#rfvalentinefever2016

This year would be different.

Usually, Frey selected one special guy to meet her on Valentine’s Day to get his cookie apart from the others.  This year, however, in light of the… group effort they’d put forth last White Day, she had a different plan in mind.

This year, she invited all of them to meet her by the castle in the evening.

She arrived extra early, and waited inside the castle, having bribed Venti with not one but three servings of pancakes to keep quiet.

Kiel arrived first, not that she was surprised.  Vishnal and Arthur arrived shortly after him, and while each expressed surprise at seeing the others, none of the three seemed to be suspicious, or upset.

It was only when Doug and Dylas showed up, a few minutes later (but still an hour ahead of the appointed time) that the trouble really began.

By the time Leon arrived, Frey’s amusement at the bickering was veering sharply toward concern that war was in the offing.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all," she thought for a moment -- before remembering what had inspired her to such a plan in the first place.

She sighed and braced herself for the worst.  

Running through to her own apartment, she patted her hair into place and stepped out. Somehow she kept her bright smile intact and her voice level as she greeted them all.  “I’m glad you’re all here!” she said, carefully balancing a large covered platter as she approached them.

All six fell silent; six pairs of eyes turned to her in mingled anticipation and trepidation.

“I wanted to thank you all again for the gift you all pitched in to get me last White Day.  It made quite an impact!  I think the rest of the town appreciated it too…”  That got her a few quick smiles, but that was all.  “Well, anyway, I made this for all of you to share!”  With a flourish that would have done Porcoline proud, she lifted the cover.

Silence reigned for a long moment.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Leon inquired, though he was clearly unamused.

“It’s adorable!” Kiel exclaimed.  “There’s one for each of us, right?”

“It certainly looks well made, but you said that’s for all of us?” Vishnal’s concern was evident.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Arthur said with a patently false smile plastered on his face.

“I don’t know.  It looks about the right size for something sweet to me,” Dylas said, unfazed.

“Not if we’re all supposed to share!  What’s goin’ on?” Doug demanded.

Frey sighed.  “It’s not that I didn’t appreciate the gift you all pitched in for on White Day.  I’m sure you all put a lot of thought and time and effort into it.”

“And money,” Doug muttered, but Leon shushed him with an elbow to the side.

“And I know that you all care about me.  I wanted you to know that you’re all special to me, too.  I like each of you.  I care about each of you, and I want each of you to be happy.  But I liked the way we’ve always done things. I like getting each of you gifts, and getting gifts from each of you separately.  To me, it isn’t about who gives the best or the biggest or the sugariest… It’s that each of you has always given me something special, from yourself.  That’s what always made me so happy on White Day.

“I’m not the statue-of-myself sort.  It really was a nice thought, but honestly I was kind of embarrassed, and not the way you like me to be, Arthur.”

“Erm… Sorry about that,” the prince mumbled, his own embarrassment clear.

“We just wanted you to know the esteem in which we hold you!” Vishnal hurried to reassure Frey.

“I know that.  And I thank you for it.  But there’s something I should tell you all.  I hope it won’t change anything between us.  After all, I’m always going to care about all of you.  You’ll always be good friends to each other, too, I hope!”

“What’re you getting at?” Dylas asked.

“Well, you see, the law says I can only be married to one person, and there’s no getting out of it except when one person dies.  And I don’t want that.  I don’t want to be tied to just one of you.

“I want to be tied to all of you!  

“Now, the way I figure it, there are six days in the week, so each of you gets me for one day!  We can work out the order later.  But there’s only one of me, and I’m not all that big, so I made this cupcake to see if you could each handle a piece of me.”

Six pairs of eyes exchanged quite a few glances.  

“I don’t want to share you.  I want to make you mine,” Arthur said, stepping closer.

Doug was none too pleased either.  “Yeah, same here!”

“Shut up, shrimp.  She doesn’t want just you.”

“Or any of us,” Kiel corrected Dylas, “without all of us.”  He looked torn.

Vishnal trembled as he spoke.  “I don’t really like it either, but I’d be content with whatever Miss Frey commands…”

Leon looked downright angry.  “I won’t have any part of such an agreement.”

Frey sighed unhappily as she looked at the cupcake. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she said as she picked it up and lifted it to her mouth.

“Wait.”  Arthur’s hand was firm on her wrist as he kept her from eating the morsel.  “When do we need to decide?”

Frey shrugged.  “There’s no deadline.  I mean, I’m already dating all of you.  It’s just a little more orderly way of doing things.”

“You do have a point,” Vishnal said slowly.

“I still don’t like it, but as long as I get my nibble…”

“Leon!”

“…of the cupcake,” he finished with a grin at Frey’s outburst.

“So wait.  Are you saying nothing is going to change from the way we’ve been?” Doug wondered.

Dylas nodded.  “I could live with that.  For now.”

“Me too,” Kiel said.  “Just one step at a time, right?”  At Frey’s nod, he added plaintively, “Now can I have some chocolate?”

Valentine’s Day

“Good morning, Miss Frey.”  

The voice… was different.  It wasn’t Vishnal’s slightly diffident tones that pierced her consciousness that morning.  If anything, it sounded like…

“Volcanon?”  She sat up, blearily rubbing her eyes, as she tried to focus on the butler.

