A Series of Rune Factory 4 One-shots

Peas in a Pod(Frey x Lest)

Frey knew her situation was strange. Falling from the sky into a talking dragon and spontaneously becoming princess was already weird enough. But that wasn't it. She hadn't fallen alone. And that first day, that dragon and the rest of the town had only been expecting one person.

"Two of you, huh? Well, perhaps the king had an illegitimate child. Which one of you is Arthur?" Ventuswill had asked. Frey had looked to the man beside her, but he just frowned.

"Who's Arthur?"  he asked.

And that's when Frey knew that something was wrong.

A castle with one room. Portals that could only let one person through. A dragon who had been perfectly ready to accept one of them, but had been shocked by the second one.

Wasn't it natural to believe something wasn't right?

But Lest was her dear friend, someone who always understood her and always had her back. They were peas in almost startlingly similar pods. He was strong and kind and always took half of her duties. When they were together, anything was possible, but she couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy. It was just an instinct, a knot in her stomach; they weren't supposed to both be there.

Frey sat on her bed in their shared room in the castle, contemplating.

"Frey!" a joyful voice exclaimed, and she raised her head as Lest set down his weapons by the door.

"Hello, Lest," she said, smiling weakly. He grinned in return.

"Have you already finished your request?" he asked, sitting down beside her. She nodded slowly, linking her hands together in her lap. He frowned, leaning in towards her.

"Something wrong?" She blinked up at him in surprise then quickly shook her head.

"It's nothing."

"Are you sure? It looks like something has been bothering you."

"Well..." she began, and he leaned forward again, his kind expression finally getting her to tell the truth.

"Yes...?"

"Don't you think it's a bit strange? That there are two of us?" He frowned with a slight tilt of his head.

"What do you mean?" Frey bit her lip and twiddled her thumbs.

"I don't know. It just feels like there should only be one. I mean, isn't it weird that no one can hear the talking request box except for us?"

"Isn't the fact that it can talk weirder?"

"No, I mean, everything we've done feels like it should be a job for one person, but we've done it all together. It just doesn't feel right." Lest placed his hands on his legs, his expression growing darker.

"...So, you're saying that we shouldn't have been together?"

"Well..."

"Would you have rather done it all without me?" Lest asked, his gaze trained on the floor. Frey's head snapped up and she began to frantically shake her head, grabbing hold of his hands.

"Of course not! I wouldn't have been able to do it all without you. I don't know how I would've managed to fight all those monsters and save everyone without you."

"Frey," Lest said, his voice serious as he met her gaze. He tightened his grip on her hands.

"If it's true... If us being together means that something is wrong, then I don't want to do things the right way." Frey's face began to heat up at his words, and she tried to turn her head, but he placed his hand on her cheeks and had her look at him again. Her heart began to beat a bit faster in her chest, a feeling she was familiar with. She got like this whenever he touched her so intimately, but she didn't know what to do about it.

"Lest, I..." She trailed off as he leaned forward, the warmth of his hands distracting her from what she wanted to say.

"Frey, if you weren't with me, I—"

"Princess? Lady Ventuswill is—" Vishnal walked in at that moment, cutting off Lest, but the butler's words got caught in his throat, and he stopped before getting past his doorway. He stared at Lest's hand on Frey's cheek, his other hand cradling hers. He noticed the distance between them, and the expressions on their faces.

Vishnal gasped, went red, and quickly covered his eyes.

"I'm so sorry! I'll come back later and tell Lady Ventuswill that you're busy!" He quickly bowed, turning to leave them as quickly as he could.

"Wait, Vishnal!" Frey called out.He did not wait. He sprinted out of the room as quickly as he could, red to the tips of his ears.

Lest sighed, pulling his hands away. He rested his head on her shoulder, hiding his face so that she couldn't see the blush crawling up his cheeks. Frey patted his head, turning her head away in her own attempt to hide her embarrassment.

"You're right, Lest," she said.

"About what?"

"Even if it's not how things were supposed to be, we're better together." He raised his head to respond to her but she gently nudged him back down, too shy to continue her speech with him looking at her.

"I think... I'm really lucky to have you by my side," she said. He linked their hands together, relaxing in the comforting silence between them.

After falling out of an airship, losing their memories, fighting off monsters, and uncovering mysteries, they knew that things went better when there was someone by their side. And if that someone just happened to understand you, support you, and compliment you perfectly, then that was even better. After all, there are no better companions than two peas in a pod.

Lest sat up straight, cupping her cheek in his hand once again. He leaned forward, and she closed her eyes.

And then a voice cut through their perfect moment.

"I'm really sorry! Lady Ventuswill started asking me what could possibly be more important to you than her and I couldn't tell her what happened, so she started to yell and I—"

"It's alright, Vishnal," Frey said, standing up as she pulled away from Lest. He pouted up at her as she walked away. The poor butler was still covering his eyes, afraid of interrupting them again.

The two began to leave the room, but just before she was out sight, she turned back to Lest and smiled.

"We'll continue later right?" He nodded enthusiastically and she grinned, following Vishnal into the other room.

Yes, things were better when they were together.

~~~
Hello, it's me, I'm back from the dead, and I have this update. This got requested to me a while ago, but somehow I didn't see it until recently...

I was writing this and it's kind of confusing as a one shot so I was thinking of expanding it and making it a full on story.... What do you guys think?

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading and sorry about updating super super late!