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Cosmo leaned back on his hands with his legs stretched out before him, swinging his feet and causing his shoes to knock together in an anxious, restless rhythm. Whatever sound it made was drowned out by the party’s music.
His eyes kept wandering over to the closet door. Wanda and Juandissimo had been chosen to play Seven Minutes In Heaven in there, though Cosmo would petition to rename it to Seven Million Minutes In Hell because that’s what it felt like right now.
Pursing his lips, he looked away. Tried not to think about it. About what they could be doing in there.
Observing the party wasn’t much more fun, but at least it served as a distraction. He was only here because Wanda was invited, and Wanda only came because of other people she knew here. Cosmo had never really had a friend before, let alone one that’d bring him along to a party, so even at the cost of jealousy (not that he could’ve expected this), he didn’t regret saying yes.
Wanda’s absence was already palpable, though. As per usual, none of their fellow students wished to pay Cosmo any mind. He felt like he were all alone and here by mistake.
“Why her?” someone was saying nearby. “Wish it were me in there with him.”
Cosmo had half a mind to agree. Why her indeed? He’d prefer if anyone else were in there with that guy. It felt stupid to be jealous, but he did a lot of things that were stupid.
When the host finally got up to open the door, it was Wanda who came out first. Cosmo watched her for a moment, then watched Juandissimo trail out after her. He looked pleased with himself.
The guy had a habit of making other fairies swoon when he floated by them. Cosmo guessed he wasn’t surprised, but it was baffling to him that Wanda didn’t have the same effect. No heart eyes, no wing palpitations, no dreamy sighs from anyone at all… y’know, all of the things he often did himself, albeit oh-so-subtly.
Wanting to forget about Juandissimo, Cosmo’s eyes landed on Wanda again as she sat down next to him. Unfortunately, she smelled like Juandissimo’s overwhelming cologne, so it was hard not to think about it. It smothered her usual nice scent. Cosmo wanted to frown, but it was always hard to do that in her presence. Plus, she’d flashed him a little smile, though it didn’t look nearly as lively as Juandissimo’s.
Someone else asked Wanda how it went before Cosmo could. Frankly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“Let’s just keep going,” Wanda said, mercifully, and with a dismissive wave of her hand.
☆ ☆ ☆
Cosmo didn’t really care about the game, and neither did his friend. They spent the downtime chatting with one another as if they were the only two people at the party, until…
by some miracle, it was their turn to play. Together! It snapped them both to attention, and Cosmo had to refrain from jumping up in a burst of nervous enthusiasm to first check that Wanda was okay with it. Apparently that part didn’t matter and participants didn’t have an option, but he still had to check her reaction. It wasn’t negative, at least. She even agreed! And so Cosmo grinned, zipping over to the closet door as if he were the party host.
The door was opened by way of magic and Cosmo gestured inside. “After you,” he said to a smiling Wanda, only to pause. “Wait! Let me check for monsters first…”
Cosmo wandered in, pretending to scan the space for said monsters (while hoping he wouldn’t actually see anything). He sifted through hanging clothes and peeked into shoeboxes, hearing Wanda giggle behind him.
“If the others came out unscathed, I think we'll be fine,” she said lightheartedly.
“Yeah, obviously,” said another fairy, huffing. “Just get in already.”
Wanda made a sound as if she’d been pushed, followed by the door abruptly closing. Cosmo blinked at what was now darkness, only faintly illuminated by their crowns and a few slits in the closet door.
“Rude,” he said. “I hadn’t given the okay yet! But you had a good point…”
Wanda scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. If she was annoyed, Cosmo would hope it was with the person that rushed them and not with him. “Thanks for checking anyway,” she said. Cosmo recognized the playfulness in her tone, which helped reassure him.
“Uh huh. No closet creepers in here. But there is this neat, dusty hat.” As he reached for it, he suddenly stopped himself. Why did he care about a dusty hat? Wanda was in here! And would only be for seven minutes! The fairy retracted his hands and floated down to his friend’s level, clearing his throat apologetically.
When Wanda wasn’t the next person to say something, Cosmo decided he would be. “So… hi,” he said, perfectly awkwardly—but in a way he knew Wanda wouldn’t mind. “Fancy seeing you here. Do you come here often?”
“Hi,” she said back, giggling again. “First time. Er… second. But let's just forget about the first, ugh.”
That was… a good sign? Maybe? Not that he appreciated her having had a bad first experience, but this felt like an opening for him to make things better for her.
He could see something in her behavior, though. Was she nervous? Maybe he was nervous, hence why he was just about to distract himself with a stupid hat, but he couldn’t figure out why she would be. She’d never shown signs of fearing or mistrusting him like others did.
Maybe he should have looked more seriously for monsters? Or maybe it was still too dark in here for her? Did Juandissimo do something weird that he now had to unknowingly avoid doing?
Then again, he couldn’t quite put his finger on why he was nervous, either. There wasn’t anything intimidating about Wanda, except that she was prettier, cooler, and smarter than he’d ever be…but those things weren’t her fault. He liked her a lot and had always felt comfortable around her, so this was strange.
Cosmo tilted his head. Before he could decide on what to say next, his friend spoke up. “You wanna show me that hat?”
“Oh!” Did he call the hat stupid? What he meant to say was that it was very important and cool, actually! “Yeah! Sure hope they don’t mind me touching it and disrupting its dustiness…”
Only after saying that and grabbing the hat with his hands did it occur to Cosmo he could’ve used contact-free magic, but it was too late. He brought the bowler-style hat down for Wanda to see. “It’s got a cute ribbon on it. Not really your color, though, hmm…”
Wanda was looking down at it, smiling almost distantly. She didn’t say anything for a while, so Cosmo wondered if she was just really engrossed in it.
