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Alphen is the first to point it out. They’re all having dinner at the Imeris household. Alphen and Law are cutting up the meats when the older man suddenly stops mid-chop.
“Alphen? What’s wrong?” Law asks.
Alphen brings a hand up and measures his and Law’s heads together.
“Law…we’re the same height now.”
Law pauses. He looks up, at Alphen’s hand between their heads. He looks to the rest of the group for confirmation. Shionne and Kisara are beaming with pride and Dohalim is nodding his head in approval. Rinwell isn’t looking at him for some reason, but Hootle seems to understand that they’re celebrating something and is flapping his colorful wings up and down excitedly.
“It finally happened. I knew it! I told you guys I wasn’t done growing!” He starts jumping up and down excitedly and usually the others, namely Kisara, would chastise him for his behavior, but today he gets a pass. The adults all come up to him and congratulate him. Law looks to Rinwell, who finally turns around to offer him a small smile and a wave- then she promptly turns to leave. Probably to check on Alphen and Shionne’s newborn son, Zephyr.
When they have dinner later that evening, Law feels himself sitting straighter. He’s eighteen now, an adult, and now he finally feels like it. He wonders if this was how his father felt when he was his age. Wonders if he’ll grow to be as big as him. He feels a little closer to his father now, somehow. He hopes he’s beaming down at him with pride alongside his mother, wherever they are now.
Rinwell can’t look him in the eye anymore. It’s not fair. None of this is fair. Why is he so tall all of a sudden? Why are his muscles more defined? Why are his shoulders broader? Why is she noticing these things?
“Abu ba bu,” Zephyr babbles, reaching tiny hands up to her. He’s got Shionne’s blue eyes, Alphen’s white hair, and the cutest, chubbiest cheeks she’s ever laid eyes on. Rinwell reaches over and lets his tiny hands grab onto one of her fingers. Her heart melts.
“Promise me you’ll never grow up to be a heart breaker.”
“Bu bu ba,” Zephyr says. Rinwell takes that to mean ‘yes’.
Other girls are starting to take notice of him now and it’s driving Rinwell insane. Why are they only popping out now? Where were they before? They come up to him, asking for his help to lift things that Rinwell herself could lift with one hand. She hates the way they flutter their eyes at him, trying to look as helpless and demure as possible. She hates the way they look at him, like he’s a slab of meat. She hates the way that they keep mistaking her for his little sister. How they don’t even think of her as a threat and - why does she care about that last part???
No, right, it’s fine if people mistake them for siblings! They even bicker like siblings! She’s just offended about how- how fake they are with Law! Right, that’s it! That’s it.
The biggest irony of it all is how Law never seems to notice or care about all the attention he’s been getting lately. Only two years ago, she’d have to drag him away by the ear from any pretty girl that caught his fancy. Now they’re flocking to him like bees to a flower and he could care less.
She’s relieved by this, and she tries her best not to think too hard as to why.
Right now, she’s standing in front of a book store with a pile of books at her feet. She’s glaring holes through the back of the woman that’s currently taking up Law’s attention.
“Oh my, such big, strong arms!” she’d said, voice obviously pitched higher to make her seem more- feminine? Girly? Rinwell’s not sure, but it definitely makes her sound fake. “As you can see, I’ve got quite the load on me. Would you please be a dear and help me load them onto my cart?”
The woman is carrying three books, and they’re not even that thick. Law doesn’t seem to realize this as he sets Rinwell’s books down by the pavement.
“This shouldn’t take long. You don’t mind, do you?”
Rinwell does in fact mind, but she she says the opposite of what she’s feeling. She’s been doing that a lot lately. “No, it’s fine. I’ll just wait here.” It’s then that the woman seems to notice her for the first time. Her mouth makes a perfect little “o” shape.
“Oh my, I hadn’t realized you were out shopping with your little sister. What a sweet brother you are!”
“Oh, we’re not siblings. We’re just friends.” Law says as he takes the books from the woman’s arms. Rinwell doesn’t miss how the woman’s fingers purposefully brush against his. She wishes she’d brought Hootle along, he always makes for a good repellant against women like that. But they’d woken up pretty early to get to town and Hootle had been sleeping so peacefully, she couldn’t bring herself to wake him.
