“Butterscotch, you are positively my angel!” Elusive gushed as he pinned back the collar. “I cannot thank you enough for this.”

“O-Oh, it’s no problem,” Butterscotch mumbled, hiding behind his pale-pink fringe.

“It took far too much effort to convince Bolero to give me an extension on this assignment,” Elusive muttered around the pins in his mouth. “Can you imagine it: me! Competing in the Manehatten Avant Garde Fashion Show? I can see it now, oh it’s going to be perfect.”

“I—I won’t have to model it there, will I?”

“No, don’t worry. While you do make a marvellous model, they’ll be providing professional models.” Elusive stood back, looking the piece up and down. “Hmmm, I wonder if the organza butterflies are too much. Oh but they took me so long to stitch. What do you think?”

“It’s very pretty… I mean handsome, sorry.”

“Butterscotch, please stop chewing on your hair… it’s such an unsightly habit,” Elusive chided. “But you are right; it is pretty. I don’t mind you saying so; I wish people would give up this ridiculous notion that men can not be pretty.” He absent-mindedly ran his fingers through his hair as he contemplated piece. The dupion silk vest, covered with hand dyed and stitched silk organza butterflies worked well with the pale-cerulean poplin dress shirt. He had fastened the contrasting white French-cuffs with blue-lace agate cuff-links. The white cashmere scarf definitely invoked the imagery of fluffy clouds.

The entire ensemble was supposed to evoke a feeling of nature, of butterflies in a grass meadow. Elusive scowled at the pants, eliciting yet another small ‘eep’ from Butterscotch.

“Oh, I am sorry, Butter-angel. What was I thinking? It’s those pants. Green!” Elusive grumbled. “Such an awful, awful color. I’m sorry, let me help you take this off.”

“Eep!” Butterscotch yelped as a pin caught his ear. Elusive managed to get the vest and shirt off without Butterscotch being pricked by too many pins.

“Very sorry about that, hazard of the trade.” When the pants were removed, Elusive tossed them into a fabric bin. Scowling at them again, he muttered, “Being scraps is too good for you, but I wouldn’t want to risk the rest of my workspace to the fire you so very much deserve.”

“Umm… if it’s not too much trouble,” Butterscotch mumbled as he pulled his clothes back on, “I was wondering if we could talk.”

“Oh, angel, I simply must apologise. You came here to chat, didn’t you,” Elusive dashed towards the kitchenette of the workspace and put the kettle on.

“I mean, if it’s okay with you.” Butterscotch fidgeted nervously. “If you really don’t mind.”

“Nonsense, of course I don’t mind. I’m sorry for distracting you with my work, but I just get so caught up in it at times. I’ve just been so stressed about… oh dear, there I go again…” Elusive grimaced as he looked to the sink filled with dirty dishes. “Oh, does no one follow the rules? It’s not hard to clean up after oneself.”

Elusive ran the water in the sink, cleaning two cups, two saucers and one spoon. “I swear, one day I will own my own boutique, and it will be wonderful to not have to share it with anyone.”

Butterscotch sat down at the table in the small kitchenette, while Elusive prepared their tea. Elusive had exquisite taste in tea, he would be the first to tell you so. Butterscotch pulled out a small packet of biscuits from his messenger bag, spilling his books across the floor.

“O—Oh dear!” Butterscotch placed the biscuit bag on the table and fussed about, trying to get his books back into the bag.

“You seem rather nervous, angel,” Elusive placed the saucer and teacup in front of Butterscotch, who was still ferreting about under the table, organising his books, as well as his own. “Tea’s ready.”

A bang and a small yelp was Butterscotch’s only reply. Elusive sighed, smiling to himself, as he walked back to the sink and grabbed some paper towels to clean the spilled tea.

“I’m sorry,” Butterscotch muttered as he sat back into his chair. Elusive chuckled at the blush spread across the embarrassed man’s face.

“It’s quite alright, Butterscotch. These things happen.” Elusive smiled as he soaked up the tea with the paper towel. Especially around one as timid as you, my friend. After tossing the damp towel in the bin and washing his hands, Elusive joined Butterscotch at the table.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Elusive asked, opening the small packet of Nice biscuits Butterscotch had provided, procuring one for himself in the process.

“I… I think I want to tell him,” Butterscotch mumbled.

“Are you certain?” Elusive sighed, putting his tea down. “I don’t mean to dissuade you, but you know what he is like.”

“I—I know he won’t… doesn’t feel the same way. I just need to tell him, so I can move on.” Butterscotch idly swirled his tea. “I just… I don’t know. I am scared. But I want to be brave, like him.”

“I guess it’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?” Elusive looked into the swirling darkness that was his tea. “Just…” Elusive paused. “Do not be surprised if he does not take it well. He’s known you for a long time, and while it shouldn’t be,” Elusive said, putting emphasis on the word, “Blitz may see it as a big deal.”

Elusive didn’t want to be the voice of reason. He wanted to tell his good friend that everything would work out perfectly, that Butterscotch’s faerie-tale would come true… but he couldn’t. One could never tell how Rainbow Blitz would respond to anything. He was brash; hard-headed; egotistical. Everything was about him, though admittedly that was a little ironic coming from the self-admitted king-of-drama himself.

The truth was, Elusive did not expect a positive outcome.

Butterscotch tilted his head forward, hiding his face in his pink fringe. Elusive was certain he could hear the gentle man suppressing a sob.

Elusive moved his chair around the circular table so that he was sitting next to Butterscotch, and gently placed a hand on the others shoulder. “If that is what you need to do then I will support you, no matter what. And I know Dusk, Berry and Applejack will too.”

Butterscotch smiled weakly. “Thanks, I don’t have a lot of hope, I just need to know, so I can move on.”