I think this is how Love goes | Lusie & Edmund

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Lusie sat on the edge of a window seal on the third floor of the castle, her back pressed against the cold stone. She asked Edmund to meet her here. She had something that she wanted to talk about with him, but she was terrified to do so. Her stomach churned at the idea. It was a weird feeling. A feeling she had never felt before. The young princess felt completely defenseless and vulnerable. Hopefully Ed could help her. Edmund was her best friend, well, besides Toby, but he was the problem and her stomach lurched just thinking about him. She had done well hiding it over the last few days since she came to the realization after they had fallen asleep together in the library after studying for a while. She couldn’t believe it. She had certainly never expected it. She actually liked a boy. For real.

@edmund

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Edmund made his way to the third floor, glancing around for Lusie as he got there. He was pretty sure he knew where she'd be. They had this spot where they liked to meet when one of them wanted to talk. It wasn't a secret or anything, but it was fairly private. His only concern was, why did she want to meet with him. Was something wrong? Or did she need his help somehow. He hadn't really seen much of his younger sister since they came back from Christmas break, so he felt a little bad that he didn't know what this was about. 

Soon enough, he saw her sitting on the edge of the window. She was tense, but Ed forced a smile as he approached. "Hey Lus," he greeted her, giving her a tight one-armed hug around the shoulders. "What's going on?" He never was good at small talk. If something was wrong with his little sister, Edmund Windsor wanted to know what it was. 

@lusie

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When Lusie saw Edmund approach, the butterflies in her stomach worsened. She knew that she had to tell him, she had to get his advice about the whole thing and she needed him to like the idea of her liking Toby. But she hadn’t thought about how she would tell him. She had thought it would be easy, but now, when she saw his face and he asked her what was wrong, she found her throat dry and her words caught rather than flow out. She didn’t want to worry him and she realized that he was worried, she hadn’t given him much to go on, but she didn’t know what to say. Saying it out loud meant that it was real. “I have something to tell you…” she admitted. She then took a deep breath and then decided to just say it, or at least to try to, “I like… a...boy.” she finally whispered. She felt like she might be sick.

@edmund

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As he got closer, it became clearer to Ed that his sister did not look good. She almost looked like she was going to be sick or something and Ed's brows furrowed as he got closer. What was going on. Once he reached her, she answered saying that she had something to tell him. Ed nodded, trying to nonverbally tell her to go on. Did someone say or do something to her? He was about ready to go find them and make them regret that decision when her words stopped him in his tracks. She liked a boy? That's what this was about? Ed almost felt like laughing, but luckily he looked at her face before he did. "Is that a bad thing Lusie?" he asked, teasing just a little bit. "Do you want to talk about it or something?" As far as he knew, his sister hadn't really ever liked a boy before, but he wasn't entirely sure if she told him everything or if he just thought she did. Either way, he wanted to be there for her. Like she always was for him. 

@lusie

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Lusie sighed and rolled her eyes when Edmund asked if it was bad. She knew that he was teasing her, but he had no idea. She was starting to fall for her best friend. What if he didn’t feel the same way and it ruined their friendship? What if she never told him but he did feel the same way but he never told her because he thought that she didn’t feel the same way? This was tricky. She cared about Toby and she didn’t want to lose him. “It could be bad.” she decided. “I just don’t know what to do about it… I…” and then she remembered Edmund was also in love with his best friend and they had still managed to be friends even though he had just told Addi more recently. “I don’t know if I should say anything… I don’t know if it’s smart.” she explained.

@edmund

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Edmund knew why Lusie was nervous. At least, he thought he knew. To his knowledge, she'd never been in a relationship with a guy, or even liked one before. So she was probably freaked out that she was liking one now, but he thought it was a good thing. He tilted his head to the side when she said that it could be bad, and that she didn't know what to do about it. He opened his mouth to ask her a question, but she was already saying that she didn't know if she should say anything. "You ... don't know if you should say something to me? Or to him?" He sat down beside her. "I promise, you can tell me whatever you want and I won't go after him or anything," Okay, Ed was teasing now, a smirk on his face. He wasn't quite sure how else to get Lusie to open up about whatever it was.

@lusie

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Lusie rolled her eyes at his brother when he asked whether she was afraid to say something to the boy or to her brother. “To him of course, I wouldn’t have told you anything at all if I didn’t want to tell you.” she thought that seemed like pretty common knowledge, but maybe it wasn’t. She knew Ed was always clueless when it came to relationships and such, maybe that included this. Though. Lusie was fairly clueless too. “It’s Toby, Ed. I like him.” she admitted, deciding that it would be better if she just came out and said it. Though as soon as she did, she almost wished she didn’t. Now that she said it, it was real. It had to be real now. It was out in the universe, and that was scary.

@edmund

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He shrugged when Lusie rolled her eyes. "Sorry Lus. It just seems like you're having a hard time telling me so I thought you might have changed your mind." He actually wasn't trying to be annoying right now, though that was often the way Edmund handled things. Not right now though. Not when he could tell his little sister was legitimately worried about this. His eyes widened a little bit when she continued. "Toby, Toby?" He asked stupidly. "Like, Toby that came to our castle and let you get injured that one time?" Ed didn't really blame the kid anymore, but this was actually the last person he expected when Lusie said she actually liked a boy. "How long have you liked him?" Ed asked after thinking about it. He liked Toby too, thought he was a good guy, fun to be around, but this wasn't about him. It was about Lusie and he wanted to be there for her as much as possible. 

