“Yay!” Gnome jumped on the spot when her name got pulled. She gave everyone a big, honest smile in a blushing face. Shame did not hold a candle to her evident happiness. She bounced a bit more, the deck vibrating under her weight.

Eliza was opening her mouth, presumably to make a comment that was going to put a blunder to the earth spirits mood. With a pleading glance, John shut her up. At least for the next hour, they could skip making fun of Gnome, no matter how easy it was.

“S-so,” the stone elemental stopped herself and shifted her shoulder embarrassedly, “what are your plans? You always have some of those.”

“Well, our date is going to be a bit more traditional,” John answered, patting her on the head. Her gaze wandered to the ground, but her body perked into the touch. Consciously, she was having a bit of a hard time saying what she really wanted, but her body language always let anyone know what she was really thinking.

“I really, really, really am really, really, really happy right now,” she muttered to herself. That was, of course, another way to find out what she was thinking. She was just the cutest little rock.

___________________________________________________________________

When John said he had planned a traditional date, what he meant was something really stereotypically romantic. Gnome wasn’t the type that talked too much, neither was she one big into competition or anything. Like Aclysia, she was generally the happiest if the people she cared about were happy.

While that was an outstanding quality, particularly in someone who also put in the effort of bettering situations, it also made it somewhat hard to do things for that person. Most things would be answered with ‘You shouldn’t have’.

“You really didn’t need to do this,” Gnome said, which was close enough to what John had guessed. They were having a private dinner with the full set-up. Rose petals were covering the floor and table, the dimmed light had made room for the soft gold of candlelight, and all but on round table, with room just for two to comfortably sit on, had been removed. They had this space to themselves. “I-I don’t even need to eat that much!” the setting alone was enough to make the earth elemental blush.

“I know, which is why I asked for all of it to come in small sizes,” John explained in the slightly singing voice of a man in a supremely good mood and rung a little bell. It was magically connected to another one in the kitchen. He waited a second and then rung a second time. That was the agreed signal, and a few seconds later the waiter entered with a wagon of food, all of it hidden underneath silver domes. The waiter bowed and left them alone again, leaving the food behind. John took his place. “Now, milady,” he continued in a deeper, serious tone, “let me shower you with affection.”

To his surprise, Gnome actually grabbed his arm in a stopping gesture. His mind immediately went into a couple of worst case scenarios. Was he overdoing it on the pampering? Did he make her uncomfortable? He forced himself to calm down and listen to what she had to say before losing himself in wild speculations.

“Uhm… before we do that,” she spoke, “can I just…” she took a deep breath, mustering her courage. “I just want to ask if you are okay?” John blinked; he was so confused about that question he couldn’t even formulate a response before she continued. “I just…” she shook her head and focused on the firm grip she had on his hand, “you are always looking out for everyone, but I feel like we don’t stop to ask how you are feeling sometimes. You carry on and are an anchor, you seem happy, but since Undine… we both know that no matter how connected we are, we still have secrets from each other.”

She blinked a few times; his vision got blurry. “Travolta’s death, Eliza’s rampage, the near loss of Rave, the stress of the tournament, Herman, Undine, Thana, you have had to solve all of those, struggling to find the best outcome. We repay you with the love we think you deserve, although none of us really know how much that is, but… I don’t think any of us have ever stopped to ask if you are fine.” She looked up, and John could barely see her face, only that her eyes were widening.

Why was he crying? “Oh, Gnome,” he whispered as he bowed down to her. She rose halfway out of her chair to answer his hug. He held her close. “Yes, I am fine,” he told her as the sudden tears dropped down on her shoulder. “My life has been a rollercoaster since all of this started. The new heights interrupted by such terrible drops that I would never wish even on my worst enemy.“ The sound of him hawking was anything but pleasant. “Alone, I wouldn’t be able to take all of this. It’s all of you, your presence and the lectures you gave me, that made me into a man that can withstand any of this.”

“If you are fine, why are you crying?” Gnome asked in a soft voice, caressing his short hair.

“Dunno,” he sniffed; neither his Intellect nor his Wisdom gave him a definitive answer on that one. “Maybe because I actually had some unresolved stress deep down? Maybe because I am just so happy to hear that you care for me? Maybe because remembering all of these things made me realize that I will never again be the naïve guy who could just sit at home for 16 hours and game-on-through without any other thought again? Probably some mixture of that and some other stuff.”

