A/N: Hello, and welcome to one of my newer stories, Controversy! It stars just about every character from RF4 (excluding Venti and Ethelberd) and a whooole lot of pairings along the way.
There's gonna be some tug-of-war going on with Frey, Doug, and Leon, but other than that the pairings are pretty much fair game... I mean I know which ships I like but they might change, depending on if I play the game more or not :P I'd spoil which ones I plan to include but that wouldn't be very cool (especially if I ended up changing them), so you all have to remain in the dark...! Muahaha!
Um, anyway, as with all of my older stories, my writing style is a little bit outdated already so I'm going to try and keep this edited and up to date with my current style. Of course the first 5 chapters - what I have posted as of right now - will be overall the same level of quality just because of how long it's been since I've updated but even I don't think they're really bad... and I'm my own worst critic. For any past readers (if you actually came back to reread the first chapter... I dunno why but whatever lol), I'll point out any major differences, but for the most part I don't think I'll do anything other than fix some awkward phrasing and all that good stuff.
So... last note, this story is only supposed to be an angsty/drama/romance with some badly attempted humor on the side, but as I focus on so many characters at once, like in the first few chapters here, it might be really really choppy. Just stick with me though and I promise it'll get better! Stories always get better once you get to the actual plot =.=
Last note for real, thank you to all my readers! Whether you actually review or just follow and favorite, I don't mind! It all makes me happy :) I love getting emails telling me someone's noticed my story again, so keep them coming!
Controversy
Everybody in town saw the proposal, how happy the two in love seemed to be, how excited old Blossom was to send off her practical son.
Doug shouted it down from the rooftop, and Frey shouted back up from the ground, giving him the answer he undeniably wanted to hear the most.
The wedding was to take place in just over a month, giving them enough time to plan out everything accordingly, including getting the tailor to properly design and fit the clothes and the marriage license from the capital allowing them to hold it.
However, the time limit for Doug to join her in her castle room was very short, being only a few days. And Frey couldn't wait.
…
"I've told you this before, but now I'm really serious, as serious as I've ever been in my whole life, okay?"
Frey stood with Leon at the side of the lake, watching the man with pursed lips after she'd finalized what she had to say. She'd already tried to do this before, knowing that her relationship with Doug was obviously more serious than her playtime with the jackal, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to really break it off until now.
Everything was said and done, the wedding date would quickly arrive – she knew that for sure – and her fiancé was moving in in just a matter of days. There was no way she could hide Leon in her room at night with Doug there.
Not that she wanted to, anyway. She hadn't been with Doug yet, nor had she with Leon, per se, but that was part of the fun and excitement of marrying him. It would be like a whole new adventure exploring different things with him, seeing where the wind took them. She honestly couldn't wait one bit, so something like this had to be stopped as soon as possible.
"You have nothing to fear, Love," Leon replied, to which Frey grimaced quickly. "I am a man of my word. I'll back off and let Doug have the spotlight for now."
She sighed. "You have to stop calling me Love. Otherwise people will get the wrong idea. It's bad enough you've let it slip a couple times at the restaurant… We're just lucky that the people of Selphia are really dense."
Leon chuckled, sending some chills down her spine and butterflies to her stomach. "Okay, okay." He cleared his throat, almost as if he was nervous to keep talking. "So, ah, what should I call you instead?"
"Just that."
"Hm?"
"You."
Frey dug the point of her shoe into the ground, creating a hole in the earth where the green grass used to be. "You don't ever call me by name – even now you don't. You call me either 'Love' or 'You'."
He seemed unperturbed.
"Just call me whatever you used to call me before this all started, all right? It'll be like nothing ever happened," she finished, staring out at the water, the small waves of the lake rippling, the afternoon sun's rays reflecting on the blue surface.
Her words were harsh, but Leon nodded slowly. "I'll do my best. For what it's worth, though," he started, closing the space between them as he walked towards her, "I rather enjoyed our time together, despite how short-lived it was."
He put his hand on her cheek, sliding it around and caressing it, watching her face as her eyes closed. It seemed to switch between confused and content, but he didn't really mind, smiling a little. Just seeing her cute expressions was enough.
Frey was expecting a last goodbye kiss despite having the same thing just a few nights ago, thinking she would be able to cut him loose that time. He met her expectation, but not quite in the way she thought he would.
He moved his hand up to her forehead, brushing her bangs up out of the way, and pressed his lips to it, kissing her softly. It lasted no more than a second but it felt like a lifetime to Frey. She whimpered slightly under his touch and he let out a throaty chuckle, sending shivers to her spine again. She really hoped those would go away with time. This was just playtime, Leon was just a plaything, and her true feelings lay with Doug, the man she was about to marry. It was silly that this had even started - so silly that she couldn't even remember how it did. She just wished it wasn't so hard to end it.
