(A/N: Life sure is something that gets in the way of things, huh?! But a new chapter exists after all this time so... yay. I have to admit, there are several things holding me back from writing this story that are related to the plot. I seriously need to find someone I can discuss this story with or else it will never get done...)

Annie fiddled with the spoon in her hand, twirling it around, flipping it up and down, and very occasionally using it to stir her cup of tea, while she leaned on the counter in the restaurant.

The two of them, Annie and Raeger, were chatting and laughing with each other, swapping stories about recent happenings. They felt awkward when they would talk about their love lives in front of Mistel, so they would meet up from time to time like this.

Mid-conversation, the door to the restaurant burst open and the two inside stopped laughing abruptly to see who was there.

It was Fritz, the most well known for bursting into rooms, and he said to them, "Hey, have you heard?"

There was a brief moment of silence before Annie spoke up, "How can we know if we've heard it if you don't say what it is?"

"Mistel and Lillie are dating!" Fritz said.

Annie and Raeger's eyes grew wide and they looked at each other, both shocked, confused, and slightly horrified.

After grilling Fritz for all the information he had, Annie and Raeger were running to find Mistel. Mistel himself was standing at his counter as he usually was, but right now he was not attentive to his surroundings. He was staring at a wall, still going over in his mind all the things he and Lillie had said yesterday.

He wondered why he had decided to let her have what she, supposedly, wanted, but he shook his head absent mindedly then, knowing Lillie would lose interest in him soon enough.

Suddenly the door in front of him swung open so violently, it seemed about to fly off its hinges. Mistel felt as though his heart had leapt up his throat and he didn't calm down much by seeing his two close friends.

"From the looks on your faces, I'm guessing you know I'm dating Lillie now," Mistel said.

Raeger and Annie said nothing in reply. They entered the building and continued approaching him, slowly, until they were so close and still quiet that Mistel felt more than anxious.

"Wh-why are you looking at me like that?" Mistel murmured.

Raeger and Annie yelled together, "WHY WEREN'T WE THE FIRST TO KNOW?!"

Mistel and Lillie hadn't exactly wanted to rush off and tell the whole town, but Iris had found them and so, that she would leave them be, they had told her what had happened.

Lillie had said goodbye and ran away, leaving the building behind. Iris had apologised for scaring away Mistel's new girlfriend and he had pretended that he wasn't just a slight bit relieved.

Both Mistel and Lillie knew word was bound to spread now that someone else knew, but they were glad they had gotten that one extra day of peace.

Now, Mistel had closed up his own shop for a short time and had pushed Raeger back to his restaurant so that he could get back to work. He stayed and talked to Raeger, knowing his curiosity would not be satiated otherwise, while Annie said she would see him later.

"I'm just so shocked!" Raeger exclaimed and Mistel nodded his head as though he were only half listening. "You never even mentioned Lillie before!"

Raeger looked closer at Mistel, noticing he didn't seem happy or excited.

"So… why? What happened to make you decide to go out with her?"

"...She asked me out," Mistel admitted.

Raeger waited a few moments, expecting Mistel to say something more, but when the silence had gone on long enough, Raeger yelled, "You mean, you don't even like her?! Oh no… Come on. That's just not fair. Lillie has the worst luck ever..."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic. Don't you have more important things to worry about than Lillie anyway? Focus your attention on your boyfriend or something," Mistel said and was out of the restaurant in a second, not giving Raeger even a chance to stop him.

Rather than returning to the antique shop right away, Mistel headed around town, smiling when he found Annie. She was finishing up some purchases at the trade depot when she turned and saw Mistel nearby.

"Oh. Have you finished talking to Raeger?" she asked.

"Yes. He only had a few comments to make," Mistel replied.

"I see." Annie stepped forward and her voice became slightly more hushed as she continued. "I had wanted to say… that I was surprised. Surprised that you were dating anyone at all. I mean, it hasn't really been that long since… I started going out with Elise."

Mistel tried to think of something better to do than to simply shrug so that Annie would not react the same way Raeger did. But Annie furrowed her brow and spoke again before he did.

