Who: RD and Fluttershy What: The date that isn't a date but it might be. Also, enough awkwardness to kill an elephant. Where: Smoothie place. :D When: Recently! Rating: PG for AWKWARD. Status: Complete.
Strawberry Smoothies were the order of the day, and Fluttershy was still trying to figure out if this was a date or not when she got to the smoothie place in question. What if it was a date and she didn’t know it was, and did something you aren’t supposed to do on dates? Worse, what if she thought it was a date and then did something and RD was taken by surprise, because she didn’t think it was a date?
She wondered if this was a problem for everyone in the world or just women who dated women as she looked around for RD’s familiar rainbow hair. Her own was still slowly getting more pink, a fact she’d just decided to live with when the blonde hair dye hadn’t stuck. It actually went extremely well with the outfit she was wearing - an outfit made for her by Rarity, in fact, in delicate yellows, pinks, and white.
She couldn’t see RD anywhere yet, but that was alright - she was nearly 15 minutes early, herself. Nervously tucking some hair behind her ear, Fluttershy took a seat at one of the outdoor tables, and got ready to wait.
There honestly weren’t words for how much RD had flailed over that very concept. Was it a date, or was it a friend thing, or oh god, what if she did something completely wrong or tried to kiss her or something else like that? It could be a disaster! A veritable worst thing ever!
Apparently, thinking on the bright side just wasn’t part of her skillset.
Normally, she would’ve taken her time getting there, but this was Fluttershy, dammit. She had to make some amount of effort! So, probably less than five minutes after she’d got there, RD turned up... and, admittedly, her being there surprised her a little. “Uh. Guess you couldn’t wait either, huh?”
God, that was terrible.
It probably didn't help the awkward at all that Fluttershy flashed RD the hugest smile in the world when the rainbow haired woman came into view. And then blushed a bit and ducked her head bashfully, while tucking hair behind her ear.
In fact, Fluttershy was stuck for a moment in the very shy mode of 'cannot seem to speak so much as squeak a little', and squeaking is what she did. She looked at RD, and squeaked.
When she realised that that was really not the best way to greet someone who was taking you out for smoothies, she took a few deep breaths and opened her mouth again, "Oh I... my bus was early, but I... I am looking forward to this, though. I just love strawberries and of... of course your company is nice, too."
How was it that the squeaking was actually kind of adorable? Sure, didn’t help the awkward much, but damn. Not that RD would complain about it or anything, though! It just made it a little harder to resist that urge at the back of her mind.
“Nothing better than strawberry things and pretty awesome company, huh?” She flashed a grin, taking a seat across from her. “Definitely something I think everyone can agree on...”
“Well... unless they don’t like strawberries, I guess.” Fluttershy blushed a bit more, but flashed RD a grin in return, “But that would be horrible! Who doesn’t like strawberries? They’re the best fruit for everything. Yogurt, ice cream, smoothies, milkshakes...”
She tilted her head to the side a bit, and giggled, “Maybe I should have changed my cutie mark to strawberries instead of butterflies. But then I suppose I would have ended up growing them instead of taking care of animals, and I don’t think that would have worked out so well...”
Why did seeing her blush just make RD determined to make it happen again? And as many times as possible? She pushed that thought aside, unable to help a short laugh at the cutie mark comment.
“I think the butterflies suit you best. They’re kinda cute.”
“Mr... Uhm … Jim, that is, thinks I should show them to you. But I’m … uhm... not really sure that that’s something you do over smoothies.” If RD was determined to see Fluttershy blush, it wasn’t really going to be that hard. The woman was making herself blush enough, as it was.
“Speaking of... of smoothies, we should probably get some of those...” Shy mumbled, as she realised they were both kind of just awkwardly sitting there.
She really needed to have a reason to shut her mouth. Smoothies were perfect for that.
Okay, the more RD heard about that guy, the more she kind of liked him. Not that she was going to admit that or anything, because that’d just be... weird. On several levels.
Admittedly, she’d actually almost forgotten that part of things. And she was entirely blaming Fluttershy for being too adorable. “Uh, yeah. Probably.”
The smoothie place in question was buzzing with activity, and Fluttershy looked around it nervously.
“We’ll lose our table, but that’s... that’s alright. I think, we could drink our smoothies and maybe... go for a walk, somewhere. Quieter, if that’s okay?” She was still trying to figure out if this was a date, or just some casual friends meeting for smoothies, but surely walking somewhere quieter would be a good idea no matter what.
She just really hated so many eyes on her, and she was bound to get more and more shy and introverted if they stayed in such a busy place.
