Wind Blowing Across Utopia(Cecil)

It just kept going. Going and going and going. When the tears ran out, he still laughed. When he was hoarse and breathless, he still laughed. It looked like he might pass out for a moment, gasping for air at the cruel humour of it all. He almost did, collapsing forward as the world whirled and twisted and lost its light.
He was...seriously about to laugh himself unconscious. Nadia was talking to him, suggesting...running off? Skipping school?
Nah. He wasn't done. He shook his head. Just had to keep going a little longer. The humour value of this whole affair hadn't quite worked itself out of his system yet.
He could see the lights at he neared the black. Dancing wisps, the stars, intermingling with the blackness as the world span.
It was kinda pretty.

Nadia just stood there, slightly mortified as he continued to laugh, shaking his head. Was he laughing at her now? No...he was having another breakdown. It was a different kind of breakdown, but she had to do something drastic like she had done last time. Her brows came together. Putting one hand on either side of his face she said "If you don't stop laughing, I'm going to make you stop." when he didn't stop, she sighed. Drawing in a deep breath, she did the only thing she could think of to stop him. Something she knew would shock him enough to stop the laughter.

Closing her eyes, She kissed him.

Sound was indistinct. Sight failed. There was a bare tickle of something, but his face was mostly numb. When would he wake up, he wondered? Would he at all?
He noticed something strange. The air wasn't going out. He knew, logically, that he was in the midst of a hysterical fit, the giggling bubbling up in his chest, but he couldn't feel the outpour. The air come in through his nose, but when it tried to burst back out again, it went nowhere. It...actually kind of hurt. Actually...everything kind of hurt. That was no good.
He should breathe again. That'd do it. Then things would stop hurting, and he'd figure out what was happening.

Muffled giggles slowly died down as Cecil's breath steadied. Little by little, things came back into clarity. He noticed first that things sounded the same as ever. Kinda quiet, really. There was...something on his cheeks. Did his arms - yeah his arms worked. So what were...hands?
...Nadia was pretty close, wasn't she?
And he felt something on his lips. It was...nice. Soft.

Huh. Nadia was kissing him, wasn't she?
Shouldn't he be freaking out right now?
He guessed that bit hadn't booted back up again.

He tapped Nadia on the shoulder, hoping to get her attention. He wasn't sure if she'd noticed any changes, but better to be safe.
When she finally released her hold on his lips, he watched her face, almost in study. With a blank expression, he took deep breaths in and out, and slowly nodded.
"So...I don't think oxygen flow's gotten back to my brain properly yet. I'm, thinking about it, far too calm. Don't quite feel myself." He looks up into the corner of his eyes, and gives a quick double nod before looking back at Nadia. "Yup. Knowing me, I should be freaking out right now. Probably not 100% yet. So, uh...please don't take this reaction badly? It was nice. I gotta admit, it was nice. If I don't go back to being a moron, I'd like to do that again. It felt good. I think I'm going to go back to being a moron once my brain starts working though. It's kinda my thing at this point. So, uh...please be patient? I don't know how long this'll be. I might be in shock or something, that makes sense."

This must be the worst first kiss in history. He still giggled through it, dying down as he slowly realized what has happening. Then she moved away, cheeks a little redder than she meant, and he started talking through it, saying how he was probably not freaking out because of his brain not working? She should have just slapped him out of it. Still, this was an experience she wouldn't soon forget, and he said he wanted to do it again. No time like the present.

"I'm glad you want to try it again..." she hesitated before jumping into the forward things she was about to say. The ghost of aprehention died as she dove into it. "But you just giggled through my first kiss." She said slyly, closing the space between them and getting close... "So if you want another, then why don't you give me a proper first kiss? We'll say that last one didn't count." ...or something. That wasn't really something she'd normally say, but she wanted to see if she could goad him into taking the initiative. She was right here, inches from your face. Your move, Knight.

"Hmm...nah. Not at the moment." He rights himself, patting the spot next to him. "Not with me like this, anyway. It'd be easy enough, but it just wouldn't feel right. Noooo...I think I'll wait til...juuust before I come back to my senses to do anything. Then the moment can happen with me in my right mind." He pauses scratching the side of his head thoughtfully as if he hadn't a care in the world. "Right mind probably isn't the right words, there's nothing right about this lump of meat in my head, but you know what I mean. Is this what I'd be like if I wasn't so bothered about everything all the time? I wonder. Guess I'll try and find out another time."

He gives Nadia an effortless smile with a tilt of the head and a raise of the eyebrow. "Don't worry about firsts, anyway. At least you got to pick to do that. It wasn't that long ago for me when some woman asked me questions that'd get her arrested, slammed her lips into mine while I was babbling, dropped her number on the table and waltzed off while I had no idea what was happening. Just a bit of fun for her. Wasn't happy when I found out later...I'd spent a while trying to figure out what that was about, and to find out it was essentially a practical joke wasn't really what I wanted to hear." He takes a deep breath and stretches out, grunting with the exertion. "At least it came from somewhere genuine with you. Everyone says that your first kiss never goes quite right, but we know it for sure now, don't we? It's the sentiment that counts. You can get the technique right later."

