Royal Jester

25. Anastasia

Trigger Warning: Mention of stalking*

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"Ana come here," Anastasia suddenly heard Mason shout from the kitchen. She sighed, resisting the urge to roll her eyes as she placed a sheet of paper in her textbook to save the page and closed it. 

They had spent the past three hours studying together for their upcoming finals before Mason had finally declared that he needed food and had left her by herself at his desk. She had assumed it would only take him a few minutes at most, as he was most likely just going to make himself ramen (or so he'd told her). 

She glanced at the alarm clock on his nightstand, eyes widening when she realized she had lost track of time and it had almost been forty minutes since he left. 

She pulled on his sweatshirt that was still laying across his bed, tugging her hair out from underneath the neckline as she walked out of the room. She had been relying on both Mason's body warmth and a blanket to keep her warm earlier and now the chill of the dorm was starting to get to her. 

"You should probably not say my real name so much you know," she called back. 

There was the sound of clanging dishes for a brief second and Ana's eyebrows furrowed. "We're the only two here right now." 

"But still-," she stopped short at the sight in front of her. 

Mason had laid an array of blankets and pillows on the living room floor, plates of food arranged on the coffee table. She glanced around the rest of the room, realizing he had shoved back the couches so that there would be more room for the blankets. 

She turned to face Mason, who looked up at her as she stepped over the bedding strewn on the floor. "You like dark chocolate right?"

"What?" She shook her head to clear it, trying to focus on what he was asking and not the pile of pillows she was currently standing next to. "What does that have to do with anything?"

He gestured in front of him and she only then noticed that there were roughly a dozen strawberries organized neatly on a cutting board, their stems seemingly cut off. "You don't like milk chocolate so I was thinking I could do dark chocolate instead but I realized I never actually fucking asked if you like it or not."

"Is this what you've been doing out here this whole time?" She nodded behind her at the food already made and plated in the living room. 

"Yeah," he nodded distractedly as he pulled something out from the cupboard beside him. "We also have white chocolate, do you want that instead?" He set down both a bag of white and dark chocolate. 

Ana blinked. Why was he so suddenly doing all this? "Dark," she finally said. 

"Great," he dumped said chocolate into a pot on the stove before turning on the corresponding burner. "Shit," he turned back around, "That's going to take a while to melt." He smiled awkwardly at Ana, "Surprise?"

"What's the occasion?" She raised an eyebrow in question, curious to know what caused the romantic gesture. 

He placed his forearms on the counter, leaning forward to kiss Ana lightly on the cheek. "Besides our one month anniversary? Nothing."

She felt herself smile, "You celebrate that?"

"Not usually," he shook his head, teasingly brushing his nose on hers in the process. 

"Oh, so I'm a special case then," she snorted. 

He gave her a small grin, head tilting as he pressed his lips against hers and softly kissed her. "Something like that," he muttered against her mouth.