Miss Me? ((Reaegyn))

[Adrian Maigny R7]

((Set during break...dun dun dun!))

Adrian stood at the desk of the small book shop with her pen in hand, leaning over the journal that she’d just bought only minutes before. She was planning on letting the lady behind the counter wrap it, but before she could do that Adrian needed to put her two cents in the front of the book. “Dear Reaegyn, Merry Christmas. I hope you like this journal, but don’t think that I didn’t have a purpose in buying it. I could have just gotten you pens. There’s one rule that comes with this journal. Rule #1: You must fill this book up with all those beautiful words that you write, but they should be about us. And when you’re finished, let me see.” Adrian smiled and signed her name at the bottom of the first page. You wouldn’t think it, but signing it was a rather complex thing to do. “Love, Yours, Adrian Maigny.” Signing it with just her name was far easier then bothering with formalities. It was difficult with Reaegyn. With anyone else Adrian would have just put ‘merry Christmas’ or ‘happy holidays’ or something along those lines, but with Reaegyn that seemed so impersonal. But at the same time signing it with something like love seemed far too personal, and Adrian didn’t want to put herself out there like that by handing her heart over in writing. Which is exactly what she’d be doing if she signed something to Reaegyn with the world love, or yours. Now, it was obvious that vocally and emotionally and mentally and probably physically, Adrian had already handed over her heart, but she couldn’t let herself hand it over in writing. Not under the knowledge that it would be once again a strain on her heart to do so.

Adrian closed the book and handed it over to the woman behind the counter. She then leaned forward on the desk as the woman wrapped the thing. It was nice, Adrian had ordered it a week or so ago. She had needed to preorder it so that they could personalize it and put Reaegyn Juniper Eschen-Brenner in silver letters on the front, bottom right corner of the book. They put it there because the corners, along with the spine, were covered in leather, whereas the rest of the cover was decorated in an old manuscript, complete with calligraphy bits of some piece of old writing, and the classical decorative images that would have been found in such a manuscript. Adrian thought it was nice, and so she knew that Reaegyn would appreciate it. Inside the book were one hundred and thirty thick, delicately lined pages of paper. Double sided. The paper was handcrafted in a town in Italy and the woman who owned the store had assured Adrian it was of the highest quality that a writer or sketcher could ask for in a journal. The book had charm that was for sure, and so she had bought it. It wasn’t a cheap journal either, but Adrian wasn’t cheap. Adrian had found a way of saving up her money throughout the year and then spending it lavishly, and more often than not she was spending it on Reaegyn. This Christmas though, Adrian’s mother had given her money specifically for buying gifts, and that, along with the money Adrian had saved up for the occasion, allowed her to spend freely when the time came.

When Adrian finally made her way out of the shop she was accompanied with four wrapped gift boxes, and a bag in which she had a book she’d bought for herself. The gifts were for her mother, Joon, Benny, and Reaegyn. She’d shipped off Beau’s gift yesterday – a new pair of juggling knives. She’d sent it off early knowing how long it would take to get through the mail. She was moving quickly down the London street, shivering as she went. Today she had been smart enough to grab her leather gloves and her blue scarf, and for a hat she had on a bowler. One of her favorites. She was wearing a long black coat that reached down to her knees, and she was, as usual wearing her baggy jeans. Under her coat she’d decided on a grey turtleneck, covered with a black button up shirt. But even with layers Adrian was cold. She didn’t do well in the cold but anyone who knew Adrian knew that. And so she hurried down the street, balancing a stack of presents and a bag with a book, trying at the same time not to lose her hat to the occasional gusts of wind that were only making this cold day colder. Adrian had reached the street corner, where she would make a right and head up the road a few blocks to her mother’s apartment, when she was stopped in her tracks by the most adorable sight she’d ever seen. There was a father, holding a small girl, probably no older than four, and by their feet was a box. The side of the box read ‘Free Puppies Need Home’. The moment Adrian stopped to look the man smiled b rightly at her. There was only one puppy left, and it didn’t take Adrian more than five minutes of looking at the thing before she’d decided she had to have it.

Soon she was hurrying along the street again, but now she was balancing four gifts and a bag in one hand, and cradling a puppy only a bit larger then her hand under her coat. Her head was bent forward against the wind to prevent her hat from flying off, and she was never more grateful to reach her apartment then she was in that instance. She hurried up the flights of stairs to the third floor and pushed open the door carefully. Just as she’d hoped her mother wasn’t home from work yet. Adrian set down the puppy reluctantly as she placed her mother’s gift underneath the undecorated Christmas tree by the window. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a pen and paper, writing her mother a small note to let her know that she was leaving for Reaegyn’s for the holidays, and then stuck it to the fridge with a magnet. Adrian walked into the living room, grabbed her suitcase from beside the couch where she’d put it that morning, scooped the puppy up into her arms again, grabbed the three gifts she’d bought, and the bag with her book, and then stepped to the fireplace. She, difficultly, grabbed a handful of floo powder from the bowl on top of the mantle, and then stepped inside the fireplace, hunching over so she’d fit. She called out the address of Reaegyn’s house, threw down the powder, clutched the puppy close to her, and in seconds the world was spinning.

Finally the fireplaces stopped moving in front of her and Adrian wobbled out of the larger fireplace that was in Reaegyn’s family room. She took a few minutes to steady herself and then set down her suitcase and moved to the tree, placing the gifts carefully underneath it, before taking off her hat and setting it on the mantle. Now that she was all settled and she could move around the house easier, Adrian carried her new puppy into Reaegyn’s kitchen and set it down on the floor. It barked a bit, but wobbled on its feet, probably still uncomfortable from the flooing. Adrian made her way to the cabinets and pulled out a bowl and a glass. Both she then filled with water, one for herself which she took a long drink of, and one for the puppy which she set on the floor. The puppy went straight at the water and Adrian smiled. “Mum! Dad! Love! I’m home!”

[Reaegyn Eschen-Brenner R7]

Reaegyn yawned and rolled over onto her back to look up at her ceiling. She was in hr room; her favourite room in the house. Her bedroom. The room was probably the coolest one of the whole house, except for the Glass Porch. It was a turret, one of those round things you would see on a castle – a tower kind of. So it was completely round and there was a spire at the top. Reaegyn loved her room. It was painted as if she were in a park, with people and grass and trees, along with a few benches here and there. Her lamps were streetlamps at her door, beside her bed, and over in the sitting corner beside one of her windows. From the ceiling hung star shaped lanterns that she lit up during the night because her streetlamp lights weren't bright enough. While her room was amazing and looked great, her favourite part of it was probably her black wall that jutted out from the main wall. On it were bits of paper that had all of her articles, her best poetry, her random memoirs, pictures, everything you could ever imagine that Reaegyn created was on there. It was her Writer's Wall and she loved it. It was constantly being added to and she never took anything down from it. She never would take anything down, because that wall would stay in that house forever. Reaegyn sighed as she surveyed her room, trying to fight back the boredom that was definitely creeping up on her and threatening her with sleep. That's what Reaegyn did when she was bored. She slept. Which is most odd if you think about how often she gets on Adrian's case about sleeping too much, but Reaegyn couldn't help it. She grew tired when she was bored and often enough she fell asleep if she was in a comfortable enough place to do it. She was determined to stay awake, though, because she had already fallen asleep once in the past twenty minutes and she didn't want to do it again.

Reaegyn groaned and covered her face in her hands and tried to focus on something entertaining but there was nothing entertaining in the least to focus on. She let her hands drop beside her and tried to think of something to do before she really did pass out. Then finally it occurred to her that she hadn't put up her little Christmas tree yet. The little Christmas tree that she always put up and decorated, and kept in her room. There were two other Christmas trees in her house; one in the family room that held all of the family ornaments and the brightly coloured lights and one in the parlour that was professionally decorated and there for guests to view. Christmas was most definitely one of Reaegyn's favourite holidays at her house because everything was just so amazing, her parents went overboard but they didn't do tacky things. They did classy and elegant. The way Reaegyn liked it.

Swinging her legs over her bed onto the hardwood floor, Reaegyn had finally gained the motivation to get up and go down into the cellar to get her Christmas tree. She slipped a jacket on over her black button up shirt, knowing it would be cold in the cellar, and headed out of her room and down the spiral staircase to the main hallway. There were three doors in this hallway; at the far end of it was the door that lead to her parents' room and the two other doors led to a bathroom and a guest room where Adrian was supposed to stay when she visited. She hardly ever did stay there, though, because they usually ended up crashing in Reaegyn's room because they were too tired to move – they normally didn't get to bed until around 5 in the morning. Whenever they did go to bed at a decent time, though, Adrian did stay in the guest room, and she kept her things in there as well. Reaegyn headed down the stairs to the entryway and then turned left sharply to head down another flight of stairs into the cellar. She flicked the lightswitch and the light flickered on overhead as she reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around the musty room for the box labelled "Reaegyn's Christmas Tree." It took a few moments, but she found it squeezed underneath a box labelled "Joon's Random Figurines" and above another box labelled "Benny's Random...Train Sets?" She pulled it out slowly as if she were playing a game of Jenga and then balanced it on her hip as she made her way back up the stairs to the entryway, turning the lights off on her way. Just as she broke into the brightly lit room, there came a voice from kitchen.

