Show Me Things I've Never Had (Cecil/Nadia)

Nadia continued dragging Cecil excitedly down the road, thinking about the descriptions he'd given of his family and how wonderful they sounded. She was so captivated by the idea, that she hadn't thought to actually ask him in which direction they lived. Somehow instinctively, she was headed back towards Sunlake from the stables, as if she was headed towards the Inn where she used to live. But before they reached it she stopped, looking back over her shoulder at the blond. He was probably out of breath from being dragged, and likely lost in his apparent misery. But it was her birthday, and she'd need to meet them *eventually* wouldn't she.

Still, now she was looking over his shoulder, embarrassment coloring her cheeks a little. "Maybe you should lead the way...since I don't know where we're going." She offered sheepishly, giving his hand a little squeeze.

Surprisingly enough, Cecil wasn't doing too badly after being dragged along for far too long a stretch. The stints at the gym in Seven Stars were doing some good, and while he didn't exactly look much different, his physical fitness had improved.
These newfound improvements did little to aid his overactive nerves however, as he found himself stuck in a cycle of fretting over what would happen in that fateful moment where he had to introduce Nadia to his family, and vice versa.

He was not looking forward to this, or every day afterwards. The teasing was never going to end...that, he knew.

The blond jerks back into awareness as Nadia stops pulling him along and speaks to him, letting out a bout of nervous laughter. "Ah, aha, uh, yeah....maybe, maybe I should. Yeah." Cecil squeezes back, holding her hand a little more tightly as he takes the lead. As they walk, he buzzes with nervous energy, scarcely able to control the rampant anxiety that seeks to rule him.
After glancing about for a while, he turns his gaze over to Nadia, still unable to suppress the slight tremor of his body. "How...how are you not nervous about this? Like, like at all? I - I mean you're meeting my family. You've had time to think about that. Do you not care? How this might go, what they might think, what if there's some sort of problem with all of this? I mean-" Nervous babbling continues to flow forth uncontrollably, all his old worries and all sorts of new ones rising up together and running rampant.

Nadia knew he'd be spaced out when she looked back at him, and didn't mind. She stood long enough for him to pass her, so he could lead them properly. As she was pulled along, he asked her how she wasn't nervous. It was a complicated question with a simple answer.

As he babbled, she raised a finger to his lips to stop him before she offered her reply. "Life's too short to worry about what people think. I'm a little nervous, but mostly in an excited way. You know I like new things. This isn't any different than that. I'm sure everything will be fine!" She swung their hands a little as they walked, "You worry too much, as always!" She giggled lightly and ran her thumb over the ridge of his knuckles comfortingly.

A thought came to her then, and she looked up at him from beneath her lashes. "Do you think I'd leave you if it goes badly or something?"

It truly, honestly baffled him that Nadia could be so carefree about it all. Oh, it was something he wasn't surprised by. It was practically something he'd expect from her. But it wasn't something he could comprehend at all.
How could be like this?!
How?!
"You don't worry enough about anything! Someone has to pick up the slack here!"

Cecil freezes for a brief moment at the question, a flash of dread running over him. "Please don't put scary ideas in my head."

Nadia giggled a little and pulled on his arm, leaning up to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry, I'm not going to do something like that to you, okay? I promise." She smiled lightly at him as they continued walking. When it came right down to it, it wasn't his family's business what they did. Nadia wanted to meet them, and really wanted to make friends with them, but if that didn't happen she wouldn't take it out on Cecil. That would be cruel and...and... well, something like that was probably what he was expecting her to do at some point. She was determined to prove that part of him wrong - the part of him that seemed to think he wasn't good enough for anything. "You've got nothing to worry about from me!" She affirmed, giving his hand another light squeeze.

He flushes slightly and smiles weakly back, flushing slightly and stilling at the kiss. "I...I know. It's just...hard not to think. To..." He shakes his head. "Nevermind. We should get moving."
Without saying anything further, he returns to motion, occasionally glancing back to Nadia with a somewhat more worried expression as he walks.


