never_promised | (no subject)

(no subject)

The conversation with Teja has had at least one outcome worth noting: Harry's remembered his fondness for football. He's scrounged up a ball from the gym, and has been kicking it up and down the hallways all day.

Probably making a nuisance of himself, in fact.

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He laughs and flails dramatically under the assault. "And thou didst say thou wert all peace, as gentle as a dove, soft as a kitten!"

"O, but 'twas a cruel provocation!" It is her turn to sound only slightly petulant as she adds, "'twas just at my ear."

"Not the ear! 'Tis the most dire place for it; let me see thy perilous wound. A king hath a healing touch."

Viola laughs and comes back over. She tilts her head, still laughing, to present her ear to him.

It's...it's inevitable, right? That he should duck his head to kiss the corner of her jaw, just below the ear?

Anyway, it's just a kiss.

It's awfully strange, how one can be kissed on the cheek one's whole life and think nothing of it, and then move maybe two inches over and down and-- if she'd been expecting it, she wouldn't have expected it to feel quite like that.

She looks up at him, startled by-- well, all of it.

She can't really be startled, can she? Well--maybe. Hal raises his eyebrows. "--Art gravely wounded still?"

Viola has spent the past few months pining for Orsino, she'd practically forgotten that sometimes things do-- happen.

"No." Her voice sounds funny to her own ears, does it sound that way to him? "A healing touch indeed."

That's a good sign, then. He grins, and ducks in again, this time for a proper kiss.

Oh no oh no oh no says her brain, but somehow the rest of her has missed this memo, and she rises up onto her toes to match his height.

Brains don't know what they're talking about, anyway. But it doesn't take very long before some practicalities present themselves. Such as: "--Thou'rt soaked from this snow and ice; thou shalt freeze."

"Um," says Viola while her brain attempts to reset from its current combination of !!! and this is a terrible idea. "Ay, we-- we should-- in."

He glances briefly over his shoulder at the tavern building, which is so far away. "The stable is near; 'tis warmer there..."

Oh, God, is she going to be tumbled in a stable like some kind of shepherdess?

"I--" What would her brother think, to see her now? And what about Orsino? She loves him, doesn't she? So-- "--I must-- I ought to--"

"Nay, but--"

...

......Ahem. Is this really how kings behave themselves? Leading girls with no family astray in the stables? He steps back, just a little, not recoiling but giving space to breathe.

"--heh. Thou must--do as it please thee."

"I-- 'tis passing cold." And her body, finally deciding to toe the party line here, obliges with a well-timed shiver. She folds her arms over her chest. "I shall go in. With a cold I should be fair poor company!" Ha ha! We're joking and everything is totally fine, right?!

"'Tis dangerous to catch a cold--near as mortal as to take a bit of snow just by thine ear, a perilous thing, surely fatal to one so young."

He sketches a little bow, looking--well, faintly rueful. "If it please you, I will to the stable, to see to my horse."

Viola nods, then hastily returns the bow.

"Well-- well! I-- we-- well!"

That was a sentence, right?

Yeah, she's gonna start to go.

"'Tis well, 'tis very well."

He watches her, just a little moment longer, before scooping his football and heading into the privacy of the stable, where he can--collect his thoughts.

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