Ta da! Another update! A little, ahem, action here so now I'm pumped up. Thank you for all your reviews, favs, subscribes, everything!
Alright, this was it. Robin wished that he could have given her more of an advance notice, but considering her condition, she supposed she couldn't blame him. She knew that he'd leave her behind if she'd give him the chance. Gods, why was she such a mess lately? At least it didn't reflect in her work...most of the time. She didn't even notice how jittery she was. The restless nights, her constant worries...it was starting to take a toll on her health.
She finally caught on when...when he pointed it out. She'd been idly washing dishes when her hand trembled, out of nowhere, and she dropped everything. The crash had alerted Frederick, coincidentally passing by as far as she was concerned, and immediately darted into the tent. He sighed after assessing the situation, and appeared as though he considered leaving her to it, he decided against it.
He had swiftly cleaned up the mess before he even gave her the chance to react; in a flurry he had moved to take her spot. They both had flinched when he gently pushed her away, and Robin clutched her heart. It had been racing embarrassingly, even more so than the first time Chrom smiled at her. Goodness if she was looking for comparisons, then she was digging herself a deeper and deeper grave.
"I can do it," she had said quietly, and tried to pick up a bowl. He'd swatted her hand away, and her heart sank. "Let me," the girl had pressed, and tried again, and was met with the same reaction. She had attempted it once more, only for him to ensnare her wrist in a vice grip.
"Rest up," he said, still not looking at her. He'd found a dirty washcloth and started vigorously scrubbing at an already clean dish. She couldn't see him, but she could perfectly picture the intense frown on his face. He hadn't bothered to roll back his sleeves, and his pristine shirt was slowly getting soaked with dirty water.
"Why won't you look at me?"
"Rest up, I said. We can't afford our tactician to be dropping randomly. You could afford to be more careful no?"
"I-"
"Quit sauntering around with that thief, won't you? I'm sure you can reschedule your frivolities for-" The tempo of his words were gaining speed, as if he just wished for this conversation to be over. There had been something strange in his words, mean as ever, that alerted her that something, something was amiss. Oh how she longed to get to the bottom of whatever he was thinking...What she would do to delve into his heart?
"Frederick please!" Robin's cry finally had gotten his attention, and his eyes were locked with hers. Gods, why did she feel so damn happy? Against all her will, a smile slipped on to her face, and she felt like crying. "Frederick..." As she repeated his name, he had closed his eyes, as though in pain. She then noticed the dark bags in his pallid skin. His normally chiseled jawline made him look ill, thanks to his sunken cheeks. A man so bright...why did he seem as sick as she felt?
It must have been the injury! The good for nothing man went through all that trouble to save her miserable existence. What was she in the grand scheme of things? And he was silently suffering...she could tell he wasn't treating himself, other than the crude self-treatment she'd witnessed that night. Gods, she hoped he wasn't sick with something. At another time, she would have reprimanded herself; what do you care? Perhaps basic humanity would have fought back, but the anxiety welling up inside...she had begun to grow to the idea that maybe she cared for him? As a friend, she would be quick to add. Since they spent so much time together and so forth. He may not see her the same, but that certainly was no reason for her to stay away.
And yet...and yet she ached to touch him.
Rationality screamed at her to stop, but she was damned if she'd listen. Her dainty, yet calloused fingers were on his cheek before she could stop. She could hear him take a sharp intake of breath, but she didn't stop. Another hand tousled his slightly unkempt hair (she had to stand on her tiptoes to reach). Her traced down his nose, down his cheekbones, and just faintly over his soft, soft lips...Gods he was a good distance from her but she had never wanted to kiss someone so badly. Friendship...screw friendship. Even in his exhausted appearance, even with his weary countenance...he was beautiful to her. There was no more denying it. She couldn't stop thinking about him before, and since he'd begun to leave her alone...since she'd grown more than just a grudging respect to him...the turmoil in her heart begged for resolution. Though the struggle was yet to die she knew this much; she felt something for him.
Frederick's eyes remained shut tight, and for one bizarre moment, she'd wondered if he'd fallen asleep. He looked like he needed it in any case. His mouth parted open underneath her pointer, center, and ring finger and exhaled a shaky breath through. Robin was...entranced. The hand in his hair travelled down his face to cup his cheek, as one would with a lover whom they were about to kiss...
And the fairytale had ended.
"Woman!" Frederick had winced, stepped away and scolded her. "Don't overstep your bounds!" He'd averted his face as though he were struck, as though he had been caught staring at something shameful. "Leave now, before I do something that I really do not wish to do!"
"Sorry," she'd mumbled, biting her lip. It was no one's fault but her own, and she was grateful that she'd indulged her..whatever it was for so long. Even so tears sprang to her eyes, but sheer willpower kept them from spilling over. "I'm sorry," she repeated, turning towards the exit of the tent. "But please, get some rest."
He has said nothing, and she walked away, deliberately slow and kept looking back to see if she could catch him stealing a glance. He'd only looked at her once, right as she was at the tent flap.
"I've told you to search for a friend...You mustn't mistake me for one. We are not friends, nor do I wish to forge any sort of relation with you. Not now, not ever."
"Got it," she'd said, her voice thick with obvious tears. It looked like her willpower had melted away after all. "Thanks."
Robin had been transfixed on the memory since it happened earlier that evening. Not to mention the incident with Chrom earlier that morning...Her mind...her body...she just couldn't take it anymore. She was much too stressed with such...such petty things! Why did one man, no two, now that Chrom had finally decided to reciprocate her practically extinguished feelings, have to cause her so much trouble! She was beginning to find Gaius more preferable to those two!
The tactician stomped through the grass, trying to bat away any more of her unnecessary thoughts. But they kept attacking her, like arrows to the skin and she fell forward. Her knees sunk to the grass, covered in only thin black breeches Gaius had arranged for her to wear. A little different from her spying clothes, but it didn't matter; all she wanted was to huddle up in her cloak and scream. Her stomach was piercing with pain, and for a horrible moment she wondered if she had fallen prey to the poison again. her breathing was shallow, and she felt lightheaded, but she recognized her pain wasn't' something so dire...it was caused only by herself. She gave up and rolled on to the grass, not caring as the crickets chirped in her ear, not caring about anything at all.
She didn't know when, but the thief had found her rather quickly, after scouring the grounds for her mess of blonde hair.
"Take it easy tonight, Bubbles," she remembered him saying. She hadn't lost consciousness, but she was very, very tired. "I'll catch you up. Dontcha worry about me."
She mumbled something about jeopardizing the mission, but he confidently assured her that it was better this way, and that it would be better to appear alone at first. With a light kiss on her forehead, he tucked her in bed, wishing he didn't have to leave her alone. She made a good match with the knight, he mused, as he quickly set off to make for lost time. Both were incredibly stubborn and reckless when it came to themselves, this much he was certain.
Robin...all she remembered was that Chrom didn't come that night. The feeling of Frederick's lips under her fingers though...it kept her company enough.