Archive of Our Own ^beta

Back of the room, looking at you, counting the steps between us

The summer had ended, the new semester had begun and the students were roaming the campus again. For Gildarts Clive, this was no reason to stress out but his best friend – who also happened to be the resident president of everything that needed a president – had returned from the summer abroad with a heartache to soothe and far too much energy.

Ur Frost had always been a force of nature but this had never been much of a problem because there had been other people for her to nag about pretty much everything in this world. Now, Gildarts was her favourite victim for whenever she wanted someone to do something for her and sadly, this happened a lot and although she had come back from Iceberg only two days ago, he was already done with it.

And for the first time, the red-haired man found himself missing the presence of Silver Fullbuster in their life because the arrogant jerk had kept Ur occupied for the past months – until the aforementioned breakup that had not surprised anyone because it had been a matter of time since they were both extremely intense and whatever they touched burned.

(Their relationship had never been an exception to this rule.)

Gildarts had seen the end coming from the day when he had first walked into Ur’s dorm room to ask her why she had missed a meeting and had found the black-haired man lounging on her couch keeping an eye on her while she had been working on some long-term project. But Gildarts had wanted to be a good friend and so he had stayed silent.

What would have made their life easier, Gildarts realised as he joined his best friend for coffee on the first day, if they had fallen out of love the moment they had ended things. This had not happened, however, and although as far as Gildarts was informed, both of them had made extensive use of their newfound single status over the summer, it was not difficult to see that matters would get considerably more complicated now that they were in the same city again.

“Frostbite,” he addressed her as he reached for the sugar and added more of it to his coffee which got him the scowl he had expected. “Heard you had lots of fun on your trip.”

She knew better than to make a scene out of it by loudly denying it. She had been brought up to be a good girl and although this had certainly stopped being true long before she had graduated from school, she was extremely good at maintaining the illusion. “I’m sure that the reports are vastly exaggerated,” she said with a little smirk that implied that the opposite was true. But there was no way to be absolutely sure, not with her because she spun truths and lies like it was the easiest thing in her world.

“But of course,” he said as he mentioned towards the large folder she had brought with her. “So, what are you going to use your newfound freedom for?”

He had seen Silver Fullbuster on the way to their coffee shop, looking ruffled as always, and for a moment, Gildarts had nearly expected for Ur to be close, rolling her eyes at the guy’s antics but all he had been able to spot was a crowd of girls who all seemed to want to be the replacement for the ice queen. The black-haired man had looked pretty much the same he always had. Gildarts had not gotten a good look at him but from afar, the biggest difference seemed to be that there was no one in his life to tell him that he had a coffee stain on his shirt.

Ur rolled her eyes before she reached for her coffee and took a sip. “The autumn will be filled with events and I preside over it this year,” she said with a nonchalant shrug, making it sound like she did not care whatsoever – but he knew her better than this, knew her too well to fall for her little games. She would prioritise her personal little war against her ex-boyfriend over everything else because her goal would be to make him hurt just as much as she had.

Something that was, in Gildarts’ opinion, absolutely unnecessary because there was no way in hell that Silver had shrugged the breakup off although this was what he had claimed which had fuelled Ur’s rage. She was a bit of a diva and her ego had been bruised that her boyfriend of two years had publically stated that he was better off without the ice queen herself breathing down his neck. Gildarts had thought that this was the moment Silver Fullbuster had declared war on Ur Frost – and that he might not like the outcome of this.

“You’ll plan the parties?” Gildarts asked as he raised his eyebrows because one and a half years ago, Ur’s idea of a successful evening off would have been to get her dreamy boyfriend – neither Gildarts’ nor Ur’s words but those of the man’s fan club – to get wine and fast-food while she picked the movie they would watch. Movies they would never watch completely because they had been too busy making out. Gildarts would know; he had once been Silver’s roommate. But if Ur wanted to become more social and enjoy her life as an university student, Gildarts was the last one to try and stop her – because this would be pointless and also because wherever she went, a trail of chaos followed her and he rather enjoyed to stick around to observe the fallout. Because usually, it was spectacular.

“I’ll plan the parties,” she confirmed as she shrugged at him as she reached for her fork to stab it into her slice of cherry pie. “Look, now since I’ve gotten rid of him, I got more time.”

Gildarts did not need to turn his head that the ex-boyfriend in question was standing by the counter, probably paying for his overly sugary coffee. The way Ur had raised her voice and chosen her words had given away that she wanted to be overheard and that she wanted for him to hear these words. This was cruelty – but a girl did not get the nickname Frostbite by playing it nice. And Ur had not been nice for a while now because she had decided to compensate the pain inside of her chest by making others hurt just as much and her most important victim was her ex because he was the one who had broken the part of her heart she had not broken herself.

“If you plan the parties then,” Gildarts said as he was happy that he spared himself the awkwardness of checking if Silver had heard her words because none of them actually deserved what they were both doing, “does this mean that you expect me to attend them all?”

“Every single one of them,” she smirked as she started to tear apart her food like it was the heart of a man who was certainly hearing her voice right now. “You can bring Conny along.”

“How very generous of you,” he muttered as he rolled his eyes at her, waiting for her to relax again which would happen once Silver left the coffee shop. “…how are you holding up?” he asked calmly as her shoulders slumped and a hint of remorse crossed her face.

She was silent for a moment before she shrugged, a sigh escaping her. “I’m fine, Gildarts.”

What a pointless, pretty lie.

A hundred and five little blades in a line from your skin to mine and I feel it

Under usual circumstances, Gildarts was happy to leave the lecture held by Professor Zirconis because afterwards, he was off for the rest of the day which meant that he could pick up his second-best friend from his chemistry class or whatever else Ivan Dreyar was doing and together, they could track down Ur in whatever building she was, usually planning something.

(To call her the president of presidents was hardly an exaggeration after all.)

Today, however, she did not have to be tracked down because she was sitting on the bench by the exit, chatting amicably with the sort of guy she usually would not have looked at twice. Gildarts knew the man’s name but this was mostly because Silver had made quite a few jokes about him when they had still shared a room. Bane Milkovich was the name and Gildarts pretty sure that the last time he had heard it, it had been Ur who had snorted it before she had added a comment that had been anything but kind which, of course, had made Silver laugh.

Right now, it did not look like Silver was in a mood to laugh. It was common knowledge that Bane Milkovich had made it his mission to surpass Silver Fullbuster but this was a plan that had been anything but successful in the past. He had joined the same sports team as Silver and he had tried to hit on Ur in the past – which was probably why she had banked on him trying his luck again when she had devised her cruel plan of hurting the one who had burned her because she had gotten a bit too close, too involved along the way.

The fact that Gildarts and Silver Fullbuster were studying the same subject – business – was probably one of the main reasons why Ur had ever met the man. If they had been in different classes, they might not have met quite as many times when she was stopping by at the study hall to deliver whatever she had been cooking or baking. Well, and then there was the part where Silver had once been Gildarts’ roommate which had probably sealed the deal in a way. But right now, it was the main reason why Gildarts suddenly understand where Ur’s rare interest in his schedule had come from.

“Clive,” the black-haired man hissed under his breath as he looked at Gildarts with a mixture of confusion and frustration on his face. “What does she think is she doing?”

Gildarts sighed deeply. His loyalty was with Ur most of the time because she had been his friend before they had enrolled in this university, before they had met everyone else. And Gildarts did not do betrayal but he had the bad feeling that if no one would do something, the situation would escalate rather soon. “I suppose,” he begun as he silently apologised to his friend, “that she’s scheduling a date with Milkovich right now … not that I’d know why.”

Oh, he knew just too well what Ur’s game was but he was not going to spoil it for her. If anything, she deserved credit for being furious enough to even consider to associate with brainless creeps like Bane Milkovich who had yet to stop trying to glimpse down her shirt. She was awfully serious about this entire thing which could not even be called revenge because it was not like Silver had gone and broken her heart. As far as Gildarts knew, the breakup had been the consequence they had drawn from an event neither of them had ever talked about, that had become their last secret.

This was why Gildarts could say for sure that no matter what she claimed, Ur had not stopped loving her ex-boyfriend – because if she had, she would not made such efforts to ruin his life the same way she had ruined her own. Although, to be fair, Silver was playing exactly the same game she was playing. He did not have to make out with some vapid airhead of her technical design class in front of the building, tactically positioned in front of the entrance she used which he had known, of course.

The game they were playing would likely end up hurting them both but they were far too bitter to care about the consequences for themselves as long as they could to one-up the other. And frankly, Ur had just raised the stakes. She had proven to just not care about Silver kissing airheads in the past because before they had gotten together, the black-haired man had dated an impressive amount of them. Or if she had cared, she had never shown any trace of doing so which was actually more likely because she was a highly skilled actress – which she was currently proving by pretending to be extremely interested in what Milkovich had to say which could impossibly interest her.

But she had found her match in her ex because Fullbuster just raised his eyebrow at this new development. “And here I was thinking that she had a better taste in men,” he scoffed.

Their conversation was briefly interrupted by the arrival of Ivan Dreyar who had classes that took place on the other side of the campus, classes he rarely attended because he rather taught himself everything he had to know which was why he usually appeared out of nowhere all of a sudden. “Good afternoon,” he greeted politely before he caught sight of the scene by the bench and his jaw simply dropped. “Am I seeing correctly?”

“If you’re looking at Frostbite letting Milkovich hit on her then we’re all watching the same satire,” Gildarts said as he crossed his arms over his chest because he would have guessed that the moment Ur noticed that Silver was not reacting the way he had been supposed to, she would hit the brakes and see if she could get out of the act with her dignity intact.

“Don’t read too much into this now but seriously?” Silver sounded and looked like he was feeling slightly nauseous from merely watching the scene unfold – a feeling Gildarts could relate to. “She could do better than Milkovich of all people,” he declared before he grinned widely and added, sounding far more like his usual arrogant self. “I mean, she used to date me. That’s a whole different league compared to that guy.”

If he was jealous – which he probably was supposed to be – he was covering it up just well but this might be because he had some lingering faith in his former girlfriend not to date a complete moron like the man who was currently acting like he was some movie star. But Gildarts had never been good at reading Silver Fullbuster, that had been Ur’s forte. So probably she knew exactly which buttons she had to push in this war.

