Benny's Birthday woohoo. Updating this early for the occasion :3
"I'm sorry, Benny. You're a nice guy, but I'm just not ready for that kind of things, you know," Barbara said, holding his hand. "Benny?"
"I-it's okay, I understand," Be nnett said, laughing it off. But then why were there tears on his face? Why was his inside twisting in pain? He choked, trying to smile. "Who am I kidding anyway? Why would someone like you ever have feeling for me? Right?"
"Benny, wait!"
Before he knew it, his legs carried him away from her, away from the cathedral.
Bennett admired the calla lily in his hand, his mind wandering back to his failed attempt at his crush two days ago. He already lost any will to sigh at his misfortune.
"Bennett? Can you go grab the ones there?" Diona pointed to the islet by the small lake. She herself was sporting pouches and pouches attached to her belt, all filled to the brim with calla lilies. "I'm out of space."
"I can see that." Bennett nodded.
Diona's request was a much needed reprieve from his heartbreak so he agreed to help her with her wine industry issue. Foraging ingredients was a safe activity so there was a low chance of him getting injured. He'd rather not visit the cathedral anytime soon.
He trudged through the lake, shuddering as the cool morning water made contact with his skin. The pyro coursing through his body warmed him enough for him to swim and climb onto the islet. Water dripped from his soaked clothes.
"What are you gonna do with these?" He raised the freshly plucked calla lilies and studied it. "Isn't it too much?"
The girl shrugged and began perusing her pouches. The way she was counting her hoard was not unlike when someone would count their mora.
"For experiments of course! The wine industry wasn't built in one day. So it's reasonable that taking it down would take awhile as well. But!" She grinned and proudly pointed at him. "I have you as my secret weapon. So that'll save us time."
He hummed. "Assuming we take down the wine industry, what are you gonna do next?"
"Why of course, spend time with my daddy!" She puffed her chest, smiling. "With no wine to take over his attention, he'll only have his eyes on me."
Bennett blinked as a thought crossed his mind. "You want to destroy the wine industry."
"Huh? Yes, we've established that."
"But you work as a bartender."
"Precisely. I'm infiltrating the industry so I can destroy it from the inside."
"But–" Bennett tried to say but no amount of thinking lent him any sensible response to that bizzare logic. "Never mind."
Diona raised a brow but didn't push the matter.
Bennett just shook his head in amusement. He was about to climb off the islet but the water on the jagged edge made his hand slip.
"Oops."
He fell down into the water, feeling clearly the deep cut on his knee from the islet's edge and the forming bruise on his forehead, courtesy of the shallow bottom of the lake.
"Bennett!"
Diona was a healer as it turned out. A good one too because the cut was barely noticeable now.
"How can you be this clumsy?" she asked as she applied some more cryo on the area around the wound. It was quite a new experience. His pyro was warm and at times painful, while Barbara's hydro was ticklish and cool. But Diona's cryo, it felt different. It was numbingly cooler than hydro, and it felt like thousands of needle tips were pressed to his flesh. "There, all healed. Be careful now."
Bennett grinned. "Yeah, I'll be more careful. Thanks." He pulled his leg back to inspect it. There were no marks left unlike his own healing. Even his forehead that she treated didn't hurt at all when he touched it.
They sat around a fire he made so his clothes would dry faster. It still felt cold with them sticking to his skin, but it wasn't too bad. Diona looked up at him, a frown on her face.
"I heard things about you. People in the tavern said you're unlucky. Kinda mean," she said, her tail wagging. He didn't understand cat behavior, but it seemed like she was offended for him?
He waved it off, chuckling.
"They're not wrong. I am unlucky. Bad things happen when you hang around me, so nobody wants me near them." Even Barbara… Probably only hung out with him out of pity and he took it the wrong way.
Diona huffed.
"They're wrong then. So far only good things happened with me being around you. And it'll only get better!" She chuckled, hugging and rubbing her pouches to her cheek with that dreamy face she kept on making.
"O-oh. Thanks, I guess," he said simply, lost for words at the compliment. He tried to change the topic but couldn't help the slight smile at the edge of his lips. "By the way, do you do that often?"
"Do what often?"
He pointed at her.
"That lovestruck face," he said, not knowing how else to describe it. "You've been doing that since yesterday."
Diona blinked and looked down at her object of affection. "I do huh. Well, I am lovestruck though, by you," she said, looking at him, as if she was talking about the weather.
Heat rose to Bennett's cheeks. He stuttered, failing to form a coherent sentence. In the end, he decided admiring the grass was the best course of action.
"Y-you don't know what you just said," he muttered, not daring to look up.
"What? I mean it. I can never make bad drinks no matter what I do. But it's just natural for you. I'd kill for that kind of talent!"
"Talent? Yeah, I guess." He chuckled before shifting his tone. "But seriously, don't ever say that again."
She shrugged.
"Sure."
"Taste this."
"…it looks gross but tastes good. How does that work?"
"It's my curse you could say. Now how about this one? It's the one you made."
"…it looks good but my stomach feels bad. I think I'm gonna be sick…"
"That proves it. I can't touch the ingredients. Otherwise I'll make it taste good. I think– Bennett?"
"..."
"Bennett!"
This chapter is a bit short. It's mostly a setup for next chapter, and the angst here (if it can be called one) is pretty tame compared to what the future of this fic holds :D
Regardless, I hope you enjoyed it.
