Winter Break, Mini Marshmallows, and Chocolate Flavored Kisses

"'ow d'you do it? I swear, you're like Wonder Woman, or somethin'."

"Do what, exactly, Valon?" Taylor asked, not bothering to peer over the top of her book. Winter Break had just started, and she was taking time to relax her brain. Finals had been a pain in the ass, and there was a mighty need for some couch potato time, curled up with a good book, even if the testy Australian hadn't been a big fan of that. Or, he hadn't at first.

"Sit there like it's not zero degrees outside!"

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Celsius, Fahrenheit, or Kelvin?"

"Does it matter? It's freezin'!"

"Technically, it does, but," she finally glanced up, setting down the book, only to burst out laughing. She'd vaguely seen Valon carrying a large bundle of something to the couch when he'd come to join her. What she hadn't known was that bundle was a literal mountain of blankets.

Which were now cocooning her boyfriend, covering every inch of him from chin down to toes.

"'ey, what're you laughin' at?!"

"You look ridiculous, that's what!"

"Like I said, it's cold!"

"Oh come on. It's France in the winter. What else did you expect?"

"You ta go ta school…I dunno, anywhere else?"

"Because I hear Siberia sounds real nice this time of year," she replied, deadpan.

"Haha, very funny."

"I know. I try." She smiled at him, apparently kindly, though there was no mistaking the mischievous light in her eye. "What, want someone to cuddle with you?"

"Not you. 's 'cause o' you I'm cold."

"Oh come on, you big crybaby. You'll get used to it."

"'ey! 'm not a baby!"

"Need I remind you I spent half of my life, like, a couple blocks away from the Church where you grew up? And look, I lived."

"…'m not talkin' ta you." At that, the brown mess of hair disappeared beneath the crumple of blankets, and she snickered, retrieving her book again, resuming her reading. Valon had never really been the solitary type (save if he was really pissed, but this was hardly the case), always preferring the company of other people to the silence (although Alister might argue he just liked annoying everyone around him).

Taylor just smiled to herself as she flipped a page. She wondered just how long this silent treatment would last.

"'ey, Taylor?"

"Valon?"

"'m sorry. I didn' mean ta blow up at ya like that. 'm just bored. 'n' cold."

"Yeah, I can see as much." She threw the book onto the coffee table, laying out on her stomach so her face was right up near his. "You know there's instant hot chocolate right there in the kitchen right?"

"'ey, Taylor…?"

"Fine, I'll get you some. If you pull yourself out of your blanket fort enough to feed yourself. I'm not feeding you."

"C'mon love…"

"Or I can just get one for myself."

"…Fine."

"Good." And she bounded off, sliding in her socks across the linoleum. A couple minutes later, and she luxuriously topped both cups off with whipped cream, glad she'd had the forethought to buy it during her last trip for groceries, poor college student or not.

It was whipped cream. It was worth it.

Lowering back down onto the couch, she handed one of the cups off to Valon, entertained as he grabbed at it greedily, gulping it down, gasping at how it burned.

She laughed, sipping at her own drink and licking at the whipped cream as Valon attempted to fan at his tongue with his hand. "You know, it's called hot chocolate for a reason."

"…Shut up, you."

"Not likely."

"Get me some o' them mini marshmallows and I'll forgive ya. Cocoa ain't cocoa without 'em."

"We're out, and I checked."

"Why didn't you get 'em?"

"Why don't you ask our grocery bill?" So what the whipped cream had been an indulgence? What was the saying? All things in moderation? So even indulgence in moderation. They weren't exactly wealthy, after all, so certain non-essentials had to go.

In her defense, she had been the one shopping that time; therefore, it was her right to choose. Whipped cream over marshmallows. Easy.

"Yeah, but… they're jus' marshmallows, love. Can' be tha' expensive."

"And this is why I don't let you do the shopping alone. But," she grinned, taking a cautious sip of her drink, "next time. I promise."

"Knew you weren' tha' much of a buzzkill."

"Hey!"

"Wha? 's the truth. Was more fun when I jus' got ta spray soda all over and make Gurimo clean it up."

Taylor did laugh at that – wasn't hard to admit that that had been pretty fun. "Problem is Gurimo doesn't live with us anymore. And thank god for that." She sighed melodramatically. Although, truth be told, there was nothing overdramatic about how glad she was that their situation was as it was – no Gurimo in sight.

Valon just laughed at her bravado. "Yeah. The ol' geezer'd hate th' both o' us."

"He already hated you." She gave pause. "Y'know, nevermind, he probably hated me, too, just on principle. That's buzzkill for you. So don't go accusing me."

"Wouldn' want you turnin' into 'im, huh?" He flashed an accusatory look at her which…oh, no, he wouldn't dare ever compare her to Gurimo.

"Hey! Not my fault adult-ing's no fun!" Because, for real, jobs and paying for actual stuff to live on was not very exciting. She was really just glad that the safehouse and all its utilities had been taken care of in their entirety prior to them claiming it as theirs. Still didn't really know how Dartz had managed that, but she wasn't complaining. "You know what? Fine." She glanced over at Valon, smug. "You want marshmallows, we can go right now." It was Winter Break. Finances could be damned (if only for the time being).

She swore, Valon's eyes actually bugged out of his head. "You tryin' ta kill me, mate? I don' wanna freeze!"

To that, she just shrugged, finished off more of her hot chocolate. "Just making a suggestion. 'Cause, y'know, probably won't be a lot of people around the supermarket right now. Holiday times and whatever." Here, she raised an eyebrow, mischievous. "Could totally go cartsurfing down the empty aisles."

Valon actually cackled at that. "Knew I loved ya for a reason," he affirmed, climbing out of his blanket fort to seal their lips in a quick, chocolate flavored kiss.

Growing older, having responsibilities – they couldn't really avoid that. Growing up, though? Well, nothing mandatory about that.

AN: Hi guys! Sorry for disappearing for an eternity there, but I rediscovered this oneshot in my documents and figured I'd post it. And now some updates regarding this 'verse: in terms of the sequel, whether it happens or not is very much on the fence. I've been doing some character development of my OCs (Taylor and another someone related to this story) and there's a good chance they actually get spun off into an original story of their own, based pretty much on RtP and its planned sequel. These oneshots might still happen anyway, though, and I might intro said other OC into some of them, but without too much exposition of plot. I don't entirely know yet. If anyone has any opinions on this front, I'll gladly hear them! I'm definitely open to suggestions :)