Moonacre

Part 1

The door to the library gave an agonizing groan as it was pushed open.
"You arrived quite early.", she didn't even look up from her papers.
"I s'pose.", Robin mumbled, a little unsure of how to act, as he closed the door behind him.
"I'm surprised you didn't go to find Maria straight away. If you're looking for her though, she's-"
"I'm not!", he interrupted her, stepping closer to the desk she was working on before sitting down in one of the empty chairs.
The brunette raised an eyebrow at him before returning her attention to her notes.
"You must be quite desperate to escape her shenanigans then, if you really rather come to me out of all people. ", the corner of her mouth twitched nearly unnoticeable.
Robin crossed his arms over his chest.
"Stop teasing me.", he mumbled.
She looked at him through her lashes.
"Am I teasing you?"
"Yes."
"How so?". She still had the quill in her hand, ready to jot down whatever crossed her mind once more.
"You just do.", he couldn't stare at her as intently as he wanted to due to the warmth that spread over his entire face and was slowly eating away at his confidence.
"That's not a real answer."
A sly grin was now plastered on her face; combined with the tone of her voice, an indicator that she was mocking him. Yet she returned her focus back to her work once again.
"It is. It's just not the one you want" he replied as firmly as possible.
"No, you just can't give me a real answer because you either won't tell me or you don't even know yourself."
His face went blank. Of course she had to see through him like that.
For a second, he studied her face trying to figure out just how much she already knew about his current predicament.
No, there was no way she was able to know.
His guard was kept up well enough that he should be surprised if anyone knew that he actually started to really like the young woman before him.
He frowned slightly when he thought about how that feeling was most likely one-sided.

Sure, their first interaction included both of them throwing death threats at each other, but he liked to think that; even though they had a rocky start; they actually grew quite close during their adventure to help Maria lift the curse off the valley.
But no matter how hard he tried, how tough and independent he acted, he always felt like she only really saw him as a child; one of Marias friends, nothing more, nothing less; and it bothered him to no end.

He huffed in annoyance, placed his arms on the desk in front of him and leaned forward.
The quill in her hand stopped abruptly and she raised her eyes to meet his.
She obviously waited for him to say something, but he was at a loss of words.
He wanted to argue with her, wanted to prove her wrong but anything he could come up with would just prove her point.
His mouth felt incredibly dry as he continued to stare at her.
"Well...?" she said expectantly, her eyebrow raised in question.
He opened his mouth slightly, but he just couldn't think of anything witty to say.
Since when was he so speechless?

Just then, the library door was slammed open and he jumped in his seat, eliciting a small chuckle from the young woman in front of him.
"Robin! There you are!" Maria exclaimed with joy.
"I was wondering where you were hiding since your father already arrived a while ago."
Maria plopped down in another empty chair.
"What are you two doing?" she looked between her two friends.
,,Just having a nice chat. Robin here had quite a lot to say." The young woman said softly with a mocking undertone while organizing her papers and stacking them neatly.
"Oh really? What was it? It wouldn't be fair just to tell Jane, I want to know too!" Maria said eagerly.
"Well... uhm. Just a hunt me, um-, and my father were on a few days ago. I'd just bore you with the details, I'm sure..." he stuttered.
"Oh no. I want to hear all about it. Did you catch something?" Maria placed her elbows on the table and rested her head on her hands, looking at Robin expectantly.
"Yes, go ahead and tell her all about it." Jane said while getting up from her chair; picking up her papers and quill as she went.
Robin stared at her with wide eyes.
,,I'll see you at dinner." she winked at him and left the library with a smug grin on her face.

She felt his eyes bore right into her head as she sat at the dinner table and conversed with Miss Heliotrope. Sure, it was quite mean to put him on the spot like that and then leaving him to make up an entire story just to satisfy Marias curiosity, but it was still all in good fun.
She laughed about something Miss Heliotropes said before returning her attention to her own plate.

As she glanced up to look at Robin, who sat across from her, she could indeed confirm that he had been staring at her with a rather grumpy expression on his face, indicating that he didn't find the situation quite as funny as she did.
She gave him a lighthearted grin before taking a sip from her glass.
Right in that moment, Robin scooted his foot forward to hit the tip of her shoe, not hard enough to hurt, but to startle her enough to nearly spill her drink.
She glared at him slightly as he snickered.
Oh well, two could play that game.

She waited till his attention was elsewhere again, probably thinking that she wouldn't get revenge on him; or at least not until after dinner.
Only watching him from the corner of her eye, she tried to seem as invested as possible in the conversation she had with Miss Heliotrope as to not raise any suspicion.
He really thought he might have gotten away with it before he felt the sharp pain on his left shin and nearly choked on his food.
"Are you alright?" Loveday asked beside him.
He coughed lightly.
"Yes, I'm good."
Jane was still deeply invested in her conversation with the governess as he glared at her.
Only the small tug at the corner of her mouth gave her away.
Oh, this meant war...

They continued to slightly kick each other under the table, stepping on each other's toes and occasionally making faces at each other when no one else paid any attention to them.
But unbeknownst to the two young adults, Maria witnessed the entire ordeal from her spot at the table and hid her grin in her glass.