A voice she would recognise anywhere. She smiled and turned into the kitchen instead of heading up the stairs again to her room, expecting to see Adrian there eating something or drinking some water. Imagine Reaegyn's surprise when she saw a puppy there as well. She nearly dropped the box, but caught herself and set it on the table beside the wall. She took a slow step forward, "Adrian, why is there a puppy in my kitchen?" Of course, the question how needn't be answered because Adrian obviously brought the thing with her. Reaegyn wanted to know why there was a tiny dog drinking from a bowl on the ground in her kitchen. "Adrian...please tell me you're just holding it for a friend..." She knew that was a ridiculous idea even as she spoke because why would Adrian being holding a puppy for a friend? Still, it was one she threw out there and one she was waiting for a reply to.

Before Adrian could even explain, though, Joon entered the kitchen with a glass ball in her hand. She peered through the glass ball up at the ceiling and then sighed audibly before looking at the two girls in her kitchen, "Oh, hullo dear." She said to Adrian as her eyes moved to what Reaegyn was staring at. Reaegyn waited for her mother to start lecturing Adrian, but instead..."Oh! A puppy!" She threw her glass ball into the air as she dove to the ground to catch the puppy in her hands and hug it to her. Reaegyn let her eyes grow wide and moved to catch the falling glass ball when her father's hand appeared out of nowhere, and caught the ball. Reaegyn let out a sigh of relief as he set the glass ball down on the counter and looked around at the commotion in the kitchen. It was quite the strange sight to see; her mother on the floor, hugging a puppy; her dad standing and looking quite confused; Adrian mid-sip in her water; and Reaegyn just waiting for someone to say or do something. Finally, Benny spoke up, directing his words at Reaegyn; "This puppy yours, sugar cube?" Reaegyn shook her head vehemently and stepped further into the kitchen, heading over to Adrian and standing beside her, "No, it's Maigny's. She was just about to kindly tell me why there is a dog in our kitchen."

[Adrian Maigny R7]

Adrian smiled and sipped at her water, watching the puppy on the floor. She knew it would only be a few minutes before the Eschen-Brenner family all made their way into the kitchen, and Adrian was just hoping that all would go over...with their newest arrival and all. Of course, Reaegyn was the first to arrive, and Adrian smiled brightly at her as she felt her heart do one of those strange speeding up things. Unlike most people, Adrian rarely got what they called ‘butterflies’ in her stomach. Her stomach didn’t do loops. Instead, there was a feeling in her chest, almost like a pressure. It happened on two occasions. One, was when she was extremely happy or excited, and the other occasion was when she was upset; severely upset. So there were also two times around Reaegyn when she got the feeling. Either she got the good one whenever she saw Reaegyn and her feelings got caught up in her chest and manifested themselves in that feeling, or she got it when she thought about the fact that she couldn’t have Reaegyn in the romantic sense that she wanted her, and her feelings manifested themselves in her chest. But on the negative occasion, the feeling was more of a chocking feeling...like the breath got knocked out of her and she’d have to wheeze a bit before she got it back. Those were the times when Adrian would cry, and even sometimes the feeling would be so intense her body would numb itself and so she’d lie in bed, shaking slightly and just staring up at the ceiling. But now she was getting the good kind, the good kind where all she could do was smile and stare and wonder how she went a day without seeing Reaegyn’s face.

Reaegyn however, was not returning any such look, and Adrian doubted she’d even noticed the look. No, her attention was focused on the guest sipping from a bowl of water on the floor. Adrian should have known Reaegyn wouldn’t be pleased to see the puppy, she had never been exactly good with animals. Adrian laughed as Reaegyn almost dropped the box she was holding, and as she set it down on the table Adrian made the connection with it being a Christmas tree, and knew that sometime today she’d be helping her best friend set up her Christmas tree. Adrian looked back down at the floor as Reaegyn stared down at the puppy and then Adrian smirked and shook her head guiltily as Reaegyn asked if Adrian was holding the pet for a friend. Adrian opened her mouth to speak but instead Joon walked into the room with one of her many works of glass, and after saying hello to Adrian, she managed to throw the thing into the air and launch herself at the puppy. Adrian had to hold back laughter as she watched Reaegyn’s face as the girl lunged toward the flying glass object. Lucky for her, Benny walked into the kitchen and caught the thing just in time. Adrian attributed his reflexes to quidditch and smiled brightly. Adrian stood quite still, trying to be as nonchalant as possible as she sipped her water and waited for the blame to fall on her. But first it passed to Reaegyn, who was quick to push it off onto Adrian. Adrian couldn’t help but feel bad however, she was at first overcome with the humor of the whole situation, not to mention Reaegyn had walked over to her and now Adrian could smell her as she wrapped an arm around the girl’s waist and looked back and forth from her, Joon, Benny, and the puppy.

Her eyes finally settled on Benny however and she looked slightly apologetic. “It’s mine pop. See...it was just so cute...and he was the only one left in the box...and it was so cold on the street...and I just couldn’t leave him alone...and I thought hey! I’ll take him! But then once I had taken him and gotten back to my place I realized that my mum would kill me...or worse, him, and I just couldn’t let that happen and so I figured where better to keep him then with a loving family who would take care of him and love him and treat him nicely and give him a warm home and all of the good things that puppies need and then I realized that I knew a family just like that and I was just hoping that that family which I love so dearly and consider my very own family would take in this puppy and treat him well and keep him for me just for the school year until I could get my own place and take him because I knew that he would be loved and cherished if they’d just give him a chance!” Finally Adrian’s mouth stopped moving a she took several deep breaths, calming herself down and looking hopeful. Finally her eyes flashed between Benny and Reaegyn, and in a final plea she looked down at Joon and the puppy. “Come on guys...have you ever seen something so cute?” The puppy was in fact adorable. He was incredibly tiny, only a bit bigger then Adrian’s hand, and Adrian didn’t have very big hands; other then that the puppy had cute little black eyes and a cute little black nose, and had a cute little fluffy tail and curly black and dark grey fur. He was snuggled up to Joon, though he was looking around the room as if he were rather shocked. He must have calmed down though because his tail was wagging quickly and his jaws were open in a smile. If you could even call the small little muzzle jaws. Adrian looked to Reaegyn, pouting. “Come on Reae love...give him a chance?”

[Reaegyn Eschen-Brenner R7]

Reaegyn expected Adrian to touch her the moment she had reached with arm's length, which was why she wasn't surprised when Adrian wrapped an arm around her waist. She was never surprised by the physical contact that Adrian initiated; in fact she always enjoyed the physical contact, even though she never allowed herself to show how much she enjoyed the contact. Reaegyn had become rather good at hiding any emotion besides happiness from Adrian, at least...she thought so. Whether or not that was true, Reaegyn wasn’t sure – but she liked to think that she was pretty good at hiding any emotion that could show her true feelings toward Adrian from Adrian. Reaegyn looked at her best friend as she spoke, diving into the story about how the puppy came to be in her possession. She watched Adrian intensely, studying her every facial feature. Her eyes, which Reaegyn often found herself getting lost in, the way her lips formed into a smile even though she was trying to convince the Eschen-Brenner's this terrible story; it took Reaegyn a moment to look away and down at the puppy in her mother's arms, trying to clear her mind of Adrian's lips. Adrian finally finished her story, and there was this silence in the kitchen that hung so heavy that Reaegyn almost caved just to get rid of it. Adrian beat her to it, though, and started on about how cute the puppy was. Considering Reaegyn had never had a puppy and she had never been fond of dogs, she didn't know what to think of it. She didn't even know what her father was thinking about at the moment; she had always tried to read her father's face, but never could. Benny was always so difficult to read because he had to keep his face blank for his career, he sometimes forgot to leave work at the job place and brought it home. Reaegyn ran her fingers through her hair and looked at Adrian again when she spoke to her, calling her Reae love as she always did. Reaegyn looked at Adrian for a long moment, just quiet, and then sighed; "Alright, it can stay here if Daddy says it's okay." She looked at her father, and Benny looked at the puppy before nodding; "Fine, it can stay, but!" he said loudly before Adrian could get too excited, "At the end of graduation, you will have to take it back...it can't stay here forever."

Joon squealed and jumped up, hurrying out of the kitchen with the puppy in her arms before anyone could take it from her. Reaegyn sighed and took Adrian's arm from around her waist, held onto her hand, and headed out of the kitchen – grabbing the box on the way out, having to let go of Adrian's hand in order to carry it, "Your mum would kill you if she knew you have a puppy, Adrian," Reaegyn said as she started the climb up the stairs to the second floor. Both Reaegyn and Adrian knew that her mother wouldn't be as ecstatic as Reaegyn's mother had been about the puppy, and so Reaegyn had no doubt in her mind that Adrian had absolutely no intention of telling her mother about the puppy. They reached the second floor and then Reaegyn headed up the spiral staircase to her room, talking as she ascended the steps; "Have you thought a name for it yet?" her voice echoed off the walls as she reached the top and pushed open her door – stepping inside and setting the Christmas tree box on the floor beside her door. Once Adrian was inside as well, Reaegyn closed the door and then collapsed onto her bed, pulling Adrian down beside her. She stared up at her ceiling for a bit before looking over at Adrian with a smile, "How long are you staying for?" It was the usual question that Reaegyn asked whenever Adrian showed up for Christmas. It was an unnecessary question, but it was one that Reaegyn couldn't help but ask. She reached over and brushed Adrian's hair out of her eyes, just looking at her before getting a hold of herself and looking at her Writer's Wall. Her window was opened slightly and there was a light breeze that ruffled the papers on the wall, sending a small sound through the circular room. Reaegyn watched her poetry flutter against the black paint on the wall and then let her eyes wander back to Adrian, feeling a bit startled when she saw that Adrian was looking at her. Even though she shouldn't have been nearly as startled as she was.

