fic: A Sorta Fairytale (encore)
Dec. 24th, 2017 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bonnefoisTitle: A Sorta Fairytale: Encore
Series: FE9/10
Character/Pairing: Ike/Soren, Ranulf/Kyza/Lyre, ensemble
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 2336
Summary: College AU. On the first party of the semester, Ike is kissed by an anti-social Science major. The rest, as you would say, is history. Ike/Soren.
Author's note: These are scenes which were supposed to be earlier on in the story, but couldn't fit during the plot. However, I was too attached to them to let it go, and decided one last encore to the story would be fun.
Ranulf had a habit of staying in places where he didn't belong. He also had a habit of ignoring subtle cues, such as glaring, or Soren looking like he might call a hit on him.
By now, Ike had gotten used to Soren looking like a hissing cat whenever Ranulf came around, even if Ranulf was the only literal cat around.
He was sprawled out, a textbook placed decoratively on his lap. He hadn't so much as glanced at it the entire night. Ike's textbook, however, was open. Which was all Soren. His grades had floated up to B's ever since Soren became a staple in his life.
"Hey, you're going to the party tonight, right?" Ranulf said. "Skrimir is throwing it. There's bound to be tons of food. And even some for the guests, too."
"What party?" Ike said.
"The Costume party. Don't tell me you missed it?" Ranulf said.
"I didn't see any notices," Ike said. He never paid much mind to gossip.
"Ike, you're killing me. Ever since you got this date thing going, you won't go to any parties at all," Ranulf said.
"It seems kind of pointless. I can drink at home if I want. Plus, I don't have to share my bucket of fried chicken. You know how Ilyana gets; look away for one minute and your bucket is empty," Ike said.
"You even missed the latest flip cup challenge," Ranulf said.
"What a tragedy," Soren said dryly. He returned with a plate of cheese, and set it down on the coffee table between them.
"Maybe Soren's style of partying would be more up your alley? I hear he holes up in the library for hours at a time and even studies."
"Or Skrimir's," Ike said.
"Oh man, the big guy knows how to party like no one else. Last week he filled a whole hot tub full of ribs. He and Ilyana ate their way out while Mia filmed the whole thing with commentary. The vids went viral, with #RibsRelationshipGoals trending on twitter. I'm still disappointed that no one thought to call it Relationribs."
Ranulf turned towards Soren. "Speaking of which, are you going to the costume party, Soren?"
Soren looked up and glared, the kind of it-should-be-obvious-glare. "Absolutely not."
"Really? It'd be easy for you, just get some fake vampire teeth and you're good to go."
"If I went as anything, I'd go as myself," Soren said.
"Good, scariest costume around!" Ranulf laughed loudly at his own joke.
Soren grabbed his textbooks and for one brief moment Ike thought that he was going to have to mediate. Ranulf was agile but Soren had a surprisingly deadly aim with for such heavy books. Though it'd been Skrimir who had gotten it last time, when he ate Soren's yogurt.
Instead, Soren left the room in a hurry.
"Aren't you going to go after him?"
"In a second," Ike said. "Why is it a costume party, anyways? It isn't anywhere near Halloween."
"Everyday is Halloween if you try hard enough."
"I doubt Soren would want to go. Especially if there's costumes involved," Ike said.
"You know, Soren's so high strung, and he isn't even Darth Soren anymore. One of these days he's just gonna explode."
"He just hates being bothered during his study sessions," Ike said.
"Mmmhmm, Dr. Ranulf knows those symptoms. That boy needs to get laid," Ranulf said.
Months ago, Ike would've just shrugged off Ranulf's crude jokes. But Soren had apparently rubbed off on him so much that he mentally tried to figure out if that was the correct term, or if lay, or lie would be better. He still couldn't get the hang of those, even though Soren had printed him out a sheet and everything.
In the other room, Ike heard a crash.
"Are you okay out there, Soren?"
"...I'm fine, Ike."
Ranulf lifted his eyebrows. "See? I told you."
Soren came straight in the kitchen, with something clutched in his hand.
"Think it's a knife? Ten bucks says it is," Ranulf said.
"I'm not betting on that," Ike said.
