⊷ boathouse

@－ ❛ ʀ ❜：eleazar azorra-shin。⁰²   Looking at his wristwatch, he read the time and realized he was 5 minutes late to the meeting. Normally he would lose his calm, being yet again late to another rendezvous, he was aware it was a bad habit but he lost track of time easily. However, he tried to keep his good mood by telling himself 'it's ok. you're fashionably late'. The sky above him was clear, and the full moon shined among the stars illuminating the night sky and the forest beneath it. His left hand left the broom that he was flying and reached up in pursuit of following the path of the twinkling stars with his fingertip, tracing the distance between the dots and connecting them with an imaginary line. Tonight Cassian was flying in the direction of the familiar boathouse where he was to meet Eleazar.

‘What was the other like? What would we talk about? ’ he thought to himself excitedly on the way there. He had heard little about him from Mal and Henri, only a few passing mentions of what an excellent student he was and how he had won their team many quidditch matches. Before joining quidditch, Cassian would still attend the games to cheer Henri on, and that had been where he saw the Ravenclaw seeker for the first time. Admittedly, the boy had looked beautiful flying. Perhaps the others stayed silent about him since they wanted him to meet Eleazar on his own and to judge his character after getting to know him. Cassian tried to not have prejudice about people, although sometimes he could not help but to do so, which made him upset since he reminded himself many times to not judge a book by its cover. He had learned that from first-hand experience.

He saw him from afar, sitting on the edge of the boathouse's roof, quite an odd place to be considering the steepness of the roof. He did not question it for too long and instead dived from the sky, flying a turn around the other before slowing down enough to swing his right leg to the left, slowly jumping down on the roof in front of Eleazar. Sheepishly apologizing for being late while fixing his hair which was likely messy after having flied without having a hat on. “Hey, that’s a cute little jar of bluebell flames you have there.” he said, smiling as he pointed at the jar before sitting down beside Eleazar. "These are for you, I baked today and thought you might like some." Cassian passed him the small container full of chocolate chip cookies.

@－ ❛ ʜ ❜：cassian faye。⁰³ [ aaaaaaand here it is bb! i'm sorry if this is a lil overdue but here ya go! ❤️ ]

a faint breeze caressed his slight petite form, coaxing him to huddle a little more snug in his thick overcoat. it was a nonetheless chilly night despite it not snowing, but the cold never did bother him whenever it came to his frequent nightly escapades. he could always rely on the trusty convenient bluebell flames charm anyway, and he currently had a small jar of said magical wisps tucked securely in an inner pocket to keep him sufficiently warm as he waited patiently for the arrival of his companion. he even brought along a spare jar should his companion require it for himself.

cassian faye. eleazar had obtained his contact through one of his (boy)friends (who also happened to be cassian's dormmate, unbeknownst to him) for reasons still unknown to him when the former settled in, but began striking up a conversation with him regardless. he would like to think that they had hit it off pretty well, and despite never having formally met the other in person, eleazar had heard of the other's flying abilities if the accounts from henri were anything to go by. the match of hufflepuff against slytherin was the first time he saw cassian physically, and though his competitive nature sized cassian up to be a formidable seeker with skills to boot, another part of him couldn't deny that there was something attractive about cassian's abilities. in short, he developed an instant crush on the other.

some social media interaction and a few texts later, he managed to secure a formal first meeting with the mysteriously dashing seeker that had caught his attention (and interest), hence his current circumstances. he was earlier than the other male, but he didn't mind the wait. there were no hard limits or restrictions imposed on them after all, they had a good amount of the night to spend with each other before they had to retire, and thankfully for the both of them (or so he inferred from the general tone his companion used in their messages) they didn't have any morning lessons the following day. he swung his legs lightly back and forth as they hung over the edge of the boathouse's roof, his chest bubbling with light excited giddiness.

