Author's Note: Sorry, real life physics and Creative Writing class got in the way, as did Mass Effect 2. A short chapter, but I'll make up for it by continuing regular updates again. Also, please review. I need the criticism.
Lull
Merle sat on Van's bed, laid stomach down, her hands propping up her head as she half smiled and grinned at Van, who was busy at work again with several papers. Once in a while Van would look up at Merle, who would then smile, giggle or would be preoccupied hugging Van's pillows. He just shrugged, unable to comprehend why Merle was so happy.
Of course, he was happy too. He couldn't deny that, but not as happy as Merle seemed to be. It had pained him to have to let Merle go and return to his work, even if it was just across the room. They had however, kept up their conversation, though it was moving a slower pace now that Van was occupied on his papers. He had to be more careful, he had caught himself about to approve a plan that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a terrible waste of resources. He was also sure he'd sign an agreement to appear at some ball somewhere.
He groaned in annoyance, he probably did sign some paper like that. But it was too late now, he can't very well erase the signature, or ignore that paper, relations with other countries had to be maintained. Even if it meant going to terribly boring balls.
"So Lord Van, I wa-"
"Merle, don't you think we're past you calling me Lord all the time?"
"No, never." She crossed her arms and furiously nodded, seeming to violently reject the idea that Lord Van would ever be anything other than Lord Van. "If you had wanted to not call you that you would have said so a long time ago don't you think? Besides, if I didn't call you Lord Van, what would I call you?"
Van put down his plume, and looked at her, surprised that she couldn't simply say his name, no title at all. The idea didn't even occur to her. "Why don't you simply call me Van?"
"What? Just call you… by your name?" She seemed to think about it for a few seconds, "Is that what you want?"
"I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't. Merle, just call me by my name. We don't need any of these silly titles anymore."
She made a face, then sighed in resignation, "Fine, I'll work on it Lord Van. Say, can we tell anyone?"
Van looked up from his paperwork, shrugged. "I don't see why you couldn't. Why, do you have someone in mind?"
Hitomi and Angie, to see the look on their faces.
"No, not at the moment, but I'm just asking. You know," she began as she rose from the bed and walked over to Van's desk. She quickly glanced over his papers and began sorting some of them, "we might not even need to tell anyone, they might not notice. We do spend most of our time together as it is."
She suddenly held up an letter inviting Van to a ball held in a nearby town, in the kingdom of Asturia. Van shrugged, nodding his head causing Merle to roll her eyes and giggle. "Pay less attention to me and more attention to your work… Wait no."
They spent the next few minutes going over the papers. Their comfortable silence allowed Van to fully read over everything before he signed and approved, while Merle neatly stacked papers, sorted them out according to what they were, plans for new renovations, letters from other countries, business contracts from merchants and signed letters agreeing to show up at boring balls in other countries. She huffed, "Lord Van, when you go to these things I'm going with you. I can barely stand girls in Fanelia fawning over you, much less rich princesses doing the same."
"You know you shouldn't be jealous" Van said, finishing the final paper and sitting back, exhausted, "It's not like I'm going to leave you, or do something disgraceful."
Merle jumped into Van's lap and hugged him, "You'd better not. I know where you live."
They laughed, and Merle reached over and kissed Van's cheek. It would have been surprising had she already not done it several times throughout their lives, but today it was slightly different. They looked at each other and again realized that they were not looking at simply best friends, but people who held affection for each other. They talked for a while, holding each other as they had many times before, but differently. "You know Lord Van, we might not have to tell anyone. They might figure it out themselves… or they might not."
"What do you mean they might not? When they see us together they'll, oh… I see what you mean."
Merle placed her head against Van's chest, the sound of his heart beating within, "Mmmh, yeah. We're always together and we're pretty close anyway. They might not notice. I wouldn't mind, I know the truth." They continued to talk, with Merle finally asking Lord Van how he had never noticed her affections to him. "Well Merle," he began half jokingly, "when you are being trained from childhood to maybe kill a dragon, cut out its heart and lead a nation and then shortly afterwards end up in the biggest war Gaea has had in history, you tend to not notice a lot of things that don't revolve around running a nation or swinging a sword." Merle was quite appalled that she had never thought of this.
How could I have never noticed this?
She hugged him, her arms wrapped round her neck, her body shifting position to be closer to him. "I'm sorry" she whispered. She had never thought of Van's personal life before, she was always there, but she hadn't realized that she looked at his life differently than he did. She always remembers playing with him around his meal times, when Balgus and his other teachers were not around, when his mother gave him free time. Since that was all she saw, she assumed that was all he did. But was she there when Balgus and others would teach him to hold a sword when he was 6? To stab and aim for unprotected parts on a man when he was 10? Was she there when his father once sternly lectured him on his responsibility should his older brother fail, that thousands counted on him?
She hugged him, and whispered "I'm sorry" again. She wasn't there before, she was too small to know what was going on, but she could be here now.
