Shorter chapter! (For a reason)
Please read Author's Note at the bottom!
Thank you!
Be Careful What You Say
Chapter 21: Ice
Gaius stuffed in hands deeply into his candy-lined pockets. His head shrunk low on his shoulder, eyes glancing deviously from one side of the street to the next as if planning some fantastic heist. The thief grunted softly, shifting the sour sucker he had jammed into the pockets of his cold pink cheeks from one to the other. Even his red hair seemed to stand on-end as the thief turned Shepard trudged through the snow covered streets of the Ylisse marketplace. Clearly something had literally soured his attitude besides the candies. But yet Gaius pushed forward, his eyes finally looking to his left and into the cloaked mass that was Robin.
"You know…" Gaius began, bringing up a hand to run across the surface of his cherry red nose. He gave a tiny sniffle, seemingly having the start of a cold setting in. "…If this snow didn't remind me of the powdered sugar cakes you promised me, I would've left you long ago to go on this little adventure yourself."
Robin didn't reply. His regular slouched and funny posture continued to step forward through the snow, the hood of his cloak pulled over his head. The tactician, at least on the surface, seemed rather deep in thought…He'd been like this for weeks during their time together…
"Hey!" Gaius said, lightly nudging his friend in the shoulder in an attempt to yank him back to reality. "You haven't gone all Risen on me, have you?" The thief made a rather odd face, sticking out his tongue and walking vaguely like a Risen.
There was a turn of head underneath Robin's cloak and a soft, and somewhat distant voice, replying. "Hmm?" Robin replied, turning his head back to Gaius with a few blinks as if Robin had woken up from long and deep slumber. "What was that, Gaius?" He asked again, the thief's previous words going completely over the tactician's head.
Gaius let out a harsh huff of air upward, his red locks flopping over his headband. "Hey there, Bubbles…" He began with a motion of his hands, pulling Robin out of the street. "…I swear, for days you've been slouching around, wandering off into the markets. You look like you've gone and lost all of those books you've stuffed into your little nerdy head." The thief gave the tactician a rather soft bop on the head. "What's eating your brain?"
Robin began to stare almost aimlessly back at Gaius. His head tilted strangely off to the side. "Nothing's eating at my brain. I'm simply thinking, I have a large amount on my mind I need to organize. You know I like to organize my information." He replied swiftly and rather interestingly to the point. Turning on his heel, Robin began again down into the market place, not even asking if Gaius would come along…
There was, for a brief moment in time, that Gaius did in fact lose track of Robin. Even after the tactician wandered off like a zombie did the thief scurry after him. Thoughts were pulsing through Gaius' head almost in a rush, a sugar rush to be exact. The thief switched the sucker in his mouth to the other cheek as she came to a halt.
The market was, as usual, very busy. People were walking back and forth doing who knows what for some random reason that Gaius frankly wasn't interested in. If this was a book, Gaius would say the author was simply too lazy to write out the details because he had more important things to get to. Nevertheless, the market was busy, end of story.
He skidded to a halt in some of the freshly fallen snow as the familiar cloak caught his eye, appearing from a rather ornate red and gold market tent, stuffing something deep into his cloak and glancing around in a rather odd fashion. The rivers of chocolate in Gaius' mind began flowing. Something was clearly up with his friend…
"Ah!" Gaius muttered to himself rather swiftly as an idea came to him. He stuffed his hands into the bag of goodies that seemingly never left his side, pulling out an object that he knew would help him in gathering Robin's full attention, or at least he had hoped. With the object in hand, Gaius took off, waving his hand above his head and calling out. "Hey, Bubbles!" He shouted, voice carrying about the marketplace. It briefly pulled everyone's attention for the shortest of seconds. Yet, those people swiftly began to return to going about their own business.
Robin turned back to Gaius. Oddly, his face was a bit for alive this time around…
No sense in stopping now. Once you start on a sucker you have to finish it or it gets gross, it was not different here. Well, maybe it was a little different…Soon, Gaius reached Robin who had stopped near the edge of the large pulsating crowd. "I got you something." The thief blurted swiftly as he stuffed a belt into Robin's free hand, not giving him a chance to make an action of his own.