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：alexander caelum。⁰⁴ Of course he'd make sure she got all her favorites in this simple little basket - a basket that was so much more than just that, sitting so innocently in front of her while it felt as if she's readily place her heart inside of it for him to take it away, the way he cared having her chest tighten. "Yeah", she admits with a smile, taking another sip from her drink, avoiding his glance when he grins up at her suddenly, reckless and handsome and everything she ever wanted. It was too much like their summers together, the way he had laughed and back then and nothing changed, apparently, for she felt her cheeks heat up at the memory of running her fingers through his hair in a different, less innocent way. Not too long ago, on top of that. Snorting into her cup she rolls her eyes, reaching out almost blindly to scrape her fingernails through his hair, right above his ear. "It probably would look stupid if you wouldn't shave the sides, though", Alethi mutters, startling when he sits up. "What are you- hey!"
Her outburst is followed by him wrapping her up in his arms, her hand still stretched out for her cup he so daringly took from her and yet she goes willingly, all but melting into his hold, head pillowed on his shoulder. She feels small, next to him like that, fingers playing with a crease in his shirt while she looks up at the ceiling of the boathouse, humming. "True", she confirms around a smile, turning her head into his neck in a moment of reckless abandon, pressing her lips to the edge of his jaw. "But this is just fine with me. You know I've always preferred to be outside anyways, no?" She falls silent after that, just lying next to him with her face tucked away into his neck, before she whispers: "I could easily fall asleep like that. Thank you for... for all this, Alex." His name has clogging up, the words barely reaching his ears probably, but she just wraps her arm around his chest, pulling herself impossibly closer, her eyes still closed. "I think I needed that, you know? Just... just cuddling, I mean."

@－ ❛ s ❜：alethi winters。⁰¹ The situation they were caught in seemed wrong, unease spread throughout his body with a tinge of awkwardness between them after the kiss. Acting upon his emotions seemed to be rather quite the mistake as it had pushed them further away from each other rather than pulling them back together as it was supposed to. “Right, you never were. But you still got your favourites, don’t you?” The conversation about food had been supposed to break and ease the situation, however all her emotions seemed to hit him through her gaze, the hint of sadness, the emotions that he couldn’t find a name for. Had he ed up? Oh, what kind of question was that, of course he had. Breaking from the kiss and then moving away must have given her the wrong idea about how he actually felt. The touch of her hand burned on his skin even though it were just her fingers brushing a strand of his hair away. “Do I?” His own hand ran through his hair and ruffled it, grinning at her as the lock fell back in front of his right eye like a veil. “Maybe a bun will look y on me.” Knowing that he had to ease the situation, Alex sat up lightly to take the cup with hot chocolate from Alethi’s hands. He placed it somewhere next to the blanket and then wrapped his arms around her waist. In a quick motion, he pulled her to lie next to him, pressing her slender body against his own. “I’ve been waiting for so long to hug you. It’s hard to find a place to snuggle around the castle.”

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：alexander caelum。⁰⁴ "Oh, I don't know", she shrugged at his question, eyes still lingering on his face as her smile dimmed. "You just do." His hand in her hair had her startled, a shock running through her body at the sudden connection of their lips and yet she leaned into him readily, yielding against him and the way he had his fingers tangled in her locks, their kiss unexpectedly soft, like the touch of a feather. It had her heart nearly jumping out of her chest, one hand curling against his chest, the fingers she still had on his jaw slipping down to his neck, pressing ever so slightly against his pulse. When he parted from her she was disoriented, stunned into silence as if frozen in time, even when he was already moving away. "It's fine", she muttered, clearing as her fingers nervously combed through her hair, a small pang of doubt stinging in her chest, eyes following his movements. Every cell in her wanted to just lie down next to him, tuck her head into the crook of his neck and fall asleep. And yet she couldn't, uncertainty clawing at her soul. He was just being nice, she told herself, biting her bottom lip when she finally turned her gaze away and back to the basket, fingers absentmindedly playing with the hem of her dress, pulling her coat across her legs once more as a shiver wrecked through her body. "I'm not a picky eater...", she told him slowly, opting for a sip of her hot chocolate, the paper cup pleasantly warm against her cold fingers, the rim resting against her bottom lip when she spoke again. "You really don't have to try so hard, Alexander. This is already more than I could have ever asked for." When she looked back at him, there was a hint of sadness in her gaze, a storm of emotions written on her features she didn't have a name for. It was a dangerous concoction of affection and doubt and still she allowed herself to reach out, brushing a stray lock of his hair out of his forehead. He was just being nice after what had went down in the bathroom, she told herself, drawing her shoulders up towards her neck. But it was so easy to look at him right now and imagine that he wasn't. That he felt the same as she did. "You need a haircut", she suddenly said, hand retracting as if she had burned with that simple touch. "It's getting so long you'll be able to tie it into a bun soon."

