Suffocating Peonies

        of course the party would be nothing less than stellar. it’s what sofia deserved. no one else in dakota’s life did he spend so much time with. he’s almost certain he’d heard the sound of her voice more than his own parents. as kids they were damn near inseparable. often his mother had to drag him home and he’ll never forget the time they’d gotten lost in the woods for hours till the sun fell over the horizon. their parents had not been happy when they’d finally stumbled home. 

        but all those memories seem like a life time ago as he sits near sofia. at the gentle nudge to the shoulder he’s pulled from his thoughts, shooting her a small shrug accompanied with a grin. but her attention turns easily back toward her boyfriend and dakota can’t help his expression from falling slightly. worked together? he’d done most of the arrangements himself, making suggestions he’d known sofia would appreciate. 

        but pushing it aside the wolf focuses on sofia. it’s her day. and even if that meant doing most of the work that didn’t matter. she’s beaming happily and well, that’s really all he wants. but when her boyfriend stands dakota can feel his stomach drop, skin turning to ice. this had not been apart of the plan. what is he doing? the words had dakota sitting like stone in his seat, the noise around him turning into muffled garble. what? when had he decided this? he’d never once mentioned it to dakota…never.

         all at once the noise comes rushing back as she speaks to him excitedly. words fall short, unable to form a sentence. no, he hadn’t known. if he had….the wolf suddenly stands from his seat, blue gaze flickering past sofia toward her now fiance. the tiniest of smiles it formed to offer sofia. “ excuse me. ” he mutters before quickly exiting the room, leaving sofia to her party. he knows he needs to stay. this isn’t about how he feels…it’s her day. this is about her. but he finds it impossible to stand and watch. his chest is heavy and dakota half wonders if he’s going to be sick. 

Dakota’s abrupt exit takes her words with him as he leaves with a tight smile. Sofia wonders a moment what she could have done to upset her friend so, but she doesn’t have much time to dwell on it as others start to crowd her space. Friends, mutual and otherwise, are shoving gifts into her hands and shouting congratulations and she knows she should be happy. She is happy but the whole situation that’s played out before her leaves her feeling more than a little whiplashe. She does her best to remain present, to live in the moment of her own birthday party (slash surprise engagement, apparently).

Sofia puts on her bet smile, sharing jokes and drinks until she can find a moment to sneak away. Separated from the swarm of people she pulls out her phone to fire off a few quick messages.

“I should at least check on him…”

[SMS: Dakota; BFF] Hey, um, you left pretty quickly are you okay? [SMS: Dakota; BFF] I hope I didn’t say anything to upset you, get back to me okay? [SMS: Dakota; BFF] I guess you’re sleeping then.. I’ll text you later.

There’s another cursory glance down at her messages before she heaves a small smile, mingling her way back into the crowd. Sofia smiles and schmoozes with the best of them but feels a distinct disconnect the rest of the night. Her best friend is gone, seemingly upset by something she’d done or said and she wasn’t even sure what exactly she’d done. The group finally settles up for their final goodbyes, hugs and kisses abound around before herself and her fiancé are left behind. Sofia comes to him, ready to call it a night but she can already tell by the furrowed brow and tight grip on his cellphone that she’ll be left to celebrate their engagement night alone.

“Hey, babe… I hope you had fun and I don’t want you to be upset but I got this work thing— have to go back to my apartment and clean up these books for bossman, you know how it is, honey.” Sofia nods, a small tired smile on her lips.

“Of course, yeah no… it’s fine. Works… Important. I’ll see you at home?”

(  @donttakethishome​ said — [ guard ] (maybee security detail or something)  )

        sofia is new to security. mia had done her best to be welcoming as possible, going as far to make her a small basket of treats. the princess treated her team well. rare was it they ever had to truly put their lives on the line but it’s their job regardless and the princess does not take the title lightly. it’s only her first week but things are going smoothly. she’s smart and mia can tell from only the few interactions they’ve had. she hopes to get to know her better, happy to finally have a woman on her security team. 

        the ball is going well enough. the princess is sure she could fall asleep in her chair. it’s all formalities. the usual. her father attempting to set her up, ect. blue eyes dart around the long table before excusing herself, heading toward the balcony. she needs some air. but before she can even shut the door a man makes his way to her. mia lets her hands fall from the doors to the balcony. a step back is taken as the man attempts to have conversation but the feeling in mia’s stomach is nothing but sick. 

       but the princess tries to be kind, explaining that she came out here to have a moment alone but the man doesn’t seem to take ‘no’ as an answer. suddenly sofia stands in front of the princess, causing mia to step backward once again. “ sofia… ” she calls softly but the woman stands firmly planed between the man and the royal. she hates this helpless feeling. she should be able to defend herself…but here sofia is. while it is her job maybe she wouldn’t need such a team if she was able to handle these things on her own. 

nonverbal meme. || accepting. 

