One Moore Move (Jilli & Moores)

[payton]

Payton awoke the next morning at five of six, he hadn’t intended on getting up as early as he normally did—after all he had taken the day off work and the thought of sleeping in did have a bit of appeal to it, but as a force of habit he found himself wide awake and gave up any hopes of sleeping a bit further. He really needed to get up anyway, if he was going to make it to Jill’s flat for eight, he would need to leave here by twenty of, and he intended to make a stop at his work on the way, which thankfully it was on the way—nearly half way between the two.

It was nearly half past seven when he closed up the final box, and pulling out his wand cast a shrinking charm on it, reducing the once rather large and awkward box to a quarter of its original size. He had to admit that there was a great advantage to being a wizard, especially when someone with as much stuff as he was discovering he had needed to be moved across a city like London. After all of his boxes had been packed, labeled and shrunk, he fit them all into three backpacks, which worked out rather perfectly. He had managed to rope Rowen and Dillion into helping him—all it took was an offer to buy them breakfast at the shop.

After he was sure everything was together and set ready to go, he went into the bedroom he had shared with his brothers since they had moved back to London, and woke Dillion and Rowen, who both reluctantly rose and pulled on the first thing that looked like clean clothes. Payton had already returned to the front door, and was waiting for them. Thankfully the both appeared just before he was about to go back into their room and rouse them again. At least the early hour Dilion should be rather willing to simply walk along behind him and not wander off to create his own adventures.


At five past eight he knocked on the door of his new flat, giving Jill a bit of warning if at all possible, before he slid the key into the lock and with a quick turn, followed by a click, and he was in. After a quick look around the apartment, he saw that Jill was no where in sight, and he predicted she was still in bed, just as she said she may be when he came by. He shrugged, glancing back at his brothers he motioned for them to come inside and moved immediately to the kitchen, setting down to white paper bags on the counter before he carefully dropped the backpack he carried to the floor. From the first bag he pulled out a white box, which he opened to reveal a large assortment of breakfast pastries. He spend a moment, looking around the kitchen before he found a platter which appeared to be the correct size, and he spread the pastries out upon it. Then from the second bag he pulled out a trey of paper travel cups, two marked with Cs, and two with S. “Rowe, Dill, your smoothies are in here” he called to his brothers as he headed towards the bedrooms, both the coffees in his hand. “Just make yourself at home and enjoy. I’ll see what I can do about sleeping beauty.”

He guessed which room was Jills but the subtle signs, and when he peeked inside he saw a rather Jilli sized bump under the sheets. Smiling to himself he walked quietly across the room standing at the edge of the bed for a moment. Even if she would never agree with him, she did look like sleeping beauty as she lay unaware of the hour of the fact he was here. Carefully he sat down on the bed beside her, and reached out, placing one of the coffee cups on the beside table, allowing him one free hand, which he ran softly down Jill’s cheek, and down her hair. “Buon giorno, Tesoro.” He whispered, softly enough to hopefully ease her up, but not enough to spook her when she realized she wasn’t alone. “I come bearing coffee as a peace offering.”

[jillian]

Jill normally had trouble sleeping, but when she had fallen to her bed the night before – she realized that she would have no problem sleeping through the night without her lemongrass incense. Dreams flicked by her closed eyelids, mainly of her walking through a bright meadow in a white sundress – and that was all it was. Just her walking in the sun, no breeze to lift her hair – though she did wear a light straw hat upon her head. She continued to walk through the meadow until she reached a clearing with a rather medium sized pond in the middle. There standing on a rock was someone she felt familiar to but couldn’t recognize quite yet. She placed one thin hand on top of her hat as she tried to make her way through the rest of the meadow toward the figure on the rock.

She was barefoot though, and she had to climb over several smaller rocks to get to the bigger one. So she was in quite some pain when she finally reached the figure on the rock, and when he turned around – Jill let out a small gasp in her dream and in her sleep. There before her stood Payton. Dream Payton reached up and touched her cheek – but she also felt a touch in reality. Slowly her eyelids fluttered open and real Payton came into view. She sat up softly and rubbed at her eyes, “Mmm… coffee.” Her eyes drifted to the cup on the nightstand and then back to Payton, “You’re gonna be a perfect flatmate.” She smiled sleepily and then pushed away the warm blanket, letting her feet slip on the cold ground.

