In the mood for fluff because of cotton candy… Jerlita oneshot, only this time it's a happy one, despite my record of sad ones. This takes place right after Season 1, before Season 2 really begins (around "New Order", after she moves in and after that episode has ended).

The Clichéd Carnival, by C.W.

-Flashback-

"Aelita, I made this for you because you're special to me. Aelita, I… I made this for you because you're more than special to me…" Jeremie murmured to himself as he paced up and down the hallway outside of Aelita's dorm room, anxiously clutching a gift-wrapped box that he was holding as he rehearsed to what he was going to say to her, in order not to freeze up when she finally came out of her room. "Aelita, I love you… no wait, she'll think that's clichéd."
"What will I think is clichéd?" Aelita asked, stepping out of her room wearing stylish black flats and an ankle-length black dress with a beautiful silk pink ribbon tied around her waist.

"I… uh… I… You look… beau… I mean gorgeous, Aelita…" Jeremie managed to whisper as Aelita came toward him, pleased at his reaction, as Yumi had kept her in her room until she was done making her look beautiful for Jeremie, as it was their first date. "I made this for you in my spare time" Jeremie whispered, still stunned by her looks as he handed the box to her.

"Oh, Jeremie, it is wonderful! You shouldn't have, really!" Aelita exclaimed as she opened the box to find a machine with a large screen display about the size of her palm.
"It's an 'iLita', I made it for you…" Jeremie murmured softly as he blushed heavily. "It plays your music and your videos, it allows you to go online, and allows you to compose music- knowing how much you like music so much."
"Oh, Jeremie!" Aelita nearly shouted with joy as she gave Jeremie a hug, her eyes threatening to spill the happy tears she had.

-Flashback End-

Jeremie was nervous; actually, nervous was an understatement in describing his nervousness at the situation. Here, the usually calm and collected programmer could not focus his thoughts, nor control his blushing as his love interest held his hand in hers as she wandered around the carnival grounds, seemingly entranced by everything she saw. All around her was a whirlwind of sights, sounds, and smells, and it seemed like she was unable to take them all in and experience them fully all at once, leaving her quite disappointed at the limitations of the human body. Eventually, her eyes wandered around to look at the venders in the carnival, and spotting one that seemed confusing to her, she tugged on Jeremie's shirt and pointed towards the stand. Jeremie raised an eyebrow and was about to question on what she was pointing to, when he realized that she was pointing to something that she probably never remembered from her childhood, nor has ever experienced in her life. Everything clicked into Jeremie's head, and he answered his own question on why Aelita was curious on such a simple and novel thing. Jeremie smiled gently, reassuringly smiling at her, like a parent would do to their ever curious child.

"Jeremie, why are they selling cotton?" Aelita asked, tilting her head to the side to give an impression of a puzzled puppy, her eyes sparkling with the thought of finding out more about the strange place called "Earth".

"They are selling it because it's to give the people at the carnival some food to keep them full" Jeremie explained. "It's basically something that people would enjoy eating."
"… but Jeremie, I have eaten this cotton before, and it did not taste good in my mouth." Aelita murmured, wondering on how this type of cotton in his carnival could be different. "It was white and fluffy, and it made me sort-of choke on it as it went down my throat."

Jeremie winced at the painful memory of coming to Aelita's room to report on his new findings for making a program to free her from XANA's virus, instead hearing choking sounds coming in from her room. Rushing in without hesitation, he assessed the situation as he quickly dropped his laptop onto her bed. Aelita was sitting on her bed in her pink and red shirt, uttering choking sounds with both of her hands around her throat, her body language plainly telling Jeremie that her throat had obstructing material in it. Jeremie quickly turned Aelita around so that she was facing the wall, went behind her, and made a fist that hooked around her waist, wrapping his other hand around the fist. Without hesitation, he performed the Heimlich maneuver, Aelita coughing more forcibly in an effort to dislodge the material. After a few moments of this, the large, now-wet cotton ball was dislodged from her throat, and it flew out of her mouth, Jeremie stopping the process as it did so. Aelita then weakly turned to Jeremie, and gave him a bear hug, perhaps as a thank-you for his skills in saving her life.

"How could I have forgotten…" Jeremie murmured back, remembering how she had mistaken the cotton ball as something that was edible.
"I thought one of those three-inch big cotton ball things was a food item…"

"Well then… let's try again this time, but we'll do it differently this time!" Jeremie stated, boldly dashing off to get a cotton candy piece from the vendor a few feet away.

Aelita looked on as Jeremie scrambled for the cotton-like items that he had said was alike, but yet so different from the cotton that she had tried to ingest. Jeremie laid his money down on the counter, and then picked up the two cotton-like items on sticks as the vendor handed it to him. With a smile, Jeremie strode back over to Aelita, who was now looking on nervously at the things he was holding. Surely Jeremie didn't go crazy after being stuck to his computer, programming for hours on end, being their first date and all, as Jeremie was like a perfectionist, not wanting anything to go wrong- not even a peep from XANA. Jeremie now stood in front of her, the colorful cotton-like item in Jeremie's hands as he handed one to Aelita, Aelita taking it with a shaking hand, remembering her last encounter with cotton more vividly than in the past week.

"It's okay, Aelita" Jeremie said, taking a piece from his and holding it toward her. "This one's different."

Aelita looked at the blue-colored cotton candy, and she slowly accepted it, and placed it inside her mouth, savoring the sweetness it brought as it touched her tongue. Her taste buds seemed instantly sparked into life as the blue sugar touched it. The sweetness slowly moved from her tongue, and it spread to the rest of her mouth, soon filling her whole being with the sugary flavor. Colored cotton was definitely better than the cotton that she had tried to ingest a week ago, as she closed her eyes and savored the flavor. The deliciousness of the candy was soon over though, and the candy melted into her mouth, causing her to open her eyes in shock as to where it went.

"Mmph! It disappeared!" she exclaimed with wonder.

"Yeah, it does that." Jeremie causally replied, taking a chunk of his and eating it.
"This is definitely better than the cotton ball"
"Want to see what the cool property of it is?" Jeremie asked, taking her hand in his. "Take a piece of yours, and lick it while holding it up." Jeremie gently commanded upon seeing her confused expression.

Aelita did as he said, and took a chunk of her cotton candy, gently licking it with her tongue and observing the spot where she had licked. Almost instantly, the spot darkened, and Aelita could see the pink cotton candy slowly dissolve into the grains of sugar. It was a fascinating sight for her, as she never had the chance to experience this while on Lyoko. Aelita then realized why the cotton candy had disappeared into her mouth without her actually eating it. Earth was a wonderful place full of mysteries, and she was getting to know them, with the help of her rescuer, Jeremie Belpois. With the sight of the candy in her hands, Aelita could not stand to see good candy go to waste, and following what Odd had taught her, placed it into her mouth and savored the candy. Jeremie grinned at her as the moon shone on the two lovers, silhouetting them as dark figures slowly coming together in a slow embrace, the sound of their happy laugher drifting into the night sky above.

-(End)-

…This wasn't that hard to write, actually. Did I get you hungry in the middle of the story? "iLita" and its rights and usage is reserved by Commando Wolf and XANA-Aelita Forever. Yes, her 'iLita' will magnify her skills at creating music- and that's how she DJs so good! XD