Falling for You

Preface
This story was originally meant to be published after the other fanfic I'm writing, as a happier counterweight to that one, but since the other one will take a little longer to finish than expected, I decided to publish this one first. It's about how Cantarella fell in love with Kirby. It is NOT set in the same AU as my other story, but in the main universe, where they meet a lot later.
A big thank you goes to RadRapo for inspiring me as well as for proof-reading since English is not my first language (the editing was much needed), and to LadyFuzzChild and TheAnacondragon/LoverOfScales for the roleplay some scenes are inspired by.

Song to go with this: "Skin" by Rag'n'Bone Man

Chapter 1

The golden light of the early morning sun shone through the windows, curtains, and painted intricate patterns on the wooden living room floor. The sun had just risen and the house was quiet – except for a small yellow bedroom lamp hopping towards the bookshelf that towered high on one wall of the living room.

Cantarella was looking for a new book to read. She loved reading – it was one of her favorite pastimes - and she had just finished one; so now, she was in need of another. Lampy, who shared that interest, often gave her recommendations, and thanks to him, she had discovered a few favorites. The two lamps were like reading buddies, exchanging book tips and discussing works both of them had read. Sometimes, Radio even referred to them as "the household´s book club".

Slowly and carefully, Cantarella's sky blue eyes searched the titles that were written on the spines of the books, until she found one she had always wanted to read: "The Name of the Wind," she whispered, delighted. Unfortunately, it stood at the very top of the shelf. Cantarella sighed. If she wanted the book, she would have no choice but to climb all the way up to get it – but, she thought, in the end it would be worth the effort. And maybe, climbing was not so hard after all. She had seen Lampy climb up a shelf several times and it didn't look like such a big deal when he did it.

With a look of determination on her face, she began hopping onto the bottom-most shelf, and from there, she used her cord to climb higher until she reached the very top one. And there it was. Triumphantly, Cantarella reached for the desired book which was now directly in front of her with her cord, while balancing on the narrow rim of the bookshelf. "The Name of the Wind" was a thick, heavy tome, and she was afraid it would not be easy to carry all the way down while not losing balance. For a moment she considered just throwing the book down the shelf, but if it were to hit the floor at an unfortunate angle, it might take damage, so she dropped that idea.

Anyway, first of all, she would have to get a grip on the book, which was not as easy as she imagined. It was heavy and cramped between two other tomes. As she tried to pull it out with her prongs, she shifted slightly… and suddenly lost balance as there was nothing but empty air beneath the backside of her base. She tipped backwards, and she desperately tried to reach out for something, but it was too late. A scream of terror escaped her as she fell. In the split second it would take to reach the floor, all she knew was that she would die. Her body was ceramic, which would shatter like glass on the hard wooden floor of the living room. She will perish, and all because of a book.

Then, it all went so fast. The whir of a motor started up, and the next thing she knew was the impact… she didn't break apart, but instead landed safely on something soft. Her mind raced, and slowly, she opened her eyes to see what she had fallen on. Something plush and green… a shade that she knew pretty well. She did not even have to take a closer look to know that it was the bag of Kirby, the vacuum cleaner. Where had he come from so suddenly? She didn't even know that he was nearby, yet, she was infinitely thankful for the fact he was there.

He had saved her life.

She hopped down from the green bag, which, as she noticed now, he even had inflated with air to make her land softer, and he immediately raised his lowered stem to an upright position again.
"You… you saved me", she stammered while her wide-eyed gaze met his stern one. Her cord curled into a spiral from excitement. "You saved my life! Oh, thank you, Kirby! Thank you so much! How… how were you there so fast?"

Kirby huffed. "It was just a coincidence that I was there… I was just cleaning the floor when you fell on me. It was careless to climb up there. I said it once and I was right: Lamps aren´t made for climbing."

