grace in your heart, flowers in your hair {Hermia}

[Bartok]

Something was odd. Some random kid from Bartok's biology lab had been completely convinced that he was his absolute best friend, and that was...definitely odd. Not that it hadn't been Bartok's dream to befriend anyone and everyone, but...he had definitely never met that guy before, and as much as he wanted to pretend to be his friend so the guy would keep thinking he was awesome, he felt extremely flustered and ended up hurrying out as soon as lab was done with.

The guy had followed him. Bartok had managed to lose him somewhere behind the science building, and had made a beeline in the opposite direction of his dorm. If the guy was that intent on stalking him, he probably already knew where Bartok lived. Oddly enough, a lot of people seemed to know that lately.

He cut through the commons, avoiding the open area by the fountain, and moved instead through the little patch of trees that was there. Maybe he could just...blend into one of them. He pressed himself up against the trunk of one of the trees, willing it to hide him from the people who were undoubtedly pursuing him, and glanced up into the branches as he did so.

...was that a foot?

[Deleted]

Hermia was not the least bit sure of what was going on, apart from the fact that she did not like it. It had started off innocently enough. At least, as innocent as you can imagine being interrupted in your lunch by a guy and a girl, neither of whom you had ever seen before, but both were certainly attractive and...well, very flattering. There was a lot of desire for them to do whatever it was to win her over, apparently. Naturally, she wasn't stupid enough to think that there was something off from the start, but she figured that she would play along, or at least let them both know that there really wasn't any need to fight over her, and by the way, her name was Hermia, what were theirs? Again, odd, but she could handle it, at least until the time came to actually make a choice, because again...they were both attractive and flattering. She was hoping maybe she could go on a date with each of them, play the field, see what stuck...

But that was before the others started going after her. And by "the others", she meant anyone that she came into contact with. It seemed like she couldn't even walk through the hallways without being ogled. At first she had figured that perhaps there was something in her teeth or maybe there was something wrong that made her underwear show...but nope. She looked just fine, and according to the bolder ones...she looked more than fine.

Long story short? Hermia did not like the idea of a bunch of random strangers giving her declarations of love and getting into fights with other random strangers over her. She wasn't sure if this was some kind of joke or if she had accidentally drinken something that was screwing her over again. She just knew that clearly, she had to hide until she could figure out an alternative plan. This was why she was hanging onto a tree in the courtyard for dear life. Hopefully she had lost her stalkers and she could figure out how to further evade them without spending her entire life in this tree. Because this skirt? Was not made her outdoor living.

So when she heard someone racing towards her tree, she resisted the urge to let out a frightened gasp. Oh please, oh please, oh please, this couldn't be one of her admirers, she had lost them, right? She made an indistinct sound in her throat and dared to take a peek down...and that was about when she started falling out of the tree.

Well that was just fantastic, wasn't it? Someone in Olympus must have been out to get her. If she ever ran into Aphrodite, or a temple in her name, she and Hermia were going to have a stern talk.

"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she cried, spreading out her arms as if she were hoping that on top of everything else, she'd at least sprout wings before she hit the ground.

[Bartok]

Yes, it appeared to be a foot. Attached to a girl, probably, because he was pretty sure she was wearing a skirt, and while that could have been...well, a guy could have worn it if he really wanted to, but Bartok was pretty sure it was a girl. And that was about all he had time to think of before she was falling out of the tree on top of him.

He didn't have long to react, but somehow, as she was tumbling towards him, he realized that she smelled really good. Maybe that was a weird thing to notice when you were in imminent danger of being crushed by a falling body, but it was the first thought that came to him. He put out his arms, reached towards her, and closed his eyes...

And somehow, he caught her. Really awkwardly, and he stumbled backwards, nearly falling backwards onto his rear end, but he somehow stayed on his feet, staggering a little bit before he steadied himself and looked down at the girl he'd saved from certain death (because...yeah, that was what he'd just done, right?).

Oh.

Oh, wow.

She was...gorgeous. And not like a supermodel I'm-too-good-for-you snobby kind of way either, but in a really beautiful way, like she was...the kind of girl you could fall in love with, not just...want to sleep with.