Soren, however, returned with a fresh honeycomb, stuck in a plastic bag.
"Mind it," he said.
It took Ranulf a moment to get it, but he burst into a smile. "Ike, he's got a sense of humor! He hates everything, but now he's spouting puns! Mind your own beeswax, that's great."
"By the way, Skimir's ordering about 50 pizzas, and at least 20 buckets of wings. And that's just Ilyana's helping," Ranulf said.
"Another party? You just had one last week," Soren said.
"What do you expect? It's Gallia U. Gallia is full of party animals. Except for Lethe. Besides, why hate on the school? You could've gone to Begnion University, or even Melior. They'd take one look at your notes and beg you to apply," Ranulf said.
"Ike wasn't there," Soren said softly.
"Oh, I should've known," Ranulf said.
"Did I mention that at least twenty of those pizzas are going to be meat lover's? And technically, the costumes are pretty optional," Ranulf said.
Ike looked to Soren.
Soren shook his head. "How do we get into these situations?"
"Alcohol is usually involved. The rest of the time it's our friends," Ike said.
Soren let out a sigh, and rubbed his temples. "Fine. I can tolerate the party long enough to get some free food," Soren said.
Ranulf grinned toothily. "Skrimir owes me another ten gald. I told him I'd be able to get you guys with the promise of pizza."
Not even Soren could argue with that.
*
Every party Ike had been to (or more accurately, sprung up in his apartment) was the same. Hook ups, loud music Ike didn't even like, alcohol, stupid drunken behavior, blinding lights, and good food.
Ike avoided them when he could, but if Skrimir was throwing it, there would be an overflowing buffet of ribs, fried chicken, and at least fifty meat lover's pizza.
The party was already crowded with people. Some Ike knew, some from the team, and a large amount of Gallians who had been invited by Skrimir and Ranulf. A loud driving beat thrummed through the room. Soren narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the room. Glow sticks and banners across the floor. Witches and clowns and a few princesses.
Mist hadn't done much, not having much time to fix Soren up, but she had pulled out some black cat ears and drawn whiskers on his face with her eyeliner.
Mist had a red hood pulled over her outfit, and in a completely unrelated note, Boyd had chosen to go as the Wolfman this year.
"How fitting! That must be exactly how Ike sees you," Ranulf said.
Boyd chuckled, and gave one last nervous glance to the door.
"We've been through this. I don't care who she dates, as long as they treat her well," Ike said.
"Where's your tail? You know, I found this place that sells fake ones. In fact, they put the tail up their--"
"Never mind where the tail goes!"
"I thought you weren't going in costume?" Ike said.
"Your sister put this on me," Soren said.
"You look good," Ike said.
"Why's everyone all dressed up?" said the newest girl. She wore long blue flannels, and a pair of overalls, with the knees stained with dirt. Her long teal-colored hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, with a few leaves and twigs stuck in it for good measure. "And is it true there's free pizza? After doin' a lot of diggin' for the university garden, I'm awful hungry."
"It's a costume party. Didn't you see the note?" Ranulf said.
"Aw, shucks. Sorry, I just heard free pizza and came to check it out. Should've known there was a catch."
"It's cool. Just say you came as a lesbian. Hey Heather! Help make this girl's costume authentic."
Nephenee blushed bright red. "Er―that ain't somethin' you just dress up as--"
"Considering your rainbow socks, aren't you just going as yourself?" Ranulf said.
The girl shyly bent down to hide her socks. "That's...."
"Something that doesn't belong in the closet," Ranulf said dryly.
From across the room, Heather glanced away from the girls she was talking to. Heather's eyes widened at the sight of the new arrival. "Look, it's flannels. Flannels. It's the bat signal of lesbians."
"She's a farm girl. They just wear those," Mia said. Mia was dressed as a cute witch, and Ilyana clutched onto her. The practice foil was left behind the couch, as carrying it around was too tiring for her.
Heather wore a skin tight purple catsuit, along with a mask and a pair of little cat ears on her head.
"She could be both." Heather shaded her eyes from the flashing lights to peer over the new girl.
"She's got rainbow socks on. Definitely a cute lesbian farm girl. I'm going in."
