Natalya Dolohova

That definitely seemed to light a fire in Natalya's eyes. Gabriel was well aware of just how much she enjoyed hearing him talk like that and the fact he was initiating it even in the smallest measure whilst he was at work, seemed to do even more to her. "Keep going and I'll be lucky if I can focus on making dinner." Natalya warned the man, her voice a little more breathy. "I'll see what speaks to me when I go to the shop then." She already knew there was food in but sometimes seeing something clicked more. "Oh, you will be."

"I'd love to give you a little more of the specifics but maybe I should leave your imagination to do the heavy lifting until I get home," he replied suggestively. The clock seriously couldn't be ticking slower, Gabriel was convinced he'd start counting down seconds soon enough. "I'm counting on it."

end.

"My answer to that question isn't exactly appropriate for this environment," he shot back simply in response to her. "But in regards to dinner I'm sure I'll love whatever you prepare," Gabe then said. "You sure? I really don't mind," he insisted, smirking lightly to himself, "I mean I figured that was a given either way. I suppose I was just ready to pay interest."

"We've got to stop meeting like this," he joked when she pointed out that they both often ended up feeling this way. Gabe loved whenever she came around to his work, especially since he couldn't really do the same in the way she could at his, but a lot of the time it made him wish he wasn't on the clock. "It will. Do you already know what you want to make?" he asked curiously, figuring centering in on the topic would distract them both in a more productive way. "Do you need to pick anything up from the shops? I can give you some cash."

"As if I would give up this feeling." Natalya scoffed, a little smile on her face. "No, I hadn't decided what to cook yet. I was going to ask you if there was anything in particular you felt like eating tonight." It was for him she was mainly doing it after all. "And you are absolutely not paying me for the groceries. I'd be making food for myself anyway." Just a bit earlier if she hadn't been waiting for him. "If you want to repay me I'm fairly sure you know the type of currency I prefer."

"I wouldn't dream of such a thing," he insisted with a shake of his head when she'd told him not to forget it. It felt nice to know he wasn't being a burden on somebody without letting himself second guess it. Gabe would maybe never be good at coming forward about his problems but whenever he did, he also knew that Natalya was never judging.

After Natalya's invitation for evening plans, he cleared his throat. "I was already pretty desperate for this shift to end so I'm sure you can imagine how I feel now," he replied in a low tone. "That'd be really nice," Gabe added softly when she'd offered to make him dinner as well. To say he felt lucky would be an understatement.

A hint of a smirk seemed to work its way across Natalya's lips when Gabriel coughed. Rather amusingly, she had heard that sound on several occasions before and knew what it meant. There was a certain rush she got from having that kind of power over his reactions. "Oh, I have a fairly good idea. I'm also pretty certain that most of my time is spent feeling that way." She added, not wanting him to feel as though she was immune from the sensation herself. "Good, I'm glad. It'll be nice to sit down and have a meal with you." Not that they didn't do that but after a long shift like Gabriel had been pulling, it wasn't even guaranteed that he'd eat, never mind have a proper meal and sit down with someone for it.

He huffed out a low laugh, "You're really gonna stroke my ego and my trauma all in one go, huh?" Gabe glanced down at the bar top, running a hand over his jaw where her thumb had just been, as if trying to keep the sensation there a little longer. Then Gabe's eyes flicked upwards to meet hers again. They lingered over her features, thinking over everything they'd shared up until this point. The good, the bad– it had all really been worth it even if some of it had been incredibly difficult to go through at the time. Gabe paused, letting a smile tug at one side of his mouth momentarily. “I’m just glad we’re in this together... you know?" he shrugged. He couldn't imagine worthing through all of this with anyone else at his side but her.

When she all but smirked at him, he shook his head lightly with a laugh, undeniably familiar with that particular tonal shift. Gabe leaned on the bar with that familiar lazy confidence and said under his breath, “And you better believe I’m not giving up that either. I know a good thing when I’m tangled up in it.”

"We are; and don't you forget it." Natalya almost seemed to order because if they tackled things together, she knew it would make things much easier to get through. She had gone through a lot on her own and Natalya knew Gabriel had too, it wasn't someone she wished on anyone. There was no time that was lonelier than trying to deal with struggles when you felt like you didn't have anyone to turn to.

Natalya was heartened however to hear the laugh fall from Gabriel's lips when she shifted the mood. It wasn't as though he hadn't done that recently but the sound was a lot less tight and forced than perhaps it had been now that they had dealt with the elephant in the room. "Well..." Came the soft, extended word as she too took a slight lean forward as if sharing a secret with her boyfriend. "If work hasn't worn you out, when you finish I think you have some making up to do after this whole situation. You need to remind me of just what a talent you are." The brunette teased, giving him a loaded glance before putting space between them again. "I can make dinner." Late as that might be given his finishing times.

