Trash Panda

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Having not gotten a good night of sleep in days, Crow slept more deeply than he had in a long time. Even when Penelope kissed his cheek and whispered to him, he barely stirred, just shifting slightly on the bed instead of getting up. The rest had felt so good, and he was comfortable in the knight’s embrace. He didn’t want it to end yet. However, before he could start drifting off again, he realized vaguely that something seemed off about the situation. He wasn’t sure what it was, but there was definitely something that set off a red flag in the back of his mind, and he couldn’t bring himself to ignore it.

Letting out a soft groan, he opened his eyes to look over the room. The sight made him relax at first, since nothing seemed out of place; but after a moment, he stiffened as he remembered that he was in the wrong bedchamber. He sat upright, suddenly confused. How had he and Penelope ended up sleeping beside each other in his sister’s room, and why were all the lights put out? Exactly how late was it? Naida had told him that she would wake him up when she finished writing her letters.

His dark-adjusted eyes swept over the space once more, only to find the princess fast asleep on a long, cushioned chair. He clenched his jaw. It seemed Naida hadn’t been writing at all, and to make matters worse, she had no intention of waking anyone up. Though he knew his sister’s intentions were innocent, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of frustration with her for lying to him. If Penelope hadn’t roused him before dawn, he could have found himself in another panic and drawn the royal guards to the bedchamber by screaming. He shuddered to imagine what could have happened if the knights had caught him and Penelope in a bed together. They needed to get out as soon as they could.

“I can’t believe she did this,” he muttered irritably, still simmering from the situation his sister had put them in. Swinging his legs over the edge of the mattress, he climbed down from the bed and made his way toward the door, eager to leave the bedchamber. However, before he even made it halfway, he sucked in his breath as he felt his leg collide with what felt like a table. Too late, he realized that Naida must have moved it back into place while they had been sleeping.

The legs of the furniture grated loudly against the floorboards, and the former thief lifted a hand to his face in humiliation. He’d never made a mistake this bad in years. Living at the castle for so long must have made him soft. He mentally chided himself for getting so complacent as he glanced worriedly at Naida, praying that the abrasive sound hadn’t woken her up.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Naida is definitely not going to write any letters as an excuse to let Crow and Penelope sleep next to each other xD
She'll sleep on a chaise lounge if it gets late enough

Also feel free to have them wake up however you want lol I could see them cuddling at some point since they're so familiar with each other

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Once again, Crow followed Penelope’s lead as she guided them through the next part of the dance. He paid attention to the subtle push and pull of her hand that told him what to do, knowing he would eventually have to learn how to lead on his own if he was to be able to dance with anyone else at the party. The moves were still simple enough that he followed her without too much trouble. For him, the hardest part was maintaining a decent posture, since his weariness tempted him to abandon grace for the ease of slouching. He managed not to give in though, since he knew that the sooner he perfected the routine, the sooner he could go back to his bedchamber to sleep.

The viceroy nodded a bit absentmindedly as Penelope went on to give him further instructions. He turned to keep facing her as she walked around him, losing some focus as his thoughts wandered to how elegant she looked performing the move. The more they danced together, the more he realized that his role seemed to be just to show her off as she completed more difficult maneuvers. It was actually a bit relieving, since he had a feeling that most of the dance would be simpler for him than it was for her.

When she guided his hand up and over her head, Crow smiled faintly to himself, feeling a burst of fondness for the knight as he watched her complete a single spin. She really was quite beautiful. He found himself distracted from the lesson as his mind continued to stray, not even realizing that he should have been preparing himself for the next round of directions when she finished her last move.

He was drawn from his musings when he felt her suddenly pull away from him and announce that they should take a break. More than eager to rest, he murmured his agreement, stretching languidly as he trailed after her to sit on Naida’s bed. Of course, his sister attempted to protest, but thankfully the knight seemed determined to stop for a moment, granting them a brief respite from the dance lesson.

