[Chip]

A family of bunnies set of in search for teacups. That was what we were, really—I couldn't help but notice and take multiple videos of the two of them arguing over the number of bunny tails we could have purchased at the merchandise store. In Xander's defense, I had to admit that the limited-edition goods were rather pricey. Everything was at Disneyland, for the matter. That included the entry tickets but it being a once in a lifetime opportunity and to celebrate Giselle's recovery, it was worth everything.

"The queue..." My husband's sister pointed out as soon as we neared the famous Alice ride, appearing rather upset. The sign at the entrance of the ride indicated a total of 35 minutes waiting time at least.

"It's not that bad," Xander comforted, and the grey bunny ears on his head flopped. Uwaa this isn't good for the heart!! He looks so cute! "I've heard it go over an hour. Thankfully the day's just started...it's only our second ride."

We held hands and joined the queue, tempted by the scent of fresh popcorn wafting in the air. Giselle was, to be specific. I only had eyes for churros, hehe. While the few of us were busy mapping out the rides to go on next while Xander checked the waiting times for each of them on his phone app, I couldn't help but notice the group of teens chatting behind us.

"Teacups? Queue? You're joking," a girl said to one of her friend in a mocking tone, to her friend rolled his eyes.

"This is insane. Thirty minutes for a teacup ride? I don't remember Alice being so popular." Giselle and Xander were starting to notice the bunch of them behind us as well.

"Exactly," the tall, blonde-haired teen who had rolled his eyes earlier agreed. "Which was what I said in the first place."

The group continued to argue among themselves and I found myself wondering how it would have been like to go on a date like this when we were younger; or hang out and have fun with a group of friends anywhere at all. It would've been nice. Only time wasn't something we could turn around, and youth something to be treasured.

I felt someone from behind bump into me (I stumbled forward a little) and turned to see what had happened. Xander of course, was not happy with the tiny incident. I could see from the corner of my eye his instant glare.

It's kind of like instant coffee. '3 in 1 instant angst'!

"My apologies," the very very very tall and lanky person who'd bumped into me nodded with a mumble, and for some reason I could actually tell he was embarrassed. He was probably only a couple of inches shorter than Xander. I on the other hand...

"Are you alright?" He added after my lack of response, and I couldn't help but notice the way his really long hair fell forward like a waterfall.

"I-I'm fine! Thank you."

"Why you gotta scare people all the time, vulture?" Vulture? I blinked. What a strange name. The guy from earlier teased with a punch on his shoulder, and the person who had bumped into me turned behind with a glare. Someone tugged on my sleeve.

"Yes, Giselle?" She pointed to the foldable map and pouted impatiently. "Ah! Sorry. What is it?"

I was about to turn back and continue with our Disney plan when Mr. Vulture spoke again.

"Excuse me for intruding," he began awkwardly, with a very strange sort of straight face. "But I must know if you are Giselle Jaxon. The artist. Sorry if I—"

"Yeah," Xander's sister blinked, staring at the map. "I am. Why?"

Thankfully, my husband wasn't looking all that hostile anymore. It was rare for someone to recognize Giselle.

"You are?" Mr. Vulture appeared as though he couldn't believe his eyes or ears. "Is that true? I...well, I adore your paintings."

It was the first time I saw Giselle warm up to a stranger so fast, she turned around to look him in the eye and exclaim, so loud that the rest of the queue turned to look. "Really?!"

Mr. Vulture appeared very embarrassed and at the same time, awfully honored that she was talking to him. Even Xander looked surprised, and had turned to me with a rare expression of shock. We were thinking the same thing.

"Yes, uh...yes, quite," Giselle's fan recovered in several blinks. "The abstract symbolism of colors that you tend to use in your style render your paintings absolutely mesmerizing, filled with the sublime, if I may, so much so that I can't seem to grasp a concrete idea of what you are trying to portray which could of course, only be attributed to a brilliant mind like yours coupled with a natural-born talent of seeing through the minds and hearts of humanity—"

Xander's sister squealed all of a sudden, successfully scaring the entire group of teens and us included, leaping forth to give Mr. Vulture a hug. The latter appeared stunned, as though he'd never received a hug ever before and was struggling to understand what it was that Giselle was doing. He froze on the spot, unable to comprehend.

