#p.ethan

[ambivalent-auguries]

[lucy--r]

Instinct || Lucy & Ethan

Ethan goes over to Lucy’s room to learn how to play the guitar but it quickly turns into a drama filled night revealing feelings neither one expected.

Ethan: The past few hours had been dreadful for Ethan, most of the people in the house were an unbearable pain and his thoughts were a scattered mess. It seemed like everything he did went wrong and he sure as hell needed a distraction before he went absolutely mad. Whilst being at the Academy he had met a few people, none really sticking out to him, but that wasn’t anything new. He pushed people away; it was something he had grown up doing— nothing he did could change it, especially not now. He had started talking to Lucy earlier in the day and he couldn’t deny the fact that she was pretty, because she was— and it was interesting how talking to her came so easy to him, that was new. In a way he felt actually felt nervous to be meeting up with her, not because he was interested, but because anyone he actually got to know ended up getting metaphorically fucked.

Ethan sat up in his chair, stretching some before slipping t-shirt over his bare torso. He grabbed his phone, slipped on his shoes and made his way out into the hallway. Hurriedly, he made his way towards Lucy’s dorm, completely oblivious to where he was going. He remembered her saying something about the south wing, but he couldn’t remember the room number- fuck this. After a few wrong turns, and a couple of questions, Ethan finally managed to find the brunette’s dorm. He stood in front of her door for a few minutes debating if he should knock or just forget about it—Lucy seemed innocent and he was tired of fucking with people. After giving himself a few minutes for his thoughts to fade away, he quickly knocked on her door, waiting her answer.

Lucy: Despite being new to the school, Lucy was already much happier there than she ever was back home. She was used to being the different one, the freak. But at the Academy, everyone was different in their own way and it made her feel more included. That was probably why she started letting people in so easily despite telling herself prior to attending that she wouldn’t; too many people close to her had hurt her already. Inviting Ethan over was a move that surprised herself to no end, she had never asked a boy to go over before. What if he thinks I’m after something else? She had heard about him from other people and seen him interact with some of the others, he seemed like the time to screw then ditch. She shook her head to clear the thoughts, Lucy knew better than anyone what it was like to have people make assumptions that weren’t true, she wouldn’t do that to someone else.

Lucy flopped back on her bed next to her guitar. She picked it up and mindlessly started plucking at the strings, staring at the ceiling and letting her mind wander. She concentrated on the dark orange alarm clock she had on her bedside table until it started to float. Lucy smiled, she never got tired of her powers. The guitar was set aside forgotten as Lucy made the clock whizz around the room.

A knock the door startled her and broke her concentration making the clock crash to the floor. For a second she wondered who it could be. Then she remembered and a million doubts flashed through her brain. What if he doesn’t like me? What if I’m just an annoying little girl to him? What if he’s just playing me? - the what if’s were endless. Lucy didn’t have the power to tell the future so it was pointless worrying over it, taking a deep breath she opened the door reveal Ethan. Giving him a smile she widened the door and let him in.

Ethan: As he watched her open the door he knew it was too late to back out, so he but on his famous douche bag façade and gave the small brunette before him his best smile. “Hey—what’s up, babe?” He gave her a small nod as he stepped inside, his eyes wandering, absorbing every unique aspect Lucy had added to her room, every color, every shade. He remembered hearing that you could learn a lot about a person simply by looking at their surroundings, and at the possessions they held dearest—that was something that had stuck with him since before he could remember. He focused his attention back at Lucy, hoping that she hadn’t caught him looking around her room, but then again he didn’t really care if she had noticed—he had given up caring about people’s opinions a long time ago. He wasn’t really sure of what to do, he wasn’t typically awkward, in fact he was usually loud and obnoxious so his own quiet startled him a bit.

“How long have you been playing?” He asked, noticing the guitar on her bed and making his way over, he hoped that she wouldn’t mind—he leaned down and held the smooth wooden guitar in his hands, he wasn’t going to admit that he had been playing guitar since before primary school, he had picked it up at a very young age. He found it intriguing how she seemed so eager to help him learn so he was just going to play along until he dug himself in so deep there was no way out. “So are you going to blast music? Or are we just gonna stand around?” He gave her a small smile, his fingers tracing the neck of the guitar.

Lucy: As he walked into her room and looked, she took him in: his tall stature, dark hair and smouldering eyes he glanced at her with. She ducked her head when he turned back to look at her hoping that she wasn’t caught staring and that her hair would cover her blush. She walked over to where the alarm clock was in pieces on the floor to avoid looking at him. She picked it up and waved her right hand over it, sparks of electricity flew from her hand connecting her flesh and the metal of clock as the pieces magically assembled themselves together. She made sure to put all her concentration into fixing the clock so that she wouldn’t accidentally start staring at Ethan again. She was really starting to hate her past self; she wasn’t good at one-on-one meetings, though sometimes she acted cocky and confident, it was really just a wall she put up to keep people out and so they won’t notice how insecure and self-conscious she was. She put the fixed clock back on her night stand next to the framed photograph of her parents and elder brother with her all beaming out of the picture. She turned to face him with a grin on her face. “Ever since I was little, it’s a nice way to pass the time and…” she paused unsure as to how much she ought to reveal about herself to this boy. “And…I write songs to get my feelings out,” she finished quickly.

As he picked up her guitar and examined it, she had to hold herself back from reaching out and taking it back, it was one of her most prized possessions, her brother had given it to her on her thirteenth birthday. She gave him a smirk when he looked back up at her. “If we blast music, how are we supposed to play the guitar?” She sat down next to him on the bed and took his left hand placing it on the fingerboard and arranging his fingers for the cord of C. She could feel the heat radiating off him from their close proximity, it made her slightly squirmish. Making sure his fingers were positioned correctly, she finally looked back into his eyes and smiled, “Now strum.”

Ethan: Ethan stood there cautiously watching her as she reassembled the previously shattered clock, things like that were fascinating to him. He knew that he could potentially have any power he wished for, but to have full control like Lucy did would be something that he would never achieve, and though he never said it—it did bother him. “That was pretty fucking amazing, how long did it take you to master your talent like that?” It surprised him that he had actually found it in himself to care, but what surprised him more is that he had said the word talent as if these ‘gifts’ they had were good. If anything they were more like a curse, or once you cause enough harm that’s what it starts to feel like. He listened to her voice doing his best to distract himself from his thoughts, “You write music too?” he licked his lips out of instinct, “I’d like to look at it sometime—if it’s not too personal … feel free to tell me if I overstep any boundaries.” He laughed some, his eyes lingering on hers for only a second.

He grinned, “You said we’d be starting with air guitar, so that’s sorta what I was expecting.” Shrugging some, he rubbed the back of his neck. /just how the fuck am I supposed to pretend to know nothing about the one constant thing in my life/. Shaking his head to help get rid of his thoughts he managed to somewhat focus his attention back on Lucy and the smooth guitar in his hands. He grinned; the feel of the guitar in his hands was welcoming, homey even. He stiffened a bit as he felt her presence beside him; he wasn’t used to being so close to someone without it leading to more intimate situations, regardless he kept himself controlled. He grinned as he felt her warm hand adjusting his fingers on the strings. In that moment he bit hit tongue and said nothing simply because he knew that anything he said he would regret a second later. Nodding his head, he broke eye contact and began to strum the guitar, he was careful not to move his fingers—lying came easy to him once he felt pressured.

