My first Atelier story (which for some reason there isn't an Atelier Sophie section on here), so do bare with me since I'm no perfectionist in any shape or form. I made this story because I feel that Sophie deserves to have a boyfriend and it got me thinking of how it would all unfold, which is where this one-shot story comes in.

First Sign Of Love

The light from the moon and the sparkles from the shining stars gleamed over the small town of Kirchen Bell. Almost everywhere was complete silence, except for the muffled noises from a distant cabin along the hill. This was home to the town's very own alchemist who was known to the town as Sophie Neuenmuller. All of her friends know her very well...expect for one little detail.

For a few weeks recently, Sophie had been wandering through the streets at night, that was due to the fact that she was seeing someone in secret. That someone was a guy who had developed a reputation of being the town's night walker in case any monster tries its luck to roam near the village which has ended up in the monster being eliminated and dropping materials for alchemists to collect.

This night walker had a name only Sophie knows and he's known as-

"Hey, dude! Could you speed it up a little, you're holding the plot up?" The rude guy intervened.

My apologies...I didn't realize this narrator was working against the clock. Anyways, Sophie had just left her cabin and started her walk from her home and down the hill road till she was near the fountain. The water in the fountain was still running, but this didn't distract her as she was looking around for the man she's been seeing.

"As the most beautiful girl in town continues her search for the man." The guy spoke. "The one she has her eyes on watches nearby, gazing at the way she walks."

Sophie stopped in her tracks and sighed. "Knock it off, Martin. I know you're here."

"It appears that I have been rumbled, fission mailed!"

The guy then leaped from one of the rooftops and landed on the ground like a ninja in training.

"Were you looking for me, Sophie?" He asked.

"Well yeah." She answered. "I'm...uhh..."

"Ah wait, don't say it. You're happy to see me, but you're having trouble with the words because you're blushing?"

Sophie couldn't deny it, her face had gotten slightly red. "Please stop, I'm not used to this."

"Even though we've been seeing each other for weeks?" Martin winked.

"I know that. Anyways, I am happy to see you."

Martin smiled at her. "Yeah, me too."

"Were you waiting for me?"

"Maybe I was...depends on where you're going since I know you don't come out at night just to see me."

"You know me so well now, don't you?"

"Yep, if you're going out to gather materials, you know I can come along."

Sophie shook her head. "No, you don't have to. I know that you can't fight."

"Me? Not able to fight? Then I should remind you of how we first met, why don't we provide a flashback for our viewers?"

Sophie sighed as she knew that Martin was aiming to break the fourth wall again.

*Flashback*

"Why did I tell everyone I could do this by myself?" Sophie asked as she found herself cornered by a large white dragon.

*ROAAAARRRRR!*

"ACK! HELP ME!"

Suddenly, an energetic man leaped into the scene and stood face to face with the dragon.

"Stand back, pretty." The guy spoke. "I've got this!" He charged right at the dragon's head. "All of my devotion is in these strikes!"

He landed multiple punches at the dragon that roared jumped back a few paces.

"Alright, now we can go, come on!"

The guy grabbed Sophie's hand and they rushed away from the Scar Of The Land till they were safe.

"Phew...hah...that was a good workout." The guy panted. "You okay?"

"Hah...yeah...I'm fine." Sophie answered. "Th-thank you."

"No worries, I was roaming around the place until I heard a dragon roar a few moments ago."

Sophie then blushed and looked down. "Umm...you're holding my hand pretty tight."

The guy looked down and blinked. "Oops...my bad." He let go of her.

"It's okay, umm..."

"The name's Martin Glass and yes, I'm a trained fighter, but only with these special gloves."

"So your weapon of choice are fists? That kinda reminds me of Cory."

"Who's Cory?"

"Uh never mind." Sophie then checked her backpack. "Looks like the materials I gathered are still with me. Thank goodness."

"Were you gathering materials earlier?"

She nodded. "I was going to find some spirit crystals at the top when a dragon suddenly showed up." She then remembered something. "Oh and I'm Sophie, by the way."

"That's a lovely name, Sophie." Martin replied. "It matches your beautiful looks."

Sophie blushed. "Oh goodness..."

"Haha, forgive me. I may be a brave fighter, but I have a habit of being a charmer during my travels."

"Oh, so you're a traveler, huh?"

"Yep and what might you be?"

"Oh, I'm an alchemist."

Martin tilted his head. "An alchemist?"

"Yeah, wanna see a demonstration?"

"Okay, show me the way."

The two traveled to the town and that was how thier friendship began before it grew with time...

*End Of Flashback*

"And that's how we got to where we are now." Martin said. "Good thing I have a great memory."

"Yeah, I know." Sophie replied before blushing brightly. "Anyways, would you like to come along with me?"

"Sure thing, I'll protect you."

"Okay, thanks..."

The two of them walked together, leaving town whilst Martin sneakfully held Sophie's hand.

"So where are we heading to?" He asked. "The one with the fairies, an underground cave, or maybe a dungeon that takes place in an ultra dimension."

"I don't think we have to go that far." Sophie answered. "It's only Moon Sun Moor we need to go to. There's a rumor of a surplus material by the graveyard."

"I see. Better be careful with those ghosts around."

The two traveled to their destination, taking note of how quiet the night was.

