For once, waking up was pleasant for Robin.

Bright sunlight was filtering into the room (directly into Robin's face), the result of forgetting to close the blinds the night before. Eyes still closed in an attempt to block out the light, Robin did her best to try and stretch, only to find she was mostly pinned down under Stahl's arms, tightly gripping onto her waist and hips.

Right. Stahl.

She opened her eyes to find herself face to face with him, still deeply asleep.

He has a really pretty face, Robin said to herself, though this wasn't the first time she'd had this thought.

The bright sunlight made his skin look paler, accenting the splash of freckles on his cheeks and shoulder. His eyelashes looked longer with his eyes closed, and his perpetually-messy hair was made even messier from a night of being slept on and... other activities.

Robin blushed at the thought.

Her phone started buzzing on the bedside table, which made Stahl stir. Robin reached out for it, noted that it was Chrom calling her, and promptly put her phone back down.

Stahl's grip loosened around Robin, and he slowly opened his eyes. He stared at her blankly for a minute before realizing who it was staring back at him.

His face lit up.

"Good morning," he said cheerfully, pulling her closer again. He nuzzled his face into the crook of Robin's neck, the sensation tickling her. She bit back a giggle. He smelled nice, like hotel soap and cinnamon, and she could feel how fast his heart was beating. Robin definitely enjoyed the closeness.

"Good morning to you, too," Robin replied. "You look happy today."

He grinned against her skin.

"Of course I am. This hotel has a free breakfast buffet."

Robin replied with a blank look. He laughed and kissed her, gentle but enough to keep her heart racing. She loved how casually he'd done it, though, how comfortable they felt with each other. Her biggest fear had been that things between them would be awkward in the morning, though so far Stahl was doing a stellar job of calming that fear simply by being around.

"I'm kidding... Though I am pretty excited about that."

Robin laughed.

Her phone went off again. She groaned.

"Who is it?" Stahl asked a bit sheepishly, still fighting off the last bit of sleep.

Robin didn't bother looking at the display. "Chrom."

"Of course," Stahl murmured.

He stayed quiet and held Robin tightly while she answered.

"Good morning Robiiiin," Chrom sang into the phone.

Robin sighed.

"What, Chrom?"

"Ooh, you're grumpy this morning," he said. She could hear the din of voices and clattering plates around him, leading Robin to figure he was already having breakfast.

"It's early, Chrom," Robin told him.

"It's past ten, Robin."

"Oh."

He laughed on the other end of the line.

"Olivia and I are having breakfast-" Robin could hear a faint 'hi, Robin!' in the background, "and the good coffee'll probably be gone in the next ten minutes. Plus they stop serving food in a half hour. So come down. And get Stahl, while you're at it."

Robin would sooner die than stick with the instant coffee in her room, and Stahl had already made it clear he had no intent on missing a meal.

"Thanks for letting me know. We'll be down in ten."

Robin hung up and put her phone back on the table. She disentangled herself from Stahl's grasp and sat up. He laid his head on his arms and watched her stretch.

"I'm guessing it's time to get up?"

"Mm," Robin replied. "Unless you want to miss breakfast. Buffet ends at eleven, I think, and it's past ten."

His eyes widened. "Definitely don't want that."

Robin smirked and stood up. She rifled through her suitcase for clothes and took out her remaining clean sweater and jeans.

Despite the night before, Stahl still turned away when she took off her tank top, which she found impossibly cute. It left a fluttery feeling in her chest, and she excitedly remembered that he actually loved her back.

Once she was fully dressed, she turned back to Stahl, who was still lazily lounging in bed.

"Shouldn't you get dressed too?" Robin asked him.

"There's, um, kind of a problem with that," he replied.

She raised an eyebrow.

"My clothes are in my room."

After Robin made a quick stop to Stahl's room and brought him his bag, the two made their way downstairs to join Chrom and Olivia.

The dining hall was the same hall the reception had been in the night before, mostly redecorated, but with a few remaining stray flowers. Buffet tables had been set up with any type of breakfast food one could want, and bright sunlight came through the glass doors, lighting up the room.

