…
Today was the day.
Castiel did not get nervous easily; he was usually too busy not caring to get nervous.
But then again, what else were you supposed to feel when you decided that you were going to confess to the girl you liked? You're supposed to be at least a little nervous, right? I mean, he didn't plan on confess his undying love to her or anything but still.
Demon barked at him, telling him that he was going to be late for school if he didn't hurry-not that he really cared. Castiel was never one to worry about perfect attendance, but he had recently decided that showing up to school on time now and then wasn't such a bad thing if it meant he could see her a bit before class.
Ugh, he sounded like such a sap. He had never been this jumpy or sappy, not even when he dated Deborah.
Castiel groaned, running his hand through his recently dyed locks before he grabbed his keys and headed towards the door. Demon barked again, wagging his tail happily as his owner petted his head.
Although the canine didn't know what was making his red-haired companion so jumpy on such a fine day-oh, look, a squirrel was outside the window-he was sure it had something to do with that other red-haired human that often played with him in the park after school when he snuck out through the loose board in the fence. Yeah, that girl was fun. Demon liked her. She smelled like chocolate and flowers and-
Was that another squirrel?
…
Today was the day.
Kentin nervously played with the top button on his shirt, staring at his reflection with a frown. He didn't want to go out of his way to impress her-she'd probably freak out; she didn't like the spotlight very much-but he didn't want to look like a slob either.
God, why was this so nerve-wracking? He had had no problem before confessing his love to her, but then again, he wasn't exactly the same kid he had been back then. And more importantly, she wasn't the same girl.
I mean, she was but she wasn't at the same time.
"Ugh, that makes no sense," muttered the brunette, rubbing his face with the palms of his hands.
"Kentin, darling, you're going to miss breakfast if you don't hurry," his mother called from downstairs.
"Coming," he replied, sparing one last glance at the mirror before he grabbed his bag and raced downstairs where his parents waited at the table. "Morning."
"You're late," stated his father. "You never oversleep. And…are you wearing my cologne?"
Kentin flushed. "I…ah…"
His mother gasped, pointing her fork at him as a large smile formed on her features. Her eyes, green like his, were hidden by her comically large glasses but he could tell they were sparkling with joy.
"Oh, are you finally going to tell Dawn Pixie how you feel about her?" She exclaimed.
"Dawn Pixie?" Her husband boomed. "Is that the redheaded girl who you pined after in middle school?"
"I…uh…gotta go, bye," stammered Kentin, kissing his mother on the cheek before grabbing a piece of toast and racing out of his house.
Before he was completely out of earshot, he heard his father exclaim, "That girl would make a great wife for him!"
Kentin turned as red as his crush's hair.
…
Today was the day.
Nathaniel waited patiently outside the bathroom he was unfortunate enough to share with his sister, checking his appearance in the hallway mirror. He knew, of course, that he looked alright since he had woken up on time-like always-and had plenty of time to do his morning routine.
However, he wondered if maybe he should try something new. He had already gotten new clothes with help from Rosalya, but it had already become something familiar to everybody. He had never confessed to a girl before; what if he was supposed to dress up or something?
A bead of sweat trickled down the side of the blonde's forehead and he quickly wiped it away as he knocked on the bathroom door.
"Amber, hurry up and finish," he exclaimed loudly enough to be heard over his sister's blow dryer. "I need to use the bathroom too." He wasn't sure why he bothered; she always hogged the bathroom, leaving him barely any time before their father drove them to school. And besides, he had already told her to hurry up six times. She wouldn't open up for the seventh time.
However, to his surprise, the door swung open and Amber flipped her blonde locks as she brushed past him. "Geez, what's your hurry today? You've never insisted in getting to the bathroom this quickly."
Nathaniel opened his mouth to reply but his sister was already heading back to her bedroom to get dressed. He shook his head and closed the door behind him, unable to help the small smile that formed on his features.
Luck seemed to be on his side this morning.
…
Today was the day.
Armin was finally going to do it. He could do it, no problem. If he could beat that stubborn gym leader and catch a rare Pokémon in one sitting, he could do this. No problem.
And yet, he was jumpier than that time he had unexpectedly walked into a boss battle and died right away. And he hated it.
Armin wasn't normally anything but laidback and maybe slightly annoyed, but never anxious. He was a pretty confident guy, he liked to think, but several scenarios kept appearing in his mind.
What if she rejected him? What if she laughed in his face? What if she didn't understand it was a confession and other people nearby laughed at him?
Alright, that last one seemed fairly likely. As much as he liked Dawn, she was pretty clueless about certain things.
But still-surely she would get a very blunt "I like you; let's go out", right? No, no, she'd probably be confused and say something like "I like you too…isn't that why we're friends?"
Wait.