Heather swept in and smiled big at the new girl.
"Hi, I'm Heather. Welcome to Gallia U," she said. She tossed her blond hair over her shoulder. The girl's eyes widened.
"Holy smokes, you're beautiful! I mean, uh..." the girl blushed bright red.
"Told you. Flannels never lie," Heather said. She guided the blushing farm girl towards the food table.
In the kitchen, Kyza wore a pair of noise canceling headphones. His textbook was set up in the kitchen.
Lyre lifted the headphones up. "You're such a square. This is a costume party! You're supposed to dress up."
Kyza smiled serenely. "You know what they say: dress for the job you want, not the job you have," Kyza said.
"What exactly are you supposed to be? You're wearing the same suits you always wear," Lyre said.
"A rich, intelligent, hardworking and successful man who also happens to be Ranulf's boyfriend. Also, someone who makes enough to afford a designer suit," Kyza said.
"That's still not a costume," Lyre said.
"You're right; it's a state of being. You look the same, but your shirt is lower-cut, and that color is appalling. Did you go as yourself, but with even worse fashion sense?"
"No, I went as Ranulf's girlfriend," Lyre said. She stuck her tongue out.
Skrimir scooped up Ilyana and He lifted up pieces of fried chicken for her. "There, tiny science major. We can't let you get too hungry."
The smell of the pizza was pretty compelling, but so was the idea of just ordering some Crimean Fried Chicken and a couple meat lover's pizzas and spending the night in.
They hadn't even hit the thirty minute mark, and Soren was already looking longingly at the door. He turned to Ike.
"You turn the music to something nostalgic. I'll make the light machine malfunction. You grab a pizza―make it two―and we can escape this hellish place," Soren said. He took off the cat ears and left them on the food table.
It was complex enough to remind Ike of a heist movie. Not for the first time, he was glad Soren was on their side. Otherwise, he'd be like a tiny red-eyed Bond villain, complete with a white cat on his lap.
Soren flipped off the lights, but the guests had so many glow sticks and glow-in-the-dark clothes that they just cheered. Ike put in a CD called Red. From the dance floor, someone screamed "That's my jam!" On the dance floor, Heather pulled a blushing farm girl to dance to a Taylor Swift song.
Ike took two pizza boxes on his way out. They were still warm, and a strong spicy aroma floated tantalizingly up. The noise of the party and music was silenced by the closing of a door. All the memories of mischief from their friends--Ike's friends--faded into the night.
They walked under the streetlights, back towards the apartment. On this side street, there were no cars at this hour. All the college crowd had already found their parties, or gone home. Occasionally as they passed, the sound of other houses and other crowds would filter out.
The large trees were almost ominous. Their large, twisted dark branches faintly lit by the streetlights. Bugs gathered around the light in clouds.
"If you think that's something, wait until you see the Baobabs," Soren said.
"The what?" Ike said.
Soren looked down, to hide his expression with the cloak of night. But Ike still saw the disappointment, and heard it in his voice. "Just an old memory. A book. You've probably forgotten it."
"Then we'll read it together and make new memories," Ike said.
Soren smiled.
As they neared the apartment, Soren let out sigh. "The pizza is convenient, but I'm never going to be much for parties, Ike," Soren said.
"Me either. It was fun though. I liked being with you," Ike said.
"I can tolerate them for you. Though even I have my limits," Soren said.
He carried the boxes in one hand. Just so he could reach out and slip his hand in Soren's.
Without another word, they walked home together.
Author's note:
Elincia doesn't have a crush on Ike in this universe because she already had a thing going with Geoffrey and Lucia before she ever met him. And Skrimir met Ilyana before he met Soren, so he ended up forming an attachment to her instead. He wooed her with a stack of over 500 chicken nuggets; she was utterly impressed, especially when he took her out for fried chicken and pizza after they finished.
They get banned from all you can eat buffets on the regular. Mia is friends with them and eventually they realize they're all basically dating and go with it and get banned from more restaurants, go to the gym together and have a lot of fun snapchats. Also bar fights. Mia and Skrimir love getting in bar fights. Ilyana doesn't really go for them, but Skrimir just puts her on his shoulders so she can kick people from up high, or snack, whichever she prefers. Usually she chooses the latter.
