Coffee and Conversation

[James Turner]

She had imagined this? John wished he could have, had allowed himself to. He just kept writing off her reactions, denying the truth that he saw written all over her. Denied himself the ability to see that anyone could feel that way about him. "I didn't think you'd..." they almost said at the same time, getting a chuckle out of him. "I didn't think anyone could. Why anyone would? I'm a monster. Look at me. One day I'm going to be more shadow than man and that's if I'm lucky." He laughed again but this was a bitter one. His breath catching. "I'm not special,. I'm not anything." The mood shifting as the smoke had dissipated from the room, the music shifting left on shuffle.


Tears falling once more, quiet little rivulets rolling down his cheeks. She echoed what he had been feeling and then her next words were like a hit to the gut. He still couldn't believe it, she'd said it but he still wanted to write it off. To say she was only saying that because she pitied him. Everything inside of him was trying to claw this truth from him. Everything in him wanted to push her away because it couldn't be true. It couldn't be. This was a trick.


Then he didn't know if she'd meant it to be a joke but there was a levity to it that made him laugh. A trembling, fragile laugh shattering all those doubts in a moment. Then it was like he was back in Arcadia. In that one moment, that one split second during his escape when Light became Shadow and he was Light for just one second. It was the most beautiful thing he'd experienced in his life. At least until this very moment. And he took a breath, it shook in his chest and a new wave of tears fell. Then another breath and he pushed forward, leaning in to kiss her.

[Cassandra Reeding]

He is anything but a monster to her. She knows monsters, she's aided monsters, and she's been with a monster. John is everything that she didn't think she could ever deserve and the moment she fell for him, she thought it was all over for her. A walking mess of impending heartbreak. Her days and nights filled with boundless hope and sorrow, because hope was all she had. Hope was all she could cling to even when she knew it wouldn't be possible. He couldn't. He wouldn't.

Now, she has him and he wants her. Seeds of doubt be damned, she is going to cling to this for as long as he will let her. As long as he wants her. And maybe it's insane, it usually is, but she doesn't care anymore about it being too strong too fast. For once, she just wants to live and love and try for paired, beautiful normalcy, and she wants to do it with him.

Then he laughs and she can't help but let out a small huff as if she felt teased, but her tears begin falling the moment his do, as if they're already tied by sympathetic emotion.

"You silly man. You are everything to me." she breathes, a whisper that reaches his lips just before hers do. And the moment their lips meet, it is as if a release has been opened, an immediate tremble overcoming her body for a brief moment as tears continue to streak down her face. She wraps her arms around him, her eyes closed as she completely melts into him. Her cheeks are flushed with a pink glow, her heart beating wildly in her chest, and everything about her is brighter, more alive. And she kisses him as if she needs him to breathe, as if the moment they stop he might vanish and she'll never get to feel this again.

[James Turner]

This was John's first kiss. First real kiss at least. His heart hammering away in his chest, stomach churning. His stiff, still body melting as he relaxed for once. The fear still inside of him was still present, all of those things were still true. But the moment their lips touched they all were shut out, shut away. He opened his eyes to look at her, to take in this moment.


He took in everything the moment had to give him. The way her hair moved, the smell of her perfume and the cigarette smoke in the air. He lived in that moment between heartbeats when he took the memory and filed it into his memory palace. He never wanted to forget this moment here and now. If they ever fought, if the passion began to die, or worse that he didn't want to think about. He would take out this memory so he could remember why they did this, why they were here, why each other. He would take these memories and hold them because they would remind him why he was alive.


The world span for John as he lost himself in the kiss, his breathing getting heavier as he grew light headed. He pulled away at that moment, not wanting to but having to. He smiled and held a hand up, his chest rising rapidly as he tried to catch his breath. "Sorry. I felt faint."

[Cassandra Reeding]

She could have lived in that moment forever. It was everything. His lips, his touch, the way the chill of their mantles spun and danced. How could any moment possibly feel this perfect? This surreal? This wasn't her first dance and yet it felt like nothing could have possibly existed before this. The past still existed, the scars were still there, and they likely will never fully heal, but they could stay there in the past. Every day from now holds a promise of something new and precious, no longer wandering aimlessly hoping to stumble into something. And now she is dizzy with the euphoria of it all.

It almost feels as though the breath is taken from her when he finally pulls back and she gazes up at him, still buzzing with a haze of bliss as she tries to catch her own breath. Her skin almost seems to glimmer as her hues shift with the excitement and pure joy inside her. John holds up his hand to her, and she just smiles at him with such an expression of passion, you'd almost wonder if she was the same person she was when she first walked through the door. She probably was with all honesty. She'd gone from repressed, unfulfilled emotions and longing to just existing for a moment as she truly is.

She memorizes that breathless look upon his face, his smile, the way he is gazing at her. 'Never stop looking at me like that,' was all she could think, but she acknowledges his statement. "I kissed you breathless, huh?" There is a sweetness to her teasing comment, "What do you need?" Space? A moment to breathe?

[James Turner]

He smiled as he looked at her, watched her colors shift and pulse, his heartbeat slowly syncing to the same rhythm as his breathing began to slow. He had been so weak and frail a moment before and while not recovered there was a spark there that hadn't before. Just a tiny bit of energy for now.


Their eyes met and he smiled, his cheeks turning a charcoal gray as he stayed there like that for a moment before looking away. Laughing as she joked, a playful smirk spreading across his face. "Yea, one could say you're breath taking." He mouthed the words Oh snap before laughing twice and then coughing heavily.


What do I need? Such a loaded question? Nothing. Anything. The World. Freedom. What do I need? You. You most of all. I'd been slowly suffocating, the pressure building around me squeezing all the air out of me. It built over time taking more and more with it and I had just gotten used to it. Now I can breathe.