@－ ❛ s ❜：alethi winters。⁰¹ Was she just as flustered as he was? The question danced in his mind as both of them seemed to be so shy about what was the first real, official date they had ever had. “I hope I’m a cute idiot at least. Everyone keeps calling me that.” He chuckled lowly. However, confusion rested on his face as her laughter rose in intensity without any explanation following about what had caused it. For a moment he stared at her like a lost puppy as it was just what he felt like. His body froze into a stature as her thumb brushed over the corner of his lips. As if a button had been pressed in his body, his heart did a million somersaults in his chest beating up to his ear in such an immense intensity that he heard nothing but the pulsation of his heart. It was hard to form words in his mind since his whole body was in hyperventilation mode, something that didn’t transfer to the outside as he still sat there like a lump of ice.
“Making you melt? How so?” Her words finally pulled him out of his trance and back into reality. Her hand still lay on his face, her lips so close that he could have surprised her with a kiss—it was what he did, his own hand burying itself in her hair only to close the remaining distance between them. A kiss so soft that it was nothing but butterfly wings brushing against each other, still so intense that his heart had decided to explode once more. “Sorry...” He whispered as their lips parted. Had he been allowed to do this? Alex felt as if he had to give her some more space, to wait until she would want to be close to him. Thus, he let go of her to stretch himself out on the blanket, a pillow tugged beneath his head. “I hope this is food that you enjoy.” He said, trying to break the tension with a mundane conversation.

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：alexander caelum。⁰⁴ His comment had her cheeks flaming, a nervous hand smoothing down the seam of her dress over her thigh, the black tights she wore underneath catching at an edge of her fingernail, making her wince. He'd seen her in every variation of a dress by now, she was sure of it. She'd been wearing dresses during their summers together, had been wearing a dress that fateful day the storm had caught them off-guard, irreversibly transforming their friendship to something more. She had seen all of him as well, had memorized the expanse of his skin until she knew it like the back of her hand. But this felt like uncharted territory, as if the thing that had been broken between them was now mending itself, like a broken bone, becoming weirdly stronger as it was healing. It was at the tip of her tongue, tingling at the tips of her fingers. "Thank you", she quipped, quickly turning her head away from him to hide the blush now residing on her cheeks, clearing as she started rummaging around the picnic basket for some cups and the thermos flask she had spotted earlier. "You're an idiot", she whispered around a laugh, rolling her eyes at him fondly before turning back to him, only to stop dead in her tracks, her laughter rising in intensity. There was a little crumb of pastry stuck in the corner of his mouth, effectively distracting him from the utterly detracting hand he had on her knee. Her features softened at his words, her eyes creasing at the corners with the brilliant smile that lit up her face as she was reaching out to him, leaning closer while she did so.
"Hold still", Alethi mumbled, thumb brushing over the corner of his lip to rid him of the crumb, eyes glued to his mouth even after it was gone. "Idiot", she repeated but there was no heat behind the word. Just affection, while her hand lingered on his face. "Are you set on making me melt today?"