No matter what it was, going somewhere quieter was probably a good idea. That way, they could at least talk about pony-things without people giving them incredibly weird looks - it wasn’t like it was the weirdest thing going around, but still.
“Whatever’s most comfortable for you, Fluttershy.” On the off-chance this was a date-type-thing, it’d make that easier too. It was one of those win-win situations that RD was pretty damn fond of. “Where’s the fun in just sitting around here, anyway?”
“Oh, well... I think there really wouldn’t be much fun in just sitting here, no, not when it’s so … so loud here. It’s so pretty out, we could go to a park or something, maybe, if you want to.” Fluttershy slid out of her seat, and smoothed her sweater a bit.
She argued with herself about taking RD’s hand to lead her into the smoothie place or not. If it was a date, then that was appropriate, wasn’t it? And friends sometimes held hands, didn’t they?
She swallowed back a nervous squeak and tried to find that brave part of her that got tattoos and yelled at dragons, then held out her hand, “I’ll show you where the counter is...”
Okay. Wow. Fluttershy taking the first step on something? RD was half-tempted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t imagining the entire thing. Did this make it a date? Or was it still on the innocent side?
Either way, she took her hand, unable to resist lightly squeezing. “Alright. You lead, I’ll follow.”
"Oh..." Fluttershy blushed a bit and squeezed RD's hand in return, a bit, then lowered her voice so far that it was barely heard above the bustle going on inside, "Alright... I'll... I'll lead..."
And she did so. Carefully, cautiously, making her way through the crowd like a scared rabbit. She was grateful that she'd left Angel at home for this outing, randomly. If she was having this hard a time, her pet would have been trampled!
They arrived at the counter after a few minutes of waiting in line - Fluttershy was too nice to yell at the people who cut in front of them - and she stammered a bit as the woman asked her what she wanted.
"Uhm... that is ... well... two uhm, strawberry smoothies, please..." She glanced at RD and then back at the woman and added, "Whichever size she says she wants."
She'd forgotten if RD was buying or not, but had her purse ready just in case.
RD had been the one to ask her out, right? It only made sense for her to be the one who paid. Wouldn’t be fair otherwise. “Probably best to go with whatever counts as a medium here. And I’ll cover the price.”
God, that probably made it even more date-like. Oh well.
Fluttershy was certainly beginning to think that it might be a date, but she was absolutely unclear as to how one even brought that up. She ducked her head a bit, though, and murmured, "Oh okay then... uhm... medium strawberry smoothies, and ... she'll pay, I guess..."
The lady behind the counter either thought they were crazy or adorable. It was hard to gauge her reaction as she quoted a price and took RD's payment. Fluttershy mostly avoided the woman's eyes, and kept hold of RD's hand as they waited for the smoothies to be delivered.
A few minutes later, they were safely walking down the sidewalk, smoothies in hand. Fluttershy still hadn't let go of her.
"I uhm... that was really nice of you, to do that. You didn't have to." She stammered, in between sips. She favored Dash with a bright - though somewhat nervous - smile, "I ... I uhm ... I don't know how to do this. With girls. Not really. I'm still learning. And I don't know if we're ... uhm .. friendsornot."
Shy looked away as she quickly blurted out that last part, blushing a deep pink that nearly matched the smoothie in her hand.
Thankfully, RD’s dreams had started to give her a much needed skill: the ability to decipher almost anything that Fluttershy blurted out in her more embarrassed moments. For a moment, though, she was pretty damn sure she was hearing things.
“I think we’re kinda obviously friends, y’know.” She had to choose her words a little more carefully than usual, just in case. She was blushing herself, trying (and failing) to hide it. Damn her and her adorableness and her... Fluttershyness. “Maybe it’s a little more, I don’t know...”
"Well you were... so nice and helpful during the earthquakes when my shop was a mess, and you're so brave and..." Fluttershy squeezed RD's hand a bit, but her voice trailed off into a low-pitched squeak.
She'd sounded like she was gushing a bit, and wondered if that was okay. Was it okay to gush? Was this RD as much like her dream counterpart as she was like hers? She'd liked her quite a bit in Ponyville, too...
They'd never said anything to each other about it, though, and she wondered why. It was probably because she was too shy. Maybe she shouldn't BE so shy. But she couldn't help it, and she remembered what a monster she'd become when she'd taken that aggression training, "...But we're definitely friends, of course, no, I just... I really..."
She ducked her head and whispered, "I really like you, you know."
The gushing and the rambling was totally okay, at least in RD’s opinion. It made her more... well, more Fluttershy, in all her flaily, rambly, adorable glory. Maybe she’d actually admit that before the day was out, if everything went well.
