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Val fidgeted with her favorite guitar pick. She stared at it as she turned it over and over in her hands, lost in thought.
Maybe this was a bad idea, she thought, biting her lip. Maybe I should just cancel... oh that would be worse. I could just... fall off the face of the kingdoms. I wonder if those Bergen folks are still up for eating a troll? Oh hair, this was a terrible idea--
"Val?"
Val jumped, nearly dropping the pick, fingers fumbling over it a few moments before she finally snatched it out of the air and shoved it back in her hair. "Minuet!" she squeaked, chuckling nervously. "Wh-what are you doing here?"
Minuet paused, quirking an eyebrow in confusion. "...I believe you were the one who extended an invitation to me?"
Val blinked, and resisted the urge to smack herself in the face. "...so early. What are you doing here so early. Ha ha forgot to finish the sentence..."
As she couldn't raise her eyebrow any further, Minuet tilted her head to emphasize her expression. "I... was actually just about to apologize for being so late. I lost track of time practicing. Are you... alright?"
Val could have kicked herself. "...right. Sorry. Uh... I guess I lost track of time too..."
Minuet still looked confused, but smiled gently, a cute quirk of the lips that made her mole twitch. "That's quite alright, my dear."
Val's heart fluttered in her chest, and she clutched at it, momentarily wondering if she had accidentally swallowed a handful of butterflies.
"So... what have you asked me here for, Val?" Minuet asked, clasping her hands in front of her and looking around as she landed on nearby stump primly, looking around. She crossed her legs as she looked pointedly at Val.
Suddenly, everything went wrong.
Minuet was just staring at her, and Val, despite having spent all of yesterday overthinking this, to the point that Demo had made her sit down and take a deep breath, was panicking. She struggled to find the words she had practiced, or some excuse, or anything to explain herself, suddenly unsure and scared now that Minuet was in front of her.
"Val...?" Minuet asked after a tense moment, her eyes huge with worry, and fluttered back up off her seat, reaching out to her friend. "Val, my dear, what's wrong...?"
"I LIKE YOU!" Val burst out, and then gasped, sucking in air, trying hard not to hyperventilate.
Minuet stared in shock, but seemed to gather herself after a moment, still reaching out to Val. "...well, I would hope you do, we are friends, aren't we? But I am, concerned, to say the least, are you--"
"NO, I--" Val bit her lip, trying to keep herself from shouting at Minuet. "I... like you like you. You're... I know we're friends. I-I'm glad we're friends. But... I like you... not just as a friend, but..."
Minuet stared at her in shock, jaw dropped. She surely couldn't mean... but... if she did...
"...gah, I can't even say it. I... I... I want to date you!"
Minuet seemed to process that a moment, and Val realized she was blushing hard, visible even under her makeup. She stammered, obviously flustered, "You... you what?"
"I..." Val felt suddenly dizzy, and sucked in a deep, heaving breath, struggling, realizing she hadn't actually asked the question that she had spent hours rehearsing. "I... do you... would you like to go out on a date?"
Minuet could only blink for a moment. She wrung her hands together, flustered, fluttering around.
She couldn't help but get lost in her own memory as she thought, thinking about Val and her relationship up until this point.
The first time they met, Val had punched her in the shoulder. When Minuet complained, the rocker's face fell, and she stuck her hands in her pockets, mumbling that she hadn't meant to hurt the other troll, she had just wanted to say hi. Minuet had paused, considering, and finally decided to complete the cultural exchange. She smiled, bowing in her own traditional greeting. Val had been confused a moment, but then grinned, not bowing back but crowing in delight, making a guitar playing motion.
That motion appeared again when Val was showing her how to play the mouth guitar, or trying to. It was an exercise in frustration with Minuet's rote memorization method, but yet... she stayed. She had tried to help, no matter how many times she yelled in frustration and tossed down her own invisible instrument, storming away... only to come back, grumbling about various things, how she only needed a moment, how she refused to give up, how this was stupid as she picked up the apparently broken bits of the instrument together, fiddling with them and putting them back together and sitting back down to try and explain, again, how mouth guitar worked.