She didn't know what to say or rather she didn't have anything to say, and so she just stared at Adrian as Adrian was staring at her. She took in every aspect about her best friend, trying to keep her heart from pounding too hard. It was so strange to think that Reaegyn had never gotten this way over anyone else except Adrian. She had never felt any way toward anyone. Reaegyn had pretty much decided that she would never be in any form of relationship ever; and don't get me wrong, she still didn't think she would be in a relationship, but at least now she had the feelings one generally got from being in a relationship. It was just that she had to keep those feelings secret, especially from Adrian. Sometimes she wondered if Adrian picked up on the way she felt, and if she did; did she just brush them off as something like a fluke? Or did she analyse them the way Reaegyn hoped she did? Of course, that wouldn't be the best thing because analysing them could actually lead Adrian to the conclusion that Reaegyn was fairly head over heels for her – but she couldn't...let herself believe that Adrian just brushed aside any form of emotion that Reaegyn let out. She just couldn't.

[Adrian Maigny R7]

Adrian could remember some of the first times she had been touchy with Reaegyn, and the way that the girl had responded in an almost uncertain way. The beginning of their friendship was an odd one of course, how many of your friends can you say are there because you kissed them? Well that’s how Adrian and Reaegyn’s friendship had come to be. Adrian had just kissed her in the Ravenclaw common room. Of course, it was true that Adrian had had her eye on the girl for at least a year before then, but still, you don’t just randomly kiss other girls, even if you are gay. That seems to be one of those taboo things. Now, a boy randomly kissing a girl is generally more accepted then when a guy randomly kisses another guy, or a girl kisses another girl. Those times seem to be looked at in a completely different light. And so Adrian was rather pleased that not many people had noticed when she’d kissed Reaegyn. She wasn’t ashamed of it of course, but she didn’t was also glad that Reaegyn and her had been able to start their friendship without many people gossiping about it. And if they had seen the kiss, then that’s exactly what would have happened. Sure, Adrian had been attracted to Reaegyn since before the start of their friendship, but at the same time Adrian had been able to start their friendship out as just that, a friendship. It was probably because Adrian knew, or at least thought she knew, that Reaegyn was straight. And so that little fact gave her reason to see Reaegyn as just a friend, someone she could be close to in that best friend sort of way. And yet, getting to know Reaegyn like that had done little to stop Adrian from liking her best friend. In fact, it had only made it worse. Adrian couldn’t stop liking Reaegyn strictly because they were such good friends. Every day it seemed Adrian fell for Reaegyn all over again. There was just something about the girl that Adrian couldn’t resist. She couldn’t say no. She couldn’t look away. Reaegyn was just so perfect in Adrian’s eyes. Even if she wasn’t gay.

Adrian’s smile became plastered to her face as the answer she was hoping for was finally uttered. “Ah! Thank you thank you thank you!” Adrian happily pecked Reaegyn quickly on the side of her head. She had every intention of rushing over to Benny and hugging him, but she was quite conscious of the fact that her arm was around Reaegyn’s waist, and she didn’t want to move away from that yet. Besides, Joon stood up at that moment and rushed out of the room with the puppy, squealing. Adrian laughed and looked at Benny. “I promise I’ll take it as soon as I graduate...even if I have to pry it from mum’s hands.” Reaegyn had Adrian’s hand now, and was pulling her out of the kitchen, and when Reaegyn let go of her hand, Adrian managed to hug Benny quickly before rushing out of the kitchen after Reaegyn, toward the stairs. “Yeah, yeah, you and I both know she would. Why do you think I brought him here? My mother would pull the same old thing - “You’re too irresponsible, Adrian!” And honestly, how irresponsible does she think I am! She’s the one who’d like...leave the dog alone with a dog murderer or something!” Yes, Adrian’s logic and reasoning didn’t make any sense, but she liked it that way. The two girls made their way up the stairs to Reaegyn’s room, a room that Adrian loved very, very much. The artistic-ness of it just made Adrian want to spend forever in there. It was probably one of the most inspiring places Adrian had ever been. “I was thinking I’d name it after a planet...Mars...Earth...Venus...but probably Mercury ‘cause it’s a boy...” She looked off as if into the distance for a minute. “Mercury is the Roman messenger god right?” The planets weren’t exactly Adrian’s forte, but she knew they were Reaegyn’s, and so yeah, maybe naming her dog after a planet was a subtle bit of implication toward how much she cared about Reaegyn. “What do you think love? Mercury sound good?”

Adrian and Reaegyn headed into the room and soon enough Adrian was being pulled down onto the bed. She didn’t lay flat on her back like Reaegyn however; instead she laid on her side, sitting up on one elbow, looking over at the other girls. She watched her for a while before Reaegyn looked over and smiled at Adrian, asking how long she’d stay. Adrian smiled back of course. “The usual? Till we go back to school.” Normally Adrian would have shown up earlier in the year, but this year she had needed to do late Christmas shopping, seeing as her mother was the one who had insisted on giving her money, and her mother had been flat broke until yesterday. And by late Christmas shopping I do mean late, today being Christmas Eve and all. Normally Adrian would have been at the Eschen-Brenner’s house at least a week ago, but this year she hadn’t been able. So instead she’d called Reaegyn every five minutes. And when she couldn’t talk, she’d leave her silly messages on her phone. And when Reaegyn would call her back Adrian would say “miss me?” Adrian closed her eyes for a minute as Reaegyn brushed her hair out of her eyes, calming herself mentally. When she opened them again Reaegyn was looking at her wall. Adrian just looked at her, a soft smile occupying her lips. She chuckled slightly when Reaegyn looked back, obviously a little started to find Adrian watching her, but honestly, she should have been expecting it. Adrian lifted herself off the bed and made her way to grab the box from the floor where Reaegyn had dropped it. She picked it up and carried it over to Reaegyn’s little...corner if you could call it that. Adrian knew she set up the tree in the same spot every year. She opened the box and pulled out the bits and pieces of the fake tree.

[Reaegyn Eschen-Brenner R7]

Reaegyn loved Christmas Eve. She didn't know why, but she had always loved it. She loved the entire Christmas season and all of the good feelings that came with it. Reaegyn often would pause in whatever she was doing and just close her eyes and enjoy the feeling of warmth she received from the season. It was partially the reason why she set up the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, because it was the night that she felt most filled with the Christmas spirit. The second part of why she set up the tree on the night before Christmas was because she knew that no matter what Adrian would be there on Christmas Eve, as was proven this year by Adrian's late arrival. Adrian also knew that Christmas Eve was the night they set up her Christmas tree and she knew that there was always a certain way it was to be done, that there was always a certain place it was to be put up, and that there was always a certain tradition that went with it. Of course, normally, Adrian arrived earlier so Reaegyn had no issues with decorating the rest of the relaxation area, which was where they were setting up the tree, but this year it had been difficult because she didn't want to put up the decorations without Adrian – she had to because otherwise she would feel behind in her daily routine and well honestly, Reaegyn hated the feeling of being behind on something. It was the typical Ravenclaw in her. Regardless, Reaegyn had set up some of the other decorations, but not the tree. There was garland draped around the windows, lights woven into them, and placed nearly strategically – whether by conscious effort or subconscious effort, we can't be sure – was a single bushel of mistletoe. It was always there, something that Reaegyn always put up. She didn't always put it up in the same place, but it was put in the same area. She just usually forgot it was there, because it was just a decoration – nothing more. Reaegyn watched as Adrian stood from the bed and grabbed the Christmas tree box, heading over to the area they always set the tree up in. She sat up on her bed and watched as Adrian started to pull out the branches from the box, trying to keep herself from feeling brushed aside. She shouldn't feel brushed aside because she couldn't feel brushed aside. She had no reason to feel brushed aside if she was really the straight friend flirting because it was safe and not the gay friend flirting because she was interested.

She bit her lip gently and then stood from her bed as Adrian had done just moments before, heading over toward where Adrian stood. She pulled out the main stand and set it on the ground before kneeling down and looking at the colour that was needed for the bottom circle of branches. She reached into the box, then, to pull out the purple colour coded branches and start to "fluff" them, so to speak. As she did this, she tried not to let her mind wander too much in case Adrian tried to start a conversation, but she found herself thinking of things she probably shouldn't have been thinking of. Reaegyn often found herself thinking of such things, but it wasn't like she could help it. Her mind just got away from her. Sometimes the smallest thing sparked it. Sometimes it was just the way she looked at Adrian or the way Adrian looked at her, or other times it was the way Adrian said something that just made Reaegyn stop and stare. It was a good stare, never a bad one because Adrian never deserved a bad stare, and the stares usually resulted in something that would be just as equally bad - like the urge to kiss Adrian...again. Which wasn't really bad if you thought about it, but it would not lead anywhere good and Reaegyn just wouldn't be able to explain herself with that one. No matter how much a straight friend flirts with her gay friend, there is no justification for a straight friend kissing her gay friend unless the straight friend was gay. Reaegyn shook her head sharply to get the thoughts from her mind and slipped the branch into the appropriate spot before deciding to bring up something to talk about before her thoughts became too dangerous; "Mercury, eh?" she returned to the earlier conversation about the puppy's name.

