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Cabbages Ella Barnett

There it was. All she needed was to hear her name on his lips to be convinced that it was him, it had been Covey the whole time, and they’d been dancing together and Covey had just kissed her and if he knew her name then he had to have known who she was, which meant that he’d meant to kiss her, and that meant--

She put her line of thinking on hold when he sighed. Were they...not on the same page? Her brows furrowed, only to lift when he apologized. “‘Sorry’? Covey, the only thing you need to be sorry for is being so far away.” Ella glanced down, and then she put her hand to her mouth, biting the fingertip of her glove so that she could pull her hand free. Then she lifted her hand again, this time palming the warmth of his face with her bare hand, nervous but fascinated. Her hands felt so chilly compared to his skin, and she found herself surprised by how soft it was, brushing his cheek with the pad of her thumb.

“I don’t think you were listening,” she added warmly, pulling herself up to touch her nose to his. “Let me break it down--I’m glad it was you. Like...really glad. And since you snuck one on me, I think I’m going to return the favor.” With a look that promised trouble, she tilted her chin up and closed what remained of the distance between them, smiling lips planted on his. She couldn’t help but grin, even as she pulled back, her face feeling sunburnt in the best kind of way.

Prodigy

He hadn't noticed, and that moment had slipped away, for better or for worse. But if it was important, the chance would circle back to them, present itself again in another way, at another time.

At Malaise's quip Fletcher had to shrug, lips tugging up at one corner before the awkwardness of what they were trying to do caught up to him and he was laughing again. "You've surprised me before," he pointed out reasonably, bringing his hand up from the other man's waist to settle it with the other at the shoulders, fingers linking loosely at the back of Mal's neck. It was more natural, certainly more familiar. Swaying counted for dancing just as much as a waltz did.

"I wonder if Lacey knows how." His head tilted as he thought about it. "Her family's rich, high society types. I wonder if she had to learn when she was younger." It wouldn't surprise him if she did.

The music was soft, classical sounding though not anything Fletcher was familiar with. He listened to it for a moment, head cocked and expression thoughtful, before his hips moved and he started to sway, matching the rises and falls.

"She'd look beautiful, if she were here." It was odd to him that she wasn't, made him question just what it was the magic of the invitations had been looking for. "But this is nice too." Lacey was their third, they were whole when they were all three together, but that didn't mean Fletcher didn't also enjoy the time he got to spend with one or the other of them. He wasn't sure if he would have valued it as much before the break, before the overdose. Before he'd very nearly lost the both of them. He did now.

He'd known Malaise first. Had bonded with him first. Had probably loved him first.

Lacey had completed a puzzle he hadn't realized was still missing a piece, but from that point they had been a trio. They hadn't gotten the chance to build their own relationship up independently until...well, after he'd overdosed and cleaned himself up. When it was just the two of them, sharing their loss, and their love.

General Discontent (caught in the moment awhile more)

Malaise couldn't help laughing when Fletcher said that, his eyes still red rimmed though the vibrant irises glinted warmly with mirth. "I am full of it - surprises, that is." He poked his split tongue out at the redhead playfully, waggling both ends independently before it slipped back between his lips.

Waltzing honestly had nothing on this. Malaise would've chosen this easy, comfortable (but no less thrilling) thing a thousand times and more. He'd say it felt like home, but honestly Malaise wasn't completely sure what 'home' was supposed to feel like. Labels were pointless anyway, always had been.

It was kind of nice to know that Fletcher was thinking of her, too. "She would have all eyes on her, " Malaise remarked, his tone light, and just as light as he added, "Wonder if she'd hate it? Don't know if this kind of thing is her scene." Although he liked to think if they were there she'd find something to enjoy. He tried to imagine it, the three of them there in all this decadence and - "I went to the last one alone, so who knows? Maybe the third magical ball will do the trick." He cringed as he added, "********, I'd hate to think what sort of s**t would go down at that one though. Always a catch, isn't there?"

Even with all that musing, even if it did take him awhile to get around to it: "This is nice, yeah." Malaise tried to say it without thinking too much on it, one of the many things he wanted to say but kept backing away from. This thing was harmless in comparison.

"I - " He still kind of shook as he said it, although he tried to shrug it off and say it in the breeziest way one could. " - missed you, you know." It didn't feel breezy at all. Ugh.

General Discontent

Truth? Malaise had forgotten all about the champagne.

The comment about Lacey made him laugh, "God I can literally see her face now. ********. Now I need an excuse to drag her to one of these things." He laughed, too, about the comment about it being better than the ER, although it was a little hollowed out. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right."

It was different though. He didn't say it, but it was. Something like a fractured rib or a cut was - well, it sucked, but it wasn't like he didn't deserve some ounce of it. No one was more aware of how shitty Malaise was then Malaise, and it was hardly a well-kept secret. He got what was coming to him, and it hurt, but he could recover from it and just exist within the limits of that pain. - something like that.

Seeing his father again - there was no resolution from that. No way to scab it over and forget. And now, after the fact, he was already feeling guilty. Even knowing there was probably nothing he could've done to get the response he wanted... maybe he expected too much. Maybe he should've been the one to extend the olive branch. Anyone else would've made the most of their moment to get some closure, but no, Malaise couldn't do that.

"But at least I got pills from the ER, " he remarked sarcastically - and then thought a little too late that that was probably the last person he should've said that to. "I, uh. Bad joke." He didn't outright apologize, but even if it was beneath the mask, his cheeks felt a little warmer than they should have. It wasn't like Malaise to get embarrassed.

That response from Fletcher made him smile again, releasing a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Malaise did want Fletcher to know that, to believe that. He knew it was probably impossible, and it wouldn't negate any of the hurt for either of them, but... it really hadn't been their fault that he'd left when he did, regardless of what he'd said and done when he'd done it. That hadn't been real. Just something that felt necessary in the moment.

The ghost of a kiss made him shudder for a different reason, and he was grinning faintly still as Fletcher rested his head on Malaise's shoulder. He slid one hand to rest somewhere on his back, between his shoulder blades, fingers curling there.

"I didn't either."

But here they were.

A moment passed, and maybe it was the ease of the air between them, or maybe he was ruining the moment, who knew, "Was I too - harsh with him? - nothing else would've made a difference, right?"

General Discontent

The sigh, however subtle it was, did not go unnoticed. Malaise felt a brief surge of worry jab him in the chest, turning his lungs tight and cold. It was easier to overlook stupid s**t like that when he was on something. (Well, sometimes. Depended on what it was.) Rationally, he could say it was fine, this was Fletcher and it was fine, but the less rational side of his brain immediately thought that between this and the crack about pills, the redhead was over it, tired of his stupid thoughtless little remarks and exasperated with the rest.

Fletcher was right, of course. You couldn't force someone to love you, no matter what you did. It felt good to hear Fletcher say all of that, soothing, and he really wished he could just believe and accept it. "Sounds like you're describing yourself, Prodigy, " he countered smoothly, affectionately, trying to brush it off. "I know it sounds stupid. I've just got this way, you know, where I push and I push, and... "

He sighed himself, then, taking Fletcher's hand from his face and just holding it, squeezing it as he leaned in to kiss him. "Sorry, I'm done, I really am. I'm trying to be better, " sort of, "but I don't know how, " and that was impossibly true, at least.