The good night that Wade and Ember hoped for was now upon them.
Wade helped his Aunt and Uncle out in the kitchen as an eager Ember pushed open the front door as hard as she could. She stretched herself out in a pose with an eager smile.
"I'm home!" she exclaimed.
Wade sloshed over to her like a child on Christmas day, wrapping her in a much-needed hug. She took the embrace in, closing her eyes. Joining in the shenanigans, the Sea-Nears soon followed Wade's suit.
"Ember! How was work?" Aunty Sea-Near asked.
Ember chuckled half-heartedly, letting go of a smirking Wade and slicking her flames about with a hand. She held her arm, a bit hesitant.
"Oh- wow! It's... well." she began.
In growing nerves to express her concerns to anyone else besides Wade, she looked down in her spot for a moment. Upon looking up, she saw three of the most comforting smiles imaginable. Aunty Sea-Near, Uncle Sea-Near, Wade. Wade's was the proudest of the lot. She reeled herself into that smile, taking note of how much brighter it looked in comparison to the last couple of days post-work.
Relieved that he was looking so, she took a deep breath, allowing herself to open up.
"I think I'm going for an examination on Friday," she announced.
Wade and the Sea-Near's gasped in unison, some to the point of wiping down their cheeks with their hands.
"Friday?!" Wade barked excitably.
Ember jumped on his bandwagon of excitement, nodding her head and holding her hands in a prayer mannerism.
Wade - on the verge of tears - took her and picked her up in a hug once more, albeit a bit more passionately. The Sea-Nears quickly came and joined the hug in congratulations.
"Ember- that's incredible!" Uncle Sea-Near admired.
They all laughed in joy in their embrace, letting it gradually die down naturally. When it did, Ember looked over to Wade. He returned her gaze with a prideful smile, wiping a tear.
A rather unprofessional thought entered her head - perhaps a result of being penned up throughout the workday. She let out a cheeky smirk, gripping Wade by the hips and pulling him close. Caught off-guard, Wade's eyes bulged out of his streams, arms to his sides helplessly. The Sea-Nears shielded their eyes from the display of affection to the point of cringe.
Ember looked Wade up and down, noticing him wearing his work clothes.
"So is that what you're wearing tonight?" she pressed.
Wade blushed like a princess, holding a hand at his mouth. Out of the know, the Sea-Nears looked at each other.
"Tonight? What's tonight?" Uncle Sea-Near queried.
Ember and Wade looked at them, equally as blankly.
"Oh! I offered to take Ember out on a date tonight." Wade recalled.
Much like he, she giggled cutely in admiration, a hand at her mouth in mirroring. The Sea-Nears shot them a petrified look in discomfort.
"Mmm. Mm-hmm. Right- right. Yeah- okay." Uncle Sea-Near stammered.
Slipping into her usual sassy nature, Ember raised an eyelid, folding her arms in a pose. Wade stood by in a pose straight as a soldier.
"What's with that?" she queried.
The Sea-Nears threw her an oblivious stare.
"What's with what?" Aunty Sea-Near replied.
"The response." Ember pressed.
She began tapping her foot in wait, a sense of passive-aggression entering the equation. Having seen the same stuff at work, Wade tugged at his collar, sweating.
"Hehe..." he giggled nervously.
The Sea-Nears, feeling threatened by being put on the spot, shot Ember a submissive stare.
"Nothing- nothing!" Uncle Sea-Near responded in a panic.
He and Aunty Sea-Near held their hands in a prayer mannerism, leaning toward Ember and Wade. Ember began to smirk and chuckle, slapping her knee.
Wade bruxed his teeth in worry, feigning a fat smile.
"Oh- kay. I'm gonna get her outta your tides, take her upstairs, and get ready!" Wade exclaimed.
He chuckled in discomfort, grabbing Ember by both shoulders and forcing her over to the room with the same fake smile.
"Hey- Wade!" Ember exclaimed.
The Sea-Nears watched the whole thing unfold, turning back to each other in mortification.
Heading upstairs, Wade carried a cackling Ember in, playfully wiggling about. He gently placed her on her bed, his fake smile from before blossoming into a genuine one. She rolled about on it, kicking her legs excitedly.
He took a long exhale of relief, fatiguingly throwing his work shirt off and looking in his cupboard. As he opened the cupboard door, he felt a tight fiery belt on his waist. He looked down behind him to see Ember gripping both arms onto him, giggling cheekily.