Martin meanwhile was humming a few words to himself. "Everytime we meet, the picture is complete..."

"Hm? Did I hear something?" Sophie asked.

"...everytime we touch, the feeling's just too much."

"Huh? Touching?" Sophie got the wrong idea and looked down to notice her hand was still being held by Martin's hand. "Wha?!"

This snapped Martin out of his humming. "Huh? What's wrong?"

Sophie blushed. "Umm...your hand?"

Martin looked down, his sneaky hand holding was no longer sneaky. "Oh umm...sorry Sophie, but whenever I'm close to you, I can't help but hold your hand."

Sophie blushed still but showed a smile. "Well, it's okay...I mean after a few weeks past, we started seeing each other when no one else is looking."

"Which makes me wonder. Do you think there'll be a time when we can become official?"

Sophie looked away. "Well, maybe when I'm ready. I feel it's too soon to let what we have go public."

Martin nodded. "I understand. Now let's have a look for the materials you want."

The two entered the graveyard area and there were many materials just waiting to be picked up and Sophie rushed off, gathering them up whenever she went.

"Haha, Sophie. You're like a kid running around a candy store around here." Martin teased. "But jokes aside, I'll make sure the monsters don't catch you off guard."

Martin watched over Sophie until he got caught up in a battle with a pair of ghosts, but they were no match for his fists and he easily won the minor battle.

"There we go, all done." Sophie declared as she rejoined with Martin. "Oh, that reminds me, you haven't told me how you got to use those fists."

"I was taught to "free my mind" when delivering a punch, so it feels like I'm hitting air. But I ended up taking it literally and became too strong to continue the training." Martin laughed with embarrassment.

"Really? How come?"

"I ended up knocking the trainer so far into the sky, he wasn't seen again. Though, I think he would be lucky if he was stranded deep somewhere."

Sophie's eyes opened wide. "So that's why you were able to defeat that dragon in one punch."

"Yeah, but being so powerful isn't perfect. I have had to train myself to hold back all of my strength, especially when I'm protecting someone from danger."

Sophie blushed at him. "Like me?"

"Yeah, but...uhhh." Martin gulped, almost messing up his words. "When I'm with you, I wanna protect you so much more."

"Huh? Are you becoming shy?"

"M-maybe...dang, where did my confidence go? Hey, narrator, what gives?!"

Well come on Martin, do you expect this narrator to cave in to your demands, I have a task to make you flawed a little for scenes like this. Ahem...anyways, Sophie could see that Martin was starting to act a little bashful, but seeing that they had progressed this far, Sophie decided to take charge for a quick moment.

"Martin, could you look at me for a moment?" She asked.

"Uhh, okay." Martin answered, looking at her face. "Your face is so beautiful...ah!" He closed his mouth, he didn't intend to say that loud.

Sophie giggled. "It's alright, just relax." She then stood close to him before putting her arms around him, resting her head by his shoulder.

Martin couldn't help but put his arms around her, completing the close hug they were now sharing, smiles included.

*Growl*

A distant monster noise was heard, since they were still in the graveyard area of Moon Sun Moor, it forced the two to break up the hug.

"We should get back to town." Martin said, taking Sophie's hand.

"Yeah, we'll be safe there." Sophie agreed. "But let's go back together."

"No need to tell me twice."

The two smiled at each other and traveled back to Kirchen Bell before walking to Sophie's cabin home.

"Thanks for helping me tonight, Martin." Sophie said. "I really appreciate it."

"It was my pleasure." Martin replied. "After all, I got to spent it with you."

This caused her to blush, not noticing that she was still holding his hand.

"You know...Sophie, with all this affection we're showing, I assume we're together?"

"Well, love can be shown in many ways." She answered. "Platcha told me about that when I asked her about it."

"Oh, does she know about me?"

She shook her head. "No, I only asked her about it because I was curious and she said that sometimes, love can be expressed by either words or actions. Just like the way we did a moment ago. We may not have said the words, but our actions made it loud and clear what we are."

Martin nodded. "I think I get what you mean and hey, if actions are better than words, then allow me to show you how much you mean to me."

Suddenly, without any warning, Martin stood close to hold her hands, he moved his head to hers and planted his lips on her left cheek.

"Have a goodnight, Sophie."

Sophie was in bright red, she had been kissed for the first time.

"Uhhh, hello?" Martin waved in front of her.

Sophie was still, as if she became a statue when in truth she was in a state of shock.

Martin then thought of going one step further. He gently pulled her close and softly pressed his lips on hers, settling into a loose yet soft kiss. Then the kiss began to become a bit more firm when Sophie snapped out of her shock and blinked before closing her eyes and letting herself get lost in what was her first kiss.

After pulling out of the kiss after half a minute, Martin smiled and walked away, leaving Sophie to feel a lot of happy emotions.

"Goodnight, Martin." Was all she could say. "I'll see you soon..."

It may had been a short moment for Sophie, but she was feeling overwhelmed yet happy, for she now had something new to cherish...a boyfriend.

THE END

I don't know why, but I felt that because Sophie is my favorite (along with Platcha), she needed someone to have a relationship.

All done and there may be plans for another Atelier story coming soon, so follow me if you wanna be updated on my stories. :)