Jirard held his controller in front of him, keeping an eye on his character on his side of the screen. Pix’s character smashed past him, causing his character to almost fall off the screen. Jirard yelped, looking over at Pix.
The purple-haired girl was laughing, her green eyes sparkling with success as her character shot into First Place. Her character popped out of the item she was using, and she did a trick over the ramp, causing her character to stick their tongue out.
“How did you get that? I thought you were in second!” Jirard asked, driving back onto the course.
Pix yawned, and Jirard immediately felt worried for her. “It...... awwwn.... it sure did get to me... in second.” Pix mumbled, turning around a corner. Jirard smashed into an item box, and waited for his item to appear. After a few moments of silence...
“You feeling alright?” Jirard asked, his character throwing his shell behind him.
“Y-Yeah! Completely!” Pix’s character crossed the finish line, and Pix put her controller down, rubbing at her eyes. “Feeling a little woozy...”
Jirard’s character crossed the finish line, and he put his controller down, hopping up to go to Pix. “Alright, no more games tonight.”
“But I like-” Pix’s words were interrupted by her own yelp as Jirard picked her up, bridal style. When her yelp came to it’s end, she gripped onto Jirard’s shoulder. “What are you doing, Jirard?”
Jirard responded, “Putting you to bed.”
“My bed is across campus, in the girl’s dorm!”
“I WILL DO IT.”
Jirard opened the door to his room with his shoe, which was easy because it was already open a crack, and started to walk towards the stairs. Pix put her head into Jirard’s shoulder, letting his beard brush her shoulder. “Oh my god, Jirard...”
“You have to get some rest, Pix.” Jirard’s voice turned to worry. “Didn’t you say you had trouble sleeping before we officially started dating?”
“Well, y-yes, but... I was having fun...”
“And that is why you’re tired sometimes, right?” Jirard asked, turning the corner into the first floor. Pix nodded, embarrassed. “What I thought. I just want you to get some sleep.”
Pix didn’t respond, but made a humming noise. Jirard managed to open the door out into the campus, and escaped into the open air. He headed for the Primrose dorm, and the two went into silence. Eventually, Pix started to hum something else, and it turned into a song.
Jirard made it to Pix’s dorm door, and put Pix down. Pix went to open the door, then paused, thinking. She turned back to Jirard, and smiled at him. “...Thank you for bringing me to bed.” She put two fingers to her lips, and sent a kiss Jirard’s way. “Love you.”
With that, she opened the door, and quickly jumped into the room, shutting the door behind her.
Jirard smiled, and started to head back. His phone buzzed as he made it to the stairs, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
Thank you for playing games with me tonight <3
...From Pix.
Go to sleep.
But I don’t wanna, Jirard...
I want you to sleep, is that enough?
..yes.. nigh, jirard
There was a new TV in Jirard’s room, sitting right in between the two beds belonging to the inhabitants. Blankets rested on the floor in front of it, with various cute patterns plastered onto each blanket. The beds were made; obviously recently since Shane’s art materials were put onto his desk. Itty Bitty Kitty Plushies were on the ground around the blanket, and Pix had to remind herself not to run to them and rub her hands all over them.
Jirard really liked those plushies, and Pix wasn’t going to ruin them with her hands.
She stepped into the room and made her way to the blankets, picking up the one on the top of the pile. It was cute, with various Nokemon patterns sewn into it. Pix moved the blanket along in her hands, trying to search for a particular Nokemon that might not be on the blanket anyway.
Where’s Jirard?
This was answered fairly quickly after the question crossed Pix’s mind. Jirard stumbled into the room, panting. Pix jumped and dropped the blanket, turning around to see that Jirard was carrying a big bag tightly in one hand, and was leaning on one of his shelves, breathing deeply.
“Sorry that I-” Jirard took a deep breath, then pushed off the shelf, straightening himself up- “-I wasn’t here on time. I had to get this.” He shook the bag, and Pix let her eyes go to the bag.
That sounded like her bag after a full day of Halloween trick-or-treating.
“It’s alright.” Pix looked back up to Jirard, holding her hands behind her back. “I, uh... what are we doing in here, exactly?”
Despite the fact that it was innocent, Pix still felt a little embarrassed being in a guy’s room by herself and another guy.
“We’re going to watch a movie!” Jirard beamed. “You mentioned wanting to rewatch one of the Nokemon movies, and I saw the one you rewatched at one of the stores in town, and so I had to get it! Sorry for not notifying you of what we were doing.”