A small yawn escaped her lips and she made her way to her closet, pulling out a cotton robe and putting it on over her pajamas. She tied the sash around her waist and the turned back to Payton as she crossed her arms and stuffed her feet in her warm fuzzy slippers, “Is it really eight already? It feels so much earlier than that… oh well, are your things out in the living room?” Jill took a seat on the floor and reached over to the bottom of her nightstand where her brush and pony tail holders were. She brushed back her hair and then braided it before standing and taking the cup of coffee she had eyed earlier. It was a much welcomed taste. Coffee was always a good way to start off the day.

She grabbed Payton’s hand and led him out of her room toward the living room, stopping in her tracks a moment at the site of two boys sitting around. One being Dillion, looked identical to Payton, and the other was obviously Rowen. Jill smiled and took another sip of her coffee, “Morning. He wake you two up, too?” she sent Payton a teasing look, she was quite a different person in the morning. When she was a bit sleepy she always talked a bit more than she normally would to people she never met before.

[rowen]

He never liked getting up early. In fact, he found it rather appauling, especially in the summer months when the call of class was not summoning him. He had intended to spend his particular day in bed for as long as he could possibly manage, but Payton had some annoying request as to walk more than a kilometer across the city to this new flat of his, while carrying whatever it was Tweedle-Dee didn’t seem able to care himself. Normally the offer would have been blown over completely, but once Payton discussed things such as compensation, he had to admit that his attention perked a tad. There was of course the mentioning of the fact if he came he would now know the location of the new flat, not that he cared one bit on where Dee there chose to live as long as it was no longer with him. The offer was of course made that he could come over any time he wanted to, there was a permanent invitation. Honestly the whole idea made him sick, and the worse part was that he knew Payton meant it. His now foster brother continued on to point out that he didn’t exactly have anything better to do that day, which was true, but it didn’t need to be pointed out again. He was well aware of his lack of plans with out one of the Tweedle’s pointing it out to him on a regular basis. Just because Tweedle-Dee-Dee-Dee there thought it all important to go out every night didn’t mean everyone else in the house thought it was a necessity. He did have a point though. There would be some advantage to getting out of the Moore household fro a while. Then there was the idea of meeting Payton’s new flatmate, who he had heard very little about other than some scuttlebutt of her being a girl. Somehow all of that, tied with Payton’s offer of getting him breakfast managed to wear him down enough and he finally agreed to go. He personally wished it had stayed quiet among the house, but of course Tweedle-Dumb managed to share it with the Big Guy and N. over dinner the night before. Why did Dee-Dee there even have to asked the second Tweedle to come too? It wasn’t like the Dumb-Dill could manage to remember what he was doing when he walked across the room, let alone when he walked across London.

The morning of the move came, and he was woken up, at the freakishly early hour of seven-thirty. He cared little about actually appearance, after all who was actually out on the streets at this hour, and pulled on a pair of hand-me-down jeans from Alex, and a faded red t-shirt before stumbling his way out into the kitchen. Payton was already waiting eagerly at the door. Maybe Tweedle-Dee did have the right idea of getting out of this place. It was like the orphanage, only everyone had the same last name. Within a few moments, a backpack had been slipped on him and he had been handed a Squeaks small metal cage, which thankfully had been draped over with a cloth. The last thing he needed at this hour was to hear women screeching as he walked by and they realized he was carrying a rat.

It seemed forever after he had been equipped for their journey before they actually departed, thanks mainly to Tweedle-Dumb who seemed to find strapping on a backpack a rather difficult task and spent a bit of time spinning in circles before actually accomplishing it. The walk itself, while painfully long, took them just over twenty minutes, and thankfully induced a break in the middle, where he and Dumb-Dill waited outside the café for Payton to buy them breakfast. While he thought instead of rushing along they should simply enjoy their breakfast smoothies and whatever else it was Payton had in that little white bag of his at the café, but instead Tweelde-Dee insisted they move on and that they could eat in this new flat of his.