“Kinda had to come by and help, y’know. I can never leave a damsel in distress.” Oh, God, that was cheesy and terrible, but probably not as bad as half the things they said as ponies. “I... was kinda aiming to impress you a little, maybe?”
The blushing was definitely getting worse. What was it about Fluttershy that made her fall over her words so easily?
"Oh, but... I didn't mean to be a damsel in distress, really, I..." Fluttershy blinked over at RD, who was, indeed, blushing quite a bit, and a smile slowly formed that was as warm as it was shy, "Unless ... well... unless you like that kind of thing. Then maybe I wouldn't have minded being one."
That was horrible, really. She ducked her head a bit, and turned her attention back to her smoothie. Dash had always come to her defense, even when she was annoyed with her. The loyalty was unwavering, except for ... well, that one time with the chaos thing, but that didn't count.
She felt like maybe RD was some kind of knight in shining armor, only with wings and less armor. That was a good thing, right? And maybe then being a damsel in distress really wasn't so bad. Knights needed people to save!
“Call me your knight in incredibly gay armour or something.” Well, she was a bit of a walking pride parade at the best of times. It only figured that it’d carry on if she was a knight - probably via the medium of the least useful armour ever. “I mean. If that’s okay! Don’t want to assume anything!”
Wow. That seemed a little backwards.
"I'm not sure how armour would be gay... I mean, it's a thing, right? It can't really love other armor the way gay people love other... gay people..." Fluttershy trailed off, and tucked some hair behind her ears, "It's okay, though, I mean... I am, I think. I'm pretty sure. I mean... how did you know?"
She glanced over at RD, "That you were gay, I mean."
That shouldn’t have been so amusing. To RD’s credit, though, she managed to keep herself from outright laughing, just a little amused quirk of her lips. “I... guess I’ve known for a pretty long time. All the other girls wanted to talk about guys or girly stuff, and I was more interested in... uh, well, them. I guess.”
That could’ve probably come out a little better. “Guys just never interested me in the whole relationship sense. One kissed me once and I ended up punching him - just... didn’t feel right, y’know?”
"I... I guess." Fluttershy still recalled the first and second times she'd kissed Kirk clearly. Even the second time, which hadn't been as much of a shock, had just not given her buzzies like kissing Carmen or even Raven had been.
"The first time, well... I heard my pony-self in my head, doing the low-pitched scream she likes to do... and then I asked him to kiss me again later. But it just didn't... he's a nice guy, but he doesn't give me buzzies. It just took me forever to notice, I think, since... well, in school, I was too busy just trying not to get picked on. I didn't notice much of anyone, really, not even the girls."
Buzzies? Huh, that was a new term. Probably just something Fluttershy-specific. “I’m gonna guess the buzzies are a good thing, right?” RD was just going to have to risk this next question - it probably wasn’t going to end in her getting slapped, with any luck. “...Is there anyone who actually does give you them?”
"Oh, the buzzies are very good..." Fluttershy blushed even more pink, and grinned bashfully. She was avoiding RD's eyes completely at this point, and nearly ran into someone, too withdrawn into herself and the buzzies she was feeling right that very moment, in fact.
She apologized profusely to the person in question, of course, before returning back to the subject at hand, "I ... yes, there is. Uhm... well ... it's... right now, I have them, and ..."
Fluttershy found she couldn't continue at that point. Butterflies had risen up in her stomach, and the only thing she could get out was a tiny, low-pitched squeak. She focused her attention, again, on the last of her smoothie. At least it gave her a reason not to be speaking.
The whole avoidance thing was making it more than a little obvious, and the whole ‘right now’ part of that last thing she’d said just made it kind of inescapable. RD rubbed at the back of her neck, trying to find a way of phrasing this that didn’t sound ridiculous.
And likely failing, with her track record. “So, uh. If you have them now, and you’re kinda avoiding looking at me... is it me, or am I reading the signals totally wrong? ‘Cause that happens sometimes.”
The answer that RD got in reply was a deeper blush on Fluttershy's part. She wanted to hide behind something or under something or fly away, but she'd started this, and it didn't seem right to leave Dash hanging, either.
So after a few gurgling noises that signified the end of her smoothie, she tucked some more hair behind her ear, and nodded her head, "You aren't... no, oh please don't think that, you aren't ... reading things wrong, no..."
Man, that’d been awkward even by usual Fluttershy standards. “You know, it’s not like I mind... I mean, I...” Oh, this was just making it worse. Good job, RD. “I like you in that kinda way, I guess? Just really bad at saying it.”
