A/N:

I feel like an ebil child, not working on my other fics and writing this instead, but the idea was beckoning to me. And, besides, the world needs more Swiss/Liecht lurve~

Um...not much else to say except that this is basically a high school/small town AU an' stuff. Oh, and there's a kinda-random appearance of fem!Canada and fem!America toward the end. So if you're not into genderbends, they're not a major part of the story.

Lilli = Liechtenstein. Dur.

And FF is screwing up my formatting, so if something looks weird, blame it. . I hate the page-long lines for time skips, but they seem to be the only thing that work -shotted-

If Cinderella had shown up at the ball in a carriage that looked like the spawn of a tank, the time-space continuum would've been seriously screwed up. As it was, Vash knew Cinderella was nothing close to Lilli and his Hummer wasn't really a fairytale carriage.

Still, he tried. He tried so damn hard. He was even playing all those stupid songs that she liked, trying to focus on how pretty she looked in her prom dress without crashing the car. He'd paid way too much for it to even think of scratching it.

He pulled into the school parking lot, Lilli fidgeting in the backseat. Other people were arriving in limos and here she was in a baby tank. If limos weren't so expensive, her parents would've rented one for her if Vash didn't do it first. But, things being as they were, with her family and Vash both saving money again after Lilli's numerous operations, the Hummer was the best anyone could do.

"Have fun," Vash said, actually smiling at her as she stepped out of the car.

"I will! I promise!" Lilli was beaming, practically jumping up and down. "Are you sure you'll be okay waiting for me?"

"Yeah. I brought the laptop. I'll be fine." Vash obviously omitted the tiny detail of him hacking into the school's security system so he could watch and make sure no one hurt his "sister" the entire time.

She eyed him incredulously, but then started beaming again. "Okay. See you later, Vash!"

"Come back at midnight! I'm leaving if you're not back by then!" Both of them knew Vash's threat was an empty one. If she really were late, Vash would most likely break down the doors and hold a gun to someone's head.

As Lilli disappeared into the gym, Vash sighed and turned the laptop on. It was about five years old and running slowly, but running all the same. He pulled up the security camera feed, smiling to himself at his ingenuity. He may never have finished high school, but that didn't mean he was incompetent.

He managed to find Lilli in the throng of people. There she was, safe and sound with Elizaveta, Roderich, and Natalia. Where was Nat's creepy, Russian not-brother/boyfriend? He'd have to remember to watch out for Ivan.

This was Lilli's first prom, and he was probably more frightened than she was. Lilli had been fighting disease since the end of freshman year, and had only recently come back to school for junior year after doing her work from home. Vash had dropped out of school to take care of her, and now he couldn't be bothered to go back. He was twenty years old already – too old for high school, he reasoned.

For the next few hours, he watched the screen tirelessly. Lilli seemed to be fitting in quite well. She seemed to be dancing with one unidentifiable figure the whole time. His eyes narrowed. Who in hell was dancing with his Lilli?

Vash looked over at the fully loaded gun in the passenger seat and decided against any irrational violence, although his fingers twitched against the steering wheel. Still, he was almost tempted to shut the laptop and not look.

That was the first time Vash was ever jealous of Random Man.

At 12:01 AM, Lilli ran up to the car, breathless but smiling. "Sorry I'm late! I got so caught up in the dancing and I forgot and-"

"It's fine. Get in and let's go." Neither spoke until after she had climbed in and Vash started driving away. "So, you had fun?"

"Yeah! I had tons of fun!"

"Who were you dancing with?" He tried to keep the venom out of his voice, he really did.

"Peter," she answered instantly. "You know, Arthur's little brother."

Ah, yes. Peter had been the 8 year-old who always tried to play with older kids, thinking that it would make him cool. It obviously never worked.

Lilli's phone rang, and Vash sighed. Now he couldn't continue his interrogation.

"Hey, Peter!" Lilli said into the phone. Vash's grip on the wheel tightened.

"Really? Okay. Thanks! You can stop by and give it to me tomorrow."

What in hell was she talking about?

"Any time is fine… Okay, see you later, Peter." She hung up, the same grin still on her face. "I lost one of my shoes when I was trying to get out to the car. Peter's bringing it to my house tomorrow."

"Okay," Vash said.

Neither really said anything else, since Lilli's favorite song came on the radio and she started singing along. They didn't even speak when Vash pulled up to the apartment complex and Vash walked Lilli to her room. Lilli's mother smiled at him over her daughter's head. Vash nodded back before walking to his family's apartment right across the hallway.