This wasn’t exactly Sofia’s first security detail. She knew when and how to keep a sharp eye on her wards, but this was her first royal detail, the court machinations and the absolute game all but lost on her. Sofia kept her post, occasional glances down at her watch as the guests of honor warbled on and on, sometimes about money and more often times than not, about pride and the divvying of goods. It helped that her charge was sweet enough, a wonderful girl that seemed happy to not be surrounded by men all day. Sofia picked up on that, easily, familiar with how it felt to play in a boy’s club.

The warble turns to droning as Sofia all but zones out of the conversations around her, deigning to keep her thoughts focused on things relative to her pay-grade. Things- People,  such as her charge that had wandered from her seat and out of Sofia’s line of sight. With a discreet gesture she mouths something into her ear piece and begins her silent sweep of the hall, easily moving between the nobles unseen. It’s easy to lose anyone in a crowd this size, especially if that person was the princess herself. With her head on a swivel she keeps moving, dropping her eyes to the creases and cracks where door frames meet floors and rugs inevitably move. Luckily, a chance sighting leads her to follow the disappearance of leg onto a guest forbidden balcony.

“Target found, no immediate danger—” Sofia stops short, removing her earpiece entirely as ears struggle to make out the sounds on the other side of the door. A few seconds of listening and she’s  swinging balcony doors open, smooth and quiet to place her body between the unknown man and the princess she swore to protect. The sweeping motion brings her dominate hand to rest easily on the butt of her gun, eyes just as steely.

They’d known each other for years. Summers spent with skinned knees and chasing ice cream trucks melted easily into winter days filled with snow burns from sleds. Their friendship had always been one filled with laughs and secrets shared, easier than most relationships Sofia would have happened upon as they grew older. If anything, Sofia knew that one person would always be there throughout the years and here they are seated next to her at what she believes is a birthday dinner orchestrated by family friends.

 “Dakota did you know about this?” She asks, giving him a playful nudge to his shoulder. “How’d you guys manage to keep this from me for all this time? This had to take MONTHS.” Sofia takes a moment to mingle with the others at the table, her boyfriend seated on the opposite side of her. 

“Babe, it’s so nice that you worked together on this… I thought it was a little shaky there at first but I’m happy my friends are your friends…” She kisses him on the cheek, to which he offers a small nervous smile followed by the audible clearing of throat. He does so again gathering everyone’s attention before standing. 

“Alright everyone, I know this is a birthday dinner for our favorite girl here, Sofia but I had something I wanted to say…” Sofia is surprised, to say the least, shooting looks between the folks situated around the other side of the table and even shooting Dakota a side long glance in question. Once focus comes back to the man before her now on bended knee, she tries her best to stop the immediate wellspring of tears. 

“Babe, are you serious?” 

“I am… will you… will you marry me, Sofia?” 

“Yes! Yes, I will!” The spring of applause does much to drown out the quiet cry of happiness from her as she throws arms around his neck. Once the room calms she can’t help but rush to her best friend, showing off her new ring.

He grinned  at the little gasp that escaped her lips. “That you are.” he agreed with a little grin as he felt her tease his ear. “I think I’d rather have you…if you’re done teasing me anyway.” he whispered sweetly against her skin before he leaned in to kiss her again slowly  as his hands lazily worked at her pants. 

“If I have my way you won’t be able to walk to the grocery store later.” he reminded with a little hum as he sat back between her legs, struggling to get her bottoms off before he flung them across the living room. “Jaysis.” he hummed to himself with a little grin. 

“We both need to just start wearing only sweats,they’re just easier.”

“I thought you’d make the right choice...” Sofia whispers, continuing the peppering of kisses over his neck, the smallest bit of laughter passing her lips at the small struggle he had with her jeans. Free hands trace lightly over the curve of his back as he leaned over her, coming back to craddle his jaw. 

“Then I guess you’ll just have to carry me around or push me in one of the carts then, huh?” She raises her hips in an attempt to help him in his fight against her pants. After a moment of laughter she slides them down herself, leaving him the rest to simply pull off and discard.