Eyes on the ground, but I can't look up now, don't wanna give it away my secret

The music was good because the woman who had organised the party had chosen a good DJ rather than one of the music students who were all still dreaming of careers as rock stars and always sneaked one of their own tracks in. But something like this did not happen when the president of presidents was in charge and so Gildarts was nodding along to the music while his arm was wrapped around his girlfriend. Cornelia was looking stunning in her blue top and the short black skirt her face did not quite match the atmosphere that surrounded them. She was trying the way she always did when she had something to say but did not want to ruin the mood and while Gildarts sometimes hid from the truth within the comfort of her mere presence, he knew that he could not do it this time around because there were rumours flying everywhere and usually, his girlfriend was one of the first to hear everything about it.

This was mostly because she had always socialised, even when Gildarts had still called it an event to go out for some drinks with Ur and maybe Ivan and their roommates. Cornelia was the one with the extensive network and in situations like this, it was extremely useful.

“…so bad?” he asked as he handed her a cup of coke with rum which was her favourite drink.

“What gave it away?” she scoffed as she grabbed her hair and wrapped it twice around her hand before she bound it into a messy bun. “The way I glared at Lilica all night?”

“For example,” he replied with a shrug as he rested his hands on her hips and his chin on her shoulder as he stood behind her. “So … how about you tell me and then, we’ll forget about it?”

“Never understood why you need Frost to think for you,” she replied with a fond smile on her face before she turned her head to kiss his jaw. “Well, as expected, everyone has a field day with Frost and Fullbuster staying separated and … seeing other people.”

“She’s using Milkovich to get back at him and he’s sleeping around worse than ever before but sure, let’s call it ‘seeing other people’ for all I care,” Gildarts said and instantly regretted that he had allowed his bad mood to sneak into his voice when he was talking to his girlfriend who had absolutely nothing to do with everything.

“Yes, I know,” she said as she crossed her arms and pouted, obviously displeased with someone or something. “I had to break up a catfight at my dorm yesterday because of him.”

Cornelia had always had more patience with Silver Fullbuster than most other people and this probably included Ur Frost. Gildarts had never quite understood where she took this patience from but sometimes, he had been grateful about it and it had always impressed him. For her to actually be upset with something he had done – and this was not even extraordinary Silver behaviour – was very rare.

“Tried to tell him to stop because he is making your life harder than it has to be?” Gildarts asked and although his tone was playful, he was not jesting. If there was someone Silver might do something for, it would be Cornelia because she had been the first one to be friendly to him when he had first arrived at their university.

“Actually, I tried that,” she said with a scoff as her dark blue eyes narrowed, “and he had the audacity to tell me that the game’s on and that he can’t afford to lose … which means that he and Frost both probably won’t stop until both of them are crying.”

“I resent the notion that you think that I’d ever cry over some girl, ‘lia,” the man in question said as he smirked at them from where he was standing with some redhead clinging to his arm. “Also … where’s ice queen herself? She’s organising all of this, I should say hello.”

For a moment, Gildarts nearly felt sorry for the other man’s date but any girl who said yes to Silver Fullbuster after the rumours had been all over the campus knew exactly what she was signing up to – to be used in some elaborate scheme to make another woman feel bad. It was nearly tragic to watch but he had warned Ur, he had been the one to tell her that she might wind up regretting her decision to ever go out with the man in the first place. But she had been so happy because for once, there was someone who did not try to hold her back when she was off to rule the world, when she had been busy being the president of presidents. And god, Gildarts had not been able to stand the idea of being the one to ruin things for her.

“Gil, Cornelia, happy that you could make it,” Ur said and her voice was balancing on the thin edge between genuine warmth and exaggerated kindness that grown far too familiar to Gildarts lately. She was standing on the stairs above them and in the flickering light, she looked like she was some sort of illusion. She did not seem to care that nearly everyone who cared about rumours was looking at her because this would mean that she was interested in the rumours people told about her and that had never been the case. She could hardly care less that the people had started to tell the most ridiculous stories about her because as long as the people she cared about knew the truth, there was no reason for her to lose sleep over it.

“Well, I was surprised to hear that you were taking the time to organise something less important than your faculty’s Christmas party,” Cornelia said with a smile that was not purely friendly. There had been a lot of blame pushed around in the past weeks and Gildarts knew that everyone was still looking for someone to blame for the disaster and that his girlfriend was partly blaming Ur for the outcome. Which was probably one way to look at it because as someone who was aware of the disaster that disguised itself as Ur’s dating life, Gildarts knew that his best friend was the kind of woman who would inevitably lose everyone she had ever cared about and this had left her rather cynical. She had not dated during their senior year after her previous boyfriend had broken up with her and informed her that while she looked pretty and innocent, she was scary as hell once she was angry.

“Not going to greet me?” Silver asked and the edge in his voice was nearly tangible.

Sometimes, it was sad to think what had become of them after two years of stolen kisses in the hallways, of passing on notes and acting like they had been the first people in the whole world to ever have a relationship – which had been ironic because neither of them had arrived at the university with a clean slate but rather with the exact opposite of that. Ur had nearly had a breakdown when she had realised that she was falling way too fast for the black-haired man because she had known that the two of them would take it too far and that in the end, there would be no soft ending waiting for them but only flames and pain. She had never believed in a forever but she had made a point out of trying to get as much out of the relationship as she had been able to and this was why some people accused her of being the one to kill it, of draining everything good out of the thing before it had even started.

“I was getting there,” she replied drily as she shifted her position on the stairs, still towering above them in her red dress. “Hello, Tammy, long time no see,” she said as she continued to ignore Silver as if he was no longer worthy of being directly addressed by her. “You dropped out of Miller’s advanced course, didn’t you?”

Gildarts was nearly disappointed with her because it was not fair for her to drag Silver’s date into the mess that was currently swallowing everyone who did not run quickly but as he had realised already: someone who accepted Silver’s invitation to escort him to a party – especially one organised by Ur – knew what was going on. At the same time, it proved that while Ur was willed to walk over corpses, she was not going to make it easy for her ex-boyfriend to break down her sense of self-preservation. Ur was probably jealous but she was not going to let it show over Silver’s nearly sad attempts on forcing her to admit it. She expected him to do better than to go out with one of the girls who fell right and left the moment he smirked at them.

In another life, my teeth and tongue would speak aloud what until now I've only sung

Gildarts was getting ever so impatient with his best friend as he waited in front of her dorm room for her. She had promised him that she would be ready when he came by but evidently, this had not happened. It was Halloween and they had agreed to go to the party together as she had somehow managed to get rid of Milkovich by sending him off to a different party and Cornelia was  at her parents’ place to celebrate her mother’s birthday which was a rather important date for her family.

“Ur,” he called as he slammed his palm against her door, “you have two minutes left or I’ll leave you here on your own. And yes, I am serious about this.”

The door swung open and she made her appearance. As she studied architecture, she had a steady hand and she had helped out in the theatre group of the university before – which was where she had gotten her Halloween makeup devices from – and she had been recommended on her skill. So it was no surprise that she had put the past three hours to good use and was looking like she had just left the pages of a picture book.

“Looking good, Frostbite,” he said as he offered her his arm. She was looking tiny and fragile in her short green dress with the dainty wings but he was not going to point it out because this would prompt a general discussion about her outfit which might lead them to the fact that the last time, she had worn it, she had still been dating someone who had been able to keep up with her – even when she was going on and on about something basically no one understood.

“Thanks,” she said as her red lips curled up into a smirk while her free hand patted her bun that was defying – in Gildarts’ opinion, at least – the laws of logic because usually, she wore her hair down and while she was probably able to pull off about everything – his best friend was on the pretty side and he knew it – it was always surprising to see her all dressed up.

“Your hair looks like you invoked Satan to do it for you,” he added with a smirk as they headed out to the building where the party was held – just like every year. This year, however, was the first year Ur had actually done something that obligated her to attend the public party; usually, they had celebrated with their friends rather than with the entire university.

(But there was a first time for everything and Gildarts had heard a lot of good stuff about it.)

“That’s actually pretty accurate,” Ur admitted with a sigh as she pushed open a door and dragged him along, rather anxious to get to the party for her standards. “Anyway, nice outfit.”

In the past, she had been better at casually changing the topic but as she was an old friend, he let her get away with the rather sad attempt.  “Thanks,” he said as they walked through the chilly air. “You didn’t say that you’d be Tinkerbell, did you?”

He knew that she had not because if she had, he would have remarked that it might not be wise to use a costume that had once been part of a matching set with her ex-boyfriend as Peter Pan. But there was certainly no reason to worry because even if Silver would attend, he would probably be as lazy as Gildarts – which meant that a black suit and sunglasses were meant to be a Men In Black costume. The film was awesome, after all.

“You look great as an agent,” she replied, not answering his question because she knew that it had not meant to be answered from the start. “Really, you can pull it off.”

If she was someone else, he would have guessed that she was trying to flirt but this would not only be a very un-Ur-like thing to do, it would also mean that Gildarts was unable understand that not every compliment was an attempt on hitting on him but this was just Ur failing to cover her nervousness by wording things awkwardly.

“And here I was fearing that you might decide to murder me for not making any efforts,” he admitted as he pushed open the last door for her so that they could slip into the hall where the party was taking place. “You want a drink?”

“The usual,” she said as she straightened her spine and started a valiant attempt on being more present which worked in her favour because she had a good enough reputation.

He slipped away from her side and into the crowd and over to the bar where he ordered the drinks – the beer for himself and the gin for her – before he returned where he had left her  (while chatting a bit with people from his classes who wanted to know where Cornelia was) and found her missing. A sigh escaped him because he absolutely hated it when this happened, when he left her somewhere to wait for him to come back and she suddenly disappeared. And yes, this happened all the time for some reason he had yet to uncover. Sometimes, it was very difficult to find her again because she was so short and he was so tall but today, it was far too easy. She had been dragged off – wildly protesting – by one of the other people of the party committee and was now pushed onto the stage.

