Song Listened To : Open Your Eyes To Love - LMNT All Sides

*Chapter 109*

"User, that was incredible," Emery hissed with a wide smile as she tucked her glorious, straight, dark green hair behind her ears, she merely glanced at Oliver as Lickity flapped her ears about.

"Can you believe tonight was the first time I have ever flown Lickity? Let alone been on her in the air?" Oliver laughed as Lickity lovingly nuzzled her snout into Olvier's large palm. The three comfortably hung in the gaping entrance of the castle's desolate front doors.

"Could've fooled me," Emery shrugged as the two loved on Lickity for a few moments more, though she finally perked her ears and took a few gentle steps back, as if to kindly suggest getting back to Tessa and Zed.

"Hopefully she finds her way back to the two," Oliver inquired as he furrowed his brow and watched Lickity's awesome wingspan sprawl.

She grunted the two a noise of acknowledgement before she turned around, took a few bounding steps, and leaped to the sky once more. Her glorious, majestic wingspan hit the warm air with a few soft flaps, though once she gained enough altitude, she began to glide South, in the direction of Stonecrest. After a few moments, Lickity merely became a speckle in the night sky, and Oliver finally swallowed the lump in his throat. He averted his tender gaze to Emery and felt his heart jump as her eyes caught with his, though the two nearly painfully pulled away and looked about the castle's front doors, which hung open.

"Y'know, it's been awhile since I've been here," Emery eased, she figured somehow, the two would eventually quit with the bashful glances and nervous, twiddling fingers. She slowly welcomed herself into the massive, silent castle. It was almost spooky how quiet it was, though Oliver gazed longingly at his home. He closed the massive, castle front door behind the two and sealed them in once and for all.

"It has been awhile, huh," Oliver agreed as he softly motioned for her to follow him.

"I used to come here, all the time, when Tessa was a baby," Emery stated, though she felt her heart jump in a dip of sudden dread; she realized, with her statement, that Oliver wasn't even a thought on Ralph and Vanellope's brain, at the time.

"Really?" Oliver inquired happily, albeit the large age gap insinuation. Emery peered at him expectantly and was pleased to see him breeze past it, as if it didn't even phase him. It was only then did she finally convince herself that maybe it wasn't as big of an issue as she dreamed up.

"Yeah," Emery huffed through a surprised laugh as the two carried on down the dimly lit, glorious Great Hall. It was still, tidy and cleaned to perfection. It was clear that Vanellope made sure the castle was left spotless for her brood. Emery carried on, though she fiddled with her hair in growing, dainty nervousness, "Tammy babysat Tessa, and I would always bring Tammy her homework. Tessa was such a cute little baby. All hands."

"That's what my mom and dad say about me, too," Oliver's deep voice chuckled as he gestured to his hands, though he seemed mildly annoyed.

"I remember," Emery beamed, though she furrowed her eyebrows and looked down to the ground in minor sorrow, as if to begin to scold herself, "I-I mean... Well... Seems sort of odd that I knew you as a baby, huh."

"Not really," Oliver lightly shrugged, though he gave Emery a harder look and began to wonder why she looked so anxious. He softened his gaze and finally realized why she was becoming so inwardly upset, "Are... Are you bothered by that?"

"No, it's... It's nothing," Emery forced a giggle and peered ahead as the two slowly moseyed down Rancis and Taffyta's wing of the castle. The corridor was crowned with glorious, marbled moldings and the swirling, sparkling tiles that eked from the Great Hall.

"Hey," Oliver started softly, his deep voice was warm and welcoming. He scoffed a small laugh and looked down to their feet as he prepared to grow closer to her. As delicately as he could, he let his larger fingers grope for her small hand. Once he was successful in slowly acquiring her grip, he pushed the middle of his upper arm to her shoulder and continued to look down to their feet, as did Emery, "Y'know, you shouldn't be worried about it. Guess it just means I have nothing left, embarrassing, to show you."

Emery laughed softly and finally gave Oliver her kind, genuine smile. She squeezed his hand and began to ease up a little, the two idly moseyed closer to Rancis's beckoning garden french doors.

