Chapter 3: Candy
Robin pulled up the sleeves of Frederick's sweater. The fabric gathered at her elbows. She pressed in Gaius's unit number into the intercom. Followed by the sound of static, a male voice picked up. "Who is it?"
"Your saviour," Robin answered.
"Oh, thank Naga you're here!" he said in exasperation. He buzzed her in. "Natalie! Nathan! Hands off!" The intercom cut off.
Robin laughed as she walked into the apartment. She could imagine the two ginger twins running around his apartment, threatening to destroy all his electronics and video game paraphernalia. The twins were the only things (well, people) in the world that made him lose his cool, besides sweets.
Gaius lived on the second floor, so she decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator. The sounds of her shoes echoed in the stairwell until she reached his unit. She knocked on the door and shifted the bag on her shoulder. She heard shuffling, followed by hysterical giggles on the other side of the door.
A voice shouted, "Auntie Robin's here! Let's go say 'hi'!"
The excited squeals and little footsteps grew louder, and then, the door opened to reveal a little boy with ginger hair and bright emerald eyes. He looked like a miniature version of Gaius. He gasped. "Auntie Robin!" He ran out the door and wrapped his arms around her legs.
"Hey there, bud," said Robin, ruffling his hair.
"I want a hug too!" Natalie exclaimed. She tackled Robin with all her might beside her brother. Robin stumbled back a step.
"Hi, Natalie." Robin smiled dotingly at the twins as they looked up at her with mischievous wide grins.
"You made it. I owe you one," Gaius said from the living room.
The twins ran off to wreak havoc elsewhere. "How can you not handle two little four year olds?" Robin raised an eyebrow.
Gaius's usually calm and collected composure had been shattered by two toddlers. His face was scrunched up as he reorganized all the video games the kids had pulled out of their designated homes. She slipped off her heels and dropped her bag at the entrance.
Gaius walked over to Robin and gave her a hug. "Thanks so much for helping me out, Bubbles."
"No problem. I love the twins." Robin hugged him back.
"You smell different," said Gaius.
"Stop being so weird," said Robin. "What do I normally smell like?"
"Like you." Gaius sniffed her. "It's weird, but you kinda smell like sex today."
"Ha ha. Very funny," said Robin, and pushed Gaius aside. "You can't smell sex on someone."
"Heh, you'd be surprised," said Gaius with a shrug.
"Do my hair!" Natalie pulled at Robin's hand. It appeared that Casey had been running late because Natalie's straight ginger locks were currently curtaining her face. Usually, they were in two lopsided pigtails. Natalie brushed aside some of the hair that was covering her sight with the back of her little hand.
"Of course. Did your dad pack your guys' stuff?" Robin asked, while being pulled to one side by one twin.
Nathan pulled on her other arm. "No! Let's play hide and seek first!"
Robin crouched down to the twins' level. "Nathan, your sister asked first, so I'm going to do her hair, and then we can all play hide and seek."
"No! I wanna play hide and seek first! Now!" Nathan stomped his little feet.
"Nathan," Robin said in a warning voice. He pouted. "What did we talk about last time?" she asked in a patronizing tone.
Nathan looked down at the floor and mumbled, "That it's important to take turns and share…you."
"So you do remember," said Robin. She tapped the tip of his nose with her finger. "You're a smart cookie."
"Yeah," Nathan grumbled.
"How do you do that?" Gaius whispered loudly at her. "You're like a child whisperer."
"Eh, they're just like men. Just smaller. So I treat them like how I treat the higher ups at work." Robin shot Gaius a sassy smile.
"Ha-ha," Gaius said dryly.
"Anyway, where's the bag that Casey usually drops off?" asked Robin.
"Over there." Gaius pointed to a worn duffel bag that was tossed onto the couch.
"Did he pack some hair elastics?" Robin asked Natalie.
"Iunno." Natalie shrugged her little shoulders and brought up her hands. "Maybe?"
"Let's go check." Robin reached her hand out to each of the twins. They grabbed her hand and she led them to the couch.