No one was up, so Vash took the leftovers out of the fridge and ate them in silence, watching the little orange light on the laptop fade in and out as it charged.

He finally called Lilli, but her phone went to voicemail without her picking up. Maybe she was asleep. He called her house to be sure.

"Vash, why are you calling so late?" Lilli's mother asked. "Is something wrong?"
"No. I just wanted to talk to Lilli."

"Oh. Sorry, Vash. She's been on the phone ever since she got back. I'll tell her you called, though."

"Don't. I can… tell her tomorrow."
"Okay. 'Night, Vash." She hung up, and Vash set his phone down. She had been talking on the phone for thirty minutes to someone other than him.

That was the first time Vash felt bitter over Lilli.

That was Saturday.

On Monday afternoon, at precisely 3:15:49 PM, Vash refreshed Facebook, only to see at the top of his screen:

Lilli Albrecht is in a relationship with Peter Kirkland.

Vash felt like his heart had fallen out and landed on the floor in a puddle of blood and other bodily fluids.

Five minutes later, Elizaveta commented, "with PETER????"

Lilli wrote back: "yeah. ^^"

Elizaveta: "mkay… i totally didn't expect that."

He only commented because he wanted Facebook to tell him when someone wrote something. Most people said things along the lines of, "huh? wow that was unexpected."

Peter wrote: "haha i love u lilli"

Surprisingly, that didn't send Vash into a murderous rage. It just made him feel defeated. He'd had it all planned out. Ever since he had dropped out to take care of Lilli, he had known he loved her. And if only that stupid Peter hadn't called, he would've asked Lilli out when she got home from prom.

By Tuesday, she had a new profile picture, an ugly one of her and Peter, and a status that read, "hanging out w/ peter 2nite :) i luv him"

You've been together for a day! You don't love each other! Vash thought, seriously thinking about writing that. Instead, he went and looked at her pictures. He let himself smile a little, when there were still two whole albums called "Me and Vash" with a heart by his name. He opened the second one and immediately went to picture 42 out of 200. It was a picture of Lilli frolicking in a field, eyes closed with a giant smile on her face. He had gotten a close-up of the side of her face, and it was Vash's single favorite picture in the entire universe.

"Vash!" Lilli burst through the door to his room, turning on the light as she did so. His face instantly heated up in embarrassment.

"Hi, Lilli."

"What're you looking at?" She leaned over his shoulder and stared at the screen. "Oh."

"You should make this your profile picture. It's pretty."

She smiled a little. "Yeah, but I wanted one of me and Peter."

Vash visibly stiffened. "I thought you were hanging out with him tonight? Why are you here?"

"Oh, I needed your help with some math homework."

He stifled his sigh and proceeded to show her how to work several problems. If only it were that easy to figure out his own problems.

She seemed happy when she left. Vash tried to convince himself that it was because of his help and not because of Peter.

He got back on Facebook and started to type in the nearest possible place: I love you, Lilli. I love you, I always have, I always will. Realizing that this was idiotic, he deleted it, only to type and delete again.

Finally, he logged off and went to immerse himself in Call of Duty. After pwning some n00bz until about 5 A.M., Vash finally decided to go to sleep. Thank God he was too exhausted to move, much less think.

Still, that didn't stop him from thinking of her.

After about two weeks of barely talking to Lilli, her mother finally let him in after their daily round of "Is Lilli here?" and "No, sorry Vash."

"Where is she?" Vash asked sullenly as he followed her into the apartment's tiny kitchen. He knew this place better than his own home, and frankly, it felt more like home as well.

"I'm not really sure," she said, taking a cup from one of the lopsided cabinets and filling it with lemonade. "She said she was hanging out with Peter after school. He's bringing her home at eight tonight." She handed the cup to Vash before getting one for herself.

"Oh." Vash stared into his cup listlessly. "I guess I should go home, then. No use waiting around for her."

"Vash, what's wrong? Surely you expected that Lilli would have a boyfriend eventually."

He was still having a staring contest with his beverage. "Yeah… I guess I just thought… it would be someone else."

"Seems like that's what Lizzy thinks too." She smiled at the confused face Vash was making at the lemonade cup. "She called me asked if Lilli was pulling a prank because it was 'honestly not funny'."

Still, Vash didn't look up.

"Who did you expect? I can't say I saw this coming, either," she persisted.

"Mrs. Albrecht, please. I have to go." Vash pushed his chair back and started to leave when a gentle-yet-firm hand on his arm stopped him.