"I mean, hey, my dad is like, what... More than a dozen arcade years older than my mom," Oliver shrugged, he began to feel his heart race in a needy sort of way, as if he just now realized what he was doing and accomplishing, "A-And... Look at Tessa and Zed. They're not even the same code types."

"Guess anything goes, with our group," Emery smiled, though she furrowed her eyebrows and finally peered her curious eyes into Oliver's, "Y-You compared us to two couples, with age differences."

"Yeah, well," Oliver scoffed, he began to feel his confidence slip as he suddenly couldn't read Emery's demeanor, "Th-they're the only two I could really think of off the top of my head."

Emery gave Oliver a kind, obligatory smile, though she couldn't help but look away with shyness she was certain she couldn't shake. She tried her hardest to realize just who she was with; someone she had come to know and love over the months, someone she would quietly confide in and lean on. She was more than comfortable with Oliver, though somehow, the layers and layers that kept piling on top of them, began to make her feel as if she was drowning. She let her gaze drift to the french doors, they were approaching, though she was somehow hoping Oliver would be the one to break their fragile, trembling iceberg. She scolded herself over her failed attempts. She knew the two did friendship very well, though with how painful all signs pointed North, and how tense their little ember had slowly become, she wasn't certain how to level the playing field.

"You're going to love my uncle's garden," Oliver said excitedly, though he kept a kind, calm air about himself. He lightly straightened out his tuxedo coat and eagerly reached for the door handle, which lead to Rancis's sprawling fields and nurseries, "He always has it all lit up."

"Really?" Emery wondered with an eager smile, her eyes lit up as Oliver slowly opened the large, heavy wooden door, though both of their wistful moods quickly dropped, as did Emery's shoulders.

"What?" Oliver hissed in hard annoyance as the two slowly, and apprehensively, stepped out underneath the massive, arching overhang of his uncle's abode. It was dark, though the ivy and flowers could still barely be seen. Oliver slumped his arm to his side and felt his heart drop with mild embarrassment, "Man... He usually has this place set up really nicely, the lights he has in and out of this canopy is really cool, to look at, at night..."

"Oh, that's okay," Emery assured as she stepped out into the warm air, the cobbles underneath her pretty cream flats very lightly clacked. She gently, and slowly, spun around, to attempt to get a good look at all the pretty flowers, "I'll take your word for it! I can still sort of see the flowers. Maybe you can show me tomorrow, during the day?"

"Yeah, I could," Oliver mumbled as he slumped his shoulders farther, though his frown fell the hardest.

He held his inquisitive gaze to Emery's beautiful figure across the stretch of neat and tidy cobbles. She hopefully peered up at the dark canopy, far above their heads. He could tell she was doing everything she could to get a glimpse of the gorgeous flowers that hung in dark wait, like wrapped presents just waiting to be revealed. Oliver's frown only broadened as he could feel his hopes lightly crush and shatter before him. He wondered just where his uncle kept the switch for the lights, or if they were on a timer. He figured it was some sort of setting in the code room. He furrowed his eyebrows in growing anguish, though before too much time could pass, he slowly looked down to his palm and opened it. He squinted lightly and tried his hardest to let a wild idea hit him full force. His timid heart and nervous thoughts tried it's very hardest to push his ideas away, though he shot his attention to Emery yet again; he knew he had to do something to wow her.

"It smells so lovely, out here," Emery said kindly as she looked over her shoulder. She double took at Oliver's figure, which hung near the gaping doorway. She wrinkled her nose and curiously smiled, "Olly, don't beat yourself up about it, we'll just look at them tomorrow."

Oliver held his breath and locked his eyes on Emery's figure, though, because of the dark, she was almost a silhouette. He gazed at her for a few moments, though she let a small, silent giggle escape her figure as she began to take a few steps farther away from Oliver, so she could attempt to ogle the canopy above her. She softly droned on about how the moonlight was aiding her eyesight, and how some of the flowers could be seen. She continued to give Oliver kind, assuring notions in hopes that he'd not be so upset, though Oliver couldn't help but look back down to his large palm. He knew glitching was a part of his coding, because of his mother; he wondered just how he could utilize it.