At least it’d explain why she’d felt so jealous of some of the other girls she’d seen her with, and part of why she’d wanted to punch that Kirk guy. Was it wrong to be possessive of someone who wasn’t actually in a relationship with you?
At that admission, Fluttershy nearly stopped dead in her tracks. Nearly, because some part of her was still walking forward, and the result was that she stumbled over her own feet and almost hit the pavement.
Instead, out of sheer survival mechanisms, she'd clung onto RD's arm and flailed the one that still contained her smoothie in the air a bit, while trying to regain her balance. Gosh, Fluttershy. You're such a klutz, great job.
Okay, maybe she could’ve picked a better time to admit that. RD did what she could to try and keep her from completely losing her balance, feeling just a little bit silly for... well, having caused that.
“Sorry! I, uh, usually get people at better times than this...” Then again, nobody else she’d admitted that to had been anything like Fluttershy. She was pretty damn unique.
"Gosh no... Oh please don't blame yourself, I ... I'm such a klutz sometimes, you know..." Fluttershy said, softly, and with a bit of self-deprecation in her voice. She really just wanted to crawl under a rock and die now.
Or curl up to RD a bit more. But that was a scary thought, so she backed away a bit, instead, "I'm so sorry I grabbed you like that though, but I do ... Uhm ... I'm glad that you said that, I really am."
Not that RD would’ve complained at all if she’d done that. In fact she was actually almost disappointed when she backed off. “Hey, by all means, grab me all you want. I really don’t mind...”
Even if the closeness would likely give her certain ideas that’d just make Fluttershy flail even more, but... that was a risk you had to take, right?
The words made Fluttershy's mouth drop a bit, and one could almost hear the gears grinding in her head while she processed that. She blinked her eyes a few times, then closed her mouth, and opened it again, "Oh you want me to..."
RD really did like her. She smiled nervously, and took a step forward, closing the gap between them again. The closer she got to RD, the more warm and buzzy she felt. It was like... well, it was like RD had static cling, and she was a sock. That wasn't the most flattering comparison, but it was the best one Fluttershy could come up with at the moment.
As long as she didn’t actually say that comparison, RD wasn’t going to complain. At all. Anything that ended in Fluttershy closer to her was probably a good thing. She couldn’t help a slight smile, gently taking her hand. “Don’t worry. I don’t bite.”
Well... okay, the exceptions for that rule could wait until much later. No need to accidentally traumatise her.
Fluttershy squeezed RD's hand, then did a thing that she even surprised herself with. She feathered just a hint of a kiss against RD's cheek. It wasn't as bold as going for the lips, but it was all she could muster.
"I've been with someone who bites," she whispered, like she was suddenly in a confessional instead of out on the street in public, "It wasn't so... bad, really, expect for the next morning part..."
But she didn't want to talk about Raven, or think about it. Dash seemed like a very, very different woman. The kind that would protect her and keep her safe, and slap anyone else who tried to hurt her. She was brave and wonderful, and she mentally really couldn't stop gushing about Dash enough. She smiled a bit less nervously, "You're nicer than she was. I wouldn't mind if you bit me maybe, a little. But... not right here, of course... that's probably, well... probably a much later and not right after smoothies kind of thing... probably."
RD couldn’t help but laugh. Okay, how could that much flail be so damned adorable? Must’ve been another one of those Fluttershy things... “Yeah, definitely something for much later. Don’t think you’re meant to bite people in public.”
Okay, maybe some people did, but that wasn’t her sort of thing. Despite the rainbow hair and all, she could be some level of subtle. Occasionally. “We ever get to that sort of next morning part, I’m gonna make sure it turns out okay. ‘Cause you deserve the best, y’know?”
"I'd uhm ... I'd really like that..." Fluttershy ducked her head, and nodded a bit, then mentally flailed and added, "Oh I mean, well ... I'd like all of that, but I was more talking about making the next morning ... nice... and ... I mean we're probably not going to just have a ... night that leads to a next morning soon or ..."
Instead of following her instincts and running away again, Fluttershy just squeezed RD's hand a bit more tightly, and tried to breathe, "I'd like all of that but I don't have any expectations and it doesn't have to happen soon. Do you want to ... walk a bit more?"
Not that RD had expected it to happen even close to soon, considering it was Fluttershy of all people. She just wasn’t the sort of person you could do that to without feeling ridiculously guilty about rushing it.
She lightly squeezed her hand in return, trying to soothe her a little. “We can take as long as we need, right? In the meantime... well, talking and walking works, right?”
What better company could she ask for, really? Sure, it could be awkward at times, but that wasn’t all bad.