It seemed an eternity that last half as he had to trudge on following those two little white bags he knew contained breakfast, and when they finally reached the building where his new flat was, it seemed Payton would never mange to get that bloody door open. Finally though they were inside a rather neat flat, which was quite the change form the Moore residence, and Pay-Dee continued to the kitchen to arrange their breakfast before calling out to make themselves at home before he disappeared. Not needed a second invitation he made his way to the counter and picked up his mango smoothie, sipping through the straw as he sorted through the pastries to fine one he wanted. He was nearly half way through is pastry when Payton made an appearance on more, this time holding the hand of a girl he thought looked vaguely familiar from Hogwarts. “Yes, he did. I still don’t have the foggiest why he couldn’t have moved in after lunch—seems like a far more appropriate time.”

[dillion]

It was morning! Not like morning very much but Pay seem to think must move early so he wake them up very early. Wander out no dressed, Pay send back in telling to put clothes on. Bad clothes. Not change out of PJ pants, find shirt on floor. When come out Pay give backpack, spin around seven times before got it on! "I wanna carry Squeak!" but Pay give squeak to Rowen. Next thing going down street. Start singing "On The Road Again!" Old country song, Pop learned in America. Sing over and over an dover and over until reach cafe, then wait out side with Rowe before Pay come back with white bags. "Breakie-fast!" Follow white bags for long time. Down street and up stairs and through door into flat. Wait! When we get inside?! Next thing white bags disappear! "I'm Hungry!" Pay say something and Rowe move to kitchen, me too! If there food me want it! Find smoothing, try to drink lots! Then grab puffy thing covered in powered sugar. Look yummy! Try to eat whole thing at once when hear something behind, turn around see Jill! No really know Jill, but see Jill with Pay before. "Very early! Not like wake up, but got up and then needed clothes and didn't have clothes, see still in PJs! Found shirt though!"

[payton]

He laughed when Jilli said that he was going to be the perfect flatmate, knowing full well it was just because he had brought her coffee. "Well, you do now have a man who works in a cafe as a roomie, I'm rather sure coffee is now an expertise of mine." He kept an east going smile on his face as he stayed on Jill's bed, waiting for her to wander around her room getting ready. "But then you may think I'm a bit less than perfect when if I wake you up at five when I leave for work." His smiled changed to a grin for a fleeting moment before he sipped at his coffee, his gaze still following her as she moved around the room, getting her slippers and braiding her hair before she finally picked up the coffee he had left for her on the night stand. Without wasting another moment, she grabbed his hand and made her way out to the living room, pausing when she saw that Rowen and Dillion -- both of whom who had made themselves rather comfortable as they devoured the breakfast he had bought on his way over. "I wanted to move in before the streets were too crowded" he informed Rowen as he moved closer to the kitchen counter, where the tray full of pastries was still sitting. "Besides, I couldn't have very well bought you breakfast if we hadn't have left so early."

As he reached the counter he plucked one of the pastries off the tray, deciding it was a good time to start in on his own breakfast. He chewed casually for a moment, his gaze roaming around the room which he was now able to consider his own. It was strange that something he had looked forward to for the past two weeks was finally here, and now that it was it seemed completely surreal. "I figure we can enjoy a nice leisurely breakfast, and then its time to unpack everything."

[jillian]

Jill’s eyebrow rose as she sipped her coffee and walked the rest of the way into the living room, sitting down on one of the settees by the window. “The streets are hardly ever crowded over here, Payton, but the breakfast wouldn’t be served past eleven anyway, so I suppose it was good you came by so early.” She watched as Payton took one of the pastries off the tray – and then decided she wanted one. Jill stood and yawned as she grabbed a pastry and started to tear pieces off and place those in her mouth. She finished off her pastry and then her coffee and by this time she had sat back down on the settee.

“If you’re all finished, I’ll show you the room. It’s just down the hall there, this flat is pretty big. It’s got three rather large rooms, one’s mine; one’s yours, and one’s Joann’s studio. There is a balcony in back and two bathrooms. And obviously, the living room and kitchen.” As she finished what she was saying, she threw away her coffee cup and the napkin she had picked up the pastry with. She turned around and leaned against the counter and watched Payton, Dillion, and Rowen with a small smile on her face.

