jυѕт lιĸe pυzzle pιeceѕ

"It was a little cool. Very movie-esque." she murmured softly, blushing a little bit at the tone, but she couldn't help but fall back in their earlier intimacy when he was this close to her, and that little air of comfort he somehow projected was wrapping around her like a blanket. After a second or two, she moved closer to him, letting it turn from a gentle hold to all-out snuggling, resting her forehead against his chest as she just inhaled the soft smell of sandalwood that always seemed to follow him.

It took her a second or two to process the rest of what he had said though, when she did, she just opened her eyes, pulled her head away, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Your sweet, innocent Eden?" she challenged after a second, looking at him with a smirk. "You're joking, right? I am ANYTHING but innocent. And I could not be further away from sweet. I'm a little b*tch, and we BOTH know that." she murmured with a laugh, resting her head against his arm when she finished, not about to give up their closeness, even as she started teasing again.

"You sound like you're talking to some little girl, mister, not your Council-confirmed soulmate..." she grumbled, giving his chest a little poke, ready as ever to tease him, taunt him, do as they always did although, at the mention of the soulmates, that one little word, she quieted slightly, and let her hand rest against his chest for a long moment before pulling it away altogehter.

"I don't think I'd mind that, actually." she murmured after a second, not meeting his eyes, but instead just looking down at where she was trying her hardest to find his hand once again, immediately knitting her fingers with his when she did, the handhold more comforting than anything else to her. "Your little Eden. But you can't tell anyone I said that. And if you call me that in front of anyone I will slice off your fingers." she announced with a grumble, though the threat brought a story to the front of her mind and she just giggled again, pleased that she was able to move on so quickly from the brief moment of hesitation earlier, instead just sharing the stories from thier childhood. The one they had together.

"Speaking of sliced fingers... Remember that time I cut mine? Trying to use the big knife in the kitchen?" she asked, looking up at him with dancing eyes, the stories of thier childhood delighting her. "How I was cutting the melon and then just slashed open my thumb? Oh, god, it was bleeding so much... You said that I was going to have to go to a hospital, but I didn't want to, so I just wrapped a paper towel around my finger to hope that it'd stop bleeding?" she asked with a giggle before making a face. "And then I passed out, of course, from blood loss. I think that was one of the only times I can remember you crying in front of me... When I woke up. You said... you said you'd thought I died? she reminded with a teasing smile.

bumping to keep it relevant... If you didn't respond because you're busy, don't worry about it, but I just want to make sure we don't lose this one. I love love love it.

Take care of yourself first! Don't worry about this stuff. You do you girlfriend. I can wait. Happiness first!!

alrightie! It's almost the weekend, anyway. take yo time. one day at a time. that's how I do it.

c h e s h i r e wrote:

"You sound like you're talking to some little girl, mister, not your Council-confirmed soulmate..." she grumbled, giving his chest a little poke, ready as ever to tease him, taunt him, do as they always did although, at the mention of the soulmates, that one little word, she quieted slightly, and let her hand rest against his chest for a long moment before pulling it away altogehter.

"I don't think I'd mind that, actually." she murmured after a second, not meeting his eyes, but instead just looking down at where she was trying her hardest to find his hand once again, immediately knitting her fingers with his when she did, the handhold more comforting than anything else to her. "Your little Eden. But you can't tell anyone I said that. And if you call me that in front of anyone I will slice off your fingers." she announced with a grumble, though the threat brought a story to the front of her mind and she just giggled again, pleased that she was able to move on so quickly from the brief moment of hesitation earlier, instead just sharing the stories from thier childhood. The one they had together.

"Speaking of sliced fingers... Remember that time I cut mine? Trying to use the big knife in the kitchen?" she asked, looking up at him with dancing eyes, the stories of thier childhood delighting her. "How I was cutting the melon and then just slashed open my thumb? Oh, god, it was bleeding so much... You said that I was going to have to go to a hospital, but I didn't want to, so I just wrapped a paper towel around my finger to hope that it'd stop bleeding?" she asked with a giggle before making a face. "And then I passed out, of course, from blood loss. I think that was one of the only times I can remember you crying in front of me... When I woke up. You said... you said you'd thought I died? she reminded with a teasing smile.

"It was adorable." she corrected, raising an eyebrow up at him for a long second before smirking and turning her gaze to their locked hands, just lifting the knot slowly, pulling it so that it rested on her chest, just where she could observe every locked finger, every little crease between the two of them, trying her hardest to figure out what made it feel so right. Besides the fact that he's my soulmate... she thought after a second, though she continued her little observation.

"And there was no reason to be worried. I was fine. The cut wasn't THAT big. And I woke up after, like, five minutes. The only problem was that I was dehydrated from the blood leaving or whatever." she added after a moment, only then looking away from his hand so that she could turn back up to him, a little smirk spreading across her face as she did. "You were making a big deal out of nothing. See? I'm here now. Clearly everything worked out fine." she continued, about to end it at that, but she was reminded of something and she just had to smirk. "And it was pretty masculine crying. I was expecting something girlier." she finished the end with a teasing smirk up at him, her eyes meeting his.

