Work Text:
"No way! None of you are gonna go on the Ultimax Extreme Super Coaster with me?! None of you?!"
Cynthia's cries of anguish were attracting the odd look here and there from nearby park visitors, and Laurent's eyebrow twitched as he folded his arms and stared at her. It was a hot summer day, and one the group had decided was perfect for visiting the biggest theme park in the state. Where Cynthia was throwing a hissy fit because no one could keep up with her insatiable hunger for adrenaline. "Cynthia, please try to keep your voice d-"
"Do you know how dangerous that thing is?!" Yarne interrupted, knees shaking at the mere thought of going on the country's most terrifying roller coaster. "I-I heard someone died on there!" he said, voice dropping to a panicked whisper. Cynthia responded with a flippant wave of her hand.
"Aw, come on! That was years ago! They fixed the seats and everything. It's totally safe now!"
No one looked particularly convinced. Cynthia was desperate - she couldn't just go on by herself! And the entire trip would be wasted if she didn't get to ride this roller coaster! It was her turn to fold her arms and frown. "If Owain was here, he'd go on with me! Ugh! You guys have no sense of adventure!" Owain had, unfortunately, come down with a sickness a few days before the trip, although he’d wanted to go so badly Lissa had to practically drag him back into the house. With non-refundable tickets already purchased, the group couldn't just not go - but it meant Cynthia was sorely missing her dedicated ride buddy. She'd already foregone most of the more extreme rides at the park in favor of spending time with the others, but this roller coaster was non-negotiable.
Even as the group devolved into more bickering and pleading, Gerome was silent, as usual. He pushed the sunglasses he always wore up his nose and tried desperately to ignore the fact that he was sweating an obscene amount in his black jacket. It wasn't going well. He knew he'd made a mistake the second the group had piled out of Noire's minivan and felt like he was already going to melt into the parking lot asphalt. But standing still like this with the sun beating down on him incessantly while the group argued and got nowhere... Gerome sighed almost imperceptibly.
"I'll go."
His quiet but clear voice always had a way of cutting right through any other noise, and everyone stopped to look at him. It was nearly impossible to tell his expression behind the glasses, although he was frowning, but then again, Gerome was almost always frowning anyway. Laurent's shoulders sagged with visible relief, and Cynthia's smile lit up brighter than a carnival at night.
"Gerome! I knew you'd pull through for me!" she squeaked, linking her arm in his as she grinned up at him. "This is why I love you!"
"I. What -"
Laurent flipped open his phone and checked the time. "Thank you, Gerome. The rest of us will decide what to do, the two of you will ride your death trap, and we'll all rendezvous for lunch at 2 PM by the main food court," he said, adjusting his glasses. "Please call or text one of us if you'll be late."
But by that point, Cynthia was already practically skipping off towards the coaster with Gerome in tow. "Yup! Later, guys!" she called behind her cheerfully, failing to notice the faintly confused expression and lingering blush on her new companion's cheeks.
The line for the Ultimax Extreme Super Coaster was always painfully long, and Gerome wasn't the best conversational partner. It wasn't that he didn't like talking to Cynthia - it was quite the opposite. She made him feel at ease, filling the gaps in conversation caused by his shyness enough for them both. Gerome just wasn't particularly good at talking to anyone at all. If anything, today it was even harder than usual. His brain couldn't seem to stop coming back to what she'd said earlier. Who just threw something like that out there so casually?! His eyes flicked back towards the pigtailed girl in front of him who was still excitedly telling him about the ride they were going on. In retrospect, tossing out an I love you with no warning was a very Cynthia thing to do.
But... what exactly did she mean? Gerome recalled how she had told Lucina she loved her when she let her borrow her homework, and Brady after school concert recitals, and Owain whenever he thought of some ridiculous new story idea... It was just how she expressed her friendship, then. So it was settled. There was nothing more to it.
It definitely didn’t bother him. No. Not one single b-
Suddenly there was a flurry of movement and a dull flick on his forehead. Startled out of his brooding, Gerome looked down in front of him. Cynthia was frowning at him, pressing her fingers to his head. Gerome became acutely aware of how sweaty he was. He pushed her arm down. “Don’t.”
