Summer made Albert simply happy. He loved the warmth that came with it, the freedom, the way the Mansion was always so open. The doors would be left ajar, the summer breeze stirring curtains, the very air in the halls lively. 

More than anything, though, Al loved summer because of the flowers. He was humming as he walked back to the Mansion, a few freshly picked flowers safe in his hand. He'd always thought that flowers were beautiful, even went so far as to tend to a garden. But wild flowers had their own sort of charm to them. They grew where they wanted, fierce and determined to survive without any help, yet still somehow beautiful, delicate. 

Al smiled before gently knocking on the door in front of him. No sound came from within and he had to chuckle to himself. This was the routine. He'd always knock and she'd never answer. "I'm coming in, Addy," he called. 

Still no answer. He slowly twisted the knob and eased the door open. It creaked a little, the age of the Mansion showing itself despite its meticulous upkeep. "Hey, Addy." 

The only sign that anyone was in the room was a suspicious lump of blanket on the bed. It wasn't that early, but Adelaide was one to sleep in. "Wake up, lump," Albert said, striding across the room to stand beside her bed. He set the flowers down on her bedside table. She still didn't move. 

"Hey," Al whispered, sitting down slowly on the bed beside her and resting a soft hand on her shoulder. He stirred her a little and her eyes fluttered a bit. "I know you're awake." 

"Mm." 

"Come on, Addy. Your dad will kill me if we're late." 

"Al, why are you such a suck up?" she asked, her eyes still closed. 

"I'm not a suck up," Al replied, but it sounded defensive even to his own ears. 

Suddenly, Addy bolted upright and wrapped her arms around Al. He didn't even flinch. Such a thing wasn't unusual for Addy. "You are a suck up," she said with a coy smile, "But that's ok." 

"Thank goodness I've gotten your stamp of approval, Addy," Al said, his voice sarcastic but his smile betraying him. 

She grinned, "Why don't we ditch today?" 

"Ditch?" Al asked as if he didn't understand what she'd said. He did, of course. She always asked to ditch. But he'd never said yes, and probably never would. 

Addy rolled her eyes, flopping back onto the bed, "All I want to do today is go lay in the sunshine with you like we used to when we were kids." 

"We're still kids," Al said, but something inside of him was shouting at him to just give up and agree to go with her. Waking Addy up in the morning was always the best part of his day because he'd finally get to see her again, and saying goodnight to her was always the worst. 

"You know what I mean," she said quietly. Al met her eyes. She was already staring at him, her dark eyes and beautifully long eyelashes always struck Al right in the heart. 

Al softened, "I know what you mean." 

There was this second, only the length of a heartbeat, where neither of them said a word. They just looked at each other. And it didn't make Al nervous or uncomfortable. Nothing ever did, not with Addy. She was just...Addy. She was perfect, everything good in the world. 

"Hey," Addy said, breaking the moment. She sat back up and took Al's hand between hers, holding it tightly against her chest. "If we're kids like you said, why can't we be a little bit irresponsible for once?" 

Al opened his mouth to object, but Addy pressed a warm little finger to his lips. "I just want to spend some time with you. Just you and me," she said, looking up at him from behind her eyelashes. 

Al felt something. He'd never felt it before, and he almost flinched at the first sensation. From where Addy's finger lingered on his lips, a little buzz of electricity coursed across his skin. His lips parted beneath her finger. He stared at her. 

Her eyes widened slightly. "Did you..." Addy started. She took her hand away from Al's face, staring at her fingertip. "Did you feel that? What was that?" 

Al slowly reached up and touched his lips. "It was probably just a little shock," Al lied awkwardly, standing up. He had to create some space. If he felt that again, it meant... God, what would he even do? "Come on. We need to go to class." 

"Class?" Addy asked, "You mean Ben? It's literally just you and me. When you say class it makes me imagine like a human high school or something silly like that." 

"What do you want me to call it, then?" Al asked with a sigh. 

She crossed her arms over her chest, "Lessons. After all, we're not in the same class. Ben teaches you completely different stuff than he teaches me." 

"Because I'm older than you," there was a quick moment of silence. "Well, I'll leave so that you can get dressed and ready for our lessons," Al said, starting across the room. But before he could take two steps, Addy had lunged forward and grabbed his wrist. She pulled with all her might until Al lost his balance and fell backwards onto her bed. 

He bounced a little before Addy jumped on top of him, sitting on his stomach. "What are you-" Al started. 

"Skip with me," Addy interrupted. "Skip with me!"