"I lo-" Wait, wait, wait, slow down. Was he just going to tell her he loved her the first moment he met her? He was fairly well convinced that he did love her, or at least...that he could love her, or something, because she looked...just, wow, but...it had been Bartok's experience that people didn't usually react well to you declaring your love to them the first moment you met them. Someone who'd spent as much time trying to please people as Bartok knew that, so in spite of the fact that he really did think he was probably in love with her, he managed to bite his tongue and not say it.

"Are you okay?" he asked, carefully. "Sorry, did I hurt you?" He set her down gently, resting his hands at the backs of her elbows as he let her down onto the ground, making sure she had her balance before he let go of her. "You just...surprised me. I mean, that's okay, obviously you didn't plan to fall out of the tree, but I wasn't really expecting it, y'know?"

[Deleted]

Sometime in her preparation for a crash landing that would potentially lead to her first broken bone (better here than back in Athens, she supposed), Hermia decided to squeeze her eyes shut, as if that was somehow going to make the whole experience hurt less. This, however, just wound up contributing to her total surprise when she realized that the ground wasn't that close by, and she was pretty sure that grass didn't feel like a pair of human arms! Letting out a yelp upon realizing that someone had actually caught her, her arms instinctively tightened around whoever it was' shoulders, although somehow her mind remembered that under her current condition, this was not a smart move.

With that in mind, she cautiously squinted one of her eyes open to look at a rather unfamiliar looking boy. He was cute at least, and she supposed there were girls the world over who wished they could have her luck, but right now she was too concerned with the worry that she wouldn't be able to get rid of him because he was falling hopelessly in love with her. It wasn't like the whole thing wasn't flattering, but it was quickly growing creepy, having a building harem that she had never asked for.

Yet as he managed to stop stumbling back and started asking if she was okay....well, that sounded pretty normal, didn't it? By now she had opened her eyes properly and had been quite glad to have her feet firmly on the ground without any broken bones and....

....huh.

This guy was actually pretty cool, wasn't he? After all, you didn't get cooler than rescuing some stranger from certain injury, perhaps death, right? She wasn't sure where in the name of Zeus that was coming from, and...oh wait, he was talking to her.

Shaking her head quickly, she answered, "Oh, no, I...I'm fine. If anything you just prevented me from getting hurt, so, um...thank you..." She looked back up at him and smiled nervously for some weird reason...she just really didn't want to seem like a dork to this guy. Weird, seeing as she usually didn't really care what people thought...very odd indeed. There must've been something weird in the water.

[Bartok]

There was probably nothing in the world that Hermia could have done at that moment to make herself seem like a dork in Bartok's eyes, short of spinning in circles drooling on herself or something equally ridiculous. Even that might not be enough...he might just laugh uneasily and assume that was what all the cool people were doing now. In spite of the fact that people apparently thought Bartok was the coolest thing in the world, it was going to take a lot of convincing to make him believe the same thing.

"It's no problem," he assured her, his lips curving into an easy smile. He wanted to kiss her - both because he was certain he was in love with her and because that just seemed like the kind of thing people did in fairytales when they caught someone and returned them safely to the ground. But he wasn't going to test his luck, and besides that, kissing and Bartok weren't...well, they weren't well-acquainted.

He dragged his glance away from her reluctantly - staring at people was one of those things they also didn't usually appreciate, even if they were completely gorgeous and you were utterly in love with them. He focused on a bird up in the tree for a moment, taking it in just long enough that he wouldn't look weird, then back down at her.

"I'm Bartok," he said, offering her one of the hands he'd just caught her with, this time for a handshake instead of accidental groping. "I was just...passing through." He decided on 'passing through' because 'running away from some crazy guy who thinks he's my best friend' didn't sound very suave, and he didn't want to ruin whatever he had going for him as a result of saving her from broken bones. Still, that guy might be right behind him, and Bartok cast a quick glance over his shoulder, remembering that fact.

"Hey, if you see a guy in a..." What had the guy been wearing? "A green shirt and a grey hoodie, can you..." He halted, realizing that was exactly what he was wearing. Well, that was weird. "Not me, I mean, some other guy, wearing the same thing as me. If you see him coming, can you let me know so I can find a place to...conceal myself?" That sounded a lot better than 'hide like a terrified rabbit.'