"I know that," he assured her softly, resting his chin on their intertwined fingers after she'd left a gentle kiss upon his skin. "I know it and if I ever feel like I'm in the place to talk about it with you... I will. But I also feel like a lot of it isn't difficult for you to piece together with what you already know," Gabe then added, letting their hands rest on the surface between them as he leaned back slightly to sigh heavily. It really wasn't something he enjoyed thinking about. Talking about it would be incredibly difficult if he was ever able to bring himself to start the conversation in the first place.

Gabriel nodded, letting the corners of his lips twitch upwards briefly at her gentle teasing. "Well then thanks for being understanding about all of this," he opted for in turn. "Understanding and patient. I know you're not the type to give up on things and it means a lot that you never give up on me either. Even if I don't make it easy for you from time to time," he offered with a weak smile, reaching up to brush her chin softly with his thumb.

Natalya couldn't help but tenderly brush her thumb against his chin, eyes soft as she rubbed the area. She could feel the stubble, light against the pad of her finger, oddly reassuring in its familiarity. "No, I suppose it isn't. I don't want to jump to conclusions though." Natalya added with a wry smile, well aware that kind of behaviour could get a person into trouble. It was a loss she found herself disliking when Gabriel finally pulled back once more, the conversation causing her to want to seek out that closeness but her choice of battleground didn't really allow for that kind of contact. It had been with intention that she'd picked his bar though. It was much harder for him to escape her probing.

Natalya had to give a bit of a scoffed laugh at Gabriel's appreciation though. "Babe, if we're doing comparisons when it comes to things like that, you're a god damned angel next to me. I have quite literally had you find out one of the worst things a person could probably drop into a conversation and you still stuck around. How could I possibly complain in return?" Natalya pointed out before a suspicious smile drew over her face. "But the fact you're great in bed also keeps me around... I couldn't possibly give that up over something so small."

trinitytrelawney

"I suppose I'm one of the rare ones who find their family's legacy fascinating. I can't imagine not having followed a career path at least adjacent to what my grandmother and mother did," Trinity admitted with a shrug. "Although I can imagine having the pressure to do something that's been in a family for generations can be incredibly crushing if it's not what you want to do with your life."

"I suppose that heavily depends on the kind of legacy your family has left behind. It sounds to me you are one of the lucky ones." She couldn't say she had the pleasure of being able to agree with her on that. The legacy her family left behind was fairly marred. "You sound like you're all very close though."

#c:trinity

thecdcredubancwski

"Ouch," Theo replied in mock hurt but then grinned, "Of course, I'm in. Let's do it but I am happy for you to decide where we go. I feel like my brain is too plant-addled to make decisions on where to go," he admitted with a chuckle.

#c:alessandra #sdhqclosed

"You know, you really do leave yourself open to comments like that, Theo." She laughed, because she always found a way to tease him. Theo was quite innocent in his comments, he was sweet and often endearing. It was perhaps why she enjoyed mixing it up so much. "You're one of those that either likes a woman in charge or are simply indecisive. Which one is it, Theodore?" Natalya asked playfully.

#c:theodore

"I don't know about you, but I need a girls day. One that starts with morning Mimosa's, continues with a luxury mani and pedi before continuing on with some serious shopping. And if I enjoy watching you try on outfits more than I should... well that's just part of the experience." Natalya flirted playfully with Alessandra. Even though she was loyal to Gabriel now, she never could seem to resist flirting with people, and particularly the woman in front of her. "I'll even buy you dinner."

@alessandramacnair

trinitytrelawney

"I just see it happen. A lot of students receive pressure from their families to follow a certain path and it's not always something that aligns with what they personally want," Trinity shrugged, thinking to the conversations she'd had. "It definitely does."

"Yeah that does happen to be the case far too often." One she was well versed in herself but it wasn't a topic she would venture into with someone she didn't know too well. In fact there were only a few she was completely comfortable discussing her world before Hogwarts with. "But I take it you are not one of them."

#c:trinity

"It's nothing that I don't necessarily want you to know," Gabriel explained, "It's just that I have a hard time talking about it. It's not something I'm good at and it just... hurts," he confessed with a shrug. Gabriel hadn't kept things in the dark about his upbringing, especially considering the Gossip Witches had hung him out to dry about it in the past already. But sure there were some nuances that even they couldn't possibly know about that Nat was surely curious to know more about. "But I know I can speak to you about anything. I can confidently say that is never a doubt for me," he assured her.