"Seriously, how do you do that? They're not screaming anymore," said Gaius, while sucking on a lollipop. His usual composure began to resurface after his panic had settled down.
"Watch and learn, Gaius. Watch and learn," said Robin. Robin unzipped the duffel bag and rummaged through it, looking to see if Casey had packed a hair brush and any hair elastics. She pulled out the hair brush and handed it to Natalie. She dug around a bit more and managed to scrounge up a pink and blue hair tie.
"Come, sit here," said Robin patting the couch beside her. Natalie obediently settled down on the couch beside Robin. "Okay, what would you like today?"
"I want Ersa's hair!" she exclaimed.
"Who?" Robin blinked. She glanced over at Gaius for some help.
"It's the new movie that came out. You know the one with the ice queen?" said Gaius.
"Uh-huh." Robin nodded with a smile. "How do you know this?" She knew the answer. He probably had to watch the movie with the twins every time they came over—the pirated version, since it seemed that it was still in theaters. But it was still fun getting a kick out of teasing Gaius.
"Better question. Why are you dressed like that?" asked Gaius.
"Like what?" Robin feigned ignorance, but the blush on her face said otherwise.
"Like you got laid and then stole one of the guy's sweater," said Gaius while crossing his arms. "Is that why you took an hour? Because you weren't actually home?"
"I don't look like I got laid and stole someone's sweater. I look adorable in the oversized sweater I bought online," said Robin. She took the brush from Natalie.
"What's 'laid'?" Nathan piped up. He stared at Robin with his big innocent eyes.
"It's umm…it's when…" Robin tripped over her words. She mouthed 'help me' at Gaius. He shrugged and swirled the sucker with his tongue. She was on her own. "It's when you…umm…sleep. With someone." Robin picked her words carefully and spoke very slowly. She hoped that this wasn't going to come back to bite her in the ass.
Gaius snorted. Robin glared at him.
"Do we get laid with Daddy whenever we're too scared to sleep by ourselves when the rainy clouds make those loud, scary sounds?" Natalie turned around and asked Robin. It came to bite her in the ass.
"Not exactly…"said Robin. Great, Gaius made a mess with one sentence. From the corner of her eye, she saw Gaius sniggering with the white stick of the lollipop in his mouth waving about in the air. "Help me out here," she hissed at him.
"Gemini." He snapped his fingers for the twins' attention. They turned their heads to face him. "Uncle Gaius said a very bad word. Don't say it again. Only adults are allowed to say it. Got it?"
Damn him. How did he come up with those excuses so well?
Natalie gasped and covered her mouth. "Auntie Robin," she whispered in horror, "I said a bad word. Am I a bad person now?"
"It's okay, you didn't mean to." Robin stroked her head. "Your uncle's the bad person."
"I am indeed a bad person," Gaius said nonchalantly. "What can I say?"
"Gaius, look up what Ersa looks like on the internet so I can do her hair and we can feed them lunch," said Robin.
"Will do, Bubbles." Gaius pulled out his phone and searched for a picture of the ice queen. Then he showed his phone to Robin.
"Oh, it's just a French braid," she said to herself. "Okay, that should be quick." Robin ran the brush through Natalie's knotted hair. It got caught a couple times, but she didn't say a peep. Nevertheless, Robin apologized every time she had to force the brush.
Once the little girl's hair was free of knots, Robin parted her hair into little sections before starting to braid it. Gaius settled down on the floor with Nathan and watched Robin get to work.
"Y'know. You'd make a pretty decent mother," said Gaius while snapping a picture of the two girls.
"Hey!" said Robin. "I didn't say you could take my photo."
"Too late," said Gaius. "Sending this one to Casey so he knows that Gemini are fine. C'mere, bud." Gaius pulled Nathan towards him. "Smile!" he said as he angled his phone above them and snapped a picture. "Not a great picture. Let's try that again, Nathan." Gaius took another photo. "Okay, let's send this one to your dad."