Armin began to panic; he had missed a very important mission: figure out how he was going to confess to her. This wasn't like one of his games where he could go back to a checkpoint if he messed up.
Damn, he was starting to get stressed out.
"Crap, crap, crap," he muttered under his breath, digging through his bag frantically for his GameBoy. He ignored his brother's annoyed expression.
Maybe he'd get inspired using a cheatcode or something?
…
Today was the day.
Lysander examined the most recent song he had written as his brother searched for his car keys. For whatever reason, Leigh lost a lot of things. How someone could be so careless, he wasn't sure. It was a bad habit; maybe he could buy his brother a planner or suggest a new organizing process.
What was he talking about?
Right; today was the day.
He wondered if he was supposed to feel nervous. He was questioning whether or not she would understand it was a confession, of course, but he would feel as if it would be alright if she did understand and rejected him.
As much as Lysander enjoyed the thought of being more than friends with her, he valued his friendship with her much more. Aside from Rosalya, he didn't have many female friends and as ditzy as she could be from time to time, Dawn was excellent company.
"I think I left them in my other jacket," said Leigh, going back upstairs. "I hope Rosalya doesn't mind waiting a bit longer."
"As long as you don't take all morning, she wouldn't mind," replied his younger brother, turning his attention back to his songbook. Something was off about it; maybe he could talk about it with Castiel and see if the redheaded boy noticed anything.
…
"Today is the day."
Rosalya said this firmly into her phone, not even bothering to say hello to her best friend as she stood outside her boyfriend's store, waiting for him to arrive.
The other girl sputtered for a few seconds, understanding what the white-haired girl meant right away. "B-But, Rosa, I can't! I mean, I don't think I could do it."
"Yes, you can," replied Rosalya, rolling her eyes. "Yesterday night, you were all confident about how you were finally going to confess and damn the consequences or something like that. Now you're chickening out? I mean, I had doubts about you actually confessing today but come on, Dawn! This little crush has been budding for months! You know, they say if you have a crush on someone for six months or more, it means you're in love with them."
"Not helping," came the redhead's whine. "That would make it worse, you know, when he rejects me!"
"Oh, for God's sake," exclaimed Rosalya, sounding as exasperated as she felt. This was getting ridiculous. "He's not going to reject you! He likes you! It is obvious to everyone but you! So you stop moping around on your bed, get dressed in something cute, and go to school already! If you don't, I swear to all the gods that I will confess for you and you know that I would not make it simple and not humiliating in some way."
"Alright, alright," sighed Dawn. The white-haired girl could practically see her best friend rolling her amethyst eyes. "I'll do whatever you want, Master."
"Remember, something cute," repeated Rosalya. "You know what? Leigh's store is only a block away from your house; I could just walk over and…"
"No!" Dawn practically screamed. "I can dress myself! Whatever you'd pick out would be over-the-top anyways! I'm not going out of my way, okay? And no, I am not going to dress like a slob either. I…I'll see you at school in a bit. Bye."
Rosalya sighed as her friend hung up on her. She looked up upon hearing a car honk and smiled as her boyfriend's car came around the corner.
"Morning," she greeted, kissing Leigh as he came out of the car. He handed the keys to his brother, who switched to the driver's seat. "I'll see you after school, kay?"
She glanced over at Lysander, who seemed more lost in thought than usual, and then at Kentin racing down the opposite street with a nervous expression plastered on. As she got in the car, she also noticed Nathaniel and Amber sitting in the backseat of the car next to them. He also had a nervous expression on his face, as did Armin who was arguing with his brother as they walked down the street from the bus stop.
Rosalya's eyes widened as a large, amused smile formed on her face.
Oh, if one boy overwhelmed her friend, five boys were going to make her head explode.
Yes, today definitely was going to be interesting.
…
"Today is the day," muttered Dawn as she nervously approached the school, playing with one of her bright red curls. "Wear something cute…that'd be easy if I had remembered to do the laundry yesterday."
Instead of wearing something appealing like her favorite white dress with the cherries, she had no choice but to wear a pair of dark jeans from the hamper and a marigold blouse that was a bit tighter in certain areas than absolutely necessary. Despite what certain people thought, she was not flat-chested and the tightness of the shirt made her slightly uncomfortable.
However, her nerves outweighed her discomfort and that was even worse, she thought as she stood in front of her locker and entered the combination.
It wasn't as if she was totally clueless about boys and relationships; at her old school, she had a boyfriend now and then (okay so only two, but still). She just wasn't that great at figuring out whether or not a guy was into her. And she wasn't great at flirting or anything either. So she always made it awkward or weird whenever she tried to get a guy to notice her.
