-1I've seen writers often say that the plot bunnies written while one is barely conscious at five in the morning are often the best. Now, I don't know quite how accurate that is…but let's find out, shall we?

Once again, I'm just warning you that this fic is Lucy/Tumnus - a very innocent display of the pairing, but Lucy/Tumnus, nonetheless. Don't read if that sort of thing bothers you.

Reviews are appreciated!

Just a kiss.

Lucy had to keep reminding herself of that.

It wasn't as if Susan had been given the stars in the sky - the finest silk ever crafted - the sun's eternal light. She hadn't been proclaimed most beautiful in all of Narnia, or most talented, and certainly not most patient.

And she hadn't even known that prince! He was only there for the party, a nameless face in the crowd - one dance, Queen Susan, he had requested, deeply bowing before her breathless form; that is all I ask of you. She had accepted, and he had spun her across the floor, and he wasn't even that good, really - Lucy had seen the way he had stumbled across her feet so carelessly, the way he had pulled her arm too sharply and gripped her waist too tightly, and oh, he was just dreadful.

Of course, that explained her shock when the dance was finished, and, in a moment of confusion and shuffling among the other guests, he had leaned forward and kissed her, right on the mouth. It had been short and fleeting and Lucy would gamble her favorite gown on the fact that his lips were too disgusting, too prying, too wet, too - t-too…

…

Oh, she was so jealous, it was almost unbearable.

It was all she could do to hold a rigid smile against her face as Susan giddily twirled around, recalling every single detail of this kiss over and over again - and I honestly didn't expect it, Lucy! Honestly! One moment, I was thanking him for the lovely dance, and the next, he was kissing me as if it was the most natural thing in all of Narnia! Imagine that! To feel so - and on and on and on and on until her nails were digging straight through flesh and her teeth were grinding like thunder.

Susan didn't forget it, either. For weeks on end, she kept finding ways to sneak it into their innocent conversations, eyes lighting up and face flowering into something beautiful.

A first kiss is something truly magical, Lucy. It doesn't matter who it's from, or how it happens - it's perfect.

Don't worry. You'll have one of your own someday…maybe.

Maybe, she echoed bitterly once her sister had left her in peace. What did Susan know, anyway, what with her short, sloppy, disgusting kiss - and from a dreadful dancer, on top of all that! She would show her soon enough. She would surely have a first kiss…and it would be ten times better than Susan's! Then, she could brag and sigh and rub it in her sister's face, and watch how she positively glowered, and then think - Oh, why did my first kiss have to be so horrible? I wish it had been more like Lucy's.

That would show her.

And yet, the facts still remained clear - at the moment, Susan was still a step ahead of her, and oh, it aggravated her so. Where was her handsome prince, asking her to dance? Where was her moment of truth and flash of light?

She was still so frustrated a week later that when her friend Mr. Tumnus came to Cair Paravel for a visit, it was simply all she could talk about to him. They would walk, and he would try and persuade her to speak of other matters, such as how the seasons were changing, or how her siblings were faring, or how old she was growing - and yet, everything led back to one thing.

"And Susan, she just thinks she's so perfect and special and wonderful, all because she's had one silly kiss from one silly prince that couldn't even maintain a waltz properly - he couldn't even dance, Mr. Tumnus! Can you imagine it?"

And the faun would merely nod and smile, offering a small - "Hardly, my queen," - before once again trying to direct her attention to another topic - "Isn't it warm out today?"

It was hopeless. Lucy couldn't think of anything else - it consumed her, drowned her.

The next day, it dominated their conversation once more…

"And now, she acts as if she's some sort of divine being, just because she's had a silly kiss! Always carrying on about it, hour and hour, day after day; you'd think he's proposed, or something of the sort!"

And the next…

"She seems to think I couldn't have a first kiss if I tried; well, I find that silly, don't you? There's plenty of fellows out there who would gladly kiss me if I asked it of them - plenty! They would run up and fall down at my feet and hold my hands and ask very, very politely, and if I liked them, I would say 'yes', and then-"

And the next…

"-and when I do get it, I'll go straight to Susan's room and smile - it drives her mad, when you just smile and don't say anything - and when she asks why I'm so cheerful, I'll make her guess, and when she figures it out, I'll just laugh and tell her all the lovely details, and then she'll be sorry that she allowed hers to be stolen by that silly prince, she will-"

And the next, and the next, and the next, and the next - until Tumnus must have begun to grow agitated with it, for on one late afternoon, amidst a stroll within the long, empty corridors of the castle, the young queen brought up the subject for the tenth - or was it eleventh? - time.

"She continues to talk about it - even after all this time, she's still infatuated! It's incredible! Of course, I don't have anything to say - but I will one day, I will, and then she'll -…"

Her words were gently silenced as, in a moment of firm words and wild gestures, Tumnus had gently took her arm - turned her towards him - cradled her face in his hand - pressed his lips to hers.

…

It was over before it even started, it seemed. In another instant, warmth had left her. He stepped back, and - even though for a passing moment, it seemed as though his hand was trembling - looked at her with a vibrant stroke of triumph in his face.

"There. Now you may go and tell Queen Susan that you have had your first kiss. Now you may prove that you were right and she was wrong."

He smiled; her knees trembled.

"Now may we speak on another topic, my queen?"

He began to resume their path down the hallway, saying something about the weather or the plants or something - she wasn't really listening. Her face had filled with vibrant red; fingertips softly danced along her lips.

It doesn't matter who it's from, or how it happens - it's perfect.

And amidst a lingering moment, she couldn't exactly remember just what she had been so angry about in the first place….for as she hurriedly turned to follow him, Lucy found herself unable to do anything but smile.