But Leon got cocky after hearing her noises and lowered his face to hers, meeting her on eye level. He stared into her green orbs and contemplated teasing her just one last time.
Why not? It was the last time, so he'd have to make it extremely entertaining.
He placed a hand on each side of her face and inched closer to her mouth with his, feeling her hot breath escape from hers and threaten to enter his. It was really very enticing, and it took an inane amount of his self-control to not actually do what he wanted to do right then and there - kiss her.
Frey's eyes closed as she anticipated the real thing, but after several seconds passed and all she could feel was the air coming out of his mouth she opened them back up, staring at the now smirking jackal man.
"Leon!"
He laughed heartily, instantly backing away. "You know, that was quite the adorable waiting face you had there."
Her cheeks flushed. "Jeez!"
Leon took her into his arms then, squeezing her tightly. "I'll miss teasing you like that."
Though he was holding her just a bit too tightly, she didn't mind, instead returning his embrace, taking in what she knew would very likely be the last inhales of his earthy scent before they parted ways. She enjoyed the time for what it was: a parting, a farewell, a rite of passage to their separate lives. Although she was sad she was closing a door, there was an open window just waiting for her out there with Doug.
"Thank you for being with me," he whispered, and for a second Frey wasn't sure if she'd heard him right. A tear left her eye and she squeezed both shut again, hoping they wouldn't come out and stain his vest. After a few more moments he finally pulled away.
If he saw Frey's semi-puffy eyes he didn't make any mention of it, which the girl was very thankful for. Knowing that this was going to be the absolute last time anything between the two here would happen, she felt she had to do something to make sure it ended on a good note.
She crooked her head up to allow her lips to meet his for a quick peck, which was over before anything could start.
"Goodbye, Leon. Thanks for everything you've done for me... but that's the last time."
"I know, I know, already," he said, sighing, mainly to give him time to recover from the short kiss. He gave her his signature cocky smirk. "I'll see you around and don't worry, I won't do anything funny anymore. I truly wish for you and Doug to live a happy life together."
She smiled. "Thank you."
Before she could let anything convince herself to stay just a bit longer, she made her feet move, carrying her away from her second choice and lover.
As he watched her leave, Leon picked at the spot on his vest where she left a tiny tear stain. "Honestly…" he trailed sadly, "you deserve someone much better than me."
…
*GLOMP*
"Whoa!" Frey exclaimed, unsure of what to do. "W-who is this? Amber?"
"Try again," the voice behind her whispered into her ear.
A small shiver ran down her spine, instantly brightening her mood tenfold. "D-Doug?"
The dwarf laughed and kissed her cheek, surprising her even more. "You sure do stutter a lot, y'know that?"
She flushed a dark shade of red, not used to this sort of affection, especially in the middle of the town square where anybody could see them. She smiled sheepishly as she remembered Blossom chiding them for being so open one day. Hadn't Doug learned from that?
"You're so unfair," she whimpered, referring to his tactics to get her attention. Though, if they were just talking about fairness, she was definitely more unfair than he was…
He stepped away and instead grabbed her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. "Hmm? What do you mean?"
She huffed, pretending to be bothered. "Never mind. But you do know there's all sorts of people around right now, right? They're all going to start staring at us…"
Doug just squeezed her hand tighter and grinned. "Why should we care? We're going to be married soon…" he trailed with a cough to the side, hiding his blush. "Anyway, just because we're going to be the second married couple in town doesn't mean we have to be in second place. We gotta show everyone we can be a better couple than Nancy and Jones!"
"So all you care about is the popularity of our love?"
"Ahaha, no, not at all," he said, reassuring her. "I just like the thought of being able to kiss you wherever and whenev – I mean, I want to show everyone that you're mine and can't be taken away from me."
"The first answer sounded better," Frey said with her half laugh. "The second just makes it sound like I'm your possession."
"I didn't mean it like that! I swear!"
Frey giggled. "I know." She turned her body towards him and planted a kiss on his cheek as well, laughing when a red hue showed up on his face. "It's only fair, since you did it to me!"
"All right, all right," he agreed reluctantly, cheeks still visibly flushed.
She resumed walking by his side for a few moments but then something occurred to her. "Where are we going, anyway?"
Doug didn't respond right away, pursing his lips. The two were walking in the direction of the general store, but Frey still didn't quite understand what was happening.