Lucy: She looked up after placing the clock on the table finally answering his question, “I’ve had a while to get used to my power, ever since twelve. As if going through puberty wasn’t hard enough, right?” She laughed to hide her nervousness. Lucy didn’t know what compelled her to revel to him so much about herself but there was something about him - maybe his face, maybe his entire presence - that made her want to trust him. It was probably the worst idea, but she couldn’t help it - he seemed genuinely interesting in her, something that hadn’t happened positively in a long time.

Upon him mentioning that he had heard her when she mentioned she wrote music made her freeze for a second but she regained her cool a second later and smiled coyly at him, “Yeah I do,” she replied, “I’ll show you later, maybe.” She flushed a dark red realizing that she had forgotten all about starting with air guitar. It was too late to take back what she had said so she continued teaching him.

As he strummed she watched his face, he looked like he was concentrating a little too hard. The sound that came out of the guitar was in tune but didn’t quite flow as well as she was used to hearing. She cocked her head to the side scrunching up her eyebrows trying to figure out what he was doing that was different.

"You look really stiff Ethan, you can relax you know? I already promised that I wouldn’t laugh and I’m not going to eat you," she teased with a wink. "And playing will probably come a little easier to you once you do stop tensing all your muscles. Here," She pulled the guitar out of his hands and into her own and started playing a short riff.

Ethan laughed some as she took the guitar from his hands, “Look I get that I may be a shit guitar player right now, but this is one of the first times I’ve ever held one of those so cut me some slack, babe.” He shook his head, the traces of a smile still on his face, “You’re really good, but that only makes me feel intimidated— how can I relax when you’re intimidating me?” He laughed some his fingers drumming to an undecipherable beat on the tops of his jeans. He recalled to the moment not so long ago where he had made her blush upon bringing up the air guitar idea, he had found it endearing, and in the end he was glad that she had chosen to go with the actual acoustic because it gave him a chance to get to know her better. “Tell you what, I’ll promise to be less tense, if you promise me a movie after this” He reached for the guitar, carefully taking it from her hands and holding it in his own. “Sound like a fair deal?”

Lucy rolled her eyes, “I ought to be good I’ve only been playing it practically my entire life.” As he started tapping out a rhythm on his jeans she focused her eyes on his fingers trying to figure out what exactly the rhythm was then realized it probably looked like she was staring at his crotch. She quickly averted her gaze and trying to say something hoping he wouldn’t notice, but she ended up only making weird inhuman noises. She was mortified at herself. God, he’s going to think you’re such an idiot now. Luckily he didn’t seem to notice and just took the guitar back from her. “A movie, huh?” she focused on his face to keep herself from doing anything stranger. She couldn’t deny that she wanted to spend more time with Ethan but she didn’t want him to think that she was desperate. “I don’t know…” she paused dropping her eyes into her hands before looking back up at him. “It really depends on how well you play, and then the movie choice.”

Ethan stiffened his upcoming laugh, doing his best to not fully burst into fits of laughter. He was hoping to spare the girl the embarrassment, not that she should feel embarrassed for any reason, but he knew how’d he feel if the situation had been reversed so he averted from making it worse. He looked down at the guitar in his hands, and positioned his fingers like she had taught him moments before, his eyes scanned back up to look at her. “C’mon, babe, I don’t bite— it’s just a movie nothing more.” He rolled his eyes playfully, beginning to tap his foot, it was something he always did before he played as well as during. “In that case you might end up hating me.” He licked his lips, arranging his fingers so that they were resting comfortably on the frets of the guitar. He began playing the introduction to one of his favorite songs, by Passenger, it had been a while since he had played, so his fingers stumbled on a few notes, but he quickly got his rhythm back and the music began to flow fluently. He continued playing, his eyes averting from his fingers to meet her gaze. His face softened, from his previous state of concentration, and he playfully winked at her. His fingers stopped moving and he gave her a small smile. “I think you owe me a movie.” Raising his eyebrows a small chuckle escaped his lips, “I learned that online— before coming here, I promise”

Lucy widened her eyes as she recognized the song that he was beginning to play; sure he stumbled over a few notes to begin with but the way he strummed and the way he changed chords was too smooth for him to be a beginner. She couldn’t believe that he had ‘just learned it’. “A movie, right…” she trailed off tearing her gaze away from his and staring at the ground. Her heart dropped to her stomach. She was really beginning to like this boy and it turned out that he was just another one who lied to her probably to hurt her in the future. Now that she thought about it, their whole relationship had been based off a lie. Despite how much she tried, she knew that her face held an expression of hurt and betrayal, but she didn’t want him to see her so vulnerable, so she unconsciously turned her body to face away from him. “You’re right, I might quite possibly hate you,” she whispered to herself under her breath. Once making sure her mask of indifference was back she turned to face him. “Do you think I’m an idiot Ethan?” she asked keeping her voice calm. She took a deep breath, she was letting him get to her and she couldn’t have that happen. “Just tell me why you did it,” she looked up at him through her long eyelashes knowing that her voice cracked a little but refusing to acknowledge it.

Ethan looked at her, a hint of confusion washing over his face, “You’re not an idiot— I just— I thought it was endearing how you got excited about teaching me so I decided to go along with it.” He gave her a hopeful smile, unsure why he felt bad— that was something entirely foreign to him. In truth he hadn’t meant to hurt her, and yeah he felt bad but he was mostly confused about why she had taken it so badly. They had known each other for a few days, it made no sense to him. “Why the fuck are you getting so pissed at me for?” He could literally feel the anger bubbling inside him, it didn’t help that he felt himself losing control because that just made him feel worse. He stood up briskly, softly setting the guitar on her bed, “I knew this was a dumb idea— but I don’t see what I did wrong.” He shrugged his shoulders some, “All I did was moderately lie about my ability to play guitar— or lack thereof.” He looked down at her, a feeling of guilt spreading through his body.

Lucy knew that he was right, it wasn’t a big lie, and she really shouldn’t have been freaking out so much about it. But the fact of the matter was that she had only known him a couple days and maybe she didn’t have a right to judge him because of that, but people a lot closer to her had lied to her face and it never ended well. She could feel her anger boiling up inside her and that always came with consequences; with her guitar in the room, she couldn’t let her powers start controlling her, also she tended to reveal a lot about herself when she was angry and yelling. So she turned to face away from Ethan and tried to take deep breaths to calm herself down. She knew it wasn’t working from seeing out of her peripheral vision that small things in the room were levitating slightly. Still she didn’t turn to face him. “Right, just go along with it,” her tone was bitter, she spun around to glare at him. “Are you sure it wasn’t just so that you get close to me then sleep with me and leave me the next morning and tell everyone what a slut I am? Or was it so that you could eventually use my powers for your own purposes?” her voice was rising in pitch and volume with each word. As she spoke all the terrible memories that she had been blocking flooded back into her mind and she collapsed to the ground hugging herself tight as if that would somehow hold the broken pieces that made up Lucy together.