"I have an idea," Oliver uttered softly, though as soon as the words left his mouth, he was almost hoping Emery didn't hear him.

"Yeah?" Emery wondered as she looked over her shoulder. Her dark, glorious green hair flicked over her shoulder as she divided her attention between Oliver's stand point, and the gorgeous, though hidden, flowers overhead.

"Yeah," Oliver breathed silently as he peered down at his palm in anxiousness.

He knew he had never attempted glitching, and he had always believed it was potentially just a power he was never given. He knew his mother and father would tell stories about how he potentially had a few glitching moments, when he was a baby, though he was always stuck with the fact that it never came naturally to him, or even if it came to him at all. He wondered just how easy it was for Tessa, Zed and Vanellope; how simply they can summon their interior soul to shine through. He wondered just how much will power it would take, though he focused all of his attention and energy to his core being. He wondered, if he could even get so much as a spark out of his limited abilities, he could potentially light up Emery's world.

He coughed a silent exhale and felt as if his veins and circuits, underneath his skin, began to heat up with nervousness, as if attempting to do something so out of the ordinary was beyond his ability. He flinched, with a fit of a gentle recoil that he was totally succumbed to; he wasn't positive if what he had just seen was correct, though the gentle burn spot, left on the backs of his eyes, assured to him that he potentially sparked some sort of light from his palm. He furrowed his thick, black eyebrows in hard concentration and gave his inner being his whole focus, though before too much time passed, his palm suddenly flickered with his secretive purple coding, yet again, though it lightly stuck. It nervously wavered around the circuits on his hands, as if to suggest that it could shy away at any given moment.

He suddenly barked an excited laugh, though before he could become too enthralled with his accomplishment, he quickly reached out and slapped his large hand to the stone pillar right next to him. He made sure his live-wired skin came in contact with a few thick, sturdy wires that he knew were connected to all the lights that hung above the two. The wire buzzed an angry, confused crackle as Oliver's hot purple circuitry sprawled up the cords, and, at lightning speed, quick sparks began to course down the long wiring. Like miniature lightning bolts that moved at the appropriate speed for such, the whole canopy was riddled with the shock wave of his brilliant idea. All at once, every single tender and warm light radiated on in a quick gradient of summer love that easily enveloped the two.

Oliver smiled wider than he thought was possible, though his heart throbbed at the sound of Emery's dainty, excited gasp; he could see her cover her mouth in eager surprise, in his peripheral, though his eyes glued to the glorious sight he was dying to show her. The two laughed in a soft, adoring way as they admired the beauty all above them. The glorious green vines that hung above were appropriately laced with the largest, most beautifully untouched white sugar lilies; Oliver knew his uncle Rancis had outdone himself, for the summer Sugar Rush flora. He knew such a spot was just perfect for the castle grounds; no such place, in Arcade, would be deemed worthy enough for the heaven they stepped into.

"Oliver!" Emery said through a hiss of kindness as she softly shoved her dainty, small hands to the sides of her head. She giggled and scrunched her shoulders as she slowly turned heel and continued to let her eyes get lost in the beauty above the two.

Oliver chuckled and nodded in agreement, though he softly double took on Emery's figure. She tenderly back stepped a bit and, with her idle, moseying footwork, she almost acted as if she didn't know just where to look first. With a swollen heart that paced faster than he could even begin to understand, he noticed Emery's gentle turns and steps become more and more idle and slow, as if she didn't want to stand in one single spot for too long. He raised his eyebrows and, as tenderly and slowly as he could, he took a few brooding steps closer to her and, as if patiently waiting for the two to come to their romantic conclusion, he kindly waited for her to fill the rest of the gap between them, though unbeknownst to her. He raised his eyebrows and kindly let his eyes hold to her figure, though he couldn't contain letting a sly smile peek from the corners of his mouth.