@－ ❛ s ❜：alethi winters。⁰¹ He had never felt this at peace with anyone else before, it was only Alethi with who he could share a moment like this which would soon be a cherish memory in his heart. Her laughs and grins warmed his heart as if those gave him the energy to live. She truly was his sunlight, the only one who would ever make him this happy. And while he could admit all this to himself, the word ‘love’ was stuck somewhere deep down in the darkness he had built himself just because he was too scared of the tiny chance that she still felt different, that even with moments like these a second chance would not be granted for them. Maybe it was easier without a label even though he was just as scared of her slipping away from him. “You chose a beautiful dress.” He commented with a smile on his lips that he hoped would overplay his flustering. “I don’t think that many people set up a picnic in a boathouse.” Alex chuckled even though he knew what she meant by the conventional stuff. Dates had never been what they had labelled their days as, maybe because of not leaving each other’s side until they had to sleep, on days when they hadn’t spent the night together. 
“Share with me whatever you choose.” The pumpkin pastry was delicious and he was glad that he had managed to organize all this for her. Mindlessly, his fingers caressed her knee that rested on his thigh as his eyes were glued to hers. “You’re really beautiful, do you know that?” He says it as if this was the first time ever that he noticed even though he had been enchanted by her beauty as a young kid already.

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：alexander caelum。⁰⁴ "Of course you did", she laughed, face tucked into his neck to hide her brilliant smile. Her cheeks were starting to smart from the amount of grins he had already pulled out of her, her body seemingly having taken over on its own accord. Clearing she let go of his coat, smoothing down the fabric tenderly, patting his chest a couple of times when she said: "I'm not worrying. Okay maybe I am but... I just don't want you to put so much effort into this while all I did was put on a nice dress and called it a day." She chose not to comment on his flustered look, instead scooting a little bit closer, pulling a pillow from between them to be able to settle against his side more comfortably. "Why? Isn't that obvious, Alex?" Clicking her tongue teasingly at him, she shook her head, reaching out for the basket to pull it closer. Peeking inside, she shot him another glance, eyebrows raised. "I think I'm nervous because we've never... you know... done all the conventional stuff? You... you are making me nervous sometimes." It was an easy confession, sounding far more nonchalant than she was really feeling.
Her fingers were dancing over the various food items he had brought, a hum falling from while one of her fingers tapped against her chin in thought. "What do you want? I'm actually not picky. I might have skipped breakfast to be ready on time, though." Finally deciding on a pumpkin pastry, she leaned back again, offering him a bite of the sweet treat, elbow supported by the leg she had propped up, knee resting on his thigh.

@－ ❛ s ❜：alethi winters。⁰¹ “I used the levitation charm of course but I couldn’t use that with everything at once, would have bumped into quite a few people with that amount of pillows. And I carried the basket because I was scared of the food being messed up if I wouldn’t have been careful.” Once they sat down, Alex was close to complaining that Alethi had used to cover her legs. It wasn’t like she had to hide from him, he could have warmed her with his fingers gently caressing over them. “I’m glad that it is.” He had been quite unsure if this was enough and if it had been a good enough idea for a date. “It wouldn’t have been a surprise then. I enjoyed preparing this for us, don’t worry about it.” His heart raced in his chest as her smooth lips suddenly met the skin of his cheek. Even with everything that they had done before, this was still just as much of a surprise to him, almost flustering him to the point that the slightest tinge of rosé appeared on his cheeks. “Why are you nervous?” He questioned as if he himself wasn’t the most nervous wreck right in that moment. His hand caressed over her upper arm and he was tempted to just pull her onto his lap and kiss her until their lips were tired. However, being obtrusive might have just pushed her away so he restrained himself from connecting their bodies in a kiss. “Do you want to eat or drink something?” He gestured to the basket.

