"I-I think you should probably get dressed!"
It took Chrom a moment to realize what Robin's embarrassed expression meant. He had, after all, just woken up. Robin adjusted his glasses as he began to back away from the bed, looking just about everywhere that wasn't Chrom's bare chest. Chrom's very well-toned and very bare chest. Good gods he was gay. Robin was so gay he could not believe. On an unrealistic scale where hetero and homosexual are the only extremes, Robin could safely say he was so incredibly far on the homosexual side that he broke the scale. He would not even be able to express how gay he was in that moment as he practically ran away from the attractive man he was supposed to be tutoring. Chrom only sat there in confusion.
"Umm… bye?"
The bluenette looked at his door as Robin slammed it closed, but shrugged, not thinking much of the strange occurrence. He did, however, realize that he had been sleeping for two hours more than he had planned, and decided he should get up and dress himself as soon as possible. After putting some clothes on and running his hands through his hair in a vague attempt to look presentable, he left his room, only to see Lissa poking her head out of hers. The blonde was wearing lacey white pajamas that he had never seen, and Chrom wondered why she was wearing them. Before he could ask, she spoke flatly, an irritated look on her face.
"What the hell." He could only assume she was referring to the slammed door.
"... I overslept and I think the guy who came over to help me write my essay is mad at me." Chrom still had enough pride not to call him his tutor. Who needed a tutor? Not Chrom. No, Chrom just needed a… a study buddy! Right. That's what he is. A study buddy. A buddy. To help him study.
"Ugh, tell him to keep it down. I'm busy." Lissa slammed her own door shut after retreating into her room. Chrom frowned, walking over to her door and knocking as gently as he could.
"Hey, Lissa… You know if something is bothering you, you can talk to me about it. I may not have any advice, but I'm willing to listen." After receiving no response, Chrom sighed, worried for his sister, before going downstairs to join the study party going on in the living room.
Lissa found herself sinking to the ground, using her door as support. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she rested her chin on her knees. She knew Chrom would listen, but she didn't want to talk to him. The same went for Emmeryn. A glance down at her phone showed that Maribelle had texted her. Lissa ignored it. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to her best friend really, it was just that she knew Maribelle would be just a bit too overbearing if she tried to talk about it. Perhaps Sumia? The clumsy girl always seemed like one to consider everyone's opinions. Lissa stood up, tugging slightly at her lace pajamas. She wasn't exactly sure why she was wearing them. Maribelle gave them to her once after Lissa asked how to be a proper lady, but she never ended up wearing them. Something about dressing the part, even when nobody would see.
After flopping on her bed, she hugged a stuffed animal to her chest, pulling out her phone and looking through her contact list. It seemed that out of the few friends she could contact, Sumia was the only viable option. Lissa felt a bit apprehensive, as the brunette was, after all, her brother's biggest crush. And only crush. Lissa couldn't even remember any other crushes Chrom had formed. She began to wonder if Chrom's crush on Sumia was even real. What if Chrom just didn't like people? Lissa found that to be an odd thought. Maybe he just hadn't found the right girl yet? She suddenly realized how off-topic her train of thought was, and decided to call Sumia before she managed to talk herself out of doing so. The brunette almost missed the call, but she managed to get to her phone on time.
"Lissa?" Sumia seemed surprised to receive a call from her blonde friend. If they could be called friends. Sumia liked to think so, but she wasn't completely sure.
"Hey… What are you doing right now?"
"Umm, nothing much." Sumia was, in fact, watching Netflix with her Pegasus. Yes, her Pegasus. She liked to think her winged friend enjoyed the time spent with her tearing up at cheesy movies. "Why? Is something wrong?" The Pegasus lover could hear the off-tone in Lissa's voice.
"Kinda… I was wondering if you could come over so I could… So I could have someone to talk to…" Lissa felt her voice growing quiet, which was quite unusual for her. She didn't want to ask for help, but she forced herself to.
"Hey, no problem. I'll be over in a bit. Just sit tight."
Sumia's voice was soft and reassuring as she hung up, likely to mount her Pegasus. Lissa sighed again, making herself sit up whilst hugging her stuffed animal. It was an old brown bear. Frederick made it for her when she was younger, even though she had insisted she was a grown-up. Thinking back on it, she never told him that she appreciated it. A small sense of regret filled her. She heard laughter downstairs and wondered what was so funny. They were probably having a good time. Lissa asked herself if they would still be laughing if she were there with them. Probably not. Nobody seems to have been enjoying her company as of late besides Maribelle. She was actually kind of surprised Sumia decided to come over at all.
Sumia herself had just landed her pegasus in the Esaltare household's backyard. After kissing the creature and running her hand through her mane, she walked around to the front to properly ring the doorbell. She fanned herself slightly, already missing the wind in her hair from flying over. A part of her did remember to be thankful she didn't live in Plegia. It got much hotter over there from what she had heard. The Pegasus lover rang the doorbell, patiently waiting for someone to answer the door. She hoped Chrom wouldn't stop her. It wasn't that she disliked talking to the bluenette, but she had more important things on her mind. The door was answered by a bespectacled white haired boy who was roughly the same height as her.