"Addy, no! Cole would be so mad, and you know how he gets when he's mad," Al said, scrunching his eyebrows up and scowling. He pointed at his angry expression. "He looks like this and goes," Al forced his voice to deepen, pulling out his best Cole impression, "'Albert, what were you thinking!'"

Addy broke out laughing, "You don't sound like him at all." 

"But I got the scowling right," Al said, smiling and dropping his hand. It accidentally landed on Addy's thigh and another buzz coursed through Al's arm, all the way up to his shoulder. He whipped his hand away immediately. He could tell that Addy had felt it, too, but he ignored it. He knew what it meant. He knew. He wouldn't say the words out loud, though. 

He'd adored Addy for so long. Everyone in the Pack knew that they had a special relationship. She was such a little rebel, prided herself in it. It somehow happened that he was the only one that she would listen to. He sort of loved what they had, living every day together, best friends. 

Al just...hadn't really expected it to come to this. That little buzz, it wasn't just static electricity. He didn't know what to do about it, though. He was sort of panicking. But from the looks of it, Addy couldn't tell. She was puzzled, but ignored the heart of the matter in favor of trying to get Al to break the rules. 

"Skip with me," Addy said, leaning over him. A lock of her wild short hair fell over her eye. "If you skip with me today, I'll never ask you to do it again." 

Al smiled, "As if." 

"Ok, I won't ask you to do it again for at least a year," she corrected. Even a year was a long time for Addy. This meant that she wanted to get out of the Mansion more than Al had thought. 

"Why today? Why are you so adamant?" Al asked, confused. 

Addy sighed and slid off of him, landing beside him on the bed and not meeting his eyes. She played with a button on Al's shirt absently, curling up to his shoulder. He stared at her. Addy had always smelled vaguely similar to Kaia, to Minoah and Roshan. It was the smell of a shaman, and Al had always found it compelling. But...for some reason, in this moment, she smelled different. It was a whole new scent, painfully better than how she'd smelled before. She smelled like wildflowers. 

"I just feel like it's time for a change," she said quietly. She still wouldn't look at him. 

"Change," Al breathed, a hesitant echo. Change. For some reason, the word scared Al. Not Addy, apparently. He wondered if she was afraid of anything. 

"Yeah," she continued, the atmosphere lightening, "I want to mix things up. Every day is so much of the same. I want to do something fun!"

"Can't the fun wait until this afternoon when our lessons are over?" Al begged. But he could feel his resistance dwindling. 

Al was the only person that Addy would listen to, who could get her to break her rebellious habits. Maybe, in much the same way, Addy was the only one that could get Al to break the rules. 

"No, that defeats the purpose," she said, sitting up and looking down at him, "Don't you think?" 

Al sat up slowly. He was taller than her by quite a bit. She hated how much shorter than him she was, but these days she didn't complain about it as much as she used to. "I'm still not completely sure I understand the 'purpose' at all."

"Please, Al," she said, and there was something incredibly fragile about her voice. She lightly touched his shoulder, her beautiful dark eyes begging. 

Al felt his heart crumbling like a sand castle hit by a wave. Addy did this to him. Down went the castle over and over again, but just by being there she would build it back up. Handfuls after handfuls of sand piled on top of each other, messily arranged in the shape of Al's heart. It was never the same as before it fell, but each time she built it back there was a new piece of her in it. So maybe it was better to be destroyed and patched up, because it meant that Addy would always stay close. Because as it was now, Al knew he would never be able to live a happy life without her. 

"Fine," he said, sighing. 

Addy took a second to blankly stare at him before bursting out in joy. "I thought you were kidding, it took a moment for me to realize you were serious about this!" She wrapped her arms tightly around him and wiggled a little. 

Al laughed and hugged her back. Addy perked up and launched off of the bed, "I'll go get ready for our adventures!" 

"Now she gets ready," Al said, shaking his head. 

Addy disappeared into the bathroom. Al couldn't stop grinning. He could still hear her singing to herself. Her head poked out from behind the doorframe, "Thanks, Al. I love you!" 

"I love you, too, Addy," he said, watching her disappear again. He sat on the bed for a second and stared down at his hand. He could still sort of feel the thrill of touching Addy. He knew now that it hadn't been a fluke. That feeling...

He didn't know what to do. A part of him had wanted this for so long, but the other part was afraid of it. Because...

If he and Addy were mates, could they still be best friends?

Hello, loves! First chapter and gosh I already love writing this. Ok, so leave me your thoughts. I hope you liked how I chose to write these two. Next chapter will be awesome, so look forward to it! ~M
P.S. This GIF is for you, you're welcome: