IC INBOX

[mon_dieu]

 Bonjour! You have reached Antoine D'Coolette! How unfortunate, but I am not available at zis moment! Please be leaving a message, and I shall be returning to you, A.S. C. P.!

[he means ASAP.]

Until then, au revoir!

Comments

[quickster]

Hey Ant? Is your fridge running? If so you should go catch it! [ PEALS OF LAUGHTER OHOHOHOHO ]

2/14 - Messenger bird

[lightthedarkness]

[Antoine will be getting a peach rose with a red ribbon wrapped around it. There is also a box of heart-shaped chocolates. The card reads:]

Happy Valentines Day - Usagi / (^ᆺ^)＼~♥

[porte_bonheur]

[Come Christmas Day, Antoine will find a small little box delivered to her door via carrier pigeon. Inside are some festive-looking macarons, as well as a little note.]

Joyeux Noel, Antoine!

- Marinette

12/25

[vela_nova]

[Blaze wasn’t sure what to do for Antoine, so he got a bottle of sword polish from Blaze, along with a note.]

Antoine, thank you for being a good friend, and for helping me through my time here. Merry Christmas!

12/25

[forgotlegday]

[Knuckles dropped off a basket of fruits.]

Don't worry, they're not cursed. Sorry about before. You're not half bad.

[Voice]

[pactfulfilled]

Hey Antoine, it's Asbel. Mind if I ask you something?

[mon_dieu]

Ask me anything, Asbel! What eez ze matter?

[pactfulfilled]

Oh, nothing's the matter! I was just thinking about some things is all.

...

[Right, right. Calm down, Asbel.]

...

Say, Antoine. You and Bunnie have been together for a long while, right? So, um, when exactly did you realize that you thought of her as more than a friend?

[mon_dieu]

...

[subtle, asbel.

Antoine smirks - who's the lucky one, he wonders?]

Well! Love comes een many different forms. As for me... I admired her for being so strong and moving forward, despite having every reason to give up on life. Due to ze doctor's attack on ze world, she suffered greatly, losing her whole family and all her friends. She had three of her limbs replaced with painful mechanical ones, and she had to learn how to walk all over again.

Despite all zis... She kept trying. She didn't complain, at least not to us, her new friends, her allies. She wanted to fight to make sure her pain never happened to anyone else. I was een awe of her... of how brave and selfless she could be. I wanted to be more like her, but as we spent more time together, I knew I could not. We are each our own person. My admiration grew more and more... I wanted to learn more about her. I wanted to make her happy. I wanted to help her achieve her dreams.

[A pause, and then, he can't help but chuckle.]

Of course, I say all zis, but... she was ze first one to confess her feelings.

[pactfulfilled]

[He is so subtle and stealthy. Seriously. Who'd ever suspect him of anything more than genuine curiosity -- which he also has plenty of. Asbel can't help but smile once again as Antoine recounts the time he spent with her.]

Many different forms, huh?

She sure sounds like an amazing, strong woman, Antoine. I can see why you'd admire her so much. It's hard to imagine someone having the will to go on after all that, but she did it anyway...

[Learn more about her, make her happy, help her achieve her dreams...]

And she...really confessed her feelings to you first?

[mon_dieu]

[Another pleased chuckle, almost breaking into laughter as he recalls.]

I didn't think she'd ever fall for someone like me. I knew we were close, but... I guess I thought she deserved someone better. I was actually een ze midst of feeling sorry for myself, doubting eef anyone really cared about me, when she suddenly told me she cared.

And eef I thought she was just being nice, she got rid of that idea with a nice ksis on ze cheek.

[Heheheheheh. He feels young again.]

[pactfulfilled]

[Uh, Antoine. You do know you have an audience, right? All these giddy lovey-dovey vibes... They're, uh, kind of embarrassing.]

[And the mention of a kiss only makes it worse. Asbel can feel his own face heat up with shame as he recalls a certain moment from a certain performance back home. K-kissing, huh? Yeah, that. That would be part of it, huh?]

[Asbel will uh, just zone out for a bit as he thinks all this over. Antoine deserves some time to relive those happy memories again, after all. Hmmm... Okay. He thinks he gets it, maybe?]

So it started with friendship, then admiration, and then...more than that? Both of you saw something in each another that you wanted to support and protect. And in the end those mutual feelings brought you closer together...?

[mon_dieu]

[He stops, seeming to realize he's gone into straight up sappiness. His cheeks redden, and he clears his throat, trying to get back on track.]

Er... yes! We just let eet happen naturally, we weren't necessarily trying to win ze other over.

But... I am thinking, ze fact you are even asking about "how to tell" tells me you've already noticed something different een your heart, no?

1/2

[pactfulfilled]

[So it just sort of happened on its own. He thinks he gets it? But if that's the case, then how come...]

[Asbel's still thinking on everything Antoine's already said, so it takes a few seconds for him even to respond to his friend's question.]






Huh? Something different in my...

2/2

[pactfulfilled]

[Now who's turning red? He lets out a weak, nervous laugh.]

Hey, hold on! I--! I don't remember asking it like that??

[He specifically wondered how Antoine knew when he fell for Bunnie, right? He's almost sure he did. This obviously has nothing to do with him at all!]

[mon_dieu]

[Antoine is many things - cowardly, self-deprecating while oddly narcissistic, but stupid he is not.]

Asbel, as good a boy as you are, I doubt even you just suddenly felt like asking about how I fell een love with my wife out of ze red.

[he means out of the blue.]

Nobody "randomly" brings up such a topic unless zey're trying to find answers for zeir own questions.

[pactfulfilled]

[Nah, Asbel's the stupid one here. And, well, Antoine's not wrong either... When he puts it like that, Asbel can't help feeling a little guilty.]

...Sorry. You're right, Antoine. I guess I was hoping to learn something from hearing about your experiences.

[mon_dieu]

Zere eez no need to be sorry. Zis can be an awkward subject to bring up, no? But we are friends, and I am always happy to help you.

[pactfulfilled]

Yeah, we are. Thanks, Antoine. I really do appreciate everything you've done for me.

[And yet he, uh, isn't exactly bringing up said awkward subject despite the open invitation.]

[Asbel is a pretty hopeless case when it comes to love.]

[Hrrrrgh...]


So I... I kind of went on a date with one of my friends during the flower festival. And I don't really know what I should do now.

[mon_dieu]

All right, let us be starting zere.

What do you mean "kind of"?

Oh boy here we go...

[pactfulfilled]

Well.... it all started when we were playing that flower chase game and our flowers turned purple. Uh--that's supposed to mean you want to date someone. So we decided, hey, since we're already friends and everything, and dates aren't so different from spending time together like we normally would, why don't we try going on one?

Except, uh, I told her if it was too weird to call it a date we could just call it "hanging out".

[mon_dieu]

Now, why would you think eet would be "too weird"? And how did she react to that?

[pactfulfilled]

Why... B-because it's kind of strange, right? I mean, wouldn't you find it weird if a friend asked you on a date all of a sudden??

[Because of a flower.]

Oh, but she said she'd be happy no matter what we called it. And that we didn't have to decide right away.

[mon_dieu]

[He nods, slowly, and then smiles.]

Sounds like she was very pleased, so you've got zat going for you. Eef she enjoys spending time with you zat much, things don't have to be weird.

What did you do on zis... not-date?

[pactfulfilled]

You think she was pleased, Antoine? But... How can you tell?

[Eleanor's always nice and pleasant to be around, though. He's never even seen her get mad before. Does that really mean she enjoys his company?]

So you saw the giant balloons, right? We went up in one of those. I figured the view from way up there would be pretty awesome to see, and it was!