... that wasn't supposed to happen.

Alice hadn't ever seen him miss a jelly slug, but now? He did now?

She leaned over the table and stared blankly at his figure on the ground. "The rules are that you have to taste part of this slug without having it placed in your mouth, right?" Not placing was pretty much catching. Pretty much.

... what? What!? WHAT WAS SHE EVEN TALKING ABOUT? THAT WASN'T AN ANSWER.

He got up and righted his chair with a bang. So annoyed was he that when West stepped forward to take his seat again, he stood on a dollop of custard that he hadn't realised he'd spilled... and his feet immediately slipped out from underneath him... and his head went SMACK on the chair on the way down.

And now he was unconscious and laying on the floor again.

If he'd been conscious he woulda sworn that headless jelly slug was laughing at him.

..........

...............

What was she supposed to do with an unconscious almost-boyfriend? Was she meant to like, revive him? Nah. Alice would wait just for him to get back up again. But in the meantime, those jelly slugs were all hers.

She moved her custard and the packet of candy onto the ground and sat down next to him, tugging his head into her lap. And then stared. And ate. And waited for him to become conscious again.

Jelly slugs tasted really good with custard.

She was waiting a while, long enough for dessert to cool down anyways. By the time West could get back to it, his would be completely cold. He came to quite suddenly, vision a blur, and the first thing he noticed was that there was an Alice right there. His head was in her lap? It was hard to be mad when she was real close like that. Even if she wasn't his stupid girlfriend.

.... and something else dawned on him.

"You stole my jelly slugs." Didn't she? That there, that was his packet. Not that West moved. His head hurt enough that he was pouting about it and blinking at her blearily.

Was he awake now? Or kind of awake. Alice had finished her whole custard and crumble already, and was considering eating his by the time he came to. "You still have to catch." He did. Those were the rules always. She pulled out another slug from the stolen packet and dangled it over his mouth before dropping it. And from a really low height, too. Fair warning this time, see?

If he couldn't catch this one, though, that was sad.

That one would've went into his mouth, he didn't even need to move, but West squinted up at her through one eye and obstinately kept his mouth firmly closed. It sat there on his chin and he eyed her.

".... why?" She was getting all the pouts. Feeling a bit pitiful and beleaguered down here. "Why can't you just say yes instead of making everything difficult and ruining it all?"

Her fault. Even him slipping over on custard that he'd spilled. Her fault.

All of Alice's stubbornness had been used already, and she didn't have enough of it left for jelly slugs.

"Don't catch, then." She picked the slug up off his chin and ate it herself. "It's not ruined for me." Things were actually going quite nicely for her today. "Did you have a certain picture in your mind of how this was supposed to go?" Like what, her coming down to the shed in a skirt and gushing over everything he'd done and automatically becoming his girlfriend when he suggested without asking?

Jeans and bugs and questions were perfect in her mind. No ruining done.

She ate another slug and just looked at him. "I'll be your girlfriend. If you still want me to be."

".... its not?" Then again she wasn't the one who'd fallen out of a chair and then slipped over and knocked herself out either was she? He blinked at her slowly.

"I just.... wanted it to matter. And be special. And stuff. So that you knew that I properly meant it."

West sat up slowly and shuffled closer, considering her next words. His head hurt. Part of him wanted to be all stubborn and stupid and say that it was TOO BAD and that he DIDN'T want to be and that THAT offer had an expiration date of however many minutes ago it was that he'd said stuff and she hadn't said stuff BACK.

But...

"I really really do. For real. A lot." Instead? He was honest.

"It's not." Of course it wasn't. Not after he'd gone to all this trouble.

"It is special. I don't think anyone has ever been asked out by boys who are knocked out a few minutes later in a fancied up broomshed with non-Otetrinae above them." Bioluminescent bugs. Very unique, see? Alice thought so. "It would have been special anytime you asked, 'cause it's you." He was the special part.

He did? "Then I will be. See? Girlfriend now." She felt very girlfriend-like now, sitting there and staring at him and eating jelly slugs.

Well that mollified him, West lit up. Yep. Big smile here. He'd run the gamut of dramatic emotions in one evening and it was apparently a worthwhile pay off because BECAUSE she liked it all AND she was now his girlfriend properly.

Relieved, okay? Kid had been stressing about this for AGES.

And you know what else? He wanted to break all the rules. Because now would be an awesome time for kisses. Professor James had said nothinggg about hugs though. Hugs were therefore totally allowed. He shuffled closer and went for a squeezy hug.

