Hello, my dear readers! Today I bring you a short Decus/ Alice fic.
Info on this one:
Title: Whatever it takes
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the new world
AU
Raiting: K
Pairings: One-sided Decus/Alice. Brief mentions of Marta/Emil
Genre: Romance
Warning: Nope.
I hope you enjoy it!
WHATEVER IT TAKES
What does it take to love a person?
Seriously, think about it. What does it take to actually fall in love with someone? Do they have to be nice to you? Do they have to make you feel special? Do they have to make you laugh? Buy you flowers or presents? Write you a letter? What? Really. What does it take?
Maybe sometimes it takes nothing. Nothing at all to get you to fall in love with someone. Sometimes it just happens. You love them just because, and that's what sometimes people call 'destiny', or 'meant to be'.
But Decus just calls it tough luck.
Because really, it is tough luck when they don't give you anything for you to hold onto, but you still do. They don't treat you nicely or make you feel special, or call you sappy nicknames, or look at you sweetly. No. They do just the opposite and what's worse is you still love them like nothing you've ever loved before.
Decus walks down the street to the bus stop wearing a pair of tight black jeans a white tee and snickers. He's probably late for work but he can at least get there in time to get some deliveries done and make some cash.
Just as he gets to the pizzeria he works at, the owner, Rufus, is already outside waiting for him with his face looking pinched and his bushy eyebrows furrowed.
"Decus, you are fired" Rufus says, crossing his beefy arms.
"Fired? Me? Come on, Rufus. I wasn't feeling well this morning. I'm going to work extra hard today, you'll see" he says confidently as he enters the pizzeria, quickly grabbing his 'Rufus Pizza' cap from the hat rack.
"That's what you always say, Decus" says Rufus, following closely behind. "There are no more chances. That's it"
"Yes, Yes. This'll be my last chance! Don't worry, Rufus" Decus flashes him one of his handsome smiles.
"No. I mean - "
RIIIIIIIING!
Decus quickly picks up the phone "Rufus Pizza. How can I help you today? Uh-huh. Okay. Uh-huh. Can I get your phone number please, miss?" He quickly types something on the main desk's computer. "Ah. Right. Yeah, we've got the address. It's under the name Richter Abend, right?" he pauses "Oookay, then, miss. It'll be four extra large pepperoni and bacon pizza with extra cheese and extra bacon. Two sets of breadsticks and a salad. Did I get that right?" He pauses again "Very well. It will be delivered at your doorstep in twenty minutes or less or your order's free. Thanks for preferring Rufus Pizza. Have a nice day" He hangs up the phone.
Rufus is staring at him with his face looking even angrier than before. Decus gives a quick look around the small empty pizzeria and shrugs. "Well since there doesn't seem to be anyone else around today. I better take this order" Rufus growls but doesn't say anything else. It's not like he could say no. Emil is off doing some other deliveries and Decus is the only other employee who knows how to ride a motorcycle. So then, he gets to keep his job as easy as that.
The pizzeria's bikes are simply awful. Old as hell and incredibly ugly – even somewhat rusty. Decus rides all the way to the address he wrote on a small piece of paper. This address's a loyal client. It seems these people eat pizza almost every day, though they usually ask for Emil to deliver their order.
The houses in this street are bigger and fancier - this was the richest part of the city most likely. He quickly finds the plain Victorian style house and goes to the door. He straightens his clothes and rings the bell.
DING DONG
A few minutes pass and no one answers.
DING DONG
He tries again.
"I'm coming!" A female voice yells, sounding annoyed. There is something about that voice . . . could it possibly be –
"My dear, Alice!" Decus exclaims as the short blonde girl opens the door. She's wearing an über feminine, doll-like vintage white dress.
"Decus?" She says frowning "What are you doing here? Can't you just leave me alone for one second?" Her nose wrinkles "Ugh! And you're still wearing that disgusting cologne"
His heart hammers against his chest. It's her! His Alice! The one he loved so much. Destiny must really want them to be together. This has to be some sort of sign from above.