Series: FE9/10
Character/Pairing: Ike/Soren, Ranulf/Kyza/Lyre, ensemble
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 2336
Summary: College AU. On the first party of the semester, Ike is kissed by an anti-social Science major. The rest, as you would say, is history. Ike/Soren.
Author's note: These are scenes which were supposed to be earlier on in the story, but couldn't fit during the plot. However, I was too attached to them to let it go, and decided one last encore to the story would be fun.
Ranulf had a habit of staying in places where he didn't belong. He also had a habit of ignoring subtle cues, such as glaring, or Soren looking like he might call a hit on him.
By now, Ike had gotten used to Soren looking like a hissing cat whenever Ranulf came around, even if Ranulf was the only literal cat around.
He was sprawled out, a textbook placed decoratively on his lap. He hadn't so much as glanced at it the entire night. Ike's textbook, however, was open. Which was all Soren. His grades had floated up to B's ever since Soren became a staple in his life.
"Hey, you're going to the party tonight, right?" Ranulf said. "Skrimir is throwing it. There's bound to be tons of food. And even some for the guests, too."
"What party?" Ike said.
"The Costume party. Don't tell me you missed it?" Ranulf said.
"I didn't see any notices," Ike said. He never paid much mind to gossip.
"Ike, you're killing me. Ever since you got this date thing going, you won't go to any parties at all," Ranulf said.
"It seems kind of pointless. I can drink at home if I want. Plus, I don't have to share my bucket of fried chicken. You know how Ilyana gets; look away for one minute and your bucket is empty," Ike said.
"You even missed the latest flip cup challenge," Ranulf said.
"What a tragedy," Soren said dryly. He returned with a plate of cheese, and set it down on the coffee table between them.
"Maybe Soren's style of partying would be more up your alley? I hear he holes up in the library for hours at a time and even studies."
"Or Skrimir's," Ike said.
"Oh man, the big guy knows how to party like no one else. Last week he filled a whole hot tub full of ribs. He and Ilyana ate their way out while Mia filmed the whole thing with commentary. The vids went viral, with #RibsRelationshipGoals trending on twitter. I'm still disappointed that no one thought to call it Relationribs."
Ranulf turned towards Soren. "Speaking of which, are you going to the costume party, Soren?"
Soren looked up and glared, the kind of it-should-be-obvious-glare. "Absolutely not."
"Really? It'd be easy for you, just get some fake vampire teeth and you're good to go."
"If I went as anything, I'd go as myself," Soren said.
"Good, scariest costume around!" Ranulf laughed loudly at his own joke.
Soren grabbed his textbooks and for one brief moment Ike thought that he was going to have to mediate. Ranulf was agile but Soren had a surprisingly deadly aim with for such heavy books. Though it'd been Skrimir who had gotten it last time, when he ate Soren's yogurt.
Instead, Soren left the room in a hurry.
"Aren't you going to go after him?"
"In a second," Ike said. "Why is it a costume party, anyways? It isn't anywhere near Halloween."
"Everyday is Halloween if you try hard enough."
"I doubt Soren would want to go. Especially if there's costumes involved," Ike said.
"You know, Soren's so high strung, and he isn't even Darth Soren anymore. One of these days he's just gonna explode."
"He just hates being bothered during his study sessions," Ike said.
"Mmmhmm, Dr. Ranulf knows those symptoms. That boy needs to get laid," Ranulf said.
Months ago, Ike would've just shrugged off Ranulf's crude jokes. But Soren had apparently rubbed off on him so much that he mentally tried to figure out if that was the correct term, or if lay, or lie would be better. He still couldn't get the hang of those, even though Soren had printed him out a sheet and everything.
In the other room, Ike heard a crash.
"Are you okay out there, Soren?"
"...I'm fine, Ike."
Ranulf lifted his eyebrows. "See? I told you."
Soren came straight in the kitchen, with something clutched in his hand.
"Think it's a knife? Ten bucks says it is," Ranulf said.
"I'm not betting on that," Ike said.
Soren, however, returned with a fresh honeycomb, stuck in a plastic bag.