"You. Just you" He choked out as he smiled tears still in his eyes. He wanted to dive right back into that moment, but that was taking a header into the sea. It was deep, fathomless, and easy to get lost in. It was the most beautiful haze. But he wanted to be present. He smirked to himself as he stood up and held out his hand. "I believe I owe you a dance, yes?"

[Cassandra Reeding]

A powerful blush found its way to Cassandra's cheeks and she looks off to the side, "Hey." She just smiles, biting her bottom lip a little before looking back at him. So many clever responses she could come up with, but this was not one of those moments. He'd have to watch out later. He has no idea what he'll get himself into if he decides to start a blushing contest. The thought of that makes her grin a little bit.

And then he says it. You. Just you. She just looks up at him with a near helpless gaze, her heart thumping heavily in her chest, lips parted in a sense of disbelief. It was a great response, particularly if you want to be cute, but he says it with complete sincerity. It wasn't just to be cute or romantic; it was real. And her breath hitches again. Damn it. You are going to make me sob all night. She'll be completely dry of tears for the next decade, but it'll have been worth it.

She's so still, still in that state of beautiful disbelief as he reaches out his hand to her, asking her to dance. "How did you know?" Her voice comes out so small, so soft. She'd been thinking about it earlier - their dance. That beautiful dance. That beautiful, unfinished dance that she'd run from. She is a little shaky, taking a deep breath and swallowing to compose herself a little, looking down at his hand. She gazes back up at him with a teary smile and takes his hand, "Yes. Yes, you do." Technically, she might have owed him the dance for having run away, but that didn't matter. Her heart is so full in that moment and she stands up, squeezing his hand. God, I hope I don't trip. And she'll follow him wherever he leads her, right now, possibly in life. That should be terrifying. It probably is, but she's too high off of these new emotions that it doesn't particularly matter. That's a problem for future them. Present them can have this.

[James Turner]

He just side-eyed and smirked at her as she admonished him. The words said and exchanged as the moment grew heavy with the gravity of those words. A tickle at the back of his mind wondered if the Wyrd recognized those words and if she should worry.


"It was something Anatole said." He smirked down at her and took her hand to slowly guide her to her feet and stretch his arm around the coffee table to the other side before he stepped the other direction to the stereo. You make a cute couple. It was that outside viewer, that outside opinion that first brought some awareness to the surface. To give him a reflection he couldn't otherwise see.


He remembered how the dance felt, how perfect it was how absolutely flawless her dance was. That explains the tumble later, she'd been upset about the interruption, she had felt the same thing he had the whole time and he just couldn't see it. He found the song he'd been looking for. "Besides, I had a different song in mind. Kill me for being a stereotype." He chuckled as he stepped toward her his hands out for hers.

[Cassandra Reeding]

"You make a cute couple," She shakes her head and chuckles then in that partial moment of disbelief, "I asked him. You made that gasping noise and I just had to know what did it. I might have made the same sound." Was that something that tipped him off too? Should she be thankful to the Wizened? Another thought for future her.

She finds her way back to him, taking his hands in hers, and hearing the song, for a moment she felt like she had been brought back in time. Standing in the back of the gym. Prom. She had gone with a couple of friends and was sitting at a table with a cup of punch, this song playing in the background. Her friends had long abandoned her, which was fine. She was content to just watch, sitting, analyzing the music. She didn't need people. Not then.

You. Just you. His words just kept echoing in her mind, making her melt over and over again.

"Well, mom, it's about 30 years late, but I finally found a prom date," she says with a grin as she moves to place a hand on his shoulder, the other still gripping his hand, ready to dance with him how they should have months ago. "It's nice to be able to see you this time." she says in a soft voice then. That had been the only other downside to their last dance. They couldn't connect in the way she wanted. She couldn't gaze at him like this, pleading for him to figure out how much she cared for him, wanted him. Now they could just connect and live in it, no worries about other spying gazes or mixed and unknown feelings. Just this. Just us.

[James Turner]

He took her hand, wrapped one hand around her waist and began slowly dancing with her. She was the better, more experienced dancer here, so he let her lead as it came naturally. Not that he’d been intending anything fancy in his living room, just a soft sway as the music filled the room and the chaos of emotions swarmed between the two, his heart still hammering away in his chest especially with her so close.

He smiled at her joke. “I didn’t even go, there hadn’t been a point. So same.” Cheeks turning charcoal once more as she looked at him and said those words. He swallowed hard and mustered everything inside of him to not look away, taking a deep, shaking breath as he met her gaze and then smiled. Seeing the look in her eyes, the twist of her lips. That had made all of it worth it, he took another deep breath trying to stabilize himself, hold off those tears.

He kept close to her and smiled just enjoying the moment, falling headfirst into it. He let out a long, deep breath that seemed to erase his fear and anxiety. He felt light, all his burdens forgotten. He blinked a few tears away just enjoying the beauty of the moment. “I’m sorry it took me so long.” His voice a soft, squeak as it broke forcing him to clear his throat.

[Cassandra Reeding]

The squeak of his voice only makes her smile more and she just can't help take in the feeling of that moment. The feeling of his touch, this closeness, the way he is finally gazing at her. This is more than she could have dreamed about, more than her imagination could have allowed her to hope for.

She shakes her head a little, that pinkish glow to her cheeks almost seeming natural at this point. "The wait was worth it. I wouldn't want this any other way." she didn't even recognize her own voice with how shaky it sounded then. The relief of it all, the heaviness she'd been feeling for months, just melting away with this.

But then a little hint of fear wells in her chest, a small weight. "Promise me this isn't just a dream," she whispers, tears welling up in her eyes again, "I don't know that I could bear waking up right now if it is." It couldn't be, but she just needed to hear him say it.