[payton]

He was lazily working his way though his pastry, sipping his coffee as he made himself comfortable on one of the chairs off the bar at the counter. Rowen had already settled onto the bar chair beside him, while Dillion had made himself comfortable on the couch, trying to feed some of his smoothie to Squeak. He had just finished his pastry when Jill commented that he could move into his room if he wanted to move into his new bedroom, and he had to admit that it was a rather tempting offer. After flashing Jill a rather easy smile his eyebrows raised just a bit. "No, no one in your building is going to mind if I make my walls orange will they. Always wanted to back home but Logan hates the color." His easy smile changed to a drink, and dropping his coffee cup in the trash on his way by he snatched Jill's hand and made his way towards his new bedroom. The room he stepped into inside was furnished, thankfully, but other than that everything was rather bare. He glanced back a Jill, his eyebrows still raised. "Wands out!" he manged just as he drew his before pointing it at one of the walls, and after a mumbled charm, it turned a rather brilliant shade or orange. "Now...do we think I can survive that color with my vision intact?"

[jillian]

“Orange?” Jill repeated and before he answered her, they were in the room and he had magically painted the walls a bright orange. Laughter escaped her lips and she covered her mouth quickly, but a wide smile still hid behind her hands. She shook her head, “You amaze me, you know that? Well, if you feel like the orange starts to hurt your eyes you can always change it a darker colour, couldn’t you?” She tucked a stray strand of hair that had fallen out of her braid already behind her ear and put her hands on his hips, looking around the orange but still quite bare room. Her gaze returned to Payton, and her smile softened to a small grin.

“You can do anything you want to the room, it’s yours completely. The bathroom next door is yours too – you can paint that orange if you wish.” Although she wasn’t certain if one would call what he did, painting – considering it was with a wand. Jill loved to paint walls and houses the muggle way, she thought it was so much fun. And all this “painting” was making her want to redo her whole room. She made a quick mental note to do that later, after they got Payton set up in his new room. In her flat. In their flat. It struck her again. Their flat. It was so odd. But it was so comforting at the same time. Jill’s smile widened and she suddenly threw her arms around Payton’s neck, “It’s all happening, really. Has it hit you yet?”

[payton]

He was still considering the shade over orange when Jill's arms flew around him and almost out of instinct his arms wrapped around her, lifting her up off the ground for a moment. It still hadn't hit him, and he didn't think it would, not for another month when he called Jill his flat mate with out thinking, or mindless walked here instead of Pop's flat. Then it would hit him that it really was real, and he hadn't dreamed it all up. "Bloody amazing isn't it? Its just you and me for the rest of the summer." After a moment he eased her back to the ground, his hold on he releasing. After glancing quickly around the room, he lifted his wand again, finishing his magic paint job. "I think the bathroom shall be blue. Making that orange as well might actually cause blindness." Flashing her a bright grin Payton took another look around the room before grabbing Jill's hand again and dragging he back out to the living room where he had left his things.

The living room was empty--no Rowen on Dillion, instead just a note left on the counter that read 'taking him home before he brakes something. -Rowe p.s. I'm happy for you' After smiling at the note, thinking that it was very much like Rowen, he turned his attention back to Jill. "So the bags then, aye?" He moved to the door, picking up one of the backpacks in each hand, leaving only the third and Squeak's cage behind as he made his way back to his bedroom, taking a moment as he heard the words run though his head. It was his. Not his and Dillion's and Rowen's and Logan's and Alex's...just his. He set the bags by the door and waited for Jill, who had grabbed the third. "Another advantage of being magical" He commented, a rather pleased grin on his face as he started pulling shrunken boxes from the bags, using his want to return them to their original size.