"Thank you!" She said very loudly with her eyes scrunched close. "Thank you!"

It was then that I saw for the first time, the true extent of Giselle's ability to see beneath every surface. Mr. Vulture had a very gaunt and unfriendly appearance—one that most people would choose to avoid on normal circumstances—but despite so, and every condition that she had that made her different from what was considered a 'normal human being', she took to him almost immediately.

"See, Vaughn?" One of the teens from their group piped up all of a sudden, emerging from behind the tallies. !!! Someone shorter than me exists ;u; and he's a boy! I love you, whoever you are. "You're surprisingly good with people—"

"No."

*

Mr. Vulture and Giselle spent the rest of the waiting time talking about art and aesthetic (albeit in a very awkward manner since the former didn't exactly seem to be the best conversationalist) while Xander and I watched, quietly proud of her. It was sweet, really, that there were people who appreciated her and most importantly understood and acknowledged her skill.

When it was finally our turn to get into teacups, Giselle waved Mr. Vulture goodbye and the three of us bunnies got into a pink teacup. I was fairly excited since this was the first ride I wasn't reluctant and on the verge of breaking down just by thinking about. Xander sat across and snapped a couple of photos while I tried to look photogenic and failed miserably.

"X-Xan, stop taking pictures!" I protested, knowing that my face was most likely red by this point. "I look terrible in them."

"No you don't," Xander held out his phone which had his wallpaper displayed. It was the selfie I took the previous time, with his phone because revenge. "Look at this adorable Chipaper. I thought we were going to have a collection of these."

"Don't remind me about that!" Hiding my face in my hands then became necessary, since the swirling teacups already had my head spinning but having Xander take my pictures gave me several heart attacks.

Giselle laughed, aggressively turning in her seat and watching her surroundings spin. "Everything's messy and blurry. Wo-ah..." She squealed, and it didn't quite matter since everyone else was laughing and squealing as well. I was squeaking, to which my husband laughed.

The ride ended very quickly, and although I understood that all rides were naturally short (in comparison to the insane waiting times), I had to admit that it was a tad bit disappointing. Churros however, never failed to cheer me up.

"I know what you're getting," Xander declared as soon as we arrived at the cart, joining the reasonable queue as he pointed out the key choice. Strawberry cheesecake. Unfortunately, he wasn't wrong.

"Was I that obvious?" I sighed with a pout. "Well, they even have a cream cheese dip to go with it so why not?" Giselle went straight for the oreo flavor, taking a huge bite as soon as she received her churro.

I offered Xander a bite but he declined, claiming that churros wasn't his thing. Naturally, I gawked at him and said that he was no longer my husband. He responded by confiscating my cheese dip. I went ahead to get us some alien dumplings from a cart nearby, finding the mochi shaped in the aliens from 'Toy Story' and stuffed with strawberry, vanilla and chocolate filling to be highly attractive.

We were munching on our snacks and making our way back to thunder mountain when all of a sudden, Xander froze up and frowned at something in the distance.

"X-Xan? What's wrong?"

He squinted harder, and for a moment there I was going to ask if he needed some glasses. After all, I had brought mine just in case my contact lenses got uncomfortable.

"Is that Blake?"

I blinked. Giselle didn't seem to notice as she went on to finish her oreo churro with a final chomp.

"I don't see him," following my husband's gaze, I tried to spot any sign of his best friend. "What's he wearing?"

"Grey coat. On that bench over there, talking to someone."

We passed a couple of food carts and lines of human beings; only then did several benches enter my line of sight (remember, different vantage points ;-;) and I spotted a man wearing a grey coat, a drink in hand. "Oh I see him! I-isn't that...Ace?"

Xander lowered his gaze to meet mine. "Who's that?" Cue several head shakes. Including Giselle's.

"Blake's boyfriend?"