Ethan rolled his eyes, his fist clenching as he tried to control the anger clawing away at his throat. “I don’t want to fucking sleep with you, Luce— I don’t want to be a fuck up anymore, yeah?” He licked his lips, his right hand rubbing the back of his neck, “You don’t fucking know me enough to know what type of person I am. Don’t just assume that I’m trying to get laid.” He could taste the bitterness of his tone, but he couldn’t help it, he was truly tired of people thinking that all he did was sleep around. It seemed that they all forgot that he had feelings too and he heard everything they said. He had actually stopped sleeping around, but the flirting was a second nature, an uncontrollable second sense. He looked around the room as he noticed the objects levitating all around him, he was distracted for a bit before hearing her next words. “Why would I—- I don’t care about these stupid powers, I never have and I never will— all they’ve done is mess up my life to the point where I can’t even recognize it anymore.” He did his best to swallow back the pain, why would she think that? Did he really come off as that much of an asshole. His anger began to dissolve as he saw her collapse on the ground, her arms wrapped around herself. What the fuck am I supposed to do? He had never been good at comforting people but he decided to try anyway, he knelt down on the ground beside her his hand rubbing her back slightly, in truth he was afraid to touch her, he had already caused enough damage. “Don’t cry— ” He bit his lower lip unsure of how to continue, he wanted to pull her into his arms but at this point felt that walking out of the room would be a better option, regardless he stayed, that wasn’t something he did often. “I’m sorry.”

Lucy tensed up when she realised how she made it sound like she thought Ethan was a horrible person. She felt his presence on the ground next to her and against her better judgement she leaned into him for support. “I’m sorry Ethan,” she said between breaths, “I didn’t mean it that way…” she trailed off unsure of how to continue. She didn’t want him to change his opinion on her – even though she probably already did by yelling at him. She didn’t want him to be like all the others and either look at her disgusted or as if she was a victim. She laughed nervously looking up at him, “Ordinarily I’d be incredibly offended that you said you didn’t want to sleep with me.” It was a weak attempt to lighten the atmosphere. She sighed knowing that she couldn’t keep avoiding the subject. “It’s just—It’s just that people have done things to me and,” her voice broke, “I just don’t want you to-” She stopped talking before she said something to offend him again. “Thank you for sticking around, I don’t usually have panic attacks and most people would have just left, so thanks.” She gave him a small smile still leaning into him and feeling his chest moving up and down he breathed to slow down her own breaths.

Ethan began to rub small circles on the small girl’s back doing his best to comfort her, he wasn’t sure if he was doing any of it right. He had never been in this position, he had never witnessed a girl break down and look so vulnerable, it made him feel like absolute shit since for the first time it occurred to him that he probably caused others too feel this way. The idea itself was quite repulsive, but it was probably one of the most truthful thoughts he’d had. “Don’t apologize for anything, yeah?” he unconsciously pulled the brunette into his lap, his fingers intertwining with hers. “I’m sorry though— for lying to you.. Really I am.” He bit his lower lip, trying to hold in his laughter at her attempt to make lighten the mood. “I didn’t mean that I wouldn’t want to sleep with you, I just meant— well that wasn’t my intention for coming here.” A small smile appeared on his lips as he focused on the sound of her voice, “Luce— I can’t promise you that I won’t hurt you— because I’m a fucked up piece of shit— but even though I’ve only known you for a few days, I can promise you that I’ll try.” What the fuck am I doing? It amused him how even though Lucy was physically vulnerable at this point, he was completely vulnerable in an emotional level, he wanted to blame it on his ability, but he knew there was something more. “You’re welcome, babe— just forgive me for being so shitty at this.” He shrugged, suddenly aware that he was holding her hand, he quickly pulled it away, not wanting to make her anymore uncomfortable. “I’m sorry.” Letting out a long sigh, why do I always do this? He debated getting up, but decided against it for Lucy’s sake. “I’m here if you want to talk about it— since you know I literally am here.”

Lucy was surprised when he reached out to hold her hand but she didn’t say anything, instead she buried her face in the crook of his neck. “Of course you’d want to sleep with me, who wouldn’t?” she half joked letting her cocky persona show through a little. After a moment of silence she said, “You keep calling me Luce, no one’s called me that since—since my brother died.” She finally let a single tear drop from her eye at the thought of her beloved late brother. They had done everything together; she didn’t have many friends so his friends were hers too. When she had gotten bullied in the school they were in, he demanded that they both change schools. He was her best friend and it was her fault he died. “You aren’t a fucked up piece of shit,” she said scrunching her eyebrows up at him upset that he thought so poorly of himself; without thinking she reached up and touched his face. “I honestly don’t care what you were like before, I don’t know whoever you were in the past, all I know is how you are now and you’re pretty rad.” Rad Lucy? Who the hell even uses that word anymore? “I know it seems unlikely especially after my little break down but it usually takes quite a bit to hurt me, it was just a mixture of things building up to the point. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” She slipped her hand back into his tracing circles with her thumb. “You already apologised for lying to me, you have nothing else to be sorry for.” She laughed at his attempt at a joke. “You know, you never told me what your power was.”

Ethan felt strange as she mentioned the origin of the nickname he had come up with only hours earlier. /leave it to me to choose the nickname with a painful back story./ It wasn’t like it was anything new, things like this always happened to him. “I’m sorry, Lucy, I didn’t mean to remind you of that, scout’s honor.” He sighed, feeling rubbish; somehow this day had turned out to be exactly what he had expected, sure there were a few twists here and there but he still managed to mess up one way or another. “Don’t cry, yeah? Please?” Ethan wasn’t sure of what to do, and it was frustrating him how he couldn’t truly help her. Shaking his head, he smiled some as she tried to revoke his previous statement of being a fucked up person. “You can’t say that I’m not, love but thanks, I appreciate it.” He felt his smile grew in intensity as she placed her warm hand on his cheek. “You’re a pretty rad person too, babe.” He laughed a bit, finding amusement in the clever word play. It surprised him when she took his hand back in hers, now that was something he wasn’t expecting at all. He tightened his grip around her hand a bit careful not to apply too much pressure. “Well, in that case, I’m sorry for apologizing twice— or three times now..” Ethan wrapped his free arm around her small waist and pulled her closer to his body, even more so. He shrugged some,”Yeah well my power is something I tend to avoid speaking about.” He licked his lips, for what felt like the twentieth time that day, “But I’m an empath which basically means I can replicate powers and a lot of times it requires an emotional connection— but that’s only sometimes.” He rolled his eyes playfully,”It’s a really dumb gift— it’s caused me a lot more pain than gain.” He readjusted himself on the floor to try and get more comfortable, “Hey, do you want to go do something? Or we could just chill here and cuddle— I don’t mind one bit.”