"Did you guys eat yet?" Robin asked.
"Uncle Gaius gave us some chocolate bars," said Nathan.
Robin frowned at her best friend. "Gaius. No wonder you were having a difficult time."
"That's all I have at home, Bubbles. I'm a programmer, not a chef. My diet consists of sugar and coffee flows in my veins. Not blood."
"You're going to die of diabetes, Gaius. Try to take care of yourself." Robin lectured him, while finishing up the braid. She secured it with the pink hair elastic.
"Yes, Mom," said Gaius.
"All done! You look very pretty. Just like Ersa."
"Thanks, Auntie Robin!" said Natalie.
Gaius unwrapped another lollipop. The twins immediately turned to him when they heard the sound of crinkling plastic. Their eyes were wide like two puppies begging for a treat.
"You can't just eat candy and expect the kids to not to want any," said Robin.
"So you did get some candy last night, huh?" Gaius made a popping sound as he pulled the sucker out of his mouth.
"Huh?" Robin became flustered.
"Candy at night is bad for your teeth! Daddy said so!" exclaimed Nathan.
Gaius chuckled. "Nah, not that kind of candy, bud. And you should've seen your dad when we were kids. We used to sneak candy all the time."
"Gaius, stop it," she said. "It's not funny. And stop being a bad influence on your niece and nephew."
"Just saying, Bubbles. You would've nagged my ears off by now, but you haven't. You're in an oddly sugary mood for Saturday morning." Gaius pointed his lollipop at her, then stuck it back in his mouth. The twins continued to eye the candy. His smirk faltered when he felt their stares boring into him.
"I told you. You can't have candy by yourself and expect the twins to just watch you enjoy it," said Robin, while crossing her legs and folding her hands on top of her knees. "Or you could quit sugar."
"Alright, alright," said Gaius. "Sorry, Gemini." He pulled out two more lollipops from only Naga knows where and handed one to each of them. The twins eagerly ripped off the wrapper and stuck the lollipops into their mouths.
"Let's put the wrappers in the trash can," said Robin enthusiastically.
Natalie slid off the couch and Nathan followed her to go find the garbage. They disappeared into the kitchen.
Robin self-consciously tugged at the hem of the shirt, trying to cover her legs a little more. Gaius watched her while twirling the candy in his mouth. "So, you have anything you wanna share, Bubbles?"
"Nope." Robin smiled back at Gaius. She was relieved that she had managed to cover all the love bites from the night before, or this would've been a lot harder to argue her case.
"What did you say when we were in school? Oh, I remember," said Gaius. "You didn't want to have sex before marriage, or at least wait until the 'right' person." He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Did you meet the 'right' person?"
"Gaius, not when the kids are here. I don't want to have to explain the birds and the bees to two four year olds today. Trying to explain what 'laid' meant was hard enough," Robin said in a hushed voice. Today was the wrong day to come over to babysit. "This is my sweater."
"I didn't know you liked to shop at a men's brand," said Gaius nonchalantly. Robin frowned at him. "The brand is stitched right on the left side of the chest." He tapped the left side of his chest to prove his point. She eyes wandered down to her left breast. Oh. The brand logo.
She was on a losing streak today. First, Frederick getting her to eat breakfast, and now, Gaius prying into her personal love life. "I-Is that all you have to say to your bestie? I haven't seen you in like three weeks, except when you make me come downstairs to drop off the more junk food."
"Sorry, Bubbles. They had me working system security for the last month and the new interns are over their heads, so I had to step in," said Gaius. "You know how hard it is to meet up for lunch break."
"We work at the same company," said Robin flatly.
"Yeah, but you work in the upper floors, above the normal commoners, and I work in the basement," said Gaius.
"You wanted to work near the main floor, since they installed a free café in there for the employees. The techies are the closest to the food," said Robin flatly.
"Their pastries are heavenly," said Gaius. "What can I say?"
"Technically, you don't work in the basement. It's like the fourth floor," said Robin, crossing her arms.