There was a spark of recognition in my husband's eyes. "That one? I thought they weren't official."

"They practically are," I pointed out. "They're always together! A-and I think I just saw them take a bite of each other's ice creams." Xander snorted.

"Well they aren't as official as we are," was all he concluded competitively, and Giselle punched his arm. It looked painful. "We were very official since a long time ago. Yes, they might have some sexual banter but we do better. No, don't interrupt them." He held onto his sister's hand just as she was about to drift towards their direction.

"W-what!" I protested, glancing over my shoulder to catch Ace almost dropping his ice cream. "We...we don't banter. Anyway, there's always a beginning to every relationship, right? Ace is a very humble and nice person."

Xander considered this for a moment, and was about to give in when an idea popped into his head. "Yeah, but ours began sixteen years ago, so we're obviously more ad—"

"Shtop being so competitive, Shandie," Giselle scolded with her mouth full of vanilla mochi.

*

I have to admit, thunder mountain wasn't exactly the thrill I was looking for. At least within my limits, it wasn't. I-in fact, my limits weren't all that varied—so I was very relieved when Xander noticed my pale complexion and suggested that we lower the excitement by getting fast passes for the Haunted Mansion and then going on Winnie the Pooh's honeypot adventure. Either that, or we could start filling Giselle's autograph book that she'd purchased at the merchandise store.

"It's not that scary," Xander was telling me about the Haunted Mansion attraction as we scanned our tickets and collected our fast passes. "Besides, it's a slow-ass ride."

I tried to flick his forehead. Apparently, tip-toeing didn't make up for our height difference. "I don't think I can trust the words of someone who laughed at the horror movie we watched during Halloween years ago."

"You still remember that?" My husband seemed slightly surprised. "I...thought I was the only one. We held hands in the dark, remember?"

I stated that 'holding hands' was clearly not the focus of the entire thing when I had been scared out of my wits. If I recall correctly, the movie was Japanese and having to read the subtitles forced me to continue staring at the screen even if I hadn't wanted to.

"A-alright, I'll trust you this time."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Chocolate Chip," Giselle whispered out of nowhere, and Xander pinched her nose.

Along our way to the honeycutt—I mean, honeypot ride, we passed a cart selling corndogs. Giselle was sold in a single whiff and it was only after much pleading and convincing that Xander gave in to getting one corndog to share. He claimed that feeding his sister was like feeding a dozen tiny children.

"Hi! Can I have a..." I did a double take as soon as I saw the face of the cast member behind the counter. "Loki??"

My eldest brother sighed. "I saw you guys from afar and prayed to anything above that you guys hated corndogs. What are you doing here?" I turned behind. There wasn't a queue.

"Having...fun? But Loki, weren't you working at the movies not long ago? How'd you...how did you find this job? Why didn't you tell me when you came to congratulate us on the engagement?"

"Oh god, you're asking too many questions Chip!" Loki reached out to flick my forehead and I sensed him trying to contain a load of sarcasm from the wrinkles on his forehead. I accidentally let slip that he was getting old, and even in his thirties, he'd yet to find a partner and settle down.

Accidentally :>

Xander and Giselle who were waiting over at a bench nearby stared in our direction, probably wondering why I was taking so long to buy one corndog.

"You..." My brother narrowed his eyes and pinched my cheek. I yelped. "Just because you're married doesn't mean you are entitled a high horse. Don't go around showing off your husband in front of me!"

"Hhowing ohh mai huhban? I hihn't ho hat!" S-since when did I show off my husband? Loki was spouting nonsense again. As a matter of fact, going anywhere with Xander always meant bearing with all the suggestive gazes and flirty winks that the whole world seemed fond of giving him.

Honestly, they weren't very enjoyable—knowing that I could be easily replaced by someone way better. But then he calls me angel and I just melt and feel like the safest pebble in the world. ;-;

"Angel? What's up?" S-speak of the devil! My husband arrived with Giselle in hand and I could have seen Loki's eyes narrow even further. If that was possible. "You're..." Xander stared at my brother. "You look very familiar. Are you Chip's eldest brother?"

