It was a small blessing, for Cedric, that the only person bothering him after DAWW each day this week had been Cordelia. It seemed like Dean wanted to be friends with Cedric, or at least was trying his hardest to be friendly during the class itself - but as soon as the students were allowed to leave their seats, Dean went to badger this poor… Triana, was it? Cedric didn't know the girl, but Dean mooned about her throughout the period, and it was hard not to pick up something from all of that babbling.

On the other hand, perhaps Dean may have been useful as a shield against Cordelia, but as matters stood he mainly just had to grin and bear it. Maybe he'd manage to get out before she got to him one of these days, but with the first week over without having done so, it didn't seem particularly likely.

"Hey, little bit!" Cordelia said, too loudly, as she approached and pulled Cedric into a hug. At least she let him go after a moment. "I realized in class today that Wassalia is coming up - well, I mean, obviously it's nearly winter break, but I guess I realized that I don't have any idea what to get you for it, and after this class is over and I'm back at Pendragon I've only got midterms and then we're home free! And after that only a few days until Wassalia itself, and where did the year go? Anyway, I've never known what you wanted very well without some kind of help, so unless you want me reading your diary again you should totally get me a list or something, yeah? Or a bad gift, but you know, whatever."

Cedric was too busy having a miniature crisis as he realized just how soon Wassalia Holidays really were to reply in any kind of timely manner. Cordelia went ahead and finished, "Anyway, just be sure to get that to me before we all ship back out to Pendragon again, you hear? But yeah, seeya next monday!" Cordelia gave Cedric what he was sure was intended to be an affectionate punch on the shoulder, which still rather hurt, and hurried away.

"You want to what?" Sofia asked Cedric, not sure she'd heard him correctly. He couldn't-

"I would like to go with you to your home in- Dun… Dunwhittle? Over the Wassalia holidays," Cedric reiterated, leaning back in his chair across the table from Sofia in the tower study room. "You… you now know about how I feel about Cordelia, but awful as she is for me, she really doesn't hold a candle to my father. At least she's trying to do right by me, most of the time, I think. I don't, I'm… I'm not-" He took a breath, swallowed, took another… and finally continued, "I don't know how well I'd do while around both of them for an extended period of time like that. Even.. Even Mum wouldn't be, isn't enough to make up for, for all of that." He waved a hand at the word 'that' for emphasis. "I don't know if I'd... do anything I might regret."

Put like that, Cedric's request made a lot of sense, really. Sofia sat back and let out a breath of her own. "I see," she said, and considered. "Yeah, I'd love to have you stay, I just didn't think that you'd want something like that, but… wow."

"Indeed," Cedric said, "But I'm glad to hear it. What should-"

Sofia cut off Cedric, saying, "Don't get me wrong, now, I said I'd love that, but I'm not really the one to be asking. My mom is really the one who gets to decide, and I'm pretty sure your parents would have to agree too? Would they really be up for you not spending such an important holiday with them?"

With a grimace, Cedric shrugged. "Father never seems to make a lot of sense, so… I don't know. He might refuse on the grounds that I am the oldest- ah, child. The heir to his position, and that it is improper not to. On the other hand, he usually isn't home for Wassalia itself, instead at Enchancia's palace doing cheap tricks for those royal brats. Mum might want to keep me around because she does tend to complain about not seeing me often enough, but then she also is the only one who seems to notice how Father… is Father, I suppose. So… I'm not sure."

Sofia nodded, thinking. "I'll try to convince my mom - I'll start a letter right now, actually." Sofia rifled through her things and pulled out a pencil and a sheet of paper, though didn't actually start writing yet. "I don't know how quickly this will get to Dunwiddee, so I don't know if we'll get an answer before the holiday itself - but I'm pretty sure she'd at least be able to get the letter in time to decide before she gets here to pick me up."

Cedric nodded. "Do you think I should start convincing my parents sooner or later? I don't need to rely on physical mail, my mother's got a crystal ball I can reach her through… but I feel like she might renege if I let her think about it for too long, but then she might need time to be convinced after all- I don't know…"

"I'm sorry," Sofia said, leaning forward and putting a hand on Cedric's shoulder, "I can't make that decision for you. I don't know your mother as well as you do, so I can't even really give you much advice. Maybe just to trust your gut?" She shrugged, and… realized she needed to pre-empt some questions from her mom, and to do that she'd need to address the elephant in the room.

Sofia took a moment to steel herself, and was glad that Cedric didn't say anything in the silence that had followed her previous suggestion. Finally, she managed, "In the letter, I'm going to need to tell Mom what you are to me. It doesn't need to be a whole lot, but if we're just friends or if we're dating may make a difference, and honestly? I don't know where we stand myself, since the Tea Incident." Cedric's eyes widened and his face fell, and he looked like he was about to say something, but Sofia continued, "I don't mind whatever, really! Hanging out with you is nice no matter what, I'm not asking you to keep this into a romantic dating mental box if that's not what you want. It might actually be easier to convince my mom if you and I are just friends, honestly?"

It took a moment for Cedric to respond. "I don't… I don't know. You're… you're safe, to touch, to touch me, and my brain doesn't… do that to a lot of people. And I am very fond of you but-" Cedric's brows knitted and he looked off to the side, silent for a few more moments. "I'm not entirely sure what the difference between 'romantic' and 'just friends' fondness is?"

Technically this was new information to Sofia, but it wasn't actually at all surprising. If anything, it made several things make sense. She smiled and took Cedric's hands in her own and squeezed. "That's fine," she said. "Whatever we have is fine with me, and I don't care about labels…. But I do think my mom would." Sofia smiled softly and shrugged. "Here's a different question, then, maybe one that's easier to answer: would-" Sofia had to pause for a moment, as the question turned out to be harder to ask than she'd expected. She felt color rising to her cheeks as she tried again, "Would you want to kiss me again while you're visiting? I think that would be the hardest thing to spin as purely platonic, so that seems like a good threshold for… what we call ourselves to the public, I guess."

The way Cedric's eyes widened seemed to Sofia like he was as embarrassed at the question as she had been at asking it, but he didn't blush - then again, did he ever? Either way, he looked away and bit his lip before responding, "I - maybe? It… was nice, if very strange. But if that would make it more difficult to convince your mother, then it's not something I'd feel the need to do such that I'd jeopardizing my chances."

At that, Sofia chuckled. "I think Mom would be able to tell if I was bending the truth, and would appreciate the honesty more than pretending that you and I are Totally Just Friends We Swear. So, for between you and me and whoever else - I really don't mind whatever we want to call this. I don't want you to feel trapped in anything. I'll tell my mom we're dating, but that's just for convenience, really. Unless you decide you want the label. I'm happy you're still wanting me around, and… Given how I was- pushy, before, I'm trying not to cross your boundaries again." In more ways than he knew of, unfortunately. She'd… tell him about having had his journal, eventually, but Princesses Above he was not in a state to deal with that yet.

Back in the present, Cedric nodded. "That sounds… like a good plan. I'll… contact my mother tonight, so that she can start making the appropriate arrangements. She probably wouldn't revoke permission without a good reason, right?" Sofia shrugged, and Cedric continued, "Probably. She's… Cordelia comes by her overwhelming personality naturally, but typically Mum is better about standing back and letting me do things… and convincing Father to do things he may not initially want. I think… we might actually be able to make this work." He grinned hopefully at Sofia, and she grinned back.

A/N: it's nanowrimo. the title works for this chapter too but I like these sections being separated as they are... I'll figure out which chapter gets to keep it in december haha. until then I'm done wasting time on perfecting chapter titles. :B