Robin was too distracted with keeping the sun out of her eyes that she'd failed to notice two things.

One was the fact that her sweater was an older one, looser than normal, especially around the collar, and two was that her neck was covered in marks and hickies, now made visible due to her old sweater. Judging by the massive grin on Chrom's face as she approached the table, he, however, had noticed them immediately.

He opened his mouth to greet them, but Robin spoke first.

"I'm getting coffee before I deal with you."

Chrom laughed as she left, and she could hear Olivia scolding him.

Stahl realized what was happening and followed Robin, too flustered to stay with the others. Robin waited till they were at the buffet, out of earshot, before speaking.

"I guess we should have the obligatory 'what does that make us' conversation," Robin sighed.

Stahl passed her a mug from the table and she poured herself some of fanciest coffee available from the selection. There was barely enough left to fill her mug, causing her to silently thank Chrom for getting her down when he did.

"I meant what I said. I do love you," Stahl told Robin.

Robin's heart fluttered again. "Me, too. I think I'd be glad to call you my boyfriend."

Stahl's eyes brightened, like he couldn't believe it.

"I'd really like that," he said. "Can I kiss you? I'm just... really happy."

His cheeks were tinged with pink, and he looked flustered again.

Robin laughed gently. "Of course."

He did exactly that, and Robin ignored Chrom's cheers from across the dining room. Back at the table (with a mountain of food), Chrom opened his big, dumb mouth.

"So, Robin, did you get much sleep last night?"

Olivia squeaked and smacked him hard on the shoulder. Stahl buried his face in his hands. Robin sighed.

"Yes, I slept great, thanks to Stahl's company. How about you? Hearing what I did with those paper-thin walls, I can't imagine you got much."

In fact, she hadn't actually heard anything, even if their rooms were next door to each other (the walls weren't that thin). That didn't mean she wasn't taking every chance imaginable to get back at him, though.

Olivia yelped again and the color drained from Chrom's face, making it clear he was currently regretting every snide comment he'd ever made to Robin. Stahl said nothing, choosing to focus his attention on his food instead. Try as he might, his eyes couldn't hide his surprise, nor his amusement.

"Well!" Olivia said, her voice a pitch higher than usual as she glossed over what Robin had said. "I'm happy for the two of you! You're sweet together."

"Thanks, Liv. I'm pretty happy, too," Robin admitted bashfully.

Stahl looked pleased to hear her say that. Under the table, he took Robin's hand and entwined his fingers with hers. Chrom, having just recovered from Robin's comment, smirked. Apparently their display of affection was more obvious than they thought.

"Whatever we're like, I can already tell you guys'll be worse," Chrom said.

"Yup!" Stahl merrily agreed. Chrom shook his head, but still smiled despite his seeming disapproval.

Chrom opened his mouth, likely to jokingly make fun of the two of them, but Olivia quickly interrupted him before he could begin.

"Anyways," Olivia said. "Have you started making plans for the summer yet?"

She was truly a lifesaver, and Robin couldn't have been more glad for the topic change. If the conversation had gone any further in its would-be direction, she probably would have died of mortification.

"So far it's looking like a lot of shifts, but I don't really mind. Miriel's really fair, and work feels less brutal without school anyways," Robin told her. "Plus I still have a whole month of vacation time I haven't used."

"Oh, wow," Olivia said. "We only get two weeks, and we're pretty lucky that we get that at all."

Stahl groaned. "Which I used over spring break. Great."

He glumly took a massive bite of his food to drown his no-more-vacation-days sorrows.

"Cheer up, Stahl. So did I," Olivia reminded him. "It won't be all that bad."

"And we can try to schedule so we're not working on the same days. More time together," Robin added.

"How about you, Chrom?" Stahl asked.

Chrom was lucky, still happily living with his family, therefore without rent. On top of that, both Emmeryn and Frederick supported them with high-paying jobs, meaning he didn't have to work. In a broke student's world, he was a prince.