This, in itself, was already bad because Ur (and probably everyone else) was not exactly fond of being pushed around. And then, there was the second problem of Silver being dragged onto the stage as well and on the banner above them, the words ‘Winners: Best Matching Costume’ were gleaming in dark red. It was not the first time they won this prize – actually, they had won the previous two years as well although Gildarts personally thought that the Corpse Bride costumes had been considerably more impressive than their current outfits.

Somewhere behind Gildarts, a black-haired girl was hissing and it did not take a genius to acknowledge two facts: that Silver had managed to piss off his current date and that the rumours about Ur would be back in full swing. But thankfully, this time, Silver would be the victim of it as well – just like in the old days when he had been accused of always getting the last drink at a party. (She had been the one everyone had blamed, as logical consequence, of taking the last olive because he had not liked olives so she had usually gotten it.) And now, people would bring back the annoying rumours about how Ur was out to steal dates from other girls while Silver would get back the old stigma of being a heartbreaker – fun days were headed their way and Gildarts had already enough of it now.

On stage, Ur was glaring at Silver in a way that made Gildarts wonder if she wanted to pierce a whole into her ex but then, Silver did not look too happy either. Technically, no one could look at them and believe that they had some sort of affair going on – well, there was always the option of a relationship based on mutual dislike but Gildarts doubted that either of them would be crazy enough to walk on that line.

“Never thought that I’d ever say this,” Ivan said as he appeared next to Gildarts, dressed in a lab coat which meant that he actually won the prize for the laziest costume because this was the same coat he wore when he was working on his projects, “but the sooner they get their act together, the easier my life will be.”

“Amen to this, amen to this,” Gildarts said as he crossed his arms over his chest, ignoring the furious hissing behind him because he had long gotten used to this sort of sound. “They aren’t fooling anyone … as much as they glare, it’s pretty clear that they are still into each other.”

“Their pride is going to break their necks and, I swear, it’ll make me want to murder them both,” the chemist muttered under his breath as he grimly stared at the stage. “I mean – why can’t one of them just send all pride to hell and snog the other? I’d highly appreciate it.”

The red-haired student nodded solemnly. “Again, amen to this,” he muttered as he crossed his arms and turned away because aside from glaring and hissing, nothing would happen and he really wished they could just crack and admit what everyone else knew.

Cause I would die to make you mine, bleed me dry each and every time. I don't mind, no I don't mind it, I would come back 1000 times

Christmas break had finally come around and after the days when snow had been troublesome because it had just been annoying to arrive at the building where a class was supposed to take place with mountains of white powdery snow on the shoulders and the head, they finally could enjoy the nicer aspects of the season. Which meant extensive snowball fights, walks in the park and – of course, the annual Christmas party which was an event that was organised by the committee for celebrations and this year, Ur presided over it.

Gildarts actually had yet to understand why the committee had allowed an outsider to become president that easily but then, Ur had presided over so many clubs in the past that she had the most impressive set of references anyone could have at this university.

And because he was a good friend (and because she had promised him free drinks), he had not complained much when she had declared that he was going to attend and that he was, for Cornelia’s sake, going to dress up nicely. This was something he would usually not do but the Christmas party had a motto in this specific year – James Bond: Heroes & Villains – and he had decided that he probably could make the sacrifice of wearing a suit to get free drinks.

(He was, however, rather sure that Ur had come to regret the motto the moment her Silver had waltzed in – and even Gildarts had to admit that the guy looked good in a nice suit.)

But as they were talking about a woman perfectly capable of hiding her genuine feelings, no one aside from Gildarts had noticed the way she had looked for a moment. And frankly, she had more important things to do than to ogle her ex-boyfriend. For example, she had to keep her current date off her track because the moment Milkovich got anywhere close to alcohol, he got handsy which was a trait she did not appreciate at all. Which, of course, prompted the question if there was anything about Milkovich she actually did like.

(The way she was casually hiding behind Silver spoke volumes about this.)

And then, the red-haired student spotted something that improved his mood instantly.

Gildarts would never deny that he was smirking when he caught sight of the plant above the head of the two people who had settled on glaring at each other throughout the evening because it was Christmas and Cornelia had made it quite clear that she was not going to allow any snide remarks in her presence.

(And smart people usually listened to her, especially when she got The Tone.)

And for their standards, Ur and Silver had truly behaved properly. Well, considering that Silver had brought Kyouka as his date, a pretty woman who was actually intelligent, as opposed to the airheads he had been using to get Ur jealous for the entirety of the semester, it was probably relative to say that they were behaving. It had pleased Gildarts to see that Ur was growing steadily more annoyed with Milkovich and that she would probably break up with him before long because he had seen far too much of the man lately and he was nearly convinced that his best friend was sharing this sentiment.

And now, the mistletoe – the plant with the power to change the course of the entire evening … if only they would stop glaring at each over for long enough to take note of it or if someone would take one for the team by telling them about the plant above their heads.

“Are my eyes deceiving me?” some green-haired girl shrieked as she bounced up and down, her voice nearly performing a somersault. Something Lilica, Gildarts’ brain supplied. “Frost and Fullbuster are caught under the mistletoe – kiss, kiss, kiss!”

Ur’s ears quickly assumed the same colour as her dress and her facial expression betrayed how mortified she was by the whole situation while Silver was grinning smugly down at her before he said something that Gildarts could not quite hear but that made Ur punch his chest while her eyes blazed with anger.

“C’mon, Ur,” someone in the crowd drawled, “it is just Fullbuster and not kissing him would be pretty bad luck … and you got a lot of exams coming up after the winter break, you know?”

Ur remained just as unfazed by this comment as Gildarts had expected. She did not believe in superstitions and she abhorred most traditions and from the look on her face, she would rather set the mistletoe aflame than to kiss anyone.

“Who even ordered the mistletoe?” she asked sharply as she looked around, trying to take a step away from her ex-boyfriend to get a better chance at looking around but her foot got caught in someone’s scarf that had fallen to the ground and rather than to walk away from the disaster in the making – because everyone was a disaster, lately – she tumbled backwards and Silver decided that it was a good time to show that while he claimed to hate her, he still cared enough to stop her from falling to the ground.

“I have no idea who could have done such a terrible thing,” Cornelia replied but the smirk on her lips and the tone in her voice gave away that she had been the one to order the mistletoes – a feat Gildarts mentally congratulated her on.

“Oh, c’mon, Frost, Fullbuster,” someone in the crowd called out to them and Gildarts was nearly sure that it was no one less than Sayla, the quiet, studious girl who sometimes got into fights with Ur in their design class. “Everyone knows that you made out a lot when you were still together – so where’s the point in being bashful now? No one expects you to marry.”

“Shut the hell up, Sayla,” Silver snapped at the black-haired woman and as result, he got a very nasty glare from his date who did not seem to mind the idea of Silver and Ur kissing at all which was pretty odd in Gildarts’ opinion.

“Ten bucks say she kisses him to get out of that mess,” Ivan muttered somewhere behind Gildarts, his voice tinged with genuine amusement and the gaze he threw Cornelia was the expression of a man who had helped in some kind of conspiracy.

“That’s only if he isn’t faster but you’re on,” Cornelia replied as she tilted her head, following the scene intently while her fingers were wrapped tightly around her glass

“You two are seriously betting on them?” Gildarts asked as he wondered if it was too late for him to join the betting pool because he had some predictions to make.

“It’s the only good thing that ever came out of their breakup,” his girlfriend replied with a shrug, her face betraying neither shame nor remorse. And god, he loved her for being so damn unapologetic about everything because everyone else was far too soft sometimes.

“Twenty bucks say that they’ll make out, realise what they’ve done and start ignoring each other until after New Year’s Eve when they’ll make out, again,” Gildarts said as he leaned against a pillar and kept watching the duo under the mistletoe, the duo that was – oh surprise – fighting over in hushed voices without realising that they were invading each others’ personal space. Ur’s hand was resting on Silver’s shoulder and he had one hand on her waist, his thumb beneath the belt of her dress.

If they were genuinely trying to make it look like they were no longer into each other, they needed to take some acting classes because they were not fooling anyone at all. Not that they ever had been able to deceive the more attentive people in the first place. For either of them to claim that they had suddenly stopped caring about the other had been the best joke of the year, especially considering that two days before they had broken up, they had been merrily making out in the auditorium which had made it even more ridiculous in Gildarts’ opinion.

For the moment, they were stuck with one another because there was no one else in the whole world who would be able to put up with them because they were – when it came down to it – a tad bit too intense in terms of personality and whoever wanted to be with them had to accept that they came with tons of baggage and the ambition to leave all of this behind and to become someone who was better than the person they had been before.

“Ur, just get over with it,” Layla Heartfilia – golden-haired and princess-like as always – said as she crossed her arms over her chest while she leaned against her boyfriend’s side, her pretty face contorted in a frown. “It’s not like kissing him is a new experience.”

And for a reason Gildarts did not quite comprehend, this was the statement that actually caused some development because the former couple traded one last glare before they leaned in at the same time – and although a short peck would have satisfied the onlookers (most of which already started to look away right after their faces grew closer), they lived up to their reputation of never doing anything half-heartedly.

(Stupid idiots and their goddamn pride, they should know by now where it left them.)

It seemed like they had both forgotten that they were in the middle of the party and that their respective dates were currently watching because before long, Silver’s hands were in Ur’s hair – Gildarts could already hear her complain about this – and her left arm was slung around his neck as they kissed with far more conviction than it would have been necessary.

Gildarts averted his gaze at this point, he had seen them make out far too many times in the past to be keen on watching it once again. And it was far more interesting to watch the reaction of the people who were still looking. Milkovich looked like his head was about to explode while Kyouka looked like she could hardly care less, her face merely showed disinterest. Layla had raised her left eyebrow and seemed to consider saying something that would stop them but in Gildarts’ expertise, they were too far gone to still be stopped – at least this event would erase any doubt regarding the question if they really still were into each other. The answer was yes, they still were. Very much so.

Next to him, Cornelia was chuckling and he turned his head to look at her. “Good god,” she managed to stay as she started to calm herself again, “just look at Milkovich – he looks like he’s about to start one hell of a fight … and he really should know that Silver is stronger.”