[Deleted]

It vaguely occurred to Hermia that this whole thing appeared to be straight out of a movie. A young girl who apparently everyone wanted (admittedly, her situation wasn’t so traditional high school rom com, was it?) nearly falling to her injury or death, but then some gallant young lad caught her. The way she kept looking at him, she was vaguely thinking of some phrase she had heard used for film scenes like this. What was it now…oh! “Meet cute”, yes, that was it. This definitely fell under that category, and how awesome would that be? Having a meet cute with her hero of the day…holy Hera, what was going on in her head right now? Even in the midst of it, she had the vaguest feeling that mentally gushing over this guy so quickly wasn’t exactly normal.

Yet when he looked away, she found herself craving for him to look back. It wasn’t exactly a crush, as far as she could tell, at least not the sort that she remembered with he-who-must-not-be-named. It somehow managed to feel more immature than the average crush, which the more logical half of her brain found to be terrifying. You didn’t exactly have too many cliques for Ancient Greek girls to have to deal with. Socialization was rather minimal, honestly, so the fact that this whole fawning over someone who wasn’t one of the gods temples or something was entirely new for Mia. Perhaps it was why she noticed how strange it really was.

Shaking away the confusion, she decided the smart move would be to just follow his gaze quietly until he chose to address her again. Thankfully, this did not take long, and Hermia was bewildered by how much that made her smile, how much her mind squealed, Finally! He’s actually talking to meeee! At least she managed to maintain her external cool. Even barring this strange desire to seem as worthy as possible, Mia liked the idea of maintaining her dignity, thank you very much.

Smiling broadly (after all, she always felt like her smile was pretty damn good, especially considering the terrible orthodontics of her age), she accepted his hand and shook it. “I’m Hermia…you can call me Mia, if you want, I know my name’s a little weird,” she answered with a jovial tone. It wasn’t like she was the least bit ashamed of her given name. In fact, she took a lot of pride in being named for a god, for one thing, and besides, some of the names in modern times were a little…je n’est sais pas. They lacked some uniqueness, honestly, although she supposed she had no room to talk. There was plenty of redundancy back at home, although as far as she knew, she didn’t know any other Hermia’s. Most fathers probably didn’t want to name their “good little girls” after the god of thieves who also had the important job of being a messenger and leading souls to the underworld. Not exactly traits you wanted to pass onto what was supposed to be a dutiful bride instead of the willful girl Hermia thought of herself as.


“But hey, lucky for me you were passing through…I thanked you, right?” And there was the tone that made a part of Hermia cringe. She sounded so…needy when she asked that. Which just wasn’t fitting in with her willful self image, and besides, there was nothing cool about that…ugh! Why did it matter whether or not this guy thought she was cool? Along with willful, Hermia had pretty decent observation skills, even when she was mentally stressing out. It wasn’t long before she was trying to follow Bartok’s gaze behind her shoulder, because he seemed to be looking over hers like there could be something very bad behind her. So far, however, it seemed just as safe. Even she sighed of relief there. So far Bartok was behaving somewhat normally, which she hoped was a sign that maybe this thing was fading away. Yet she couldn’t take too many chances with having to run away from screaming fans yet.

Then her attention returned to Bartok, and the minute he described the clothes of his pursuers, her sharp eye glanced at his current outfit and confusion graced her features until he clarified that someone else had been wearing the precise same outfit. Now that was strange…although she had to admit, the urge to try that out appeared in her…luckily she didn’t say that out loud. Seriously, what in the name of Hades was going on?

“Well, no. Truthfully I haven’t seen too many people in the past couple of hours. I was hiding in that tree…” In the words of a cartoon man who liked donuts a bit too much (Hermia quickly switched the channel, just to clarify, when she came across that one sick day), D’oh! He didn’t need to know that she hid in trees! That was just weird! She had to clarify herself and fast.

“People have been sort of chasing me too, I mean, and it’s just gotten a little weird, so I figured I’d hide up there and think of what to do about it. It’s a little impractical, but…well, I can’t think with people trying to woo me right and left…” Then a smile crossed her lips. “But hey, maybe we can help each other out in that fashion, hmm? We could always run away from our pursuers together,” she noted, unable to resist the urge to wink at him. Even if she couldn’t quite say this was a crush at the moment, she had a flirtatious side and he was quite cute. Tintagel seemed to be in very good supply of cute guys and girls, come to think of it. She supposed that was one of the good things about this whole “everyone seems to be falling in love with me at first sight” situation.

