Ana abruptly stood from her spot on the couch, feeling Mason's hand slide from her waist and grapple onto her hip. She smiled as she turned to face him, her grin growing when she noticed an adorable pout forming on his lips.

"We should go on a date," she told him excitedly. Ana had never been on a date, and any outing she had ever gone on had been closely supervised by a chaperone. So she was looking forward to being able to go on a date in general, but even more so now because it would be with Mason.

Mason's eyebrows furrowed, "Right fucking now?"

"Why not," the princess shrugged. "We could go to a café, or even have a picnic outside. It's such a beautiful day don't you think?"

"Well it would be our first date, and you probably want to go somewhere better than a shithole park," he chuckled.

Ana sighed, slumping back onto the couch and cuddling into his side; he was so comfortable. And - considering they had a limited amount of time together - she wanted to be as close to him as physically possible. "But I don't think it matters where we go," she looked up at him to see him staring at her intently. "As long as we're together, right?"

He didn't move for a brief moment and she began to worry that he had somehow injured himself before he broke her train of thought by abruptly stuffing his face into her shoulder. He groaned into her skin and she laughed as the vibrations tickled her neck.

"You're a little devil, you know that?" The words were muffled but she could still just barely make them out.

Ana jokingly scoffed at the words, pulling away from Mason to glare at him teasingly. "I was just trying to spend time with my boyfriend and you're over here insulting me."

Mason's mouth opened in preparation to say something, his hands reaching towards her as she backed away, before the sound of someone gasping interrupted them. She spun to face the noise, feeling herself blush as she noticed her other roommates standing in the hallway. She shrunk back into her boyfriend's arms as she noticed their incredulous expressions.

"I'm sorry," Josh began loudly. "Did you just say boyfriend?"

"Maybe," Ana trailed off.

Carly stepped in front of Josh then, frowning at Ana. "You're seriously dating this guy?"

"What's it to you," Mason said from behind her. And while the words themselves might be considered rude, she could practically hear the smile in his voice.

"To think you're actually attracted to men; how disappointing." Carly shook her head mock-sadly, "But it's fine, cause now he owes me fifty bucks." She smirked as she patted Josh's shoulder, "So thanks for that."

Ana laughed at her words before her eyebrows furrowed when she processed the rest of what she said. "Wait- did you guys bet on us?"

"Of course they fucking did," Mason muttered behind her. She felt a sudden weight on her shoulder and glanced to the side to see his head resting there as his hands slid across her ribcage and landed on her stomach.

While the action itself wasn't very intimate, his touch on her waist made her stomach flip. She bit her lip, trying to will her face to cool as she felt her cheeks growing warm.

She sighed shakily as she felt his fingers press deeper into her skin, tugging her towards him and causing her heart to race. "Cause they're both assholes," Mason's announcement pulled Ana from her internal panic.

Ana swallowed, forcing herself to focus on something other than her boyfriend's burning touch. "What did you guys bet?"

"I said you guys would get together after Christmas, she said before," Josh explained with a gesture in Carly's direction. "I was clearly wrong."

"No shit you were wrong, there's no way I would've lasted till Christmas," Mason laughed.

Josh sighed, "I should've known; you do follow her around like a lost puppy." While Ana wasn't sure how true that statement was (Josh could be a bit dramatic), it still made her smile.

"Oh piss off," Mason scoffed. "Can you blame me?" His tone of voice was gentler now, the humor practically gone. She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye only to see him already staring at her. Ana gasped, clearing her throat as she avoided his gaze in turn of looking at their other roommates.

"So I guess this means the prank war is ending huh," Josh frowned sadly.

