Grab N' Go [Robin Arellano]

*BONUS CHAPTER: FINNEY THE FLOWER BOY*

Week one, day three of Christmas break and Robin is officially satisfied with the decorations adorning the hallways. It's only been two days since they started decorating, well, since he started decorating. Valentina was pretty adamant on not taking part after he continuously teased her for her wonky ornaments the other day.

Despite their wonkiness, however, Robin felt they were the best on the tree. They made it unique, and every time he saw them, it brought a tiny speckle of joy across his features.

He put in a lot of overtime to make decorations- even staying up late while she slept to sit on the floor of her room cutting and pasting and shaping and coloring and trying to be quiet so her mom wouldn't hear him. Sometimes her mother would be leaving for work at the same hour he would be laying down to go to sleep. Although he never let his sleepiness show, not wanting to concern Valentina.

Plus, he enjoyed the feeling of carefully crawling into bed beside her while she slept, being as delicate as possible to avoid waking her. He enjoyed the few moments before falling asleep that he could simply look upon her calm expression and hear her gentle breathing. Most of all, he enjoyed kissing her cheek and cuddling into her to get his own rest. Even if it was only for a few hours.

This morning, he awoke to her happily scattering his face with kisses as a tribute to his hard work of sneakily decorating the night before. In her words, he was like the opposite of the grinch.

He could never get tired of waking up like that. He wishes every morning could be like that.

Now, the two are sat across from each other on her bed. As per usual.

"Ok, now just kind of roll it back and forth so that the bud will, like, form into the shape of the joint. It'll be easier to seal that way," she instructs, patiently observing as he follows her advice.

With furrowed brows and a face full of concentration, he carefully pinches the paper between his index and thumbs, rolling it back and forth. "How do I make it a cone shape?"

"Just make it tighter on one end," she replies, eyes glued to him.

He does as he's told and his face lights up as it turns out successful. "Should I lick it now?"

"Yeah!" She nods, also happy at his success.

As he drags his tongue across the paper, his eyes stay glued to her unintentionally.

Her face lights up in a blush, and the pitter patter of her heart becomes overwhelmingly loud in her ears. He looked good. Too good. Valentina's poor little heart can't handle it- it feels like it's about to explode.

"I did it!" He cheers, looking down at the joint pridefully.

His eyes catch hers once more, and she hurriedly stammers out, "y-yeah! It looks great- really great! Good job!"

Suddenly aware of her unusual behavior, he raises a brow, "what?...you're acting weird. Why is your face so red?"

"It's not! I'm not!" She denies, springing off the bed to put some distance between them in an attempt to calm her racing heart beat.

Even more suspicious now, he carefully sets the joint on the tray and then pushes it aside to regain their closeness- stepping off the bed and back towards her.

"Um? Did I do something wrong?" He frowns, reaching out to rest his hands above her hips.

"No," she denies once more, pushing forward to pull him into a hug to hide her undeniably red face. "I'm just...nothing. It's nothing, ok? You're just...."

"I'm just what?" He questions curiously, voice rumbling beside her ear as she stays pressed against him in an embrace.

"You're just so handsome," she replies softly. "Sometimes you still make me nervous."