"That is fair," he nodded lightly in reply when Natalya had pointed out that he would've wanted the same from her if their situations were the opposite. "But I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that I'm happy with you, Nat. I hope I never do or say anything that makes you think otherwise," he squeezed her hand back affectionately in response to her gesture. "And I'm sorry I didn't just communicate my reservations. Just because they're hard to talk about for me doesn't mean I can get away with not giving you an answer."

Entwining their fingers, Natalya brought his hand up to her mouth, pressing a kiss to the skin gently. "I'm glad you feel that you can talk to me. I'll be ready whenever you want to talk about it but if you don't that's also obviously an option." She didn't need to know all the details of his life. As long as she knew where she stood and that he was able to come to her if he ever did want to talk, the rest could wait.

"Trust me that if you ever did or said anything that made me think otherwise, I'd let you know about it. I'm not exactly known for my subtlety." Natalya pointed out, giving him an amused smile. "I mean you communicated them... mainly by appearing like a startled deer when it was mentioned." She pointed out with a soft laugh. "But yes, I would prefer if you were open with me. At the end of the day, I don't want you to be worrying about things that we can hopefully fix together. That's what being in a partnership of any kind is about. You need to be able to rely on one another." And she did rely on him. She trusted him implicitly. "And I'm not going to throw a tantrum when you have opinions or feelings you need to convey... well most of the time..." She added on as an afterthought because occasionally she was somewhat overzealous with her responses. "And if I was, I like to think that after a short time to consider everything, I'm fairly level headed and reasonable in how I deal with things."

As she took his hand and eased his mind about the subject of marriage, Gabe sighed. This had been a constant hurdle in relationships for him. The talk of marriage and children and other things people traditionally expected from a relationship. It had taken Gabriel a long time to be comfortable with being someone's boyfriend, who knew how long everything else would take. He was so afraid of letting someone down or ending up exactly like his father somehow. Like he had some sort of invisible curse hovering over him, waiting to take action the second Gabe was too happy and comfortable in something. "Of course I choose you, Nat," he spoke earnestly, this thumb running over the back of her hand, "You wouldn't give me the choice otherwise after all," he then added in a more playful tone. He hated the air feeling heavy around them. Even if Natalya was assuring him that all was well, Gabe still had to shake the discomfort and heart-wrenching memories that this topic caused him.

At Nat's next question, his face almost twisted into one of horror. Had his fears come to light to an extent? Had he not made Nat feel appreciated or loved in the way that he could never perfectly put into words? Was she not feeling like she was getting what she wanted from the relationship? "Have I given you the impression that I'm not?"

"Then that's all that matters to me." Natalya assured Gabriel again when he said that he did choose her. Not that she had been too concerned of course but she couldn't pretend like his reaction hadn't, at least for a moment, made her wonder if she had missed something despite how intuitive she normally was. "And you would always have a choice with me, Gabriel. In all situations. I know there is something behind all this and when you're ready or if you ever want to discuss it with me, you can." They both knew that she had shared something terrible with him. There was nothing they couldn't talk about.

What Natalya didn't expect was his physical response to her words. That hadn't been her intention at all and a part of her very much regretted the place she'd chosen to confront him in that moment because there was no easy way for her to comfort him in the way she wanted to when he was at his place of work. She was still trying to respect the boundaries that he had put in place. Instead she gave his hand a tight squeeze at that. "Of course not Gabriel, but it felt important to me to ask that after how you responded. You've been avoiding the conversation and I wanted to make sure that the reason for it wasn't because of something much deeper; because of how you felt with me." She explained softly. "I want you to be happy no matter what that entails. I've always felt that we are but it caused me to want confirmation that I'm wasn't wrong. Would you not want the same from me if the tables were turned?"

alessandramacnair

"I'll be honest... I hadn't considered it," Alessandra replied softly when Nat had asked her about her and Silas' stances on marriage. "Not because I don't see a future with Silas, but more so that marriage was something both of our parents put so much pressure on. And neither of us necessarily feel that pressure from ourselves– at least that's how I interpret it," she shrugged. "But if that was something he wanted I... I wouldn't say no," she considered with a little smile. "But I don't need it to be happy with him either. Much like the way you feel with Gabe."

The gentleness to Alessandra's tone when she talked about it made Natalya smile and gave her any answer she might have needed. "I'm happy that you're in a relationship where you can see the future so clearly with them, whether or not that includes marriage, it's obviously something that is long term."

#c:alessandra

charliewatscn

"Well surely there's someone you can ask advice from that's more knowledgable about it than I am," she replied simply. "But it tells me a lot about you that you want to insist on my aid even if I'm averse."