A/N: 7000 people have read this on FFN, how crazy is that? Thanks to any of you who are reading along, I love you!!!

Hours later, she's still reeling from the happiness of having a friend. A friend aside from Iko, of course, because to cancel Iko out would probably earn her a punch and a wall of silence for at least a month. It's a satisfying feeling, she thinks, to make a friend who truly likes you for you and wants to spend time with you because they find it enjoyable, not because they have to tolerate you for the sake of succeeding in some aspect of life. She likes the feeling.

Cinder has no idea what to think when the door groans under the force of someone pushing on it without unlocking it first.

She doesn't get time to think either because of Peony bursting in with a crazily euphoric shine in her eyes. Peony waits until Adri has closed the door behind her and glared at Cinder for no particular reason other than her existence before grabbing Cinder's hand and pulling her up the stairs, into her room, then shutting he door behind her so Pearl can't follow.

"What is it? What do you need?" Cinder asks urgently, wondering what could have happened.

Peony cocks her head before sighing and sitting on her bed, beckoning for Cinder to do the same. Not wanting to disappoint, Cinder just sits opposite her, raising an eyebrow when Peony crosses her legs and places her elbows on her knees, leaning forwards with a beam on her face, one that suggests Cinder can relax a little.

"Guess what?"

"What?" Cinder humours her.

"I have a date!" Peony whispers before she repeats the phrase a few times, practically squealing by the fourth time, which happens to be when the statement truly sinks in for Cinder.

"You have a what?" Cinder asks, frowning. "I thought you weren't allowed?"

Peony rolls her eyes. "I'm not, but mother just thinks we're going to be practising for the show!"

Her fluctuating morals satisfied, Cinder grins. "Well then, I'm assuming you need a confidant?"

Giggling, Peony nods. "You won't tell, will you?"

"Do you even know what a confidant is?"

"No," Peony giggles, "but I'm hoping it means you won't tell."

"Of course I won't," Cinder replies and it's partly true. She won't tell Adri or Pearl but it's likely to come up with Iko - there's nothing about relationships that can be hidden from that girl.

"He asked me out!" Peony squeals, "And he's the most beautiful boy in all of existence."

Cinder disagrees because there's a certain barista already holding that title in her mind. Kai's sassy remarks about the atrocious pieces of clothing they'd washed together float at the front of her memory and she suppresses a smile, literally blinking herself out of her daze and trying to pretend she hadn't zoned out.

"-nd he has the most cutest black hair I just want to mess it up and everything and-" Peony pauses her rant only to breathe, her face red with both excitement and lack of oxygen.

Cinder laughs. "So, when's the date?"

After catching her breath, Peony grins. "At the weekend."

"You have to wait a whole week?" Cinder raises her eyebrows. "I'm not sure that's possible for you."

Peony just shrugs and Cinder wonders if she herself looks like that to Iko. The way Iko describes it, Cinder sounds like a lovestruck idiot. She'd always thought that to be ridiculous but now, looking at Peony giggling like she's been attacked with laughing gas, she wonders if Iko had been more accurate than Cinder had assumed.

"So, how do you know he's, you know, the one?" Cinder asks, wiggling her fingers and making a face.

Peony smiles lazily. "He just... You should see him dance, it's like... It's like the world could stop but he would go on..."

Cinder finds herself smiling. "Mine's like that too," she realises.

"He dances?"

"No- Well, I don't know-" Cinder stops herself as she makes a mental note to ask him later- "But he seems unstoppable, you know? And even though he has no reason to stop, I know he'll always stop for me."

"And that he'll always come back if he leaves you, even if it means going through a lot of trouble?"

"Every time," Cinder agrees, both of them grinning like crazy toddlers on sugar rushes.

The two of them stop paying attention to each other and stare at nowhere in particular instead, thinking of their respective crushes. Cinder doesn't even realise they'd stopped talking until Peony falls off the bed and yelps, sitting up with an utterly confused look on her face.

"Don't tell," Peony whispers as Cinder pulls her up.

"I won't if you won't?"

"Agreed."

Cinder nods, glad she hadn't said too much because, as much as she trusts Peony, she knows how sly Adri and Pearl can be when they want to know something, especially if it's something regarding how to make Cinder's life miserable.

The day passes too quickly after that, probably because she can't focus on washing the dishes or tidying up when Kai's beautiful smile is constantly on her mind and his gorgeous eyes seem to be stuck in her brain.

The day's exhaustion fades into a distant memory by the time she can stop doing various jobs and lift her feet up. Sighing, she leans back against the wall, letting the mattress act as a safe haven as she shuts her eyes and breathes. And breathes. She breathes because heaven knows a lot had happened throughout the day - she did the laundry with the most quixotic specimen of the male race, for star's sake - and she'd been given no time to actually think about it.

As it is, she gets no time in the end. Not because another task comes up but because she starts drifting into a well-earned and definitely overdue sleep, slumping so she lands on her side and automatically pulling the blanket up so she can be warm. She tries her best to keep her eyelids apart but they seem to resent the idea and adamantly connect over and over again.

Eventually, with Kai on her mind and a smile on her face, sleep takes over.

Happy International Women's day to anyone that applies to and happy Mario day for yesterday!! <3