about Lyon was very… disarming. Maybe it was the way he threw himself into things wholeheartedly, even if it ended up burning him. She could never do that herself. There was too much wariness in her, too much self-doubt and second-guessing. He was also ruthlessly practical when the situation called for it, which was a trait that they did share. These things were what had attracted her to Lyon, months ago, when they'd worked alongside the other guilds to rebuild Fiore after Alvarez's surrender. Attracted her enough to put herself forward, and ask the man out on a date, which he had (to her great surprise) accepted enthusiastically.

"Okay," Lyon agreed, forging past her slight confession to him. "I can do that. But… uh… I feel like I need to make something clear to you."

"What is it?"

There was a brief pause, and Minerva imagined how Lyon must be making faces at the lacrima as he ran through what he wanted to say in his head. It was one of his more endearing traits, since he often came off as cold even when he didn't intend to be.

"It was never my intention to come off so shallow," he finally stated. "You – and the gifts I wanted to give you – aren't a reflection of my status, and I'm really, truly sorry that it came across that way. I just… wanted to make you happy. That's all."

Minerva found herself with nothing to say to that. It was honestly a foreign concept to her, that someone would want her to have something for happiness's sake alone – that someone would want her to be happy for its own sake. It was already difficult for her to contend with Lyon's obvious affection for her, but this brought it to another level she hadn't really considered before. Neither of those things had been plentiful in her life.

"Growing up, my father would…" Minerva swallowed thickly, the confusing maelstrom of emotions his words drew out of her bringing with it words she trapped inside of herself for a very long time. "My father used to say that trappings were for the powerful. That those who had none of the latter, deserved none of the former. I was too afraid to hold onto much, for fear of it being taken away or used against me in some way. So being showered with so much, even with good intentions, makes me very uncomfortable."

Lyon drew a shaky breath, the sound rattling through the space between them. "I understand."

She nodded, even though he could see it. "I have to go now," she informed him. It was a struggle to keep her voice steady in the wake of her confession. Feeling exposed and vulnerable, she felt the need to retreat for a while.

His voice contained the briefest hint of a smile within it. "I'll talk to you later, then. Oh… and Minerva?"

"Yes?"

"You're a wonderful person," Lyon told her. "And I like you a lot. Jiemma was a monster, and he didn't deserve you."

"…Thank you, Lyon."

Someday, she felt like she might come to believe that.