Thank you for reading!
Ephemer ran a hand through his hair. The still calmness of the Dandelion clubroom only serving to let him mind wander far, far away. Tomorrow would be the two month anniversary of his and Anora's first date, and he was running out of ideas. He was also broke. Not that Ava wouldn't help pay for a trip to the movies or anything- but he felt bad taking money from her with no way to pay her back. He needed to find a job.
The young man let out a long sigh as he looked over his list of ideas. Most of them they had already done. As such, Ephemer had scratched them out with a frustrated grumble. Did this mean he was a bad boyfriend? How could he take her someplace she enjoyed when they've been everywhere? Wouldn't Anora get tired of going to the same places over and over again? What if they went to a certain place so often that Anora just turned to him and said…
"How's it going, leader?"
Ephemer nearly jumped out of his skin before whipping around to see Brain standing at the door. The older student tipped his fedora to Ephemer, making his way further into the room without any introduction.
"What are you doing here?" Ephemer questioned- not meaning to sound as accusatory as he did.
"Well, I was going to take a nap." Brain smirked. "What are you doing here?"
Ephemer let out a hard sigh. "Thinking." he quietly admitted.
"Sounds dangerous." said the older as he flopped his body on one of the loveseats.
"I'm trying to think of something to do for our two month anniversary."
Brain snorted at this. "Two... month…?" He snickered a bit before mumbling under his breath, "Unbelievable."
Hearing this sparked a small flare of anger in Ephemer. Without meaning to he snapped, "How do you care? Your longest relationship lasted, what? A month?"
"A year, thank you very much." came the reply with a little wave of the older's hand. "And with a very beautiful young woman named Verity."
This, for some reason, was not the answer Ephemer had been expecting. He recoiled a little in thought. The rumor that Brain was a lady's man was one that had persisted for years. But the more Ephemer thought about it, the more he couldn't recall the last time Brain had truly dated any girl. Spare for the spring formal, Brain had been shooting down girls more often times than not. Now curious, Ephemer looked at Brain with an inquisitive expression.
"What happened?" he wondered.
Brain gave a careless roll of his shoulder before grumbling, "Doesn't matter. Just another girl wanting a cute guy as a handbag."
"Ah..." came the small agreement. After that, the two boys went silent. Brain tilted his fedora over his face to block some light, threw his hands behind his head, and reclined against the loveseat to get some rest; Ephemer continued to write ideas down, only to scratch them out a few moments after.
Brain should have known better and moved his nap time somewhere else. Ephemer was not at all quiet about his lack of confidence. He'd sigh every so often, his scribbling being far more grading than it should have been. Brain was about to leave the room entirely before Ephemer softly mumbled to himself;
"Maybe I'm just treating her the way I used to treat Skuld..."
At this, Brain cocked an eyebrow and finally started to sit up. He adjusted his fedora back on his head so he could look at Ephemer. The younger of the two was completely hunched over his list now. His fingers were all but knitted into his wispy hair, threatening to pull a few strands out if he wasn't careful. Brain titled his head at the scene- resting his chin in his hand.
"Hmm, doubt it." he decided. He must have surprised Ephemer again; the younger jumping a good foot out of his seat at hearing the older's voice. "Just the fact that you're more mindful of what she wants, and not what you think you should do, means you're more committed to this relationship than I ever would."
The Leopardus student blinked for a moment before turning to Brain. He was greeted with a pensive expression looking right back at him. Not for the first time, Ephemer realized just how naturally handsome Brain was. The older boy's round face held a strong jawline, and framed with his layered raven hair. His gray, oval-shaped eyes had an odd way of seeing right through you and straight into your soul. Ephemer wasn't going to lie, if he was a girl, he would have been blown away by Brain's good looks in a heartbeat.
Had Anora ever felt that way about Brain? She didn't seem to notice him during the spring formal or during the summer. But they had spent a whole night together when they were lost on the field trip...
"When you two were lost on the nature preserve…" he then wondered out loud, "What did you do?"
Something about Brain seemed to stiffen. His eyes, once partially exhausted, now stared intensely at Ephemer.
"Ephemer," the oldest started to say- something dark underlying in his voice, "If you're insinuating that I touched your girlfriend..."
Ephemer's skin crawled. "What?! No!" he immediately spat. "I was just…! I meant…!" With a furious shake of his head, the younger grumbled, "Never mind. You wouldn't even listen to her anyway."
A faint flicker of darkness crossed Brain's eye. This was what made the older student stand up- the movement startled Ephemer for a moment, before wondering if Brain was going to throttle him.
"I'll have you know that Anora is the least materialistic girl on this campus." Brain snapped at Ephemer. "She's not going to give two pink elephants what you do for your 'two month' anniversary. In fact, you could do nothing but play board games all night, and she'll be satisfied! She loves you, you moron. Nothing's going to change that for her."
Giving a gruff grunt, Brain then left the Dandelion clubroom- he even made generous use of slamming the door behind him for emphasis. Ephemer, once more alone in the quiet room, could do nothing but sit in the tense atmosphere. He looked at the door -almost expecting Brain to come back- then looked back down at his list, which was nothing more than a page filled with scribbles. The young man gave a sigh before fishing his phone out of his pocket. His thumbs hovered over the virtual keyboard for a few moments before starting to type his text.
'what do u want to do 2morrow? big day u no. 2months!'
He sent the text off and gently placed the phone on the table. As he waited for Anora to answer, he mindlessly started to fill in the holes of the scribbles on his defunct list. The phone buzz almost scared him.
'dunno. mog has a test so we're all gonna help him after school. wanna join? pyra won't mind.'
There a moment's delay and another text appeared that read, 'i think.'
Another second passed before the addendum of, 'i can ask.'
Ephemer let out a thoughtful sigh as he rested his head in his hand. A study date didn't sound too bad- but three was a crowd, and Pyra's study group of five (six with him there) was practically a party. A pretty loud one, too. Using his thumb, he sent her another text.
'wut about tues?'
It took quite awhile for the response to come. A small pit of fear started to well in Ephemer's chest. Why was she taking so long?
'the cafeteria makes bentos with cake slices in them on tuesdays. i'll get two if you let me in your room. your bed is so soft, I miss it ( ≧◡≦)'
A smile etched its way onto Ephemer's face. He didn't bother to get rid of it. Maybe he was just being ridiculous, and Brain was right. Anora didn't care what they did as long as they were together.
'it misses u 2. it's a date.'
Even as he sent the text, Ephemer wondered if it really was enough for her. What other ways could he show how much he loved her?