“Do not be followed by its commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what is outside, but what is inside that counts.”— Merchant (Aladdin)
may 5 2020 - axel's birthday
"Remind me again why you are making me go home?" Axel tugged on his necktie but the French silk slipped through his fingers only serving to tighten the noose even worse than before. He sputtered a bit, cheeks and nose turning red as the yellow fabric cut into his windpipe. He reached over to slap Delilah, and instead tugged on her hair.
"No! Don't touch!" Delilah smacked him back, the edges of her nails tapping his cheek.
"It's too tight--"
"Men are such babies, I'm in six inches stilettos and you are undone by a bit of silk?" Delilah put down her lipstick, only the top half of her lip done, and reached out to fix it back up. "Stop complaining anyway, I thought you said you wanted to go back home and see your Father."
"Yeah, Father but not Mum!" Axel smoothed down the edges of his cuffs, the little cufflinks were silver-plated loaves of bread, a gag gift from Delilah on his fifteenth birthday but nonetheless well-loved and cared for. "Mum hasn't spoken to me since we graduated, then we get some letter to attend a luncheon at the Manor?"
Delilah hummed as she turned back to applying her lipstick, touching up her eyes, and picking out jewelry, "Maybe they want to make amends?"
"Sidewinder's don't make amends we ignore things to the point of invisibility or kill it!"
Delilah sighed as she put on her moss opals, running her fingers through her dark curls and pulling the hair away from the nape of her neck. "Do me up?" The laces were already tugged snug against her soft frame, but Axel reached over to straighten and tighten the bastardized corset properly. His fingers worked even as his mouth continued a mile a minute.
"I mean honestly what are they playing at - a birthday luncheon! They haven't seen me in three years, no notes or even a Christmas card. At most Roland sees me and that's just cause he's a weird stalker who wants to put me in Azkaban--"
"Roland isn't going to put you in Azkaban," Delilah tugged at the corset's boning.
"-- and then there are the cousins, who are the worst! I ran into Sabrina the other day and she nearly clocked me for helping her out of the muck she fell into!"
"Do you think silver really goes with this dress?" Delilah rolled her shoulders back a bit and tugged on her necklace, squinting a bit.
"To top it all off it was Warren who wrote it out! I can tell it was him, we both do that weird thing with our L's that no one else does. I blame him for the teachers at St. George's rapping my knuckles when I turned in handwritten essays--"
"Axel!"
The corset was far too tight, cinching Delilah's waist as a terrible shade of red blocked up her neck and cheeks. Axel pulled on the strings again, letting the fabric sit snug against her bodyline instead of asphyxiating.
"Sorry sorry I'm just--"
"Nervous," Delilah turned tugging on the low neckline to wrap her arms around his shoulders, tucking her nose into the dip in his chest between his pectoral muscles, her fingers digging into the muscle of his shoulder blades. Axel soothed his hands down Delilah's arms and back. "Listen, it's just a luncheon, if anything goes wrong I'll tie them up with my words and we can come back home. I can go bully Val while you whine about being neighborly then we can get rip roarin' drunk and throw water balloons at Roland while he patrols."
"That does sound good..."
Delilah leaned up to kiss the bridge of his nose, leaving a smear of lipstick in her wake. Axel rubbed at it, the waxy red covering his palm. "You're the best son they could have asked for, just cause they're blind and stupid doesn't mean they can make you feel blind and stupid."
"They aren't stupid."
"Yes, they are if they can't see the wonderful, loyal, and loving son they have in front of them. If you had magic you'd be right there with Roland, in Auror Blacks. And even though you don't have their kinda magic you tried so hard ..." Delilah bit her lip. "You're more than enough Axel, they just act like they can't see it cause it hurts their ridiculous pride." Axel flushed again, tugging on his tie.
"Stop that, we're gonna be late," she fixed his tie again, rubbing off her lipstick and straightening his hair. "Let's go, the quicker we get there quicker we can leave."
Delilah tugged his hand again, smiling, cheeks blocking up her eyes and a bit of lipstick on her teeth. The bubble of air in Axel's chest popped when he looked down at his best friend, and let out a small happy sigh, letting the terribleawfulfeeling go away.
"Yeah, Father hates people being late." Axel walked out of the apartment, watching as Delilah sprayed on her perfume, finished up her hair, and smiled prettily into the mirror.
He held his arm out when she exited, waved to Val who was walking up the street, and clicked his heels together, once, twice, then three times. A loud bang echoed around them as they did a bastardized teleportation to Ipswich, both hoping for a better outcome than what they got. But at least, Axel thought, they had each other.
I have to admit a really good cheesecake is one of my favorites. What about you Lila?
I've always been partial to a dark chocolate ganache tart, but I suppose if I have to settle for something more easily found I'd be fine with a vanilla-lavender creme brule or something along those lines.