Most of the afternoon was spent unpacking in the muggle manner. Clothes were removed and put away, linens were separated, his bed was made, his school trunk set up in on corner, and his Hufflepuff banner hung on the wall above it. Pictures were hung on the wall, and his books laid out across the dresser held up by bookends which looked like chef hats. It seemed forever until the last box was unpacked, and he knew that most of the day had passed. Finally he looked to the bottom of that final box, which he had marked that morning as the last to be opened. In the bottom, was a lone picture frame, wrapped in paper so not to break, and a small gift wrapped package. Seeing the objects he took out the frame and laid it on his bed before pulling out the wrapped package. "I guess were done then...well, besides one small detail." Grinning he handed the package to Jill. "Bit of a surprise I've had bit a bit too long now." It was a framed photo of the two of them sitting on the grass by the bonfire at Beltane. He hadn't even know it had been taken, and he had two copies made and put into matching frames. One for each of them.

[jillian]

It wasn’t a moment later when she felt his arms around her and her feet leave the ground for a second. She pulled away from the hug after he responded, and her head nodded in agreement – a large smile on her face. She let out a laugh as he stated he would make the bathroom blue considering orange might actually cause blindness. Jill followed him into the living room, noticed a note in his hands. She then picked up the bag he had left behind and went back into his room. She set it down, and leaned against the doorjamb as he lifted the small boxes out of the rucksacks and returned them to normal size, “There seem to be plenty of those,” Jill replied rather late, “advatanges, that is.” She grinned at him and then opened the back pack, returning those to normal size as well.

She helped him put away his things and organize them as best as she could, making little comments here and there about his things such as; “I love your bookends.” When the last box was to be unpacked, Jill collapsed against the wall lightly and watched with interested eyes. When he handed her the wrapped package, she sent him a raised eyebrow and then started to unwrap it. It was a picture, but not just any picture – it was a picture of them at Beltane sitting by the bonfire, talking. It was framed and he had one as well, in a matching frame. She smiled softly and traced the edges with her fingertips before looking back up at Payton.

“Did you take this picture? Or hire someone to do it? Because if you did I’m going to have to pretend to be mad at you for a bit, and if you didn’t then and it was a candid photo then you’re off the hook.” She grinned teasingly at him, but nevertheless hugged him anyway. When she pulled away she looked back down at the picture, “Thank you, it’s wonderful. I’ll go put this in my room and then we can figure out what to do from there, eh?” She smiled brightly at him as she made her way out of the room and down the hall to her room. There was the perfect spot for this picture, she set it right next to the lamp on her nightstand and crossed her arms; looking at it from a distance. Then she turned and quickly left her room to head back into the sitting room, where Payton was already in. She sat down beside him and pulled her legs up under her, “Celebration?”

[payton]

He flashed her a bright grin and he lifted both his hands up, palms open to show he was giving up and at her mercy. "I didn't even know it had been taken. A friend gave it to me before we got on the train home and I had a copy made for each of us." His words were hardly finished when he went back to his bed and showed her his own exact copy and he was met with another hug. After she had stepped back he nodded at the thought that after she put it in her room they would figure out what to do now. He watched Jill as he left, his eyes lingering on the door for a moment after she was gone. Finally pulling his attention back, he placed the picture of Jill and Himself on his nightstand and took care of that final box before pausing and glancing around his new bedroom. It looked perfect. After letting out a happy sigh he left his room and made his way out to the living room, letting his weight sink heavily on the couch as he waited for Jill.

It wasn't long before she joined him on the couch, and when she mentioned the word 'celebration' his eyebrows immediately rose as a sly grin crossed his face. "You know, I think we manage to celebrate something every time we see each other. Might be a bit of a struggle to keep up now that we will see each other day in and day out." Still grinning he nodded, agreeing to thoughts he had been thinking even if he had not said them out loud. "Thought I saw we celebrate with one of your ideas...when we were at the club the other night, didn't you say your idea of celebration was staying in?"

[jillian]

Jill’s hand reached behind her and grabbed her braid, undoing the ponytail holder and letting the braid fall loose. She raked her fingers through her hair and then pulled into a very high loose bun. Usually she kept her hair down, and when it was up she always managed to take it out and then put it up differently. She couldn’t keep her hair one style for too long. When she was finished with that, she sighed and laid her head against the back of the couch. A smile stayed on her face as he talked and she nodded, “It will be quite hard. I think we’ll have to save celebrations for big things like birthdays, promotions, or whatever. Though, I had to admit, I will miss celebrating over everything.”