Lucy smiled reassuringly up at him. “It isn’t a big deal, I- I kind of like that you call me Luce.” She grinned when she felt him tighten his grip around her, it made her feel a little more secure. “You apologise a lot, you really shouldn’t.” Being apologised to wasn’t something that she was used to – usually people said she deserved what happened to her – so Ethan saying sorry made her feel a little strange. As he pulled her closer to him, she snuggled into his chest breathing him in, a smile seemed permanently stuck to her face. Whilst he spoke of his power she looked away from his face hoping it would make him a little more comfortable to speak about it. She started tracing the lines on his palm with her fingertips to keep herself preoccupied. “Your gift sounds pretty amazing, you could do anything.” She grinned up at him. “Does that mean you have my power now? Can you show me?” she flushed and looked down, “I mean if you want to, you did just say you don’t like it.” She shifted in his lap feeling uncomfortable with how she had probably sounded really insensitive asking him to show her his power when he had just said he wasn’t a fan of it. “What exactly do you have in mind? Though, if you are planning on staying here and cuddling, we might want to move to the bed, it’ll be a little comfier.” She added quickly, “I was not insinuating anything.”

Ethan nodded his head some, feeling a bit better at what she was saying. “Good, I’m glad, because I actually really like the sound of Luce.” He laughed a bit, did he actually apologize a lot? In truth he couldn’t remember the last time he had truly apologized and meant it— aside from a few minutes ago. He tried to focus on what she was saying, but he had to admit that the tracing of his palm was quite the distraction. It took him a second to catch her questions, his mind preoccupied with other thoughts. “Oh erm, yeah I can show you— just can we do that another time?” It wasn’t that he didn’t want to show her, it was just that he didn’t want to end up hurting her— his abilities were only as good as his control and his control was below mediocre. “We can watch whatever you want— just no chick flicks, those aren’t for me.” He laughed, “No— yeah I know, alright then get off me you freak, if the bed’s more comfortable then lemme on int.” He grinned, jumping up from the floor, holding her hand and pulling her into him, “By the way I heard there’s a bonfire sometime this week, we should go.”

Lucy looked down at her hands again, she knew she shouldn’t have asked to see his powers. “Of course, it’s fine!” she said trying to sound nonchalant. “Back to the movie idea then—I’m actually feeling the need to watch a horror movie right now, I am going to entrust you to pick a good one.” She grinned at him getting out of his lap. She was taken by surprise when he pulled her standing into him. She flushed and quickly backed off, it was weird that she was suddenly so aware of their proximity when a second ago they had been a lot closer. Her eyes widened at his next sentence. “Are you saying you- you actually want to go with me?” She was stuttering and she hated it but there was something about him that made her nervous, maybe it was those gorgeous chocolate brown eyes that seemed to read her soul.

Ethan covered his bottom lip with his teeth, before breaking out into a smile. “You know it’s nothing against you right? I just don’t want to lose control and set your bed on fire.” He laughed, thinking about the benefits of horror movies— he’d get to cuddle with her. He didn’t usually bother with things like cuddling but at this moment he didn’t mind, maybe it was because Lucy made him feel like a better person, she made him forget just how much of an ass-hole he truly was. He wasn’t surprised when she pulled back from him, he had actually expected that to happen sooner so it didn’t really bother him. He shrugged his shoulders slightly, something he did when he wasn’t sure how to continue. “I mean— yeah? Unless you don’t want to go with me in which case I said shit.” He squinted his eyes slightly hesitating a bit, “or we could do something else— some other time. I don’t know— fuck Lucy I’ve never asked shit like this before…” He smirked, running his fingers through his hair, whilst taking a few steps closer to the small girl. Ethan pulled her close to him, entwining his hands with hers, he grinned down at her, his eyes looking into hers; it wasn’t until that moment that he realized just how much he wanted to kiss her, but he refrained. He had hurt enough girls already, so maybe getting close to Lucy was a bad idea. “So, that movie?” He raised his eyebrow slightly, “Leggo.”

Lucy felt her heart beat a little faster as he bit his lower lip, it made him even more attractive than before. Shelaughed, “Right, because the last thing we want is my bed to be set on fire. My powers don’t even have anything to do with fire. Or is it that someone else’s power that you have might come through? Does that mean you get to keep their powers forever?” Lucy blushed knowing that she was asking a lot about something he didn’t want to talk about, his powers were just very intriguing. She giggled at how awkward he was being at asking her out, she had always seemed he was the type to play it off coolly. “Of course I want to go with you,” she smiled bumping his shoulder. “I just didn’t think I’d be asked and you don’t seem like the kind to like going to these things. Either way, it’d be nice doing something just the two of us at a later date.” She wrapped her arms around his neck once he pulled her closer to him and hugged him tight before pulling away a little and letting him take her hands in his. She grinned up at him noting how much taller he was and the fact that she’d have to tip-toe to be able to reach his lips and kiss him. She flushed at the thought and was thankful for him saying something else. “You still haven’t picked love.” She reminded him gently still not backing away, for some reason she liked being that close to him.

Ethan shook his head slightly, playfully rolling his eyes. “That’d be tragic, you sleep on that bed. But yeah it’s another power I came across— it was here at the academy actually. A girl named Skylar,” Ethan paused, he wasn’t exactly sure if he wanted to reveal all of his current thoughts to Lucy, but he felt that it’d only be fair to tell her about his powers —considering she opened up to him about more sentimental things. “It’s sorta like the lottery, sometimes I acquire a power that I’m able to keep with me, but other times the power goes as quickly as it came.” He shrugged some, “It truly depends on my ability to control it as well as the connection I have with the person—- either good or bad.” Over the years he had acquired a vast amount of powers, only half of which he could fully control, he was always scared that one of them would get the better of him and he’d end up harming someone again. He broke into a smile when she agreed to go on a date with him, he was actually excited. “Yeah? Cool.” He did his best to look collected and not half as happy as he actually was, “Yeah well what can I say I’m full of surprises and yeah, I agree.” He pressed his forehead against hers, completely lost in the tone of her voice, he gave her an almost unnoticeable smile as he saw her blush, he found it quite cute. He licked his lips, his eyes traveling down to her soft lips, “Yeah movie, um let’s just watch The Conjuring—- god I want to kiss you so fucking bad.” His breath caught in his throat as he heard himself say those few words, fucking shit.

Lucy couldn’t understand why she felt a strange feeling in her stomach when Ethan mentioned the other girl. The feeling intensified even more so when he said that he needed to have a stronger connection to keep the power. The feeling was completely foreign to her. “I’m assuming you don’t have much control over most of them and you’ve ended up hurting people and that’s why you don’t want to show me right now. But that’s okay, we’ll go find somewhere else where you can show me without being afraid of hurting me or anyone around. Besides,” she smirked, “I can protect myself.” She couldn’t help but smile at how happy the prospect of going on a date with her made him, it had been a while since she was able to influence someone else’s life so positively. As he pressed his forehead to hers she tried to maintain eye contact but him licking his lips made her eyes dart down to them and she knew her eyes were dilating some. “The Conjuring sounds good,” she barely whispered still looking at his lips. His next words surprised her; she didn’t expect the feeling to be mutual. “Do it then,” she urged her eyes fluttering close.