After a while longer of walking, the two end up...not in front of, but a little aside of a house, only a little ways into the stretch between it and the last house. Cecil's steps grind to a halt as he looks to it, taking shaking breaths and seeming altogether more nervous than ever before.

Nadia stopped when Cecil did, looking up at him contentedly, patiently waiting. She squeezed his hand in silent support, but didn't say anything further. She'd said it all before, anyway. She was content to wait until he was ready. The strained look on his face was somehow cute and she wanted to reach up and pinch his cheeks or something affectionately playful like that, but resisted the urge. Instead, she just smiled at him and let him set the pace.

The moment hung a few seconds longer as he looked to the house, trying to steady himself and...failing utterly. Eventually realising that this was the best he was going to manage, Cecil takes tentative steps up to the house, glancing at the window as he walks with Nadia to the door. Freeing his hand from Nadia's for a brief, nerve-wracking moment, he retrieves his keys, and unlocks the door.
Taking Nadia's hand in his once more, he looks back to her with a nervous smile, and heads in.

Inside, a girl in a black graphic tee and jeans lounges about on one of the sofas in the living room off to the side. She seems shocked at first to see Cecil and Nadia, but it's quickly replaced with a wild grin as she springs up, looking over the two with a predatoru gaze. "I knew it. Thanks for not letting me down, bro. Dad owes me ten bucks now."
All Cecil can do is sputter in disbelief as he realises there's been a betting pool over his relationship status.

Nadia's heart leaped with apprehension as she was led inside the house. The first one she met was the younger sister. Before introductions could even be made, there was already light teasing. It took a second for Nadia to realize what she was talking about. The girl looked at Cecil, then to their twined fingers, and then back to Rydia. "Only ten?" She offered with a small smile, looking back to Cecil playfully. "I think it's worth at least fifteen."

Seeing that Cecil would not be taking initiative on the introduction, Nadia gave a curt bow to the girl. "I'm Nadia Marquee. You're...Rydia, right? It's nice to meet you."

As Rydia bursts out in laughter, Cecil shoots Nadia a look of utter betrayal as he realises that Nadia was encouraging this.
If there was any fear that Nadia might not get along with his family it was gone, replaced with the unassailable knowledge that she was instead going to get on with them far too well for comfort.

"I see my brother has good taste!" Rydia swings her legs around and springs to her feet, strolling up to Nadia and looking her up and down. Now that she's on her feet, she stands a couple of inches over Nadia as her blue eyes take in each and every detail of Nadia's body. "So this is what he's into..."
Rydia lets out a little giggle as Cecil gives her a pained look. "Please don't do this to me. Please. Be nice for once!"
"Oh relax, bro. I'm not going to be too mean." She smirks. "I mean, it's not like this is a perfect opportunity after you denied this was ever gonna happen for years or anything."
"I just said it wasn't a big deal if it happened or not!"
"Those dopey expressions when you went out say otherwise! You looked like a puppy that just heard their owner come in!"
Cecil turns bright red as he stares wide-eyed at his sister, jaw hanging open. "I - I did not look like that!"
"Oh, but my dear brother~...you dii~iid~!"

Nadia had to wonder if this was how Brittany felt with all those eyes on her as she modeled. Personally, Nadia couldn't quite figure out what constituted the 'right' reason or the 'wrong' reason to look at someone. But it felt a little as though she was being judged. Nadia couldn't help but take a step back, shrinking under the scrutiny just a little bit, and hugging herself closer to Cecil's arm.

When Cecil accused Rydia of being mean, Nadia looked from one to the other and felt distinctly like she was watching a documentary about a predator and it's prey.

As Rydia made a comment about his expression, and it made him blush, Nadia couldn't help but blush too. He looked like that before coming to see her? Really? Well, now she absolutely had to say something to defend him. So she tried. "I happen to love his puppy-dog expressions!" she blurted out in a tone somewhere between defensiveness and playfulness.