“Yes, Miss Frey.”  He was clearly making every effort not to look directly at her in her disarray.  

Blushing slightly, she pulled the covers up around her shoulders.  “What happened to Vishnal?  Is he all right?”

“Yes, Miss Frey.  He has asked me to stand in for him this morning, as he had a special task to attend to.  I believe you will find him to be quite well.  In fact, he and the others should be arriving shortly,” the butler said, every inch exuding prim and proper, save for the gleam of suppressed excitement in his eyes.

“Special task?  The others?  What’s going on?”

“Well, that would be the betrayal of a confidence, Miss Frey!”  

With that, she knew she’d get nothing further out of Volcanon. “All right, I’m up.  Now are you going to help me get dressed?”  That threat usually chased Vishnal out.

“If that is what you require, Miss Frey.” Volcanon bowed; though he was clearly not entirely comfortable with the idea, only someone who knew him well would be able to tell.

“No, that’s fine,” the princess said, unable to suppress a smile.  “I’ll manage, I think,” she said dryly as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

“Err, Miss Frey?  Does Vishnal usually assist you in dressing?”

Volcanon’s discomfort with the question was clear, but so was his incipient wrath.  Frey couldn’t keep herself from laughing.  “Not at all!  Actually, asking is usually how I guarantee he’ll leave the room quickly enough.  He’s still a bit shy about such things,” she said by way of reassurance.

“I see,” Volcanon said darkly.  “It is as well, though he must learn to overcome his shyness as well!  But thank you, Miss Frey.  Will that be all, then?”

“That will be all, Volcanon.  Thank you.”

Though he did not join her in giggling as he swept out of the room, his eyes had regained their amused sparkle.

“I wonder what special task Volcanon was talking about,” Frey mused as she dressed.  As she stepped toward the door to the fields, however, she heard a ruckus outside. She took one more step toward her morning’s tasks before curiosity directed her attention at the same time as the knock on the front door.

“Hello?  Miss Frey?”

“Vishnal?  What’s going on?”

“Would you come out here please?”

Burning with curiosity now, she stepped outside into shadow.

“Oh…  my… W-what…?”  There, in a dramatic pose, was a statue twice life size made of pure chocolate, modeled after Frey herself.

“It’s from all of us, Miss Frey!”

“We wanted to get you something special for White Day!” Kiel chimed in.

“I suggested it be modeled after me,” Leon added with a smirk.

“Oh please, as if you’re not already full of yourself, Doug retored.

“I didn’t think chocolate was the best idea,” Dylas tried to interject.

“Anyway, we hope you like it!” Arthur said, dismissing the others’ impending argument with a wave of his hand.

“It’s…  It’s…” She didn’t think “atrocious” would be appreciated by her friends and would-be suitors, but that was exactly what Frey thought it was.  A statue of herself made of chocolate!?  What had they been thinking!?  

“Impressive, huh?” Kiel said.  “I just want to eat it all up!”

“There’s no way you can eat that whole thing yourself,” Doug said.  “But I’d help!”

“Not me.  Too much sweetness.” Dylas said with a roll of his eyes.

“Still not as sweet as Miss Frey herself,” Vishnal mused loyally.

“I’d rather have a taste of the original,” Arthur murmured.

Leon shook his head.  “Hey, are you all right?  You don’t look too happy,” he noted.

The others all stopped and looked at Frey, who was staring at the statue in openmouthed dismay.  “It’s…”

“Well, it may be a little over the top, but we wanted you to know how much we appreciate all you’ve done for Selphia, for Norad, and for Lady Ventuswill,” Arthur said smoothly.  

“Who… whose idea was this?” Frey finally asked.

“Actually, we all agreed on it,” Kiel said.

“More or less,” Leon clarified.

“Some of us more than others,” Dylas muttered.

“You never agree with anyone on anything,” Doug pointed out.

“That’s not true!”

“Maybe you two could argue about it later?” Vishnal interrupted Dylas.

Frey continued to stare and the boys all began to fidget.  

It took her some time to regain her composure but at last she spoke.  “I think the best thing to do would be to melt it down and give everyone some.  I’ll never be able to eat or use it all myself, and this way everyone in town can have something sweet today.”  

The reactions to that were mixed, but overall favorable, and Vishnal recruited Volcanon’s help once again: this time to help break down the statue and melt it down into something they could portion out to everyone in town.

In which Doug is very... affectionate in the morning.

Bonus!

“Why won’t you kiss me back, horsie??”

Arthur smiled as he entered the room.  “One does not often consider that a busy bathhouse inn would be a quiet place to get some work done.”

Leon nodded as he rose from his desk.  “Yeah, I know.  It’s pretty surprising, but it’s usually pretty peaceful at this time of day.” He looked around his old room and smiled; Lin Fa and Xiao Pai kept it up well, though it wasn’t as though there was much to do to clean, since he was fairly neat – and he didn’t live there anymore, which made it easier.

“Leon, may I ask a personal question?” 

 (Warning: there are indirect references to Leon's proposal event under the cut. May be a little spoilery.)

Chocolate/dessert

~Clori loves her apple pie~