"Wait..." she murmured, "was this my fault? Were you ready to move on and be with somebody else, but I was holding you back? Because I said I might date you? I'm so sorry!"

Mistel quickly interrupted, "No! No, that wasn't what happened. In fact, I didn't know Lillie even liked me until very recently!"

Annie peered at him in confusion, tilting her head as she thought. "Hmm… Then when did you start liking her?" she asked.

Mistel was silent for awhile, then laughed and said, "So how are things with you and Elise?"

Annie jumped and took awhile to reply. "Uhhhh, things are... going well."

"Is that all?"

"I, uh... I can't speak for Elise but I'm happy. She makes me happy... and she seems like she's happy too so... that means things are good, right?"

Mistel smiled at Annie's genuineness and nodded. "Well then, I think it's about time I got back to my shop," he said and walked away, managing to escape confrontation.

White snow blanketed the rooftops around town. Outside the Guild Hall, Elise and Fritz were exchanging a few final words before they returned to their farms that early Tuesday morning. The two squabbling farmers brought their conversation to a close when Mistel, a little ways away, caught their eyes.

"Mornin' Mistel!" Fritz yelled out quickly, forcing Mistel to go over to them instead of walking on by.

Elise also said good morning before Mistel reached them and then greeted them both the same.

"Did Annie decide not to participate in this conquest?" Mistel asked, knowing farmers did not gather so early at the Guild Hall for any reason other than conquests.

"Oh, she said she didn't want to compete if I was going to be one of her opponents," Elise said.

"I see..." Mistel said with a grin, making Elise regret mentioning.

A few moments later, before any of them got a chance to finish a new sentence, Lillie exited the Inn as she was heading to the city for work. She was caught off guard by the group outside the Guild Hall and a long bout of silence followed.

Fritz and Elise stared at both Mistel and Lillie, expecting them to interact in some special way now that they were dating, so the atmosphere that came with the silence was terribly awkward.

Finally, Mistel said, "Good morning Lillie," to which she replied in a squeaky voice, "Morning!"

When Fritz and Elise decided to take over the conversation again, they were relieved.

However, Mistel could not have expected the next thing he was to hear.

"Hey, now that you two are together, you could go on a double date with me and Raeger!" said Fritz.

"Or Annie and I," Elise suggested additionally.

Mistel grimaced as he could not imagine a more horrible experience. He did not even say anything, but simply began backing away so that they would see the expression on his face, which read, no way in hell.

When he reached the stairs opposite the Guild Hall, he turned around and proceeded down them. Soon he heard Lillie rushing to catch up to him.

Mistel was quiet for a moment before saying, "You're on your way to work, aren't you? I can walk you to the gate."

Lillie was a little startled but didn't protest. She quickly stepped up beside him so they were walking side by side.

As they walked along, Lillie began to talk. "This is… um, the first time that… that we've been alone together since..."

"Since you confessed to me?" Mistel finished in her place.

"Yes. And, well, I don't know what I was expecting but… you seem the same as always. While I'm over here… nerves eating away at me every time I'm around you..."

They were at the gate now, so the two of them stopped and Mistel said, "Oh, that's what you're worried about? Now that we're dating, you were hoping I'd be more honest so you could see a deeper side of me?"

"Uh, I mean, I wasn't expecting that really but… now that you mention it, that would be nice." Lillie's eyes focused on the ground as she was not up to looking Mistel in the eye.

A moment later, Lillie felt a hand on her face and jumped. Mistel was lifting her chin so she would have to stare him down.

"Don't worry, Lillie," he said, "You said you wanted to date me, so I'm going to give you the full experience." Then he let his hand fall back down by his side and turned to leave.

Lillie was frozen for several moments but managed to call out to him, "W-w-wait, what does that mean?!"

"You'll see. You'll see..." came Mistel's response.

He stifled his laughter so Lillie would not hear him as he left the trade depot.

Mistel was merciless. He remained as civil as necessary, but whenever he was alone with Lillie, he took as many chances as he could get to joke around and upset her nerves each time. She had always been a fun target so Mistel did not have to try very hard to be entertained.

