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For the past five or so minutes, Ventus kept nervously looking from his lunch to Ephemer and Skuld. He was happy that they let him sit with them; it was better than sitting alone and letting Vanitas berate him. But all the talk about the formal was making the boy think. Ven closed his eyes as he asked the other two, in one very quick sentence; "Who are you guys taking to the formal?"

The reaction was an equal, "Huh?" and a curious glance directed toward him. Ven shrunk a bit in his spot. Just as he was about to tell them to forget it, Skuld spoke up;

"Are you not listening?" she prudently questioned. "We were just talking about that."

"Oh come on Skuld," Ephemer teased, despite rather unnerved at his friend, "We all know Ven tends to space out every now and again."

"Y-yeah Skuld," the youngest boy tried to joke. "Take it easy on me."

He immediately shrunk again at the dark glare she gave him.

"Ephemer and I usually go together." she finally decided to tell Ventus. "But this year..."

"This year I was thinking about taking someone else." Ephemer cut in with a grin. "So we were talking about who else she could go with."

"Oh..." came the younger boy's small answer. "You must know a lot of people then, huh? I don't think I know anyone outside of you two..."

That was when something glimmered in Ephemer's eye, and he immediately turned to Skuld. Without him saying a word, she already knew what her friend was getting at.

"You're joking." she retorted. Ven looked from the two of them in confusion.

"Joking about what?" he innocently questioned. At first, neither of them answered him, instead staring each other down until Skuld gave in.

With a defeated sigh, she said to him, "You can go to the formal with me."

For a moment, Ventus couldn't react. When the words finally came, he sounded like he was being strangled by a cat; "A-are you serious? C-can I?"

Skuld gave a shrug of indifference.

"But we're six years apart!" Ven then tried to argue. He knew it was a weak argument the moment he said it.

"That doesn't matter." Ephemer told him with a shake of his head. "We're all in the same house, attending the same school. No one would even bat an eyelash. Who knows, someone might even think you're related!"

Ventus and Skuld looked at each other then immediately gave a look of disagreement. If anyone managed to think they looked like siblings, they obviously needed a pair of glasses.

"So," Ven then curiously implored, "If you weren't going to take Skuld like you usually do, who were you going to take?"

A wide grin made its way onto Ephemer's face as he gave his answer.

. . .

"Are you going to ask them?"

Her brother had been so blunt that Strelitzia almost choked on her food. If Elrena had decided to have lunch with them, there was no doubt she would have made a snarky remark to it. Lauriam waited patiently as his sister tried to recompose herself.

"W-who?" she weakly questioned, trying to play dumb. Lauriam's knowing side eye made her shrink a bit in her seat. Sighing, Strelitzia admitted in a small voice, "I'm afraid to."

"Why?"

"She's a girl too, it'll be weird."

"So?"

Strelitzia looked up at her brother in confusion. Surely he would have known how weird it would have been for two girls to arrive at the formal together. People would talk- and not particularly nicely either. Then there was that boy Anora was with on White Day…

"I don't know if she feels the same way." Strelitzia finally admitted. "And… I want to ask her, I do. But I just… I just can't. Not right now. I don't want to go to the formal alone though..."

"I'll take you."

Strelitzia's eyes widened. "Really?"

Lauriam gave a small nod of his head. He took a slow sip from his cup before adding, "But if you don't ask them to the formal, at least talk to them during. Promise?"

At this, Strelitzia bit her lip in thought. Something about having her brother to fall back to did help the idea of talking to Anora face to face. Maybe it was the rule of a third wheel, or having a wingman, or something.

"I promise." she agreed with a nod and a wide smile.

. . .

The five friends stared at Brain as if he had gained another head. Likewise, the boy stood near them, with a grin befitting the cat that ate the canary. It shouldn't have been that much of a shock- Pyra and Brain were in the same house, after all. But it was something about the way he composed himself, the way he had asked so nonchalantly, as if he were doing her a favor.

"So Pyra, what do you say? Wanna go to the formal with me?" he asked once more. If she would just say no, he'd take the hint and walk away. He'd even respect it if she said that someone else was going to take her. But Pyra did none of those things; her utter surprise leaving her speechless.

"I..." the girl struggled to say. "I would li-like that."

The smile Brain gave her was genuine- almost relieved. "Great!" he declared. "Can I pick you up at your dorm; maybe a little after 7?"

"Sure." Pyra squeaked.

Brain gave a small chuckle at her reaction. He gave her a departing wink before going on his merry way. Pyra's face was so red from embarrassment that it could have stopped traffic.

"You gonna be alright there Pyra?" Affie asked her, taking a rather large bite out of his sandwich. "I don't think I've seen anyone look that red before."

Nin snorted. "I don't blame her- he's got all the signs of being a lady killer. Dark, handsome- I think he's still one growth spurt away from being tall, though. Hate to see that kid all dressed up."

"But you're not even going." Affie reminded her, raising an eyebrow.

"I am." she told them all with a grimace. "Mog convinced me to go with him."

"It wasn't even easily either." the youngest of them added. "It felt like she made me sell my soul for a corn chip."

"Serves you right." Nin snickered.

"I'm glad Katia is so open to formals then." Affie said, more to himself than his friends.

"Who's Katia?"

"My girlfriend."

"Since when?!"

"Since after last year's dance. She asked me, so this year I asked her. We're only going for a bit though- dinner at an actual restaurant is a lot better than whatever they have catered at the formal."

"Who's taking you to the formal, Anora?" Pyra suddenly asked, her voice too high and squeaky to not hide that she was only trying to divert everyone's attention. Suddenly hearing her name in this line of conversation made Anora jump in surprise. Quickly, Anora shook her head to illustrate that no one had asked her yet.

"Ah man!" Mog whined. "I wish I had known that before asking Nin! I would have asked you instead!"

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Nin quickly snapped at him.

"N-nothing!" the boy quickly stammered. "I just… you know, if it would kill you to have a little fun..."

"So you think I'm no fun?"

"What?! No, no, no! That's not what I'm trying to say!"

It was Pyra who started to laugh first. Everyone looked at her in confusion, for only a moment, before they all started to dissolve into a burst of giggles. The question on who was going to take Anora to the formal was now forgotten. For now, at least.

. . .

"Hey Anora!"

Anora immediately stopped in her tracks, turning to see Ephemer coming toward her. He was sprinting, as if he had only happened to see her out of the corner of his eye, and immediately made a decision to catch up with her. When he was close enough, the boy let out a sigh to catch his breath before quickly asking;

"Has anyone asked you to the formal yet?"

Something in Anora froze. He wasn't…!

"Do you want to do together?"

He was.

Anora looked at Ephemer with growing eyes. As scared and surprised as she was, something in her was… excited. That excitement almost scared her even more.

"As… friends?"

Ephemer tilted his head at her for a moment before nodding. "As friends." he agreed. Anora's body visibly relaxed at this. But there was still a weird sense of disappointment lingering in her mind. But why?

"I think we're going to go with Skuld and Ventus." Ephemer then told her. "It'll be easier than going separately then trying to find each other at the formal. But we'll talk more about it later, okay?"

Anora gave him a nod of agreement. The term 'double date' floated around in her head for a moment before she shook it away. This wasn't a date, it was a night out with friends- there was no reason to complicate it further than that.

Right?