He shrugged. "Emmeryn and Fred are gonna be on their honeymoon for a week, and Lissa doesn't finish school for another two, so I'll be holding down the fort with her. Other than that, I heard the theme park is opening four new coasters in a few weeks. That might be fun to check out."

Robin's face lit up. "Could we really go? I've never been to one!"

"Really?" Stahl asked. "I'm not a big fan, but if you're going, I'll tag along."

"Yeah. My dad kind of had a No-Fun rule. I spent pretty much all my summers in Plegia indoors and studying."

Olivia made a face that suggested she'd never heard anything so tragic in her life. "Then we're absolutely all going! No way are you missing out for another year."

Robin honestly hadn't been so excited for anything in a very long time. Thinking of other things happening around Ylisstol, she remembered a conversation with Gaius from a few weeks before.

"Gaius mentioned that Libra's having an art show," Robin told the table. "We should go to support him. Not that any of us can afford his art."

"Maybe he'll give you a discount for being a model?" Stahl suggested. Robin thoughtfully picked at her muffin.

"Maybe. Though I wouldn't exactly want my own portrait hung up somewhere in my apartment. Seems a bit vain."

Chrom shrugged. "You've seen how many family photos Emmeryn has up in our house. I can't imagine it being any different."

The concept of family photos was a bit foreign to Robin, honestly. Chrom's house was full of them, different snapshots of every family holiday, school event or just sibling together time. Robin's father wasn't exactly a family man, which meant there had never been any photos like the Nobles had. The only photos of herself and her father were the few taken for newspaper articles and interviews. None of those very limited ones featured Aversa, either, who Validar ignored because she was a love child who barely saw him, anyways.

"We never had family photos, growing up," Robin told her friends. "My dad was also weird about those."

I don't think he ever really saw me as family. More like his failed protégée.

Robin debated saying this aloud, but talking about her father more just tended to make things worse.

Once again, Olivia made her 'Your Life Is The Most Tragic Thing Ever' face. Stahl also looked quite saddened to hear that.

"I'll have to find my good camera," Olivia said. "I went through a photography phase when I was in high school, and I haven't really used the camera since. It'll be nice to take it out again, and we can take tons of pictures! We'll just make our own memories with you!"

Robin's heart warmed at the idea. She'd much rather have a wall full of photos of her friends than ones with her father, anyways.

"Speaking of family," Chrom said. "Liv, didn't you say your brother was coming to visit?"

"Oh!" Olivia cried. "Yeah! I forgot to mention it to you, but Lon'qu's coming in August. He's a bit weird around girls, and he's pretty quiet, but I'm sure you'll all get alone great."

Olivia had only ever mentioned her family a few times, a small unit that included her father, Basilio, brother, Lon'qu and herself. Basilio raised them alone while working as the Khan of West-Ferox, which was something like a more powerful mayor (at least from what Robin could gather of Feroxi politics, which wasn't all that much). Given the familiar situation of political single fathers, it had given Robin and Olivia something to talk about when they'd first met, which facilitated their bond, but the similarities ended there. While Robin's father spent his time doing little more than ignoring Robin or insisting she follow in his tracks, Basilio attended PTA meetings and even participated in dance classes with Olivia.

It had taken a lot for Robin to ignore the pang of jealousy when Olivia talked about her family.

While they finished breakfast, they continued suggesting ideas for the summer. Chrom brought up things like laser tag or bowling, and Stahl had a list of restaurants he wanted to check out. Olivia was excited about Lon'qu visiting, and wanted to go to the beach. Robin didn't bother suggesting anything other than Libra's art show. She knew as long as she was with her friends, that was enough.

Check out was at 2 o'clock, meaning just about every guest had left by that time to avoid the hefty fees that came with the hotel being as fancy and expensive as it was. In order to avoid another music-based argument, Robin and Olivia swapped places on the drive home. Olivia, who tended to peacekeep and enjoyed pop music, took over for Robin in the backseat of Frederick's van, while Robin was more than happy to sit shotgun in Stahl's car.