When he said he thought they should celebrate the way she thought of a celebration, she looked at him and then shrugged while closing her eyes, “We’ve got loads of movies and we could always order in food, unless you want to cook…” She opened her eyes and sent him a smile that said she was subtly hinting at that. Jill wasn’t too bad of a cook, but Joann did most of that and if Joann didn’t cook it was because they were going out to eat or ordering in food. Whenever Jill did cook it wasn’t something big, usually just some sandwiches or something of the sort. She smiled at Payton and tilted her head again, “I’ll be right back.” She stood and went into the kitchen, where she got into the refrigerator and pulled out a large bowl of ‘green goo.’ Her smile grew as she walked back over and headed back to where Payton sat, standing behind him – she situated the bowl so it was leaning against her hip and her other hand, and with her free hand she dipped it into the green goo and placed some on Payton’s nose. “From now on, you may not leave no matter how sick you get of me, the green goo makes it so.”

[payton]

"Your spoiling my fun" he commented, a slight grin on his face as Jilli said that perhaps they should only start celebrating the important things such as birthdays and promotions. Life was far to serious not to celebrate on a regular basis. "At least finally being flatmates its easily celebration worthy. Longest two weeks of my life." He flashed Jill another grin, letting his own head fall back against the couch's soft cushion. Unpacking was exhausting, and even if he was happy that he was here and it was over, he hoped he didn't move again for a long long time. It was one thing going to Hogwarts when everything was school work and magic, it was another thing moving your entire life into a muggle flat.

Jill made a comment on movies and he grinned again, his eyebrows raised ever so slightly as he looked over at her. "We better order in...don't want to scare you away with my cooking quite yet. Now I declare we celebrate in true poor teenagers living together fashion--we don our worst lounge attire, order in from whatever is closest and fastest, and watch the worst movies we can find."
He grinned at his own plan, thinking it would be rather opposite of what he had done so far with Jill. They had always done things out, and looked rather nice. Tonight though he just wanted to sit on the couch and eat straight from the take-out box, watching movies almost too bad to actually follow and wear his most favored and well worn sweat pants. He was lost in his own thoughts when Jill said that she would be right back, and when she returned he looked up to find Jill, holding a rather large bowl, and soon he discovered that it was his requested green goo. A grin spread across his face a she declared that green goo made it so, and he stuck his own hand into the slime and made two war-paint like streaks on Jill's face, one under each eye. "And you Jilli, no matter how sick of early mornings, late nights, testing out my recipes, and my orange walls, are from now on stuck with me. Green goo makes it so."

[jillian]

“For the record, Pay darling, I’m not ruining just your fun – but mine as well. Don’t you think I enjoy celebrating every night? Going out and such? I’m not saying we can’t, I am just saying it’s going to become a handful when I start my job…” she sent him a small smile and fiddled with the bowl a bit, “which I haven’t told you about it in the slightest aside from helping Joann out at the studio, but now that she’s married she won’t be there anymore…” Jill walked around the couch and sat down beside him, the big bowl of green goo on her lap. It was only moments before she had green goo underneath her bottom eyelids and he was declaring the green goo made it so. Her smile grew and she set the bowl down on the table in front of the couch.

Without hesitation she sat back in her seat and laid her head gently on his shoulder. The moment she did it though, she realized she had and the thought of moving further away crossed her mind – but there was just something about him that made her more comfortable than uneasy and that was really something that she figured important. She sighed, her eyes closed and opened her mouth to speak, “Worst lounge attire does not exist in this house, not for me anyway. It’s all pajamas, that’s what I lounge in. The closest and fastest place would be down the street at China Stop, well for Chinese anyway. We could order in pizza or something. And movies are somewhere in Joann’s studio I believe.” Jill opened her eyes and turned to Payton with a wide grin on her face, “So what do you feel like eating? I’ll order while you change if you’d like…”

[payton]