"Is this…a belt?" Robin sputtered rather awkwardly, eyes looking down to the object in his palm. He looked back up to his friend and tilted his head in pure curiosity. "With stones inlaid?" Robin paused for a few long seconds before his eyes narrowed. Ah, Gaius was trying to pay off this "secret" that Robin knew. This again? Robin huffed softly and shifted where he stood. "Er, thank you, Gaius, but…"
"Yep." The thief replied swiftly and with a faint smirk. There we go, Robin seemed a bit more awake now than before. He could only play along for the time being. "Just a plaaaaaain old belt that's worth a big sack of gold down at the market."
Robin shifted where he stood, taking his hand gingerly out of his cloak pocket. Clearly something was stashed away in there. He could even see Gaius' eyes darting down toward that area before he snapped his fingers to get his attention again. "Then I must refuse. I can't accept such an extravagant gift."
Coughing, Gaius faltered a bit and winced. He waves his hands briefly and turned a faint shade of red in admittance. "All right, maybe I stretch the truth, just a little…" He shot a glance over his shoulder at the market before turning back to his friend. "It'd be worth a sack of gold IF they paid for sentimental value, see?" Gaius motioned toward the belt in Robin's hand again. "Cause I made it myself."
Robin's eyes shot wide for a second, looking back down to the belt in his hands. "YOU made this?" The tactician blurted out, lifting the belt into the air to give it another look over. "But, it's magnificent!"
A grin was crawling over Gaius' face. Yeah, that's right Bubbles, open up, start your talking. He motioned to the belt again with a smirk. "Please you like it, Bubbles." The man said with a chuckle and approving nod. "Makes all the effort worthwhile." Yeah, and that it was hell for Gaius to find the right purple to match Robin's cloak…
Pausing, Robin turned back to his companion, lifting an eyebrow in question. "But why did you-."
Gaius swiftly motioned with his hand and shook his head in dismissal. "Oh, no particular reason!" Lies. "None at all!" Also lies. "Just…one good turn and all that." Once again, lies, complete and utter lies. Gaius had his own reasons.
"You're trying to bribe me again, aren't you?!" Robin grunted with narrowed eyes. "I've already told you a hundred times, I'll keep your secret!" He flailed an arm into the air. "I gave you my word, and that should be the end of it!"
Hook line and gummy bear. Robin took Gaius' bait. Through a faint grin, Gaius put on a façade of playing dumb. "Look, I trust you. Honest and truly." Letting out a sigh, Gaius wrapped an arm over his friends shoulder and began to lead him out of the market. Motioning with an arm, the thief continued to speak. "It's just that in my business, there's no such thing as a free lunch." A pause as they rounded a corner. "Guy who says he'll do something for nothing? Well, he's the first one wanting payback down the line!"
Robin shuffled out of Gaius' grasp and huffed. He shook his head and groaned out. "…Oh, very well. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this. I have something important to tell you."
"Important?" Gaius blurted swiftly. Perhaps he would finally get the answer he was looking for.
"It's a secret. A very embarrassing one." Robin began as he leaned in to whisper into Gaius' ear. "You see…"
Whisper…
Whisper…
"BWAAA HA HA HA!" The thief let out in blusterous laughter. Ok, so perhaps this secret wasn't what he was looking for, but it was good nonetheless. "And the cow…?!"
Robin continued with a few more words.
Whisper…
Whisper…
"Oh, you did NOT do that!" Gaius proclaimed again at the top of his lungs, holding a hand to cover his now aching gut.
Backing away, the tactician gave a short nod. "Ah, but I did. And now you are the only one who knows." He shifted around, fixing his cloak on his shoulders to make it more neat and tidy. "So in return for you keeping it safe, I promise to safeguard YOUR secret." Robin stuck out his hand. "Do we have a deal?"
Shrugging and with a rather warm grin, Gaius took his friends hand and shook it. "…Heh, I see what you did there, and…I appreciate it. All right. Deal." Gaius chuckled with a sly grin before nodding, continuing on with his previous plan. "…But you have to keep the belt. It's not a bribe, now. More like…I don't know… A thank-you gift."
Robin ran a thumb over the jewels on the belt, smirking and nodding in approval. "In that case, I accept."