Rydia fails to hold on for even a second before doubling over in laughter as her brother's face continued to redden, the boy almost starting to squirm within Nadia's embrace. His expression turns defensive as he fixes his gaze on his sister. "At least I don't drool over a selfie."
The laughter dries up as Rydia looks up, suddenly on the back foot. "I, I don't know what you're talking about, bro. Don't make things up like that."
"Making things up? That's strange..." As a deep voice rippling with amusement echoes down from up the stairs, Rydia stiffens and looks over hesitantly in the direction of the voice. And older man with tied back ginger hair in a black jacket is making his way down the steps, thumbing through his phone. "I was fairly certain I had quite a nice picture of that...ah, here it is!"

Rydia dives for the device in the man's hand as he reaches out to show Nadia and Cecil, only to be blocked from her objective as she tries to worm her way towards it. True to his statement, Rydia seems to be staring rapt at the screen of her phone in the picture, a slight trickle of spit running from her lip and down her cheek. The man shakes his head with a small little grin and turns his attention to the unfamiliar figure hanging off his son's arm. "What do you think? It's one of my personal favourites."
Cecil snickers and regains a little of his composure as Rydia's attempts to seize the phone become more desperate.

Nadia pulled herself away from Cecil just a little, giggle a bit at Rydia's reaction. The man who came down the steps must be Cecil's father. He was playing the game too, playfully strong-arming Rydia as he showed the two of them a picture of her drooling over her phone. Nadia giggled at the photo. "Definitely one for the photo book...Face book? Whatever they call that website." She shrugged with a smile.

She looked up at Cecil. "This is the part where you properly introduce me to your family." She cooed lightly, still holding his hand affectionately - supportively. It was part of the exercise, wasn't it? She had introduced herself to Rydia, but it was Cecil's turn to do something other than look uncomfortable.

Taking on a thoughtful look, the man starts to stroke his beard with his fingers. "Hmmm...now that you mention it, that sounds like an excellent idea..."
"DAAAD!"
The man chuckles along. "You know I'm only kidding, Rydia...this is far too delightful a picture to simply share online."
Rydia seems to be slightly dying inside.

Cecil nods silently at Nadia's prompting, seeming to choke a little as he looks over to his family - one looking at the pair with a warm, patient expression tinged with amusement, and the other still a little busy pouting over the photo business. "I-I...r-right..."
Squeezing Nadia's hand a little tighter, he swallows down and takes a deep breath. "S-So...D-Dad, Rydia...this, this is Nadia. My...m-my..." He swallows. "...g-girlfriend."

The moment holds for a few seconds. Rydia starts to recover from her thorough embarrassment, and Cecil is almost starting to writhe as his father simply stands there, watching the scene with that same expression as before. Shifting, Cecil moves around to Nadia's back and wraps his arms around her, holding onto her almost defensively - protectively, even. He seems almost scared, more genuinely fearful than he had been before in this still moment, but even still he looks at the two before him as if to challenge them to voice any objections they have.
Cecil's dad's lip quirks up, slightly.
"Well...it's nice to meet you, Nadia. Just call me Luneth." He looks at the two, taking note of the way Cecil curls himself around her. "Cecil certainly seems fond of you."
Chuckling to himself, he takes a couple of steps towards the door at the end of the hall opposite the living room. "Why don't you get yourself situated? Is there anything you'd like to drink?"
Cecil makes no motion, still awkward and hesitant as he holds Nadia in his arms.

Nadia blushed a little as Cecil introduced her. She was half expecting him to avoid the word, but he said it. Even if the voice he used was tense, she knew it was because he feared his family's scorn for some reason. They seemed like nice people to her, so she couldn't understand why that was. Though she had to admit, for his father to hold on to a picture of his daughter just to use to tease her... Maybe she should do that with Cecil. It would probably be pretty entertaining.

As Cecil came around her and embraced her protectively, her flush deepened, and she turned her head to try to look up at him. It felt nice being clung to, as tought he really did need her. It was a nice feeling. "It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Luneth." she chimed. She would have offered a hand, but Cecil's arms around her would have made that difficult. Instead she just gave him a good natured smile, looking up to Cecil as his father walked away. "Water is fine...tea if you have any!" She replied happily to the older man's question.

She leaned back into Cecil's embrace a little, being the center of attention all of a sudden was making her blush too much. "Um...should we sit down or something?" she asked him finally, curious eyes trailing to Rydia.