Alice looks at him up and down "Don't tell me you are the delivery guy now?" She says in her sugar sweet voice "Did they fire the other one? Aw. Mart-Mart will be so sad" Alice says in fake disappointment.
"Emil? He had other deliveries to make, my dear. But why would you want that kid when you have me? Your prince! Your knight in shining armor"
"Whatever, Dumbo Decus" Alice rolls her eyes "Give me those boxes. Here's the money. I don't want Richter to get mad at me for taking too long" She says.
Decus stares at the four boxes of pizza in his hands "I can't take money from you, Alice. Here. Take them as a gift" He extends his arms to let Alice take the food.
She just blinks "What? Don't be ridiculous! Take the money. I can pay you. I don't need your charity" Her thin eyebrows furrow.
"No, Alice. Please take them! As a token of my love" Decus says.
Alice pushes back the huge pizza boxes "I won't take them for free. Take the money or I'll call the pizzeria"
"I can't accept your money, my Alice. What kind of a prince would I be?" Decus says stubbornly.
"If not money, then what do you want?" Alice places her petite hands on her hips and narrows her eyes.
'What do you want?' Decus freezes. This is his chance! Alice is offering him a once- in - a – lifetime opportunity. He can ask for anything instead of money, and she has practically agreed to do it already. 'Hold my hand?' he ponders 'give me a long passionate kiss?'. No. Wait. He does know what he wants. He wants Alice to be crazy about him, so he needs first and foremost: the chance to sweep her off her feet.
"Go on a date with me" He says firmly.
"What was that?" Alice raises an eyebrow.
"Go on a date with me. This Friday. Please. You won't regret it. Let me prove it to you that I'm not only handsome, but also unbelievably charming. Let me show you I'm the perfect guy for you" He says.
There's a pause. Decus swallows as Alice stares at him and a kid in a tricycle rides by.
"Okay, then" Alice says fearfully calm and sweetly "If so, I will just have to take them for free!" She grabs the four huge pizza boxes and quickly puts them over a small table inside, right next to the door "Where's the salad and breadstick?" She asks "Don't tell me you forgot them, Dumbo Decus. Richter won't like that at all" She says in that same syrupy tone of voice.
"No. I – Uh, here they are" He raises a big plastic bag that he had put on the ground to be able to carry the pizza boxes.
"Thank you" She says sounding too singsongy "Alrighty, Dumbo Decus. I guess we'll be seeing each other later. Good luck explaining your boss why he lost all that money" She giggles "Ta-ta"
And she closes the door right in Decus's face.
He stands there feeling as though someone just dropped a bucket full of ice-cold water on his head. He walks back to his motorcycle and rides all the way back to the pizzeria, hoping Rufus won't be as mad as he was in the morning.
The same question that always plagues his mind, invades him. What does it take to love someone? What did it take for him to fall in love with Alice? She wasn't nice to him - she didn't seem to even like him sometimes. She didn't make him feel special, nor has she ever said she felt any sort of affection toward him. But there had been this one time when they were younger: Alice and Decus were working together at this toy shop that had just opened. Things had been okay for a while, until one day someone stole a huge amount of money from the owner and they all blamed Decus. It was a huge mess and they even threatened to call the cops. The culprit was actually the owner's son, but no one believed him. Alice stood up for him, though. She defended him and never left his side, until she finally proved to everyone that the one who did it was the owner's oldest son. And that was all it took. From that day on, he swore to remain by her side for eternity. He pledged his heart to her and no one else.
But maybe that's okay. Maybe falling in love with someone doesn't take chocolates, or letters, or romantic dates at the beach. At least not for Decus. After that one time she defended him, he knew he was a goner.
So he learned that for him, loving a person takes just one thing: to be Alice. For Alice to just be herself. For Alice to look at him, speak to him, stand next to him.
Alice. That's all it took.
Ca c'est le fin
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it.
~MonaLisa