Ivan crossed his arms, his head tilted as he observed their favourite non-couple. “…someone should pour some cold water onto them,” he stated drily after a moment of silence, “or we’ll get into serious trouble … that whole thing doesn’t seem too rational to me right now.”

And he was right.

This kiss was charged with the frustration of months, with the anger they both felt over their breakup – and Gildarts still did not know why they had separated – and it had never ended well when they had allowed themselves to get lost inside the mess they had called love although it had been a time bomb right from the start. Someone had to snap them out of it and this was taking priority – but no one was going to offer up for this because it was such a, well, personal moment and they had all wanted for them to actually do something about their problems rather than to devise a million plans to ruin the other one.

“Don’t see you offering up,” Cornelia said drily as she crossed her arms and looked at the black-haired student. “Also, I think that their brains woke up again.”

Judging from the way both of them appeared to be entirely mortified once they realised what they had done – and even Fullbuster was not smooth enough to look unfazed by this – and the way Ur’s eyes actually betrayed her panic about the situation, this had not made things easier. And god, Gildarts knew why his best friend was inwardly freaking out. She had kept her armour on at all times since the semester had started and now, it had cracked. And even worse, it had cracked when the one person she had wanted to keep in the dark at all costs had been watching from the front row. Or, to go with the worst case scenario, Silver Fullbuster had torn her precious armour to shreds.

Thankfully, he had not noticed it and even if he had wanted to say something, he never got the chance because Bane Milkovich’s fist collided with his jaw the moment the blond man had finally regained his ability to move. This was a disaster and Gildarts groaned.

But inside of Ur’s tiny body, some countdown had just ran out and she twirled around, the end of her braid slapping Milkovich before she came to glare at him. “Stop this nonsense now,” she hissed before she reached for her bag. “And don’t you dare calling me. This is all ridiculous. Everyone, have a good night, I’ll drive home.”

And then, she was gone and everyone was staring at Silver who just shrugged. “Not my fault,” he said as he lifted his ends in defence and for once, there was no space whatsoever for doubt. No, it had not been his fault. It had been no one’s fault although this was a foreign concept, one that might be difficult to accept.

(But at least, there was no way Milkovich would ever be relevant in Gildarts’ life again.)

(Off the ice hockey field, at least.)

You can make me wait forever, push me away and tell me never. I don't mind, no I don't mind it, I would come back 1000 times

Gildarts did not mind the hospital room quite as much as he fought he would. It was calm and although Ur was sleeping a lot, she was conscious most of the time he spent there, quietly talking to him about how furious she was with herself because she should have known better than to drive home at night when the streets had been iced and she had been overly emotional. Usually, she was a very good driver but she was not some kind of robot and she made mistakes at times – and this time, the mistake was the reason why she would spent Christmas in the hospital rather than at home with her family which had been her original plan.

The doctors had just given her something that would make her sleep for a while and she had fallen asleep more or less instantly when the door to the room was opened and a familiar person entered the room, his steps a bit awkward before he gave himself a push and crossed the room quickly. “Evening, Clive,” Silver greeted as he smirked his trademark grin.

Gildarts was rather happy to realise that while Ur’s minor freak-out after the kiss (which had been a make-out-session but those were details) could have been seen as a rejection of the very idea of ever getting back together with Silver, the man in question knew that it had been mostly because she had been mortified with her own actions. Otherwise, Silver would not have arrived to check up on her as he was a proud man and did not handle rejection well.

(At least not when he was emotionally involved in something which he was.)

It was nearly insulting in Gildarts’ opinion that the other man was still trying to act like he had lost all interest in his ex-girlfriend because a blind man could see that while the old closeness had been replaced with an odd mixture of physical attraction and frustration, it was still as intoxicating for both of them as it had always been. If not even more so.

But knowing them, they would keep pushing the other one away just to drag them back in for at least a few more weeks, waiting for the other one to break and to admit what they, deep down, both knew just too well. But as long as they were doing this, the damage would remain limited to them and everyone else would be as safe as they could be, considering that one of their friends was a genius studying chemistry.

(To be clear, Ur had been the one who had insisted that Ivan would make a wonderful addition to their circle of friends so if they all would end up blown up, she would be to blame.)

And under different circumstances, Gildarts would have considered the way they were still looking out for each other to be cute. Given the actual circumstances, he was five minutes away from agreeing with pretty much everyone that it would be the smartest thing to just lock them into a room and refuse to let them out until they had worked through their issues.

“Fullbuster,” Gildarts replied with a nod as he lowered his newspaper to frown at the black-haired man. “Didn’t think that you’d visit … well, you’re out of luck, she’s out.”

“She wasn’t supposed to know that I visit,” the other man said with a shrug as he sat down on the second chair, a frown on his face. “Heard she had an accident.”

“You mean that Cornelia told you,” Gildarts stated drily. There was no point in questioning it, this was a fact. There was no one else who might have decided that it was important for Silver Fullbuster to know that while the rumour about Ur’s accident was true, she had not been as badly injured as some of the stories claimed.

“Yeah,” the black-haired man said after a moment before he pressed his lips together. “How did it even happen? I always thought she was a pretty good driver.”

Gildarts sighed deeply before he folded the newspaper he had been reading and patted the sleeping woman’s wrist. “You know, she wasn’t drunk,” he started because he remembered quite well how the police had questioned him if Ur had been drinking during the party and he also remembered being quite furious about the mere suspicion because Ur was far too smart to drive when she was under the influence.

“Yeah, I know,” Silver confirmed as he rolled his eyes, a quick smirk crossing his lips. “Pretty much the minute before she left, we kissed … I’d have known if she had been drunk.”

Gildarts rolled his eyes although he should have known that he would have to listen to something like this. But he was right, if Ur had had a drink during the party, Silver would probably have been the only relevant person to know about it because he was the one who had kissed her and who would have tasted the alcohol during the kiss if it had been there. “The street was frozen,” he said as he rested his forefinger against his best friend’s steady beating pulse, “and there was a doe … she tried to, well, dodge that bullet, lost control on the frozen ground when the brakes got no grip and … hit the tree.”

For a moment, Fullbuster was silent before he sighed deeply and shook his head. “Sounds like she was pretty unlucky,” he said after a moment of awkward silence. “How is she doing?”

“Oh, her temper survived the crash unharmed,” Gildarts said as he scoffed gently. “You heard her telling Milkovich not to call her? Well, he did and she threw her phone against the wall.”

Fullbuster smirked and muttered something under his breath that Gildarts could not quite understand because the sound was muffled but then, he tilted his head. “How injured is she?” he asked and it was a question the red-haired man had secretly dreaded from the start.

“No broken bones,” he started because this was indeed the bright side about the situation. If Ur had broken her arm, she would not be able to enjoy her hobby and then, her mood would turn sour – and that would be yet another formula for disaster. “She just, well, hit her head pretty hard. To me, it seems like she’s okay … but the doctors worry about it a lot.”

And this worry was contagious in Gildarts’ opinion because it had infected him already. He had called his mother when he had received the call that Ur was in the hospital to tell her that he would rather stay in Fiore than to travel to Seven to meet his new stepfather and ever since he had made this call – which he been the first of many because he had had the questionable pleasure of informing Ivan as well – he had not left the room as long as visiting hours were still scheduled because whatever the outcome would be, he would be there.

“I’m pretty sure that she’ll be okay,” Silver said after a moment. “Her head is pretty hard … like it’s some sort of helmet but … don’t tell her I said that. Actually, don’t tell her that I was here.”

Gildarts rolled his eyes because this was slowly getting ridiculous. He had seen Ur’s face when she had heard that  Silver had gotten knocked out on the field during his last match – for a moment, she had been absolutely terrified before she had covered it up – and he knew that she had sneaked into the medical building to check up on him which was probably something she would make a point out of denying if she was ever tortured for information. And now, he was sitting in the hospital room with Silver who did not want Ur to know that he had been worried enough about the news to come to town and personally make sure that she had survived the accident and that she would likely not suffer any permanent damage. They were idiotic in the way they still cared and did not admit it.

(And in the way they were still pretty much in love but did not admit that one, either.)

Kiss me goodnight, like a good friend might. I'll do the same but won't mean it

It was always easy to determine when Ur Frost was on the warpath for one reason or another because this was when she was moving like she was chased by the horsemen of the apocalypse and right now, she was approaching Silver Fullbuster with quick steps before she grabbed the man’s tie and dragged him off. Gildarts followed her and leaned against the empty classroom’s doorframe as she used her martial art classes from day in the past to hurl the man much taller than her halfway across the room.

“Well, I do remember you being into some—” Silver then decided against finishing his sentence because it was very obvious that Ur was in no mood whatsoever to play around, even less than usual, and the black-haired man knew this just as well as Gildarts’ did.

“I thought we had a deal,” she snapped as she started to pace around, the red of her lips the only colour on her face. “Whatever we do, we don’t touch each other’s academic pursuit.”

“What are you talking about?” Silver asked and there was genuine confusion in his face and Gildarts had spent enough time around the man to know when he was playing some game.

“Someone stole the draft for my paper,” Ur said sharply as she looked at her wristwatch, seeing one of the very few things that could scare her: a deadline approaching while she had no chance on getting whatever she had to hand in to her professors in time. “And I want to know who.”

A part of Gildarts wanted to connect his palm with his forehead because it was hardly a good idea of hers to flat-out question him whether or but he had stolen something from her. First of all, Silver was not the kind of guy to ruin her academic and professional life – especially not considering that the reason for their war had always been personal and considering that it would be stupid to bring it to the higher level when the first one was not yet cleared. And secondly, blunt accusations usually caused people to block everything out because they felt offended. In short, Ur had had better strategies in the past.

Therefore, Gildarts let a sigh escape as he shook his head at his best friend. “C’mon, Ur,” he started but she went ahead and simply ignored him.

“Yeah, because I’d know what out of your stuff would be graded, totally,” the man said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes at her before he rubbed his ribcage where he had collided with a desk. “I didn’t take your draft.”

Ur was a med student and she was one of their top students, causing a lot of pressure for her because she was generally seen as the equivalent to what Ivan was over in the chemistry department: someone who would go far, very far. Her work was maybe not entirely unparalleled as there were brilliant doctors-to-be all over the country but people believed that she would be the one graduating from university as the best on the entire country.