!!! He recognized someone other than me and Giselle! Okay, I mean. That was a little over-exaggerated, wasn't it?

"Yes I am. The one who was nice enough to give you advice on the night you were terribly drunk five years ago," Loki could not resist the opportunity that Xander had given to him, unbeknownst to the latter. My husband grimaced.

"Don't remind me about how useless I was," he sighed with a shake of his head. "Still am, actually."

Giselle and I poked his arms aggressively. "What!" "Shut up Xandie."

The pair of us were too busy chiding Xander to notice that Loki had prepared three corndogs for each of us and placed them on the counter with a clear of his throat.

I blinked.

"O-oh no, I wasn't intending to order thr—"

"I'm paying for it, stupid," my brother grumbled, reaching over the counter to personally hand Giselle her own. "Have a nice day at Disneyland..."

I was so moved by Loki's unexpected act of kindness that I almost hugged him on the spot. "I-I, um. Thank you, Loki."

"Thanks, man. Is this our wedding gift?" Xander added teasingly and to my surprise, my brother laughed.

"Yes, that's it. I'm never giving you guys anything else."

*

We were fortunate enough to come across Cinderella and her prince (after my personal favorite Winnie the Pooh honeypot) ride at a nearby veranda, greeting several other Disneylanders and taking pictures with them. There was a line before her but it wasn't too bad so we decided to join it and get Giselle her first autograph.

At the same time, I couldn't help but notice that the cast members were absolute perfection in terms of their appearance.

"Oh it's so nice to see you," gushed Cinderella when it was finally our turn to take a picture with her and Prince Charming. "Why, those are lovely-looking bunny ears you have there!"

"Thank you!" Giselle piped excitably, staring at her poofy blue gown. "That's a pretty dress."

"You are so sweet my dear," Cinderella twirled to give us a full view of her amazing ball gown before taking her prince's arm once again. "Fairy godmother made it just for me. Oh, would you like to take a picture together?"

"Yes please," Xander's sister jumped at the opportunity and went ahead to position herself alongside the princess.

Meanwhile, I was busy taking out my phone and urging my husband to join Giselle. "Go stand beside Prince Charming! I'll take the picture." Xander appeared fairly reluctant. He was staring at the prince, for some odd reason; and when I followed his gaze, I saw that Prince Charming was staring at me.

Or, I mean...he could just be waiting for the camera.

"Hurry, hurry!"

Just then, a cast member offered to help us take a picture so that all three of us could be in it together. Cinderella thanked him, and the prince looked delighted.

"Please, join us," he said to me and I was very honored all of a sudden. It didn't help that they looked like real members of the royal family right out of a fairy tale.

The cast member snapped a couple of photos and handed my phone back to me as I thanked him with a bow of my head.

"Dear, now that I think about it, you look like a princess from a faraway land!" Cinderella said to Giselle as soon as the photos were done and the autograph book handed to her. "Do you have a fairy godmother? Perhaps she'll make a dress just for you, too!"

Giselle shook her head, biting her lower lip as she did so. "I don't. But thank you! That means Xandie's a prince too."

"Xandie? Oh! Are you Xandie?" Cinderella turned to me and I held up my hands immediately, pointing towards Xander instead. "Oh! So this is Xandie."

My husband appeared very disturbed that someone other than his sister was calling him by that nickname but it wasn't as if he could help it in the few minutes.

Just then, Prince Charming turned to me. Or...not exactly, since he'd always been looking in my direction but had finally thought of saying something to me.

"And you? Are you a prince from another land?"

I blinked. Beside me, Xander tensed.

"U-um, no...? Unfortunately not." This role-playing is so hard to keep up, uwa.

"Is that so? Why, you certainly look like one. Cinderella and I would have invited you to our kingdom for every ball."

E-eh? What.