"Ember! Get off," he exclaimed playfully, laughing.
She shook her head childishly in refusal to let go. He gave up, letting his arms loose and slumping with a smile. Ember persisted to hug him tighter, closing her eyes. Wade slowly inched an arm and rests it on her shoulder, closing his own eyes.
"I've been looking forward to this all day," Ember admitted, snuggling in.
Wade gently opened his eyes, smirking gratefully at her with a tear in his eye.
"I've just been looking forward to seeing you in general." Wade concurred.
Ember finally let go of her deadlock on his waist, slowly rising to her feet and dusting herself off. She looked up at his face, coming close and putting her hands on his hips. He did the same in reaction, looking into her eyes. Their gaze locked, growing a loving trance in each other.
"I'm just gonna leave this here." Uncle Sea-Near interjected.
Ember and Wade slowly looked over to him at the foot of Ember's bed. He sweated profusely, slowly backing out and exiting with arms held up.
Ember looked over to Wade knowingly, before he did so too. The two burst into laughter, shaking their heads. They continued to do so as Wade walked over to the foot of Ember's bed, where Uncle Sea-Near had a mystery item waiting for him.
"A button-up shirt?" he thought.
He wiped it down thinking there was gunk on it, holding it up to his chest. He faced Ember, looking at her promptly.
She looked it up and down, nodding in admiration.
"Black with fine white striping. Somehow, I think that's your colour." Ember approved, standing in a pose holding her elbow up and the other hand to her face.
Wade let out a cheeky grin, trying his best to hide it.
"Not a colour." he snarkily replied.
Ember guffawed in retaliation, rolling her eyes with a smile.
"Okay, Professor Dewton." she teased.
Wade laughed a little too hard at her joke, causing her to smile along with him. A heavy air of thankfulness overcame her as she looked at him in appreciation; thankful for how happy he's been.
Wade slipped the shirt over his head, looking down at it then up and Ember.
"So?" he asked.
She knew it'd look good on him, but she didn't expect just how good. In fact, she subtly bit her lip, moving toward him.
"Yup. This takes 'waterworks' to a whole new level." she remarked.
Wade shot her a thrown-off, sassy stare, raising an eyebrow.
"Ember!" he exclaimed in surprise.
"What? A girl's gotta burn!" she quipped.
Wade let out a hearty laugh, burying his head into his hand and shaking it. The moment he dug himself out, he looked back over to Ember.
Somehow, while he wasn't looking, she managed to slip into a smooth, biker-style leather jacket. He'd never seen it before, and in fact, hadn't really seen her wear anything else other than her dress.
His mouth fell agape in both surprise and slight attraction, raising an eyebrow.
"What? I thought we should go matching." Ember reasoned, hands in the jacket's pockets.
Wade slowly walked around her like she were an exhibit, caressing his hands along the jacket in passing. He took the bottom corner of it and inspected it closely, marvelling.
"Where'd you get this thing?" he queried, looking up at her face.
She let out a cheeky guffaw, shrugging.
"Stole it," she remarked.
Just like that, Wade's smile completely fell off of his face like a flowing stream. He stood, mouth agape and displeased.
"Seriously?" he retorted, unamused.
Ember embraced the comedy of it all, guffawing loudly and rolling her eyes with the same smirk.
"What do you think?" she mocked.
Still unconvinced, Wade gave her a dead stare, folding his arms. Becoming rather playful about it, Ember let out a naughty grin, winking at him.
The two quickly burst out laughing in reaction to the tension, shaking their heads. As they did, Wade grabbed his satchel off the nightstand, slinging it across his torso. Still not convinced, Wade became genuinely suspicious of her, squinting his eyes.
As she persisted in laughing, Ember wiped her eyes up, catching wind of his disapproving stare.
"Oh my flame, Wade. Come on!" she exasperatingly remarked, flailing her arms in the air.
"I'm just not 100% convinced is all!" Wade retorted, gesturing at her with arms forward.
Ember laughed and rolled her eyes, heading toward the door. She looked at Wade in the corner of her eye, still a bit suspicious. She took him by his arm, gripping it and dragging him out of the room to start their first Elementopia date.
Following a rather cute train ride together, Ember's cheeky playfulness still ran on raw display. In fact, the moment they arrived at their stop, Wade went to depart first, before promptly getting shoved childishly by his Ember.
"Ah- hey!" he exclaimed.
He stumbled about, nearly losing his footing. Onlookers sent the two daunted stares as Ember departed, cheekily strutting past a helpless Wade.