The puppy, although Reaegyn wasn't too happy to see that Adrian had brought it, was cute and Reaegyn couldn’t deny that. Reaegyn knew cute when she saw it, but there was something about the fact that Adrian had gone ahead and gotten the puppy without talking to Reaegyn about it first. She didn't know why that set her at an uneasy stand point, but it did. It wasn’t like she had any right to have any weight in the decision, but still... Reaegyn liked when Adrian discussed things like that with her. It was the closest thing to a girlfriend-to-girlfriend discussion that they could get. Reaegyn bit her lip in thought now, banishing those thoughts from her head, too, and then nodded; "Yeah, Mercury is the messenger god of the Romans. I prefer Hermes, though." Reaegyn paused and looked at Adrian, "I actually prefer all of the Greek gods to the Roman ones. Aphrodite to Venus, Aries to Mars, Zeus to Jupiter, Hades to Pluto... they just sound cooler. And besides," Reaegyn smiled brightly at Adrian now, "they don't remind me of planets all the time. I mean, don't get me wrong I love planets, but...I don't like gods and planets to be mixed in my mind." She shrugged and started to fluff out another tree branch as she thought about naming the puppy Mercury. It wasn't a bad name or anything and it could actually work for a pet name, but it wasn't her puppy that was to be named – it was Adrian and so it was Adrian's decision ultimately. Again, it went along with the whole not being a part of the relationship in order to make that kind of join decision. She knew she shouldn't be thinking this way, but she couldn't help it. Reaegyn closed her eyes a moment and then opened them as she snapped the next branch into place.

[Adrian Maigny R7]

Adrian was unpacking the tree by now, quite aware of the eyes on her back; the eyes drilling into her back. Though, they weren’t really drilling, because Reaegyn’s eyes, those beautiful brown eyes, were not capable of drilling. Adrian never neglected the looks that Reaegyn gave her. Of course, she didn’t know what to make of them, but she most definitely didn’t neglect them. There were some times when Adrian was almost certain she could see her own love for Reaegyn being reflected right back at her, and some nights when she lay in bed she let herself believe that maybe Reaegyn was feeling the same feelings about her. But when the sun came up again the next morning Adrian would let those dreams slowly fade out of her mind, or at least be locked in a box in the back of her head, only to be revisited when she was very lonely and had no chance of doing something spontaneous that might disrupt her friendship with Reaegyn. An accidental kiss was one thing, a second kiss on purpose was another. Adrian didn’t want Reaegyn to feel awkward around her, and so far the flirting hadn’t done that, but Adrian feared a kiss would bring about the end of them, and there was nothing Adrian wanted less then to be away from Reaegyn. It was the way Reaegyn looked at her, or the way she smiled, or the way she would do little things – push aside Adrian’s hair, take Adrian’s hand, those things. Cumulatively, they felt so couple-ish that Adrian couldn’t stand it. There were nights when Adrian would dream that all of those little things just slowly became Adrian and Reaegyn being a couple, but they were only dreams and they didn’t hold up in the real world. Adrian couldn’t help but wonder sometimes whether or not Reaegyn was totally honest about her feelings, or about her sexuality, but Adrian knew that thoughts like that would only lead to those pains in her chest that could stop her breathing at night. And so, as Adrian tried not to wonder about how Reaegyn was looking at her, she pulled the branches out of the box and began stacking them in little piles, according to color. She’d put this tree together with Reaegyn before and so she had a pretty basic idea of how to do it.

Adrian cleared her mind and smiled over at Reaegyn as the girl made her way over and began fluffing branches. Adrian had always thought it was odd the way Reaegyn fluffed her branches before putting them on the tree. In Adrian’s mind it made far more sense to put all the branches in place and then fluff them so you didn’t leave any gaps in the tree. Fake trees were temperamental that way, and in Adrian’s opinion, it didn’t matter how much fluffing you did, they would always look fake. Adrian could remember the first time she had tried to put the tree together her way and had been, not really scolded, but corrected, by Reaegyn, and then taught the proper way to put together a fake tree. Adrian finished stacking the separate piles of branches and had begun to fluff the bottom row just like Reaegyn was doing when Reaegyn brought up the puppy’s name again. Adrian got the sense that the name was in question and she paused for a minute to look over at Reaegyn. “I just figured I’d name it that because...well it reminded me of you. And I mean, the puppy is in your house...I thought you’d like that.” Adrian shrugged slightly and placed a fluffed branch in its slot as Reaegyn went on about how she didn’t like planets and gods to get mixed up in her mind. “Do you have any other name idea’s love?” Adrian looked over at Reaegyn again and leaned back on her hands as she watched the girl fluff Christmas tree branches. If there was one person in the world whose opinion mattered to Adrian it was Reaegyn. She was the first stop for Adrian when a decision needed making. She was in the number one spot on Adrian’s list for advice. If there was one person that Adrian would ask for advice on what to name her puppy, it would be Reaegyn. Wow, her puppy. That seemed so strange seeing as the puppy was going to be living in the Eschen-Brenner’s house and Adrian would hardly see it throughout the year. Except on Hogsmeade weekends.

Of course, Reaegyn being the girl that she was, she just had to insist that it was up to Adrian what to name the puppy, but Adrian wouldn’t let that be. Reaegyn would give Adrian a suggestion if Adrian had to...to...well to tickle it out of her. First it was just simple tickling. Adrian smirked and lifted a tree branch, reaching it toward Reaegyn and swiping it gently back and forth to mock tickling Reaegyn. “Come on now, Reae love, give me something to work on...” But of course Reaegyn pushed the branch aside and Adrian was left with no other option but to get on her hands and knees, crawl closer to Reaegyn, and ambush her in tickling. She grinned as her hands moved, poking Reaegyn gently in the stomach at first, egging her on still. “Just a na-ame! That’s all I need!” And soon enough it was full out tickling, which ended in laughter as Adrian managed to tackled Reaegyn back on her floor playfully, moving over her to tickle her still, set on getting an idea out of her best friend. Of course, once Adrian was there, leaning over Reaegyn, both of them slowly calming down from laughing, and Adrian could look down into Reaegyn’s eyes, that same feeling that usually took over, took over again. Adrian could feel her heart speed up a little and she smiled softly down at Reaegyn. Then the girl’s eyes flickered to something above Adrian’s head, and Adrian was compelled to follow her gaze.

[Reaegyn Eschen-Brenner R7]

Reaegyn smiled softly to herself and continued to fluff the branches as she listened to Adrian tell her she had wanted to name the puppy that because it reminded her of Reaegyn. Of course, Mercury would remind Adrian of Reaegyn. Reaegyn was the girl who loved the planets, and although she hated the names of the planets, she loved the facts about them. She wasn't obsessed with the planets, but she liked them. She was often heard spouting off random facts about them after Astronomy, but other than that – she didn't have an unhealthy obsession with them like some other people she knew. She popped the next branch into place, still smiling to herself, as she thought about how nice it was that Adrian was reminded of her at all. There were so many people in the world who didn't have anyone reminded of them at all and that was quite depressing. In Reaegyn's opinion, there was nothing more to prove that someone thought about you than to have someone be reminded of you. Reaegyn was constantly reminded of Adrian, for instance – whenever she saw suspenders- but she hadn't known for sure if Adrian had been reminded of Reaegyn at all. Her question had just been answered and Reaegyn could safely say she loved the answer that her best friend had inadvertently given her. She shook her head slightly at Adrian's question, "Nope, no other name suggestions. Mercury's just fine, it is after all your puppy, Maigny." She smiled over at her best friend innocently, knowing that the other girl would not accept that as an answer but also knowing that it would lead to something that would result in laughing and Reaegyn loved laughing with Adrian. It was probably one of her favourite things to spend time doing with her best friend – they could laugh for hours and over nothing, but on the other side they could spend so much time talking about serious topics that Reaegyn wouldn’t be able to talk about with anybody else. They could also spend hours debating over things that are commonplace in the muggle world and not so much in the wizarding world. Those debates were fun, but they usually ended up in both of the girls having a touchy attitude. It was always okay in the end, though, because they both apologised and agreed to disagree; that was, of course, until next time. Then they would start all over again, taking opposing viewpoints, and having hurt feelings.

She was brought back to the present when Adrian brushed her with a branch, causing Reaegyn to jump away slightly, letting out a quiet shriek. While Adrian might not have been putting much effort into tickling her, it didn't take much effort. Reaegyn was very ticklish, actually, she was so ticklish that it was difficult not to tickle her. She sent Adrian a glare and returned to fluffing her tree branch before popping that piece into place. Adrian was waving the branch near her again and Reaegyn swiped the branch away, moving further away from her best friend as she started on the next tree branch. As she was peacefully arranging the bendable twigs on the fake tree branch, she wasn't expecting to be pounced upon. She probably should have been, because that was exactly what Adrian did. She tackled her to the ground, sending the tree branch flying up into the air and then onto an arm chair, and began to tickle her completely now. Reaegyn cried out and tried to push Adrian away as laughter escaped her unwillingly and managed to say in between gasps for air; "It's...your...puppy! You...should...name...it! A...dri...an!" She whined as Adrian continued to tickle her, tackling her to the floor and moving over her to get a better angle at tickling her. They were both laughing now, and although Reaegyn loved it, she was starting to ache. Luckily, though, Adrian was calming her tickling and they were catching their breath as everything seemed to slow. The world just seemed to slowly stop spinning. Not that sudden stop that most people described when they looked into someone's eyes, but a slow halt. A slow stop, a gentle one, and it came to a nice complete stop as Reaegyn looked up into Adrian's blue eyes. She stared up into them for a moment before a spark of green flickered in the corner of Reaegyn's eyes above Adrian's head. She looked past her best friend's head up at the ceiling, her heartbeat slowing dramatically so she could hear it in her ears.

