Short Chapter, Love & Joy

Two weeks and three days later. Morning. Subaru just woke up, stretching in his room. He was pretty happy, today was a day off for him, and he was going to be giving Emilia something he made himself, using a skill he acquired back in his world.

"It looks… Almost perfect, and.. Tada! She'll love it!" he declared to himself, eyeing the masterful work he accomplished. He decided that he would give it to her in just a bit, when he knows she's fully awake.

"Is that supposed to be Bubby, I wonder?" Beatrice's voice erupted from his bed, sounding quite interested. "Well, as much as it can be. It's been a while since i tried my hand at the art of paper folding, Origami. So I figured, hey, why not Puck? That should raise his spirits as well, ya know?"

He thoughtfully answered her, as she got up to inspect the thing sitting on the table before her. "Wow, it is just like bubby, and it is only paper… I demand to know how you made this right now, in fact!" her eyes sparkled as she made that demand, she would enjoy the sweet feeling if giving her kind of brother a gift.

"I would, but you'd forget. I showed Reinhard yesterday, so you should have him show you, so I don't get yelled at when you mess up what I told you to do." he said, he was in the middle of getting dressed in casual attire.

"Yes, I suppose thats- you just insulted Betty, in fact! Why should I listen to you anyways? All you say is have redhead teach you!" she yelled at him, but instantly quieted down when he patted her head. "That's because it's true. Redhead does these things better, so learning it from him prevents mistakes. Alright?" "Mhmhhh… okay."

So, he successfully consoled the great spirit once more. "Then again, why have you been here the past two weeks? Do you want me to contract you or something?" he looked her in the eyes, and while she didn't respond, there was a twinkle he saw that agreed with what he said.

"Well that's a surprise… are you sure?" he asked, still staring deeply into what you could literally call her soul, flickering deep within her butterfly irises. She slowly started to nod, giving way to weak willpower. "Alright, here… I know contracts need physical contact to work, so it's not much different." he offered her his open hand, which she timidly place her own within. It closed, and she began to breathe heavily for what she was about to do.

"Betty thinks this is overly dumb, why am I even doing this.." she said, then shook her head. "Will you take Betty out of that accursed library, and make her your own?" she asked, her hands glowing bright as they held his. "Well i dunno… Having such an annoying person around all the time…" she looked honestly hurt by that.

"I'm just kidding! Sheesh, Beako… yes, yes I would. I know it sucks in there, and you gotta watch it for whatever dumb reason." he answered. While she smiled to that, it did bug her. This wasn't what her mother told her. But, she came to know… It was a lie, she came to know this after the one before her and the sword saint showed up.

So now she was here, willingly contracting herself to maybe the only person that cares about her as much as Bubby does. She looked on the past four centuries in disdain, all of it was wasted… But, maybe, it could be worth it… In the care of Natsuki Subaru.

"While I can't ask to be your number one, I ask that you hold me highly in your heart. Will you do that?" she asked. "You're already the top of the list in one of my pages, most troublesome kid ever. Also, most troublesome loli ever. And I see you everyday, so I kinda doubt you'd be losing your concrete position ever, Beako."

While no it wasn't that great to hear, she accepted it. "Then, I am now your contracted spirit."

Somehow he could physically feel that, and he could tell that he did have a contract with this girl. Why it was happening now of all times… Maybe it was just her tipping point, to finally yield to the man she sees as a… Companion, even if all they do is fight each other with words.

"There ain't anything like starting off a day with contracting a great spirit. Seriously now, it'll make me feel as though my gift to Emilia tan isn't anything more than colored paper!" he exclaimed, then a shoe his his head from behind. "You're acting like contracting a great spirit isn't a big deal, I suppose!" she yelled at him, picking up the other shoe.

"Well, it just happened, so i'm guessing it isn't a big deal after all huh? Aye! Stop throwing things!" which wouldn't happen. "Alright, fine, yes contracting great spirits is like a once in a lifetime thing and all that." he said, patting her head. "Good."