"Third, actually," said Gaius. He finished off the candy with a crunch. Robin tried to pull up her stockings indiscreetly. "Wait, didn't you wear those yesterday? Pretty sure you were doing a funky shimmy every time you made a coffee slash sugar run for me."
"Gaius, use an intern to do that from now on," snapped Robin. "I'm a team leader. I have responsibilities. All the members kept asking me why I was going in and out of the office."
Gaius snickered. "Nah, it's so much more amusing when you come down, since all the interns are male this year and probably haven't seen a girl in months now. You should see their faces every time you show up in a tight pencil skirt. They're eyeballs almost pop out."
"You're a terrible person, you know that?" said Robin.
"Not as terrible as when you first met me," said Gaius with a shrug. "So…Blue's back."
"You know, it's awfully quiet," Robin said, once she realized the twins weren't back yet. "Gaius, let's go check in the kitchen." She stood up and went to go find the twins.
"Did you catch what I said?" Gaius called after her. "Guess not." He picked himself off from the floor and followed her.
To Gaius's horror, when he arrived, he found that the twins had found one of the emergency candy stashes in his cupboards. There were empty chocolate bar wrappers surrounding the two. The box of chocolate bars had its lid flipped opened like it was opening its mouth. Inside, there were only two chocolate bars left.
Robin was rubbing her temple. "Guys, we talked about this. Ask before you eat Gaius's candy. I don't want you two to end up with cavities and have to go to the dentist again."
The twins sat on the floor staring up at the two adults with teary eyes, threatening to spill waterfalls at any moment at the mention of the word 'dentist'.
Natalie sniffled and her bottom lip quivered. Natalie whimpered, "W-we're sorry, Uncle Gaius, Auntie Robin." Beside her, Nathan burst into tears.
"W-we didn't mean too!" Nathan wailed with crocodile tears. Soon after, Natalie joined her brother and bawled.
"Gemini, it's fine. You probably just take after me," said Gaius with a simple wave of his hand. It didn't help the situation, for they cried even louder.
"How are you so calm? Just moments ago, you couldn't even keep your head on," said Robin over the crying. It was going to be a nightmare trying to get the twins to nap today. All that sugar was going to make it difficult to exhaust their energy by nap time.
"I have you, Bubbles. Remember? You're the child whisperer," said Gaius. "Work your magic."
She left a weekend with Frederick for this.
With a sigh, Robin knelt down to their level. "Hey, guys. It's okay. Uncle Gaius should've done a better job hiding his trash. I mean, candy," said Robin. She wiped the tears off of Nathan's face first with her sleeve, and then wiped Natalie's tear-stained cheeks. "Shh, stop crying, guys. Let's go get you guys lunch and take you out to the playground." The twins were going to need to run around in a playground to tire out their future hyperactivity.
"You're…not angry?" Natalie hiccupped.
"Nope," said Robin cheerfully.
"Really, really?" asked Nathan, tried to catch his breath. He wiped the stray tears off his face by bringing up the bottom of his shirt to his face.
"Yeah, I'm not angry," said Robin. "Let's go get lunch. Can you guys go wash your face and rinse out your mouths in the washroom?"
"Oh, there's no footstool. They're too short," said Gaius, sucking on a new lollipop.
"Give me that!" Robin yanked the candy out of his mouth.
"Bubbles! I need it to maintain my blood sugar level!" He tried to grab the candy back, but Robin tossed it into the trash.
"You help wash up the twins. I'll clean up here." Robin divided up the chores.
Gaius took a look at his niece and nephew. They had chocolate smeared all over their face. It looked like they stuck their faces into a mud pie. "Come on, Gemini." Gaius reached out both his hands to the twins. He yanked them both up once they took his hand. "Upsy-daisy."
Once the candy-addicted ginger trio left for the washroom, Robin gathered the wrappers on the floor. She covered her yawn with the back of her fist full of wrappers. As much as she loved seeing the twins, she wasn't going to deny they tired her out.
