So Call Me Maybe? [Zidane]

[zidane]

It was interesting for Zidane to observe how this was going. Flirting was just something he;d learned, a habit. It was a past time, a constant inside joke, and a way to relieve himself of any seriously pressing thoughts on his mind. Zack had taught him that it was an impulse to help him forget about the things he didn’t like about the world and just focus on the all-consuming hunt for girls. But when his older brother was ever very serious about a girl, there were other things he’d imparted. Be a gentleman. Never mock a girl. Don’t make her feel awkward if you can help it and always try to make her smile. ‘The smile is always the best part,’ he’d say. And Zidane was completely inclined to agree. ‘Sometimes you just know’, was something else he’d say. So who cared if they’d only been flirting for a few minutes tops? All he knew was he really liked Valerie. Not just for looking attractive or seeming like a fun conquest. He genuinely wanted to get to know her personality, what made her smile. That kind of thing that you wanted to know if it was something that could become a serious kind of like. Nonetheless, his amused expression acknowledged her comment about his powers of persuasion and he replied, “It’s a good thing to keep in mind. Just in case. But don’t worry, I won’t tell on you.”

He was extremely amused at her comments on the Shakespearean play they were discussing, genuinely relieved that she wasn’t one of the girls who ran around screaming, ‘how romantic!’. It was one thing he found really scary about the beautiful Venus kids, that they found things like that to have romantic merit. Oh well. The girl he was currently interested in was not a Venus child, so it didn’t matter. “Yeah, well, I just thought their sacrifice for the groceries was noble, but little else. In any case, I think they knew each other for like… two days, actually. And while I respect the party crashing thing, those guys should have known better than to hit on any of those girls. Maybe Nemesis was bored and inspired the play.” He shrugged as if this could be a credible explanation, but he was surreptitiously examining Val’s expression to see if she agreed with what he’d said. It seemed as if she did, which he was glad for. When flirting occasionally became serious business, this was the part that was sometimes walking on eggshells.

Back on politics, Zidane was a little relieved and his smile was back again like he couldn’t stop. He was glad that she wanted to have fun and not make too seriously with the senate meetings, unlike some of the war deities’ kids who sat in the seats. So far, he thought he couldn’t have asked for a better person to go to the senate meetings with and have eachother’s back. It was awesome. “Sweet, I’ll definitely keep that in mind. And don’t worry! You’re going to do just fine. After the first meeting you’ll feel like a pro.” It was good to see the nerves melt from her face. They’d been faint, but he could guess what she’d been thinking and it appeared he was right. He liked to think that he was at good at reading people, as dense as he projected himself to be.

But still, it hadn’t prepared him for the question that hung in the air between them. He had struggled a moment to compose himself which he would later find unforgivable, and he really hoped she wouldn’t spread word about how the famous womanizer Zidane panicked the moment a girl had pretty much asked him to a dance. Yet, at the moment he found that he was less concerned about his reputation for the time being and more about the look on Valerie’s face. She wasn’t looking at him now, he could see her gaze fixed away from his face as she had told why she’d asked in the first place, then tried to change the subject. He was mentally kicking himself viciously as, Don’t make a girl feel awkward, echoed in his head in Zack’s voice. He was really messing this up, but he wanted to redeem it, because he knew without question that this was the girl he wanted to go to the Masquerade Ball with.

He composed himself with a deep breath and casually walked over to the girl in question to block her view of the gate and catch her gaze with his silver eyes however he had to. When he succeeded, the mischievous smile came over him again and he took her right hand in his left, kneeling down in front of her and putting his right hand over his heart like the cheesiest movie he could think of in hopes of making her laugh again and he said, “Hey I just met you, and this is crazy… But I’m going to the dance, so come with me maybe?” He was really, really hoping that he hadn’t messed it up bad enough that she had already gone back on going with him, but he hoped that his antics in quoting that silly song would convince her that he really, really wanted to go, and that his moment of shock had passed. His grin turned toothy when he added after a few moment's pause, “Also, I’m not ignoring your pressing lunch question. I do like sandwiches.”

Word Count:900
Notes: .oO( Did he redeem himself? C: )

[val]

Val had never tried flirting before. It was just one of those things she’d never considered of any importance. But that had changed rather abruptly. It had gone straight from simply playing along to genuinely flirting without her even noticing the shift. And it wasn’t so useless and annoying as she’d always considered it. Actually, she was rather enjoying it. Was it bad that she quite possibly was getting to really like Zidane Quinn, potentially more than just a friend as well. Not that she would admit that out loud. Or possibly not even admit to herself. This was all getting to be quite the headache trying to sort out, so she decided simply not too. She’d been going with the flow so far and it had worked well enough.

“Thanks, I appreciate you not ratting me out there.” This banter really was fun, even when they got on really random topics like Shakespearean plays. “Very noble indeed,” she said with a laugh. “I’m sure ye olde grocery stores were thankful.” Though when he mentioned Nemesis being a possible culprit, she had to laugh. “Or maybe Discordia and that apple of hers. Or heavens forbid they teamed up.” She wasn’t entirely sure joking about the gods was a good idea, but it wasn’t as though it was insulting them or anything. So no harm, no foul.