“It wouldn’t be hard for you to figure it out,” she said as she crossed the room, pressing her left hand against his pulse. “But I allow you the benefit of a doubt … convince me.”

He smirked at her and for a moment, Gildarts was sure that he would make yet another comment that did not have to be but he rather exhaled and straightened his spine. “I did not take your drafts,” he stated calmly while his eyes remained trained on her face, “and now I want to know if you sabotaged my laptop.”

For a moment, Gildarts was taken aback because Ur looked like a part of her wanted to punch the man because of the question he had just uttered. “Excuse me?” she then asked as her entire face was one of confusion. “How would I possibly benefit from this?”

“I’m here on scholarship,” he said and then, it was his hand against her pulse. “If I can’t maintain my grades, I’d be cast out … and you’d have successfully gotten rid of me.”

She was silent for a moment before she crossed her arms, her face settling into the expression of a woman who had to make a deal she would possibly end up regretting dearly. “As you know, I don’t sabotage things,” she stated calmly as she looked up at him with calculation in her eyes, “I fix them and so it’s safe to assume that I could probably fix your laptop … and if you give me a reason, I just might.”

Coming from anyone else, Gildarts would have trouble believing it but Ur’s grandfather was the Jacques Frost, brilliant engineer and universal genius. Before Ur had decided to go against her family’s expectations, she had spent countless hours in her grandfather’s workshop as they were very close and so it was certain that if she wanted to, she could fix the laptop.

“Pretty sure that if I’d use my, um, resources, I should be able to work out who took your draft,” Silver said as he removed his hand from her neck, obviously satisfied with the result of the improvised lie detector test, and scratched his neck. “You fix it?”

“Just might if you bring it over,” she said as her face slowly regained its usual colour. “I’ll be working on some emergency notes, just in case you can’t find the originals.”

“Meaning you’ll be wearing headphones, got it,” he said with a nod as he turned to leave the room before he stopped in the doorframe. “And yes, I’ll still knock before I march in.”

“Wasn’t going to remind you,” she said as she nodded at Gildarts with a nearly apologetic expression on her face. “You still want me to check your paper?” she asked as she stretched and Gildarts attempted to calculate how many hours she had left before her deadline struck. It were not too many so she vastly depended on Silver’s ability to get the information where her draft was because otherwise, she would be in serious trouble. And she was moving out of her comfort zone by trusting Silver with the future of her position as the top student of her department and all the privileges coming with it. She would not do this for anyone but she was doing it for him because there was a part of her that would always trust him.

“Cornelia offered that she’d do it,” Gildarts said as a sensation of dread grew in him. Someone had taken down Silver’s laptop and had known that the man would suspect Ur which meant that he would talk to her. And someone had nicked Ur’s precious notes, knowing that she would suspect Silver. Someone had planned this, someone was playing them all – and this someone had a lot of insider knowledge and the technical skill of taking out a laptop. Someone like, for example, Cornelia and Ivan. Who were both exactly the people to come up with inane plans when it was for a greater good – and getting Ur and Silver to be civil once again was something that had highest priority for everyone at the moment.

“Oh, okay,” Ur said as she raised an eyebrow before she sent one last glare at Silver. “And if I find out that you took my draft to get me to fix your laptop for you…”

“Nice try, darlin’, but I’m not that cheap,” he replied as he looked over his shoulder to smirk at her. “Anyway, I’m off to track your sacred draft … I’ll drop off the laptop later.”

Cause love is a cage, these words on a page carry the pain, they don't free it

Gildarts was not sure why it had taken him so long to come to this conclusion but when he sat down with Cornelia and Ivan at their library – Cornelia’s field was physics so she was usually hanging out at the science compound – but he felt like he had to talk with them both before things could get out of hand. It was not even that he disapproved of their objective but he was not too happy about the path they had chosen to get there was nothing he wanted to have anything to do with because although he was not above drastic measures, he was drawing a line. And apparently, where he drew the line was where they got started.

“Let’s be honest,” he started, skipping any polite greetings. “I’ve had enough of their behaviour as well … but sabotaging their academic pursuit? That’s going a bit too far.”

Cornelia was silent for a moment before she frowned deeply. “We heard ‘bout that,” she said as she closed her textbook and focused her entire attention on him, “and we thought that it might have been you because it sure as hell wasn’t either of us – we are buried in homework.”

“So we have an unknown third party messing around, wonderful,” Ivan groaned as he looked up from something that seemed extremely complicated. “Oh, amazing. Just what we needed.”

“Exactly,” Gildarts said as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the table in hopes to find the meaning of the mess he was in there. “But on the upside, they seem to be capable of civil interaction – well, if you ignore Ur dragging him around like a suitcase.”

The expression on Cornelia’s face was fond for a moment as she shook her head. “It was always adorable when she did this,” she said as she rested her chin on her hand and stared off into the distance. “Or better said, when he let her do it.”

Gildarts had never understood why so many people had squealed about the size difference between Silver and Ur because sometimes, it had looked absolutely ridiculous – like the time she had had to jump up and down to be able to kiss him when he had been grumpy – but there had always been people who had declared it to be the most adorable thing ever. But he knew better than to argue about this with his girlfriend. “Yeah, it’s not so adorable when she throws him halfway across the room,” he said with a grim smile and a shrug.

The brunette girl flinched as she sighed deeply. “She was pretty mad about the draft then, I suppose,” she muttered before she went on and on about how this did not justify Ur being this aggressive. “Anyway … what’s our next play?”

“I don’t want to be the rain on your parade, Cornelia, but we have to pass our exams,” Ivan said as he glanced at her in an apologetic manner. “So whatever we’ll do, it has to be after we made sure that we got all the credits we need to finish the semester the way we’ve planned.”

Cornelia grimaced as she sighed deeply. “I hate it when you’re so rational,” she said as she reached over the table and rested her hand in Gildarts’ while her face softened. “But I suppose you’re right,” she continued with a sigh. “If we fail our exams, we’ll be in serious trouble.”

And they would have the time to come up with a plan because the situation would remain the same because unless someone would throw them a key, Ur and Silver would be stuck in the mess that had been born from the ruins of their relationship.

“I still wonder who had the skill to take down his laptop and steal her draft,” Ivan said as he looked around in the library, his head resting on his shoulder as he scanned the people. “I suppose it was someone who is highly intelligent.”

“Sayla,” Cornelia suggested as she flipped her textbook open again. “She’s into computer engineering, right? This means that she’d have the skill to do it … and the opportunity as well.”

“She wouldn’t have a motif,” Gildarts argued as he scratched his neck. “She and Ur are rivals, yes, but why would she do something to Silver? Aren’t they friends or something?”

“Well, Sayla isn’t really friends with anyone but Kyouka,” his girlfriend said with a shrug as she reached for her pen. “I’d know, they live in my dorm building. “And maybe Silver kissing Frostbite bothered Kyouka more than she admitted and – this makes no sense at all.”

“Because Kyouka doesn’t need Sayla to avenge her, yes,” Gildarts nodded as he twirled a pen between his fingers. “So maybe it wasn’t Sayla—”

“Oh, no doubt about that one,” Ivan said as he rolled his eyes. “All of that? Sayla’s handiwork – we just got the wrong motif … and I suppose it might be connected to Fullbuster blackmailing Kyouka – as if she’d ever go out with him unless she had a pretty good reason to.”

In a way, that would make sense. Kyouka was an awfully serious woman and she did not date at all – and this was not because there were not any others. It was actually quite the opposite, she had suitors lining up wherever she went and she turned them all down. Unconfirmed rumour actually had it that the reason why she did not date any of those poor fools was that she was secretly dating Sayla – which, in case that it was true, would give the black-haired woman a pretty good motif to take revenge on Silver and Ur because if the situation between them had not been quite as difficult, there had been no reason why Silver to convince Kyouka to go with him to the stupid, pointless Christmas party – but Gildarts knew better than to bank on a rumour, on something that would always be a maybe.

In another life, I wouldn't need to console myself as I resign to release you

Something was odd about the Ur was lounging on the couch, her body appearing to be nearly boneless. She looked a bit like a cat, lazing around in the sun, and the way she was smirking surely added to the comparison. She was dressed in a grey pullover and a short skirt which was her normal spring attire but Gildarts still picked up on it because there was an odd tension in the entire room as Cornelia was preparing the game they had decided to play.

It was the party for Ivan’s birthday and technically, it had been supposed to be rescheduled because of the chemist’s claim that he had to work on his dissertation – stupid genius, seriously – but then his girlfriend had returned from her stay abroad and everything had changed and the party for the birthday had also become the homecoming party for Roxanne.

“Okay,” Ivan said as he traded a quick glance with Cornelia and smirked ever so slightly, “everyone, take a card – and yes, that includes you, Fullbuster. So if you’d please stop kissing your date and remember that you said you’d be playing…”

And just like it had been with the mistletoe incident, Gildarts saw it happening before it actually had started. This game was yet another magnificent scheme designed by Cornelia and Ivan – with the chemist coming up with the basic idea and the woman being the one to make it possible because for reasons Gildarts really did not want to know, his girlfriend was a pro at everything card related because she could cheat at every card game without a problem.

“Pushy, aren’t we?” the black-haired man asked as he took a card from her and rolled his eyes.

On the couch, Ur was allowing herself a quick glance at her ex-boyfriend’s current date but she did not seem to be particularly bothered by the other woman – which might be because after the odd time Silver had brought Kyouka as his date, he had gone back to dating girls who were not even half as smart as Ur, who were not half as skilled as Ur when it came to dealing with Silver. In short, while the never-ending string of dates got to kiss the man, they failed to connect to him on a deeper level, causing the doctor to remain nearly laughable calm.

“Ur,” Cornelia said as she rolled her eyes at Silver. “Are you going to play?”

“Of course,” she replied as she sat up straight, resting her feet in her boyfriend’s – Gildarts had not bothered to learn the poor sap’s name as he would disappear before long like the ones before him – lap, before she reached for one of the cards. “It’s Ivan’s birthday after all.”