Ethan smirked when he heard her mention that she could protect herself, there was something he found so intriguing about girls who could stand their ground and hold their own. “Your assumptions are spot on, and I’m sure you can protect yourself, babe— but I like to take precautions.” He shrugged, grinning as he noticed that she too was occasionally looking at his lips, he had enough experience to know that it was a good sign. Soon enough he felt a tingling feeling in the pit of his stomach, it spreading through every corner of his body as he stared into her chocolate brown eyes. “The Conjuring it is then.” Ethan licked his lips, his hands sliding down to the small of her back. He pulled her even closer to him, leaning down so his lips were only centimetres from hers, “If you wish.” Their lips met slowly, brushing lightly against each other before he deepened the kiss, the palms of his hands pressing harder against her sides, his fingers caressing the silver of exposed skin.

Lucy forgot to be jealous the moment his lips touched hers. Her pulse sped up and she hoped he couldn’t feel or hear how hard and fast her heart was beating. She ran her fingers through his hair like she had wanted to for a while until she reached the base of his neck where she locked her fingers and pulled him closer to deepen the kiss even more. A shiver went through her as she felt Ethan’s fingers touching her bare skin. It’d been a while since she had last been kissed without any ulterior motives being involved. She bit his lower lip smiling into the kiss. What the hell are you doing? She asked herself as she found herself falling for a boy she just met.

Ethan loved every second that followed the moment he pressed his lips on hers; the feeling of her soft lips on his, her hand in his hair, he loved it all. He held back a groan as he felt her biting his lower lip; bites, love bites or bites in general were his weakness. His heart began beating at a rate faster than usual, instinctively he licked her bottom lip, silently asking for entrance, at this point all his thoughts had vanished and he was completely focused on the girl before him. He slipped his hands under the edge of her shirt, allowing his hands to slide further up, his fingers stroking her skin softly. He knew that if he continued he wouldn’t be able to stop himself, but self-control had never been his forte.

Lucy could feel his heart beat picking up because of their close proximity. Feeling him trace her bottom lip with his tongue made her instinctively let him in. She allowed her hands to slide down his back tracing the hard planes of muscles. His fingers against her skin, the cologne he wore overwhelmed her senses. As his hands slid up her shirt she jerked back bumping their noses and breaking the kiss. She was still in the circle of his arms breathing heavily. “I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered feeling her entire face turn a dark red. She could feel his breath on her face and it made her want to kiss him again. “It’s just that…” she sighed sitting on the bed and patting the spot next to her. “The last time I was in a situation like this…it wasn’t quite as…” she looked away from him biting her lip. “Consensual.” She finally finished quietly half hoping he wouldn’t hear.

Ethan smirked as she pulled away, he had been expecting it to happen so it didn’t surprise him as much as it stung. He grinned, placing his hand on her cool cheek, “Don’t worry about it— it’s fine.” He gave her a small smile, his fingers tucking a few loose strands of her hair behind her ears. Looking into her eyes, he let a warm smile appear on his face, “You don’t have to explain yourself to me Luce.” He placed his hands on both her shoulders, before sitting down next to her. He didn’t really hear what she said at first, but after he did he sat there unsure of how to proceed. “Oh shit, Luce— I mean— I’m so sorry, I don’t want to push you into anything, yeah?” He didn’t want to admit that her last few words angered him, he shouldn’t have been bothered that someone had forced her into such things, but he was— extremely. He took her hand in his and began to rub circles on her palm, “If you want to talk about it, then I’m here”

Lucy leaned her face into his hand as he tucked her hair behind her ear, she smiled back up at him. She wondered what exactly it was about her that made him like her and treat her differently from everyone else; besides having her power she was pretty mediocre and didn’t stand out. “It’s okay Ethan,” she smiled up at him, “it was just your hormones controlling you.” She teased bumping his shoulder. From the way his whole body had tensed up she knew that he had heard every word she said and she wanted to lighten the tension. She rested her head on his shoulder and squeezed his hand gently. “Hey it’s okay, I’m alright and there isn’t anyone left you need to kill.” She tried to comfort him but seeing that he wasn’t any less tense she leaned in and kissed his jawline before pulling back to look into his eyes. “Calm down, okay Ethan? I’ll tell you later if you want to know.” She gave him a reassuring smile. She muttered to herself, “I’ll have to tell you anyway if we do eventually end up sleeping together.” She gave him another peck on the cheek before grinning up at him. “Let’s watch that movie, yeah?”

Ethan rolled his eyes as he heard her mentioning his lack of self-control, “It’s always the hormones, huh?” he grinned, bumping his shoulder back against hers playfully, “If you say so.” He bit his bottom lip as he listened to her speak, he laughed a bit, “I wasn’t planning on killing anyone, Luce, just a bit of harm, no killing.” He tilted his head towards her as he felt her lips on his skin, feeling that strange feeling in his stomach again. “I’m calm, I promise.” He gave her a weak smile, doing his best to calm the anger bubbling inside him. He heard her next few words, but decided to avoid mentioning them for his but mostly her sake. “Let’s watch the movie then, babe.” He leaned back on her bed, his hands crossed behind his head, “Where exactly are you getting the movie from?” He grinned at her, grabbing her hand and pulling her closer to him, “Do you even have it?”

Lucy buried her face in the crook of his neck again. “There’s no one left to kill so you don’t even have to worry about it,” she tried to sound cheerful, not that it mattered – her voice was muffled anyway. “You’re still pissed about it, but you shouldn’t be. I don’t like seeing you like this,” she frowned poking the side of his cheek to make him lighten up. She smiled happily as he leaned back and lifted his arms up to cross behind his head revealing a sliver of skin where his t-shirt rose up. Lucy blinked and averted her gaze before she was pulled down into his side by him and let out an involuntary squeal. She flushed upon realising that she didn’t have any movies with her. “Um, I do not. I’m hoping you do because you’re the one who suggested it to begin with.” She gave him a look sitting up. “Is it in your room?” she asked her eyes growing wide as the prospect of going to his room and seeing the place in which he lived.

Ethan shook his head, “I’m not pissed about it, babe— I’m just curious.” A smile appeared on his face as he heard her next few words, “Yeah well how do you like to see me? Because so far you haven’t seen a joyful Ethan.” He shrugged his shoulders running his hand through his hair, “Hell I haven’t seen that Ethan in a while.” It was true, for the longest he could remember he hadn’t ever been truly joyful or truly happy, but maybe it could all change for him soon. Ethan grinned down at the girl lying next to him, his fingers running up and down her arm, drawing small circles with his thumb in the process. He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable so he avoided asking anymore questions although he was tempted he was able to control himself, “I have Netflix and other sites on my phone— can you connect it to your TV using your god sent skills?” He sat up a bit, pulling out his phone, and handing it to her without a second thought. “Or erm, we can go look at the movie collection in my room if you want, although I’ll warn you know that it’s small and probably not that interesting.”