"Hello?" He asked, probably not having been expecting a guest.
"H-hi, my name is Sumia."
"Robin." He introduced himself. "What brings you here?"
"I came to-"
"Sumia!" Chrom's voice interrupted her and she frowned.
"Hey, Chrom. Is-"
"Woah, Sumia's here? Fun, fun! Is she gonna study too?"
"H-Henry, I don't think that's w-why she's here…" Sumia hoped her smile didn't seem strained. Robin provided an escape route as he smiled sympathetically.
"I doubt you came here to study."
"I really didn't. I'm actually here to see Lissa." She walked past Robin and into the house, adjusting the straps of her shirt.
"Lissa?" Chrom seemed a little confused, likely wondering why she came to see his little sister. Sumia just nodded.
"Yes. We're going to go talk about girl things." She smiled at Chrom, hoping he didn't detect the lie. "You know, things like cute boys and the best way to paint your nails."
"Can I join?" Robin asked before covering his mouth. "I-I didn't mean to say that out loud!" His eyes widen in embarrassment. Sumia did happen to notice that his nails were, in fact, painted black. Chrom gave him a mild look of surprise and the flustered teen began to explain himself. "I-I didn't mean it like that, I just wanted to…" His eyes darted toward the other Plegian in the room with a look of distaste. "I wanted to take a break." Sumia giggled slightly at Robin's nervous face, and how he sighed in relief when Chrom shrugged and agreed.
"Well, you can talk 'girl stuff' with me later, Robin. For now I have to go see Lissa. I don't wanna keep her waiting."
Sumia excused herself before making her way upstairs to Lissa's room. She was familiar enough with the house to find it right away, and she wasted no time in knocking on the door. Lissa, on the other hand, took a minute to actually respond. The blonde girl took a moment to unlock the door before opening it a crack. Upon seeing Sumia, she opened it the rest of the way. Sumia noted that she was wearing a rather cute pair of pajamas. The bear she was hugging was also very cute. Lissa didn't say anything, she just went back to her bed. Sumia closed the door behind her and followed the younger girl. She sat on the bed next to her, combing her fingers through her own windswept hair and waiting patiently for the other to speak.
"... I feel…" Sumia glanced over at Lissa, who was lying on her side with her back to the brunette. "... I feel like nobody wants me."
"I know how that feels." Sumia responded, beginning to take her shoes off. "I'm so clumsy and awkward that I don't even know how I made the friends I have now. I know that they all care about me despite my flaws, though."
"I just… I don't know, it just seems like… with Coran being here all of a sudden, everyone is paying attention to him and it feels like all of my friends like him better than me. Even Maribelle has been talking to him a lot more than she is with me." Sumia blinked in surprise.
"I think… maybe it just feels that way because Coran is new? When the novelty wears off everything'll be back to normal."
"Hmm, I guess…" Lissa fell silent.
"Is there anything else on your mind?"
"Yeah, I just don't know if I should talk about it." There was a slight pause before Lissa decided it wouldn't hurt to bring it up. "... Everyone gets mad at me when I call Coran a boy."
"They aren't a boy though?"
"What, so is he actually a girl?" Sumia frowned.
"No. They're neither. At least, that's what Chrom and Maribelle have said." Lissa sat up to face Sumia.
"But that doesn't make any sense! I get it if someone's trans, but how can you just not be a boy or a girl?"
"Well, I think it's just like identifying as male or female. Just not." Sumia frowned. "There's a lot of stuff online about it, they'll probably explain it better than I can."
"It feels weird to say call someone 'they' and 'them' though, like what, are 'they' more than one person?"
"Well when you don't know the gender of someone you usually use they/them pronouns, don't you?" Lissa was quiet for a bit.
"Wow, you're right. I don't think I even realized that."
"It's not too hard if you try to accept it. They're not any different from us, after all!"
"... I should… I should apologize to Coran, shouldn't I."
"I'm sure they were appreciate it. I heard them asking Chrom and Maribelle if you hated them and they seemed upset."
"I feel really bad about it now…" Sumia smiled at her friend.
"As long as you apologize and respect their pronouns from now on, I'm sure everything will turn out fine."
"Yeah, you're right."
"Everyone misses the fun Lissa, so let's bring her back, kay?"
"Yeah!" Lissa smiled. "First things first, I'm going to find the nearest pond and collect a bunch of frogs." She stated in a very matter-of-fact manner. Sumia clapped.
"If you ever need to talk again, I'm almost always free! Don't keep your bad thoughts bottled up like that, kay? I've done it before and trust me, it never turns out good." Lissa nodded, returning Sumia's smile.
"Thanks, Sumia. I really mean it."
Lissa hugged the older girl and sighed. The blonde couldn't believe she never realized what great friends she had.
Word Count: 2,044
In which Robin is really gay and Lissa talks about her feelings.