He grimaces at her, but couldn't help but cackle. He looked up to see Ember leaving the train station, racing up after her with a smile.
He arrived by her side, taking her hand and swinging it high in the air. She laughed at his bizarre idea, shaking her head.
The two exited the train station down a set of stairs, only to marvel at what was ahead. They both stood in amazement, mouths wide agape.
"My flame. It's gorgeous." Ember admired.
Being his idea, Wade cheekily looked over to Ember as she stood frozen in admiration.
"Coral Isle Pier. Honestly, I stumbled upon this place after walking through on my way home from a job," he admitted.
Ember wasn't wrong about the place being a sight for sore eyes. The Pier was vibrant with colourful lights, long walkways and a gorgeous sun barely setting under the horizon, further illuminating the place in a purple and orange hue.
She gently looked over at him, slowly wearing a genuinely touched smile. He looked back toward her, returning that same smile.
The two began walking through the Pier, dazzled by the scenery on a 360-degree scale. They spun around in their spots, eyes wide and in awe. In passing, Wade spotted the Pier's amusement area, full of rides and shops galore. He took Ember's hand to grab her attention. As she looked over, she quickly became convinced by his hinting without a word being spoken.
Being the gentlemanly waterdrop he is, he put his hand on his hip in wait for her to hook her arm around it. Without missing a beat, she looked over at him with a sweet smile and did so, thus beginning their sweet stroll toward the amusement park.
Arriving at the front gates, they were greeted by an unenthused clerk who clearly didn't want to be there - a juxtaposition to the fun-filled park he worked at. He sat, slumped and nearly dozed on the job, awakening only to tend to the customers as quickly as he could.
Wade gently took to conversing on behalf of Ember, placing both hands on the desk in front.
"2 tickets, please." he requested.
The clerk blankly stared and, without a word, slid the two a ticket each. He raised an eyelid as he slid the tickets his way. Him being the responsible guy he was, he took out his wallet, slamming a $50 note on the desk.
The clerk simply shrugged, taking the note and putting it in his pocket. Wade stood speechless, amazed at the service - or lack thereof.
Ember leaned past him without his knowledge, picking up one of the tickets by the tips of her fingers and strolling past.
Wade innately departed after Ember, staring at the clerk in disapproval as he did so.
Lagging a bit behind, Wade raced up to Ember's side, a huge, excitable smile now abroad his face. She looked over at him, first with a smirk, then with a sweet smile.
Filled to the brim with emotion just waiting to come out, Ember let it soar. She unfurled, wrapping her arms around Wade as the two walked. Wade slung his arm over her in reaction, returning a warm smile as they walked.
After quite the day, this was 'the life' for both of them. No stress, a nice breeze, the company of each other - wonderful.
The two arrived at the first thing that peaked either of their interest; a water slide. Like an excitable boy, Wade pointed at it, eagerly stamping up and down in hint. Ember stood in her spot with a smirk as she watched him bounce up and down - making it clear it was a 'no' as she began to walk off. Catching the memo, Wade stopped his dancing, pouting and hunching over, arms hanging in the air. He watched as she got further away, scrambling to catch back up with her.
He quickly rejoined her side, resuming their in-sync strolling through the park.
Ember strolled with her hands in her pocket, looking over to her right. Her eyes locked in on a nice, steaming hot sauna. She blindly tugged at Wade's arm, grabbing his attention. His smile fell instantly, replaced with a cold, unenthused stare that could rival the ticket clerk's. She let out a hearty laugh, walking onward without care.
Still, with a bit of childish energy about him, Wade's attention quickly got caught by a bustling bumper car rink. He pointed to it over-excitingly again, tugging on Ember's arm. She looked over, rolling her eyes and folding her arms.
He pulled puppy dog eyes at her, falling to his knees in plea and holding her hand. She let out a parental chuckle, shaking her head and gesturing a hand to him to lead. He leapt to his legs, excitedly pitter-pattering over to the bumper cars, her strolling behind in tow.
The two lovebirds were accompanied by roughly a dozen kids, all ready and raring to go. The two were strapped into a car each by workers. Wade's head flooded his helmet as a clerk put it on, smiling over at Ember. She returned that smile as a clerk went to put a helmet on her head, nearly burning his poor hands in the process. She looked over at him, bruxing her teeth in apology. The clerk held up his hands, backing off.