“That is all fine,” she distanced herself from him for a bit to then put her forehead against his. “I will be there for you, all of us will. Some of us girls may be less… emotionally able,” she dodged a less flattering description, “but we all care for you. At the depths of your despair, we will be there for you.”

John inhaled quiveringly one last time before he got control of himself again. “Thank you,” he said and gently freed himself out of her embrace. “Did not even know I needed that,” he admitted, grabbing a napkin from the table and cleaning his face.

“You never do,” Gnome’s honest smile was devoid of all intention. John wasn’t even sure if this girl could have any bad words for anyone. The closest she had ever gotten was her not saying anything to Undine when it seemed possible that she would leave, which was disappointment, not anything dark.

“I really don’t know what I did to deserve you all,” the Gamer said and took the dome off the first meal. As this wasn’t about nutrition but taste instead, the things he had ordered were mostly in the sweets category. He grabbed a little fork and gently lifted the little, dark chocolate covered fruit from the tablet. He had no idea what fruit it was, just that it roughly had the shape of a strawberry. “And don’t you ruin me thanking the world now by saying that I am great and all that. Just show me a cute reaction after saying ‘Aaaah’.”

“A-Aaaah,” Gnome hesitatingly obeyed, blushing deeply once more now that the serious moment had passed. The second she could get away with it, she closed her mouth around the small treat and started munching. One could think that the showing of her naked teeth had been embarrassing to her.

As the bitter-sweetness of the chocolate exploded in her mouth, followed by an elevated juicy taste of something between a cherry and a pumpkin, Gnome couldn’t help but shake her legs and arms in a manner that John was sure gave him diabetes on the spot.

“I have undoubtedly gone through a lot,” he said, “in a very short span of time. However, I think there are a lot of people in the Abyss worse off than me. They have to fight against things on their level more frequently, less apocalyptic but sure to end their world if they don’t face it with the proper respect. Hell, I don’t even think that everyone outside the Abyss has a better life than me. At the heart of it, there is no difference between Herman and a bully who acts like he is your friend to one day steal all your money… but I don’t want to be a downer on this day.”

That addition came after he saw that Gnome was having a hard time concentrating on the flavours unfolding in her mouth over the things she wanted to say to him. John just stuffed a little parfait into her open mouth. “Look, if you want to make sure I am fine, there is a really simple way.” She was halfway caught between making an adorable squeal of tastiness and looking interested, so John just tossed the fork on the nearly empty wagon and gave her a quick peck on her sugar-coated lips. “Just make sure that I am the kind of person that makes you smile when you are with them. And maybe ask me if I am fine every now and again to make sure I am not hiding something I myself don’t know about.”

“I-ithinkicandothat,” Gnome hastily answered after swallowing. “A-as long as you promise to not change too much!”

“I hope I only become better,” he answered. “I want to be the best person I can be, as loving a boyfriend as I can be, wield this power with as much responsibility as is necessary. I will change in some ways. But as you once taught me trust and fortitude, so will I weather those times with you.”

“Then I will stay on your side,” she guaranteed him, “forever.”

“It helps that you are just adorable,” he suddenly switched into a joking tone and grabbed her little cheeks. “Look at you, I could just drown in you and these hazel eyes.”

She turned as red as the little raspberry on top of the miniature cake that she still had to eat. “Uhm, uh, J-john, can I just say one thing? I-i-i-i-I llll-o, uh,” her stuttering made it near inaudible. Her eyes were spinning like a broken measurement display, her twin tails wiggling shamefully as if they had a mind of their own.

“I know,” John told her and kissed her a second time, a deep kiss over several minutes, their heads moving as tongues and lips wrestled. Whether Gnome instinctively just leaned into it or used it as an escape to embarrass herself further, John didn’t know. All he knew was, when they stopped and their foreheads leaned against each other again, hers being burning hot, and he said, “I love you too,” he heard that familiar little mutter. However, for once it sounded like a stand-in for pure blissful happiness rather than shame.

“Uwuwuwuwuwu~”