[Bartok]

Bartok was on the fence about this whole thing. Everyone wanted to be his friend - that was what he wanted, wasn't it? He wanted people to like him! But not on such a creepy level...he'd never imagined anyone wanting to dress exactly like him and pretend to like all the exact things he did just to impress him (although that was what he did all the time). Bartok hadn't been involved in cliques a lot in his younger years either...most of his time had been spent hiding from bullies and trying not to annoy his foster siblings. Having more than one person eager to be his friend all at once was completely foreign to him, and a little bit overwhelming.

"You were hiding in the tree?" he repeated, a smile spreading across his face, for once without him even thinking about smiling to reassure somebody. Why would someone like her need to hide in a tree? She was beautiful. She could probably have anybody in the school she wanted, and she was hiding in a tree? Did she think she was ugly or something? Then she elaborated, and it suddenly made sense.

"Ohhh," he realized aloud. Oh, well, that made this even more unfortunate for Bartok. Not only would she probably hate him or think he was a weirdo if he confessed his sudden, undeniable love for her, she'd probably run away and hide in another tree, too. She'd think he was just one of a thousand pesky people who were in love with her. Bartok suddenly felt terribly jealous. Why couldn't he have gotten to her sooner? Why hadn't he found her before all those other people had terrorized her? He couldn't blame them for being in love with her, that was just...something you couldn't control, he knew that quite well, but he could have kicked himself for being too oblivious to notice her before.

Did she just wink at him? Bartok's heart did a little somersault in his chest, and he felt a little lightheaded. Run away from pursuers together...yes. Yes, he could do that. A pop beat sprang into his mind (as they often did), and he matched it, snapping his fingers along to the beat in his head.

"Children behaaaave..." he began, before he could talk himself out of it, before he could remind himself that normal people didn't burst into song in parks. "That's what they say when we're together...And watch how you plaaaay..." Please, he thought, please, please don't think I'm insane. "They don't understand, and so we're runnin' just as fast as we can, holdin' onto one another's hands...Tryin' to get away into the night..." He dodged around the tree, then slipped back out from behind it to sing again, just beside her at her shoulder. "And then you put your arms around me and we tumble to the ground and then you say..." He did not, of course, put his arms around her, but he did rest one hand on the tree beside her, bringing him closer to her than he'd been since he'd actually had her in his arms. "I think we're alone now..."


linky - le song is le awesome, Bartok is not trying to be le creepy

[Deleted]

Mia didn’t quite need a reminder that the fact she was hiding in a tree was more than a little silly, but she didn’t quite begrudge Bartok’s incredulous smile. It wasn’t like he was being mean or anything. Hell, she was lucky that he was even acknowledging her existence….what the hell was this? Anyway, the point was, she really couldn’t blame him for realizing just how oddly she was behaving, and even with her explanation, it was all seeming kind of…well, sad. But at least it meant they seemed to have something in common.

And…as it turned out, they seemed to have a bit of something else in common. For a second Mia was wondering if she was hallucinating, and she blinked a few times as if that would somehow make the fact that he was currently singing make more sense….her wide gaze followed him until he completed his part, their eyes meeting for the time being as Mia tried to process this. Maybe she had spoken too soon…wait, no, that wasn’t a fair assumption, this was one of the saner reactions if that were the case…gods, how sad was that…but then again, it was music. She loved music, and besides that…she did want to impress him on some level.

“There doesn’t seem to be anyone around, the beating of our hearts is the only sound…” Uncharacteristically, she found the blood rushing to her face. She wasn’t ashamed of her voice or anything, but she hadn’t really gotten to the point where she started singing with a rather unfamiliar person in the middle of the park…but she felt so compelled to do as he did, if that made any sense. It was a bit odd, but maybe this would be a fun story to tell someone someday. So embarrassment aside, she smiled at him again as she continued the song.

“Look at the way we’ve gotta hide what we’re doing…” Her smile broadened as she realized just how appropriate the song was in a way, and maybe it was just her natural inclinations towards show biz, but she hid behind the tree for a second as she sang it. Then she turned, leaning against it. “And what would they say if they knew.” She then poked her head out from behind the tree, grinning as if to say ‘Race you!’ as she sang, “Running just as fast as we can,” before she started heading off, expecting him to follow.