Crow let out the yawn he’d been suppressing as he settled down on the edge of the mattress with Penelope, no longer caring about keeping up appearances as his exhaustion grew too strong to fight off. It was quite late now, and he wondered if he should go back to his own room. Even if Elizabeth had been bold enough to seek him out earlier, there was no way she would still be there now. He was just about to voice the suggestion when he felt the knight shift beside him on the bed. Glancing down at her, he blinked in mild surprise to see that she had laid back and appeared to already be falling asleep.

“‘Just a break,’ my ass,” Naida scoffed when she noticed that her friend was doing a little more than just resting.

“We should probably stop anyway,” Crow sighed softly, leaning back on the palms of his hands. He studied Penelope’s sleeping face for a moment before turning to the princess. “I’ll wake her for you, and we can go.”

Naida frowned, looking between the two for a moment before a sly smile crossed her lips, “You’re tired too, right?”

“Well, yes,” Crow admitted slowly, unsure where she was going with the remark. “But that’s why I was suggesting that we should go back to our own bedchambers.”

“You don’t have to go,” the princess waved her hand dismissively. “Let her sleep a little longer. In fact, you can too.” Her smile broadened. “I’ve got a couple of letters to write that I’ve been putting off anyway. You can nap while I work on those.”

Crow shifted his weight, his eyes flicking toward Penelope before returning to his sister’s face. The offer was tempting—he missed sleeping next to the knight—but he didn’t want to give Naida any ideas about them. “I don’t know…”

“It’ll be fine,” Naida insisted before he could object. “I won’t tell anyone if you won’t.”

Crow hesitated. Logically, it made much more sense for him to simply go back to his own room, whether he woke Penelope up or left her to nap. However, he knew that if he went back alone, he was just going to wake up feeling like he hadn’t slept at all again. He bit the inside of his lip. As long as the princess didn’t let him sleep through the night and woke him before his nightmare could reappear, this might be his only opportunity to get a few hours of decent rest in gods knew how long. The realization was persuading.

“Fine,” the viceroy relented with another yawn, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “Just for a little while though, okay? Wake me up as soon as you’re done with your letters and no later.”

“Alright,” his sister grinned.

Feeling satisfied with their deal, Crow shifted on the bed to put some distance between himself and Penelope before he laid down. As much as he would have liked to fall asleep right next to her, he couldn’t be that obvious in front of Naida. Being nearby would have to be good enough. With that thought in mind, he rolled over to face away from the knight and closed his eyes, drifting off almost as soon as his head touched the pillow.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow is too xD
He definitely can't keep up with much more, since he's already starting to fall asleep

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As Penelope began to walk him through the steps of the dance, Crow did his best to follow along without breaking the rules that she and Naida had taught him. Early on, he realized it was going to be difficult to keep his gaze fixed on her face instead of her feet. He wanted to look down at the floor to make sure he was matching her steps. However, he managed to avoid the impulse for most of it, his green eyes only flicking downward every once in a while as he focused on holding her gaze.

It turned out that the steps to the dance—the very first ones, at least—were as easy as Penelope had told him they would be. He was glad to find out that he could keep up with her easily, if only slightly behind her since she was leading. The slight bounce in their movements was new to him too, but even that wasn’t hard to do as long as he didn’t forget about it.

His gaze briefly wandered to her right hand as he caught sight of her raising it on the other side of her body, and he mirrored the motion to meet hers above their heads. The posture felt strange, but when the knight smiled at him, he returned the expression, reassured that he’d done the move correctly. Even though he had been hesitant to learn noble dancing before, he was starting to like it a bit more. It was probably just because he was able to dance with Penelope though, if he was honest. He doubted he would enjoy dancing with a woman he didn’t know nearly as much as he did with her.

As Penelope went on to tell him how to do the next part of the dance, Crow listened carefully, trying to keep up. Fortunately for him, the next part didn’t sound too difficult either. That is, until he felt the sudden urge to yawn. He lightly bit his tongue to stifle the feeling. Though he was usually quick on his feet when taking on something new, he could tell his exhaustion was catching up to him fast. He hoped there wasn’t much more to learn, because he wasn’t sure how much more information his tired mind could absorb that night.