The woman looks at her and smiles, bringing to attention her caked up foundation glistening underneath the sun’s early morning rays.
“You’re not? But still, it’s very sweet of you to take time to help out a friend, especially one so much younger than you.”
“I’m literally only two years younger than him!” Rinwell exclaims with a stomp of her foot. “I know I’m short, but I’’m not that short!”
Law has just about finished unloading the books by then. He comes over to her, raising his hands in an attempt to calm her down.
“I’m sure the nice lady didn’t have any bad intentions, alright? Look, I’m done helping, so we can get going, okay?” He turns to address the woman. “Sorry about that, she’s really sensitive about her height.”
Rinwell has to resist the primal urge to kick Law in the shins because she’s pretty sure that action would make her look even more childish.
The woman lets out a little laugh behind her neatly pedicured hand. “No, it’s quite alright. The two of you have a very charming relationship.” She moves forward, laying a hand on Law’s bicep and squeezing it. Rinwell feels herself bristle in anger. “But before you leave, at least let me repay you for your help.”
Law smiles, completely oblivious. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. We should get going soon, anyway.” He turns around and easily shrugs off the woman arms, picking up Rinwell’s books from the ground. With his back turned, Rinwell sticks her tongue at the woman. The woman glares at her and sticks a tongue out back.
“Alright then, ready go?” Law asks, arms full of books. Rinwell smiles at him, maybe a little too smugly because he looks at her with some level of confusion. “Yes, let’s!”
“Oh, um, thank you again for your help!” the woman calls out. But Rinwell’s got to hand it to her, she at least knows when to fold and gives up trying to keep Law any longer. It’s when they turn a corner that Law finally clears his throat to get Rinwell’s attention.
“Rinwell, are you okay?”
“What? Of course I am! Look at all the books I have to read! Why wouldn’t I be?”
Law scrunches up his face in thought. “…Hm, yeah, you know what? Never mind. Maybe I was just over thinking things.”
Okay, now Rinwell’s curious. Law? Thinking? And not just thinking, but over thinking? “Thinking? About what?” She hopes he’s not hurting his brain.
“Well, earlier, you seemed to be a little angry that I helped that woman.”
Oh, he’d noticed that. “I wasn’t so much as angry as I was…irritated? You know, ‘coz she was taking so long! And we have places to be! Other book shops to peruse!”
“It’s not just that,” Law says, “You’ve been really weird with me lately. Like, you rarely ever look me in the eye and whenever we hang out with the others you usually avoid being alone with me. Did I do something to offend you? And if I did, what can I do to make it up to you?”
Oh no. Oh no nononoononono. “Um, well, first of all, I’m not mad at you or anything. It’s just- um, it’s just a little harder to talk to you now that you’re so much taller and stuff. For my neck, you know? Since I have to look so high up.” She lets out a nervous laugh. Even she’s not buying that one.
“Rinwell, I may be dumb, but I’m not that dumb. I was really happy when you asked me to come with you today, you know? You could have asked Alphen or Kisara, but you asked me instead, so I thought that was your way of saying that we’re cool now…But with the way you were acting earlier, did I mess things up again?”
Rinwell clenches her fists. “No, of course not! You haven’t done anything wrong! It’s me! I’m the problem! I can’t look you in the eye because you got hotter and it’s driving me nuts!”
There’s a pause. Rinwell hadn’t realized she was yelling. The people around them have all stopped to stare. And, uh, what was it she just said? Oh no. Oh no nononoononono. Rinwell feels her face heat up. She can’t be here right now, this is too much. Now more than ever, she can’t bring herself to look at Law. She sprints away as fast as she can.
“Rinwell, wait!”
She turns athe first alleyway she sees, running full speed, thoughts constantly racing through her head. She’ll change her name, her hair, her address-
She feels a tug on her arm stop her in place. The grip his gentle, but firm. She knows who it is without having to turn around.
“Rinwell-“
“Can we please just forget about all this?! I know you just see me as some kid and-“
“I THINK YOU’RE REALLY CUTE!”
Rinwell can feel her eyes widen and her cheeks redden. She finally turns around and looks at Law’s face. He’s as red as a tomato.
