Author's Note:

I swear, this story is taking on a life of its own. Not to mention it is SO much fun to write. The plot thickens yet again!

Oh, quick question to any readers out there: what other characters would you like to see?

...

Varian stopped at a red light and glanced briefly at his companion. The thought to ask if she was okay came and went; he'd seen Vaala in one of her moods once before, and said question had only served to get him kicked out of the apartment. He'd had no choice but to sleep in the car that night.

After the 'incident', she'd stormed out of Jaina's place without a word. A few minutes of frantic searching later, Varian had found her waiting by the car. "Let's go home," she'd said in a curiously blank voice, and that was all he'd heard from her since.

The light turned green, and Varian slammed the gas pedal a bit more enthusiastically than he'd meant to. It wasn't the first time this was happening, and it usually earned him a snarky remark about he was 'overly-aggressive' to compensate for, as she put it, 'an obvious lack of-'

"Pizza or Chinese?"

Varian almost jumped, his train of thought suddenly gone off the rails and down the proverbial abyss. "Hm?" he said smartly.

"Dinner tonight. Pizza or Chinese? I can't seem to make up my mind."

'So,' Varian thought. 'She'll just try to pretend nothing happened, and expect me... to...' He frowned. He had no idea what she was expecting him to do, even though he knew that if he did the wrong thing, chances were he'd have to sleep in the car again.

Another red light. "Go for pizza, then."

"Let's eat out somewhere," Vaala said suddenly.

So much for takeout and a quiet evening of staring at nothing and waiting to fall asleep, then. "We could... do that, sure." It was best to go with whatever she was saying, for now. "Got any place in mind?" The light turned green. Again he slammed the gas, and again she didn't seem to notice or care.

Vaala pondered the question for slightly longer than necessary, in Varian's opinion. "There's a cheap place on campus. Should be open still."

"Campus it is, then." Varian did the math. About ten minutes to Vaala's university, plus another ten to find a decent parking space. Twenty minutes of trying to make idle conversation with someone who didn't seem to want any kind of conversation. But he couldn't settle for the silence after all. He could practically feel her seething underneath her supposed nonchalance. It was, for lack of a better word... unnerving. And there were very few things that actually unnerved Varian Wrynn. He was the leader of the Alliance, after all.

Varian jerked and barely kept himself from swearing. They'd just run a red light.

Damn.

What to say... what to say...

"Say it."

Varian actually stared at her for a few seconds, forgetting all about the road. "Excuse me?"

"I know you, Wrynn. You've been mulling something over since about three streets back. Just say it already."

"I – uh." What was the best way to deal with this, anyway? Varian's recent years had seen a distinct lack of female companionship, and that meant he'd definitely lost his touch at handling their... quirks. Quickly, he went over the questions in his head. 'Are you all right?' and any variation thereof were out straight off the bat. 'You deserve someone better' was one sure way to invite all Hell to break loose. In the end he settled for, "Anything I can do?"

"You're already taking me out for dinner," Vaala answered with a shrug.

"Well, yes, but that was your-"

"Besides, now that we're dating, I couldn't really ask for anything more."

At this, Varian's mind did the only sensible thing it could think of: screamed bloody murder and ran for the hills, where it found a rock to crawl under, curl up and drift off into sweet oblivion. When he came to it some time later, they were comfortably settled at an out-of-the-way table and waiting for their food.

Right. Time to catch the tiger by the tail and hope that he wouldn't end up with his sanity mangled. "So," he began firmly.

Vaala barely looked up from the menu she was busying herself with. "Hmm?"

Varian coughed. "What are you having?" Granted, not the best way to start the conversation, but he'd work his way up to the real problem soon enough.

"I'm having what you're having, of course."

"Oh." A pause, then, "What am I having?"

Vaala thought for a few moments, then shrugged a shoulder lazily.

Varian took a deep breath. To Hell with it. "Listen. About this 'dating' business. I-"

"What 'dating business'?"

"-understand you'd want someone to... and..." Varian trailed off. "In the car, you said-"

"Oh." Vaala tossed her head back and laughed. "Oh, that. No... no, we're not really dating, who said that?"

Varian glared at her, feeling a strong urge to stab something. "You said that."

"And then I said we'd just keep up the act of dating until Illidan and Jaina split up. Weren't you listening?"

Varian hadn't been listening, of course, but now he found himself laughing, too. So that was her grand plan. Make either of the would-be lovers jealous, have them fling themselves at their true crush, then let the pieces fall where they may.

Vaala was still talking. "They don't really want to be with each other, I'd say. Jaina probably thinks this is the quickest way to get over Thrall going steady with that girl from Nagrand, and Illidan... well... that should be obvious." A shadow passed over her narrow features, and Varian knew why. Tyrande Whisperwind, Illidan's once and future crush, was, as far as Vaala was concerned, 'She Who Must Not Be Named Or Spoken Of, Ever.'

...Wait a minute.