@lusie

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Ed was finally paying the attention that Lusie was wanting and seemed confused when she admitted that it was Toby who she liked. He asked to confirm, listing the things that Toby had done that Ed knew about since he and Lusie had become close friends. “Yeah. That Toby.” Lusie nodded. She didn’t really know another Toby. he asked how long she had liked him and she swallowed a lump in her throat, a little afraid to tell him. “Um, since about a week ago when we fell asleep together in the library and were there cuddling almost all night…” of course as soon as she woke up she had ran away, fully embarrassed and her cheeks redder than they had ever been.

@edmund

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Lusie probably thought he was an idiot, but then again that didn't seem like too bad of a thing. She likely thought that anyway. He nodded when she confirmed that he was talking about the right Toby. Like that was really a question. How many Toby's did the two of them actually know? It just went to show how much his little sister took him by surprise by that confession. Lusie did seem nervous before she explained, and Ed nodded his head with an encouraging expression. His eyes widened as she spoke. "You fell asleep together in the library?" He should have other questions, or something, but it was almost like Ed's brain froze once he heard those words. His little sister cuddled with Toby in the library all night. "What did he say when you guys woke up?" he asked, hoping that maybe he'd be able to figure out how Toby felt by his reaction. Toby was a decent guy. He probably wasn't trying to lead Lusie on or hurt her. 

@lusie

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Lusie simply nodded her head. She had fallen asleep with a boy for who knows how long in the back of the library. If anyone had seen them, she’d surely be the talk of the school. What kind of princess let herself behave like that? Of course it hadn’t been on purpose. But they had been sitting very close to one another and he knew Lusie was exhausted, though it certainly wasn’t his fault. She had to imagine she fell asleep first. “He said he was sorry and we both went bright red and then I ran away.” she explained, feeling extremely silly about it now.

@edmund

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Lusie looked absolutely mortified and Ed felt a little bit badly for her. He knew what it was like to care for a good friend and be nervous that they didn't feel that way in return. "So you've liked him since then ... are you still his partner in herbology? Do you see him around?" Edmund was trying to learn a little bit more about the situation so he could help his little sister. Edmund might not be the best when it came to love and advice (and especially those two words put together), but he would do his best. He smiled at her. "Hey, it's all okay Lus. I understand and you can totally talk to me about this. I like Toby." He hoped that was at least a little reassuring and she wasn't worried that he'd attack the guy she liked or something. 

@lusie

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Edmund was asking questions that Lusie felt he already knew the answer to, but maybe he was just searching for confirmation. So she nodded. “Yes I see him. Everyday. We’re together almost all day. I’m sure you’ve noticed. I wouldn’t have invited him over during the holidays if we weren’t friends.” She said. Surely her brother would understand that. It was a hassle having people come over since they needed to get security clearance and everything. It wasn’t something she’d ask just anyone to do. He was the first person she’d brought into that world, actually. Ed then said that she could talk to him about this and he wouldn’t want to go off and try to kill Tony. “Do you really think I’d be telling you if I thought you’d be mad?” She asked. She didn’t like the idea of keeping anything from any of her siblings, but particularly not from Ed. He was he best friend besides Toby. She sighed. “I don’t know… I’m not really looking for advice or anything… I guess I just needed to tell you because I felt like I had to tell someone and I can’t very well tell Toby so I didn’t know who else I would tell if not you.” She admitted.

@edmund

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Edmund nodded as his sister explained a little, rolling his eyes at the end. "I know you're friends. I just wasn't sure how much you're around him." He paused a second, thinking. "Were you guys friends before this year?" Had his sister been friends with Toby for years without Ed knowing? Maybe he should have expected this sort of thing to happen. Still, he didn't think it was a bad thing. He actually liked Toby, even after the accident with Lusie last semester. He chuckled, "I mean, you're probably smarter than that ... but I could see you telling me something and then talking me down from my anger." Lusie was actually really good at that. Most people couldn't change his mind if Ed was mad at them, but his little sister, well he had a weakness for her. He could never stay mad at her (or around her) for very long. Lusie started to explain that she didn't really want advice or anything, but that she needed to tell someone. He smiled, "I'm glad you could tell me Lus." Ed hesitated. He wanted to say something else, to give some good advice or something, but he didn't know what to say! He wasn't really good at advice. "Just ... don't fight it. I mean, don't try to convince him that you don't like him or that you do. Try and act normal." That wasn't what Ed did when he liked Addi, but part of him wished he could've let things happen more naturally. "He's an idiot if he doesn't like you back," Ed added with a chuckle. Lusie was amazing. Any guy that couldn't see that really wasn't worth her time. 

@lusie

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Ed’s advice to her about it all was to not force anything and Lusie didn’t really change her facial expressions. She already had said that she wasn’t looking for his any advise, she had just wanted someone to talk to about her feelings and Ed was one of the only people she could trust, besides Toby, of course, but she couldn’t very well talk to him about any of this. “I don’t ever force anyone to be in my life, Ed. You know that.” she certainly wouldn't start now. There was a reason that the princesses best friend was her older brother. She didn’t have many friends. Lusie wasn’t even sure if she wanted Toby to like her back. She didn’t really know what to do or what she wanted to happen. This was a lot.

@edmund