[Bartok]

Bartok was sincerely worried that she might think he was weird, or figure out that he was in love with her, when he started singing. But...the song had fit so perfectly, and maybe it was a good way to express the way he felt about her without just coming out and saying it. That way if she didn't like it, he could just say "oh, it was just a song" and dismiss it like that. He really hoped he could avoid her thinking of him as a creepy lovestruck lunatic.

And then she started singing too, and it was as if Bartok could hear the beat of the song in the back of his mind, like the backing track itself was playing inside of his skull, brought to life by the fact that she was singing with him. And boy, could she ever sing. He made up his mind to tell her so as soon as they were finished with the song.

"Holdin' onto one another's hands..." He launched right back into the bridge, reaching for her hand as he ran to catch up with her. "Tryin' to get away into the night..." He trotted along beside her for a moment before moving in front of her, holding her hand up, laced through his, between them. "And then you put your arms around me and we tumble to the ground and then you say..." With that, he paused, and the music in his head went quiet as he realised how close he suddenly was to her.

"I think we're alone now," he said, and it came out as a statement instead of singing, as he'd intended it to. "There doesn't seem to be..." He faltered, unsure of himself without the steady, reassuring presence of the melody, then pressed on. "...anyone around."

And you are beautiful. The words were there, but by sheer force of will, he suppressed them, made himself not say them...or at least, part of them.

"Beautiful," he breathed. "I mean, you sing beautifully. You have an amazing voice."

[Deleted]

This wasn’t exactly an orthodox way to make friends, Hermia was aware of this, and considering her current situation, it probably wasn’t all that smart to be essentially racing a guy while singing a love song like they were in some kind of musical comedy. Except it’d be one of those jukebox musicals, she supposed, because, again, she recognized the song and it was from the 80’s…it actually made it a prime candidate for a jukebox musical, actually…and this whole situation was a prime candidate for a scene that would more than likely end in a kiss…and was that really what Hermia wanted?

When he took her hand, that was when she began to wonder if perhaps she had been wrong…maybe he just managed to maintain some dignity, but whatever was making everyone fall in love with her was absolutely impacting him. Not to say that this was ruining the fun that came with just bursting into song for her, but it was concerning, and she couldn’t help but search for signs that her new friend was actually a love slave that would probably like up some dirt if she had asked him to. Before she could gauge his expression, however, he was facing her and their fingers were laced together…and she definitely felt like she would’ve blushed if she didn’t have a naturally olive complexion. It wasn’t like he was even doing much. He was barely even singing anymore. There was just a strange intensity going on here…and oh gods, did he just call her beautiful? That nearly gave her a heart attack, and even when he corrected himself, saying that it was her voice he meant, she had her doubts.

Oh for the love of Olympus, she was being silly, wasn’t she? Even with her suspicions, there was no reason why she had to let it become awkward. Things could only be awkward if she let them, so she flashed a smile. “Thanks….you’re pretty impressive yourself,” she responded, sounding rather demure at the moment. She wasn’t quite sure why, especially now that she was beginning to suspect that maybe he wasn’t as immune to her “charms” as she had hoped. Encouraging him was probably not a good idea, even if he was cute, because, well, it wasn’t real, and besides, they had just met. She wasn’t even sure if she would’ve reciprocated even if there was a chance that there was something real…and then there was the possibility that she was just overreacting to signs that weren’t really there.

Clearly, having everyone falling all over themselves to be with you complicated everything.

[Bartok]

At that moment, Bartok realised exactly how difficult this was going to be. He needed to be close to her. Wanted it so badly he was fairly certain that there was little else on the earth he could possibly need more, aside from the air he breathed. And he could tell that to achieve that, he was going to have to be what she needed him to be - which was not hopelessly in love with her. He wasn't going to be one of those people who chased her up a tree. He just wasn't. It was obvious how badly that turned out for the other guys and girls. So he was going to pretend to just be her friend, pretend that they just had a common love for singing and a common goal of avoiding creepy stalkers. He was going to pretend to not be in love with her, pretend that he just wanted to be her buddy.

It was probably going to be the hardest thing he'd ever done. Especially since she liked his voice, too. That was obviously a sign from the fates themselves; he liked her voice, she liked his, it was obviously destiny. They were meant to be together. Somehow, he had to convince her of that without actually revealing the fact that he was madly in love with her. Tricky task, that. He was pretty sure this was going to have to be a long-term goal. That was all right with him; long-term meant that he'd need to spend more time with her, which he was certainly okay with.