The twins scrambled about on the playground with the other children on the playground. Excited squeals erupted from the scene every now and then, and mothers around the perimeter supervised. Robin and Gaius sat down on a bench under the shade. To Robin's side was her bag threatening to explode with clothes she had crammed in, along with the leftovers from lunch.
"Thanks for lunch," said Robin, crossing her legs.
"Don't mention it, Bubbles. I owe you at least that much." Gaius was working his way through a bag of sour gummies. "Want one?" he offered the bag to Robin.
She shook her head. "If I eat like you, I'll get fat again. Remember first-year?"
"Suit yourself," said Gaius. He popped another sour gummy into his mouth. "So, not sure if you heard me earlier, but Blue's back."
"Yeah, I heard," said Robin, remembering what Frederick mentioned the night before.
"You knew?" asked Gaius.
"Someone mentioned it," Robin said. She hoped he'd drop the topic, but already knew that wasn't an option.
"He called," said Gaius, while chewing.
"Oh," murmured Robin.
"Blue asked about you," said Gaius. "Apparently, he's been calling and texting you ever since he got back but you haven't been responding."
She kept her eyes on the twins in the distance. "Nathan! That's dangerous! Get down from there!" she shouted. The two focused their attentions on the Nathan who wasn't using the slide as it was intended. Nathan jumped when he heard Robin. He immediately sat down, instead of trying to run down the slide.
"I don't think Blue knows that you changed your number," said Gaius. "So he called me."
"Did you tell him my new number?" Robin tensed and looked up at Gaius.
"Bubbles, why would I do that? That'd be uncool of me," said Gaius.
Robin sighed in relief. "Thanks." She smiled at him.
"So, you wanna tell me what's going on?" Gaius smirked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.
"The sweater," Gaius said.
Robin didn't say a peep. "Don't let your imagination run wild, Gaius."
Her friend leaned in and inhaled the air above her shoulder. "You still smell like a man." Robin aggressively elbowed Gaius in the rib. "Ow!" he hissed and rubbed his side.
"Not sorry," said Robin, "like at all."
"I'll forgive you if you tell me who it is, Bubbles. Who is it? Who do I need to threaten and hack his accounts and computer if he hurts you?"
Robin's lip pressed into a thin line. Gaius would do that if something did happen. "Would you believe me if I got it at a thrift store?"
"Nope. You don't shop at thrift stores," said Gaius, shaking his head.
"You know me too well," said Robin with an awkward smile.
"And no thrift store carries that brand. Selling that at a thrift store would essentially be charity to whoever buys it." Gaius finished fishing out the last sour gummy in the candy bag. "Come on. It's not a one-night stand, that's for sure. You're not that type of girl. You're one of those weird people that thinks sex is special and crap."
His programming logic was starting to deduce things. Robin had to be particularly careful now. She knew Gaius would never tell, but she promised Frederick. And knowing some of the girls she worked with, if they caught wind of something, they'd go straight to Gaius and extort the information out of him. Usually through the means of either depriving him of his candy or offering him sweets.
"Come on, Bubbles. You always tells me," said Gaius, poking her side. She squealed, a ticklish reaction. "Do I need to tickle the information out of you?"
"Stop that!" She slapped away his hands.
"You even told me about all your horrid Finder dates. To every last detail," said Gaius. "I think my favorite was the fuckboy who took you to that fast food chain for dinner. I still remember the line. 'Y'know, you're such a cheap date, I like you'." He burst out laughing.
Robin firmly pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Nope. Stop. Not funny. Gaius. Stop laughing." Robin watched Gaius continue to cackle. "Gaius. You know I didn't have a choice. He just took me to a fast food restaurant and you know I don't eat fast food, so I refused to eat anything. And it seemed rude to just walk out." Gaius laughed even harder. "I swear, if you don't stop now, I'll never bring you those Plegian candies you like when I visit home ever again."
"Okay, okay!" Gaius finally settled down. "He can't be someone at work. You would never do that. You wouldn't break one of the unspoken rules at work. Especially after that incident."