My husband for some reason, got all defensive and started standing closer to me while Cinderella signed Giselle's autograph book and complimented the color of her hair. I remained utterly confused.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

We were waiting for the parade to start—standing idly behind the makeshift barrier—when all of a sudden, I heard yet another awfully familiar voice coming from behind. What's with today and coincidences? We've met Blake, Ace and even Loki so far...

"Finn!" The voice whispered in an excited manner. "So...what do you think of Evans in bunny ears?"

"He looks...stupid."

"Liar!" The voice accused her friend and I turned around just in time to see Nguyen land her elbow in Finn's side. "You know you like it."

I didn't know how (or whether) I should interrupt and so I decided to watch them until they noticed my presence. Meanwhile, I tapped on Xander's arm to gain his attention. He glanced sideways with a frown before following my gaze.

"What? He's dumb enough to suggest that Shin wear matching headbands with him, so why would I care?" Finn grumbled under his breath and Nguyen clicked her tongue, turning behind her to whisper something to...oh, it was Elizabeth. Were the entire class having a break at Disneyland?? I-I mean, it's summer vacation, but what were the chances...

"Don't be such a salty ass. Evans asked you first. And then because you took too long to come up with a reply, Shin saved him from embarrassment by offering to wear the headbands with him." Ah, youth.

The pair went quiet all of a sudden, and when I finally noticed and turned to look at them, they were staring at my husband.

"Mr. Jaxon??" "Jaxon?? I mean—what the fuck are those on your...I...uh."

Ah...i-it's not as if I expected them to see me first. After all, Xander's height (including the additional length of the grey bunny ears) made him stand out a whole lot more than I did.

Giselle spoke first.

"Who are you?" She blinked at Nguyen and Finn, who blinked back. It was only then that their gaze somehow landed on me, and I waved back in a tentative manner.

"Wait. Mr. Honeycutt too? Lol, this really is Disneyland," Nguyen's eyes lit up. "You guys are practically princes. Uh, sorry if that sounded rude," she added awkwardly, looking at her shoes all of a sudden.

Finn was busy gawking at the three of us, looking quite as though he was standing in the middle of his worst nightmare. I mean, I did hear that Xander was exceptionally tough when it came to volleyball practice.

"Nguyen, what's—homaigod is that Jaxon and Honeycutt in bunny ears??" Elizabeth peered past her friend's shoulder to stare with wide eyes. I could tell that my husband was getting increasingly incensed, what with the embarrassment—

"Yes, we're in bunny ears and we're fucking cute. You have a problem with that, kids?" Xander snapped out of nOwhere and I had no idea how to react.

Apparently Nguyen, Finn and Elizabeth didn't either. They just gawked at my husband.

"No, sir, uh...not at all," Elizabeth was the first to recover. "You guys are very cute. Yeah, uh...we're just going to...mind our own business now, while you guys enjoy your cute date at Disneyland. Okaybye."

The three of them turned very abruptly and started pushing their way out of the crowd. It was only at this that I noticed Brendon, Layla and Shin cooped up at another corner of street, waiting for the parade to start just like we were.

!!! Going back to school would be so embarrassing because of these bunny ears...oh dear. Did they see my tail??

*

It was nearing the time of fireworks after our go at the Haunted Mansion, and the evening had started to arrive with a chilly breeze when we'd decided to head to the castle to catch the last attraction of the day. 

I couldn't grasp what exactly went through my mind, then—watching as my husband's face light up from the blossoming fireworks in the sky and just staring at the reflection in his eyes until I was, all of a sudden, looking at myself in them. 

He didn't question what I was doing; or why I wasn't paying attention to the fireworks for the matter. He stared back with a smile, and we remained like so throughout the entire show. 

It had been perfect.

So perfect, that I wouldn't have wished upon any star in the universe. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: I must confess that I am, as of recent, obsessed with this anime called Boku no Hero Academia. Oh God, I'm trash let me tell you. I even wrote a fanfic. I can't believe I did that, okay? Like. Omgosh I'm becoming Nguyen ;-; *flails miserably* HELP.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure when I can update this hmm...I might be trying to concentrate on Crash (Blake and Ace's story) for the next couple of weeks instead!