Trampoline Skies
Rating: T
Summary: Echo ends up crushing on the student council's ace to only to get her heart crushed in return when she finds out he loves another. AU. One-sided!Oz x Echo.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts in any shape, way, or form. I DO own raspberry tea though :D yummm, raspberry tea~
A/N: okay, so, first PH fanfic ever so please be kind to my mistakes/out of character-ness . haha the story's inspired by that fuzzy moment that Oz had with Echo in that one chapter. Remember that one? Yeah, well it should have been Oz x Alice. I was irritated that day and a year later, this weird ass story is the result. Haha.
In the Pandora Academy, there was a group of students who rose above all the others. Aside from being the daughters and sons of famous noble families, they were brilliant, beautiful, and talented in their respective academic majors. They were, Xerxes Break (a senior and treasurer), Sharon Rainsworth (a junior and secretary), Gilbert Nightray (a senior and vice president), Alice Baskerville (a junior and discipline head), and their ace, Oz Vessalius (a junior and president).
Together they made up the elite student body council.
In Echo's mind though, there might as well only be one in the whole group and that one would be Oz Vessalius. She did not care for the rest, no matter how much of a fierce beauty Alice was, or if Gilbert was supposedly the most handsome out of the five. She had always been forgotten and alone, no one had even noticed or cared that she was there—aside from Oz. The cheerful blonde was the only one that stopped to help her when she had dropped her things in the middle of a busy hallway. He was the only one to go up to people, stopping them to help her gather everything that was left.
Even if most of her things were trampled and dusty with footprints in the end, she had appreciated his help. No one had ever helped her for nothing before, but when she stuttered out a soft thank you, the blonde only smiled brighter, bowing in reply. "It was no trouble," he had said; such a simple answer that earned her admiration and respect. "Try not to drop any more of your things, okay?" he smiled, "I'll hopefully see you around!" Then she had nodded and he had waved, making his way to his next class, his posture relaxed as he hummed a little tune.
It wasn't until later when she noticed that she didn't get his name though, and this upset her. Echo didn't know why, but his bright green eyes seemed to be stuck in her mind. His cheerful smile and his bright, cheery aura, was a change to her otherwise dreary existence. Echo couldn't really tell anyone the reason as to why she felt little flutters in her stomach when she thought of him, but it made her want to meet him again. The chances of that happening by pure chance were slim though.
Luckily, she had Vincent.
"He's blonde—"
"I'm blonde."
"—green, no… emerald eyes—"
"Getting specific now, are you?" he rolled his different colored eyes, "just how smitten with this boy are you, Echo?"
Echo stared at him for a minute, silent as she contemplated. Vincent stared right back, waiting for her to say something to only groan with exasperation when she said, "medium height but taller than me".
"So?" she prompted, face the same uncaring expression as always, hiding her bursting curiosity.
Vincent sighed, propping his head on one of his hands, elbow supporting it up on the library table between them. "It sounds like Oz."
Echo blinked, mouthing the name to herself. It sounded familiar but she couldn't remember where she had heard it before Vincent sighed once more, reading the frustrated look in her usually stoic eyes. "Student body council president, Echo," he said in a bored manner, "the school's supposed ace," he frowned, "it all sounds a bit too, deck of card-sy though, like, they seriously have all these positions matching certain cards—what is that all about?"
"Oz…" she said the name out loud, liking the way it rolled off her tongue.
Vincent pursed his lips together, annoyed. "Yes, Oz Vessalius," he said with a dismissing wave, "I don't know much about him but I suggest talking to big brother. They're best friends—sadly." He sighed again, "if only Gil would pay that much attention to me…"
At this point, Echo was already gathering her stuff so that she could leave. She had heard enough of Vincent's ranting about how his big brother didn't pay enough attention to him, to last herself a freaking lifetime. "Where are you going?" he asked, eyeing her with a raised eyebrow.
Echo shrugged, "Student council room." She wanted to meet and talk and be smiled at by Oz again and thinking about it made her feel giddy inside, a small smile pulling at her lips as she left to go find the room.
"Alice," the blonde male sighed, "what on Earth are you doing?"
The girl currently biting on his cheek blushed and moved away, violet eyes immediately training themselves on to the ground as she tried to slip away from her position sitting on the blonde's lap—a movement that the blonde refused to let her do.
"Sharon said that all guys would be happy if I did this to them…"
Emerald eyes widened, an incredulous expression taking over the blonde's features. "She told you that guys would be happy if you bit their cheeks?"
"She didn't really say that," the one named Alice spoke, blushing heavily still, "she showed me a picture from one of her stupid romance novels—"
"That you enjoy reading sometimes."
"—that I enjoy reading sometime—" she stopped, confused before she pouted, glaring at the blonde who was now laughing. "Oz!" she shouted, "that's not funny!"
Oz continued to laugh, mirth in his eyes as Alice punched him lightly on the chest. He continued to chuckle, memories of a time when the violent girl wouldn't hesitate to sock him in the face for doing or saying something stupid filling his mind as he stopped with an irresistible smile tugging on his lips. "Oh come on, Alice," he cooed as he hugged her close, "I think it's cute that you read the novels." He paused then, eyebrows furrowing together, "except for this one with the cheek biting—that's sort of weird."
Alice crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive manner as she pouted, "Well then," she said, "Maybe I should just go up to other guys and bite them on their cheeks—maybe they'll appreciate it more than you." She made to stand and leave, but Oz tightened the arms he had around her waist.
He didn't know why anymore, but ever since they became closer, he had started to get seriously annoyed whenever he would see her with other guys. Oz found it surprising to say the least because, well, to put it simply, Oz never got annoyed with anyone. He was always happy and smiling—that was what he was good at!—so, when he found himself glaring at Elliot the one time that he was partnered with Alice for sucking during the waltz, Oz was shocked at himself.