"Mind it," he said.
It took Ranulf a moment to get it, but he burst into a smile. "Ike, he's got a sense of humor! He hates everything, but now he's spouting puns! Mind your own beeswax, that's great."
"By the way, Skimir's ordering about 50 pizzas, and at least 20 buckets of wings. And that's just Ilyana's helping," Ranulf said.
"Another party? You just had one last week," Soren said.
"What do you expect? It's Gallia U. Gallia is full of party animals. Except for Lethe. Besides, why hate on the school? You could've gone to Begnion University, or even Melior. They'd take one look at your notes and beg you to apply," Ranulf said.
"Ike wasn't there," Soren said softly.
"Oh, I should've known," Ranulf said.
"Did I mention that at least twenty of those pizzas are going to be meat lover's? And technically, the costumes are pretty optional," Ranulf said.
Ike looked to Soren.
Soren shook his head. "How do we get into these situations?"
"Alcohol is usually involved. The rest of the time it's our friends," Ike said.
Soren let out a sigh, and rubbed his temples. "Fine. I can tolerate the party long enough to get some free food," Soren said.
Ranulf grinned toothily. "Skrimir owes me another ten gald. I told him I'd be able to get you guys with the promise of pizza."
Not even Soren could argue with that.
*
Every party Ike had been to (or more accurately, sprung up in his apartment) was the same. Hook ups, loud music Ike didn't even like, alcohol, stupid drunken behavior, blinding lights, and good food.
Ike avoided them when he could, but if Skrimir was throwing it, there would be an overflowing buffet of ribs, fried chicken, and at least fifty meat lover's pizza.
The party was already crowded with people. Some Ike knew, some from the team, and a large amount of Gallians who had been invited by Skrimir and Ranulf. A loud driving beat thrummed through the room. Soren narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the room. Glow sticks and banners across the floor. Witches and clowns and a few princesses.
Mist hadn't done much, not having much time to fix Soren up, but she had pulled out some black cat ears and drawn whiskers on his face with her eyeliner.
Mist had a red hood pulled over her outfit, and in a completely unrelated note, Boyd had chosen to go as the Wolfman this year.
"How fitting! That must be exactly how Ike sees you," Ranulf said.
Boyd chuckled, and gave one last nervous glance to the door.
"We've been through this. I don't care who she dates, as long as they treat her well," Ike said.
"Where's your tail? You know, I found this place that sells fake ones. In fact, they put the tail up their--"
"Never mind where the tail goes!"
"I thought you weren't going in costume?" Ike said.
"Your sister put this on me," Soren said.
"You look good," Ike said.
"Why's everyone all dressed up?" said the newest girl. She wore long blue flannels, and a pair of overalls, with the knees stained with dirt. Her long teal-colored hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, with a few leaves and twigs stuck in it for good measure. "And is it true there's free pizza? After doin' a lot of diggin' for the university garden, I'm awful hungry."
"It's a costume party. Didn't you see the note?" Ranulf said.
"Aw, shucks. Sorry, I just heard free pizza and came to check it out. Should've known there was a catch."
"It's cool. Just say you came as a lesbian. Hey Heather! Help make this girl's costume authentic."
Nephenee blushed bright red. "Er―that ain't somethin' you just dress up as--"
"Considering your rainbow socks, aren't you just going as yourself?" Ranulf said.
The girl shyly bent down to hide her socks. "That's...."
"Something that doesn't belong in the closet," Ranulf said dryly.
From across the room, Heather glanced away from the girls she was talking to. Heather's eyes widened at the sight of the new arrival. "Look, it's flannels. Flannels. It's the bat signal of lesbians."
"She's a farm girl. They just wear those," Mia said. Mia was dressed as a cute witch, and Ilyana clutched onto her. The practice foil was left behind the couch, as carrying it around was too tiring for her.
Heather wore a skin tight purple catsuit, along with a mask and a pair of little cat ears on her head.
"She could be both." Heather shaded her eyes from the flashing lights to peer over the new girl.
"She's got rainbow socks on. Definitely a cute lesbian farm girl. I'm going in."
Heather swept in and smiled big at the new girl.