"Mistletoe..." Reaegyn whispered nearly completely inaudibly as her eyes locked on the green bushel of mistletoe she had put on her ceiling for decoration. Adrian had followed her gaze now, and Reaegyn's heartbeat was speeding up. The tradition with mistletoe was a simple one; when you're caught beneath it, you have to kiss whomever is caught beneath it with you. That would be Adrian. Reaegyn bit her lip and looked at Adrian for a moment, and then as soon as Adrian turned to look back at her again – Reaegyn leaned up and kissed her. She hadn't acted on impulse, she hadn't done it because it was tradition; she did it because she wanted. She kissed Adrian because she just couldn't keep it back anymore. And this kiss wasn't like a pathetic little peck most people gave beneath mistletoe. This kiss was a soft one, a slow one, a gentle and passionate one; and yet it was still timid. Still timid enough to let Adrian know that she was waiting for her reaction. Oh, goodness...her reaction...

[Adrian Maigny R7]

Seeing Reaegyn’s reaction when Adrian tickled her was absolutely priceless. There really were no words for how humorous it was. The little noises she would make or the tiny shrieks. And no matter how much Reaegyn fought it off, there was always that small glimmer of a smile on her lips that suggested that she was enjoying it. And so Adrian continued. She ticked Reaegyn with the tree branch until she could no longer reach Reaegyn, and then when that was done with, she pretty much leapt onto the girl to tickle her. She let the tree branch fly off behind her and land somewhere, where exactly she didn’t care. The sound of Reaegyn’s laugh was the only thing Adrian was paying attention to. That and the way Adrian’s eyes just lit up when she laughed, or the way she tried to fight Adrian off and yet at the same time (though she very well could have) she didn’t. She let Adrian tickle her into hysterics. Adrian could remember the first time the two girls had had a tickle fight because Adrian had felt absolutely terrible. She hadn’t stopped in a timely manner and so Reaegyn was reduced to painful aching from laughing and being tickled so much. Adrian could remember how worried she had gotten when Reaegyn had told her she couldn’t breathe any more, and she could remember spending the next five hours apologizing. They hadn’t had any more tickle fights for a while after that, but sooner or later the occasion for one came up, and Adrian had been very cautions the second time around. Now it was a regular activity, and every time they did it Adrian was sure to stop at a decent time so that Reaegyn wasn’t left in pain. The girls’ laughter filled the room as Adrian moved over Reaegyn, tickling her more and grinning, shaking her head, “No no no! I want your opinion! Re-ae-gynnnn!” Finally Adrian reduced her tickling, bit by bit until she was no longer tickling Reaegyn, her hands were just gently resting on Reaegyn’s sides. She couldn’t bring herself to move from leaning over her best friend though, not just yet.

As she sat there she smiled softly down at Reaegyn, getting lost in the girl’s eyes as she normally did if she spent too long staring into them. All of Adrian’s consciousness just slowly sank into Reaegyn’s eyes, and all the thoughts in her mind seemed to slow down and then stop all together, all of them except for one, ‘what is she thinking...’ Adrian always found herself wondering that when she looked into Reaegyn’s eyes. ‘What is she thinking...what she is looking at...does she know what I’m thinking...does she understand how I feel...” They were not easy questions, for Adrian was a witch but she was no seer, and she had never in her life attempted all that magic that dealt with reading another person’s mind. So she was left to wonder. The most complicated of the questions was whether or not Reaegyn understood Adrian’s feelings of course. Because honestly Adrian’s feelings were complicated. It wasn’t just a crush, it wasn’t just like, it was so deep that sometime it would make her shake. Adrian’s affection for Reaegyn went down, deep down into her bones, and even beyond that, to a place she could only feel. She didn’t know what to call it, she figured the most obvious name was her soul. All the way down into her soul. Adrian’s feelings toward her best friend were so strong that even Reaegyn’s apparent disinterest in a romantic relationship couldn’t break them or stop them. Adrian smiled still down at Reaegyn until the girl looked past Adrian, breaking their mutual gazing to look at something past Adrian’s head. In curiosity Adrian looked up too and almost laughed. There, hanging above them was mistletoe. Adrian let her head turn back around as she heard, just faintly, a whisper from Reaegyn. As Adrian looked back down at the girl, trying to think of a clever thing to say, some joke to make about being under the mistletoe, all of her words were stolen right out of her mouth.

She was kissing her. Reaegyn Juniper Eschen-Brenner, the girl that Adrian could never get out of her head, was actually kissing her. And it wasn’t some meaningless peck that even two best friends would share under the mistletoe just so they didn’t break tradition, this was a real kiss. The was the kind of kiss that stopped your heart and made you forget to breath. The kind of kiss that would make you melt. And melt Adrian did. She melted, but it only took her milliseconds to remember to kiss Reaegyn back. And she kissed her back happily, matching the speed and the softness, and all the passion and all the gentleness, keeping the kiss tender and as Adrian kissed Reaegyn back she let off her hopes and fears fall into it, all of her emotion, every thought she had about Reaegyn, drip into that kiss. Where Reaegyn’s kiss was timid, Adrian’s kiss was confident. The kind of kiss that said, ‘this is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.’ The kiss slowly melted away, just like Adrian felt like she had done, and when Adrian had successfully calmed herself down, caught her breath, and forced her eyes open she looked down at Reaegyn surprised, but with a bright but soft smile; the kind that’s more in your eyes then on your lips. When she spoke she found she could only keep it as a whisper. “Please tell me you...that you...wanted? No, meant...no...um...” Adrian swallowed hard and tried again. “Tell me something good...and be gentle...I think I might crumble.”

[Reaegyn Eschen-Brenner R7]

The kiss seemed to last forever, but it didn't, because if it had lasted forever Reaegyn wouldn't have felt like she missing a good portion of her when the kiss ended. But before I get to the ending of that glorious kiss, let me tell you a bit about Reaegyn's emotions during the kiss first. If you could imagine a sunset, the most gorgeous sunset you have ever seen in your life, multiply it by ten and then add infinity to that before squaring it, that is how Reaegyn was feeling. It's a hard feeling to get down in words, it's an even harder feeling to make you understand if you've never felt it before, but it's there and it exists and it existed for Reaegyn. If she could write the kiss that awoke Sleeping Beauty from her slumber, this kiss would be it. This kiss that she was sharing with Adrian would be it. Of course, Adrian had kissed her back; of course, she had kissed her back. How could she not? Reaegyn hadn't thought about whether or not Adrian would kiss her back when she had kissed her, because she hadn't thought about anything to deal with what Adrian's reaction would be until she had actually kissed her and the kiss was near the middle of its length. That didn't mean that Reaegyn regretted doing it, though, because soon enough Adrian kissed her back. And when Adrian kissed her back, the kiss went from being multiplied by ten to being multiplied by one hundred, from being added to infinity to being added to one hundred infinities, and from being squared to being quadrupled. When Adrian kissed her back, Reaegyn could have sworn she died and went to Heaven. The cliché terms are expected from a writer, and all of this was running through Reaegyn's head. And yet, at the same time Reaegyn's mind was completely blank. It was like she wasn't thinking about her emotions, she was just feeling them that way and they came across inside of her that way. She had that magnificent sunset inside of her, and it was the most spectacular thing she could ever feel. Sadly, however, all good things end and this kiss, this sunset, did. It came to an end. Fortunately, Adrian didn't pull back. Instead, the kiss melted away – it slowly came to a complete, gentle, stop. Reaegyn didn't let herself breathe immediately, nor did she open her eyes. She lay there, her breathing nonexistent and her eyelids perfectly still, until she could feel Adrian's eyes on her. She slowly opened her own to look up into Adrian's blue ones again and her breathing slowly started back up.

Adrian was smiling at her and this caused Reaegyn to smile, too. It was something that she had always done. Whenever Adrian would smile, Reaegyn would smile, too. It wasn't possible to frown whenever Adrian was smiling. She had such a gorgeous smile and it was contagious as well. Reaegyn went to move her hand up to run her fingers through Adrian's hair, but she found she was paralysed and couldn't move any limb anywhere. That was alright, though, because Adrian then spoke and Reaegyn knew that if she had done anything to make any movement she wouldn’t have been able to think as clearly as she would if she continued to lie on the floor beneath Adrian. She whispered nearly breathlessly; "Don't crumble. No crumbling. You aren't a cookie." She managed a smile and then closed her eyes a moment to stop the room from spinning violently. It would appear that the world wasn't so kind when it regained its speed. When she opened her eyes again, she let out a slow breath and said; "There's some...something I should tell you, Adrian, and I don't want you to get mad at me for not telling you sooner and I don't want you to feel like a fool because I hadn't told you sooner. I don't want this to hurt you in any way and if that's what will result from this, I want us to be able to forget this ever happened." Even as she said it, she knew it wasn't going to be possible. There was no way she could forget a kiss like that, and she knew Adrian was the same way. She took another deep breath and lifted her hand to stroke Adrian's cheek before sitting up slightly and leaning back against her bed, pulling Adrian to sit up beside her. The silence danced around them a moment, but it wasn't an uneasy silence and it wasn't an awkward one. It was just a silence that meant they were thinking and that was exactly what Reaegyn was doing. She didn't know how she was going to tell Adrian this, but she had to now, and moreover she wanted to. After a moment, Reaegyn nodded and looked over at Adrian with a soft look in her eyes, "I'm gay." It was that simple. That simple. Two words. Just two words. Why couldn't she have told her before? It would have been that simple. Perhaps it was because Reaegyn didn't know how she felt about them... and she knew that if she told Adrian there would result in a 'them.' Now, however, Reaegyn knew how she felt and she didn't want to deny it any longer.