How she had caught Minuet before the show, prevented her from quitting, pushing her to continue... until Minuet had finally broken through, realized how to play it and actually seeing the instrument... feeling it in her hands, feeling the excitement of the challenge over her fear, the rush of doing something unplanned...
Val had practically leapt on her in celebration afterward, throwing an arm around her shoulders, making Minuet squeak in shock before she realized Val was screaming in her ear out of celebration.
Them sitting at dinner afterwards at Classical Crest... Minuet chiding Val and trying to show her how to use the proper utensils, while Val just laughed at her, devolving more and more in her manners until she had gone from just using the wrong fork to grabbing food with her hands and smearing it all over her face. And Minuet tried to be serious, scolding Val at first, but she couldn't help but laugh, giggling along with the rock troll who just glowed with delight at making her laugh. And then they did it again, and again, night after night, until it was a regular thing, always talking endlessly until it was just them in the dining area, all the tables around them cleared away, even the waiters heading home, until Val surely knew every fork and spoon and knife on the table for every meal they had, but Minuet was too busy chattering away about her latest work and laughing at mashed potatoes on Val's nose to care.
And every time, Val had looked at her, with such a rare softness in her eyes, her smile, as she listened, leaning in toward her... now that Minuet thought about it, nearly SWOONING... How had she never noticed...?
"Minuet... Minuet? MINNIE!" Val shouted worriedly, switching from waving her hands in front of Minuet's face to actually reaching out and shaking her. "H-hey, c'mon, I didn't break you, did I? That would just be the cherry on top!" she groaned.
Minuet blinked, and blushed again as she realized she had gotten lost in thought. "Oh... oh dear, my apologies, Valentine."
Val wrinkled her nose at the use of her full name, but surprisingly, didn't say a word about it. "Uh, just... glad you're ok."
"....Val?"
Val blinked. "Yeah?"
"Did you..." Minuet ducked her head, raising her hands to her mouth as if to muffle herself even as she whispered, "did you say that you... wanted to go on a date?"
Val tilted her head, trying hard to hear, but then as she realized what Minuet was saying... she blushed, glancing away, shoulders hiking to her ears and making her earring jangle. "Uh... yeah." She shuffled, hands clasping behind her back. "I... well, I already said I like you like you, so I was wondering... if... yeah."
Minuet contemplated for a moment. "...to be entirely honest, I thought those dinners were dates," she blurted.
Val coughed, suddenly choking on air. "R- really??"
"Uh... well. Now that I think of it... yes."
Val finally gave into the urge to smack herself in the face. "Urrgghhh... so I'm just stupid," she grumbled. "I'm sorry..."
"You're not stupid!" Minuet insisted. "I'm the stupid one!"
"No way!" Val retorted. "You--" Suddenly, her eyes widened, and she clutched at her chest in shock. "Wait, you said-- so is... are you... do you...?"
Minuet's brows furrowed in confusing, red lips pouting as she tried to puzzle out what in the world Val was trying to stammer out before she started choking on air again. After a moment, though, she realized what she was saying, and grinned in delight.
"Yes. I would be delighted to take your invitation of a date, my dear, wherever you desire. Perhaps... perhaps tonight?" she asked, giving a little bow and a small smile to Val as she did.
Val stared at her in shock, her own jaw dropped as she processed. There was a soft droning noise coming from her mouth, like a continuous uhhhh almost too low for a troll to hear, and it was only Minuet's trained ear that could pick it up. She giggled, reaching out and placing her small hand under Val's chin to close her mouth with a click. "Is that a yes?"
"YES!" Val suddenly shrieked, and jumped from foot to foot, flustered and blushing again. "I... yes! Um! Dinner? At... at Rock Hollow this time instead? At six o'clock?" She grinned, crooked and nervous. "And... I can show you traditional rock dining manners this time?"
Minuet chuckled. "It's a date, my dear."
Val turned absolutely pink now as she seemed to realize the reality of her situation, the glow rising in her cheeks like a kettle gaining heat. She made a small squeak, like that kettle had boiled, before falling over completely backwards, heels over head as she went down with a thump!
"VAL?!"