@❛ estelle ysolda egan。 disregarding the weight of history between her and his friend, as well as his own with another, the pair basked in the rays of sunlight illuminating them with much insouciance. as he snacked on the chips himself, his gaze drifted over to her, eyes roving about her features. her sharp eyes held ever-lasting fatigue, the excess remaining in the dark circles ringing them, as if holding unsavory memories that plagued her at night. then belying them was a kindness, seldom found in their house. caring about others beside himself was a weight he told himself not to carry, but he fears the other didn’t have the same memo.

unheeding to her tepid command, a simper crossed his features, brightening his stern demeanor. mirth, making the occasional appearance, glimmered in his eyes. oddly enough, this conversation, with a coworker nonetheless, lowered the barriers built around him. slowly, but surely.

“how could i not? not with your big head obstructing my view.” he quipped back at her, though with the lingering sentiment that she made his view left unsaid. “also you should try and eat more, you know, just to feed that ego of yours. and so we can make more progress at that brain chamber. those things can be pretty hefty.”

mischievous laughter escaped his lips as he reveled in his lighthearted snark. yet, as minutes passed by, he pondered if his delirium got the best of him. finding his chronically tired, borderline scrawny, taut as a bowstring, coworker attractive?

but his joviality came to a halt as he listened to her inquiries. curiosity can be gleaned in her tone, but he found a tinge of doubt underlying as well. before answering, he chugged down the liquor, pushing down lingering anxieties towards his plans. “well, there’s only so much you can do with quidditch. even something as vast as the sky has its limits. and frankly, they’re not limits i’m interested in pushing. you would be surprised by how insufferable quidditch players can be.” he tittered after his last remark, lacking the ease he had earlier.

@❛ alec greenwood。 if one shall ignore the man’s usual snark, alec would not look so bad himself. his chiseled features basked in the afternoon glow of the sunset ahead. his unruly crown framed his face in all the right places, covering his fox-like orbs with wispy strands and shrouding them in some semblance of mystery. the bags underneath his eyes mirrored her own, a testament to the sleepless nights they shared within the confines of the death chamber. yet, nothing can compare to the small smile that adorned his face, an unabashed showcase to his amusement of her, and the longer estelle stared, the longer she became smitten.

ah, the loneliness must be getting to her.

ignoring the tease, the woman, instead, focused on the pile of chips in-between them. alec was correct in his assumptions; it seemed that she was feeling quite ravenous today. “can’t remember,” she simply replied, capping off another drink as he did his. she stuffed a chip into her awaiting mouth, and then another, and the pits of her belly grumbled in protest for her efforts. she really could not eat as much now, can she?

estelle flushed at the realization of seeming like a famished poor girl. quietly, she pushed the box towards him, her face reddening each second. “don’t look at me like that - you would not feel so grand as well if you. . .skipped a few meals, you know?”

she pressed the bottle against her lips and chugged down its contents, an attempt to throw her thoughts off course. it was a little unbecoming to eat almost a fistful in succession, not to mention in front of a co-worker. a man, nonetheless. however, the alcohol did nothing but to merely cloud her thoughts in a daze. estelle, after awhile, decided that the best course of action was to distract him from any more thoughts. “it’s quite. . .surprising though - how did you go from quidditch to. . ..working with me? and quite tirelessly so, if i daresay. is flying now boring to you, mr. greenwood?”

@❛ estelle ysolda egan。 chilly and overcast weather in london often comforted him on lonely nights. at work in the ministry, when he worked on his “passion projects” inside or outside. the sound of the rain pattering on the shingles of his apartment. alec was accustomed to the frigid winters from montana, to the point where the freezing cold transferred over to his soul.

exhaustion lingered in him from the previous nights, figuring out the logistics in the limits of the human body and their capability in absorbing magic, all in the death chamber. numerous trials and errors add up in passing, details that remained to be suppressed in the department of mysteries. but the conversations he had with estelle seemed to interfere and meld into his thoughts about their anatomical experiments.

a feeling of warmth—not caused by summer heat—welled up within him, as he spent more time with her. and it’s a feeling entered uninvited, a tenderness for another human being that was left unheeded to. and it irritated him, as if it’s an itch he can’t scratch away.

as he approached her, with a box of ‘chips’ and a couple of alcoholic beverages in his hold, he felt the urge to roll his eyes at her comment, even with the fatigue wearing down his eyelids.

“you don’t look so peachy yourself, stelle. since you find yourself so amusing, maybe you should go for a circus troupe then.” a smirk formed on his lips as he sat next to her on the bench, popping the cap off of the bottle of liquor as the box of chips was freed from his grip.

the river stretched for many miles, from the bridges afar to the twilight overseeing their usual sitting spot. glancing at her, he noted how ravenous she was while indulging in their snack, a look of concern briefly crossing his face before settling into his default stoicism.

“don’t tell me that’s your first meal since yesterday. but hey, you can take the entire box if you want. but—“ reaching over to take some pieces for himself, he made a segue for his next comment. “not before i get my fill.” then he drank out of his opened bottle.

@❛ alec greenwood。 the vanilla twilight was much more vivid today, the sun merely peeking at the horizon before it slumbered after a day’s work. estelle sighed as her gaze lingered at the purplish sky. finally — being afforded a few days of rest after consecutive sleepless nights was merely a reprieve, a minute diversion from the exhausting project she had chosen to dive into.

yet, despite the grueling research, she found it quite. . .enjoyable, oddly so. perhaps, it was the familiar company of an acquaintance (a friend?) that allowed for the whole process to be less tedious. that, or she was merely excited for the outcome like she always had been. even so, she surely did enjoy her partner’s warmth amidst the coldness of the death chamber.

she could not help but wonder — when was the last time that she had felt comfortable around someone?

her thoughts were interrupted by a man approaching the bench she had chosen, a box of chips and two bottles of drinks in his hand. his visage shared the equally deep bags that she had been sporting beneath her eyes for the past few days and estelle could not help but laugh softly at the thought. downing what seemed to be the last few drops of alcohol in her bottle, she scooted over and made room, tidying the space between them.

“look like you’re about to topple over, alec,” she mused softly. when was the last time she had genuinely been amused? “more than the food in your arms, in fact. here, let me?” estelle gently reached out to pluck box of chips from his arms. though quite full just by the sight of it, she dug into the pile, nonetheless, only pressing a small one into before settling the food unto the bench.