~falling for you~
by yumeko
(disclaimer: refer to chapter 1 if it's that important.)
First, it was at silence they walked together down the long hallway to their rooms. Of course, that silence did not linger any longer when Precis bounded up to Ashton happily letting out a stream of questions.
"Wow! Ashton! It's been such a loooooong time!! I'm so happy seeing you again! How are you? Why are you here? Did you do anything about Gyoro and Ururun? How are they? Do you know anything about love potions? I've been walking to Lacour for-EVER! Well, not walking on one part but then…"
Ashton quietly closed the door behind him and turned to Precis, who was already bouncing energetically on the bed.
"Precis… one at a time…"
She smiled apologetically at him and apologized.
He smiled back. God, did he miss seeing such a happy smile. Something he'd never be able to conjure up himself. "Well, first off… It's really… really nice to see you again."
"Missed me?" she said with even a bigger grin.
He turned toward this bathroom as not to show his face turning a light hue of red. "Yeah… Well, um, why are you here?"
"Mouuu, well… I'll get to that later. Why you are YOU here?"
He blinked and thought temporarily to himself. "Still just traveling around."
"Oh? Don't you ever get tired of traveling around? Why don't you just settle home? Do your parents allow you to travel around?"
He gave a mild chuckle with a small smile, depression pulling at them and said very quietly, "No, I don't have a home or family to stay at."
Precis gave a look of mild surprise and decided not to ask any further. Once again, she was being a brat, prying into people's business…
I've never really known Ashton.
"Oh, sorry for asking…" she murmured softly, and hung her head in guilt.
Ashton looked up and noticed immediately. Not wanting to have made her smile disappear, he quickly added in "But, I do stay at Eleanor's place time to time. They're sort of like a family to me, but personally I feel like I do intrude their family space, so, the only reason I come is when I absolutely need to, and Eleanor seems quite content when I come, though…"
Precis looked up, stared and said, "Who's Eleanor?"
He blushed once more, "Oh… She's the little girl at Herlie with the sickness a long time ago and we went out to save her by getting that plant, remember?"
She looked up thoughtfully. "I… think I remember…"
"Well, Rena was the one who was with me when I met her…"
"Really…" she muttered silently. Then she suddenly looked up and him and said "Oh, yeah! The reason I'm passing by here is for love potions!!"
Ashton stared. "What?"
She giggled slightly and continued, "Well, I'm really heading for Mars, you know, to get the ingredients for a potion, but I have to stop here because it was getting late, even though I had to ride Barney, but Barney kept stopping and sniffing stuff. It's really annoying because he NEVER did that when we use to ride him."
"Claude and Noel were mainly the ones who led him around…"
"But, I swear, the bunny liked you too!"
Ashton grimaced at memories, "Yeah… but… it wasn't really comfortable riding him…" He promptly changed the subject, "Wait, why do you need a love potion?"
"YEAH!" Precis exclaimed. "Here, look at this…" she muttered as she swung her bag off her shoulder, dug around in it for a few moments and then pulled out a card with some very neat handwriting. She placed it in Ashton's hand.
"Read!"
He did as she commanded, quickly skimmed over it and said evenly, "Oh, Claude and Rena are finally getting married?"
"Yeah! Isn't it disgusting?!" she cried out.
He stared at her for a moment, and then things quickly came together.
"Oh… the love potion is for Claude, right?"
"That's right!"
"Still in love with Claude?" he said with a mild smile.
It was her turn to blush. "Um, um, what if I am?"
He chuckled and then said, "Well, if you need the ingredients, you can check the library here."
"Wha? There's a library here?"
He nodded. "Yeah, in the Lacour castle. I mean, I think it's public, but we could get permission from Leon if it's not."
She gasped. "That's right Ashton! You can come with me when I go! You want to, right?"
He blinked quietly at the invitation, not showing the blithe in his heart building and said with a smile, "Oh… of course. Why not?"
"Great!" she said, and then yawned, letting herself fall on the bed. "Aah, I'm tiiiired…"
"You can sleep on the bed then…" He realized he had rented a room for only one. "I'll just sleep on the chair or something."
"What? No way! You can sleep in this bed with me!"
He saw this coming. "Um, no, it's alright Precis, I've done so before…"
"C'mon, Ashton, you've done so much to me already! It's not like I bite or anything, anyway."
Gyoro and Ururun, who were jadedly ignoring the conversation, jumped in suddenly.
Ashton, I really don't like it when you sleep on the floor OR the chair. We tend to get squeezed back here… And choked. It's not a comfortable feeling.