"I'm gay and...that...that kiss was just...something I had been wanting to do for a long time. A really long time. I don’t know why I didn't tell you before. I don't know why I kept denying it to you and everyone else. I mean, I knew it and accepted and my parents know it, so why shouldn't you?" Reaegyn looked down at her hands a moment before continuing, "I think I was primarily afraid, but I'm not anymore." She looked back up at Adrian and then reached over timidly and took her hand, linking their fingers, "Because I know what I want and...what I want is you. If... that's something you want, too, then I'll be...overjoyed and just...walking on air, watching that sunset, but...if you don't then tell me now and I can stop it...sort of before it even begins..." She bit her lip and watched Adrian intensely, knowing that perhaps she was springing too much on Adrian at once, but what was she to do? She didn't want to keep anymore secrets. Not from Adrian Maigny.

[Adrian Maigny R7]

Adrian was stunned. Completely paralyzed. That was the best way to say it, though more emotionally stunned and paralyzed. But even more then that she was mentally stunned and paralyzed. She didn’t know what to think or feel or say. But at the same time she didn’t need to know what to think or feel or say because her heart was taking care of that. Everything she was thinking and feeling was completely natural. Obviously, she was in shock, but it was a good kind of shock. Adrian was completely thrilled by the amazing kiss she’d just shared with the girl that she’d always wanted to kiss...again. After she spoke to Reaegyn, telling her to be gentle or else she might crumble, she was happy to find that Reaegyn was smiling right back up at her as she smiled down. Reaegyn’s smile had a way of soothing Adrian in a way that no one else could do. No matter how many words another person spoke, just Reaegyn’s smile could ease her faster. Whenever something had upset Adrian all she needed to do was make eye contact from Reaegyn, get a smile, and then all would be well again. Adrian had frequent nightmares. Not about anything traumatic, she just had a habit of letting her imagination get the best of her as she lie in bed at night and this would result in her waking, shaking, and climbing into Reaegyn’s bed. And always, it was Reaegyn’s smile, and her voice, and the way Adrian fit so nicely into her arms that would sooth Adrian into a slow sleep. Those were the nights that Adrian actually did stay in bed with Reaegyn, and the two girls would sleep well into the morning, past when all their dorm mates awoke and left, so that they didn’t make anyone else uncomfortable, or strike up unneeded rumors about their relationship. Adrian had once been asked if Reaegyn and her were dating and all she could remember was how glorious the idea was, and how much it hurt to say that no, they weren’t. She didn’t want that again, and so on the nights she slept with Reaegyn the girls would pull back both of their curtains on their bed so that no one suspected they were together in one.

Reaegyn managed a joke and Adrian managed a small chuckle. That was one thing Adrian loved about Reaegyn, the way she could do that, say something silly like Adrian would on any other day when Adrian was feeling a bit under the weather. Adrian watched as Reaegyn closed her eyes, and while she did that Adrian took deep breaths, expecting some sort of ‘I’m sorry’ to come next. But it didn’t. Instead Reaegyn opened her eyes and told Reaegyn that there was something that she needed to tell her. “You know I could never be mad at you Reaegyn.” Feeling like a fool was something that Adrian was quite able to do, but she would try her best not to, and she would most definitely never forget that this moment had ever taken place. Adrian wondered if that was even possible. Adrian waited patiently however and when Reaegyn sat up and moved to her bed, Adrian allowed her to pull her with her. She leaned back against the bed, her head turned to the side, watching Reaegyn. She had on that thinking face that she had whenever she was...well, thinking about something important. And Adrian didn’t interrupt her. Adrian was far too busy thinking about what would come next to interrupt her. When Reaegyn looked back over Adrian smiled softly at her, hoping that nothing bad was about to come. And nothing bad did come, actually the two words that Adrian had been dreaming to hear for the last year at least came out of Reaegyn’s mouth. Adrian felt her jaw drop slightly and she blinked a couples times, trying to make sure she had heard her right. Her head might have cocked slightly in a ‘excuse me?’ sort of expression, but she didn’t speak just yet. She couldn’t even find any words. Reaegyn went on and Adrian still couldn’t find anything to say. By the time Reaegyn was done Adrian realized she wasn’t breathing. Reaegyn had taken her hand and Adrian looked down at it for a moment, taking a slow, deep breath. Adrian lifted her free hand and moved it over to her other arm, pinching it as hard as she could.

“Yipe.” Adrian pulled her hand back and looked down at the red mark on her arm from where she had been pinching it. “Ok...” She blinked a few times and then raised her hand to rub her eyes, expecting to re-open them and find herself in her own bed back in London, but no such thing happened. Finally when she had convinced herself that she wasn’t dreaming she looked back over at Reaegyn. “Do you...wow...do you realize you just said pretty much the exact same thing I’ve been dreaming of you saying for the past year at least?” Adrian managed a small laugh and looked at Reaegyn softly. Adrian’s thumb was sliding on Reaegyn’s now, and slowly Adrian lifted their hands and kissed the back of Reaegyn’s. “Reae love...I don’t know about you but um...this thing here? It began that first time I kissed you, so it’s way past the time to stop it.” Adrian bit her lip and took a deep breath again before looking over at Reaegyn. “And I don’t know if you noticed but I am...so completely head over heels for you. I mean, come on, you can’t tell me that you think I’ve just got some silly crush on you right? Crushes fade but I’m...I am honestly in love with you Reaegyn...and I can’t think of anything more that I could want then you...talk about a Christmas present eh? So...so no, I do want that too...I’ve been wanting that and...I just...I cant believe that you want it...all this time I thought you didn’t and...and you have? Really? I...whoa...so then it’s ok if I kiss you again right?” But Adrian didn’t even wait for an answer before she leaned over and kissed Reaegyn again. Kissing Reaegyn was something Adrian couldn’t wait for, she couldn’t wait to do. She needed to kiss Reaegyn. And when the kiss came to a stop, just like the last one did, Adrian didn’t pull away. She kept her lips on Reaegyn’s and whispered, “So does this mean I’m allowed to...to hold your hand, and kiss you, and be with you...really be with you? All the time?”

[Reaegyn Eschen-Brenner R7]

Reaegyn felt her mouth go dry as she watched Adrian and waited for her response to everything she had just said. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, and if it wasn't a result from the fact that she was completely surprised at having said that. She wasn't planning on telling Adrian. She knew she would eventually, but she honestly did not think it would be today. In fact, Reaegyn hadn't thought about telling her until graduation, but now she was thinking that perhaps that would have been worse; especially with how Adrian was responding. Her physical response was one that Reaegyn had been expecting, perhaps not to the extent that Adrian had given – but most definitely one that she had been expecting. Adrian was staring at her, and then closing her eyes, and then holding her breath. She was doing exactly what Reaegyn would have done if the roles were reversed. Reaegyn had just spilled her biggest secret to her best friend and her best friend was just sitting there. Just sitting there. While Reaegyn had expected it, that didn't mean it was comforting that she was doing it. Reaegyn tried to calm her breathing as she looked away from Adrian, deciding that it would be far easier to take any form of rejection that way. Her eyes landed on the half-put together Christmas tree and she found herself thinking about how odd it looked only having half of its branches on it.

She tried to keep her mind from going completely absurd because of the circumstances and she was doing a half-decent job about it, too, before Adrian moved. Reaegyn looked back over at Adrian as she pinched herself as if to ask herself if it was a dream. When she cried out with a yipe, Reaegyn frowned and shook her head at her best-friend-that-she-just-kissed. She wished Adrian could have done that in a different way, a way where it wouldn't have hurt her. Adrian rubbed her eyes now and Reaegyn sat patiently for Adrian to say something, anything. She finally did speak, though, and when she did, Reaegyn smiled softly, not speaking. She listened to Adrian, giving her time to speak, and then when Adrian lifted their hands and kissed the back of Reaegyn's, Reaegyn shivered. A good shiver, the kind of shiver that only Adrian could give her. No one else could do it, only Adrian.

"Hence my 'sort of before it begins.' It'd be really hard...because it didn't just start, it's been there. You've just been far more open with than I have..." Reaegyn looked down at the floor with her eyes holding sadness in them. She didn't want Adrian to see the sadness behind her brown eyes and that was the precise reason why she looked down. This wasn't supposed to be a sad occasion, but was it supposed to be happy? Reaegyn didn't know where this was going, but from the beginning of Adrian speaking it sounded like it was going somewhere good. Reaegyn hoped it went somewhere good. She couldn't help but wish it would end up in someplace good because she had basically thrown her heart on the line and it wouldn't be a good thing if it was stomped on. And only Adrian could stomp on her heart the way it would kill her. She looked back up at Adrian as she continued talking. She was going on about how she was completely head over heels for Reaegyn and how it wasn't just a crush...and then the 'L' word came up and Reaegyn had to remind herself to breathe. It wasn't an 'I love you.' No, it was an 'I'm in love with you.' It was bigger than an 'I love you.' Ten times bigger. So big that Reaegyn took nearly two minutes to remember how to breathe. She looked at Adrian with questions in her eyes, questions that if she had put into words they wouldn't have come out quite as smoothly as she would have liked them to.