"I have an idea," he said, suddenly, and really tried to focus on how he was going to phrase this next statement. If he said it wrong, it could sound really bad. "We kind of...well we both have a problem, right? Everybody wants to date you, and insane numbers of people want to stalk me and...be my friend or something, so...since we're obviously the only sane people left in school, maybe we should team up. You could pretend to be my best friend, and I could pretend to be your boyfriend, and then maybe everybody would see that the positions were already filled and they'd leave us alone." Or they could both become the target of all the hatred and jealous rage of the other's ardent admirers, but Bartok preferred to think of things optimistically and wasn't going to mention that.

[Deleted]

Maybe it was the slight sense of paranoia that had her heart jump to her throat when Bartok stated that he had an idea. Then again, it could have just been plain old surprise, as for a second there, they had settled into a silence, and…well, it wasn’t even awkward, which was nice. Hermia loved to talk as much as the next girl (some would argue even more so), but, well, wasn’t it a good sign when you could just stand there with someone in silence without having to fill it with conversation that wasn’t needed?

Although now that she thought of it, she and Lysander had never had much of a chance of testing that theory, had they? Lysander always had something to say, something to open her eyes to…words that were being used to mold her, in a way. Funny, she had never really thought of that…at the time, she was just caught in a complete whirlwind, the way you were probably supposed to during your first loves. And maybe your next loves too, Hermia had yet to find real love with anyone since Lysander…

Gods, was that pathetic or what? Here she was, first falling in love with every girl she saw, and now with everyone falling in love with her all around her, and she hadn’t even been able to find anything close to what she had with a guy who ended up breaking her heart?

And…what if that was how it would always be?

But then she remembered that she was not in Athens anymore, so there was honestly no need to think about it. It just so happened that it was harder to pull herself out of her thoughts this time, even if she had been enjoying Bartok’s company. For that reason, she had nearly missed his proposition that seemed like almost an answer to her thoughts.

Pretending to be each other’s significant other/best friend… “You really think that would work?” she asked, perhaps a little bit wary because of her suspicions, and also the fact that…even if he wasn’t, this still wasn’t real. This was actually at the risk of being precisely what she feared. For the first time, the future came to her mind, and as much as she desperately wanted to find “the one”, it was looking like that there was a chance that things would always be this way; fake relationships because everyone was fake in love with her.

All the same…it did have potential, if you thought about it logically, something that she was at least still capable of doing. “Because that’s a good idea, I’ll admit…how good of an actor are you?” And in spite of the fact she wasn’t quite smiling on the inside, she did smile up at him again.

[Bartok]

Bartok didn't fall in love with people often - usually he was way too preoccupied with making sure he didn't offend them, making sure they were happy and tended to and were well on their way to liking him before he decided whether they were worth liking themselves. That was why he knew this was something special. He had just met her, and he loved her. Some higher power had smacked him over the head with a wand of destiny and had given him a clear cut goal in life, and that goal in life was to woo, marry, and grow old and die happy with....Hermia, that was her name, right.

"I don't know," he admitted, because he really wasn't sure if it would work and he didn't want to lie to the woman he loved. That was just a nasty thing to do all-around. Except for the lying he had to do to convince her he wasn't creepily in love with her. This was getting complicated already. "But I mean, it's worth a try, right? What do we have to lose? Everybody around here is totally crazy anyway, so it's not like we could make them much crazier."

Somehow, he and Hermia were both popular or something. In different ways, but still, people desired their company, and there just wasn't enough of their company to go around. Nobody seemed to be taking no for an answer, not for Bartok anyway, so he would just have to try something else, and if something else helped Hermia too, that was about as good a solution as he could hope for.

How good an actor was he? Oh, irony. He was going to be acting in so many ways if they went with this. Acting like he he was acting like loving her. Acting like she was his best friend when they'd only just met and he was far more interested in having her as his soulmate and lifelong companion than just a friend. Yes, he was going to have to act, alright. Lucky for Bartok, acting came naturally when you were a people-pleasing sycophant.

"I can act," he said, settling with those three words instead of explaining how and why they were so very accurate. "Don't worry about that. And...I mean, we can just hold hands and stuff, we don't have to do anything else, I think holding hands will be enough, don't you?"

Say no. Please say no. Say something about how we ought to sneak off to corners and whisper sweet words of endearment to one another between stolen kisses.