Thus, the game began. A dozen vehicles zipped about, uproarious laughter to boot. Without much of a hitch, Wade got hit three ways by a group of young kids, cackling as they did so. He let out a hearty laugh, looking Ember's way. She looked back at him, neglecting to look at her 12 o'clock.
WHAM!
A kid hit her car head-on, nearly sending her flying out of it. She sharply looked forward, flashing purple in anger. The poor kid in the other vehicle fanned his hands in apology, scared out of their mind. Ember quickly saw her rage getting the best of her, quickly letting it go and taking a deep breath. She laughed it off and zoomed by, a big smirk on her face.
Suddenly, she got another cheeky hit to her side. She sharply looked over to see Wade, beaming like a man-child. He had the brilliant idea to go for another swing at her, driving out in preparation. Ember saw him from a mile away, shooting him a mischievous side-eye. As he swung inward at her, she drove out of the way, sending him flying into the wall. She let out a loud cackle as she drove off, sticking her tongue out at him. Wade sent her a cheeky smile, stopping his grind on the wall and chasing after her.
He followed a head of flames about with pinpoint accuracy, zipping past a flurry of incoming kids. Moments from making an impact, he got a big heaving hit from his rear, nearly sending him flying out of the car. He sharply looked back, seeing a cheeky Ember waving at him. He let out a laugh - clearly duped and shook his head.
Before long, the cutesy activity came to an end with a beaming Wade and Ember to boot. They both babbled uncontrollably to each other - beyond grateful to be there, in the moment.
As they flapped their lips incessantly, a rather spooky-looking haunted house caught Ember's attention. Her eyes lit up like fireworks. She knew in her heart that Wade would absolutely despise it, making it her new mission to drag him along. She sniggered in impending cheekiness, taking Wade by the arm. Falling completely blank yet knowing she had some kind of a plan, he willingly moved along with her.
The two arrived and got let in by staff; the moment Wade realised. He began to panic, hiding behind Ember in fear. She laughed aloud at his rather cute game of hide-and-seek, watching as his teeth began to chatter. She took his wrist tightly with a beaming smile, pulling him along.
They slowly began to stroll through - Wade, far more on edge than his flame. He began to sweat profusely, walking stiffly like a soldier and darting his eyes side-to-side. Ember couldn't help but cry in laughter, wiping up her tears as Wade shot her a petty frown.
Suddenly - to his dismay - an Earth zombie popped out of the wall. Ember stood, a little bothered with eyes wide, but nothing like her dewdrop. It sent Wade into a fit of panic, letting out a scream like a little girl. Ember looked over at him, gleaming with joy.
The two rounded a corner, entering a dark section - or what was supposed to be, thanks to Ember's unhelpable inner light. She walked along with arms folded, her eyes from a smile to unenthusiasm. Wade looked over at her, slightly amused by her annoyance. She looked over to Wade, who now walked along hunched over looking side to side in a heightened state. She shook her head with a smirk, lighting her mood.
As she looked at his side, she noticed a few black spiders trickling down the walls like water. Clearly, it was the same thing on the other wall as Wade let out another petrified scream, jumping up and flinching. Ember shook her head once again, laughing and continuing her strutting along.
Wade stood frozen still for a moment to compose himself, before racing after her. In transit, he had a rather fun thought bubble. What if he snuck up on her?
While she strolled along, a little careless about the whole scare thing at this point, Wade tiptoed along in shadow-like form. Before she could react, he wrapped her in a tug hug, causing her to let out a yelp in fright. Wade cackled in laughter, slapping his knees weakly.
Turning out nothing like how they went in, Wade and Ember walked out of the house. Ember stared at Wade while he walked along merrily, looking at him angrily. Before that anger could become hostile, Wade took her arm, causing her to look ahead.
He pointed at a rather attractive food stall serving rock candy - something they could both eat. Ember licked her lips in anticipation, taking Wade's hand with both of hers in tow. They raced over to it, standing in - thankfully - a short line. As their turn approached, they went up to order, Wade on Ember's behalf. Ember watched him with a prideful look as he did what she loved seeing her man do; be himself, even in the mundane of every day.
He paid up and carried over to cones of rock candy, happily handing over one to her. She took it, looking down at it and licking her lips.
The two strolled along the amusement park with cones in tow, simply taking it all in, nice and slow. Wade let out a grateful smirk as he really took it in; Ember following in tow. The moment they looked at each other, they retained that look of gratefulness. Ember gently nestled her head on Wade's shoulder as they walked along, sending another blush-filled smile her way.