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：alexander caelum。⁰⁴ His remark made her chuckle, the rose slowly sinking in her grip as she shrugged softly. "I might", she warned him before rolling her eyes at him fondly. "Alex you're a wizard... did you /honestly/ carry all this down here? You're out of your mind, really." For all her complaining, she was already smitten by all his efforts, the blankets and cushions he had placed on the ground looking more than cozy and inviting - but truly, if someone would have asked her, she would have readily preferred to sit on his lap instead, the weather just cold enough for her to be afraid to catch a cold. And yet he had tried so hard, had surely bugged the house elves in the kitchen for the food he had brought, she bit back the remark that was lingering on her tongue and followed him down on to the blanket, sinking down on it with her coat carefully wrapped around her legs as best as she could. "It's perfect, stop worrying", she told him then, reaching out to pat his upper thigh, fingers squeezing just briefly atop the muscles there. "I could have helped you, you know?" Alethi's words were silent but humorous, her eyes twinkling with just the slightest hint of reprimand. "But..." Following the sudden burst of courage she felt spark in her chest, she leaned over towards him and pressed her lips to his cheek, fingers curled into the lapels of his coat when she whispered: "Thank you. And now stop trying so hard you're making me nervous."

@－ ❛ s ❜：alethi winters。⁰¹ “Of course I’m taking this seriously. Why wouldn’t I?” Her whispered words had perplexed him because this date was by far more important to him than anything else had been throughout the school year and even the time before that. A content smile played around his lips as Alethi took his hand and followed him. Even just holding her hand had his heart beat a little faster immediately, it would never be able to calm down in her presence. “That’s true.” They had done way more than this, had seen each other’s souls and bodies, had been united more than once, days and night of sneaking off to find a quiet spot where they had been able to be together just by themselves. “I changed a few times too.” He admitted. Usually, he wasn’t the type to stress over clothes but this time it had been important, every little detail was supposed to be perfect. Once they reached the boathouse, he opened the doors to reveal his surprise, all the efforts that he had put in it. “Why are you pointing your rose at me like you want to curse me with some spell?” He chuckled. “Maybe an hour or two, carrying everything from the castle to this place took the most time.” Behind them, he closed the door again to keep the cold air from entering through it. He guided Alethi towards the blanket on which he sat down himself. “I hope it’s comfortable like this. I wasn’t quite sure if this will be soft enough to rest here.”

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：alexander caelum。⁰⁴ "Milady", she snorted, rolling her eyes at him for what felt like the millionth time in her life but the remark that was lingering on her tongue fell short at the sight of the flower he procured, heat rising in her cheeks. "Oh... Oh my you're taking this really seriously", she whispered, reaching out to gingerly pluck the rose from between his fingers before taking the hand waiting for her. His fingers felt blissfully warm in the crisp November air, her own as cold as ever as they dared to lace between his, linking their hands together. It had been a horrible choice to wear a dress, no matter if it was meant for cold weather or not, her body instinctively seeking out his warmth as they walked towards the boathouse together. "You know what's funny?", she mused, giving his hand a squeeze. "I was so nervous earlier I changed like seven times... And we've done far more than gone on a date..." her words grew more silent with each word she spoke, falling quiet all together when the door to the boathouse swung open to reveal his efforts. "You....", she started, mouth almost falling open in awe. Almost. Spinning around she pointed the rose at him almost accusatory, her eyebrows knitted together above her eyes. "how long did this take to set up? Are you insane it's.... It's just me, alex..."

@－ ❛ s ❜：alethi winters。⁰¹ The preparations had taken him quite some time but every second of it his heart had warmed at the thought of spending time with Alethi, an official date. A nervous feeling controlled the pit of his stomach just as much as excitement did. It took him some final touches before he was satisfied with his creation. A blanket was spread out on the ground in boathouse, what seemed like a millions cushions and pillows were placed on top, and a basket with food and drinks for them was placed at the side of the cozy area. He was lucky, even for this time of the hear it wasn’t too cold outside and the boathouse had been heated. Still, the temperature moderate enough for them to cuddle against each other. Gazing at the area one more time, he left the boathouse again as he texted Alethi earlier that he would pick her up in the quad. Alexander already saw her waiting as he reached the spot. “Milady.” He grinned as he turned himself into an idiot just to have her smile. “For you.” He held a rosé rose out to her that he had hit behind his back. Then, he held his hand out waiting for her to take it so that he could lead the way.