“Cosmo,” she then said. Her gaze was cast further aside, looking neither at him nor the hat now.
“…Yeah?” Cosmo lowered his hands. His heartrate inexplicably spiked.
“Would you kiss me?” Wanda asked.
“…Uh—”
Cosmo’s face flushed. That wasn’t the “answer” he wanted to give—it just sort of slipped out of him. Perhaps he was subconsciously stopping himself from blurting out the “duh” or the overly eager “yes!” that he’d like to say instead.
“Wuh… yes,” he answered, realizing he didn’t quite care if it sounded eager. He couldn’t figure out why she was asking, though. Needlessly, he just kept on answering. “Yeah.”
Should I ask why? Should I—
No, he was certain she wasn’t wording it like a request. It was just a question.
“Why?” she asked for him. She was still smiling — a cute, timid little thing — and looking elsewhere.
“Uhh.”
There he went again. He was thoroughly confused, and while that wasn’t a foreign feeling for him, navigating this situation was. Cosmo felt no urge to be anything but honest, however. An earnest approach was only natural.
“Because… I-I’d want to? Because I like you. I’d, um, do anything that you also wanted to do. Do you want me to—”
Wait, wait. That wasn’t an answer to “why”. Cosmo swallowed thickly, feeling his palms turning clammy. “I mean… Guhhh… I’d kih-iiiiss you because I think it’d be nice! Nice like you are! And because I’d want to. I said that already—”
Wanda gestured for him to stop, chuckling softly.
Cosmo stared wide-eyed at her like his life depended on it, hanging on to every word she might say.
“I… I do want you to. Will you?”
Cosmo made another incoherent, shaky sound, followed by a “yeah”. Despite the confirmation, however, nothing happened.
“Will it help if I close my eyes?” Wanda offered.
Cosmo had no idea if it would help. He nodded anyway.
Pink eyes fluttered shut.
Cosmo wasted a second or two looking at her, awed. He would’ve made a move (whatever that move would even be) if he hadn’t remembered the hat still in his hands. He glanced down at it, deciding it was stupid again. It was costing him precious time! He unceremoniously dropped it, causing Wanda to gasp in light surprise.
“What was that?”
“Gah! Just the hat, sorry. I’m ready now.”
Wanda’s eyes remained closed.
Cosmo swallowed, wiping his palms on his pants. He then lifted that pair of trembling hands, each one settling on either side of Wanda’s face. It was a feather-light touch, as if he was too afraid to do anything more. Her reaction to it, as far he could tell, wasn’t unwanting, so he was encouraged to proceed without second-guessing himself.
First, though, he had to think about a few things. Had to wonder if earlier, his jealousy over Juandissimo had gotten so intense that he somehow fainted, and this was only a dream. Maybe someone clobbered him over the head and he was currently unconscious on the living room floor. If that was the case, he supposed this could make for good practice were he to ever get this chance in real life.
Also, even in the low light, Wanda looked ethereal. She looked trusting. Patient. Things she always had been since he’d met her, but that he never thought he’d get to appreciate as intimately as he was now. Cosmo felt an oncoming volley of emotion that pushed him to just do what he so wanted to do, finally kissing the girl’s lips.
That kisses could be good or bad wasn’t something that occurred to him. He simply did what felt right, squeezing his eyes shut and trusting that Wanda would let him know if something was wrong. Another thing he didn’t know was how long kisses were supposed to last, but if anyone were to ask, he’d rather like to be playing Seven Million Minutes In Heaven now.
As soon as Wanda pulled away, though, so did he. Neither of them sought much distance apart. They looked at each other, much more close-up than Cosmo ever thought they’d be, and then Wanda went back in.
The second one lasted longer, his inability to grasp that he was even getting a second one notwithstanding. Wanda’s hand came up to touch his jaw and he could’ve sworn that flowers and rainbows might bloom there. There was sunshine in Cosmo’s chest and in his stomach, warming his skin beneath and above.
Wanda’s lips moved like she were opening her mouth more, but she hesitated and then pulled away before Cosmo could catch on.
Though her hand was over her mouth, Wanda made no effort to fully hide her smile. “Hmm. Thank you,” she muttered.
Cosmo drew back as well, quietly disappointed that they seemed to be finished. His tongue instinctively touched his lips, catching a bit of Wanda’s lip gloss. It tasted sweet.
Then it registered that she’d just thanked him.
“Huh? Thank me?”
“Who else?” Wanda chuckled.
“No one else!” Cosmo blurted. “I mean, I oughtta thank you! That was… wowie…”
“Wowie,” Wanda repeated to herself, sounding amused.
It had gotten very warm in here, but it somehow wasn’t uncomfortable.
Wanda looked to the door. “Feels like it’s been longer than seven minutes. You think they forgot about us?”
“Ah… That’d be aaawful if sooo…” Cosmo sarcastically drawled, earning himself another laugh.
“Honestly, I don’t think I want to return to the party.” Wanda paused, considering. “…You wanna just go somewhere else? Somewhere, I dunno — more our speed?”
Cosmo didn’t even think about it, nodding in agreement. He just liked the sound of “our”.
“Alright.”
☆ ☆ ☆
As they made their way outside, welcoming the scenic contrast of a quiet, cool evening, Cosmo was already thinking a lot about the kiss. Wanda was probably thinking about other stuff, but he just kept replaying the scene in his mind, inviting warmth and funny tingles all over his body each time he did.
It felt odd to just… move on from it. Or maybe it’d be odd if he didn’t do that…? It was all part of a game, after all. Maybe that was all this meant.
He’d be happy either way. Happy with whatever else they chose to do today. It’d be a lie to say he wouldn’t like to do that again, though.
All he could do was hope that another chance to play wouldn’t take too long, or, heaven forbid, would never come up again…