"Vash Zwingli, you need to pull yourself together! Stop running away, because that never takes you anywhere but the wrong direction." Her expression softened as his dulled eyes met her impassioned ones. "I think pretty much everyone knows that you are madly in love with my daughter."

"Then why doesn't she?"

"You're her honorary brother, remember? She interprets your actions as brotherly." Vash visibly deflated at these words. "You're all she talks about."

"Not anymore."

Mrs. Albrecht sighed, and Vash knew that meant he was right.

He was silent for a few minutes, walking back to the counter and picking up his cup, examining the fading graphics (probably from a fast food restaurant) before taking slow, experimental sips.

"I'm not gonna bother anymore," he said finally.

"Vash, what do you mean?" She approached him in concern, but he was staring downward again.

He took a deep breath before explaining. "I'm not gonna bother talking to her. She doesn't want to see me. And if she's happy with Peter, who am I to interrupt that? Since I can't be her boyfriend, guess I'm just her brother. And as her brother, I just want what's best for her."

Even it means sacrificing myself. He'd done it once; he'd do it a million more times, if it were for Lilli.

"What if you're what's best for her?" The woman's tone was pleading, but Vash didn't seem to pay heed to that.

"Then that's just too bad." He set his cup down and started to leave again.

"Why are you giving up, Vash? This isn't like you!"

And then she saw the pain beneath the dull green eyes and forced smile. "I'm sorry. I really am. I just can't."

"Do it for Lilli, then!"

"Do what, Mrs. A? Do what?"

She didn't answer.

"So, um, I guess I won't be annoying you every afternoon. If Lilli asks, tell her whatever you want. I don't care anymore."

This time, no one tried to stop him from leaving.

When he got home, Vash called Gilbert, no matter how much he hated the guy. They went to the local bar, and Vash came home completely drunk. Even that didn't stop him from thinking of her.

The next time he talked to her was two days later. His pounding hangover was gone. He tried not to feel so utterly depressed and angsty and tried to actually hang out with people, namely Lizzy, Roderich, and Gilbert. Natalia and Ivan also came as part of the "Buy-Three-Get-Two-Free" deal, even though he didn't particularly like either of them.

He noticed that Lilli was never with them, and that Lizzy got extremely pissed off whenever the younger girl was mentioned.

One time, they actually ran into her and Peter. Lilli had been more than excited to see her friends, and Lizzy had hugged her with just as much enthusiasm as normal.

It took Lilli a few minutes to notice Vash, a fact that made his mood plummet. He'd been having a good day with the gang, and now he had to look at that stupid eyebrow kid and deal with Lilli ignoring him.

"Oh, Vash!" Lilli said finally. "Sorry, I didn't see you!"

"H-hello, Lilli," he said, not really looking straight at her.

Lizzy shot him a worried glance. "Um, Lilli, why don't we get some ice cream? Peter can come too of course." She put an arm around the confused blonde's shoulder, leading her away gently.

Vash was forever grateful as he got into the Hummer and drove home. His mom yelled at him about being a lazy bum and dropping out of high school and expecting his parents to provide for his every need while they could barely feed themselves and still pay rent. When she started to rant about his moping, he just turned around and got back into his car and drove away.

Everyone would be at the lake by now. It was late May, and Saturday afternoon, so the high school and college students would all be hanging out and swimming, something that Vash hadn't done since junior year, right before Lilli got sick and he dropped out.

Now that he thought about it, he'd given up most of his life for that girl. When her brother, Vash's best friend, had died when they were both young, Vash had promised a sobbing Lilli that he would be her brother from then on. He had always spent time with her instead of his friends if she was lonely. And then, when she became deathly ill and some thought she was going to die, he put aside his education and his future just to make sure that that's what she received.

And still, she couldn't see what was right in front of her eyes.

He pulled into the school parking lot and grabbed a greasy napkin, the only paper he could find, and a pen and started to write.

Lilli, I just want to tell you one thing: I love you. But not like a brother. I love you like Lizzy and Roderich and Natalia and Ivan and Allie and Arthur and all those other couples from school. So yeah, I guess this means I'm in love with you. I guess I've always known, but I've been waiting until you got better so that you didn't have to worry about a relationship and all your treatments. I guess I'm sorry for that. I was going to ask you out right after prom, but Peter beat me to it. If you really love him, I guess I can't do anything to stop you. But I'll still love you more than anything in the whole damn world. – Love, Vash

He read over it again. It was stupid and barely fit on the napkin, which was gross anyway. He ripped it into pieces and tossed them out the window, where a breeze caught some and blew them all across the parking lot.