"Sure it was… I mean…" was all Cantarella managed to reply, for all of a sudden, a strange, exciting mix of emotions had taken hold of her. Was it because she had almost died? Because she had escaped it and would live another day? But only thanks to him… Could it be because she could see her savior in a whole new light?

Although, when they had met for the first time, Kirby seemed a little intimidating to her with his stern, serious, and often gruff demeanor. She quickly came to see his good and caring nature, and he had become a friend to her just like the others. Even so, she always harbored some kind of silent… admiration, or fascination for him; which, as she found out later on, was implied to be in her nature; lamps of her brand, and specifically her model, were known to feel attracted to vacuums. But now, it was… more? She needed to think about her feelings soon, in a quiet moment…

"I… I will be more careful," she promised. Even though Kirby denied that he came to save her, she immediately saw through him, just like she did when they met for the first time. She knew him well enough to know that this was how he hid his true nature. And there were also the tales that the others had told her, of the great journey they undertook many years ago to find their Master, Rob… How brave Kirby had been on the adventure according to those stories. Not only had he scaled a tree to rescue Blanky who was stuck in it, but on the same day, he overcame his fear of water to save all of the others from a river they fell into. It matched what he had done for her.

"…Are you alright?" Kirby asked, raising a brow, and only now Cantarella noticed that she must have been staring at him with a fond and enchanted expression. Oh no, how embarrassing! If lamps could blush, for sure she would have been as red as a raspberry.

"Uuuuuh… yes," she managed to say. "Yes, I am. Thank you again." Kirby nodded, and with a grunt, he wheeled out of the living room door, elsewhere. That was just when the others began to arrive. Toaster was the first, since from the kitchen it was not far.

"Cantarella? What happened? I heard a scream… are you okay?"

"I… Yes, I am", Cantarella replied while, one by one, the rest of the housemates entered the room: Blanky, Lampy and Radio. "I… I climbed the shelf to reach for a certain book, but I slipped and fell and… suddenly, Kirby was there. He saved me!"

"Kirby?" asked Blanky, who looked around. "Where is he?"

"Uh… he left but… you all should have seen it, it was incredible! I fell, and suddenly he was there, and I landed safely on his bag…"

"Well, that´s our Kirby!" Radio stated merrily. "Caring about us, but not willing to admit it. Did I tell you how he saved us from a river on our journey back in ´87?"

Cantarella smiled. "You did many times, Radio, but I never got tired of hearing it."

"Did he tell you that lamps aren't made for climbing?" Lampy inquired, somewhat bitterly.

"Yes, he did indeed," Cantarella answered, and when Lampy's frown deepened, she added with an embarrassed little laugh, "Well, in my case that might be true…"

"Well, I'm glad nothing happened to you," Toaster said.

"Me too. I'm relieved that this didn´t end badly," Lampy added, now with a concerned look on his face, "Myself, I may not have been the most cautious either myself when climbing bookshelves, but, uh…"

Cantarella laughed. "I know. You are sturdier than me, since you're made from metal, and wouldn't break as easily. I will be more careful from now on."

Blanky nodded. "Yes, please do. We don't want you get hurt, or worse."

"I will," Cantarella promised.

From then on, something had changed for Cantarella. Before the incident, Kirby had been just a friend to her, not any different from the other four. Just with, maybe, the tiny difference that she held some secret admiration for him because of her model-specific fascination with vacuums. But now… now he was different from the others, for her.

The feeling she held now when she thought about him… it was a bit like feeling the current pass through her circuity, as she did every time she lit up, but much more exciting.

A few days later, Cantarella was listening to music being played by Radio, who had tuned into a station that played the newest hits. Usually he was more for the oldies, which was also what Rob listened to most of the time, but young Robbie sometimes preferred something more up-to-date.

The song that drew her attention was "Skin" by Rag'N'Bone Man. Whether by coincidence or not, something about the lyrics strongly reminded her of her new feelings for Kirby. The way it spoke of thinking about someone, much like she thought about Kirby so often nowadays, and more than that… It struck a chord in her.