“What’s up with you, Gerome? I mean, I dunno, you usually don’t talk a lot, but you at least listen to me talk. Are you alright?” The genuine concern in her voice surprised him. He averted his gaze, which was entirely unnecessary seeing as his gaze was hidden behind sunglasses in the first place.
“I’m fine.”
Cynthia’s eyebrows furrowed a bit harder. “Alright, well, you know you can…” her voice trailed off as the line moved forward. The two of them would probably be getting on the next train. Butterflies filled her stomach as she rocked back and forth on her feet, excitedly grabbing the side of Gerome’s jacket. “Oh! It’s almost time! Are you exciiiiited?” she asked, her smile so big that Gerome had to wonder how her cheeks didn’t constantly hurt. He responded with a motion that could have been interpreted as a shrug or scratching an itch. It was difficult to tell.
A park attendant began instructing the next passengers on basic safety procedures - remove everything from your pockets and place your belongings in the bin, let an attendant know if your harness isn’t working, please remove your hats and sunglasses, do not r
“What.”
The attendant smiled at Gerome. “You’ll have to remove your sunglasses, sir. If they fly off during the ride, they could potentially injure another rider,” she explained cheerfully, before adding, “and I’m sure you wouldn’t want such a nice pair to break!”
He looked down at Cynthia. “Was this all a ploy to get me to take these off?”
She shook her head quickly, twintails swinging back and forth. “Nuh-uh! C’mon, you know I wouldn’t do something like that!” she said, almost hurt by the accusation. Really, if she wanted him to take the glasses off, she could just pluck them off his head. “It’s not a big deal! I’m not even gonna have time to look at you, I’ll be too busy looking at the track!” He hesitated for a moment, but supposed she was right. It wasn’t as if she’d be staring at him while they rode a rollercoaster together. With a sigh that made it absolutely clear he wasn’t pleased, Gerome removed his sunglasses and placed them in the designated bin along with his cell phone. He tried his best to avoid Cynthia’s eyes as he took a seat in the rollercoaster car next to her.
Cynthia had the sense to wait until they were both strapped in before she turned to look at him. “Whoa, Gerome! You have seriously pretty eyes!” she gasped, leaning in as close as she could even with a harness over her shoulders. His cheeks flushed bright red as he turned his face away from her.
“S-Stop it! This was just to make me take the glasses off!” he hissed as he gripped his harness with white knuckles.
“It honestly wasn’t! I really couldn’t go on this alone!” she said, leaning back. A few moments of silence passed between them and Gerome finally faced forward again, still avoiding eye contact with her.
“...I mean, you’re always cute, but WOW -”
“CYNTHIA.”
They were interrupted by the train lurching forward as it began to rise up the lift hill, punctuated by an excited yelp from Cynthia.
Gerome used to be terrified of heights to a point where looking over the side of the second floor of a building would make him nauseous and weak in the knees. The only thing that had gotten him past that terror was the girl currently sitting next to him with an almost manic grin on her face.
When the group’s parents had taken them to a theme park as young children, Gerome had been too frightened to go on practically anything - even Yarne had managed to go on a few of the tamer rides with some coaxing and assistance from his mother. Cynthia had taken a break from running around the park to ask him what was wrong, and he’d admitted to being scared. He was certain she would insult him, or just shrug and continue going on all the thrill-seeking rides with her best friend Owain. But he still remembered how she’d just smiled and grabbed his hand and practically dragged him onto one of the park’s rollercoasters.
He was openly crying when he sat down next to her then, and she just squeezed his hand even harder. “It’s gonna be fine, I promise! Just hold my hand if you’re scared!” And he had - he’d practically wrapped his arms around hers, burying his face in her shoulder and shrieking as they flew down the track while she laughed. But they’d ridden it again and again and by the end of the day he was laughing with her as they threw their arms up in the air together. He recalled so vividly how when they’d finally stepped off the coaster, their legs felt like jelly and they couldn’t stop giggling. She’d looked so pr--
A panicked noise to his left startled Gerome from his thoughts for the second time that day. He looked over at Cynthia and was immediately alarmed.
“C-Cynthia?”