And they were beautiful, of course. His eyes had always been. Sure, they were just brown, but it was more than that, and it had always been. There had always been a special light to him, a something more that had stopped her from throwing the rock at him the first time they had met as little kids. And, of course, nothing had changed from that day. He was still the same gorgeous, thoughtful, loving, perfect guy she had bonded with, except now he was a few inches away instead of a few feet and instead of wanting to throw a rock at him, she wanted to throw herself, to live and die in his arms. Because nothing- except for maybe going out with him for Moose Tracks ice cream and sitting a little too close for it to be easily platonic and cuddling when the air came on because that's what felt natural- nothing felt as good to her as that did in that one moment.

"What? No. Ew. If you start feeling me up, soulmate or not, I WILL knock you into next year. And then you'll get to miss watching me kick Tony's *ss any time he tries to make a move on me." She announced with a little smirk, kissing his hand slowly, a little blush spreading across her face at the thought, though she just looked at him and raised an eyebrow a second later. "I just want to hold your hand. At least for today. And maybe tonight. Depends on how long you're willing to stay." She murmured softly before hearing his question and giving a relieved sigh, hoping he didn't hear her little final bit.

"And it was manly crying. I don't know. It was a while ago, maybe I forgot exactly what happened." She grumbled before rolling he reuse agin, just shuffling around a little bit until she was comfortable, snuggling just a bit closer to him. "I don't know. I just remember thinking that it was really, really sweet. And it made me feel guilty for scaring you." She announced, shrugging a second later. "I didn't laugh at you. Don't had to be pretty masculine, otherwise I would have laughed."

Eden watched as he kissed their locked hands, enchanted by him, the sight of him, doing what she had briefly considered, but ultimately decided against, nervous it'd be weird, unsure if she even wanted to do it. I don't want to lead him on... I don't know if I feel the same way. I mean, those kisses... There is obviously something HERE. I'm just not there yet, as much as him... she thought, thought she was entirely unsure if she could even lead him on anymore, now that she was legally bound to another one of their classmates.

When she realized, though, that he had heard her earlier comment, her face flamed red and she made a face. "I mean, you've done it before..." she murmured weakly after a second, unable to add a whole lot more in her defense, knowing that it had been years ago, back when they were only seven or eight, that it had been their habit, but for some reason it just felt wrong, to sleep away from him that night. "And it'd just be sleeping. Obviously." she added before looking at him and blushing slightly. "You'd want to? I know how much you love your beauty sleep, I wouldn' want to deprive you..."

At his affirmation that nothing was going to happen that night, Eden gave a little sigh of relief and looked up, about to tell him off for putting doubts in her head, but instead of his usual adorable smile, she was met by that cocky, smug, and just-too-attractive-to-be-dismissed smirk. Her cheeks flooded red and she forgot what she was going to say for a moment, trapped under his gaze and that stupid smile, before she cleared her throat and nodded.

"Good. Right. Yeah. You should stay for dinner then, too. If you want." she said roughly, yanking her eyes away from his, refusing to submit that easily to his charm. What the hell. It's never been like this before. I mean, obviously, but now... Now it CAN'T be like this... "I'm pretty sure my parents got that ice cream from the shop a few towns over? My dad took the day off and everything. Said that nobody would miss a moron bureacratic official on the Birthday Party."

"Oh, great. And here I am, still all bummed that we lost the chance of having our whole lives together." she grumbled playfully from beneath him, giving tier locked hands a squeeze for a second before making a face and glaring up at him playfully. "And then you're over there, ready to give up all your anger at just the MENTION of ice cream. Yeah. Wow. Great. Makes me feel GREAt bout myself. Real important..." she whined teasingly, though she rolled her eyes a second later and shook her head.

When she finally looked back up at him, her breath caught in her throat again, and her cheeks turned red at how earnestly he was looking down at her. "Teasing, Ave." she murmured after a second, the look in his eyes making her feel guilty right of the bat for even poking fun at him. She looked at him for a long second before leaning forward and letting her lips fall against his once more, for just a second or two, before she pulled away and smiled slightly, just relaxing back underneath him, letting herself get drunk once more off the comfort of the situation. "I know you'd never do that to me. You're too good for that." she reassured softly, looking at him with a half-sad, half-fond little smile. "You'd never give anyone up. Especially not me. Because I'm great. WAY above your level."

And she was teasing, of course. He loved her, he was even strong enough to admit it to her face, and underneath that, on a more basic level, she knew he cared for her, and valued her. More than anybody else in the world, actually. It had always been Avery. So, of course he wasn’t about to gorget about her, any time soon. Just like she would never, ever forget about him. Like how even now, when she knew they were going to be torn apart by the community and their matches, she was unable to think of a future without him. But, at the same, it was easy to tease him. It had always been. And she didn’t know what else to do. She had never felt so lost before in her life, unsure of what the next day would bring. Because she didn’t have Avery anymore, and so she didn’t have her anchor.