Cantarella listened very closely and, from then on, asked Radio to play it more often during the following days. "Is it, by chance, a new favorite?" the small red appliance inquired, when the yellow bedroom lamp asked him to play the song, on the fifth day in a row.

"Uh, yes," Cantarella nodded slowly. "You could say so."

She never told anyone about her newly acquired feelings for Kirby, nor did she intend on doing so. At first it was because she herself was not quite sure what these emotions were; and then, she felt, better keep them secret since… Kirby was so closeted, he'd always been. She rarely knew what he was thinking or feeling. So… what if he didn't feel the same as she did?

The only place where she expressed her thoughts and feelings freely was her diary. When she got the opportunity, Cantarella liked to sneak outside to visit libraries or book stores, and in one of those stores she had found notebooks, and since she always had thought it would be nice to be able to write her thoughts and feelings down, she found a diary would be perfect.

A few months ago, since it was after closing time, no humans were present; but a desk lamp and the cash register were, so they traded the book for a box of crayons left over from Robbie's childhood. The bookstore lamp was secretly an artist in her spare time. Since then, she had a diary, and found a good hiding place for it under the mistresses' mattress, as it wasn't far from her usual place on the nightstand.

This diary was now her only vent for her thoughts and emotions, as she did not dare share them with the others, not even Toaster or Blanky, who were the most likely to keep them secret. Writing them down helped her realize what they meant… it was like what was described in the romantic novels she loved to read.

She was in love. After having only read about being in love so far, wondering what it was like, now she finally experienced it… Even though she had dreamed about it while reading, she always assumed that it would only remain as that. Oh, she was a hopeless romantic, wasn't she?

Who would have thought that? Her first impression of him was almost intimidating. She remembered when she'd been new to the household about a year ago, just getting to know everyone; and when she was socializing with Toaster, Lampy, Radio and Blanky, just after all of them just introduced themselves, that tall, sturdy vacuum rolled in. Thenewcomer had immediately drawn her attention, although she only now understood the cause. But she had to admit, he had seemed aloof and hard to read to her with his build, and the stoic look on his face… he was impressive.

"So, you are the new one, eh?" he greeted her, giving her that no-nonsense look. "Well, I hope you won't make a ruckus every morning like that radio and a certain other lamp."
"We're right here, you know!" the offended Radio and Lampy retaliated simultaneously.

"No, Sir, I won't" she quickly assured, though had a strange feeling that the gruffness he showed was just some kind of façade… Was it something in his voice, or the way the others acted around him? She didn't know, but it was a hunch.

"Well then, good," the vacuum replied, before turning around and wheeling off.

"Well, that's Kirby," Toaster explained once the vacuum was gone.

"Is he always like that?" Cantarella asked with a mix of shyness and barely concealed fascination.

"He may seem stern and gruff", Toaster replied, knowingly, "But he truly has a motor of gold." This then confirmed Cantarella's initial feeling, that there was more to Kirby than what meets the eye…

After the morning's incident, she turned to her diary. When all was quiet and deserted in the bedroom except for her, she retrieved her secret diary from its hiding place, got herself a pen from the desk and began to write.

"This morning, something amazing happened…"

... she began, and then wrote down the events of this morning.

"After this, I see Kirby through different eyes. I always held some admiration for him, I guess it´s in my nature as a Rainbow, and knowing the role he played in their journey… but now that I witnessed his brave and caring side myself, there is… more than just that. How fast he is! How strong, how protective, even though he keeps pretending not to be… Oh my god! I think I know what this feeling is… why it always feels like the current flowing through my circuits when I'm near him, just more exciting. I never felt like this before, I only know it from the romance novels. I think this means… I'm in love."

Afterwards, she carefully hid her diary under the mattress again. From now on, she would have to be even more careful to let nobody else find it, least of all Kirby.

Of course, after a while, the others began to notice.