She squeezed Adrian's hand gently as the girl continued to talk, the sweet amazing words just flowing from her mouth. When she asked if she could kiss her again, Reaegyn opened her mouth to say something, but before words even came out – Reaegyn felt Adrian's lips on hers on again. She kissed her back easily, happily, and moved her hands to her cheeks, holding the kiss out for as long as she possibly could. She didn't want it to end, and yet she knew it had to. Of course, once it did end it didn't end because Adrian or Reaegyn pulled away – it ended because it melted away as it had before. Adrian still didn't pull away when the kiss ended, instead she whispered with her lips still barely on Reaegyn's.

Reaegyn whispered back, stroking Adrian's cheeks with her thumb; "It means all of that, if you want it to mean all of that like I do. It means that we can be a couple, if you want that. It means that from this day on we can be a them instead of just Reaegyn and Adrian, if you want that. It means that we can be...together in every way you want us to be, in every way I want us to be, if...you want that." She opened her eyes and looked at Adrian, waiting for her response. Waiting for her to say that was exactly what she wanted.

[Adrian Maigny R7]

Adrian shook her head good naturedly as Reaegyn explained what she meant by “sort of before it begins”. That was impossible and they both knew it. If what Reaegyn was saying was true, and Adrian had no reason to think it wasn’t, then both of the girls had had feelings for each other for a very long time. To say that they would stop it would be...inconceivable. There really wasn’t stopping a feeling like this. At least, on Adrian’s part. She’d tried, believe me she’d tried to stop feeling that way about Reaegyn. She’d tried to keep her feelings strictly friendly, but the fact of the matter was that she just couldn’t. She of course, could lie to herself and tell herself that she didn’t have feelings for the girl, or at least, such strong feelings for the girl, but like I said, she’d be lying. Adrian did love Reaegyn. She was in love with Reaegyn. Perhaps she hadn’t been since the very first moment they’d met, but she had fallen in love with her somewhere along the way, and now there was no stopping it. Adrian had always known that she’d be in love with Reaegyn for as long as she spoke to her, and even after that. There would always be a part of Adrian that love Reaegyn because that’s what love was. Real love never died or fell away. Real love stuck with you forever, even after you stopped speaking to the person. There was always that part of you that wondered what they might have been up to lately, or if they were happy, or if they had found all that they’d ever wanted. There would always be a part of you that relived those days with that person and wondered what had happened. Once you fell in love, you were always in loved. Whether you acknowledged it or not was a different question. Adrian couldn’t help but acknowledge it. Lying about it hurt.

And so she hadn’t ever lied about it, and look where it got her, it got her exactly where she wanted it to. By the time Adrian had finished speaking, she had plunged her and Reaegyn right back into another kiss. She couldn’t help it, it was one of those feelings you just didn’t fight. Adrian smiled brightly feeling Reaegyn’s hands on her cheeks, right where she felt they belonged, and she covered one of them with her free hand, squeezing Reaegyn’s hand with her other. Adrian let herself fall into the kiss, kind of like she let herself fall into love. She just let go, closing her eyes and letting all the feelings she’d ever felt for Reaegyn just pour into the kiss, where they belonged. The kiss slowly finished itself and Adrian didn’t pull away, she kept as close as she could to Reaegyn, not able to bring herself away until she was sure of what was happening. So she asked the question she felt was right to ask, and then kept her eyes closed, breathing slowly, as she listened to Reaegyn’s answer. It was heart stopping. Everything Reaegyn listed was something that Adrian had always wanted, and now she was finding that they were things that Reaegyn wanted as well. Adrian took a few moments when Reaegyn was finished speaking to catch her breath and to smile brightly. She kissed Reaegyn again, quicker this time, and then whispered again. Reaegyn Juniper Eschen-Brenner. You should know better than anyone that I’ve never wanted more in all my life!” Adrian pulled back a bit more now, simply so that she could wiggle around excited, and Adrian’s wiggling was nearly flailing around. The squirmed around a bit, making small excited noises before smiling brightly and turning to lay down, resting her head in Reaegyn’s lap.

Grinning up at her, Adrian sighed happily and lifted their still clasped hands, so that she could kiss Reaegyn’s again. Adrian couldn’t think of anything to say, even though there were so many thoughts running through her head. She wondered so many things but to actually word them wasn’t working so well, she was too excited. Finally she looked up at Reaegyn again. “How long?” What she meant of course was to ask Reaegyn how long she’d felt this way, or that way, or how long she had had feelings for her. That was one of the biggest questions, she wasn’t upset, or anything near it, she just wanted to know. Mostly so that she could know whether or not this past year had been innocent, or not so innocent flirting. Either way it didn’t matter, it was what it was and Adrian had what she wanted; a relationship with the girl of her dreams. “Are you going to tell your parents?” Adrian laughed lightly, knowing that her parents would probably figure it out on their own anyways.

[Reaegyn Eschen-Brenner R7]

Reaegyn smiled when Adrian full named her. She had always full named her; for as long as Reaegyn could remember. Whenever she would say something completely ridiculous, Adrian would pull out "Reaegyn Juniper Eschen-Brenner." Of course, it wasn't too hard of a name to forget and so Reaegyn knew that Adrian did it half because the name was so fun to say and half because she knew no one else, not even her parents, called her by her full name. Reaegyn squeezed Adrian's hand gently as she spoke, saying that she, of all people, should know that Adrian had never wanted anything more than to be with Reaegyn. Of course, Reaegyn had known that it was a silly notion to think that Adrian didn't want that as well – but Reaegyn had done a fairly good job at convincing herself that she and Adrian weren't meant to be more than best friends. That whole thought had gone out the window the moment she kissed her. Reaegyn, any other time, might have convinced herself not to – but she felt like she had just gotten to the point where she just couldn't hide it anymore.

She had gotten herself to the point where it hurt to hide it. Reaegyn Eschen-Brenner hadn't ever thought she would hurt over hiding something, over lying to herself about something. She just couldn't keep it from Adrian anymore. She was having a hard time keeping it from her parents, how was she expecting herself to keep it from the one person she felt so strongly for? The one person she...actually loved. Reaegyn had never thought she would love anyone because every time she would even think of putting her heart on the line it would get really close to getting hurt. So her fifth year she had decided on giving up on relationships; it was in her sixth year when Adrian kissed her that Reaegyn had even decided to try a relationship – perhaps with someone else...not boys...girls. It had been a scary decision, but she had made it and her parents had given her plenty of support when she was going through the decision. She hadn't told anyone else, though, because honestly? She didn't know how they'd all take it.

When Adrian came out to everyone, though, Reaegyn saw second hand how everyone would respond. Some people would hate her, but most wouldn't feel affected by it. She had, still, decided to keep her sexuality a secret except from her family members and their close friends. And now, Adrian knew and she knew that soon enough the entire student body at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would know as well. That didn't matter right now, though. What mattered was that she and Adrian could be together; something they had both, apparently, been wanting for a long time. Reaegyn watched, amused, as Adrian wiggled around as she often did when she was excited; laughed when the girl made some rather excited noises, and then smiled softly when she laid her head in her lap and looked up at her. Reaegyn moved her free hand to smooth back Adrian's hair as the other girl brought her hand to her lips and kissed the back of it.

Adrian asked how long and Reaegyn almost asked what she meant by that before she realised what it was that she had meant by it. She would cover all areas of the question, though, just so she wouldn't have to backtrack. She continued to play with Adrian's hair, as she looked at the half-assembled tree and thought up a response; something the writer in her would surely come out in. "Do you remember your birthday last year?" Reaegyn looked down at Adrian again, her eyes telling her the question was completely rhetorical but if she didn't remember – Reaegyn was going to recall the day anyway. "For some reason or another, you weren't very happy. I never asked you why. Although, it seemed quite out of the ordinary for you to be unhappy on your birthday. I didn't care why you were unhappy, I just wanted to make you happy. So, what'd I do?" Reaegyn chuckled here and tucked strand of her hair behind her ear before continuing; "I let you read one of my notebooks. By then you had figured out, the hard way, too; that no one reads my notebooks...and I let you read one of them...just to make you happy. It was my birthday gift to you.

"I guess, it was the moment when you said, without looking up from my notebook, that my writing was really good that I realised just...how I felt for you. I mean, it wasn't like this slam in the face feeling or anything...it was subtle...something that I realised because I had shared something with you that I haven't ever let anyone else see, let alone actually read." Reaegyn smiled and shrugged slightly before leaning down and kissing Adrian's forehead tenderly; barely letting her lips touch the other girl's skin. She laughed softly when Adrian asked about her parents and shrugged again; "I guess so. I mean, they'd find out anyway, right. I'm just afraid that once they find out about us actually being an 'us' they'll force you to sleep in your own room. You know, the room you haven't slept in since the first night you stayed here? I'm sure they'd be okay with it, though. After all, you're part of our family, Adrian; you always have been. Why would this make that change except to make it even truer?"