“It-It’s fine!” Pix could feel her face flushing. How could one man remember that little quip she made last week? “I don’t mind at all. Now, what’s with the arrangement on the floor here?”
Jirard walked forward, looking at the pile of blankets and the Itty Bitty Kitty Plushies that surrounded it. “...I think the plushies were shane’s doing.” Jirard said, picking one of them up and frowning at it. He looked away from it and to Pix, smiling. “But I want you to be comfortable, so I got some blankets for us while we watch the movie.”
Pix remembered the Nokemon blanket and couldn’t help but smile again. “Aww. Thanks, Jirard.”
“No problem!” The bearded man placed the plushie he was holding onto a shelf nearby, then walked back to the blanket pile to pick up the others that remained. “Go ahead and get yourself situated, I’m going to put these up, alright?”
“Okay!” Pix beamed, and she grabbed the Nokemon blanket from the pile to wrap around her shoulders. After she did so, she sat down next to the pile and waited, watching Jirard put the plushies away with meticulousness.
After he did that, he went and got the Nokemon Movie out from the pile, put it in the player, and grabbed a blanket from the pile to wrap around himself. He sat down next to Pix, and placed the bag between them.
Pix glanced inside.
It was filled with her favorite kind of candy.
Pix’s green eyes grew wide, and she glanced over to Jirard, who was smiling at her. When they made eye contact, Jirard nodded.
Pix dug into the bag and pulled out a smile pile of candy, placing it in her lap, and started to unwrap one as the movie started up. “Oh my god, thank you, Jirard!”
When Shane returned to his room that night, he found Pix laying on Jirard’s shoulder, and the two of them fast asleep. He stared at the two for a bit, then only chuckled, backing out of the room and closing the door.
He was going to go stay in Ian’s room tonight. Definitely tease Jirard when lunchtime comes around.
34. “These stars are nothing compared to the ones I’ve seen in your eyes.”
It was Pix’s idea. The stars were beautiful, and she didn’t spend much time looking at them as a kid, so she might as well look at them now!
Pix brought the Nokemon blanket, and Jirard brought his Itty Bitty Kitty Blanket. The two overlapped the blankets, then lay down on them, the comforting fabric causing Pix to sigh happily.
The actual stargazing began then. Jirard pointed out the various star patterns in the sky, and Pix started to make hypothetical patterns out of the stars she could see. Pix started connecting another few groups of stars, then seemed to realize something and started to laugh. Jirard followed her movements of her hand before it collapsed onto her chest, and realized what she thought it looked like.
Jirard stopped laughing after Pix, and looked at her, laying on the blanket, hands on her chest and staring at the stars. It was a lull in the conversation of the stars, and Pix’s face seemed to relax back into one of a frown, and her eyes were half-lidded again.
Jirard looked back up at the stars, then back at her. “Pix.”
Pix looked over to him, and the frown turned into a slight smile. “Yes, Jirard?”
“I know we came out here just to look at these stars, but...” Jirard scooted a bit closer to Pix, and she sat up, green eyes curiously looking into Jirard’s own. “You know what? These stars are nothing compared to the ones I’ve seen in your eyes.”
Pix’s eyes widened, and a slight gasp escaped from her mouth. Her mouth then twisted back into a smile, and Jirard saw that she was holding back tears.
“Oh my god...” Pix mumbled, “I-I... Thank you for saying that!” She wiped at her eyes, then scooted close enough for their knees to meet. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his side, squeezing tight. Jirard hugged back, and they just stayed there for a while, with the stars glittering down on them.
Pix plopped some of the batter onto the pan, rubbing her hair back again. She grumbled something about hating having long hair, continuing to put more chocolate chip batter onto the pan. She quickly picked up the box for how long to cook the cookies for, her hair falling slightly over her face again.
God fucking-
Someone’s hands grabbed her hair, softly, and Pix jerked slightly at the surprise contact. Her boyfriend had found his way over to her, and he was now... putting her hair into a ponytail.
“A-Aren’t you supposed to be making some more of the batter?” Pix asked, surprise almost causing her to drop the box. She looked back at the cookie box, reading through the instructions.
“Well, I saw you were having a bit of trouble with your hair...” Jirard said, grabbing something off of his wrist and pulling it into Pix’s hair. He twisted the purple-and-brown hair into a ponytail, tightened it, then backed away. “There. You don’t have to keep pushing it back!”
Pix rubbing her hands over her now-open ears, feeling extremely grateful. She placed the box down, clicked on the oven a few times, then turned to Jirard. He looked curiously down at her, his face a light smile.
She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing tight.
“Jirard,” Pix mumbled, “I love you so much.”