Without any reason to stay, Vash pulled out of the parking lot and drove aimlessly around town, with hardly any thought to the gas (and, therefore, money) he was wasting. He turned the radio up, and even though he didn't really hear the words, the sheer noise felt good. Everything was so quiet with Lilli gone. Nothing was right with the world without that one "little sister" by his side.

The scary thing was, it seemed that Lilli really was the only thing he had ever lived for. The very notion that he depended on someone in that way frightened him greatly. But it was true. It always had been.

And it seemed that it always would be.

Thursday, May 20, 11:59 PM

Lilli Albrecht wrote on your Wall.

Click.

"hey vash i havent talked 2 u in a while ): whats up? R u ok?"

Reply.

"I didn't want to talk to you, since it hurts so fucking much to see you with that bastard Peter all the time. I LOVE YOU, LILLI! WHEN WILL YOU REALIZE IT?"

Delete.

"Sorry, I've been busy."

Lie.

"Vash, get your lazy ass outta that room and do something for once!"

He tuned out his mother's voice and turned up his iPod. Granted, it was Allie's old one, and pink as well, but she'd given it to him for free so he wasn't complaining.

Finally, just as he had immersed himself in yet another heavy metal song in which the lyrics were indistinguishable due to the lead singer's screaming, his mother made her appearance, storming over to Vash and yanking his earphones out.

"If you're gonna stay here, get some work done! It's your fault you dropped outta school for a girl who don't love you! So stop moping and do something to actually help out around here!"

Vash got up passively and walked out the door, ignoring his mother's continuing tirade as he walked down the hall and out the door, finally leaving her at the doorstep. He then took exactly five steps across the hall and knocked on Lilli's door. After about a minute, Mrs. Albrecht answered.

"Hi, Vash. What brings you here?"

"I need a job. Can I cook you guys something?"

Back when Lilli was sick, he had made dinner for the family in between visits, and Mrs. Albrecht had paid him for a while when they had money to spare. Eventually, Vash stopped accepting money for the meals, and no one ever spoke of the deed when the ordeal was over.

Suffice to say, Mrs. Albrecht now looked surprised. "Certainly, Vash. If you really want to."

She let him in, and the first thing he heard was laughter.

Namely, Lilli's laughter.

He braced himself as the hallway opened up into the living room and kitchen area. Just as he had expected, Lilli was sitting on the couch, leaning against Peter and laughing. The TV was on, but it didn't look like either of them were watching it.

Peter looked painfully out-of-place in the Albrechts' house. Although it was clean and tastefully decorated, there were still parts in need of repair, especially in the kitchen. Also, none of the furniture or electronics were quite up-to-date. And Peter was in the midst of this, in his purple Hollister polo and khaki shorts, flung out across the ratty floral-print couch. Vash, on the other hand, was much more at home here, in an old army T-shirt, holey cargo shorts, and bare feet (since he hadn't bothered to put shoes on before he left).

For one instant, he froze, not really knowing whether to stay or run. Then Peter looked up and their eyes met. Vash gave the boy a death glare, which only earned him a smirk as the boy's grip tightened around Lilli.

That was it. He couldn't let Peter see him slaving away just for some money. So he turned right around and walked right back to the door, ignoring Lilli's, "Hey, Vash! Where're you goin'?"

He didn't come home that night. He parked the Hummer in the school parking lot and rolled the windows down, listening to the annoying buzz of crickets (or were they cicadas? He could never tell). Leaving the windows cracked, he slept fitfully in the back, waking every hour or so at even the slightest noise.

Lilli texted him at about 1:15 AM, asking why he'd run off, but he didn't bother to reply.

The next morning was Saturday, so he locked the Hummer and left it in the parking lot and walked around instead. He managed to make $20 by filling in at the local café for some kid who was running late, but of course the child was Peter, who sauntered in about two hours into Vash's promising workday, forcing him to leave with only that measly sum to appease his parents.

If only he didn't have to protect Lilli, he would've been out of that small town as soon as he graduated.

He made twenty more dollars by winning a bet against Gilbert on who could shoot a tree 100 feet away while drunk. Lizzy laughed at Gilbert's stupidity, thinking that he could actually beat Vash in a shooting contest.