It didn't stop at Elliot either. Whomever he saw smiling, laughing, or even just talking to the violet-eyed girl, he couldn't help but quietly resent them. Now she was going to go around biting people on their cheeks? Oz secretly felt like crushing something or tripping someone in the halls or something, anything to get rid of this bubbling annoyance in the pit of his stomach.
"No."
Alice looked offended, "you can't tell me what I can or cannot do—"
"Alice," Oz frowned, emerald eyes lighting up with an annoyed glint, "no." He hugged her tighter when he finished, silencing her protests as he tucked her body against his own, his chin resting on top of her head.
"Why?"
Oz could only sigh at the question. How was he supposed to answer her if he himself didn't know exactly? "You can bite me on the cheeks all you want okay," he said instead, "just don't do it to other guys."
"Why not?"
Emerald eyes rolled, "Because…" he paused, trying to think of a plausible reason as to why she shouldn't, "Because…" he looked up at the sky for answers before lighting up when an idea hit him. "Because people will think that you're trying to hurt them and they won't like you anymore."
Alice pulled away to look at him unbelievingly. "I don't believe that," she affirmed, "and I wouldn't care anyways—who cares about what other people think of me?"
"I do." Oz replied firmly.
Violet eyes rolled at the answer, pretty pink lips pursing in slight annoyance. "You care too much about everything, Oz" she said, "It wouldn't be like you to not care."
"That's not true." He denied with a frown, shaking his head soon after, "but anyways, I care so no biting other people on the cheeks—aside from me." He chuckled, "if it makes you happy, you can bite me all you want."
"But if it doesn't make you happy, then how am I supposed to be happy with doing it?"
Oz blinked at this, emerald eyes bright and glittering as he stared at the blushing Alice. She had looked away when she said it, but Oz wasn't surprised with her shyness. She may be the school's discipline committee head but Alice knew nothing about interacting with people. Spending years being privately tutored at home with only strict teachers and a stoic father to talk to could do that to someone.
The blonde could only smile though. Alice had been a bully when she was younger, but now she was the bully that bullied the punks around the school. She had softened and mellowed out and Oz found himself extremely liking the change. The girl had always been kind, but now everyone can see it for themselves.
"If you want to make me happy," he smiled, "instead of biting my cheeks, why don't you try kissing them instead?"
Alice's blush increased tenfold, moving down to her neck as she stared at him. "K-kiss?" she gulped, looking away, "w-would that make you happy?"
Oz chuckled, "yes Alice," he said, "that would make me extremely happy."
He didn't really think that she would do it because, if Alice was anything—she was proud. Therefore, when Oz felt warm lips press to his cheek with the lack of teeth biting down, he blushed, emerald eyes flying wide open in surprise. It was in the middle between slow kisses and quick pecks, and when Alice moved away, face shining red, Oz moved to cup her head and press their lips together.
Something flared inside of Oz when their lips meshed so perfectly like that, so, following his instincts, he pulled her closer to him. Licking her lips and asking for an entrance that she shyly gave, Oz continued on his way to plunder her mouth that tasted of meat and all things Alice.
Hands moved and when they finally broke apart for air Alice's hands were in his hair while Oz found his own hands slipping up underneath her white oxford. They stared at each other, blushing heavily, not knowing what else to do or where else to go after that. Then, Oz smiled and caressed the small of her bare back with his thumb.
"Where do we go from here?" he whispered, pressing their forehead together.
Alice flushed, "you have to take responsibility for my first kiss."
Oz could only chuckle and he nodded, emerald eyes dancing in mirth. "Okay Alice," he said softly, a smile on his lips, "I'll take responsibility for everything."
The girl blushed, biting her bottom lip as Oz watched in strange fascination. "Does that mean that we're a couple now…?"
As she said that, Oz's eyes snapped back to meet her own, emerald staring into shy, almost reluctant, but trusting violet; her eyes were wonderfully bright and beautiful, Oz thought to himself. Oz leaned forwards to mold his lips to hers once more, drunk on the happiness he was feeling.
"Yes," he whispered into the kiss when they broke apart for the second time that day. His arms tightened around her and never wanted to let go as he tried to make her feel the feelings he felt through their embrace.
"This is sort of awkward…"
Echo stood with Gilbert Nightray in the stairwell down from the roof. He had kindly offered to lead her to where he thought Oz was when she asked to see him, but he hadn't thought that his best friend would be making out with his other best friend/hated rival. He didn't know what Echo was feeling partly because the girl seemed so emotionless at times and partly because he was intently staring at his feet in a pathetic excuse to not admit to himself that he was blushing.
Gilbert wondered why she wanted to see the blonde in the first place. He didn't even know that they knew each other, but apparently, life kept throwing him surprises at every turn. Looking at her stare at a certain spot on the concrete ground, he opened his mouth to ask her but stopped himself when he heard a small sigh escape her lips.
"Was seeing him important?" he asked, brows furrowed, "Do you want me to tell him that you need to talk to him?"
Echo stared up blankly at the raven haired senior before shaking her head no, drawing back into her silent state of living. She turned to leave but, when reaching the door, turned back with a small frown pulling at her lips.
"Go see your brother," she said, "He's starting to get annoying with his whining. I might hurt him if he starts to complain again."
Gilbert blinked, "uhm…," he said, "…okay?"
Echo nodded then, eyes flickering to the door on the top of the stairwell before she pulled open the door and walked away without another look back. Bitter defeat filled her stomach, but she stopped with another sigh.
At least she still had Vincent.
A/N2: if you all were wondering, the title of this story has nothing to do with the story itself haha.
EDIT: 01/23/12