Coco and Anon arrived at the dorms from Junior's club still holding hands.
"So, you want to come in and hang and maybe watch some Schneeflix?" She asked as she unlocked the door.
"I'd love to Coco, but to be honest I don't really trust myself to not do something stupid once I'm in there tonight,"
Coco laughed. Putting her arms around his neck she gazed into his eyes and smiled impishly. "Oh my, such a gentleman." Then planted her lips on his for a goodnight kiss.
After the kiss Anon made his way back to his dorm. When he opened the door, he found Hazel resting on her bed reading a book. She looked kind of surprised to see him back this soon, moreso to see him walking in with a goofy grin on his face.
"So..." She began, the tiniest bit of curiosity creeping into her voice. "...how'd it go?"
"It was fantastic Hazel! We hung out and drank a bunch, we danced, and then when the music got slower something wonderful happened." Anon said as he plopped down onto his bed
Hazel's eyebrow cocked upward. Anon wasn't like Ulysses who loved talking about his "conquests", but he was still a guy in the end. Bracing herself for the worst she pried further. "What happened?"
"Well we worked up a bit of a sweat dancing, we were just holding onto each other and swaying to the slow music. I reached my hand up and brushed her hair off her forehead, then she started blushing and she kissed me! I was shocked at first, but after my mind kind of processed what happened, I just...I kissed her back, and we just spent the rest of our time there cuddling in the lounge talking."
Hazel's eyebrow was now in danger of leaving her scalp. "That's it? Nothing else happened?"
Anon looked back at her, a little confused. "Well yeah, I mean ok there was the goodnight kiss when we got back to her dorm, but other than that, it was a pretty awesome night!" Anon couldn't help but grin as he recalled the events of the night over and over in his head.
Hazel sighed and looked back down at her book. "Look anon I'm glad you had a great time, but don't read too much into it. I mean you guys were drunk after all..."
"Oh yeah, I know Hazel. I'll have to have the 'so…last night was a thing' talk with her later this week and see where we stand now." Anon responded as he got up and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed
Coco was in bed alone wishing the rest of her team or at least Velvet was back in the dorm so she could talk to them about what had happened tonight. Even having Yatsu here to talk to would have been welcome at this point. Sighing in frustration she rolled over again in her bed, trying to get comfortable. As she lay there on her side, her eyes fell upon her scroll resting on her nightstand. On a whim she grabbed it and snapped a picture of her and the empty spot next to her on the bed. Switching to her messaging program she attached the photo with a "Wish you were here" note and hit SEND. Blushing, she put it back on her nightstand and finally fell asleep.
The next morning Anon and Hazel were getting ready to go to breakfast while the rest of their team slept in. Before heading out the door Anon grabbed his scroll off his nightstand and noticed he had a new message, but decided to check it later since he was pretty hungry. Joining Hazel and some of their other friends in the cafeteria, he tucked into a plate of waffles, eggs, and hash browns while talking about their plans for summer break. The general consensus was that most of them would stay on campus since they lived nearby, but others lived further outside of the city and mentioned they would be returning home for at least a couple of weeks.
One by one their friends left until it was just Anon and Hazel left at the table. Anon decided to check the message he got earlier this morning. His fork clattered noisily to his plate and his face turned about the same shade as the ketchup he had sprinkled on his eggs.
Hazel noticed the sudden change in color on his face. Rolling her eyes she commented "Ugh…what did she send you now?"
Anon didn't reply, but just showed her his scroll. The photo was displayed across Anon's scroll with the accompanying caption. Hazel was actually surprised. Judging by Anon's reaction, this was rather tame compared to what she had expected.
They were silent for a few seconds before Anon finally asked "You think she sent it last night?"
"That definitely seems possible, but why would she do that? It doesn't seem like her." Hazel responded doubtfully.
"Maybe she was still riding that emotional high from what happened at the club last night."
"Either way still be careful. I don't want to be the one to say I told you so when the bubble bursts and she moves onto another guy, but…yeah." She concluded sympathetically.
"Yeah…well even if we do go back to just being friends...I'd be fine with that I guess." Anon said, with a hint of sadness in his voice.
Hazel sighed and said "Look Anon, I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I just care about you and don't want to see you get hurt. We're going to be heading out on missions soon and I and the rest of our team need you to have a clear head on your shoulders, understand?"
Anon looked at the message. Hazel's observations and his emotions were all competing against each other inside of his head. He stared at the message for a moment longer before coming to a decision. "Hell with it..." He pulled up his messaging program and texted back "Wish I was too..." and hit SEND. Hazel looked up from her plate. "What was that?" Anon shook his head. "Oh nothing, just talking to myself..."