Gildarts smirked at his girlfriend and his second-best friend because they usually counted on the event that Ur openly stated that she was going to play nice because of some special occasion. Of course, he felt bad for manipulating her. She was his best friend in the world and she did not deserve to be played in any form but frankly, with the way both parts of the former couple behaved, they did one hell of a job at making themselves look like fools.

(Mostly by wasting their time on dating people who were attractive and probably very nice – unless their name was Bane Milkovich – but not the kind of person they could make last in their lives, not with the history they shared with one another.)

The only people who were in danger of getting hurt even more than Ur and Silver were the people those two were dating because it was dangerous to try ‘casual dating’ with two people who were very easy to fall for, according to other people. Gildarts had never had the problem as he had already been dating Cornelia when he had become friends with Ur and since he was not interested in men in a romantic or sexual manner, he had never fallen for Silver either.

“Good, let’s get started … King of Spades … would you sleep with the Seven of Hearts?” Cornelia asked and in spite of her innocent facial expression, it did not surprise Gildarts at all when Ur looked up from her card with an alerted expression on her face.

“Who’s the seven?” she asked but there was a vibe in her voice that made obvious that a part of her already knew who it would turn out to be.

“That’d be me,” Silver replied with a nearly sadistic grin and Gildarts felt very sorry for Ur.

The black-haired woman glared at Cornelia for about ten seconds before she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms behind her head while she arched one eyebrow. “Huh,” she said as she briefly gazed at her ex-boyfriend. “What do they say again? Been there, done that. I suppose that should satisfy your curiosity, Cornelia.”

The brunette seemed to be nearly impressed with the rather cold-blooded reply but then, it was Layla’s boyfriend – and Gildarts had always known that there had to be something interesting about Jude Heartfilia – who smirked widely at the black-haired woman and raised an eyebrow at her. “I remind you of the Christmas party,” he said before Layla glared at him.

But even this did not manage to get the woman who had the nickname Frostbite for a pretty good reason out of her usual composure. Ur remained entirely unfazed as she looked at her fingernails, a gesture infamous to demonstrate disinterest. “We all do stupid things sometimes,” she said coolly as she reached for her glass, smiling gently at her current boyfriend, “and not all of them are actually meaningful, you know?”

It was an elegant way for her to end the conversation about this and it had been necessary, sadly, since there had been rumours – as always – that after her dramatic exit, Silver had crept into her room and they had finished what they had started. This was a story Gildarts knew to be false because Silver had still been on the party, making a fool out of himself as he had been pretty drunk, when Gildarts had left and about five minutes later, the red-haired man had received the call that had informed him about the car accident.

What people did not seem to get was that Ur was on no quest to get Silver back from whatever other girl was currently dating him. Gildarts was rather convinced that if this had been her objective, she would have long achieved it. She was willed to let him go and a part of her had done so but there was still the side of her that was highly upset with the man and the end of their relationship and this was the side of her that was working so hard on ruining his life.

(This was something more painful than jealousy, it was genuine anger.)

She was still in love but she was in no mood to fight what she deemed to be a losing battle. Ninety percent of her friendship with Ivan consisted out of chess games and she was the expert for strategy – meaning that she was not going to waste resources on something she doubted she would ever be able to win back.

Again, again – I let it go, let it go, cover my mouth, don't let a single word slip out

Gildarts had hoped that the days of pointless fights were over but then, it started all over again. It was usually not like Ur to pick a fight as she preferred to end fights and did hardly ever start one but her latest design had been rejected in her class and she had had a drink too many and while she was far from being drunk, she was tipsy and yearning for a fight. And for a reason Gildarts did not comprehend, her victim of choice was her ex-boyfriend who, in turn, was always up for any kind of fight. It was the recipe for disaster and everyone knew it.

Their fight escalated quickly and as they were both intoxicated and in a bad mood, willed to draw blood somewhere and since they could impossibly take it out on the people who had upset them, they took it out on each other, remembering that the other one could handle it. So yes, maybe their relationship had been slightly unhealthy in the past as well. At least at times.

And it was rather unsurprising that the ground they settled on was, finally, Silver’s girlfriends.

(If they could even be called girlfriends since their only real purpose seemed to be to piss Ur off – a purpose they usually did not fulfil because Ur simply did not care at all.)

A part of Gildarts wanted to step in the line “So yeah, I doubt you actually talk to them, you know? Actually, I never saw you talking to any of them” left his best friend’s mouth because this was exactly the direction a conversation with the ex should not take unless someone wanted to sound bitter and slightly jealous. The first trait definitively applied to Ur while the second did not. She was not jealous because jealousy was below her.

However, it did not seem like any one had bothered to pass the memo ‘proper conversation topics when handling The Ex’ along to Silver – which might be connected to the way he was going through girlfriends lately – because the way he set down his beer to grin at Ur spoke volumes and announced nothing good. “Ya know, sweetheart, not everything is about talk,” he started and another part of Gildarts wanted to cover his mouth to make him shut up, “especially not in the night … if you know what I mean.”

Aside from the fact that any kid could have told him what he meant, it had been their implied topic for the past five minutes and so it was unsurprising that Ur threw back her head as she laughed before she downed her drink – it was her third, she had to slow down or to drop the hard liquor – and smirked at him. “You know I do,” she said and her cheeks remained pale because it was literally impossible to embarrass her lately – Gildarts would know that well.

“And here I had nearly forgotten about that,” Silver remarked drily but no one needed to have a finger on his pulse to know that he was being dishonest right now. He had not forgotten because if he had, he would not be looking at her the way he was. They were pathetic. Everyone could tell that a not-too-small part of them wanted to drop the fight to make out (and probably a bit more, too) but as usual, they were stuck.

“I doubt that,” Ur said as she snapped her fingers, ordering yet another drink. “And you should know better than to lie to me, Fullbuster. You know I always catch you.”

Yet another part of Gildarts wanted to step in but it would send the wrong message.

He was not their mediator, it was not his goddamn job to remind them to play nice. They were adults and at some point, they would have no choice but to own up to this fact and to remember that they were two of the few students who were at the university on a scholarship – Silver because of his sport and Ur due to her academic skill – and that if they could not maintain their performance (and at some point, their fight would become a problem there), they might lose their scholarships and this was something absolutely no one wanted to happen because it would not be the same without them around and Gildarts could admit that he would miss both of them and not just Ur if the worst case were to become reality. They were his friends and – once upon a time – they had been each other’s friend as well and he nearly wished that they would at least go back to that because their constant fighting was getting troublesome.

“Which is pretty creepy, by the way,” he muttered but he leaned a little closer to her and his face assumed a challenging expression. “You never asked where I found your notes.”

“I didn’t have to ask, I worked it out myself,” she said, arrogance seeping into her voice because it was all about ego right now and she was not going to let him beat her. “I actually feel sorry for you … what did you tell her when you came to pick up the prints? ‘Sorry, dear, but my she-devil ex from hell wants those back and has my laptop as her hostage’? I mean, I could picture you saying something like this … which says a lot if you ask me…”

“She-devil ex from hell? Now you’re just flattering yourself,” Silver snorted.

Gildarts wanted to hit his head against the bar counter because they were both acting like children. Well, like intoxicated kids. They were mercilessly preying on what they deemed to be the other’s weaknesses and there was nothing tender about them. They were a blank nerve, completely exposed to everything – because when they had broken up, they had stripped away whatever protection the other might have had before. The cruelty in their behaviour was that they were turning knowledge against the other one. They knew how to hurt each other because once upon a time, they had promised to never ever do this.

(But promises were always what ended up broken before everything else when it came to a war fought between two people who had once been in love – and actually still were – and had forgotten how to express it because there was so much bitterness involved.)

“Heard you calling me that,” she replied as she pinched the bridge of her nose before she smiled at the bar tender as he handed her the new drink. “And actually, I don’t mind it at all.”

“C’mon, you seriously don’t mind me calling you Satan’s incarnate?” Silver asked, his speech slurred as he had had quite a few drinks already at this point of time.

“Satan, as you should know, was once an angel,” she said as she stole the olive he had fished out of his drink without much of a second thought which betrayed how intoxicated she was because usually, she tended to think too much about everything. “He was Lucifer, the light bringer – and he was cast down from the heavens because he loved god too much to bow to the humans. Well, that’s one of many different stories.”

“Keep talking like that and I’ll remember a time when I found it pretty hot when you rambled on and on,” the black-haired man remarked as he reached for the bowl with chips between them. “Seriously – how do you even do that?”

“Maybe you’re attracted to intelligence,” she said sarcastically before she laughed so hard that she nearly chocked on her olive and Gildarts reached out to pat her back, silently reassuring her of his presence and of how he would be there to stop her if she would go completely crazy. “And people say my jokes are horrible,” she added as she wiped away a tear.

“They are,” Gildarts said as he shrugged at Silver who had laughed about it as well. It had been a long time since either of them had last encountered Ur’s drunken personality and it had been even longer since Gildarts had been more or less sober when she had come out to play.

“You are the worst best friend I’ve ever had,” she complained as she downed her drink – gin, as always – like it was water. “I swear if I could bring you back to the store, I totally would.”

“I’m your one and only best friend,” Gildarts pointed out as he rested one hand on her shoulder, trying to nonverbally communicate that it might be better for her to turn in.

“Nah, Ivan and I work on something these days,” she said as she reached behind her and managed to get the chemist to materialise out of nowhere. “Never worked with someone who—”

“—finishes my sentences, yes,” Ivan said as he rolled his eyes at her. “Talking about finishing things, I’d suggest that we have a chat with Cornelia. She might have some ideas.”

For a moment, Silver was silent and just glared at them as they disappeared before he rolled his eyes. “And here I was wondering,” he muttered before he ordered another beer. “Wondered who on earth was the poor fool keeping her mind busy.”

“He has a girlfriend,” Gildarts said before he sat down on the chair Ur had left empty. “Also, real talk, they aren’t like that. Dammit, Fullbuster, you sound like an emotional fool instead of your usual asshole self. I can’t deal with you like that.”

And this was the truth because he had enjoyed having one friend around he did not have to handle with extra-care because he would fall apart otherwise. He loved Ur but she could be rather sensitive when she was stressing out over something and Ivan was even worse. Silver had been a welcome change from this pattern because Gildarts could afford being rather blunt without having to fear that he might have hurt his ex-roommate’s feelings.