Lucy chuckled, “I can feel the curiosity radiating from every pore, but if you don’t want to ask I’m fine with that.” She smiled at the boy as he ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t like seeing you upset or angry. As for the joyful Ethan, I’ll make sure he’s around a lot more now.” She curled up and snuggled into his side and rested her head on his chest closing her eyes feeling content. As he ran his fingers up and down her arm she got a strange feeling in her stomach but she decided to ignore it. Instead she took his free hand in hers and intertwined their fingers. She laughed when he spoke of her powers. “I suppose they’re somewhat ‘god sent’.” She sat up with him and looked at him surprised when he gave her his phone without any hesitation; it’d been ages since someone trusted her that wholly. It’s just a phone, probably doesn’t have anything special on it. “I’m fairly sure that even without my so-called gift I’d be able to hook it up.” She attempted to sound nonchalant. Holding onto the phone she turned back to look at him as he spoke. She shrugged, “It’s up to you, it’s really a question of do you want me to see your room or not.” She looked back down at their still joined hands and smiled.

Ethan grinned, licking his lips as he listened to her talk, “And how do you think you’ll manage to do that.” Ethan loved the way her body fit next to his, he smiled down at her noticing how peaceful she looked with her eyes closed. He squeezed her hand a bit as she spoke, “Oh they’re definitely god sent” he laughed a bit as he saw her take his phone, he was actually a bit surprised that he had handed it over so trustfully. He shook his head, “I bet you could, hell even I could— but you need a cable to hook it up, and I don’t see one.” He stood up from the bed and pulled her up to him, “Yeah? Ah, Luce, If you want to see my room all you have to do is ask, babe— no need to be so nonchalant.” He chuckled a bit as he walked out the door and towards his room, his hand still holding hers.

Lucy stuck her tongue out at him. “Have you not been smiling a lot more since coming here?” she questioned with a smirk. “I think it’s just being in my lovely, amazing presence that will make you want to jump for joy.” Lucy lifted her head off his chest to glance at her TV for a second, she didn’t see any of the right cables nor did she sense any with her power. “I could probably construct the right cable with the existing ones,” she said to herself looking quizzically at the mass of wires surrounding the TV. For someone with powers to do with technology one would think that she’d be a lot neater when it came to assembling things together. “I didn’t say I wanted to see your room, you just assumed,” she stated allowing him to pull her into a standing position. As they made their way out of her bedroom she pocketed his phone with her free hand. She wondered what his room would look like – whether it would be messy like her brother’s always was or if he was neater, whether he had a special drawer like she did where he kept all the things that he held most dear to him. Lucy couldn’t help but be extremely excited about the prospect of seeing Ethan’s room.

Ethan laughed at how adorable she looked, “I think it’s because of your amazing presence too, or maybe it’s just the alcohol in my system.” He pursed his lips for a bit a playful smile on his lips, “I’m joking, I’m not drunk—- you can construct cables from previous cables?” He raised his eyebrows, somewhat surprised, “That’s some kick-ass black magic you got there.” —- As they arrived at the door to his room, he placed his hand on the door knob, his body turning to face the small brunette, “You should know that my rooms a little messy— but only a little.” He grinned, opening the door and stepping aside to let her through, he walked in behind her, his hands in his pockets. His room wasn’t the most neat of the lot, but it wasn’t messy, there were only a few shirts scattered on the floor along with various band posters hung up on his side of the room. “Don’t judge me.” He grinned pointing at the small pile of t-shirts next to his bed, “sometimes I forget that hangers and drawers exist.”

Lucy turned to face him, “I don’t think it’s black magic per say but it’s definitely kick-ass,” she winked. They paused outside the door that had a ‘4’ on it but she wasn’t expecting it so she kept walking and bumped into him. “Oops, sorry,” she said flushing. She peered curiously into his room – it wasn’t half as messy as she was used to, she breathed a sigh of relief. She spun in a circle and took in her surroundings. She recognised a couple of the bands he had the posters of, “Oh you like Snow Patrol too?” she was surprised that they shared that in common. She turned at the sound of his voice snapping out of her reverie and smiled at him. “I could never judge you,” she walked over to where he was standing watching her and took his hand back in hers. She glanced at where he was gesturing. “Tell me they’re at least clean?” she laughed. “Don’t worry about it, thank god you’re not going back with me to England anytime soon, my room there is quite possibly ten times worse than this.” She gave him a sheepish look. Lucy’s room back in her parents’ house was quite possibly one of the messiest rooms. The walls were covered with band posters and pictures of her and her brother along with some friends. Typically the floor would be covered in clothes and books, the bed would be unmade. She had cleaned it up before she left so it was at its neatest. Lucy made sure to keep her room at the Academy as neat as possible for the sanity of her roommate.

Ethan grinned, his eyes watching her intently as she took in the region that was his room. He nodded a bit as he mentioned one of his favorite bands on the ongoing list, “Yeah I do,” he smiled at her, “I’m glad you’re not a judgmental person, Luce.” He squeezed her hand gently a laugh escaping his lips, “Of course they’re clean— I’m a guy not a caveman.” He shook his head, his free hand running along the sides of his jeans, “No judgement here babe, you didn’t give me shit for my messy room so there’s no reason I should.” Shrugging his shoulders he walked over to a small book case that was full of all his favorite books along with his nominal movie collection, “I’ve got a few here, not the conjuring but I’m sure—-” he paused his fingers trailing along the movie cases on the shelf, before he settled on one, “we can settle on Insidious— have you seen it?” He handed the movie to her, letting go of her hand in attempt to hide the sketch book that was laying on the edge of the bookshelf, his sketches were something he’d never shared with anyone, and even though he was completely comfortable with Lucy he wasn’t sure if he was ready to show the one thing that held all his thoughts, his beliefs and a myriad of his secrets.

Lucy raised her eyebrows at his comment. “You could have fooled me,” she teased bumping him. He led her over to his bookcase and as he looked for the movie she scanned through the book titles impressed that he actually read, not a lot of guys did anymore. She shook her head at his question. “I don’t typically watch horrors alone, too scary.” When he released her hand she looked over at him noticing he was trying to block her view of a book. He didn’t pry into her life so she wasn’t going to ask him about something he obviously didn’t want to talk about. She walked back to his bed and flopped onto it resting on her elbows to watch him. “Can we watch it here? Or do you want to go back to my room?” she asked getting comfortable on his bed.

Ethan laughed, chewing on the insides of his cheeks shortly after. He watched her as she got comfortable on his bed, “Considering you’ve already made yourself at home then why not stay here, yeah?” He gave her a smile as he grabbed a blanket from his closet and tossed it in her direction, “Heads up, babe.” He laughed, grabbing the movie and cracking the case open, plopping the disk into the blu-ray player he had set up in the room. After he finished setting up everything he jumped on the bed next to her, pulling her closer to his body. “Hope you don’t get too scared, babe.”

Lucy stuck her tongue out at him and was caught completely unaware as a blanket flew into her face, “Really Ethan?” When he jumped onto the bed she bounced up due to their weight difference nearly falling off the bed. She slipped her hand into his as the starting credits showed up on screen. “I don’t scare easy,” she informed him knowing fully well that she was horrible at watching horrors. She loved to watch them but she always got scared by them easily. To completely debunk her previous statement, as the first scene started to play she instinctively moved closer to him and clutched his hand tighter.