Gaius wrapped his arm around Robin's shoulder once again. A faint smirk rolled across his lips as he began to pull Robin away from the Marketplace. "Actually…" The thief purred through his teeth, still rather intent on find why exactly Robin was acting in such strange ways as of late.
"Yes?"
"I want you know what you just bought." Gaius stated simply, patting Robin's cloak once, feeling what seemed to be a small box in one of the inner pockets. "You bought something and you're keeping it a secret."
Robin's face went pale, then oddly, a strange shade of red. He kept his lips pursed, but tightly sealed as Gaius had finally caught on to his actions in the market.
"Ah, that look on your face says it all there, Bubbles." Gaius chuckled with a flick of his red hair off to the side. "You're keeping something a secret for a reason, eh? Oh come on, don't try and hide it from me."
Sputtering briefly, Robin wiggled out of Gaius' grasp on his shoulder and shifted around, tugging at his cloak and shaking his head to fix his hair. "It's a secret for good reason, Gaius." The tactician spoke simply and to the point.
Gaius craned a glance over his right shoulder back toward the market square and raised an eyebrow. "It can't be that important, right?" The thief replied in response, turning back to his friend who was still frantically fixing his clothing. A thought crossed his mind and Gaius' eyes narrowed. "That ain't no brothel is it?"
Robin turned a deep shade of red and shook his head almost instantly. "G-Gaius?!" He spouted. "W-W-Wha…I-I don't even wish to know how you got such an absurd idea!"
A jokingly and sly laugh came from the thief's lips. "Right-Right, if you did, I'd say you handle your business rather quick…"
"GAIUS!" Robin shouted, punching his friend square in the arm. "Stop that line of thought this instant…" The tactician shuffled around. "…And the timeframe in which I handle my business if none of your concern."
"Yeah, but it's Olivia's, right?" One more, Gaius couldn't help but get one more in. Maybe that was a bit too much, it was a little dirty…funny…but dirty…
Now, standing there in the snow was Robin, once more in a deep shade of red that they were even talking about any of that. Like before one could only think that the author of this entire adventure was simply trying to get cheap and perverted laughs. But that really doesn't make a difference because it already happened. Thus, Robin shifted again and tugged on his collar, huffing through his nose and calming himself down…
Gaius blinked. "Did I go too far, Bubbles?"
"As a matter of fact, you did…" Robin murmured as he reached into his cloak with a sigh. "But, alas, I doubt I could hide it from you anyway, Gaius." His arm slowly pulled out of his cloak to show a small black box. "But, you must promise not to let this slip to anyone, not even Chrom."
There was a faint pause between when Robin showed Gaius the box and from when he spoke again. His mind was already moving toward the conclusion. "What's in the box, Bubbles?" The thief replied softly an in a much more casual tone of voice, head slowly tilting off to the side as he examine the small box that sat in Robin's palm. His eyes looked back up. Robin's face was rather neutral, but with hint of a subtle emotion that Gaius couldn't exactly pin down. "Robin?"
Robin breathed in heavily through his nose and nodded, speaking his next words in a voice that wouldn't carry. "I'm going to ask Olivia to marry me."
Author's Note:
So, this is probably the shortest chapter in the story. While I never really intended it to be this short, I had to make some changes that I think will ultimately make the next chapter and the rest of the story better in the long run. In its original state, this chapter had flow issues and feeling issue that just didn't sit right to be until I messed with my original plan. It's short, but that's just the way it is.
Trust me, the next chapter MORE than makes up for it as many of you can guess what's going to happen next. I'm not going to come out and say it, but hey, I think you're all smart enough to figure it out! ;)
Saying the next chapter has taken me a stupid long time to plan and get ready would be an understatement.
But hey, let's move on!
This story is back as you can probably see! My updating will be off as I know am a working "adult." (Not really) But I do intend on finishing the story sooner rather than later!
Also, please check out my other stories, specifically Fool Me Once. Kikifoo and I are working on that again and would love your support on that project! Also check out her Sumia and Gaius story too, The Bee Hunters, because without her this story wouldn't exist! :P
Please-Please-Please, leave a review! I'd love to hear what you think of the story!
Thanks for all your support,
MrWatch