“R-really?”
Law finally lets go of her arm. “Y-yeah…”
“O-oh…” They both stare at each other dumbly before breaking into fits of laughter. When they both finally calm down, Rinwell looks up at Law. “So…uh, does this mean we’re dating now?”
Law shrugs his shoulders. “I guess?”
“Does this mean we can kiss?’’
Law’s face turns an incredibly bright shade of red. “N-now? Don’t you think it’s too soon?”
Rinwell thinks about it. She’s never been a big fan of PDA, but they’re currently in an alleyway that doesn’t get much foot traffic...But it doesn’t change the fact that they’re in a public space, so the risk of being interrupted is still there.
“Hm…I wouldn’t say too soon, but I suppose this isn’t the ideal place for us to have our first kiss.”
Law’s expression looks equal parts relieved and disappointed. Rinwell smirks. “How about we hold hands instead? Couples love doing that, right?”
She looks to his free hand that still hasn’t let go of her arm. Law smiles and nods excitedly, moving so that their hands are now clasped together.
“Wait, but what about my books? Are you gonna be okay carrying them all with one arm?”
“It’s fine. They’re really not that heavy, don’t worry.”
She looks to his other arm, the one carrying all her books. There are six books and they’re all incredibly heavy. Rinwell struggled carrying just one of them with both arms. But Law is strong, so she doesn’t doubt him. She’s always wondered what it would be like to be held by such strong arms. She supposes that now that they’re dating, she could just casually ask to be held and-
“Yeah, sure, I don’t mind.”
RInwell pauses, causing Law to stop with her. “…Did I just say all that out loud?”
“…Were you not supposed to?”
She can feel her face heat up. Wait, they’re dating now, so it’s okay. Totally appropriate. “Yeah, I want to be held by you when we get back to my house. For hours on end while I’m reading.”
Law lets out a laugh. “Of course, anything for my girl.”
Rinwell blushes. Something about the way he says it just sounds…really nice.
“Hey, is it okay if I make a request, too?”
Rinwell raises an eyebrow. “If it’s within reason.”
He gets in front of her and crouches and oh, is he going to kiss her? Right now? She scrunches her eyes closed. Well, there’s no one around, so maybe she’ll let it pass and-
She feels warm lips press to her forehead.
She opens her eyes. Law’s smiling shyly at her. “Uh, was that okay? Within reason and all that?” Rinwell feels her head nod stiffly. “Y-yeah.”
They grab hold on to each other’s hands again and keep them linked the entire walk home. It isn’t until they finish unloading all her new books that RInwell realizes that they had forgotten to stop by the other book shops that were having big sales today…And Rinwell finds that she doesn’t really care. Which is strange because she was so looking forward to visiting those shops just last night.
But right now, she’s curled up on Law’s lap, his arms wrapped around her as she reads. Hootle sensing the change and actually acting civil around Law for once, now rests peacefully on his head. She’s pretty sure they’ve both fallen asleep, but Law’s arms don’t sag around her even once. It’s nice and warm and feels like home.
“We have an announcement to make,” Law says. They’re all gathered at the Imeris household for their weekly dinner. Everyone turns to look at them, even Zephyr.
“Rinwell and I are dating.”
Law expects them to be shocked, but instead they all let out a collective sigh of relief.
“It’s about time!” Shionne says.
“Dohalim, pay up,” Kisara says.
Dohalim reaches into his pocket for his wallet. “I was so sure they’d wait until winter. Such a romantic season, the perfect time for a confession!”
“Wait, hold up, did you guys bet on us getting together?!” Rinwell exclaims.
“Yes,” Kisara and Dohalim say in unison, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Rinwell turns to the only married couple in the room.
“What about you two? Did you bet money, too?”
“Of course not, we’d be setting a bad example for Zephyr if we did,” Shionne says.
“Which is why bet chores instead,” Alphen says. “…And now I’m stuck on toilet duty for a month. I thought you guys would wait until the New Year to get together.”
“…Were we really that obvious?” Law asks as he feels his face heat up.
“Yes,” everyone else says.
“Abu ba!” Zephyr says.
“Dang, even the baby knew.”