Robin was lucky; instead of being caught in the crossfires of a classic rock vs. pop debate, Stahl had relinquished control of his aux cord to her, and they had similar tastes for jazz and terrible indie music, anyways.

A five-hour drive was still pretty boring, though, even with the best jams, so Robin and Stahl occupied the time by taking turns asking and answering questions. It was a good chance to learn more about each other, which Robin liked a lot.

So far, she'd found out that his favorite color was green, that his favorite fruit, of all things, was figs, that he preferred cats over dogs, and that his favorite animal was the panther.

"Something you're afraid of? I'm pretty claustrophobic," Stahl said.

"Spiders and most other bugs. Sometimes heights," Robin replied.

"Sometimes?" Stahl asked.

"Yeah, it's weird. I used to have this recurring nightmare as a kid, where I'd fall off of a dragon or something, and I'd always wake up terrified, and it left me afraid of heights, but not always? I've been on planes and high-rise balconies before just fine, but then sometimes standing on a table will set it off. It's dumb, sorry."

She'd always been a bit embarrassed about her fear of heights because of the stupid dream and the fact that she didn't even know the trigger for it. Most of the time she was absolutely fine, but there were always the rare occasions where being any place high up left her with a cold pit of anxiety in her stomach.

"Don't apologize for it," Stahl told her. He looked away from the road for a second to give her a reassuring smile. "Everyone's allowed some irrational fears. I am afraid of small spaces, after all."

That made Robin feel a bit better.

"As for spiders, though, I'm not so great with them either," Stahl continued. "Sully usually takes care of them for me, at home."

Robin laughed. "I use Chrom for the same reason."

Stahl kept his eyes on the road as he laughed, and Robin searched for another question.

"Most embarrassing photo on your phone? I think I have a few photos where I didn't realize the front camera was on that I saved unintentionally."

Stahl laughed, then went red. "Um, it's not really embarrassing photos, but more embarrassing that I have them. You know when you and Gaius took a bunch of ugly selfies together on my phone at the lake?"

"Yeah?"

"I deleted most of them, but there's a few I couldn't bring myself to, because I thought you looked really cute."

Robin blushed for the millionth time today.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"If you weren't driving, I would kiss you," Robin told Stahl.

His eyes widened for a brief second, and he grinned. They sat in happy silence for a moment, before Stahl moved on with a new question.

"Favorite kind of flower? For future reference," Stahl asked.

"Lilies," Robin answered.

"Good to know," he replied with a knowing smile.

Robin rolled her eyes and kept going.

"Worst injury?" she asked. "I fell down some stairs and broke my wrist in the ninth grade."

Stahl made a face. "Ouch. In the seventh grade, I broke two ribs."

"W-what! How?" Robin choked out in surprised. Stahl chuckled at her reaction.

"Vaike was calling me a pansy, so Sully dared me to climb to the top of the swing set and jump off. I did, but instead of landing on my feet as planned, I fell flat, and the impact broke two of my ribs. Sully and Vaike felt bad, but were pretty impressed I broke my ribs and called me hardcore. My parents weren't as impressed, though, and breathing hurt pretty bad for a few weeks."

Robin let out a low whistle. "Jeez. That sounds pretty awful."

Stahl shrugged. "I mean, it was pretty hardcore."

Robin shook her head and laughed. "So you knew Vaike in high school, too? Chrom said he was like his best friend."

"Mmhm. Chrom and I had a lot of the same friends, but the two of us weren't really all that close. I met him through Sully, so he was more of a friend by association."

"I didn't even realize you guys really knew each other at all," Robin told Stahl. She brought her knees to her chest and curled in on herself, then adjusted her sun visor. They were driving towards the late afternoon sun, which made it particularly harsh and unforgiving.

"Yeah. Honestly, at the time, I didn't really want to get close to him," Stahl admitted, and he looked a bit ashamed.

"Oh?"