Robin began to sweat and she straightened the bottom of her shirt. "We promised we wouldn't disclose it." Robin caved.
"I don't like this guy already, Bubbles," said Gaius with a slight grimace.
"He's really nice," said Robin.
"He won't even let you tell people about your relationship," said Gaius. "What's so nice about that, Bubbles?"
"It was a mutual agreement," said Robin quietly.
Gaius let out a heavy breath. He shifted in his seat so that he could grab a hard candy from his pocket. He pulled out a round candy and unwrapped it. He popped it in his mouth. The candy clacked around in his mouth against his teeth and then nestled in his cheek. "I almost prefer fuckboy," Gaius remarked.
"Gaius." Robin warned.
"Alright, alright. I'll stop," said Gaius.
"Why are you asking so many questions?" asked Robin.
"Because, Bubbles, I'm your best friend and I care," said Gaius. "You have and would do the same thing."
"I know." Robin studied her hands. Her nail polish was chipping on her index finger. She picked at it.
"So is this a fling?" asked Gaius.
Robin shook her head. "No."
"But he doesn't want to be public about it," said Gaius. The underlying tone of his voice was disapproval. "You know you deserve better. Sounds like he has commitment issues."
Robin rolled her eyes. "It's fine, Gaius." Frederick was great. She literally spent a year chasing after him. And it was well worth it.
Gaius sucked on the candy in his mouth. "So, how long has this been going for?"
Robin smacked her lips. Gaius was going to be pretty upset once she revealed how long she had been going out with Frederick for and he hadn't heard anything. "Promise not to get angry?"
"How could I get mad at you, Bubbles? Try me," said Gaius.
Robin swallowed and then cleared her throat. "Five months."
Gaius whistled. He slouched in his seat and straightened out his legs. "How did I not pick this up? Those were hickeys that one time, not poison ivy," he said loudly to himself in realization. "How did you hide this from me for five months?"
She tilted her head and smiled. "I learn from the best," said Robin.
"Lying is not a good thing to learn, Bubbles," said Gaius. "Especially when you're going to use that skill against me."
"Technically, I didn't lie. I just didn't say anything. Anyway, let's go," said Robin, getting up from her seat, ending the conversation. "I'll help you put them to sleep and then I need to go home."
"Fine, but I'm going to find out who it is eventually," said Gaius. "Gemini! Let's go home! Wait." Gaius grabbed Robin's shoulder. "It's not Blue, is it?"
"Do I look like a fucking idiot to you?" Robin asked in disgust. "I'd rather go out with fuckboy from Finder again."
Robin helped Gaius put the twins to bed and then caught a cab and went home. As much as Robin loved the old apartment she lived in, she hated how the ancient elevator was always broken and she had to climb five flights of stairs. No matter how many times she did it, she always arrived at the top with her heels hooked on her fingers, slightly out of breath, and in a sweat.
Once she conquered the last, she turned to her right to go to her apartment unit. When she looked up after digging out her keys from her bag, her breath hitched. Her heels slipped off her fingers and her bag slid off her shoulder.
Who she saw sitting in front of her door was the last person she expected.
"Hey, Robin."
Her face slowly crumpled with hurt at the sight of the tall, lean man with dark blue hair. He had a warm smile that had a touch of awkward charm.
Chrom.
He took a couple strides towards her and pulled her into his arms. "I missed you. I'm sorry I took so long," he whispered.
Robin stiffened in his arms. Eventually, she brought her hands up. She didn't quite return the hug, but rested her fingertips on the back of his shoulders.
Author's Notes:
I realized that the first two chapters had quite a few mistakes. =_= I apologize. I tried to edit this as much as I could for this chapter. Knowing me, I'll probably find mistakes later.
And Gaius is really difficult to write...
Thanks for reading another chapter of 'Sunflower'. Let me know what you thought. :)
On another note, I won't be posting anything for both 'Sunflower' and 'Pursuit' until late September. Sorry, guys. :(