I can't see the end of this (Decima)

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The student life was never done, and so it was for Nero. It was late, and most of the students had gone to bed, but he was sitting in a very nice leather upholstered armchair by the fire reading his History of Magic textbook. It was a pity Binns was currently lecturing on goblin rebellions again, because there was some very interesting stuff in the other chapters of the text.

He was warm and comfortable and not inclined to move, so when someone blocked his light, he turned to glare. And found himself face to (not-quite) face with someone he’d hardly spoken to since… well. Since.

@ohmycthulhu

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Decima couldn't stop tossing and turning, her bed clothes were all twisted up around her legs and her dark hair was tousled and tangled. Sitting up she groaned loudly, shoving the large textbook that she had fallen asleep with off of her lap and to the side. Straightening the black lace bralette she was wearing and adjusting her sand colored cotton shorts she stood up. Grabbing her large charcoal gray cardigan sweater from on top of her trunk and her latest romance novel she decided to have a little late night reading session in the common room.

Stretching and yawning as she walked to the common room Decima thought about how long it had been since she'd had a nice moment alone just reading one of her books. Walking into the common room, Decima made her way to the couch in front of the fireplace. Only to turn and to come face to face with a person she had been avoiding for the last...well a long time.

Gasping from surprise she jumped back a little bit dropping her book to the floor. "Merlin, Nero! You scared me."

@nero

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“I scared you? I was just sitting here, minding my own business, and you came and blocked my light!” He protested, snapping his book shut, but there was no bite to it, not when he felt relieved that she was speaking to him at all. It was already the most words they’d said to each other since she’d left him standing outside the courtyard, a radical change from their usual bantering and bickering.

He reached down to pick up her book in a smooth motion. The light from the fire wasn’t great, but it was plenty to see the tousled-hair brunette leaning provocatively into the very muscular and shirtless man on the front cover. He immediately averted his eyes only to realise that that left him eye-level with her knees, and that was really no better because she was wearing short pyjama shorts and there was so much skin and... he stopped that train of thought abruptly, and moved back into his seat.

“Here,” he said, holding the book out and not meeting her eyes. He could only hope the light that was plenty good enough to read by would be low enough to hide the rising warmth in his cheeks.

@ohmycthulhu

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She almost jumped when he snapped the book shut. Though she wasn't sure if it was because of his comment, him snapping the book shut, or the fact that Decima was so on edge just being around him. They hadn't really seen each other except in class and with her running away from him. "I don't care about your light. In fact I want to use the light so...leave." she motioned towards the door.

It took everything she had not to take a step back when he reached down to grab her book. She was too distracted by even being in the same room as him (her skin felt like it was on fire, and not cause she was so close to the fire) to realize what it actually was that he was picking up. She was too busy watching every single movement he was making like a hawk.

Finally, she dragged her hazel eyes away from his face down to the book he was holding out. Eyes widening her cheeks turned a bright pink. "It's a friend's, she leant it to me." she snatched the book back in such an aggressive motion that her cardigan fell off of her shoulder revealing the lacy strap of her bralette. She could've died of embarrassment. It took everything to not just run away.

@nero

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She was on edge, and even when he was trying not to meet her eyes, he could feel her watching him. But he was too stubborn to back down, even though he knew he probably wasn’t going to get through so much as another paragraph. “I’ve been reading for the past hour, I’m not going anywhere,” he responded to her protest, amusement in his tone.

“Riiiiiiiiiiight. A friend. I wasn’t born yesterday.” The rest went unsaid - he knew it was hers, and - he finally dared to look at her face - she was absolutely pink enough to prove it. And he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He was amused that she was so flustered - of course he was, he always was - but it was different. His fingers twitched to fix where her cardigan had fallen off her shoulder and he knew he was staring. He couldn’t help himself, and he was absolutely going to blame it on the fact that she looked too much like the woman on that cover.

@ohmycthulhu

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Her face scrunched up into a frown at his comment, she was irritated. Why wouldn't he just leave? He owed her that much, after everything. He needed to leave, that was the only way this could work. Decima was far too stubborn to back down, no matter who it was. She quickly turned her frown into a smirk as she flipped her hair over her shoulder with her hand. Tilting her nose up in the same way she has seen the girl's she hated do so often. "Well there you go, you've already had the light for an hour. Sharing is caring, Nero, so leave."

He was right, she may have detested him but he wasn't unintelligent. Instead, she grabbed the book tighter, her knuckles turning pale white as her face turned an even darker shade of red. "Fine, so what if it is mine, I don't have to justify it to you." she could feel his eyes on her, and her mouth was suddenly dry. Licking her lips she tugged at her sleeves, the shoulder falling down even more. Her body feeling a bit too hot for her to be wearing the sweater comfortably anyways. She had a hard time choking out the next sentence. "It's not nice to stare, Nero"

@nero

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It was so easy. She tried to imitate the Slytherin queen bees to make him move, but that was never going to work. And then she blushed redder, and clenched her hands around her book and went on the defensive. He just smirked. “Never said you did. You were the one who needed to pass it off as your friend’s. Incidentally, I didn’t think Raven was your friend, but you’re borrowing her mannerisms. It’s not a good look.”

He blinked twice and didn’t say anything when she accused him of staring. It was a fair accusation. But he wasn’t leaving his chair - that would be defeat. So he slid over in his chair so he wasn’t taking up the whole seat any more. “If sharing is caring, then why won’t you share?” he asked with a smirk and a pointed gesture to the space beside him. It would be tight, but she could fit - if she accepted the challenge.

@ohmycthulhu