Besides, Gyoro added in jauntily, You know you want to sleep in that bed with Precis.
"SHUT UP!" he screamed at the dragons, with a mix of fury and embarrassment, but red all the while.
Precis stared. "Ashton?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, the dragons were saying something rude…" he added hastily. His damn dragons, always making a fool of him…
"Well, if you don't want to…" she said with a pout. A very cute pout, at that. "Do you not like me or something?" Her eyes began to shine with the warning of tears.
"No! No! Nothing like that!" He sighed in defeat. "Alright, alright, just let me brush my teeth…"
"Okay! I'm gonna go change in my pajamas!"
Eventually, Ashton came out of the bathroom, his teeth brushed and his eyes met the sight of Precis quietly snoring on the bed.
He truly did not want to look like a lovesick boy, but she did look like a young angel, sleeping peacefully on the clouds.
Oh yeah, she sure does… Why don't you kiss her right about now?
"Gyoro… Shut up." Ashton said under in breath, gritting his teeth.
The red dragon briskly ignored his threat and fell asleep (automatically?) with Ururun.
Ashton had never known a time in his life where we was nervous to fall asleep, next to the first night with Gyoro and Ururun. But, as he laid down next to Precis (which was, fortunately, a large bed) he felt the acids in the bottom of his stomach churn.
He was lying on his side (he had to), facing Precis. Her gentle breathing seemed to capture him for a while. Just watching her sleep, made him quite content, and he quietly was lulled to sleep.
Not before something kicked him.
Or rather knee him. He quickly opened his eyes and saw that Precis had kneed him very close between his legs… She then flopped over before Ashton could do anything.
Well, that was weird… he thought to himself.
But, as he tried to bring himself to sleep again, he felt Precis began kicking her legs out and found Ashton's stomach.
"That's…mine… Let go…!" Precis muttered, and flopped over the other way.
He groaned. God, she could kick hard. He quickly readjusted onto the bed and tried to sleep properly, staying his distance away from the violent sleep talker.
"Claude…"
He opened his eyes to see Precis, hugging the pillow (although, by now, the pillows were just about everywhere…).
"Claude…Rena?"
Precis then began kicking around once more, half screaming inaudible things and again, met Ashton's stomach. But, this time, it forced him off the bed and onto the floor with a loud THUMP.
Ashton groaned even louder, holding his stomach. But, for some reason, Gyoro and Ururun remained dead asleep. He sighed. He wasn't very sleepy anymore. But, he climbed onto the bed and stayed as far as he could from Precis.
The abused boy looked at the "peaceful angel" edgily, hoping not to get jabbed/kicked/forced off the bed. As he stared, the girl abruptly grabbed at him, and hugged him.
"…Who are you…?"
Ashton blushed furiously. He should just pry her off, but she might wake up, but… What was she dreaming about?
Precis dug her head even deeper into his chest. Ashton did not respond. It was probably some dream about Claude, but what did she mean by "Who are you?". But, right about now, he was very stiff with red. Although, how could he deny he was comfortable right now?
As moments passed, she did not violently fight in her sleep anymore, or anything else to bring him closer.
Would it be so bad if I just held her a little?
He brought his arms slowly around her… Then he was pushed off the bed. The last thing he heard before he hit the ground again was, "EWW, NOEL!?!?!"
He laid on the ground, wearily for a few moments in defeat.
"I give up." He mumbled, grabbed a pillow, tucked it under his head, rolled on his side and fell promptly asleep.
(a/n: ;-;! Oh my! Reviews! One does not know how much that encourages me. Special thanks:
Diana - ::Huggles:: ^^ Yes! Ashton and Precis! Sankyuu!
Reflections - x3 Yes, bunny ownz. I didn't want Precis to take forever to meet Ashton, so... Thanks for reviewing! ^^
White Witch - Yesh, I didn't want them to take forever to meet. I'd certainly review and check out anything you write, although, lately I've been really busy. I will try to keep writing though! Thank you!
raistlin majere - xD Yay! THanks! I'm hoping I can keep Precis in character. ::Thumbs up:: I will keep writing on, nee?
Kasu-chan - Aww, thanks for reviewing... I'll be SURE to keep writing.
Araa, please keep reviewing. I've been busy, but I'm trying... So, you can probaly tell this is more filler and short, but the plot'll move in the next chapter, I swear.
Once more, thanks. I will continue to mention those who review! And for more AshtonxPrecis sweetness, collect the Star Ocean: Second Story manga! ^^ Keep r/r-ing pleaase?)
