“She’s still not talking about it?” Confidence Heart stared at Love Heart from across his dining room table.
Love Heart looked at the stairs leading up to the bedrooms and sighed, “Sweet Heart hasn’t even come downstairs since then. Summer’s nearly over and she’s avoiding all of us, and Indy before he gave up trying to talk to her.”
“What’s she doing up there all day?” Confidence turned to look up the stairs as well.
Love Heart shook his head, “She’s not up there all day. I see her flying out of and into her window every so often, one of the advantages of being born with wings.”
“Given up on talking to her?” Confidence turned back to Love Heart.
“I’ve done everything short of barging into her room and demanding she tell me what’s going on, and that wouldn’t accomplish anything,” Love Heart sighed then smiled, “But that’s not why I invited you over. Confidence, you know that big end of summer cultural festival this weekend? Would you like to go out with me to that?” Love Heart was blushing as he asked.
“Of course!” Confidence beamed, “I’d love to go with you! Just wait until you see what I made to wear!” she was visibly giddy.
Love Heart grinned, “Great! Want some lunch then? I mean just something simple here since mom and dad are out, getting ready for the school year and stuff,” he realized he was rambling and took a deep breath, “Mac and cheese?” he offered.
“Sounds great!”
Sweet Heart listened at her door until she was certain they were occupied then opened her window and flew out across the Kingdom of Caring. At least everyone else had just accepted that a magical doppelganger was impersonating her as a way to get to Love Heart as an excuse and outside her own family things had returned to normal for her. She landed at the portal entrance and saw the group she expected to meet there: Pretty Heart Skunk, Get Well Bear, Hugs Bear and her twin brother Tugs Bear, a bright blue care bear boy who had a tummy symbol of a smiling star suspended in a diaper (something he had become embarrassed about since he stopped wearing them).
Tugs was the first to spot Sweet Heart as she landed and waved, “Hey Sweets! Over here!”
Sweet Heart forced herself to smile and wave as she approached them, “Hi, Tugs, Pretty, Hugs, Get Well. Sorry I’m late.”
Pretty Heart waved it off, “No worries, so are you ready?”
“I am... ready for what?” in worrying about leaving the house discreetly she actually had forgotten what they were meeting for.
“We’re going to find costumes for the culture festival!” Hugs grabbed Sweet Heart’s and Get Well’s hands and all but pulled them through the Portal. “Let’s go!”
“Hey sis, wait!” Tugs took off after them while Pretty Heart laughed and followed.
OoOoO
Love Heart had decided to dress in “Care Bear Culture” as he called it, which meant he was just wearing his brown cargo vest with the Clow Book attached at his side as he arrived at Confidence’s front door in the mid-afternoon.
Tori’s boyfriend Julian answered the door and smiled serenely down at the green bear, “Hi, you’re Love Heart right? Cassandra’s boyfriend?”
Love Heart nodded, “Yes. Is she ready?”
“I’m here, Love Heart!” Confidence appeared wearing a light blue kimono with blue lilies patterned over it and...
“Your mom’s earrings,” Love Heart noticed the garnets sparkling where the steel studs had been up until today.
Confidence smiled, “Yeah, dad said I could wear them for this special night. What do you think of all of this?” She spun slowly in place so Love Heart could see the whole outfit.
“You’re beautiful I mean it’s beautiful!” Love Heart blurted out, his face red.
Confidence giggled, “Thanks, I made this myself. Ready to go?” she offered an arm to Love Heart, which he accepted.
“Yes. What about your brother?” Love Heart asked as they departed her house.
“He just got home so he’s still getting ready. Maybe we’ll run into him and Julian at the festival, I know Julian’s been going on about trying all the food there,” she looked Love Heart up and down, “Barely clothed huh?” she couldn’t help but blush, it somehow being more apparent since they started dating.
“Heheh yeah well, Care Bear culture and stuff,” Love Heart chuckled, “Noble and True Heart are running the Care Bear Family booth too.”
“We’ll have to start there then, let’s go!” Confidence sped up and started to pull Love Heart along until they were walking alongside each other.
The Culture festival was in the large park in the middle of Readington and Love Heart couldn’t help but notice the tree The Sword had chopped down near the start of summer but put that out of his mind. “Look there,” Love Heart pointed to the small booth with a large valentine heart on the top. It was a simple booth as the Care Bear Family had only really been around a short time and they were mostly just answering any questions and handing out small pamphlets. Kero was there too, reading one of the pamphlets while Noble Heart and True Heart waited for more people to talk to them.