Who was this charming person and what had he done with bumbling Cecil Erinforth? Nadia took the spot next to him, letting the uncharacteristic slyness dry out in the sun. It was better this way, she supposed. She didn't want to pressure him like that anyway. Especially if he already had bad experiences from before. She wasn't really sure what it meant right for them right now, but she was glad she had some promise of a second time. She'd hold him to it, too. She put two fingers to her lips, remembering. She should have just slapped him. But...this was good too.

"At least it came from somewhere genuine with you." Did it? What had possessed her to do that in the first place, other than really just wanting to try it? What was "genuine" when it came to this. Looking back to Cecil, she decided maybe it'd be best to just figure it out as they went. Change was just another experience away, after all.

For now, she was still itching to do something with him. Lunch would be over soon, and going back to school like normal after an exchange like this would feel...disappointing. "Are you sure you don't want to go somewhere? I'll take the blame for the skipping with teachers or...your family." he had a family right? She had hears about a sister atleast. Maybe a father... She wondered what they must be like.

A raised eyebrow and wry smile met Nadia's questions, a look from the blond sent to ask her if she really thought it was that easy. "Sure thing. Bet they'd accept that, and I'd be all fine. We get to have fun, there's little consequence, and I certainly wouldn't panic and start feeling guilty within ten minutes of leaving campus." He chuckles, rolling his eyes. "Tempting, but I think I'll have to say no, Nadia. Pretty sure admitting I skipped school to hang out with a girl would get me more torment from my family than just taking it. They're like that." He shrugs. "And, you know, there's the whole thing with the school. Not a great idea overall. Tad shortsighted. We can have fun later."

Nadia's spirits fell further when he refused, but then, she sensed his life followed more rules than Nadia's did in general. But that wasn't a bad thing. She could do with a bit more discipline, probably. All things considered, it was a good day. "We'll have fun later" was all she needed to hear to be right as rain again. As the bell rang for the students to start moving on the next class, Nadia stood. "Okay, We'll go somewhere soon..." She stretched, and looked back at him.

"It's a date." She told him. Mostly because she wanted to say it. To see what the word felt like out loud. It felt tingly, and full of promises. She liked the feeling. It felt new and exciting. Grabbing up her messenger bag, she moved to leave him sitting there, probably astonished by the idea of going on a real date. If his 'brain working' made him late for class, maybe it served him right for making her live with such a terrible first kiss.

She wouldn't get the chance to go on ahead of him. Cecil rose with her, smiling and nodding. "Yup. A date it is." He steps in, and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek before picking up the pace and walking on forwards. He'd said he wouldn't properly give her that redo on her first kiss while his brain was sorting itself out...but this was fine. His lip quirked as he imagined what the reaction might be. It was an action on a whim, and he'd hoped it might be funny in the end. Not to say that this was the only reason...be kind of hypocritical to do that after what he'd said moments ago. But...you didn't have to do things for just one reason, did you?

He confidently strode onward...and then, it finally set in. All of it. His steps slowed and dragged out. His expression went from amused to panicked as his heart hammered in his chest. His breaths became shallow, his fingers ran through his hair, his body slumped forward and he clutched at his temples.
He'd just kissed on the cheek. He'd promised her another go at a first kiss. He said he'd go on a date.

He might have broken down and freaked out if this had happened a few minutes ago, questioning everything and what form of demon possessed him, but there was no time for that! He couldn't waste time on stupid shit like this!
He walked into classes distracted, and come time to hit the library, he couldn't focus on work. He had whole other things consuming his thoughts, ideas and questions racing through his mind that destroyed all hope of productivity. With no hope of combating this, he started plotting, planning, researching it all as a study of a whole new kind took place.

...he was going to be going on a date.
With a girl.
That had kissed him.
And that he'd kinda kissed too.

There was no other way. He'd dug this hole for himself, and now he had to live with it.

Cecil was going to make sure this date went as well as humanly possible. He would make Nadia as happy as a girl could be or he would die trying.

...ohwaitfuckNONONONO
DO NOT DIE ON THE DATE
DO NOT. DIE. ON. THE DATE.
That was a terrible idea!
What the fuck was he thinking?!
"AGHHHHHH!"

Wait...what?

Now it was Nadia's turn to be utterly surprised. She froze in place as he leaned in and kissed her cheek, reddening noticeably, and saying nothing. She just watched him with wide, curious, dumbstruck eyes as he then turned and left. She watched his confident walk as he moved toward the door. She blinked. What...

She had to get to class. Skipping was one thing, but being tardy was excruciating. It was a good thing she didn't have to visit her locker first. Nadia bounced off to the next period, with a giddy hop to her step that would lead most to believe she'd discovered a new dead animal to paint. But no, this time, it was normally girly excitement. She was going on her first ever date.