Silver rolled his eyes as he stared at the drink he had ordered and removed the olive with a disgusted expression on his face. “Be as blunt with me as you want to be, Clive, unless a certain dainty little princess, I can handle it,” he said with a scoff. “Also, for the record, what I meant is that I did notice her not dating around as much lately. Her project keeps her busy.”

Gildarts did not bother to point out that Silver sounded rather happy about this fact and rather decided that it was time for a wakeup call. “I’ll say this once and just once and I will deny ever saying it afterwards,” he started as he crossed his arms over his chest while he waited for the right words to come – words that happened to be Cornelia’s strength but she was talking about the mystery project with Ur and Ivan. “The last time you two kept fighting, it was because you were both too foolish to actually do something about your feelings,” he said as he scratched his neck, “and I’m nearly sure that it’s the same all over again.”

“If this is the be-careful-or-one-day-you’ll-see-her-with-another-guy-and-realise-that-you-fucked-up-talk, Cornelia was faster than you,” Silver said as he shrugged, rubbing his temples for a moment. “But you know, everyone keeps harping onto me. I know what I’m doing – not too sure about her there, actually. I mean, seriously? Dating Milkovich to get back at me?”

“But it worked, didn’t it?” Gildarts asked as he patted the man’s shoulder twice before he grabbed his beer to join his girlfriend at the billiard table where she and Ur were currently taking out a bunch of freshmen who seemed to believe that they were especially awesome.

(Spoiler: they were not and lost pathetically.)

Wouldn't wanna tell you, no, tell you, no, nothing could be worse than the risk of losing what I don't have now

In all honestly, the way everything ended was awfully anticlimactic but this was maybe for the better because Gildarts had seen more than enough drama in the past months and he was rather convinced that the entire semester had burned up his tolerance for drama for years to come because no matter how much he loved Ur – and she was like a little sister who was sometimes a bit annoying to him – he was not happy about the way things had happened. This was mostly because she had hurt herself and because she had hurt people she loved – and this had never been like her in the first place.

He had been nearly convinced that he would have to be the one giving her a wakeup call – she could not keep this up least that she wanted to end up hating herself – but then, when he was still preparing his speech, he overheard the newest rumours, rumours about ‘Frost and Fullbuster are yelling at each other’ and although his first reaction was to wonder where the novelty was in all of this, he got up and followed the crowd of students who seemed to want to get a seat in the first row.

(He overheard people considering to get some popcorn on the way to the scene and he briefly mused when exactly his best friend’s love life had become the number one topic of interest.)

He found Ur and Silver in on the yard in front of the library, circling around each other like two fighters in the ring who seemed to be both waiting for the opponent to make the first move – something the opponent would probably not do because they were both highly aware how fast this could go critical – and they were both too smart to actually provoke a full-out fight when they could prevent it from happening.

Gildarts needed to take a moment to remind himself that they had had fights before and that there was no reason to worry because although Ur was short and although this was once more highlighted by Silver’s height, she made up for this with her mere presence so that neither of them was towering over the other one.

“What’s this even about?” he asked Cornelia who had quietly materialised by his side, her arms crossed and her face set in an expression that literally said ‘I am so fucking done with those two idiots and if they don’t make up soon, I’ll kill them both and plead self defence’.

“Remember how no one knew why they broke up?” she hissed as she reached into her bag to take a sip from her water bottle. “Turns out, neither of them broke up with the other.”

He blinked a few times before he shook his head at her. “You got to be kidding,” he said as he looked back at the fighting perhaps-still-couple. “We had six months of war over nothing?”

“Well, it’s not quite that easy,” she admitted as she shook her head and allowed her frustration to show. “When they had their last fight, they both said things. So she concluded that he had broken up with her and the other way around. It was basically one hell of a misunderstanding.”

Gildarts wished that he could say that it was surprising for him that in the end, the drama of the past months could be explained with something that appeared rather odd and pretty random but sadly, it made sense. Neither Ur nor Silver were the type to ask for confirmation when they believed that they had been broken up with because they were proud and stubborn – which was a combination made to complicate about everything. “I fucking can’t believe this,” he hissed nonetheless as he glared at them both. “Seriously? A misunderstanding? That hasn’t been cleared up yet? In all those months?”

“Pretty much, yes,” his girlfriend confirmed as she reached for an aspiring which she was thankfully always carrying in her bag. “And if Ur hadn’t been asked how to break up with someone while he was listening, they still wouldn’t know about it all.”

A part of Gildarts wondered if it was too late to go back in time and to change the moment when he had become friends with Ur because if he had not made this decision, his life would have been far easier – and not filled with girls who accidentally broke up with their boyfriend and let the situation escalate afterwards because she was hurt. Gildarts did not think that whatever he might have done in a previous life would demand this kind of punishment.

Down in the yard, Ur was marching in narrow circles, her arms halfway lifted and her hands clenched to fists – not because she actually wanted to punch someone but because she was as furious as it could be expected of her, given the current situation. “—and you didn’t consider that maybe, it might be smart to just talk to me?” she asked sharply before she performed a swift turn and changed the direction of her pacing. “Like, I don’t know, a normal person?”

It was not like she was in the right position to accuse Silver of behaving wrongly in the situation but trying to find someone else to blame was a human reaction and it had been far too long since she had allowed her instincts to rule her behaviour as she usually remained in control of everything and probably even more.

“The way you sought out a conversation with me?” Silver snapped back as he passed her, their arms brushing. “Oh, c’mon, you weren’t keen on seeing me or talking to be either.”

“Yes, because I thought that you were done with me,” she hissed back at him.

“You two are both idiots,” Cornelia declared loudly as she glared at the fighting duo, “and I’ve had enough of your pathetic little antics. I’ll ask you two questions now: first of all, was the reason why you acted like morons to get the other one jealous? Oh wait, I know the answer myself: yes, it was. Did it work? Yes, it did. Did the other one admit to it?” She stopped for a moment and titled her head, obviously taking a moment to consider it herself before she shook her head. “No, they did not – because you’re both too stubborn and proud to admit what everyone with eyes could see,” she snapped before she took a swift break before she massaged her temples, her headache growing steadily from the way it looked. “Moving on to the next question,” she continued as she rolled her eyes at them, “could you please just make up and end this nonsense? Because it gets on my nerves.”

Around them, a major part of the crowd seemed to realise that the yelling and the drama were over and that it might be better to get to class on time so the mob dispersed quickly.

“Gets on your nerves?” Ur snapped as she turned to look over her shoulder, her face white with anger and her voice dangerous soft. “I apologise for inconveniencing you then.”

“Don’t take your anger out on me,” Cornelia replied as she mentioned towards Silver. “You two were the ones to hurt each other, now go and fix what you messed up.”

“To that point?” Ur asked as she crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Silver but although she tried, she could not act quite as tough as usually. “He doesn’t trust me – and yes, I’m taking it as evidence that you did not double-check my sudden decision to break up with you for no good reason,” she added with a scoff before she shook her head.

“Yes, because you went and questioned me,” Silver replied as he huffed. “If you were happy to have gotten rid of me, just admit it. We both know that I’m a bit of a mess sometimes.”

It was rare for him to admit that he was not always the laidback person he usually pretended to be – it was easier and kept people off his case – but whenever he actually said it out loud, it was proof for his distress. Silver had been – and everyone knew this – dropped off at an orphanage when he had been a mere toddler and as most people suffering such a fate, it had caused him to believe that everyone just strung him along, that everyone would leave him at some point of time. And Gildarts did not have to be Layla to figure out that this had probably been why he had not questioned Ur’s supposed decision to break up with him. In his mind, it had been the next logical step for her and a part of him had even expected it.

(Even if it meant to ignore that Ur rarely – if ever – abandoned people she loved.)

(And she had loved Silver and while she had never bothered trying to change him into someone else, someone who was easier to handle – for her, for everyone – she had not blindly supported him either because in her opinion, enabling someone to be foolish was not love.)

Her face softened and she patted his shoulder as she turned to leave. “Yes, I know,” she said and the look in her eyes was one of genuine affection which was an expression that he had been missing for far too long. “But you were my mess. And no, I can’t say that I was happy to have gotten rid of you … I didn’t lie when I said that I love you.”

It was a minor slipup, one that went unnoticed by most people but Gildarts caught it and he was nearly sure that Silver had done the same. Of course, it could be argued that whenever Ur was in an overly emotional state, she said things she did not mean but judging from the way she held herself, she was still entirely clear.

Silver opened his mouth, wanted to reply but she had already flown the scene because she was not going to open up this conversation a day before her important presentation.

And we could buy the minute, though, is it so bad if I wanna cry out?

The ice hockey pit was cold as always as Gildarts unlocked the commentator’s booth for Cornelia who was doing the honours for the most important match of the season (it had taken both Ur and Gildarts himself to convince her) and kissed her before he slung his bag over his shoulder again and got changed. He was not nervous because of the match, he was nervous because Ur was sitting in the first row – and she had not attended any matches since she and Silver had split up, accidentally. She had come up with countless excuses when Milkovich – who was on the team for reasons Gildarts could not comprehend – had tried to take her there and this had been one of the many reasons why no one had bought that she was interested in him because far too many remembered her being interested in ice hockey.

(Even before she had started to date Silver, she had watched the national league diligently – well, her family originated from the north of the country and her cousin was a professional ice hockey player so it probably was something she had never really thought about.)

“Looks like Frostbite is back in the pit,” Jude Heartfilia said as he adjusted his helmet before he waved at his girlfriend who had joined Cornelia in the commentator booth. “Say, Fullbuster, does that mean that you and her are a thing again?”

Gildarts turned his head to look at their captain who shrugged as he checked if his captain’s bind was tied correctly. As far as he was informed, Ur and Silver had had a long conversation about what had happened and considering that he had been awake when Silver had returned to their dorm – they were no longer roommates but still neighbours – he knew that it had been a conversation that had gone well into the hours of the night. But he had not asked about the result because he had figured that if they wanted anyone to know, they would make some public statement – either verbal or non-verbal – to clear things up.

