Yor was ignoring the giggling and chatter of her friends as they stood in the courtyard of the lecture hall waiting for the doors to open for their Tuesday morning English lecture.
Sharon was bragging about how she could get her boyfriend to do anything she wanted. "We're going to see that romance movie this weekend."
Camilla frowned. Her boyfriend would never agree to that; no matter how good-natured he was. "What about you, Yor? Do you have a hot date with Forger this weekend?"
"We're volunteering at the hospital on Saturday," Loid said as he joined the group. He rested his right arm across Yor's shoulders. "I don't know that that's particularly hot, but we enjoy working together to help others, right dear?"
"Th-that's right." She knew how she looked without looking at everyone else's reactions.
"Would you ladies mind terribly if I borrowed Yor?"
Camilla shrugged, "Fine."
Yor heard Millie complaining about how Yor got a hot boyfriend before she did as Loid guided Yor away from the group.
Once alone, all his words fell out of his head. "Hi."
She smiled, "hi."
"Would you—that is—I wanted to…" he tried to get the words back, but they were determined to stay free.
"Loid, would you be my boyfriend?" Yor clasped her hands over her mouth as soon as she said it. That was not what she'd meant to say.
Loid who had been standing by a column lost his balance and slumped into the pillar.
She reached out to him and helped him to steady himself. "Sorry. I meant, would you be my boyfriend for pretend because of the society and Henderson."
'Right, that made sense. She would never actually ask you out, Loid,' he thought. He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I was going to ask you the same thing. Well except not for you to be my boyfriend because you're not a boy…"
He would have rambled right along making a further mockery of himself if not for her concealed giggle. 'She could ask for the whole world with that giggle, and I'd give it to her,' he thought.
"What I meant was, Yor Briar, would you be my girlfriend?" he corrected himself.
"I would be honored." She meant that.
He smiled with his teeth. Even though the whole world could see his smile, something in her told her it was only meant for her.
'There's almost nothing I wouldn't do to see him smile like that again,' she thought.
"In that case, I think we should get to know each other. What would you say to spending our study period together today?"
She nodded. "I think that would be good."
He nodded back.
They agreed to meet back in the courtyard.
As he was turning to leave, Yor said, "Um, Loid?"
He stopped and turned back to her. "Yes?"
"Would you—I mean if you think it's a good idea—could you maybe walk me to class?" she asked tucking a tendril of hair behind her ear.
Yes, that was what other couples did. It would seem odd if they didn't partake in the ritual themselves. "Sure, that seems reasonable. We don't want anyone to be suspicious."
She threaded her arm around his with a blush.
He looked at her with wider eyes than was strictly necessary.
"Like you said, we don't want anyone to be suspicious."