An eyebrow raised when Jilli started to become, or at least pretend to take the business of celebrating very seriously, explaining that once she started her job that going out every night would be a bit more difficult. So perhaps she did have a point there, but he somehow manages to perhaps burn the candle at both the social and career end most days of the week. He did though, make a mental note to ask about Jilli’s job as she leaned her head against him shoulder. Almost mindlessly, he moved his arm, his fingertips running over the few short tips of her hair that were sticking out of the bun she had put it up into earlier. “So you telling me what you have on is the worst you’ve got?” He let his hand drop down so that he tugged a bit on Jilli’s robe, which in his opinion was far to cute to be worst she had to lounge in. After a moment he let out a large sign, and pushed himself forward, moving his arm away from Jill as he did, acting as if it was a giant almost unmanageable effort. After he sat upright again he looked over towards Jill, pausing for a moment before answering “Alright, I will change into something sure to scare that thought of me being a perfect flatmate away and then see what I can find for movies…and you order us half the menu at China Stop” and leaning over to place a kiss on her forehead before he finished getting up and made his way to his bedroom.

It was some time later before he immerged again, wearing a pair of food-stained sweat paints he had worn while cooking a few too many times, and had since been cut off to make long shorts, and a far to big promotional t-shirt with a large Butterbeer bottle on the front that read ‘warm you up with just one cup’ he got a while back when he was helping to stock one of their deliveries at the Cubby. He had with him four movies, and he was still skimming over their backs when he came back to the living room. “Alright, I think I found some winners for the night, so now we just need to wait for the food.” He looked up, giving Jill and easy smile. “So, does this place deliver or do I have to walk down the street looking like this?”

[jillian]

Jill nodded at his question and couldn’t help but roll her eyes with a smile on her face at him “trying” to move his arm. Honestly, she was one of the lightest people she knew, granted, that wasn’t many people – but she was still pretty light. Though, Payton had a way with just making everything happy, light, and just plain joking. She loved it. She loved how he made her relax more than anyone ever did, even her aunt. Jill was still so tense around Joann, and she knew she would be even more so with how Joann was living now and how Terrance’s family were. But that wasn’t something Jill couldn’t handle at all, she just smiled and nodded – she didn’t have to speak, Joann did that enough for the both of them. But with Payton there had to be some interaction, some conversation – Jill didn’t believe he would stand for otherwise.

She was shaken from her reverie as he kissed her forehead and stood up, making his way to his bedroom. She blinked and thought for a moment on what he had said and when she remembered it, she stood as well and made her way to the phone on the kitchen counter. She picked it up, dialed China Stop (which she happened to have memorized) and waited for the little Chinese man who made the deliveries to answer. Jill made her order, which was basically two of all her favourites – assuring the little Chinese man that it was indeed for two people and not just her. When she hung up, she brought the cordless phone back to the couch and collapsed on it – lying across while her eyes watched the ceiling.

When Payton re-emerged he was wearing stained sweat pants and a large t-shirt with a Butterbeer bottle and logo on it. He was holding movies and reading the backs of them as he walked into the living room. She sat up and tilted her head at him, “Oh? And who are our winners? Although, if their bad movies – I don’t think they’re very much winner-ish, are they?” Her smile grew and brightened as she moved her legs over so Payton could sit beside her – “And no, it’s delivery. As funny as you walking to China Stop in those clothes would be, I’m not exactly that mean.”

[payton]

"So the attire is enough to scare the restaurant owner, but not enough to give you the creeps?" He asked, rather pleased when she said the Chinese place delivered. It was very important to have a handy list of places that would bring food right to your door at all hours of the night--not that the family ever ordered in often, but sometimes cravings at 2am simply required an order in. As he made his way to the couch he sat down in the spot Jilli made for him, reaching over to move her legs so they stretched out over his as he looked at the titles of the movies "Lets see we have Warlock, The Blob, April Fool's Day and Deathstalker. Apparently its a night for bad horror movies." He flashed her a smile before fanning out the cover in her direction. "Lady's choice?"

