OTP Prompt:

When character A admits that they're in love with someone and the character B doesn't realize that they're talking about them

"Jack, that's private!" Fiona cried out angrily as she reached for her laptop, only for her brother to hold it up over her head. "Last I checked it was a federal offense to read other peoples mail!"

"That's mail, not email," Jack retorted as he placed the laptop on his bed behind him, "And if you don't want people to read your email, then don't leave your laptop open to earthsend, brainiac."

"Well don't use my laptop without asking, you jerk!"

"How was I supposed to ask you if you weren't home?" Jack replied through gritted teeth, his eyes narrowing down to her.

"You don't just read emails that don't belong to you!" Fi said as she made to grab her laptop, but was stopped by Jack swatting her hands away.

"You never had a problem with it when Carey used your email!" Jack yelled, "You're just miffed that I found out about your little crush. Well, news flash, this bus isn't that big and we don't need you making things awkward. So do everyone a favor and keep talking to Candy about it if you want, but don't go making a fool of yourself this weekend because trust me, he's not interested."

Fi's eyes began to sting and water. She slapped Jack on the shoulder as hard as she could, grabbed her laptop from his bed and stormed off to her room.

Times like these, she wished she had a normal door that she could slam, letting her anger and frustration reverberate throughout the house. But on the tour bus, there was just an unsatisfying clink as her door slid shut behind her.

She curled up on her bed, holding her laptop close to her chest.

In just a couple hours, she would find herself face to face with her favorite person and already the day was going nothing like what she had in mind.

Candy had been so encouraging in her emails that Fi actually thought might have a chance. But maybe Jack was right. He was a college student. No way he would be interested in his best friend's little sister.

Dejectedly, Fi put her laptop away and grabbed a pillow in its place, no longer in the mood to look at any more emails.

Hours later, Fi found herself sitting on a bench overlooking the quad at UC Santa Cruz, armed only with her trusty laptop as a distraction. She was not going to make a fool of herself, Fi determined. She would take Jack's advice, let him bond with his best friend and do her best to stay under the radar.

It's for the best, Fi told herself. Her experience with Tim at Doctor Daily's office had taught her that she could be a little overbearing when she liked a guy and the last thing she wanted to do was drive her favorite person away or make him feel like it was a bad idea to rejoin them on tour during his summer break.

Shaking her head against intrusive thoughts of rejection, Fi decided to focus her energy on researching the origins of Clu's dormitory, which was said to be haunted and rumored to have been built on Native American burial grounds.

She was just getting ready to wrap up her online research and begin interviewing residents when, to her surprise, the object of her affection came jogging right over to her.

"Hey, Fi, I've barely seen you all day," Clu commented as he sat beside her, "Jack and I are going over to the Rathskeller to grab dinner. They have the BEST pizza on campus. If you come, we can outvote Jack on triple sausage two to one! You in?"

Fi smiled sadly but shook her head, "Nah, I'm gonna pass this time."

Clu's face fell. "But you love triple sausage pizza."

Fi shrugged, not daring to look him in the eyes.

"Does this, uh, have something to do with Jack?" Clu inquired.

Fi froze. "Wh-why do you ask?"

"He's seemed kind of off all day." Clu glanced at her sideways. "Have you two been fighting again?"

Fi's shoulders slumped as she relaxed and nodded her head. God, she missed having Clu around to talk to. "Yeah, a pretty big one earlier today," she admitted.

"What about?" Clu asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Well..." Fi began, fumbling with the ring on her thumb, thinking of how to confide in Clu without spilling the beans. "He read a personal email of mine to Candy. We had been talking about, um, girl stuff. Like boys. And," Fi's voice started to pick up speed as her anger resurged, "he read the whole thing. He didn't even ask if he could borrow my laptop, he just grabbed it and read all of that and now he's being a total jerk and I have to live with the fear that's he's going to tell the guy I like that I like him and they're gonna have a great laugh about it and I'm going to be completely humiliated and have to live in the mountains back in Hope Springs because I'll never be able to show my face again and I've already encountered one Bigfoot out in the forest so there's probably more and I'm going to end up a hermit living in a cave, fighting with Bigfoot over living room space!"

Fi took a deep breath and Clu took the opportunity to interject; knowing Fi, if he didn't get her to shut up and listen, she'd be ranting angrily about what-ifs all night.

"Woah, you know Jack wouldn't hurt you like that," Clu said gently as he put his arm around Fi's shoulders, "And if this guy would laugh at you for liking him, then he's a total wuss who-"

"He's not," Fi interrupted. "He's great. He's not afraid of anything. He's the kind of guy who doesn't treat me like a weirdo for all the stuff I'm into and would come investigate it with me if he could. He's a good listener and we could talk about anything and he would make it fun and interesting. He always has your back when you need him and stays with you when you're hurt and will lose at board games over and over again but still play just to keep you company. He's my favorite person to talk to because he always seems to know what to say to make me feel better. He's kind and caring and funny and-"

"Okay, I get it," Clu broke in gently, "The guy's a saint. That doesn't sound like somebody who would put you down."

Fi sighed, unsure of what more to say or if she had said too much already. "Yeah, I guess."

"So maybe you're just mad at Jack for being a brother?" Clu suggested, "In ninth grade I had a crush on Lisa McLowry and when she came over to work on a school project, Carey wouldn't stop making kissy faces at us through the doorway. I was mortified but I don't think she even noticed. He did help me get a date to prom, though, in grade twelve. Brothers rag on each other and it's a pain, but at the end of the day, they do have your back."

Fi couldn't help but smile at him and nod along. He really did always know what to say to make her feel better. Even if he didn't seem to notice it.

"Yeah," she agreed, "You're right."

"So you up for some pizza?" Clu asked, raising his eyebrows up at her cartoonishly to make her laugh.

"Absolutely," she smiled. "Triple sausage."

End Scene.

Notes: Originally, I wanted to continue this into Clu being surprised to learn that Fi was talking about him but I haven't yet figured out a way to make it work quite right. So I may update in the future, I may not. But I at least wanted to share what I had so far because lord knows we need more SW fics out there. Hope you enjoyed!

Also, I know nothing about UC Santa Cruz so I just based Clu's college on my own, including the story about a haunted dorm built on Native American burial grounds. I think Fi would love looking into that.