Coco yawned then winced as she stirred in her bed. Her body was constantly reminding her of the drinks she had last night and it was in no hurry to extricate itself from under the covers. After a few more minutes of laying there however, her sense of responsibility finally overrode her body's desire to stay in bed. Her eyes still closed she fumbled around for her sunglasses to put them on. She could feel the sunlight coming through the window and judging by the stinging sensation it generated through closed lids she felt her eyes would burn in their sockets if she dared open them fully. It certainly wasn't the worst hangover she had endured, she actually had an appetite along with the headache and sensitive eyes so that was a plus. Still...on the whole she preferred waking up without her head feeling like it was trying to split itself in half. She sat up and stretched then got some aspirin out of her nightstand drawer and went to the bathroom to get some water.
As Coco exited the bathroom with her cup of water she heard her scroll ping to let her know she has a new message. She sat on her bed, popped the aspirin in her mouth, and downed about half of her drink while seeing what the message was.
"Wish I was too…" She read aloud. "What are you on about Anon...?" She muttered.
She flipped through her message history and found last night's message. The half empty cup fell to the ground splashing her bare feet as she gaped at the message on her scroll. Memories of last night started flashing through her head as her heart beat rapidly in her chest. The drinking, the dancing, that lingering kiss...and then that message.
"Oh God, please don't tell me I really sent that to him." She called out to the room as her head slumped down to her knees.
Just then Velvet walked in the room. Seeing her team leader hunched over immediately made her think the worst. "Coco! Are you sick? Hold on I'll get the trashcan!" She was already halfway to the one by her desk when Coco waved her off.
"No Velv, I'm fine. I'm not gonna throw up. I just…" She let out a heavy sigh and held up her scroll for Velvet to see the message that had turned Coco's morning upside down.
Velvet wanted to hug Coco and tell her how happy she was for her, but seeing her head still slumped over on her knees stopped her.
"Coco…is everything alright?" Velvet asked as she made her way over to her leader and sat down next to her.
Coco lifted her head and looked at Velvet, her face contorted in anguished confusion. "I dunno Velv…I had a blast last night…I drank a lot…I felt…things I haven't really felt before and then to top it off...we kissed and then came back here and then…"
Velvet held her hands to her mouth. "Coco! Did you...? Did the two of you...and he LEFT right after!?" Velvet appeared equal parts amazed and infuriated at the revelation.
"What?! No! Velv, that never…just no. We came back here I invited him in he declined and we kissed goodnight. That was it…until I saw the message that I apparently sent him last night before I passed out."
"Oh..." Velvet sat quietly as an awkward silenced filled the room. After a few minutes with neither one speaking, Velvet finally spoke up.
"Soooo...what are you going to do Coco? He texted you back, that sounds to me like he's interested in you at least!"
"Well..." Coco fidgeted with her pajamas as she avoided Velvet's gaze. "...I was hoping I could just crawl back under the covers and wait for this to blow over honestly..."
"Coco!" Velvet exclaimed sharply.
Coco raised her hands in mock surrender. "I know I know Velv, it was just a joke, well sort of anyway."
"I know you're feeling rather nervous right now, but you are going to have to talk to him. Communication is a must in situations like this. Its actually one of the things I like most about Yatsu. He always has a way with words." Velvet said with her face turning a light shade of red.
Coco raised an eyebrow. "Just to be clear...we are talking about our Yatsu right?"
Velvet giggled. "He is rather talkative once he opens up to you."
Coco shrugged not wanting to push that topic further. She was lucky to get more than ten words out of him in a day, and that was only if he had that tea he liked so much at breakfast.
"I guess I could talk to him Velv, but I don't know. I mean, I broke my number one rule of don't get…"
"Rules are meant to be broken Coco." Velvet interrupted forcefully, her eyes flashed with an intensity Coco had never seen before.
Coco jerked back in slight surprise. "Wow Velvet…I never pegged you for the assertive type where did that come from?"
Velvet smiled, blushing as she broke eye contact and looked down. "Well lets just say I've picked up on some of your habits."
Coco sighed with a small smile, then got to her feet. "Alright. I guess I'll get changed and go talk to him about last night..."
"That's great. Just do be careful with your words." Velvet cautioned.
"My words...?"
"Don't open with "We need to talk." That usually means something bad is about to happen. Puts them on the defensive." She finished with a warm smile of her own.
Coco chuckled and pulled up the messaging app on her scroll. Finding Anon in her contacts she popped open a text window and began to type.
"So…last night was a thing. Want to come over and talk about it?"
Twenty minutes later there was a knock on the door and Coco tensed up.
"I don't think I can do this Velv, I just want to go back to way things were before last night!" An edge of panic was evident on her voice as she tried to bunch the covers of her bed around her like an impromptu pillow fort.