"Hi, I'm Heather. Welcome to Gallia U," she said. She tossed her blond hair over her shoulder. The girl's eyes widened.
"Holy smokes, you're beautiful! I mean, uh..." the girl blushed bright red.
"Told you. Flannels never lie," Heather said. She guided the blushing farm girl towards the food table.
In the kitchen, Kyza wore a pair of noise canceling headphones. His textbook was set up in the kitchen.
Lyre lifted the headphones up. "You're such a square. This is a costume party! You're supposed to dress up."
Kyza smiled serenely. "You know what they say: dress for the job you want, not the job you have," Kyza said.
"What exactly are you supposed to be? You're wearing the same suits you always wear," Lyre said.
"A rich, intelligent, hardworking and successful man who also happens to be Ranulf's boyfriend. Also, someone who makes enough to afford a designer suit," Kyza said.
"That's still not a costume," Lyre said.
"You're right; it's a state of being. You look the same, but your shirt is lower-cut, and that color is appalling. Did you go as yourself, but with even worse fashion sense?"
"No, I went as Ranulf's girlfriend," Lyre said. She stuck her tongue out.
Skrimir scooped up Ilyana and He lifted up pieces of fried chicken for her. "There, tiny science major. We can't let you get too hungry."
The smell of the pizza was pretty compelling, but so was the idea of just ordering some Crimean Fried Chicken and a couple meat lover's pizzas and spending the night in.
They hadn't even hit the thirty minute mark, and Soren was already looking longingly at the door. He turned to Ike.
"You turn the music to something nostalgic. I'll make the light machine malfunction. You grab a pizza―make it two―and we can escape this hellish place," Soren said. He took off the cat ears and left them on the food table.
It was complex enough to remind Ike of a heist movie. Not for the first time, he was glad Soren was on their side. Otherwise, he'd be like a tiny red-eyed Bond villain, complete with a white cat on his lap.
Soren flipped off the lights, but the guests had so many glow sticks and glow-in-the-dark clothes that they just cheered. Ike put in a CD called Red. From the dance floor, someone screamed "That's my jam!" On the dance floor, Heather pulled a blushing farm girl to dance to a Taylor Swift song.
Ike took two pizza boxes on his way out. They were still warm, and a strong spicy aroma floated tantalizingly up. The noise of the party and music was silenced by the closing of a door. All the memories of mischief from their friends--Ike's friends--faded into the night.
They walked under the streetlights, back towards the apartment. On this side street, there were no cars at this hour. All the college crowd had already found their parties, or gone home. Occasionally as they passed, the sound of other houses and other crowds would filter out.
The large trees were almost ominous. Their large, twisted dark branches faintly lit by the streetlights. Bugs gathered around the light in clouds.
"If you think that's something, wait until you see the Baobabs," Soren said.
"The what?" Ike said.
Soren looked down, to hide his expression with the cloak of night. But Ike still saw the disappointment, and heard it in his voice. "Just an old memory. A book. You've probably forgotten it."
"Then we'll read it together and make new memories," Ike said.
Soren smiled.
As they neared the apartment, Soren let out sigh. "The pizza is convenient, but I'm never going to be much for parties, Ike," Soren said.
"Me either. It was fun though. I liked being with you," Ike said.
"I can tolerate them for you. Though even I have my limits," Soren said.
He carried the boxes in one hand. Just so he could reach out and slip his hand in Soren's.
Without another word, they walked home together.
Author's note:
Elincia doesn't have a crush on Ike in this universe because she already had a thing going with Geoffrey and Lucia before she ever met him. And Skrimir met Ilyana before he met Soren, so he ended up forming an attachment to her instead. He wooed her with a stack of over 500 chicken nuggets; she was utterly impressed, especially when he took her out for fried chicken and pizza after they finished.
They get banned from all you can eat buffets on the regular. Mia is friends with them and eventually they realize they're all basically dating and go with it and get banned from more restaurants, go to the gym together and have a lot of fun snapchats. Also bar fights. Mia and Skrimir love getting in bar fights. Ilyana doesn't really go for them, but Skrimir just puts her on his shoulders so she can kick people from up high, or snack, whichever she prefers. Usually she chooses the latter.