Ethan clutched the blanket towards his body as the movie began, it wasn’t that he was scared it was more along the lines that he was quite cold. He grinned listening to Lucy’s attempt to sound tough, but he remembered that she was scared of horror movies from an earlier conversation, “Oh yeah— no of course you don’t.” He smiled resting his chin on the top of her head as he felt her move closer, “You’ll be fine— it’s only a few murders, some gore and a demon or so.” He chuckled some, letting his voice drift off as the film carried on, he grabbed the blanket fully covered both himself and Lucy, his attention drifting between the screen and the lovely girl lying next to him.

Lucy snuggled up to Ethan as he pulled the blanket up. “Right, just a few murders,” she repeated quietly to herself, “nothing too bad.” Even to her own ears she sounded afraid, great now he’s going to think I’m just another typical scared girl. Soon she didn’t have the brain power to process what he thought of her because her eyes were glued to the screen. Or at least they were whenever she wasn’t burying her face into him. There was a jump scare and she couldn’t help but jump up and scream releasing her grip on him to bring her hands up to her face. After a few seconds she slowly brought her fingers away from covering her eyes and glanced at the screen to make sure that nothing else was going to happen before settling back into Ethan’s arms.

Ethan burst into laughter when she jumped up, he found it as hilarious as he did adorable. “You alright there, firecracker?” He grinned down at her, watching as she covered her face with her hands. His arms wrapped around her when she laid back down. “This isn’t even scary, Luce.” He rolled his eyes playfully his hand resting on her shoulder, “You’ll be fine.” After focusing his attention back on the film he began to get tired, but he did his best to stay up for the most part. Once he felt himself dozing off he sat up, “Ah, fuck babe— I’m falling asleep.”

Lucy cocked an eyebrow at him. “Firecracker? I guess it works.” She pouted at him as he burst out laughing, she hit him playfully. “It is not funny Ethan,” she complained with a smile on her face. She tried to continue to watch the movie but she was suddenly hyperaware of Ethan’s presence. Lucy hated when that happened – she suddenly paid attention to every little detail about the person and it was very distracting. After a couple minutes of fidgeting she was sure Ethan was going to kick her out for being so hard to watch a movie with so she was surprised all he said was that he was tired. “It’s okay love, you can go to sleep, I’ll just head back now then,” she told him with a smile before flipping off the covers and standing up.

Ethan shook his head, feeling his eyes shutting with every passing second, “You’re joking right? You’ve got to finish the movie, babe.” he smirked at her, rubbing his eyes slightly— c’mon you can finish it whilst I sleep or something, no?” He laughed grabbing her hand and pulling her back to the bed, “I don’t bite, I’ll be sleeping.” He grinned grabbing the blanket and covering his body again, “Unless you’d prefer to go, in which I can’t stop you—- although I’d prefer you didn’t.”

Lucy allowed Ethan to pull her back onto the bed. “If you’re sleeping, how the hell do you expect me to get through this alone?” she crossed her arms. “I didn’t think you’d want me to stay,” she yawned curling up to him and resting her head on his shoulder. “We might as well turn off the movie, I don’t think either one of us is awake enough to watch it.” Without waiting for confirmation, she waved her hand in the general direction of the TV turning it off. “Now, because I am staying over tonight, do you happen to have anything I can wear? Surprisingly skinny jeans aren’t the most comfortable to sleep in,” she laughed.

Ethan nodded, a smile spreading across his face, “yeah babe, I do.” He got up slowly, careful not to disturb her, “Are you fine with sweatpants and a t-shirt?” He pursed his lips looking at her and then down at himself, “I don’t think they’ll fit you but it’ll probably be more comfortable than those skinny jeans, right?” He laughed reaching into a drawer and pulling out the smallest pair of sweatpants he owned along with one of his sleeping band tees, he walked over to her, handing her the pile of clothes, “Here ya go Luce— now I’ll just sit here and do my best to not watch you change.” He smiled sitting down on his side of the bed, unsure of what to do to distract himself.

Lucy laughed, “Are you sure they won’t fit?” she teased, “I’m fairly sure we’re the same size.” She stripped off her current clothes and started pulling on the clothes he had given her. She wasn’t insecure about her body so she really didn’t care if Ethan saw her in just her underwear. She had to roll up the bottoms of the sweatpants and at the waist band for it to stay up. She noticed he was desperately trying to look at anywhere else in the room except her and chuckled. “I’m decent, you don’t have to pretend you weren’t looking any longer.” She grinned at him.

Ethan turned his head to face her when she mentioned she had finished changing, he laughed looking at her in his clothes, “And you said we were the same size— regardless you looked adorable.” He bit his bottom lip as he looked her over, he had always had a thing for girls wearing his clothes, in fact most guys do. ‘Com’ere.” He smiled pulling her down on the bed, grabbing the blanket and covering her body as well, he made himself comfortable wrapping his arms around her, “Night, babe.” He grinned kissing the top of her head.

Lucy rolled her eyes at his comment. “M’not adorable. “She crawled into bed with him tucking her arms to her chest as he wrapped his around her; she slipped her hand into his. “’Night Ethan,” she mumbled her eyelids suddenly felt heavy. She tried to stay awake as long as possible but his rhythmic breathing eventually put her to sleep.

Ethan smiled, feeling himself drifting off, “G’night, baby.” Before completely dozing off he took one last look at her face, a smile and warm feeling spreading through him, “God you’re beautiful.”

Lucy woke up the next morning smiling – she was never one of those people who couldn’t remember where they were or what happened the night before. She rolled over expecting to see Ethan’s face and was painfully surprised to find the bed empty. Still she didn’t want to believe that he was the kind of guy to just leave her like that. She rolled back over to grab her phone off his bedside table, it was only nine o’clock, he must have gotten up earlier. She flopped back onto the bed and sighed, contemplating how long she had until she ought to get out of bed and get dressed before his roommate showed up. She didn’t want to admit it but she was fighting back tears.

Ethan had gotten up earlier that morning, deciding to get the two of them breakfast. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt that buying her breakfast was something he needed to do. You’re getting soft man. He drove to the nearest ihop, purchasing a few waffles as well as a two entrees of bacon and eggs, he wasn’t sure what’d Luce want to drink so he bought everything: apple juice, orange juice milk. After purchasing everything he sat in his car, realizing that it would’ve been less expensive if he had just made breakfast at the academy, but then again cooking wasn’t his forte. After a while of sitting in his car, he made his way back to the Academy, driving the streets at a few miles above the speed limit. He parked his car and walked inside, checking his watch, “fuck.” he mumbled, realizing it was nine, surely Lucy would be awake by now. He dashed up the stairs towards his dorm, opening the door with his key, the food in his other hand. “Morning, babe.” He turned setting down the food on his desk before focusing his attention on Lucy, “Oh— are you okay? You look upset, Luce.” Before she could reply he pointed to the bag of food on his desk, his other hand rubbing the back of his neck, “I bought us breakfast.” He smiled at her, unsure of why she looked so upset.

Lucy looked up as she heard the door to the room open. Fuck it’s his roommate and now it’s going to be the most awkward situation ever. She had never been in the situation before so she was freaking out – trying to come up with excuses and viable reasons she’d be there and make it not seem like she slept with him and he ditched her. The last person she was expecting to walk through the door was Ethan. “Hi…” she said slowly watching his movements. “I thought you left,” she said quietly before getting out of the bed and moving to hug him tightly. She pulled away and smiled up at him. “What’s for breakfast?”