“Hey Kero,” Love Heart, “Learning about the Care Bears?”
“Yeah, not much to see though,” he dropped the pamphlet, “I just wanna try all the tasty food here!” he grinned, “Have fun, Love Heart, and remember to expect the unexpected!” he flew off to the food booths which made Love Heart and Confidence laugh.
“Hungry yet?” Confidence asked.
“Nah, let’s go try the games,” Love Heart motioned for them to head over to the game tents.
The culture festival was a mix of many Earth cultures: American, Mexican, First Nations, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, French, Spanish, even though Love Heart had visited a lot of those countries for caring missions he never really stopped to admire the culture of those places as he was helping whichever child he was assigned to. It was because of these missions that they had discovered that all Care Bears and Cousins were magical polyglots: capable of speaking and understanding any language. It did make Love Heart wonder if the Care Bear Family’s native language was English or if they spoke some separate language unique to them, since as far as he knew he processed everything in English in his mind. Eventually Confidence had to pull him out of a contemplative stupor after she won a ring-toss game and was rewarded with a pair of glow-stick bracelets for them to wear, yellow for Love Heart and green for herself.
Sweet Heart slowed down when she saw Love Heart and Confidence Heart at the game tents, hanging back until they moved on. Tugs was the first to notice her hanging back and pulled back to talk to her.
“Hey, Sweets, what’s the hold up?” he gave her an odd look.
Sweet Heart averted her gazed, “N-nothing, just don’t want to bother my big bother on his date.” Her voice was barely audible over the sounds of the crowds.
“OK what’s wrong, you’ve never wanted to avoid your brother before,” Tugs tried to peer in close to her eyes.
“Tugs, Sweet Heart, what’s going on?” Pretty Heart Skunk had let Get Well and Hugs go on without theme, “Sweet Heart what’s wrong?”
“I just... don’t want to bother my brother or have everyone ask me about him again...” Sweet Heart’s voice quavered. Tugs and Pretty Heart looked at each other then both grabbed one of the pegasus’ arms and pulled her into the tree cover away from the light despite her protests.
“OK, Sweets, what’s wrong? for real this time,” Tugs folded his arms and glared at her.
“Yeah, you’ve been getting weirder since the doppelganger incident,” Pretty Heart grabbed her shoulder, “We’re your friends, talk to us.”
Sweet Heart stared at Sweet Heart, then over to Tugs. Their eyes were full of understanding but seriousness. Sweet Heart’s face quavered then she whimpered and finally started crying, pulling Pretty Heart close to her. Tugs was startled but hugged Sweet Heart as well as she bawled apologies. She wanted to tell them everything but how could she? Could they really understand? What would they even say? All she could do was promise she still trusted them but didn’t know how to tell them what was wrong. They accepted for now to just enjoy the festival before they went back to school next week. She hoped that would be enough...
OoOoO
It was getting dark out and the lamps lit up all over the festival when Love Heart and Confidence finally decided to hit the food stalls. The smells that bombarded their noses only made them hungrier as they went from booth to booth, wanting to try everything: Perogies and sausage from one Ukranian booth, meatballs from a Swedish booth, burritos from Mexican, and Japanese yakisoba that Confidence insisted on before they were too full to eat anymore.
Love Heart burped and held his stomach, “Ugg, too much,” he groaned.
Confidence echoed his sentiment, “And I wish I could eat more, so much good stuff left.” She let out a loud burp which helped ease her stomach a bit.
“You mean like him?” Love Heart pointed to where Julian and Tori were eating, or rather Julian was eating and Tori was watching. “How does Julian stay so thin?”
“Big metabolism, I think he was on the basketball team in high school, before the cloud school anyway,” she sighed sadly, “And we have to go back in a week.”
“Yeah,” Love Heart sounded disappointed, “And I still haven’t captured all the Clow Cards, but don’t worry about that now,” he took Confidence’s hand, “Let’s just enjoy our date. Com’on, let’s go see the art tents!”
Confidence Heart felt her mood brighten as she let Love Heart pull her along.
The art tents passed in a blur for the two of them, sand tubes, tattoos, pottery, small sculptures, paintings, neither of them were art connoisseurs but they were amazed by some of the things they saw that night, even trying their hand at a few of the art forms they were introduced to.