As tenderly as he could, he held his larger hands out, as if to prepare to steady her. He took a soft, half step backwards as she unknowingly backed into him. She uttered a small noise and jolted, as she pulled away and whirled around in a soft haze, though she hooked her strong, beautiful gaze into his with a bashful, apologetic smile. She giggled a small apology and prepared herself to give the two a little more distance, though she held onto Oliver's still and stoic demeanor, as if he was secretly begging her not to leave. She raised her eyebrows in soft concern, though, as if to seek reassurance from Oliver, she let her smaller hands grope for his wrists. His hands were still delicately outstretched, to steady her from bumping into him. He held his solid, bashful attention down to her, though he could feel those new, pesky circuits, under his skin, begin to crawl with delight as her skin confidently held to his. He could tell Emery was seeking a shoulder to mentally lean on, the way her little fingers just lightly tried to hook around Oliver's large wrists.

Oliver just barely glanced about her body and tried his hardest to assess her silent language. He swallowed hard and felt as if he was sat in another dimension, one of which he never thought he'd be so daintily plopped in. He held his honey brown gaze to hers, as if to give all his secrets to her, to tenderly overflow her with his vulnerable soul, to silently ask her to bear with his lack of education on the blossoming situation they were both stepping into. He was surprised to receive the same exact vibe back from Emery, though with this sense of solid camaraderie, he felt confidence come back to him. As carefully as he could, like trying to keep a candle from burning out, he slowly let his large hand find her upper waist. As if to kindly, and politely ask if she would like to ease deeper into his bubble, he waited patiently for her answer; he was more than thrilled to see her take a step forward, one filled with highly reserved eagerness.

With confidence that continued to soar, Oliver dared to let his other hand find the other side of Emery's waist. She tenderly let her smaller hands sink into his strong, broad chest. Her fingers melted into his tie a little, she felt the soft fabric with her fingers, though she relished more so in the warmth of his body. Her innocent, delicate eyes scanned the color of his tie for a moment, as if to bashfully contemplate just how close they were, though it wasn't until Oliver tucked his arms and hands around Emery's waist, once and for all, and began to initiate the ever so tender movement of swaying, did Emery raise her eyebrows in dewy surprise and peer her gaze up into Oliver's. She kindly obliged and followed his movement, no matter how worried she was about tripping over her own, two left feet.

It wasn't until Emery finally showed her teeth, through a breath of a bashful giggle, did Oliver beam a kind smile down to her as well. He examined her raw beauty, the glorious shimmer of her dark green hair, the creamy, alluring draw of her flawless, porcelain like skin; he felt a breath catch in his throat with just exactly how lucky he felt in this moment. His large, though careful hands did everything they could not to squeeze her into him. He held his eyes with hers and could swear, for split seconds, that Sugar Rush's morning song birds had awoken from their sleep. The two continued to delicately sway, though it wasn't until they began to only slightly fumble, with each other, did they both exhale knowing laughs towards each other and their lack of dancing skills. Oliver took this as an awesome opportunity to playfully twirl her. She giggled and followed suit, she slowly twirled underneath Oliver's loving grip. Her hair splayed out, as well as her dress; Oliver shook his head and was almost certain, by now, that this was merely a dream.

"Can you imagine us in a dance competition against Tessa and Zed?" Emery said through squinted eyes and a kind giggle as she fumbled back into Oliver's grip, though this time, they eased into each other with a lot more comfort than prior.

"We wouldn't even make it out onto the dance floor before they disqualified us," Oliver chuckled as he dared to squeeze Emery closer to his chest; she eagerly obliged and slid her hands down his chest in a draw of curious, innocent love.

"Disqualified!" Emery gawked through a small, quiet laugh. Oliver shook his head as the two continued to egg on each other's laughter, "I was thinking maybe we lost. How bad do you have to dance to be disqualified?"

"As long as we lost together, I'd be a-okay with that," Oliver said deeply through a small crack of a chuckle as his kind eyes held to hers.