The rest of the day was spent by the lake with Lizzy, Roderich, and Gilbert, all the while nursing a hangover. Lizzy gave him a whole sub sandwich for dinner, claiming that she was getting something to eat with Roderich later. Gilbert drove him back to the school, reminding him that if he needed a place to crash, he could always come to his place in the city. Vash nodded absentmindedly, knowing that he just couldn't abandon Lilli. However, the offer still seemed pretty tempting…

"Think about it," Gilbert said before driving off. "I'll call you when I get home. Keep your phone on."

Vash nodded and sat back in the driver's seat, windows rolled down again. He turned on the phone and set it on the dashboard before unwrapping the sub and starting to eat it. Once he finished, he took out his wallet and counted his money slowly. There was the $40 he'd just made, as well as $5 he'd already had and some loose change - 14 cents, to be precise.

At 10:03, his phone rang. He grabbed the phone, thinking it was Gilbert, but the screen read Lilli. He sighed and set it down. He'd stopped answering her calls weeks ago.

She apparently left a voicemail, which caused his phone to make an annoying noise every five minutes. Gilbert still hadn't called, so he had to leave his phone on. Finally, he checked the voicemail, since he wouldn't get relief any other way, it seemed.

Something seemed wrong from the start. First of all, the, "Vash, it's Lilli," was hushed, almost frightened. "Vash, I need your help."

That caught him.

"I need you to pick me up. I'm in front of the McDonald's. Please, Vash, you've gotta help me. Our phone service got disconnected last week, and you're the only one I can call…"

Her voice descended into sobs, and that was all Vash needed to hear. He slammed the phone shut, jerked himself into position, and sped out of the parking lot. The Hummer was definitely going over the speed limit, but all Vash could think of was getting to Lilli.

He found her right where she said she would be. She was sitting on the curb, arms crossed. Her face seemed to brighten as Vash pulled up. She hopped up and ran over to the car, climbing into the passenger seat.

They had pulled out of the parking lot before Vash asked what had happened.

"Well," Lilli sighed, "I was hanging out at Peter's. Arthur was on a date with Allie, I think, and his dad was still at work, and his mom was in the basement doing laundry or something. Me and Peter were in his room. And we were talking, and then he kissed me…"

Vash visibly cringed at this, and Lilli looked a bit sheepish. "Go on," he said.

"Yeah. So he… kissed me… and he was getting really into it. And then… um… well, he pretty much told me he wanted to have…" Her voice dropped to whisper as she said the last word, "…sex."

Suddenly she perked up and looked at him with her Serious face. "So I punched him!"

Vash couldn't help grinning. "And what did he do?"

"Oh, well he got all pissed off at me and screamed a lot and finally slapped me. So I slapped him back, and then it would've become a wrestling match or something, but Peter went screaming for his mom, which really freaked me out 'cause she's scary and she would've done something evil to me for punching Peter."

She paused for a moment, staring out the window in what Vash believed was an attempt to get her thoughts straight. "And…" Vash said anyway, just in case she'd gotten lost in thought.

"Right. So Peter was gonna tell on me, but I ran up behind him and grabbed him, which made him even madder. Then he turned around and grabbed me and pinned me to the wall and, um, well…"

"Did he do anything?" Vash tried to keep the raw anger and kill rage out of his voice, but anger management wasn't really one of his strong points.

"Oh, no. I had just kicked him in… that special place, when Arthur and Allie came upstairs and Arthur basically cussed Peter out and told me to get out of there. So I ran to the McDonald's and I was really, really freaked because if Arthur hadn't come in when he did…"

Vash wanted nothing more than to pull over then and there and hold that perfect girl until she was alright again.

He took a deep breath and stared straight ahead at the dark road, now slightly wet from rain. "Why did you go out with that bastard anyway?"
Lilli cringed at the cuss word, he could tell, but she still cleared her throat and spoke. "I didn't know, I guess. I mean, no one's ever wanted to go out with me or anything, and Peter really seemed to love me…"

Lilli, he never loved you. You would've known, if you'd been able to see the love that was always right in front of you.

That's what he wanted to say.

"You deserve better than that."

At least he wasn't lying this time.

"I know," she said softly.

He parked the Hummer in front of the apartment complex and helped Lilli out. "What are you going to tell your parents?" he asked as they walked inside.

"The truth." She said it as if it were the only option.

Mrs. Albrecht looked surprised to see them at her door, but still flashed Vash a thankful look over Lilli's shoulder as she hugged her daughter.

Vash walked home and unlocked the door with his key. His mother merely looked at him in annoyance. "What're you doing here? Come to get your stuff?"
For the first time since Lilli's call, he thought about Gilbert's offer. He was about to reply that yes, he was here only for his things, but something nagged at him. He'd originally put off saying yes because of his desire to protect Lilli. And, by the look of things, it seemed that Lilli needed more protecting than ever.