"I've told you that I had a crush on Cordelia, right? Well, she was really in love with Chrom throughout most of high school, and everyone knew it but him. It made me resent him a little, so I tended to avoid him because of a hopeless crush. And then they started dating, and I avoided him a bit more."

"Really?" Robin asked, surprised. "Chrom never mentioned he dated her."

And here I thought he told me everything. I guess neither of us really like bringing up exes, though.

Robin then thought of Cordelia. She'd only met her once, at Yule, and remembered finding her impossibly pretty. It wasn't hard to understand why she was so popular.

"Mm. They dated for maybe a year, between senior year and college, but it didn't work out. They're still friends, though, which is nice."

The thought of still being friends with an ex, with Tharja, felt impossible to Robin.

"I'm glad we're friends now, too," Stahl said. "Chrom and I."

Robin was glad to hear it. It seemed unlike Stahl, an easy candidate for kindest man alive, to avoid anyone, but she knew better than anyone how a person could change. Hearing more about Chrom in high school was always interesting, too.

"I'm even happier I met and became friends with you, though," Stahl added quickly.

Robin covered her face with her hands. His honeyed words were going to be the death of her.

It was just past 9 when they finally got home. Traffic was heavier than they'd hoped it would be getting into Ylisstol, and they'd made a few extra stops for snacks and for dinner.

"I'd invite you over," Stahl said as he pulled in front of Robin's building. "But I work from seven to three tomorrow, and I wouldn't want to wake you."

While she was a bit disappointed at the fact that they couldn't spend the night together again, it wasn't exactly like seeing each other regularly was a big problem. Plus, as much as she loved Stahl, Robin was tired and also loved her bed very, very much.

"It's fine. I have tomorrow off, so text me when you're done. We could get lunch together or something," Robin said.

Stahl sighed happily. Robin couldn't tell if it was at the thought of food or of her.

"I'd really like that," he told her. He helped her get her suitcase from the backseat, then took the time to stretch before getting back in the car for the short ride home.

He pulled Robin close for a tight hug. She mentally noted how much she loved being held by him, how comforting it felt. She knew she'd see him the next day, but breaking the hug still felt hard.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then?" he asked.

"Of course," Robin replied.

She wasn't much shorter than him, but the height difference was enough that she still had to stand on her toes to kiss him.

Stahl was distracted walking into his apartment. Indications of this was the fact that he didn't greet Sully upon walking in, as he tended to, and that he didn't notice that she and Sumia were in the middle of a heated makeout session on one of the living room couches.

"Um, Stahl?" Sumia squeaked, noticing the man standing at the front door. Sully cursed loudly.

"Oh, hey. Didn't know you were here," he said. He still hadn't noticed what they'd been up to, judging by the idle look on his face.

Sully raised an eyebrow and glared at her friend. "Are you going to keep standing there like an idiot, or...?"

Finally taking a hint, Stahl's eyes widened.

"Oh. OH! Sorry, I'll get out of your hair. Wedding was great, by the way. I'll tell you later. And Sully, we might have a more frequent visitor, now."

Sumia shot Sully a quizzical look.

Stahl went past the girls and to his room, leaving them to try and decipher what he meant.

He changed, laid on his bed, and stared at the ceiling.

Honestly, he was in complete disbelief that the past two days had been real, that anything that had happened had well... happened.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He stared at the display, the name snapping him out of his daze.

robin: sleep well!

And a slightly more hesitant text, a moment later.

robin: love you!

A reminder the past few days were more than an elaborate fever dream.

He buried his face in his hands and smiled to himself, the image of Robin's last text engraved into his mind.

a/n: pacing for this chapter feels a bit different and slower, but the next few should pick back up. i hope that's all right! also i loooove basilio as a father figure for olivia and lon'qu, so i had to write that in. i meant to write it in sooner but Whoops, Here We Are. another thing is that i wanted to explore the ylisseans' high school dynamic a bit more without going to in depth, so it might come up again in future chapters.

thanks & see you next time!