When the topic switched back to politics, she actually didn’t mind too much. Serious, random, they all sort of flowed together. And she thought she might be getting the hang of his random topic changes too. But just they that even the serious topics were fun to talk about. “Thanks, Zidane. Really. So glad I’m not stuck with some unhelpful jerk like Chuck seemed to be more often than not. Feel really bad for you having to put up with him for two years.”

However, there did seem to be one topic that wasn’t so fun to talk about. And she landed right flat on it like running into a brick wall at high speed. In between the awkwardness, she wondered vaguely if the conversation would be able to make it back to the relaxed joking, flirting, whatever it had been before. Which didn’t help her worrying much either. She was completely caught up in her thoughts and sort of not really examining the details of the gate hinges when out of the blue, she was stopped by someone in front of her and a pair of beautiful eyes she hadn’t quite paid as much attention to before. Why didn’t she notice that earlier? For a brief moment, she was caught in a totally different stream of thought before she was reminded of the last one when he grinned. And it was the sort of Zidane grin that usually people connected with him being up to something. Though she was coming to find that it could have a ton more meanings than that. And come to find she was about to find yet another one out.

She froze out of complete loss of knowing what else to do when he took her hand and knelt in front of her. Either this talk of Shakepeare combined with the heat was really getting to him, or he was even more unusual that she’d previously thought. But the sight of it was just too much to keep a small laugh from escaping through the confusion. When he basically asked her in mock-song form to the dance, she flat out nearly doubled over laughing. Leave it to Zidane to come up with something clever like that. “Well, I can’t say I’m much good at coming up with good lyrics in return, but off course I’ll go with you.” She stifled her laughter for a moment and went on. “Well, I’m glad you like sandwiches too. Though might be a little hard to get them if you’re going to be hanging out on the ground.” She offered her free one to help him up, still unable to keep a silly smile from her face. She was going on a date with Zidane. Or at least, she was going to the dance with him. Whichever. Well, why not just ask? “So,” she said with the hint of a smirk, “we have a date then?”

WORD COUNT: 714
NOTE: ALL the cute!!!

[zidane]

(Zidane's inner feels)

Was it cliché to say that Zidane suddenly felt like he had to be the happiest guy in the world right now? He saw Valerie look up at him in mild surprise when he stepped into her view and had likely interrupted whatever she was thinking about. If he had to guess, it was probably how silly she felt for even asking him if he might want to go to the dance with her, but he had desperately wanted to show her that he didn’t thing it a silly thing at all. Sure he didn’t seem like the guy who’d want to commit to a girl who happened to like him, and sometimes that was true of girls who were just fun to flirt with. But still, from the bit he knew about Val and the girl he’d had the privilege of getting to know today, he knew he would have to pursue this one to closure, whatever point that might be. He found that a tiny spark of hope was igniting somewhere in his chest that the results would be positive. And hell, he was usually an optimist.

Her nerves as he had knelt down in front of him amused him like nothing else, and there was a tiny hint of satisfaction that he’d managed to hit her pause button the way she’d done to him. It was a playful revenge, not the kind that the goddess they’d been discussing before as the culprit for Romeo and Juliet, would have found satisfying. It was so much better when she laughed though, since it was what he’d been hoping for in the first place by doing it. He felt his confidence surge back into him again and that was also a very good sign. The best part, though, was when she had accepted. His heart soared at her words and he laughed with her, taking her other hand and standing again, unwilling to let them go even though his balance was fine. “It makes me the happiest guy in camp that you’ll go with me.” His tone was a sort of sarcastic chivalry, teasing but absolutely genuine at the same time, if that were possible.

He grinned like an idiot at her last question though, which quickly picked up the wicked edge that was characteristic by now when he thought back to a few minutes ago, when he recalled that she’d turned him down when he’d asked if they were on a date and that he’d promised to change her mind. “Dear Valerie, do you realize that it took me less than ten minutes to change your mind about going on a date with me? I think that has to be some kind of a record, you know.” He acted like he was considering her for a moment before he continued, “But yes, I think we have a date.” He couldn’t help it, and a laugh of his very own came loose at the situation. It was giddiness, relief, and mischief rolled into one sound.

However, he realized that they still had sandwiches to enjoy and politics to discuss. He let go of one of her hands and started leading her towards where he hoped they would find some delicious sandwiches. “So yeah. Yummy sandwiches huh? I’m off the ground now but we still won’t get any if we don’t start walking.” He hoped she didn’t mind that he was still holding hands with her. Sure they’d just agreed on going to the dance together, but he figured if she was uncomfortable it was as easy as taking her hand away, though he hoped she wouldn’t want to, secretly. Once they had sat down with their sandwiches though, Zidane wandered the conversation back to their jobs as centurions, thinking of what she’d said a few minutes ago. “You know,” he began conspiratorially, “It did suck to have to work with Chuck for the last two years, mind the unintentional rhyme, but hey… As a reward for my perseverance, the gods have put a very pretty girl in the position… Who I can’t wait to dance with.” His expression was arch by the end of his sentence. This was going to be the beginning of something awesome.

Word Count: 706
Notes: .oO( Yayyyyyyyyyy!!! Happy times!!)