He made it out if his room, and waited patiently outside hers, knowing that she would be coming out soon.

And soon it was. She wore something he was surprised to see her in, that pink airy dress that had cut off shoulders and the fabric that begins a little over where her breasts are. She hadn't worn that since she knew what that showed off, but here she was wearing it now. He just was stunned, absorbing her beauty as she was still herself, her face reddening from the silence… And the fact that he was staring.

"The paper, I suppose." Beatrice pulled his sleeve, bringing him back to reality. "Oh right… Here, I made this for you last night." he handed her the thing he was hiding, and she accepted it with wonder, until she really looked at it.

'He made this himself?' she wondered, and found herself very happy with it. What she did next may have been impulse or maybe her excitement, but she moved to kiss him.

*ckink* it wasn't a pleasant sound, the sound of teeth colliding. Either way you look at it, that was a kiss, and she immediately found herself in her room with a fast beating heart and the slight feeling of pain in her head, but it was overwhelmed by this fuzzy feeling… However slight it was it took immediate precedence over all else. It was worth it, she thinks.

As for Subaru, he was standing there speechless as the pain subsided, in her quick getaway she hit his forehead with the door. 'She just?' "Aaah.. " "So we're going to stay here until she come out, I wonder?" "Yep." "Ugh…"

They stayed there for only ten minutes, Emilia bashfully exiting the room and finding out that she hit him with the door on the way out, and was pleasantly surprised to hear that Beatrice contracted him this morning.

Puck was still more or less mopey in his crystal, and seeing his daughter kiss Subaru like that only felt worse, but he was already forgiven for lying to her previously, it was just up to him to come out and be himself again.

Little did they know, a certain blue haired maid watched the whole ordeal, and silently sighed around a corner.

They made their way outside to the gazebo, sitting on the grass in its shadow. They mostly talked about past events and speculation of future ones, but both knew that what happened earlier was the start of something new… Emilia awakened a piece of herself that was dormant since she was frozen. And, she would pursue it.

She knew it was something that was slowly starting to emerge, if she tried right now she doubts that fuzzy feeling would become present… only embarrassment on her own part.

So, she waited until it came back…

Three days later, that moment happened. While it was no different than a normal day, his shenanigans made it so that she was giving him a lap pillow of sorts, it was mostly her idea as well.

He was going to lay on the ground to watch the starry night sky, to point out the new constellation she learned about from Reinhard or even traced himself, and while she went with him, she offered him something comfortable to rest his head on.

He didn't know it would be her lap, but it was… And you could see even through the night that he was nervous about it, as the more he noticed, she was wearing night clothes, and her actions were getting to be a lot more bold, as is with this. She had short stalkings on, probably just a mistake, but for him it was heaven, her silky smooth skin bare and shining in the moonlight.

'I have to get up o-or I might just lose control here…' he thought, and quickly rose to his feet, his face red with small beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He was breathing a bit ragged, but silently nonetheless…

Emilia felt a bit of loss when he removed himself from there, and stood up with him as well… she took his hand, and it seemed he didn't notice, and that was when her heart started pounding, the fuzzy feeling returning to her once again, it urged her to do something.

His gaze was at nothing until it was moved for him, his face held firmly yet gently by her hands, his gaze was fixed to her and when she came close he closed his eyes just like she did afterwards, and felt the unimaginable heat that was a kiss…

There wasn't and teeth clattering, no obstacles in the way and nowhere for either of them to run, so instinctively he moved his hands to her waist and pulled her in closer, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as well…

The feeling of ecstasy is mutual, and only when they both ran out if breath did they seperate. They were both left panting as a thin line of saliva dissolved between them, a last note of what occured. "I…" she started. "..." he was silent. While they were not able to talk, they simply hugged, twirling about the field for a while until falling over, and staring up into the night sky, hand in hand, heart in heart…

Love begins true, in the milky way of stars...

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