"W-which question?" she breathed, her heart pounding in her chest.
"That day in the courtyard," he began, voice low like thunder rolling under still water, "when all those girls were screaming to be chosen… and you stood at the edge, half-hidden in shadow, looking like you wanted to vanish…"
He paused, his thumb brushing her knuckles.
"When Seraphina asked me to pick one of you… I didn't pick any of them because I was scared… scared of choosing wrong, scared of faking it. But now I know… you were the only one who wasn't pretending. I looked at you and panicked, and all I could think of was my waifu."
Elise's breath caught.
His gaze held hers—steady, burning with quiet fire.
"The question was: who do I really want?"
A beat passed. The stairwell fell silent. Even the dripping pipe above seemed to pause.
"You," he said simply. "I want you, Elise. Not my waifu… I want you."
Her heart pounded so hard she thought it might crack her ribs open.
Then she whispered—soft as ash falling: "...What if I'm too much? I've done… some dark, bad things."
Chad's thumb stilled on her hand, his eyes softening with that same fire. "I don't care about your online trolling… or griefing in online games… or downvoting cat videos 'cause they don't have enough edge… or editing Wikipedia just to add 'vampires are hot' to the folklore page. We've all made mistakes."
Elise's sob caught, a surprised snort bubbling up, her fangs glinting as her lips twitched. The shadows at her feet flickered, almost amused, like they were in on the joke. "You... you think that's my 'dark side'? The wiki edits? God, Chad... if only." He squeezed her hand, gentle but sure, his laugh low and warm against the gloom. "Whatever it is, I don't care… I want you…"
Her breath hitched, heart aching as emotions tangled like barbed wire inside her. "You don't understand… the things I've done," she whispered, the words strangled, her eyes stinging with tears.
His grip didn't loosen.
"I cyber-bullied someone into quitting art class," she said, quieter now, eyes searching his. "I hacked a server just to replace every file with a screamer video..."
She leaned in slightly—the shadows around her feet twitching and curling close, as if the darkness itself were leaning toward him.
Chad let her hand slip from his, staring at her like she'd said something he didn't quite understand. His lips parted, then pressed shut again.
And then, in a stiff, almost guilty motion, his hands drifted to his belt. "Uh… this is… right?" he mumbled, half to himself, colour creeping up his neck.
Shock slammed into her like a tidal wave, jaw dropping, fangs glinting. "W-what… What are you doing?? You're not mad at me, are you… wait… Y-you're… stripping?!"
He froze, panic written in every motion of his fingers. "I've… I've never asked a girl out before," he confessed. "Isn't… isn't this how you do it?! That's what the girls in the courtyard were going to do…"
Elise stared at him—wide-eyed, stunned for a heartbeat—then burst into laughter.
Not polite. Not quiet.
Real laughter. Sharp and sudden, echoing off the stairwell walls like shattered glass dancing in moonlight. Her fangs flashed, tears pricking the corners of her eyes—not from sadness this time, but from sheer disbelief.
"You think…" she gasped between laughs. "Taking ALL your clothes off is how you ask someone out?!"
Chad's face burnt crimson. He fumbled at his belt buckle like it had betrayed him, fingers trembling.
"I-I don't know!" he stammered. "Girls scream! They throw their clothes at me when they ask me out, so I thought… I thought this was supposed to be what you did!"
A small, teasing smile curved her lips, making his chest tighten. "Of course," she said softly, voice gentle but amused. "You've never once asked a girl out. It's always been you being asked out, so you've never needed to do anything."
She wiped a tear from her eye, still trembling with laughter—and something softer now. Slowly, she stepped forward again, letting her presence fill the space between them, and gently pushed his hands down by his sides.
"Chad," she whispered, voice low and warm, like smoke curling around flame, "if you wanted me… all you had to do was stay." Her shadow stretched at her feet, curling like a satisfied cat. "...and keep holding my hand."
Her heart was a wreck, pulse hammering through every vein, palms slick, mouth dry. Emotions weren't meant to surface, weren't supposed to feel like this—but with him, everything shifted. He drew closer, arm looping gently around her shoulders, pulling her in. Her head nestled against his chest, heartbeat matching his chaotic thrum. Fingers clenched in his shirt, shadows curling around their feet, brushing and settling as if learning to trust.
A teasing flush coloured his neck, fingers twitching near his belt. She whispered, voice soft, warm, and amused, "You don't have to strip to ask someone out… you know that, right?"
The silence that followed weighed heavy. "I… I don't plan on ever asking another girl out…" Dark tendrils of shadow surged, coiling tightly as if the gloom itself were trying to hold her back.
W-what… what do you mean?" she whispered, her voice a fragile thread, her grey eyes wide with the storm of it all—disbelief crashing against a spark she couldn't name.
Oh… the realisation bloomed slowly, then suddenly—a quiet crack in the dark, light seeping through like dawn after an endless night. Her shadows stilled, trembling, then began to unravel—wisps dissolving into mist, evaporating like fog under the sun. The weight in her chest lifted, breath by breath, until the gloom felt thin, weightless, gone.
For the first time, the syndrome's cage didn't bite; it faded, leaving only her—raw, real, enough.
Tears welled, but not from pain—from something vast and electric, cracking open her chest to let joy rush in. Without thinking, she lunged forward, arms wrapping tightly around his waist, burying her face in his shirt where she could feel the steady thrum of his heart against her cheek.
Chad's arms folded around her, gentle and sure, one hand cradling her head as she clung. The hug was fierce and shaking, their breaths syncing in the hush.
The stairwell held them close, shadows no longer a cage but a veil lifted, the world narrowing to this—her, him, forever chosen.
Chad's fingers laced tighter with hers, his palm warm and steady against her cool skin. He stood, pulling her up—gentle, unhurried, the stairwell's gloom parting like mist. Elise rose on shaky legs, clutching his shirt for balance, shadows trailing at their heels like reluctant ghosts.
He led her into the corridor, hands entwined as if they'd always belonged together. The academy's hum—voices, footsteps, the faint splash of floodwater—felt distant, a world being remade between their palms.
"You are no longer invisible," he murmured, lips brushing her temple, sending a shiver down her spine. "The whole academy… the whole world… will see us. See you… with me."
She felt dizzy, delirious, and utterly, hopelessly happy. Chad was smiling, a soft, reverent smile that made her want to melt. She wanted to say something witty or cool, composed. Instead, she blurted out, "Is this real?"
He stopped mid-step, still holding her hand, his thumb tracing slow circles against her skin as if stalling for courage. His gaze flicked away, then back, the corners of his mouth twitching in nervous half-smiles that never quite formed.
"But… I have one question," he said finally, voice low and uncertain. "It's been bugging me for a while now, and I… uh… I kinda need to ask it. I just… feel really embarrassed to ask, but…"