"What if Jaina decides she wants me instead?" Varian asked suddenly. "I can't just go ahead with it! Blizzard would be all over my case!"

Vaala looked confused for a few moments. "I thought that's what they had in mind for you two, anyway," she said finally.

"What? Who said that?"

"Nobody said that, Wrynn," Vaala said placidly. "But all things considered, it does make sense."

The urge to stab something came back with a vengeance. "It does not!"

Vaala dismissed his obvious outrage with an infuriating wave of her hand. "And anyway, why should Blizzard care what you do in your own time? They never said anything when you and Onyxia-"

"That was a mistake," Varian said quickly. "And I'll thank you to never, ever mention that or anything concerning that foul spawn of Neltharion if you can help it."

The conversation paused abruptly as their food arrived. Varian couldn't help but notice that his pizza had an array of exotic toppings he never would have ordered had he been in his right mind. It was, he decided after taking a few bites, a combination between seafood and lots of cheese. To his surprise, it didn't taste nearly as awful as one might have expected.

They ate in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. For his part, Varian found himself actually considering Vaala's idea. She'd been right to assume that Blizzard didn't give a damn what he did on his own time, provided he didn't do anything that would damage his public image too badly. And going out with a blood elf of all women... wasn't exactly a stretch. After all, there had been fans – 'shippers', they were called – who'd been quick to speculate his feelings for Valeera Sanguinar weren't exactly of the 'friendly' persuasion and... wait, actually, the backlash of that had left him with a humongous mess to clean afterwards.

Still, not doing it was probably not the brightest course of action, all things considered. He could deal with fans, shippers, even Blizzard if need be. Vaala Dawnstrike, on the other hand, could do a myriad little things to make his life a living hell, the least of which was kick him out of her apartment.

"I'll do it."

"Great!" A pause, then, "You do know what to-"

"Hey," Varian cut in, slightly offended. "I have dated before, if that's what you're implying."

There was no more talking after this particular exchange. True to his word – well, her word, to be accurate – Varian paid for both of them, then held the door open for her like any true gentleman would. Once outside, he offered his arm, and she took it with a... giggle? Well. She was really enjoying this, wasn't she.

"Omigosh!"

Varian froze. His warrior instincts told him to run like hell, but for some reason his feet were rooted to the ground. Next to him, Vaala tensed, likely sensing the danger as well.

Three girls were fast aproaching from the other side, giggling and chattering as they went. Fangirls. He'd dealt with them before, and Blizzard had strongly suggested therapy after that. "When I give the signal," he hissed, "we run for it. With any luck, we can make it to the car before-"

"Oh. My God. Vaala? Who's that stunning-looking man you're with?"

For the second time that evening, Varian's thoughts skidded to a complete halt. He felt Vaala let go of his arm, and watched her go and hug each of the girls in turns. Finally she turned and beamed at him, beckoning him to come closer. For some reason undocumented by science or sanity, he obliged.

"Ladies," Vaala said smugly. "This is my boyfriend, Varian Wrynn. Varian – meet Debra, Christie and Allison. We take most of our classes together."

Varian recalled himself long enough to give a quick bow. "It's a pleasure," he muttered.

This earned him another wave of giggles. "He's so charming!" one of the girls – Debra or Allison, he already wasn't sure of which was which – chirped in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, you have got to bring him along for the dance!" Christie – this one was definitely Christie... or was it Christine? - chimed in, clapping her hands with too much excitement for anyone's good.

Dance? What dance? He couldn't dance! "It's been so lovely meeting you girls, but we have to go," Speaking, Varian slipped one hand around Vaala's shoulders and none-too-gently lead her away to a chorus of would-be swoons and sighs. "That," he began tersely once they were out of earshot. "That was-"

"Brilliant, wasn't it? And you didn't even have to kiss me to be convincing! Or," Vaala said, holding up a finger, "was it shocking for you to discover that the universe doesn't revolve around you at all times? Seriously, Wrynn. Not everybody plays World of Warcraft, and even if they did, you're not nearly as-"

"Careful," Varian growled, his earlier annoyance surging to a new high. "I know we're 'pretend'-dating, but I could always just 'pretend'-break up with you and let that be that."

"Oh." Vaala bit her lower lip with an almost genuinely-looking hurt expression. "Does that mean I don't get to poke fun at you anymore?"

"Well." He felt... slightly bad for having said what he'd said, and that surprised him. "Just..." Damn. If he backed down now, he'd leave the door open for all sorts of nasty things.

And still...

"I won't, then," Vaala said quietly. "And thank you for doing this."

"No problem." A thought struck him all of a sudden. He reached into one of his pockets and fished out the car keys. "Here. You drive this time."

Vaala flashed him a wide grin, then unexpectedly stood on her toes to give him a peck on the cheek. "You're too easy," she all but giggled as she was pulling away. "Meet you at the car!" With that, she broke into a run towards the parking lot.

Varian found himself staring after her and feeling like a complete and utter fool in more ways than one.