"I want you to help me start packing up," he explained softly. His grip on her hand loosened a little bit, as if he was losing his strength from being embarrassed.
Frey smiled. "I'd be glad to help."
"Awesome! Come on then!"
He let go of her hand and started sprinting towards the store and his house now, leaving her in the dust out of excitement.
"Haha… Honestly, Doug, sometimes you act just like a little kid," she said a little more loudly than just to herself. She followed him through the door nonetheless and was greeted by a chipper Blossom behind the counter.
"Welcome, Frey! You just missed Doug." She laughed. "That boy gets excited over the simplest things, I swear. I hope you can fix him up good when he's there with you."
A drop of sweat dripped down Frey's forehead and she laughed a little, unsure of what to say. "Yeah, he's… definitely a keeper! Aha."
"Oh, come now," Blossom said, "say it like you mean it! Otherwise I won't let you take him away from me."
The Earthmate blushed. "Y-you saw how his proposal went… Of course I mean it!"
"Hmm?"
The half-smile stayed on her face. Since Frey and Doug had been getting closer, Blossom had become more and more like an overprotective parent, like a father taking care of his daughter before marriage. And Doug was definitely a mama's boy - or in their special case, a father's boy. Though she didn't particularly mind, it did get on Frey's nerves sometimes.
It was best to just come right out with it, though, so she could escape the situation as soon as possible. "I really love Doug, Blossom. I won't do anything that will make you regret giving him to me." She scratched the back of her neck. "I know he'll make me happy, and I'm pretty sure I'll make him happy, so you don't have anything to worry about. We'll be the best couple in town!"
She watched the old woman carefully, just to make sure she didn't doubt her any more. It was frustrating, not to mention embarrassing, when she had to keep repeating herself to get her point across. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she saw a head of red hair and instantly all the blood rushed to her face.
"Ah! No, I – I didn't mean to eavesdrop! I was just wondering if you were still here and when you were coming up if you still were and… just come up here with me, Frey!"
Doug talked so quickly she wasn't sure if she heard him right, but she quietly excused herself from Blossom's presence and followed Doug up the staircase, her heart pounding out of her chest.
"Haha… sorry about that," she said, embarrassed. Before she could explain herself further, though, she felt weight on her body and found herself pushed up against the wall.
Doug's lips had easily found hers and didn't seem to want to leave their spot any time soon. Frey was shocked, to say the very least, but she melted into it, closing her eyes as she allowed herself to enjoy the moment. Even though Blossom was in the same house, she was downstairs and was a little hard of hearing, anyway, so if anything were to happen, she probably wouldn't hear it.
Wait, what?
She wanted to push him away, fearful of where it might lead, but he beat her to it, turning around and away from her as soon as their mouths separated. She touched her lips disbelievingly, forgetting just when the last time something like that had happened. He wasn't that type of guy; even earlier today in the town square was a very rare occurrence.
"Sorry." Doug coughed. "Sometimes I just forget how much I love you."
Her heart threatened to melt into a puddle of itself on the floor in front of her and the happiest smile crept onto her face. "Thank you." She giggled.
A few moments passed and Doug cleared his throat awkwardly. "A-anyway, uh… You wanna help me get started here?"
Frey nodded, still smiling, and quickly knelt down, glancing over to Doug when she felt his presence beside her. She returned her attention to the box in front of her, though, wondering if he was planning on using it to carry things.
"Oh, what's – "
"Ah, don't touch that!"
Frey recognized the thing as the notebook Doug kept for whatever reasons. She used to think it was like a diary of sorts, but he wouldn't ever let her see what was written in it. Why was he so secretive, though?
"If we're getting married, shouldn't we get rid of all the secrets between us?" she asked hesitantly.
That might not have been the best course of action, though. Doug knew she was at least spending time with Leon while she was dating the dwarf as well, but he wasn't aware of their continuing relationship even after Doug proposed. As far as he knew, their relationship had ceased when Doug confessed his love for her to the entire town.
Telling him about the secret relationship might have hurt him.
"Eeeeh… let's just wait a little while, all right?" he suggested, an odd grin on his face. "There's some things I'm not ready for you to know about me just yet."
Frey smiled sadly. "Okay."
She decided she could live with that for now. If he had his secrets, she could have her own, right? Down the road it wouldn't be such a big deal what she had to tell him, anyway. She was probably just worrying over nothing, and only worrying so much because it had just happened – or, rather, ended – just earlier that day.
She sighed in relief and leaned her head on Doug's shoulder. The man's cheeks heated up and he was about to ask what was wrong but Frey beat him to words.
"You should hurry and finish packing already."
~CGA