Ana laughed incredulously, "Are you kidding? No way."

~~~

"Would you mind ordering for me, I really have to use the restroom," the princess looked at Mason pleadingly.

Mason laughed at her words, his fingers intertwining with hers on the table. "Sure," he responded, briefly squeezing her hand with his own before he released it entirely. "Don't take too long, I might start thinking you're replacing my shampoo again," he teased as she stood.

"I would never," she gasped as if she were completely appalled before winking at him.

She spotted the restroom sign in the corner of the room and she made her way over to it, sidestepping waitresses and tables.

They had decided to go out that night after all, and Ana picked the place to eat at on account of Mason overthinking the occasion. It was a small restaurant - one that she often passed on her way to the store - and she was looking forward to the food.

Small businesses always had the best recipes.

She had dressed simply for the date (in one of her favorite sundresses and plain white flats), knowing that Mason was also wanting to go on a late afternoon walk after dinner.

Ana reapplied her lip gloss in the mirror after washing her hands, adjusting the top of her dress before exiting the small room. She bumped into a figure on her way out and instinctively stepped back, "Excuse me, sorry."

But when she went to walk past whoever it was, their figure stepped back in front of her. She looked up at that, meeting a man's gaze. "I was actually curious about something," he began.

She sighed, glancing past him to try and see Mason from where she was standing. She couldn't. "What is it?" She was aware that she was being a little dismissive, but she was getting slightly impatient and just wanted to be back with her boyfriend.

"We have the same class together right?" Ana tilted her head, trying to recall ever seeing him in one of her lectures. At her silence, he shook his head and continued. "Anyways, our teacher actually said our work is really similar. Which I just thought was really funny-."

"Oh wait," she interrupted. "Are you the guy in Mr. Frasor's class that he keeps on accusing me of plagiarizing?" She laughed at just the thought. A princess plagiarizing a person's work? As if.

He lit up at her words, "Yes! He talked to me earlier today and said it looked like we copied each other directly on the test. Which I think is really funny because you obviously don't even know my name and we don't even sit next to each other."

"I've had to redo three assignments because of you, you know," she told him mock-seriously.

"Try five," he fired back with raised eyebrows. "We really need to figure out a way to not write so similarly," the man chuckled.

Ana shook her head in disbelief, "At this rate, I can't believe he hasn't contacted the dean yet considering how many assignments he claims we've copied."

"Apparently he tried actually."

"You're kidding," Ana gasped. There was no way that her professor really thought she was plagiarizing.

He shook his head, "Nope. But when he brought it up the dean, she apparently told him our assignments weren't copied at all and he was just seeing things that weren't there. Or so I've heard."

"That's probably why we haven't gotten into more trouble than just redoing our assignments then huh." It made slightly more sense to Ana now.

The man shrugged. "Apparently he's kind of known for doing stuff like this, so no one really takes him seriously anymore. Which I kind of feel bad for the guy I guess, but at the same time he made me redo five assignments so I'm not really that remorseful," he laughed again.

"Yeah," she agreed with a nod, "I wonder why-," she was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Hey," Ana suddenly heard Mason's voice and smiled as she turned to look at him.

"Oh hey," she greeted in return, feeling her eyes widen when he suddenly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him. "What's up?"

Mason kept his eyes focused on the guy across from them and her gaze flickered from his face to her classmate as he stared back in confusion. "I was just wondering what the hell was taking so long," he told her lowly.

"Oh," she blinked. Okay then. "Well I ran into this guy," she gestured to said man, "and he was telling me about the funniest thing-," she was abruptly cut off by Mason pressing his lips on her own. It was so sudden, so soft and sweet and- and their first kiss.

He pulled away shortly thereafter, his mouth raising into a small grin as he looked down at her. "How about you tell me all about it over dinner? Okay, baby? Our food's almost ready."

Um- ah-," she stuttered, her brain practically malfunctioning from the pet name. "Alright." She nodded, taking slow deep breaths and reminding herself that it was just a kiss. Just their first as a couple; just Ana's first kiss ever.

Mason led them back to their table, pulling out her chair and helping her sit down before taking the seat across from her. She took a sip of her water, her fingers shaking slightly as she found herself looking at his lips.

How had she never notice how soft they were before?

She lifted her head, releasing a sigh and closing her eyes for a brief moment to help herself calm down slightly. When she reopened them, she was met with the sight of Mason glaring at something behind her. She turned slightly to see what he was looking at, seeing only a brief outline of a person before her movements were abruptly stopped.

Ana froze as she felt Mason's hand on her jaw, gripping her chin gently so he could turn her head back around to face him.

She gasped quietly upon seeing the intense expression on his face; she'd never seen him look so serious before. He didn't seem to be mad - or even upset - but he was staring at her so earnestly that she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about.

He lifted Ana's face slightly then, forcing their eyes to meet and she swallowed when his gaze dropped to her lips. "Eyes on me," he muttered. "Only me."

~~~