"Hey girlfriend? ...my head hurts." It really did y'know? So she should nurse him some more or something. He nuzzled her cheek with his nose.

Girlfriend. Alice Fischer was his girlfriend.

"Girlfriend has a name." Did he remember it?

Alice wasn't a person for hugs, but West hugs she liked. "You don't have a bump or anything on it," she noted idly, tugging more slugs out of the packet and snuggling closer while she downed them.

Also, fireflies. "And we should let those out soon." Outside. Where kisses were allowed and stuff.

Kisses with her boyfriend.

"My favourite name." Sure she did, but also she was his girlfriend now. So he was going to just spend a moment basking in that. Just saying.

"It feels like there is." He haaad been knocked out after all. But then if there was something it made sense she couldn't see since he had all that hair and all. Hair hid lots of things.

Also, she still had his slugs, but that was okay now on account of he didn't at all mind girlfriends stealing candy. It meant kisses would taste like his candy and therefore he'd still get to enjoy it. It was a win all around.

Let what out? Oh the fireflies? West looked up at them. And then back down at Alice. It was way more fun looking at her and seeing how the little bits of light illuminated her.

.... he forgot to answer and just stared for a while.

"I can't see it if there is." He had lots of hair, did he know? She pushed some of it back a little to properly inspect his forehead for bumps, but none were present. Perfectly normal skull, it seemed.

No, but really. Alice wanted to go outside now. Kisses. Nosing at him and demanding for attention again, she tried repeating for more of an answer. "We should let those go. Like now."

"Can you feel it?" He thrust his head at her. She could touch his head. She could. West peeked at her through the curtain that was his hair. It did properly hurt. Aching and stuff.

... kisses WOULD make it feel better. They would.

"Let the fireflies go?" What? His brain had stopped working okay? He needed help with the thinking stuff.

"You want me to feel your head for bumps?" Did girlfriends do that? Alice extended her hand and patted his head all around, but no bumps were present so far as she could see. "Maybe you just pass out easy." That was probably it. Sticking another slug in her mouth with the hand that wasn't busy in West hair and nodding seriously, she nosed at him some more. "Mhmm. Outside." Kisses and stuff.

That fall had probably affected his thought processor. She'd give it a minute.

Yeah he nodded a little. That worked and-- hey! "I do not." He protested. "I have a hard head." Less so since the Vivi-collision, but still.

So why did she want to go outside?

....fireflies yes? He supposed that was okay. And Chaucer was gonna clean up anyways so that was all he needed to do.

"Okay. Outside. Fireflies." See? He was doing just FINE with the thinking, thanks bunches.

"All that headbutting you do could have softened it," she suggested, wriggling out of his arms and settling for his hand again instead. Fireflies. Alice tugged him up with her, then directed her attention to the jars. "Are you going to get those down?"

And while he did.. hmm. She scanned around the shed, looking for a souvenir of some sort. For box reasons. That paper heart on the floor, the one with Gebo on it. It was suddenly looking less scary, so she scooped it up and pocketed it when she hoped West wasn't looking. Plus jelly slug packets.

Okay, they could go now.

"It didn't." He insisted, getting up when she tugged him. West looked up at the jars. "Oh yeah. Sure." He could do that. He got his wand out and started levitating the jars down.

Chaucer was popping here and there and clearing the table, so West put the jars there, one by one until they were all done.

... what was HIS GIRLFRIEND doing?

Aside from already being an awesome girlfriend just by existing of course. He looked over at her and smiled. This night had got WAY better yes?

"Okay. Should we take them anywhere in particular you think?"

Paper hearts pocketed, Alice downed the last jelly slug and folded up the packet for safekeeping as well. This was why jeans were handy, see? "Don't know. They're going to fly away anywhere, so I don't suppose it matters." It wasn't like there was stuff in the butterfly garden to keep bugs interested anyway now.

She offered him a toothy grin in return for the smile and tugged him closer to the door. Tugging was one her areas of expertise, apparently. "I'm ready to go if you are, boyfriend."

Oh, also, elf. Bye elf. Alice offered him a wave of gratitude for stuff. Because after living at a school with only one, she had a newfound appreciation for those things.

Holding her hand and listening and then levitating jars of fireflies all at once wasn't easy but West managed it. So they'd just... let them go out there and then he, the boyfriend, could snog her, the girlfriend, senseless.

Seemed like an awesome deal to him.

"I'm ready." He said, and shut the door after them, the broomshed empty and dark once more.