(TWST Idia/Cater) so i'll dance with Cinderella

Somethingfest (Part I)

"You kissed Cater?" Ortho's voice was loud enough to wake the dead, and as Idia was a deep sleeper and akin to those not among the living, he most certainly did awaken at this observation.

"How do you know that?" Idia demanded. He was normally groggy after waking up, but this time, he was extremely alert. Glancing at his tablet, which's clock display blared 5:34 AM, he added, "And why aren't you recharging?"

"I'm fully recharged," Ortho explained. "And you were talking in your sleep." His eyes lit up and he hovered closer to Idia's bed. "So, is it true? You and Cater kissed?"

Idia felt his face and hair burn. "No comment. Go away."

"Brother, come on! You can't sleep-speak that you kissed your crush and not elaborate!"

Turning over in his bed, Idia tried to tune out Ortho's voice. "Maybe I'll reveal more when I'm asleep again." He actually hoped that he didn't. Imagine if he sleep-spilled his secrets on the regular. How humiliating! People would probably start lining up outside his room, desperate to hear what kind of things he said!

"Idia!" Ortho, who knew how to annoy his brother best, began to shine one of his built-in flashlights in Idia's eyes. "Wake up!" His voice had now taken on a whine that was equal parts pathetic and adorable.

Idia, who had screamed effeminately when Ortho's light hit his eyes, flipped his pillow over his face. "I'm not saying anything until ..." Idia didn't know when his heart would stop beating like a steel drum every time he recollected what had happened between him and Cater. He knew that only when it did, could he properly tell Ortho what had happened. "Tomorrow."

Well, that was faster than anticipated.

The next morning, Idia woke up to Ortho hovering vigilantly by his desk, adamant to know what had occurred when he had been away at the housewarden meeting. Idia relayed all the information he could, although he kept some parts to himself. The actual kiss was described as "and then we kissed," because he wasn't an eager middle-school girl who was going to give a detailed description of every sensation he had felt then, even though he really, really wanted to.

The days passed after this momentous occasion in a relatively uneventful fashion. Cater frequented Idia's room with his usual exuberance, and Idia still retained something of his anxiety when he was around Cater. This wasn't something that would go away, though; Idia, by nature, was an anxious person. Even around people he was truly comfortable, and that number only consisted of Ortho, there was still a vellum-thin veneer of—well, the words that would best describe the sensation would be "extreme awareness"—that coated everything Idia did or said.

He did, despite this, engage Cater in activities he liked, too. Idia's hobbies consisted of sitting in the dark in his room whilst playing games—board and video—watching anime, reading manga, and committing himself to whatever programming or engineering project that struck his fancy. As it were, these were rarely things Cater did voluntarily. Sure, he watched Some Anime with a fervor that bordered on religious, but that was because Idia's sticker had acted as a catalyst for his interest. He was sadly a normie in this case.

And so, Idia surmounted his introversion for short spans of time and followed Cater to cafes and skate parks, to restaurants and bakeries, and every other picturesque place that was raved about on MagiCam. Cater, in his turn, was careful to consider places that were not too crowded and opted to visit when there were lulls in business. It was a pleasant arrangement that suited them both.

As the days passed, Somethingfest drew closer and closer still. Several days before the event itself, something strange transpired.

Cater knocked on Idia's door as he usually did, holding a basket of delicate finger sandwiches that were Trey's finest work, when instead of Ortho swinging the door open, he was met with said robot staring at him apologetically through an uninviting crack in the doorway.