The thought came to him occasionally when he saw Lillie hiding her face that he rarely felt as free as he did when teasing her. The only other time he'd felt this free was when he would chat with Raeger, and that hardly happened anymore with Raeger's new schedule.

The following Saturday, Lillie and Mistel had the chance to spend more time together than on weekdays, and during this time, she began to ask him a question.

"Um… Mistel?"

"Yes?"

"I've been wondering… That time when I ran into you with Elise and Fritz, was the reason you looked so horrified about their double date suggestions because you don't like dates or… is it just the idea of being on a date with me?"

Mistel was quick to dispel these thoughts from Lillie's mind. While grimacing again at the thought of a double date, he said, "I would never want to share an intimate moment with my lover with others."

Lillie perked up. "Does that mean you would want to go on a date?" She immediately regretted saying this, looking down and covering her face with her hands. "N-no, I'm sorry! Pretend I didn't say that-"

But it was already too late. Mistel had a sly smile on his face as he said, "Oh, I have the perfect idea! Yes, we should have an early dinner. Is that all right with you?"

"...What do you mean by the perfect idea?!"

"Oh, Lillie. I already said that I couldn't spoil any surprises… So, shall we meet at 6 at my place? After all, I wouldn't want to share this intimate moment with anyone else..."

Lillie remained with her head buried in her hands for several moments longer before finding courage enough to squeak, "Okay!"

And so she arrived at the antique shop at approximately 6, when Mistel was serving up their meal for that night. She kept her eye on him, suspicious, as he finished setting the table and awaited her to take her seat.

Even as Lillie sat at the table, she kept thinking about how Mistel had said 'the perfect idea' and wondering what he could be plotting. Mistel observed her motionlessness for awhile before asking, "Was it too early? Are you not hungry?"

Lillie looked up, shaking her head and saying, "No, I'm fine!"

She took a forkful of her meal and ate quickly, continuing for a few more forkfuls before slowing her pace.

"Hmm, what else do couples do?" Mistel murmured.

He already knew exactly what he was going to do next, but he watched Lillie awhile in silence to see if she would react to his words.

Lillie remained focused on her plate, although she played with her hair absent mindedly a little to make sure her ears were covered entirely by brown locks, as her ears had gone hot and turned pink at Mistel's question.

Mistel now took a forkful of his own dish and said, "Lillie? Say ahhh."

Knowing she'd react now, Mistel watched gleefully as Lillie's eyes widened and she turned her head up to face him. She stared at him, stunned for some time, and then snapped, "No!"

She clamped her mouth shut defiantly after this proclamation. Mistel asked again but Lillie only shook her head.

He sighed. "If you want this relationship to work, you're going to have to fight your embarrassment sometimes."

Truthfully, they had done nothing couple-like in the time they'd been going out. Lillie knew little of what relationships were like, but she knew that much.

She knew her face must be bright red now, but she bravely said, "All right then!"

When Mistel noticed she was leaning across the table, he leaned to meet her midway and Lillie then took hold of the fork as well, so she would at least have partial control.

She cleaned off the fork with one swift bite and retreated back to her seat where she chewed grumpily, looking off to the side.

Mistel said soon after, "You know it's completely fine if you want to get revenge and embarrass me back, right?"

"Don't be ridiculous! Anything that would embarrass you would embarrass me more!" Lillie replied.

Mistel let the smile on his face turn into a laugh now, not caring if Lillie thought he was even crueller than before.

A moment later, Lillie continued, "It might be different if you would tell me your weaknesses."

Mistel stopped laughing at once, startled. "Excuse me…? What do you mean?"

"Well, you can get inside other people's heads so you know what they're thinking… You know all my weaknesses and can figure out other people's too. It's only fair that you tell your girlfriend your weaknesses so we can be equals."

Mistel laughed nervously, relieved, and then softly said, "Not so early into this relationship."

Lillie was confused. Mistel found the blank, innocent look on her face to be adorable and a little hilarious too, so he began laughing loudly as he had been shortly before.