Jirard made a small, surprised noise, which made Pix smile. He hugged her back, and whispered, “I... love you too.”
They separated to get back to the cookies, but Pix’s heart was pounding fast in her chest, and a slight ringing went through her ears.
They actually said it. Right after they started dating, too!
She was so going to rub this in Jared’s face later.
Pix was freezing. She wasn’t expecting it to be, well, cold today… When it was going to rain… And she was wearing shorts… Pix shook her head, trying not to make herself seem like an idiot again, rubbing at her arms. She just thought… the weather was going to be different today! That’s why she forgot her umbrella! Yeah, yeah…
“Pix, are you alright?” Jirard’s voice cut through the rainy air like a knife, and she turned around, eyes wide. The mostly-purple-haired girl rubbed at her arms again, feeling every drop of rain with a shiver.
“M…Maybe…?” She stammered out, and she could already feel the tears in her eyes. No, no no no no no no no… she couldn’t cry, not in front of Jirard, of all people!
“You don’t look too good… are you cold?” The worried look on Jirard’s bearded face made pix just want to cuddle up to him and force him to smile, but she was more focused on trying to hold back tears. She had to answer him…
“Y-Yeah, I-I-I’m-” She sniffled, “-cold…”
Jirard walked towards her, and she wondered briefly what he was trying to do when he drew her into a hug, causing her to make a noise of surprise- she wasn’t sure what it was- and she pressed her head into his chest.
She was short, especially compared to Jirard.
Jirard opened his jacket up, turning slightly away from the hug. Pix still kept her hands on his side, huddling slightly under his jacket. He smiled warmly at her, and pressed her closer to his side. Pix was already warmer…
“I’ll keep you warm.” He looked out towards the train station, which was just ahead. “I’ll get you out of the rain.”
Pix took a paper out of her sketchbook and placed it on the table, starting to write a message on it. She hoped others would think she was drawing, and hoped Shane wouldn’t look her way; Shane would know that she wasn’t drawing the moment he looked at her.
She finished the message, then looked for Jirard at the table. He was across from her, engaged in a conversation with Satch. The girl bit her lip, looking to Hana beside her, who was staring over at PBG with a focused look on her face.
“Hey, Hana, could you do me a favor?” Pix asked, tapping the pink-haired girl on the shoulder. She jumped slightly, but looked down to Pix’s hands, which held the folded up piece of paper.
Hana made a noise of questioning.
Pix looked to Jirard, who glanced over to her from Satch’s conversation. They made eye contact for a bit.
Pix finished babbling about her Nokemon Mystery Dungeon fic that she was considering revamping. She looked down at her lap, feeling a little embarrassed. “Ah... Sorry for ranting to you like that. Probably don’t like people talking your ear off...”
“It’s no problem at all! Trust me!” Jirard’s smile made Pix want to protect it forever and ever. “To be honest, I find it cute.”
“Wh-” Pix shook her head. “No. I-I’m not cute. Ranting is... not cute.”
Jirard shook his head back, holding up a hand. “No, really! You are cute! Trust me when I say that, please.” His face slightly turned pink. “You’re... really cute.”
“I... uh...” Pix blinked, then tried to busy herself from her racing heart. “W-Well, how was the fic ideas, anyway? I know I need to revise but...”
Pix flushed, mouth turning a bit dry. Jirard smiled nervously, face turning red as well. Hana started to look from Pix to Jirard, but Pix coughed, making Hana look back at her.
“ANYWAY. Could you hand this to Jirard? I only trust you to do this.” Pix pointed at the paper in her hand. “I need Jirard for something, and the others might look at it...”
“Sure.” Hana smiled and took the paper gently from Pix. She looked at it for a moment, before sliding it across the table. It happened to hit Jirard in the arm, who jumped when it did. He opened it up, then looked to Pix.
It’s a yes or no question, Jirard... oh god, please say yes...
Jirard smiled, and nodded subtly. Pix’s face felt about as hot as the sun, and she smiled down at her hands. Her heart was soaring.
The paper hit her in the face, and she jumped, grabbing it from the air. Jirard had a surprised look on his face, one that then went into worry.
Pix opened up the paper, and found a scribbled response. Her smile widened, and she looked over to Jirard, who was still staring at her with worry. She tapped the side of her cheek the paper hit, with no visible reaction, then pointed to the paper.
She then nodded, and put the paper into her purse. Jirard’s worried expression turned into a bright smile, and he turned to Satch, talking about something different now. Pix looked at her lap again, fist bunching up her shorts. Her hand was shaking.