Ethan smiled at how adorable she looked, “now why the hell would I leave?—- tis my room after all.” He smirked hugging her back, rubbing circles on her back, he looked down at her placing a small kiss on her lips. “Ya know, pancakes, bacon, eggs, your typical American breakfast— although you’re not American so your typical English breakfast?” He raised his eyebrows, unsure if this was normal food in England, he had only been there a few times on vacation, but none of the customs stayed with him. He pulled back from the hug, opening the bag and pulling out the food setting it on the desk, “So I got milk, orange juice, and apple juice because I wasn’t sure what you’d like.” He gave her a sheepish look before handing her a plate, “there’s also packets of butter, syrup and various jams in that bag over there.” he pointed at the bag before grabbing a pancake and piling it with his favorite things, “I really hope you like this, and if you don’t just pretend ya do.”

Lucy smiled into the kiss. “Typically if you want it English, all you need to do is add tea,” she joked laughing. She watched as he pulled out the food and felt herself salivating at the smell and look of it all, it was all she could do to keep herself from taking the food. “Ordinarily toast and tea would have been fine for breakfast, but I’m not going to complain, this is brilliant. I know you haven’t known me for that long but if there’s something you should know about me, it’s that rarely ever do I turn down food.” She smiled at him while piling the food on her plate, not really caring about what he thought of her eating habits. “You know, you didn’t have to go and buy all this stuff, we have a perfectly good kitchen here you know?” she smirked at him before taking a mouthful of food.

Ethan laughed, “So what you’re saying is that all you English people drink tea— here I thought it was just a stereotype.” He grinned shrugging his shoulders and taking a fork out of the bag, as well as one of the ojs. He smirked at her as he sat down on his bed, taking a bite out of his pancake, with the fork still in his hand he looked at her, “That’s good— people who turn down food are nuts.” He watched her eating a laugh escaping his lips, “yeah but hey this is store bought— they say store bought tastes better.” He shook his head, reaching for the juice he had placed on his nightstand, opening it and taking a sip. “We should do this again sometime, yeah?” he really hoped she’d say yes, in truth he loved hanging out with her, he only hoped that she did too.

Lucy laughed along with him. “Actually I’m pretty sure it’s the home cooked food that tastes the best - you got it the wrong way round babe.” She grabbed the milk and gulped some of it down then she remembered Ethan was in the room watching her and looked up sheepishly at him. She was surprised that he actually wanted to be around her again, even after she yelled at him, then again they did make out after so maybe it made sense. Still, it didn’t make sense to her what he liked about her - she made a mental note to ask him about it at a later date. “You should probably keep in mind for next time that I prefer waffles to pancakes. Hopefully there will be less drama and we’ll be able to stay awake long enough to finish watching the movie,” she laughed. She finished off the food - that she had to admit was delicious - before standing up and giving him a smile. “I should go…unless you want me to stay longer?” She was half hoping he’d ask her to stay even though she knew she ought to be getting back to her room. Especially before the rest of the school woke up and started making assumptions about her leaving Ethan’s room in the morning.

Ethan shook his head, his attention drifting in between the delicious pancake before him and the beautiful girl in the room with him, “nah store bought tastes better— or at least compared to the shit I had at home.” He shrugged, not noticing what he had said until after he had said it, /fuck./ He took a bite of his pancake hoping that the brunette hadn’t caught on, ‘Erm, yeah— I’ll keep that in mind. Waffles not pancakes, got it.” Grinning he took a long sip of his orange juice, wiping his hands on a nearby napkin. He chuckled at her words, “I didn’t mind— the night turned out pretty good if ya ask me.” Ethan stood up, leaving his unfinished plate on his nightstand, he took her hands in his, pulling her closer to him, “I want you to stay,” he looked up at the clock hanging in the front of his room, remembering that his roommate said he’d be back by 11:30 am which was exactly ten minutes from that exact moment, “But for your sake you should probably go— i don’t want anyone saying shit about ya leaving my room in the mornin’— if ya know what I mean.” He pecked her lips before walking back to grab his orange juice, “then again you don’t seem like the type of girl to give a fuck at what other people think so really its your choice babe.” he smiled waiting for her response.

Lucy realized that Ethan didn’t have a great home life unlike her – it always upset her when people were in that kind of situation because to her home was always a sanctuary, or at least it had been until the recent months. “You’re only saying that it turned out pretty good because you were this,” she held up her fingers an inch away from each other, “close to getting laid,” she chuckled. She was incredibly happy when he said he wanted her to stick around but tried not to show it smiling sweetly up at him despite their close proximity. “You’re right I typically don’t care what people think of me but seeing as I’ll be here for the next few years, I’d rather not having people judging me right away – it tends to make it a little harder to make friends,” she shrugged finishing off the milk and standing up to get dressed back into her clothes pulling her hair up into a messy bun while she was at it. Once she was presentable she went to the door. “Want to walk me back to my room?” she asked nodding in the direction of her room.

Ethan swatted her hand away playfully, “Are you implying something, huh?” He rolled his eyes laughing some, “Nah yeah, right that actually makes s lot of sense— hey friends are friends no matter what you do,” he smiled down at her, taking her small hand in his. “I feel obligated to,” he grinned looking over at her, “‘m joking babe, of course I’ll walk you to your room.” He led her into the hallway, shutting his door right behind him, “Alright lead me in the way to your room because I have no fucking clue where I’m going.”

Lucy bit her bottom lip to keep herself from laughing. “Maybe I am,” she winked at him and moved forward to give him a small kiss. She followed him into the hallway before taking the lead and continuing down the route that would lead her straight back to her room. “You seemed to be able to find your way there the first time,” she raised an eyebrow at him. “I guess you had more motivation last night.” She teased giving him a playful push.

Ethan shook his head, holding his hands in defeat, “Oi, I got lost a couple times last night too— mind you Luce.” He shrugged his shoulders as he followed her to her room, remembering the path with every second, “‘s not my fault I’m rubbish with directions,” he grinned remembering a time when he stranded his sister and himself because his gps broke and he was much too prideful to stop and ask for directions, “It so happens that I get lost very often.” He smiled as they reached her door, he leaned his body against the wall, “So when are we doing this again?”

Lucy grinned, “You suck at directions because you’re male and you hate to ask for help – especially directions.” She stood in between his legs as he leaned against the wall and took his hands in hers. “You’re welcome to come over whenever,” she smiled leaning in. “But you might want to call or text first to make sure I’m actually in - which is actually very likely because I haven’t really ventured out of this place since getting here.” She shrugged. She backed off and unlocked her room door. “I’ll see you around?” she asked looking over her shoulder at him.

Ethan shoved his hands in his front pocket, a smug smirk on his face, “Yeah. I’ll see ya.” He nodded his head, watching her as she stepped into her room. He turned around walking back in the direction of his room before turning his head to look at her, “By the way— if I really needed help, I would ask for it— sometime the point isn’t the destination, it’s the journey you take there.” He mumbled the last part hoping she didn’t hear, before continuing his way back to his dorm, “See ya.”