“I think so,” he nodded, casting her another smile that was a bit less energetic than before. “I’m ready to try it when you are.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I'm not sure if I've heard of that, actually. I'm gonna look it up now though xD
And it's totally fine, haha. I figured I'd leave the dance style up to you anyway, so I'm good with whatever

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow blinked when Penelope said that the posture she had taught him was only the beginning of the dance. Already, he was starting to wonder if he had gotten in over his head by agreeing to learn how to dance with her in the first place. The way she spoke, it sounded like there was still quite a bit left that he didn’t know. With the addition of how exhausted he was from the long day, he could tell it was going to be difficult for him to keep up with the rest of the lesson. Regardless, he didn’t voice his concerns. It might have turned out to be harder than he expected, but he was still fairly sure he could follow along if he focused enough.

His eyes flicked toward Naida when he saw Penelope look in her direction. The sight of the grin on her face made him roll his eyes again. His sister was clearly excited to watch them dance together. He suspected she believed it would encourage them to get together if they proved to be a good match during a dance.

As Penelope went on to explain the next part of the dance, Crow turned back to her, trying to keep up with the instructions she was giving him. It was tough to do, when his attention kept wandering back to the soft looking bed behind him, but he thought he understood the directions well enough. He looked down at her legs when she bent her knees, only to be immediately corrected by Naida, who told him to keep eye contact with her at all times.

There’s a rule about everything, he thought dryly as he lifted his gaze to meet the knight’s eyes again. Despite the mild annoyance, he found that he didn’t really mind this particular instruction as much. At least it gave him an excuse to stare at her without coming off as suspicious. A faint smile tugged at his lip as he held Penelope’s gaze, enjoying the luxury of being at least a little closer to her than he was usually able to get when his sister was around.

Crow nodded when Penelope said they could try the first part of the dance together while she led. That was something else that was new to him. In the outer villages, everyone danced together a bit haphazardly, so there wasn’t a “leader.” At least, not that he was aware of. He never attended village dances regularly enough to really figure them out though.

“As I’ll ever be,” Crow grinned. Though he wasn’t sure if he would do well on his first try, he enjoyed a good challenge, so he felt ready to take it on with some amount of confidence. “Lead the way.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

It's probably for the best though, since she's about to leave for two days xD
It would just eat at him if they didn't have a chance to talk about it

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

When Penelope answered his question, Crow turned to her with a shrug. From what he remembered, dancing in the outer villages was quite informal, so he would have been surprised if it was even remotely similar to the way nobles danced in the castle. Additionally, he didn’t know much to begin with. When he’d been living on his own, he’d found it fun to join in the local festivities whenever dances were put on in the villages, but he didn’t consider himself skilled at the practice by any means. Then again, is anyone really “good” at peasant dancing? He smirked to himself. Usually, everyone was drunk during the dances anyway, so he was probably no worse than the rest of the villagers.

As the knight went on to tell him about the proper posture for the dance, Crow took a couple steps away from the bed. He watched her curiously while she demonstrated the stance, finding the rigidity of it interesting. It seemed like everything nobles did had to be performed in an elegant and well-ordered fashion, even when they were having fun. The thought made him want to snort but, being mindful of the room, he kept his opinion to himself.

“I think I’ve got it,” Crow said when Penelope asked if he had any questions. He casted her a lopsided grin, “It’s definitely not like the dancing I’m familiar with though. In the outer villages, the music is fast paced and everyone has a mug in their hands. This is a lot more orderly.”

“Sounds like fun,” Naida spoke up from where she was sitting by the table she’d moved for them. “But this sort of dance has its own charm too, and it’s a great way to get men and women to mingle at a party.” She shot him a wry wink.

Crow rolled his eyes and turned back to Penelope, looking over her posture once more before he moved to copy it. He held his left arm up and rested his right arm behind his back in the same manner that she did. Stepping closer to press his hand against hers, he blinked as it occurred to him that they were now facing opposite directions.

“This is weird,” he mused, turning his head to meet her gaze. “How do we dance together if we’re facing the wrong way?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Not anymore xD
She threw him off again