He hadn't sat long when he heard a knock on the door, and looked over at Jilli, guessing it was their Chinese food. He casually moved Jill's legs again and stood up, walking to the kitchen counter where he had thrown his wallet before walking to the door. After the exchange of the paper bag with the grease stained bottom he made his way back to the couch, setting down on the coffee table before going to the refrigerator and getting the each a can of pop. After returning back to the couch he handed her one of the can's, before setting his down and going to the TV to put in the first movie of the night. After that was settled he made his way back to the couch and picked up one of the boxes and opened it, pulling the a pair of chopsticks from the bag after he did and swirling them around the box for a moment before looking over at Jilli. "So tell me about this job of yours."

[jillian]

"Nope. I think it suits you. Not creepy.” She responded to his question with a smile. He moved her legs so they resting over his and then he read off the titles of the movies. Jill cringed lightly, but with a smile on her lips as he finished with saying it was a bad horror movie night. She nodded in agreement when a knock sounded on the door. He got up and got the food and she reached over, looking through the movies and deciding on ‘The Blob.’ Jill grinned and pushed the other movies to the corner and read the back cover of ‘The Blob.’ Payton had returned by now and she handed him the movie as he handed her a soda. She reached forward and grabbed the first box she saw and opened it, grabbing the chopsticks and spearing a piece of whatever it was. Jill knew how to use chopsticks, but she always started off with spearing.

Her food was swallowed just as Payton brought up her job. She looked down at the food carton and then started to use the chopsticks the right way, shrugging as her answer. When she put a carrot in her mouth and swallowed that she actually gave him an answer; “I work with kids. It started out as charity work and things like that, I didn’t want to get paid. It’s a day care centre type thing. It was Joann’s idea actually, she thought it would look good on resumes. I started ‘working’ there about a year ago, and they decided to start paying me a couple of months ago. So I can actually start calling it a job.” She looked up at him and smiled widely, “I don’t do it for the money though, I love the kids there. When they first offered money I refused and I wanted to refuse the second time but they wouldn’t let me.” Jill twirled some noodles and looked down at her food.

[payton]

He smiled at Jill as she described her job, starting in on his first few mouthfuls of Chinese as she did. He was glad that her job seemed to make her happy, and even if she said she wasn’t in it for the money, that they paid her enough to keep the flat, even if she did have to suffer through him as her flatemate. “Sounds like a wonderful job” he commented between bites. “Is that what you want to do after Hogwarts? Work with children?” HE had to admit that it wasn’t a thought he would have pieced with her before. He still remembered the almost serious cynical Jill, and it was hard to imagine that Jill wishing to spend her life helping children. The new Jill though.=, the one who wore PJs all day and ate Chinese from the box while watching ‘The Blob,’ perhaps she would.

As the movie started he turned his attentions there, watching the first few scenes before there was one which triggered his memory to the train ride back from Hogwarts. He saw Sethia again there, after almost a year since their final parting. It brought back memories of their past together. And reminded him of how he had cared about her, and how much he still cared. It was ten that he had invited her to come to London for a few days over the summer. Seeing her again that day made him never want to go so long with out her again. “Hey Jilli Bean,” he started, pausing for a moment to finish his latest bit of dinner. “You don’t mind if a friend stays with us for a few days, do you?”

[jillian]

When he asked if that's what she wanted to do after Hogwarts, Jill shook her head quickly and finished swallowing her food before answering, "No, not really. I love the kids - but it's not what I want to do, who I want to be. I don't know what I want to do after school, but I do know that it isn't working with kids." She rethought about that and realized that sounded bad, "I love kids, don't get me wrong. And I'll still want to work with them - but it isn't my career choice." Jill finished the carton she had in her hands, and then leaned forward - reaching for an egg roll. Her eyes drifted to the movie for a moment, and decided it was a good horrible horror movie. One of Joann's favourites though. The egg roll was hot in her hands, so she blew on it to cool it off a bit. But she was listening to what Payton was asking. She looked over at him, and tilted her head after he had asked if a friend could come stay with them.

She sat silent for a few moments, and then felt a sharp pain in her hand. Jill dropped the egg roll upon reaction and brought her fingers to her mouth. Quickly, she retrieved the egg roll; looked at it - then set it in her empty carton. Her fingers still to her lips, she blew on them a bit, "Um... sure? May I ask who this friend is and when they will be staying?" Jill stood up, walked into the kitchen and started to run her finger under warm water.