"Just give it a shot Coco! Ok so you guys might decide to go back to being friends or something. If not, then who knows you might end up liking the whole "relationship" thing. But you won't know until you talk to him ok?" Velvet said with a warm hug.
Coco relaxed a bit in Velvet's embrace. She was right. Inwardly Coco couldn't believe that she had let herself get this worked up over all of this. She had faced hordes of Grimm without breaking a sweat and here she was trying to do the best impression of a Mistralian Mole-Rat and burrow under the covers.
Taking a deep breath she pulled herself from Velvet's arms and went over to open the door. "Hey…you." She blurted out, turning a deep shade of red in the process.
It turned out that both of them appeared equally nervous about this meeting. The sight of each other's blushing faces immediately lessened the tension and caused them both to smile at one another.
"Yeah…hey. Can I come in?" He asked haltingly.
"Sure" She stepped out of the way to let him in. Anon took a few steps inside. Despite visiting Coco's room several times before, it never had felt as small as it did now. Taking a quick look around he noticed Velvet doing her best to appear invisible by curling up on her bed with a large book. The attempt almost worked if Velvet hadn't been holding the book upside-down.
"So…" Anon said rubbing the back of his head as he turned to look at Coco.
"Yeah...about last night...I had a great time...and I think you're a great kisser..." Coco seemed to stammer to a halt as she looked at Anon, her usual assertiveness failing her.
"Oh! Well, I'm glad! Er glad that I'm good-I mean glad that you liked..." Anon began to sputter himself then laughed. "Ahhh this is awkward..."
Coco laughed as well. "Glad to see I'm not the only one feeling the same way."
Seeming to draw strength from the diffusing tension he continued.
"Look Coco. I just want to say, I had a really awesome time last night. And that regardless of how much we had to drink, I really enjoyed myself...and I umm...hope you did too..." He finished, his face blushing slightly to match Coco's.
"Yeah…so did I. Sorry I'm not really good in these situations."
"What kind of situations?"
"This…" She gestured with her hands between the two of them "The whole, you know…relationship thing." She finished hurriedly.
"Really? I would've never guessed that… Oh man I hope that didn't come out sounding douchey, because I totally didn't mean it that way."
Coco chuckled. "The thing is, I've never had something like this...never really go this far. Usually it's just a coffee shop visit, a dinner or a movie and leave it at that. I've never...taken things further than that, and I've been happy with that..."
"Oh…" Anon said he could already hear Hazel's words from earlier playing over and over in his head
"But..." She continued. Anon looked up to her. She had taken off her glasses. "I...wouldn't mind...trying something new. With you...that is if...you want to as well...?" She asked looking at Anon with an expectant expression.
Upon hearing Coco say those words Hazel's warnings were obliterated from his memory faster than a dust grenade could have done it. His eyes went wide with excitement and he couldn't help but crack the biggest smile he'd ever had. "Y-yes I mean yeah. That sounds great I'd love-I mean I'd like that a lot."
From the back of the room a faint squeal was heard as Velvet tried to contain her happiness for Coco.
"Awesome. So there's this movie I have been wanting to see, but its more of a date movie so what do you say? Think you can handle another evening with me?" Coco said her sense of confidence returning.
"Sounds like a good time to me!" Anon responded enthusiastically.
"Wonderful!-" She clapped her hands together then moved in closer to inspect Anon's shirt.
"-But first things first, we need to go shopping..." She observed seriously while shaking her head.
"S-Shopping? For what?" Anon stuttered in confusion.
"...that shirt with those pants…really Anon? I thought you had better fashion sense than that!" She said with a wink and wolf grin.
"Oh come on Coco, I just threw them on because I rushed over here!" Anon responded with a laugh.
"Fair enough, don't think you've wormed your way out of one of my shopping expeditions though. Clothes do make the man after all, especially if you're going to be dating someone like me."
Anon was about to ask what kind of expedition Coco was talking about when his scroll started ringing. It was Ulysses. He groaned inwardly. Why now? Knowing him he probably just heard about what happened to him last night from Hazel and wanted all the juicy details about it.
"Gotta run?" She asked him.
"Yeah. Duty calls..." He responded with a shrug and a smile.
She grabbed him and pulled him in for a deep passionate kiss that lingered longer than all of their previous ones combined. They pulled their lips apart in a daze. Anon was too stunned by the intensity to do much of anything but grin. There wasn't any alcohol to muddy the waters this time. This was here and now in broad daylight with nothing to confuse the issue.
With a gentle pat on his chest Coco leaned in and whispered "Just a little something to keep your mind on me until our date." She pulled away and headed over to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Anon said goodbye to Velvet and headed out, certain that regardless of what happened today, it was going to be alright.