Welcome to Gaia! ::

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Though he had left at roughly the same time as Cuba, Florida had yet to appear at school. What exactly had happened to him between walking out his door and finally joining up with the rest of his classmates was anyone's guess. It a guessing game most of his neighbors didn't like to play since there were so many things about the lovable Sunshine State that just didn't make sense. Normally it was better to calmly accept that they were probably better off not knowing and move on with their lives. This was likely one of those moments.

Rutilio all but stumbled into the cafeteria with a now dirty, disheveled and slightly ripped uniform in some places. His backpack was missing and for a moment he looked almost as startled to see everyone as they were to see him. Then he straightened himself and smiled with his usual idiotically adorable little smile and waved at the students staring at him as if this was entirely normal. Florida easily shook off the oddity of his entrance and happily swaggered along with his trademark "hater's gonna hate" attitude towards everyone.

He spied the Other World Kingdom out of the corner of his eye and flipped the girl off as he passed her. Rutilio didn't check to make sure she had seen his one finger salute, but still felt pleased with himself for letting it be known she was still on his short list for trying to enslave his boyfriend. Sure, Florida was a sweet guy and easily made friends, but he could hold grudges. Sometimes violent and hateful grudges which only an entirely new generation of Floridians might be able to convince him to consider forgiving. Ask Fidel Castro about it.

Florida stopped mid-step when he saw Georgia chattering with a circle of his entire "immediate" family. Mexico, Cuba, Alta California and even Spain had been assembled to talk with the State of Georgia, his boyfriend. Something was up and he couldn't begin to imagine what it might be. Although... Rutilio's mind drifted back to the sadly abandoned date from the night before and his happy-derpy-sunshine-and-rainbows attitude dropped. The Floridian did a very odd thing for him. He unhappily puffed his cheeks out before turning on his heel and decided to walk in the opposite direction. There would be no loving bouts of "surprise affection" for the boyfriend who got him all worked up about going on a date then didn't even bother to call when he canceled. Just because he wasn't the most traditional of the Southerners, that didn't mean Rutilio was alright with being sent a simple text like some reverse booty call.

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Florida made an indignant noise close to a squawk when he felt something slip through the loops of his pants. He instinctively tried to pull away, but the familiar arm around his shoulder prevented him from doing more than flailing uselessly at the quick and thorough capture. Damn! When did Georgia get so good at that!? Even during the Civil War the Union Army never managed to get a firm grasp of him! Had the Floridian's fleeing skills really deteriorated that much? He blamed New York's transplants for weighing him down!

"What are you--?" Rutilio started to object as he found himself in the precarious position where resisting Georgia meant risking his pants getting ripped off in the struggle. Contrary to popular rumors Florida was no exhibitionist and didn't want to show off his Keys to any other classmates. So he was stuck with his boyfriend until he somehow managed to get the belt off or Christian's pants off. (The latter would normally be considered a fun challenge.) He puffed his cheeks out more when the Georgian grilled him about not texting his absent boyfriend back.

"I am not some love struck little high school tart you can simply blow off with a text!" Florida blurted out as he swatted at the taller state irritably. "You b*****d! I will not forgive you! I spent all afternoon looking for flowers or some other stupid little token people give on dates, and you call it off with a text message? You may think I am a sell-out whore all you like, but I am not that cheap!" The flustered and agitated Floridian might have tried to seriously punch Christian with how sensitive he was over the seemingly minor insult, but at this awkward angle all he could do was swat harder.

He didn't care how ridiculous he probably seemed to others and even Rutilio was startled with himself about how big of a deal this was to him. Normally he rolled with the punches, let people make fun of him and bottled it all up with a smile, but not this time. This time he wasn't going to let Georgia get away with making fun of him for being a "Spanish reject" who was so easily thrown under the bus or tossed aside for more important things.

Florida didn't bother trying to explain his previous night nor current condition. The only thing he did was squeezed his eyes shut in frustration as his swatting increased.

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Rutilio felt Georgia's arms wrap around him before he realized they were falling and bristled at what he thought was an attempt to snuggle him into forgiveness. "Do not put your hands on me, you--Ah!" Rutilio squeaked as they fell and was startled into silence as the couple awkwardly hit the ground. Honestly, he didn't know what to do to untangle himself from his boyfriend and simply had to ride out the storm as the blond riggled to reach his backpack. Florida sulked and grumbled as he tried to free himself from the belt while Christian fished through his backpack until a box was suddenly shoved at him.

Almost dumbly he took the little box of chocolates and stared at it quietly. Rutilio had spent the night thinking that he had been tricked or betrayed somehow by Georgia. It had made more sense to believe this had all been some sort of cruel trick or at least proof that Christian still looked down on him. He couldn't help feeling paranoid and afraid that secretly his former rival truly believed he was less of a state or person because of their historical and cultural differences. It was difficult not to instantly suspect his boyfriend of prejudice against him as a former Spaniard given their brutal past.

Instead, he was given a box of chocolates and not just any chocolates. Rutilio poked at the ruined candies with his finger before stuffing it in his mouth thoughtfully. He said nothing as Christian continued to rant about his ego and being unappreciative and blah, blah, blah. He honestly wasn't paying much attention since sometimes it was better to tune the younger boy out, but he got the gist of it.

Florida finally turned his attention back to his Georgian when it seemed like the younger boy was winding down. He wasn't willing to give Christian the opportunity to start up again and instead turned himself so he could catch his boyfriend's lips in a sudden kiss.

"You worry about silly things, Peaches, I am fine~!" Rutilio said cheerfully when he asked what happened to him. He merrily popped one of the broken chocolates in his mouth as if all had been instantly forgiven and forgotten. Despite how casual he tried to act about it, he had a very red blush on his cheeks at how much effort Christian had apparently put into getting him the candies.

Maybe Georgia really didn't see him as worthless anymore... Or at least he seemed to think Rutilio was worth something.

He turned his own back to Christian as he continued to munch on his treats and didn't want to share just how much the simple act had meant to him. Rutilio wasn't that easy impressed. Really. He wasn't. He liked to think he simply wasn't used to so much sugar and the rush was what had made his cheeks so red. It had to be the sugar.

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