However, things were different here. The people, especially the guys, were easier to talk to than at her old school. Sure, Castiel was like a ticking time bomb at times but he was pretty cool most of the time. Kentin was really easy to talk to now that he wasn't being a borderline stalker around her. Nathaniel made interesting conversation, even if she sometimes did doze off in the middle. Armin was always fun to be around, unless she accidentally interrupted his game. And Lysander always had something thoughtful to say, giving off a sophisticated aura.
All in all, they were all pretty great guys. However, only one of them managed to give her butterflies whenever she was around him. And today she was going to find out if he liked her that way too.
Dawn nodded to herself, giving herself a mental pep talk since Rosalya was nowhere to be found, when she felt a chill go down her spine. She slowly turned around and was startled to find the object of her affection standing there…with the other four guys she had been thinking about.
"Uh, morning," she stated, unsure of what was going on. All the guys had neutral expressions on, but she could feel the animosity in the air. "Is…is something wrong, you guys?" Well, so much for confessing as soon as she saw him. No way was she confessing in front of a crowd.
"Oh, haha, now I understand what you were saying!"
Dawn jumped, startled, as Alexy magically appeared on one side with Rosalya on the other. The energetic boy had a knowing smile on his face as he looped his arm with Dawn's.
"Hey, Dawn, let's walk to class together today," he exclaimed, already dragging her away from the five other boys.
"H-Huh?" The confused redhead managed to get out. Jeez, he was a lot faster than she thought he was. "H-Hey, Alexy, why are you taking me to the science room when we both have math first thing? And Rosa, why are you coming too? You have Spanish!"
"Hush, Dawn," replied her best friend as the three of them entered the science room.
Dawn, realizing she was not leaving anytime soon, sighed and perched herself on top of one of the desks. She crossed her arms and looked at her friends expectantly as they had a silent conversation. She had about ten minutes before the bell rang anyways.
Finally, Alexy and Rosalya looked at her with bright grins.
Dawn regarded them warily. "Okay, so what's the big deal? As glad as I am that you pulled me out of that five-way brawl that was coming, I want to know why they looked ready to kill each other and why you both are staring at me like that. Stop it. It's getting weird."
"Well, firstly, I notice that those are the same jeans you wore the other day and that I also noticed marigold is not your best color," began Rosalya.
"But it is a cute outfit," interrupted Alexy, still grinning. "Although maybe it's just Dawn who's making it cute."
The redhead flushed at the compliment. "I highly doubt my clothes are the reason you dragged me in here."
Rosalya's grin was quite frightening. "Okay, so remember how we talked about how You-Know-Who likes you?"
"I really hope we're not talking about Voldemort. Owie!" Dawn rubbed her arm where her friend had smacked her. "Okay, yes, I remember. It was literally less than twenty minutes ago, Rosa."
The white-haired girl was practically bouncing on her heels. "So I realize I miscalculated some things…" Dawn's heart dropped. "It turns out that not only does he like you, but the other four available guys you hang out with also are into you!"
Dawn's jaw dropped. That explained why Alexy was there then; he probably figured out his brother's crush.
The blue-haired boy chuckled at her reaction. "Yeah, and it turns out they all had the same idea as you!"
Dawn felt lightheaded. "So…when they were all out in the hallway earlier…"
"They were going to confess to you," squealed Rosalya. "Oh, it's like a really romantic soap opera…minus all the killing…hopefully. But, Dawn, this means you have more than one choice now! Do you know how many girls wished they had five boys confessing to them?"
"B-But I only like one of them that way," sputtered Dawn, her cheeks turning as red as her hair. Jesus, maybe the guys here weren't as simple as she thought they were. This never happened at her old school! "I…I can't just choose one of them as a rebound!"
"No, of course not," agreed Alexy. "And we're not suggesting that." He gave Rosalya a pointed look and she sighed, calming down.
"No, we're not," she agreed. "But how about you forget about confessing right away in the morning? I think the boys were growling at each other when we left so the tension is really thick. You can confess after school and then race home before the others jump him!"
"…you're looking forward to this, aren't you? Both of you?"
Alexy and Rosalya merely grinned at her and she dropped her head, sighing as she wondered what mess she had unknowingly gotten herself into.
…
Rosalya wasn't lying when she said that things were going to be tense. It was hard to pretend she had no idea why things were like that, but even harder to avoid all of the guys in case they confessed. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you looked at it, they were willing to sabotage each other to avoid that confession.
Castiel tripped Armin in math, embarrassing the gamer too much to confess right there.
Kentin accidentally hit her in the mouth while trying to hide from the others-Nathaniel was scary when he tried to and he didn't want to know how intimidating Armin could be; he already knew how terrifying Castiel was-and was too flustered to even apologize properly before he raced out of Home Ec.
Nathaniel was too flustered to even recite his lines in English for their assignment, nevermind confess to the girl.
Lysander actually did get her alone for a few moments but he must have read something in her expression because he merely smiled and wished her luck before leaving her confused.
And Castiel was unfortunately trailed by Amber all day; evidently today was the day she was going to convince him to go out with her.
Meanwhile, Alexy and Rosalya were enjoying themselves immensely all day.
So Dawn wasn't sure how she should feel when the last bell of the day finally rang and she went back to her locker.
Again, she felt a chill down her spine and was only slightly surprised when she spotted four boys behind her. Lysander was still in the hallway, but he was now standing with Alexy and Rosalya. He gave her a small smile and she wondered if she looked as bewildered as she felt.
Seriously, what the hell?
All of a sudden, Dawn felt completely annoyed. All she wanted to do was go home but there was this to deal with. And she knew if she didn't deal with it right away, there was going to be blood on her hands. Maybe literally, depending how violent things got. She knew Castiel wouldn't hesitate to throw the first punch but the others…as much as she liked them, she knew they wouldn't last very long in a fight. According to Deborah's story, Nathaniel could hold out for a bit and maybe Kentin too with his time at military school. Armin would probably try something insane from one of his games.
So it was either gather her courage and confess to the one boy, or pretend she's completely oblivious and go on with the knowledge they'd try to kill each other for who-knows-how-long.
She wasn't entirely sure which option was worse.
Dawn sighed deeply, shaking her head. No, no; she did say that today was going to be the day. Do it quickly then race home. Rip it off like a Band-Aid. Yeah. She could totally do this.
She opened her mouth, looking at the four boys. They were all looking at her. She could not do this.
"Look, I think you're all great and I know what you had planned to do today but I have to be totally honest. I only like one of you," she talked really, really fast. It was a struggle to even understand what she was saying. "So please, please, please understand that no matter what, I'd really like all of us to be friends because I really do value our friendship and I'm rambling and I'm really sorry. It's just that I had also planned to confess to somebody today and you guys totally threw me off, making me really nervous because you guys can figure out that I'm no good at these things."
Dawn finally paused long enough to breathe and they all waited patiently. "I…look, can you at least agree that you won't try to kill each other or anything no matter who I confess to liking?" Reluctantly, they nodded. "Good. Now close your eyes. I don't want you all staring at me when I tell you."
The four boys exchanged looks and nodded, doing as she asked. Dawn bit her lip nervously, ignoring the excited looks Rosalya and Alexy had. Lysander was still smiling encouragingly at her, as if he already knew who she liked. See, Dawn appreciated the fact that despite also having plans to confess to her, he had backed off with the understanding that her friendship was greater than this.
Castiel, Armin, Kentin, and Nathaniel all waited patiently albeit nervously. They did hope to be the one lucky enough to catch Dawn's attention, but they all had a mutual understanding that as long as that person made her happy, they wouldn't interfere. Her happiness was all they valued; they had all seen her depressed and upset after the whole Deborah debacle and they never wanted to see that kind of expression on her face again.
Finally, after a few more minutes, Rosalya and Alexy's laughs echoed through the halls. Even Lysander was chuckling. The four boys, confused, slowly opened their eyes and stared at Dawn's locker since the girl in the question was no longer there.
There, right there for all of them to see, was a sticky note with her loopy handwriting. As the message sunk in, Rosalya ran after her best friend, still laughing, while Alexy began howling and the boys stared.
I like Castiel, now please don't kill each other!
Guess who had an uncharacteristically goofy grin on his face for the rest of the day?
…
I don't own My Candy Love.
Okay, so this was kind of random but the plot bunny wouldn't go away. I hope you like it; this is my first story for MCL. I also hope that I kept everybody mostly in character…
So…yeah…Lysander backed off midway because he's the kind of person to reanalyze the situation and figure out who Candy really likes. The others though are all stubborn as hell.
I obviously prefer Castiel, but feel free to imagine that Candy wrote a different name on that note since I didn't really make it obvious who she liked. Also, in the beginning when all the boys are getting ready, I ordered it from highest affinity to lowest for one of my Candies. Yes, I have five. No, I have no shame.
This Candy in particular is named "DawnPixie123" if you're interested in having any new friends. She has highest affinity with Castiel.
My other four Candies, again, if you're interested:
"Annabella321" has highest affinity with Kentin.
"Cupidella123" has highest affinity with Armin.
"Pandetta" with Kentin.
"LollyDotty" with Lysander.
Yeah, actually not a huge fan of Nathaniel. Don't know why; he's adorkable and all, but kind of a snooze. No offense if you like him or anything; just my personal opinion.
Anyways…I'd appreciate it if you tell me your thoughts and I'll see if I am "worthy" of writing anymore MCL fanfics!