“Well, depends on your definition of ‘a thing’, Heartfilia,” Silver said with a shrug as he briefly gazed over to the bleachers where she was sitting, chatting with Kyouka and Sayla who were sitting in the row behind her. “It’s pretty difficult to determine at the moment.”

But there was no girl dressed in Silver’s shirt and squealing the captain’s name on the sidelines which was a good sign because it meant that both of them were not seeing anyone else.

“Yo,” the captain of the opposing team greeted them as he smirked widely, in a way that was supposed to make people like him but only caused Gildarts to instantly distrust the man. “Let’s have a good game … and afterwards, let’s have a good party.”

The thing was that there was too much on the stakes to just have a good game and then leave it all on the ice and to have a party. Whoever would win the match would be the champion of the university league and there was no way that either team would be okay with losing. And for a brief moment, Gildarts worried. Their team was good but their old captain was gone, making it Silver’s first season as their almighty leader – and while he had been good so far, he had not yet lived up to his full potential yet, claiming that he was saving the best for last.

“Yeah,” Silver said as he frowned at the women on the bleachers who were chatting merrily, “let’s have one hell of a game … I’m not too sure if I’ll make it to the party. Might be needed somewhere else,” he added before his smirk grew. “If you know what I mean.”

Gildarts rolled his eyes because there were some things he really did not need to know and this was not just one of them, it even made it into the top ten of things he would rather not know anything about and still knew. He needed better friends, that was a fact.

“And here we have last year’s champions and this year’s defenders,” Cornelia announced after checking her wristwatch. “Lead by their captain Silver Fullbuster, the Zinnia Ice Bears. And their rivals from the South, the Dianthus Diamonds.”

Gildarts had always found this team’s name to be particularly silly but he had seen some of their matches on video and he had played them before; he knew that they were not kidding around and that they would be a worthy opponent. The Ice Bears would have to deliver their best performance to the date and when he had mentioned this to his captain, Silver had laughed and rolled his eyes, stating that finally, it was time for all of them to get serious.

(And then, Silver had proceeded to bench Milkovich which had made everyone else happy.)

“Looks like we’re up,” Jude muttered as he grinned up at his girlfriend. “Time to make the girlfriends proud of us or something like that.”

Gildarts knew whom this bait was for but as usual, Silver Fullbuster did not fall for the way Jude Heartfilia was trying to get him to talk about something the captain himself did not seem to have any information about either which was really, really odd.

As Gildarts had predicted, the match was hard. The Diamonds had a reputation to defend and although the Ice Bears were the team most people considered to be the better one and had the added advantage of playing at home where everyone was rooting for them, it was the most challenging game of the season and this actually made the red-haired man happy; the audience deserved the thrill and the action and as long as they still won, everything was alright.

Cornelia’s comment was professional and on point as always but there was a hint of nervousness in her voice as if she was waiting for something and Gildarts wanted to know what she knew and he did not because it was something she had heard about from Layla who seemed to be not quite as worried for Jude’s health as she usually would be and appeared to be rather preoccupied with something else, something that had her chewing her fingernails.

“The girls know something we don’t,” Jude muttered in passing before he played the puck across the field to where Silver was lurking, positioned better than anyone else. “I think that we might get some, well, information on the exact state of things between our almighty captain and Frostbite – talking of the cap, he’s in a pretty good mood today.”

It was true, Gildarts mused. Silver was usually rather happy whenever he was out on the ice, playing and just doing what he did best, but like he had promised from the beginning of the season, he had saved his best performance for the last match – which was a more likely explanation than to claim that he was showing off just because Ur was watching although this might be one factor playing into the equation because she was not so easily impressed.

“He is,” Gildarts said as he shrugged, stretching his arms as he waited for the referee to end the first part of the match before he looked at the bleachers to check on his best friend who seemed to be pleased with the current state of the match although she had still to get rid of her jacket which was odd for her standards. “He’s really putting on a show.”

“Let’s just hope that he can keep this up,” the blond man muttered before he disappeared into the crowd, Gildarts following closely behind because they had a match to win and everything else could be discussed later on – much later on, preferably over a beer or two.

The match continued after the break and Gildarts did not have much time to think because the game was quick-paced and difficult because the Diamonds were not willed to go down without one hell of a fight. The crowd on the sidelines was cheering and as Gildarts took the time to check in with his captain during an interruption, he found Silver grinning widely.

“What’s so funny?” Gildarts asked as he wished that he could take off his helmet to wipe the bead of sweat off his forehead because this was getting annoying.

“Wouldn’t call it funny,” the black-haired man said as his grin remained large and genuinely happy, “but for someone who accused me of being a drama queen about a million times, she really doesn’t let herself miss a chance to make a scene out of something.”

This seemed like a highly accurate description for the woman and as Gildarts turned his head, he found Ur standing in the crowd, fists clenched at her sides and cheeks flushed with excitement while her jacket had been unzipped and revealed a deep red jersey which read S. Fullbuster on the chest. This was supposedly the statement regarding their current status everyone had expected and the people who had noticed it were smirking widely.

“…and here I thought she’d rather eat her laptop than to ‘acquiesce to the latent belief that young men own their girlfriends’ or however she’d put it,” the red-haired man stated as he nodded at his best friend before they resumed their positions on the field. “Like, did she ever wear it before? Well, she obviously must have at some point…”

“I actually borrowed it to her a few months ago when I spilled wine on her dress,” Silver replied, utterly unapologetic as he tapped his hockey stick against the ice, before he nodded at his girlfriend, “and she never gave it back for some reason.”

“Layla said she kept it to annoy the girls in her dorm,” Jude informed them in passing before he stopped and turned, moving backwards over the ice. “I mean – you can buy the jerseys at the store … and I don’t want to know how many girls sleep in jerseys with your name on it, Fullbuster,” he added as he shuddered, “but that doesn’t count.”

Silver blinked twice before he mentioned towards their opponent’s goal. “Let’s bring this one back home,” he said before he dashed off, visibly unwilled to finish the conversation about fellow students sleeping in jerseys with his name on it – a sentiment Gildarts understood well.

They won the match but the result was a narrow one, one that fittingly represented both teams’ strengths and weaknesses. Frankly, they would need some sort of lengthy discussion about it afterwards and Gildarts knew that no one was looking forward to this but in the moment, this did not matter because right now, he had one arm wrapped around Cornelia who had gotten her red scarf from her bag because after the match, she was no longer the commentator and could show her loyalty to her university’s team without any issues.

“That was an extremely good match,” she said as she hugged him tightly before she pressed a kiss to his cheek, her own face glowing. “Seriously, you guys were awesome out there!”

“Well, happy that we pleased you,” he replied as he twirled his forefinger around one of her messy curls. “There was a short moment when I was actually worrying about this all.”

“Don’t be like this, Clive,” Jude said with a grin, his helmet under his arm as he skated towards the sidelines where Layla was beaming at him. “We totally had this under control, at all times.”

This was not quite true but it was not like Gildarts to start a fight when he was happy about a victory that had been both well-deserved and hard-earned because they had fought for this.

“Looking good, Bambi,” the captain said as he passed them all and although Gildarts looked over his shoulder, he knew whom his captain was talking to because there was just one person who sometimes went by this nickname and there was just one person permitted to use it.

And sure enough, there was Ur standing on the ice and the expression on her face was a rather smug as she held her hand out to Silver. “Congratulation on being a champion,” she said awfully calm as she looked up to him.

“Congratulations on dating a champion,” he replied before he wrapped his hands around her waist to lift her up before he twirled her around. “You really had me worrying for a moment.”

She smirked as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Sorry ‘bout that,” she said but her voice made it pretty clear that she was not sorry at all. “You know I like to keep things interesting … and well, I had promised you to make a statement today and so…”

“Reminded me of one of the moments in the sappy movies you love to hate,” he smirked as he ruffled her hair before he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I guess I get them a bit better now.”

“Then you gained the advantage,” she said as she angled her head to kiss him full on the lips, smiling against his lips for a moment before she rolled her eyes at him. “You’re ridiculously tall when you’re on the ice,” she huffed before he set her down again.

“Ever considered that it might be you who is ridiculously short?” he asked with a smirk before he took the trophy from Jude to look at it for a moment, his face softening because this match had been the trial of fire for him as a captain and he had passed. “Anyway, how about I get showered and we get this trophy to my room where I can admire it?”

“I’m not that short,” she replied as she toyed around with the buttons of her jacket before she tilted her head to the side. “Also, I could get the trophy to your room and you catch me on the party,” she suggested as she reached out for the gleaming trophy.

He laughed as he angled his body away from hers, the grin reaching his eyes. “Or we could ditch everyone down here and just go to my room,” he said as he brushed back a strand of her hair that had gotten lost somehow and fallen into her eyes. “You know, like in old times.”

She rolled her eyes at him, her hand wrapped around his wrist, but her lips were still forming a smile because she was happy and there was no reason for her to hide this. “You just won a pretty important trophy with your team and you have no intentions whatsoever to party?”

“I’m not particularly fussed, no,” he said with a shrug and for a moment, Gildarts feared that Ur’s head might explode but then, Silver managed to get himself out of trouble – just like in old times. “I mean – I don’t see you going there. You’ve been on more parties than you like lately.”

“Christmas was funny, actually,” she said as she laced her fingers through his, her smirk mirroring his. “Up to the point where I freaked out – but we’ve been over this, correct?”

“So you actually went and talked things over?” Cornelia asked as she raised both eyebrows.

“Don’t bully my boyfriend, Alberona, you have your own,” Ur replied as she rolled her eyes, “but yes, we sat down like civilised people and discussed what went wrong over some tacos.”

Tacos, Gildarts had to laugh because tacos was what Ur called a ‘perfectly reasonable brand of comfort food’ and what she had gotten for him the few times he had been despairing over something. At the same time, the more rational part of him found itself proud because it was probably for the best of everyone if they did not repeat their old mistakes.

“Civilised, yes,” Silver said as he chuckled, wrapping one arm around her. “Now, let’s get going – that other team’s captain is looking at us strangely.”

And Gildarts found himself thinking that if this was the way it was going to be in the future – similar to the days of the past but different and improved – he was well-prepared for it all.