crossover_chick | Think I've Picked out a 25 Foods

So here, have Prompt 12:

12. Gummy Bears
He was sitting on that bench again. Sometimes Alice wondered if he secretly lived there. It seemed that, every time she passed by, there he was, with his headphones on, a book in his hands, and a snack next to him. Today it was a bag of gummy bears, which he was mechanically popping into his mouth one by one.
Alice watched him for a few moments. She’d been observing this young man for a couple of weeks now. He’d caught her eye one day as she wandered the campus – a tall, pale figure in black hurrying through the crowd. Something about him had intrigued her – she couldn’t pinpoint what, exactly, but something did. She’d found herself following him occasionally when their paths crossed, watching where he went, what he did. And she’d located classmates of his, and asked a few casual questions. She didn’t think it was quite stalking – she wasn’t peering in on him as he slept, or building elaborate shrines to him in her room. She simply wanted to learn more about him.
And she’d learned a fair bit. The young man’s name was Victor Van Dort. He was the son of the insanely rich fishing magnate William Van Dort. He was nineteen years old and a freshman at the university, majoring in entomology and minoring in music. He was quite fond of the classical masters, and apparently was quite the gifted pianist himself. He seemed to be known for having girl trouble – his parents were said to be trying to force him into a relationship with Victoria Everglot simply because her parents were descended from a grand duke. And a girl named Emily had admitted (with a lot of embarrassment) that she and Victor had had a brief, disastrous relationship while she was on the rebound from being dumped by her previous boyfriend. Most people knew him as a loner – polite to a fault, but painfully shy. And practically everyone she spoke to, at some point, called him “just a little weird.”
Maybe that was what drew her to him. People called her “weird” too. Of course, she’d spent ten years in an asylum after her parents died, so maybe the label was justified in her case. Not that she really minded, either. She preferred weird. Weird was a lot more fun.
She wondered if Victor felt the same way.
There was only one way to find out. It was time to stop beating around the bush. Alice gathered up what she thought of as her “muchness” and sat down next to him – close enough to be friendly, but not close enough to be in his personal space. She frowned at him for a moment, wondering if he’d hear her should she speak.
It was a needless worry. His subconscious seemed to sense things had changed, and prompted him to look up. He started, nearly dropping his book. “Oh!” he said, pulling off his headphones. “I’m s-sorry. I didn’t see you there.” A pause. “Hello.”
“Hi,” Alice replied, smiling. “How are you?”
“Er – f-fine. How are you?”
“All right.”
There was another pause as both tried to find a way to continue the conversation. Then Victor picked up the bag next to him and held it out to her. “Gummy bear?”
Alice wasn’t all that fond of sweets, but she was hungry. And she suspected Victor would be rather disappointed if she refused. She was sick of making bad first impressions. “Thank you,” you said, reaching in and picking out a few. She held out her free hand. “I’m Alice.”
Victor smiled and extended his own hand to shake. “I’m Victor. It’s very nice to meet you.”
Alice still wasn’t quite sure what drew her to him. But, judging by the way her heart fluttered just a little when he smiled at her. . . . “The pleasure is all mine.”

-TTV: Oh, so you did write me and Alice in the present day.-
Yup -- meet the modern AU pair. They're both college students -- Victor's education being funded by his rich dad, Alice's by her inheritance and some scholarships. I don't know what inspired me to match it to this prompt, other than the image of a modern-day Victor wearing headphones, reading a book, and eating gummy bears. Also, is it obvious what movie I'd recently been to see when I wrote this? :p
-M: 'Muchness' might be something AMA Alice might use.-
Maybe. I just thought it sounded good, and was a nice little reference to boot. At any rate, all it is is a little fluff about their first real meeting. Don't you just love how Alice says she wasn't quite stalking him before? XD
-D: Question of the day: do you think an A:MR Alice would like gummy bears or not?-
I honestly have no idea. We know she likes cake, but that doesn't really mean anything. It's kind of a moot point, anyway -- I don't think they had gummy candy in their "native" time period. Hence another reason for the Modern AU.

I hope you enjoyed that -- now exhaustion is catching up with me, so yeah, later.