[Adrian Maigny R7]

Adrian closed her eyes after seeing the soft smile that she loved so much appear on Reaegyn’s lips. Adrian’s head was in her lap now, and she had waited to see that smile so that she knew it was ok to proceed. Sure, Adrian and Reaegyn were now and item, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t possible for Adrian to move too quickly for Reaegyn’s liking. Yes, kissing was obviously ok, seeing as they’d already done it twice and Reaegyn had initiated the first one, but Adrian didn’t want to get too comfortable with things only to have Reaegyn change her mind. As the thought came up in her head Adrian opened her mouth to voice it but she was stopped by the beginning of Reaegyn’s explanation. So instead of plaguing their time with such a depressing idea, Adrian listened to Reaegyn, though she knew eventually she’d need to bring up the other idea. If there was one things Adrian didn’t want from Reaegyn, it was a broken heart. Adrian didn’t want to throw herself into the relationship only to find that she’d given too much, or too soon, or too fast or any of those other reasons that could make for an awkward time. Adrian didn’t want to give Reaegyn all of her heart – well, all the rest that she hadn’t already given, which was a very small amount indeed – only to find that Reaegyn didn’t really want it all that much and have it shoved back inside her. Adrian knew without a doubt that giving away your heart was something that was meant to be final. You aren’t meant to give your heart away more than once, or have it put back in you. Humans were human however, and so obviously people did give their heart away more than once, and they obviously did get it shoved back at them. The one sure thing though was that if you gave it away, and got it shoved back at you, it was never exactly the same as it had been before. Adrian believe that everyone started out with a...how to say...pure heart? A blank slate of a heart. A completely innocent heart. At some point in your life, that blank slate is carved on, and eventually, given away. But when you give something away, you can never get it back in the exact same condition it was in originally. Slates like hearts can only be carved into once, and there’s no such thing as getting a new heart like you would a slate, so once you’ve carved into it, it stays that way.

Slates can also be broken, as can hearts, and Adrian didn’t want to have her heart broken either, and most of the time when your heart is thrown back at you it manages to get dropped, stepped on, snapped in half, kicked in the dirt, and all around fouled up and mistreated. God, that was a terrible thought. But Adrian didn’t believe Reaegyn had it in her to do those kinds of things to Adrian’s heart. Adrian wanted to be confident that to give her heart in its entirety to Reaegyn –especially now that she knew Reaegyn was gay and had feelings back – would be a safe thing to do, and that she could feel secure with Reaegyn. But she just didn’t know. Adrian had only known that Reaegyn had feelings back for about ten minutes now and she wasn’t sure whether or not it was just something spur of the moment or if it was more. Reaegyn said it was more, and Adrian wanted to believe her. Adrian stopped thinking so that she could listen to Reaegyn, and as she did so her fears eased a bit. Reaegyn had loved her that long? Since that moment? And that could only mean that the last year of flirting had been more than just innocence, that it was deeper then that. That Reaegyn hadn’t just been playing, she’d been secretly serious. Adrian had always hoped that that was the case and now she had her proof. “I remember that birthday, though I can’t remember why I was upset. Probably something silly like ice cream flavours. All I remember is reading your writing, and remembering how well you write love. You really are an amazing writer.” Adrian paused and smiled up at Reaegyn, playing with her hand thoughtfully. “But I never knew that you had only let me read it, and even if I did I probably only thought you were just being a good best friend. I didn’t realise that you…had…fallen in love with me? Is that it Reae? Did you fall in love with me? Or just…decide you liked me as more then a best friend?”

Adrian looked down again at Reaegyn’s hand and then back up at her, with a more solemn look on her face. “And if…if you did fall in love with me…are you sure it’s all that you think it is? I mean, this isn’t just something sudden is it? You’re not just gonna change your mind are you? You’re not gonna wake up tomorrow and decide you made a mistake and you don’t want to be with me? Because by God Reae love…I am in love with you and I cant sleep if I feel like that’s how it’ll be…and…I don’t know what I’ll do if you change your mind tomorrow…If you’re gonna change your mind do it now please? So I can just…sit up and you and I can finish that tree and I’ll just push this all behind me…I’ll move past it if you say so now…but tomorrow? Tomorrow I’ll be crushed.” Adrian didn’t spare any words because she meant them all. Everything she said was from that bit of her heart that she still held inside her, the part she was afraid of giving to Reaegyn. The part she was afraid of having crushed.

[Reaegyn Eschen-Brenner R7]

Reaegyn Juniper Eschen-Brenner was always really good at keeping her mouth shut tight when people spoke. She had always been really good at waiting until the right opportunity to speak. So, while Adrian went on about nonsense things – and although Reaegyn wanted to hush her up and her hush her up quick, Reaegyn waited for her best-friend, or girl-friend was it? She wasn't quite sure at this moment, to finish talking before she said anything on the subject. Finally, Adrian finished her thoughts and Reaegyn stared down into her eyes before leaning and kissing her forehead. She slid out from underneath Adrian's head and walked over to the bookshelf that was set into the wall. She scanned the rows and rows of books with her eyes, her thumb tracing over the spines of the books, before she pulled out a thick black book. It was a simple book, thick, black, with ruled paper. She had only used it once or twice – but those two times she had used it she had written quite a bit in it. Reaegyn made her way back over to Adrian and sat down beside her, wrapping an arm around the girl as she opened the book and began to read aloud; "'They taught each other how to love, how to live, how to laugh, and how to cry. But most of all, they taught each other how to be happy. These are the years...the years of the learning...the years of the living...these are the years of the Great Pretenders.'" She lifted a hand to play with Adrian's short blonde hair as she continued to read, "'The world is large. There are nearly 6 billion people in the world. 6 billion! If you believe in soul mates, there should be one person for each person. So in essence, that's 3 billion couples. That's if you discount harems and Mormons. Theoretically, then, there should be 3 billion couples. But we all know that it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes a soul mate dies and the other person is left unhappy, without a soul mate, or if they're one of the lucky ones – they move on and find someone new, but the second someone could never compare to the first. The theory of soul mates are quite interesting. In nearly every religion there is some belief of soul mates. One person meant for another and vice versa. Even in Wicca there is the Muirn Beatha Dan, a soul mate. Still, it's a strange concept – one that makes many people go wandering for their soul mate to no prevail.'" Reaegyn took a deep breath and turned the page as she kissed the side of Adrian's head. It was strange reading her writing aloud; it was something she hardly ever did. In fact, she could only remember one other time when she had read aloud to anyone, including herself. The point remains the same, Reaegyn was quite surprised at how easy it was for her to read this aloud to Adrian, and so she breathed in again and started to read; "'And what about those who find their soul mates? The ones who are told that they're wrong by everyone else? Are they still soul mates? Does love really choose people, age, gender, race? Can the people like that be told that what they are feeling really isn't real at all just because they love their gender, or a different race? Who really put guidelines on them? The creator from each religion? But if that is so, how can it be wrong if it was created that way? These are things that I don't understand, things that just don't make sense to me and probably never will. Now, I'm not religious, so perhaps that's why I'm not clear on it – my parents always told me that we love who we love and it doesn't matter who they are as long as they love us back. I never really thought it would apply to me, until I met Adrian Maigny.

"'Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like my homosexuality smacked me in the face with a frying pan the first time I met her. In fact, the way we met was somewhat awkward for me. Most people don't meet with a kiss and if they do, it's usually not with the same gender. But things with Adrian have never been normal. They've always been a bit out there and somewhat different. I think that's one big thing I love about her. While everyone wears their pants the right way, Adrian would wear them backward with suspenders. It was just the type of person she was and that was refreshing to me,'" Reaegyn smiled softly here and paused to kiss Adrian softly before continuing to read, "'We became friends in the result of that kiss, after I got over the awkwardness of it. She and I were inseparable afterward, and sometime down the road, Adrian had come out to nearly everyone. Telling them what they already knew. She had told me first of course, and I have a feeling she had done it because she wanted to see if it would affect our friendship – which it didn't. It only made us grow closer. I'll admit that I've used her in a sense of flirting with her because it was safe to because I was supposed to be straight. Every night I would fall asleep feeling terrible for lying to her, but I couldn't ever bring myself to tell her the truth. I was afraid that it would affect our relationship in a way that I wasn't quite ready for it to affect me. My parents have always been clued into my feelings for Adrian, even though I've never spoken to them about it, and they always made some comment here and there about Adrian's feelings toward me – which were ten times more obvious than my own. Still, I kept my sexuality a secret for stupid reasons and it ate me up inside. Each night I would lie down to go to bed, close my eyes, and think about everything that day I had done with Adrian. My stomach would knot and churn and I would feel absolutely terrible, I would feel like jumping off the highest tower. I needed to do something. I needed to fix it. I needed to stop pretending.'" That was where her writing had ended, because she hadn't updated it. How could she when she had just told Adrian her secret? She couldn't write it. This story, this novel, she was writing was supposed to be the beginning. She closed the book and set it aside before turning to look at Adrian. As she looked into her eyes, Reaegyn felt every single emotion she'd ever felt for the girl wash over her before she had to say something, anything. But she opened her mouth and no words were coming out. She couldn’t put her feelings into words. She couldn't put her thoughts into words. Reaegyn reached a hand up and stroked Adrian's cheek gently, her eyes searching Adrian's face before she whispered; "It's not sudden, it's not something that just magically happened. This isn't something new. It's something that's been there for as long as I can think back to moments with you. I wouldn't let myself recognise it until much later, though, and I know it's a huge shock. I know it's something you weren't expecting, but I felt so guilty lying awake at night knowing I felt something for you and I wouldn't tell you that I felt it. Perhaps I should have done this a lot more tactfully and a lot more planned out, but…that kiss..I had to tell you why I did it and you looked like you were about to collapse, to crumble – and I don’t want you to crumble."

Reaegyn breathed in deeply and leaned to kiss Adrian's forehead, "I...I am in love with you, Adrian Coeur Maigny. I am."