"No," he said, slowly taking off his combat boots.

"Then pay up." His mother extended a hand, curling and uncurling her fingers.

Without a second thought, he pulled out his wallet and handed over the forty dollars. He reasoned that it was for Lilli.

But, honestly, what in Vash's life wasn't?

Monday, June 7, 2:33 AM.

Lilli Albrecht is single.

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Elizaveta Hédeváry – you go girl! ;)

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Comment.

Good for you, Lilli.

That was the best summer of Vash's life to date.

Most of his time was spent with Lilli and the gang at the lake. So many random people asked him if he was dating her, and he still had to say no. However, it made him happy that people thought they were. That must've meant that she was showing some kind of affection.

Lizzy, Roderich, and Natalia had just graduated, and the main focus of conversation seemed to be on their future plans - that or "living it up" before heading off to college (in Nat's case). Lizzy and Roderich had finally gotten engaged, after "dating" since second grade, and were heading off to Austria for a year with his mom before they got married.

As for Gilbert, he was on a cross-country road trip with his idiot friends, Francis and Antonio. Vash had decided not to take him up on the offer of a place to stay, and had instead decided to suck it up and live with his parents. However, he had gotten a job, so they stopped bugging him about money. Still, that didn't mean he was particularly happy.

But it was a sunny July day with his not-quite-girlfriend by his side, so he cracked open another soda can and decided to relish the moment.

Because, really, what else could you do when you were pretty much where you wanted to be?

"Vash, please don't be so nervous. It's just Lilli," Mattie said, giving him a sympathetic glance. "Her and Allie will be in here in a minute."

The two were standing in the living room of Lilli's house. Vash had forced himself into a tux, something foreign and uncomfortable and too small for him (it was force-borrowed from Arthur, who was finally confirmed as Allie's boyfriend).

Of course, all this was only for Lilli.

Back in November, Lilli had brought up the fact that she didn't have a date to the winter dance, and she was not going without one because of the prom fiasco. Plus, Vash had noticed a slightly hopeful look in her eyes as she'd told him. So, he had promptly offered to be her date.

Lilli, overly excited, had enlisted the help of Allie Jones and Mattie Williams, stepsisters who had graduated with Lizzy and the others, to help her with her dress and such, since Lizzy was in Austria.

And now, here they were on Saturday, December 18, the night of the dance. Vash was a nervous wreck and Mattie was doing her best to comfort him.

Finally, Allie stuck her head out of Lilli's room, taking in the sight of a terrified Vash Zwingli with enthusiasm. Cackling happily, she turned her head back toward Lilli's room. "Yo, Cinderella! Hurry up!" she called. "Your prince is waiting!"

There was a sudden burst of noise and movement from Lilli's room. Allie stepped into the living room and crossed her arms, satisfied and smug. Slowly, the beat-up wooden door to Lilli's room opened, revealing his beautiful date (date… she was his date!). She was wearing and old dress of Allie's, but it had been altered to fit perfectly. Perfect… just like Lilli.

"Vash, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to keep you waiting! How long have you been waiting?" she cried, running up to him.

She was obviously distressed (and his date!), so he took her into his arms, even though it meant tearing his eyes away from her beautiful face, now slightly accentuated with makeup.

He felt her relax into the touch and thread her arms around his waist. It made his heart rate speed up significantly. Unsure of what to do, he moved a hand in gentle circles on her back. Her grip tightened for a moment at this, as if to thank him.

And she was his date and she was so utterly beautiful, so he broke the hug. Lilli looked at him in mild surprise, a look that was much too adorable for him not to go through with his plan. So he cupped her chin in one hand and leaned forward.

Then he kissed her.

When at first she didn't react, Vash was a bit disheartened. But, just as he was about to pull away, Lilli's tongue brushed against his lips. At the very least, he was stunned. Too stunned, really, to do anything but open his mouth and let her in. Of course, it didn't take long before she was allowing him the same privilege.

Suddenly aware of what he was doing, Vash pulled back, albeit slowly. From just staring at Lilli's face, he could see her excitement, her eagerness. Maybe even her love.

"To tell you the truth, Lilli," he said, trying his best to look her in the eye, "I've been waiting for you all my life."

Sunday, December 19, 12:48 PM.

Vash Zwingli is in a relationship with Lilli Albrecht.

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Victory.