“Think I’ll stick to sewing,” Confidence Heart remarked after she and Love Heart had retreated to part of the park where nothing had been set up. The sun was just disappearing over the horizon but the ambient light from the festival was enough for them. They stared out across the park’s lake for a moment before Confidence dropped to the grass, “Oof! I need to sit down for a minute.”
“Not worried about grass stains?” Love Heart sat down next to her.
“Nah, it’ll wash out,” Confidence leaned up against Love Heart, “I’ve had a really great time tonight, thanks for inviting me.”
Love Heart blushed but put his arm around her, “Thanks, I did too.”
Confidence blushed to as the sun finally set and snuggled up next to him as her eyes drooped, “I love you.”
“What?”
Confidence’s eyes shot up as she realized what she had said. She could claim it was because it was so late that it slipped out, but no. She put an arm around Love Heart and repeated, “I love you, Love Heart Bear, I have for a while now. I know it’s too soon, we’ve only been dating for a month or so but it’s how I really feel.” Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for Love Heart to say something.
Love Heart was stunned and his brain was still trying to reboot when a number of small blue orbs rose out of the nearby lake and began to float around them.
Confidence stood up, grateful for a distraction however she was confused, “Fireflies?” She reached out and touched one which danced around her finger then floated away.
Love Heart jumped up as he felt the small alarm bell in the back of his mind. “It’s a Clow Card,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out the Clow Key, “Doesn’t feel aggressive.”
“It’s not,” Kero was perched in a tree nearby out of earshot, “Don’t worry, Love Heart, it’s not going to cause any problems.”
“It doesn’t feel dangerous though.” Love Heart carefully put the key back in his pocket and walked over to Confidence Heart who waved her arm through the glowing orbs. He held out a hand to her, “Want to dance, Confidence?”
“You know how to dance?” Confidence turned to Love Heart.
“Not really. Do you?” Love Heart coughed awkwardly but didn’t withdraw his hand.
“Not really,” Confidence took his hand, “Let’s just try.”
They didn’t really dance, just held each other close and swayed as the blue orbs danced around them.
“I think, I love you too,” Love Heart whispered.
“What?” Confidence turned to stare at him.
“I mean I know you do because you’ve been crushing on me for years and... I was too dumb to notice... but this whole summer you’ve been there helping me with the cards and helping me get over Harmony. I know why but you’re a strong person who isn’t afraid to be herself and I can always count on to be there. I-I love you...” Love Heart almost coughed as he spoke. The orbs of light seemed to glow brighter which only highlighted both of them blushing.
“It’s thanks to you that I can be myself, you inspired me to stop hiding behind the whole ‘tomboy’ image and I don’t think I could have gotten my ears pierced if it wasn’t for you. You’re inspiring and strong and...” Confidence started to tear up.
“You look so beautiful, Confidence, I mean I like how you look all the time but now...” Love Heart was afraid he’d said something wrong, part of him was expecting her to get mad.
But she didn’t, “Well I really dressed up tonight, I wanted to look good.”
“You always look good, just different good, strong and confident instead of stunning like you are now,” Love Heart could swear his face was glowing bright red.
Confidence leaned in close, grateful that they were the same height, “I know, you look handsome too. I wonder how you’d look if you really cleaned up for a night out.”
Love Heart leaned in closer, “Maybe you’ll see if we go to a school dance next year.”
“You really want to stay together?” Confidence felt like she was in a dream she’d wake up from any minute.
“Yes.” Then they kissed. The orbs around them seemed to dance as they shared their first kiss, the world otherwise stopping just for them until they finally came up for air.
Sensing the orbs’ approval, Love Heart pulled out the key once again.
“Key of Clow Power of Magic Power of Light Surrender the Wand The Force Ignite Release”
He spoke the incantation calmly and held up the staff as it formed. Then he held it close to Confidence, “Seal it with me.”
“Really?” Confidence was startled.
“Yes, please.” Love Heart waited until Confidence had grasped the staff and they both spoke the incantation together as they raised the staff.
“Clow Card! We command you to return to your power confined! Clow Card!” They swung together and the cloud formed. The orbs were all sucked into and coalesced into the card which flew up to Love Heart’s hand which showed the image of a small fairy-like creature which wore a literal puff-ball for a skirt and another for a hat.
“The Glow Card?” Love Heart looked at the card in his hand.