Emery gave Oliver a kind, though surprised smile, and with a small scoff of incredulous delight, she softly slid her gaze down to Oliver's upper chest, which was where she was eye level with. Her small fingers fiddled with the small pocket on the front of Oliver's chest, though before too much time had past, and their delicate swaying droned to idle, she furrowed her eyebrows and re-pierced her gaze to Oliver's. She couldn't help but steal a few, long glances up at the gorgeous canopy above the two, beyond Oliver. Her eyes held to the magical scenery with innocent, blossoming wonder.

"Oliver, this is so lovely," Emery smiled happily, her green eyes practically twinkled, "It's so beautiful, out here!"

"Yeah," Oliver said through a huff of a quiet breath as he tenderly squinted, as if to get a better look into Emery's whole existence, "There is an overload of beauty, here."

Emery enthusiastically, though calmly, smiled up into Oliver's eyes and felt her arms itch to want to hold him around his neck; a warm, new comfort they were quickly growing accustomed to, as if they had potentially rehearsed this moment for awhile now. Oliver shook his head, just barely, and, as softly as he could muster, he tucked some of Emery's silk-like hair behind her ear and dared to let his thumb stroke the side of her soft cheek.

"I don't need to look up, to know that," Oliver's deep voice urged, a quiet notion he held only for Emery's bashful soul.

Emery froze as Oliver's warm words hit her head on. She furrowed her eyebrows in a mix of a delightful, love struck anguish. A wide, bashful smile sprawled her cheeks as she assessed Oliver's patient aura, he seemed to be waiting on a cue, one of which he wasn't exactly certain what he needed to look for, though she could tell he persisted, nonetheless. Emery bit her bottom lip, through her girly smile. She knew the two were quietly, patiently itching to put all of their wondering to rest, though she knew it hung in the balance with her word; she was beyond thrilled to feel Oliver ever so patiently wait for her permission to steal her heart. Emery inhaled a silent breath, as if to steady her quivering soul, though with as much tenderness as she could convey, she handed over the reigns to Oliver. She softened her gaze to his and just barely eased her body closer to his, as if to hope Oliver knew his cue was finally presented to him.

Oliver felt his heart jump at the simple fact that he was receiving positive vibes from this tender moment, all signs pointed North. He raised his eyebrows in baited surprise, as if he was certain he'd only dream of this moment coming true, though never actually expected it to. He steadied his heart, he knew he wanted to overload her with his entirety, as bumbling and large as it was; he was aware his heart, for her, was much larger. As carefully as he could, and with a quick reminder to himself to continue to hold onto his softest side, he lightly followed Emery's kind orders, as if she didn't need to tell him twice. With a slow crawl of a dip, he let his hands come around the center of her back, even more so. He squeezed her close in a draw of alluring, fresh feelings and, with no hesitation, the two warmly melted into their first kiss.

With one simple act, he suddenly felt every single backwards notion he had, towards romance, fly out the window. The feel of Emery's warm, soft face against his, her beautiful figure thankfully pushed into his warm arms, he almost forgot to breathe. The two tenderly parted, though they hung near each other, as if to potentially inquire going back for seconds. Oliver just barely opened his eyes and kept his forehead hovered before hers, to remain hopeful, though courteous. Just as he was about to swallow and figure his one minute of sparks had come to an end, he raised his eyebrows in collective surprise as Emery slowly slid her arms up Oliver's chest, to hug his neck, once and for all. Through his look of delirious, though delightful confusion, she squeezed her arms around his neck as softly as she could and, with an innocent smolder of questioning eye contact, she silently suggested they fill their painful gap, once more. He knew not to argue.

With a bit more confidence and showed enthusiasm, Oliver gently ducked down, yet again, and met Emery half way. He smiled on her warm lips and, with a sweep of a long inhale of her alluring, girly scent, he scooped her into his strong arms and could feel the weight, of their friendship, finally fall off of their shoulders and, as if waiting to see a budding tree bear fruit, he knew their patience and timid giddiness wasn't all for not. The castle practically enveloped the two in it's care, as if to encourage the next generation of lovers that the royal house held. Sugar Rush's warm, nighttime summer air held it's comfort of delight, though the bite of heat was enough for every lover, at the head of the game, to succumb to it's alluring draw.