The bravest girl he’d ever known had tears in her eyes, her breathing short and shallow as she stared at the track before them. Gerome hadn’t realized how long they’d been going up the lift hill for, and when he saw how high up they actually were, he felt disgustingly dizzy.
“GeromeIwanttogetoff.”
He had no idea how to respond. “You were the one who wanted to ride this.” It probably wasn’t the best response.
“I KNOW!” she wailed, and the tears streamed down her cheeks. “I-I didn’t know how high it was gonna be, and I’ve never ridden anything this tall o-or fast before!” Her hands were visibly shaking even as she tried to steady them by desperately clinging to her harness. She squeezed her eyes shut. “I m-made a mistake!” She couldn’t even be embarrassed over chickening out in front of Gerome - every emotion in her body was overcome with the most acute sense of fear she’d ever experienced.
The first drop of the coaster was rapidly approaching. Gerome knew everything would be fine in the end, but he really didn’t want Cynthia to spend the next three minutes paralyzed with terror.
He grabbed her hand and locked their fingers together. She looked over at him, eyes still bright with tears. “Cynthia. It’ll be fine, I promise,” he said, and squeezed her hand. “Just hold my hand if you’re scared.”
She let out a weak laugh through her tears, using her free hand to wipe her face. “H-Hah… didn’t think you’d have to comfort me on this one,” she admitted, and then smiled at him, even though her face was red and damp and she was still trembling, and Gerome felt his heart beat faster.
Of course, that also could have been due to the fact that they were on the scariest rollercoaster in the country, and that is the reason Gerome would insist on if questioned about it.
Still hand in hand, the train careened down the first hill and Cynthia and Gerome’s screaming turned into frenzied, half-terrified laughter. They were clinging to each other so tightly Gerome was convinced his hand was going to be black and blue at the end of the ride, but he found that he didn’t mind at all.
The ride was over sooner than they ever could have anticipated, and the two stumbled off the car to get Gerome’s sunglasses and phone. It was only when he reached into the bin to collect his things that he realized they hadn’t stopped holding hands.
He separated them and quickly shoved his sunglasses back on and his phone in his pocket. “It’s almost time to meet up with the others. We should go.” Cynthia nodded, and the pair set off towards the food court where they’d agreed to meet up.
They’d barely made it halfway there when the sky opened up and it began absolutely pouring. Cynthia shrieked, covering her head with her hands as she looked for a place to get out of the rain. “Dammit! Over there! Let’s go!” she yelled, darting towards what looked like the children’s section of the park. Gerome followed, and the two took shelter underneath a playground structure.
“Ugh, I’m SOAKED!” Cynthia sighed as she looked down at her shirt and shorts. Gerome was better off with his jacket and jeans, although not by much.
“The weather report this morning did say there was a chance of intermittent showers.”
“What?! Agh! That doesn’t help me now!” she said, throwing her hands up and leaning against the side of the playhouse. A minute of silence passed as they looked out at the rain, listening to it hammer against the plastic above their heads. “Think it’ll stop soon?” Cynthia asked, and Gerome nodded.
More silence, except for the rain.
“Hey… thanks. Y’know, for earlier,” she said, and then laughed. “I’m kinda embarrassed! After I dragged you on there with me and everything, I was a complete scaredy-cat!”
“...I didn’t mind.”
“Really? You didn’t even mind holding my hand?” she asked, a teasing tone in her voice as she looked over at him. His mouth set into a line.
“T-That’s not relevant.”
She laughed. “Sorry! It was nice of you to comfort me like that. I love how thoughtful you are!” she said, and he turned his head slightly to look at her. There it was again! Was she saying she loved him? No, of course not, it was just one aspect of him. Right? Just like the way he loved her enthusiasm, and her determination, and the way being with her always felt like sunshine cutting through clouds -
oh, god.
Gerome’s face flushed again - luckily for him, Cynthia failed to notice. “Hmmm… You’d better tell Laurent we’re gonna be late. I guess we’ll just have to wait this out,” she said, attempting to wring the water out of one of her twintails. “Looks like you’re stuck here with me until the rain clears up!”
“...I don’t mind.”
He still wasn’t good at talking, but he didn’t need to be when she was around. She filled the silence, and her voice was warmer than the rain was cold.