“It’s a peaceful card,” Kero flew down to them, “it was probably waiting to see what you were doing. I think it recognized your intentions so it gave itself to you.”
Love Heart jumped slightly when Kero appeared, “Were you spying on us?” he asked, stepping away from Confidence so he could write his name on the card.
“I sensed The Glow a while ago so I came to see what was happening. I was waiting nearby just in case you needed me but I didn’t want to interrupt your moment,” he grinned at the two, “Have a good evening?”
“Definitely,” Confidence put an arm around Love Heart once he put The Glow away and sealed the staff.
“Well I’m happy for you, but since The Glow is sealed I’m gonna get back to the food tents before they close.” Kero waved then flew back to the festival.
Love Heart waved the guardian beast off and Confidence yawned.
“Mmmm, was up late putting the finishing touches on this,” Confidence said, “Think I’m ready to head home.”
“Me too,” Love Heart pulled her close, “Here, let me give you a lift.” He pulled out The Jump and Confidence clung on with a smile.
“Jump!” tiny wings formed on Love Heart’s feet and he pulled Confidence close as he jumped high through the air.
Confidence cried out in excitement as the air rushed past them and she got a real look at the town from above, a sea of lights from all the buildings and streets and even the stars in the sky were as clear as in Care-a-Lot.
“It’s beautiful,” Confidence said as they reached the apex of the jump.
“You’re beautiful,” Love Heart didn’t blush as he said that, “Hang on!”
The rush downwards was more exciting than a drop tower amusement park ride even as Confidence held on tight. They hit the ground and Confidence only felt the impact in the middle of a sidewalk with no pain right before Love Heart jumped again.
“You’re beautiful too!” Confidence shouted even as the air rushed past them and took a chance to kiss him at the height of the jump arc, which Love Heart reciprocated.
It only took one more jump for Love Heart to land in front of Confidence’s house. He seemed winded but smiling as they walked up to her front door.
“Thanks for the wonderful night,” Love Heart said.
“Thanks for inviting me out,” Confidence blushed again, “See you tomorrow.”
“See you,” they embraced and kissed again, “I love you.”
“I love you too. Good night,” Confidence seemed to be floating on air as she shut the door behind her.
Love Heart grinned then turned and jumped high towards the portal to the Kingdom of Caring, letting out a whoop of joy at the peak of each jump until he landed in front of the portal and let The Jump off his feet to manifest in its spirit form up on his shoulder.
“Good night?” The Jump asked the giddy green bear who was practically skipping through the portal to Care-a-Lot.
“I’m in love!” Love Heart spun around almost tripping on the rainbow road to his house, “I love Confidence Heart!”
“Huh?” The Jump held on as Love Heart spun, “What kind of love exactly? Like in your name? Like the kind you show us?”
“No,” Love Heart began walking at a more sedate pace but still with a huge grin plastered on his face, “The kind of love I stand for is the kind you share with close friends and family, the kind where you go out of your way to help them and support them. This kind of love is Love-a-Lot Bear’s domain. It’s hard to describe how it feels until it really touches you.” He put hands over his chest, “My heart beats fast, you feel giddy in their presence, it feels better than any dream you could think up and you look forwards to every new moment you get to spend with them.” He sighed as he finally reached his, “But when it hits you, you never realized you could feel this way before.”
“What about that purple bear, Harmony, everyone said you had a ‘crush’ on?” The Jump scratched its head.
“It’s not the same,” Love Heart sighed, “Infatuation, attraction, it’s something that draws you in but being in love, that’s when you want to stay for more important reasons.” Love Heart headed up to bed as The Jump hopped down. It still didn’t quite get it, but Love Heart was happy so that was good.
At her home, Confidence had taken time to carefully hang up her kimono to get it ready for the wash, then flung herself on her bed giggling and sighing the whole time. “He loves me! He loves me! Love Heart Bear loves me!” She was sure she would have woken up the whole house if she wasn’t home. She sighed contentedly then yawned and curled up on her bed smiling. Life felt better than any dream she could have that night.
That was such a sweet chapter! And it's very nice to see those two finally become a couple and tell each other that they love one another^^ that was a really nice touch having them seal the glow card together it made it feel more romantic. I always love seeing these two together and you're doing a fantastic job blending everything together. Really hoping sweethearts friends can help her with her troubles and that she can rely on them. Looking forward to the next chapter^^
That was such a sweet chapter! And it's very nice to see those two finally become a couple and tell
