Free Falling (Dustin, Rocco)

[Deleted]

It was a big game. The Falcons were playing against Puddlemere United- Rocco's team. No one knew about their engagement and Ev wasn't sure how to tell them. How to tell her parents, her team, this wasn't a strong point of hers. Her team was doing well. The points were almost even. At the moment Puddlemere United was 10 points up. So Ev was doing what she did best and whacking their players with bludgers. She didn't know why she loved it so much, but she did. Then, right after she hit a bludger at another player, she saw Rocco go into a steep dive. She froze, watching him carefully, then pulled herself out of her trance. No, I need to stay focused right now, she thought to herself. She lifted her bat to hit another bludger when the first came back and hit her outstretched arm. She dropped the bat, sliding so she was half on the broomstick and half not, held on by a one armed grip and one leg. She couldn't pull herself up with her broken arm so she made her way to the ground. Her head was spinning and before she made it, her hand slipped and she started to fall, becoming unconscious as she fell.

@kit

[Deleted]

@evelyn

catching sight of the glint of gold off the golden snitch, rocco leaned forward to dive down through the air after it. it was an intense game, the games they played against the falcons usually were but this seemed a little more so. for the next few moments he was focused on nothing but the golden snitch. he didn't notice other players or what was going on around him, he was on it's tail and he wasn't about to let it escape him. he narrowed his eyes a little when he caught sight of another players robes close by but he wasn't sure if it was their seeker or not. he knew it was now or never though as he sped up a little, his eyes not coming off the small golden ball and he made the grab at it, feeling it's wings brush his gloves as his fingers closed around it and he caught it. he heard the roar from the crowd as he slowed up and sat up on his broom, looking down at his hand and he grinned before he caught sight of something down below. ev. in the next second he let go of the snitch, the game already won, and he was diving down toward the ground at a speed that would make the snitch seem slow. he pulled up when he got to the ground, jumping off his broom and dropping it in the middle of the pitch and he ran over to ev. there were already medi wizards there but he ignored them, dropping to his knee's beside ev. "ev? oh god ev .." he felt panic rise in his chest when he saw she was unconscious still and he ran his gloved hand through his head. he could hear his team mates yelling at him from up in the air, wanting him to go back up and join them but he couldn't. he got up with ev as the medics lifted her, reaching out to grab her hand tightly and he started going with them. one of the medi wizards started to tell him to stay, that he couldn't come but rocco fixed him with a glare. "we're engaged! i'm not leaving her side." he said as he looked back at her face and kept moving with her not caring that his team and her team would have heard his declaration, willing her to open her eyes and say something to them.

[Deleted]

Urgent voices were muttering, speaking with one another intently and Ev wondered what was going on, but she couldn't force her eyes to open, though she felt like she was moving somehow. All of a sudden, she felt the pain and she groaned softly. She couldn't remember what happened, why she was hurting so badly, but she knew it wasn't good. Then she heard his voice- Rocco's- and Ev felt herself relax. Whatever was going on, she knew he'd take care of her. Mere seconds after she awoke, she was unconscious again.

--- move to Mungo's ---

The next time Ev woke, she felt as though she was being poked by a thousand pins and needles. Was there any part of her that wasn't hurting. The one benefit was that this time she was stationary. On a soft bed, it seemed. She moaned and turned her head to one side, not opening her eyes yet. She couldn't. After a few seconds, she was finally able to open her eyes. She saw two faces: Dustin's (her best friend) and Rocco's (her secret fiance). Her eyes widened in surprise. Why were they in the same room together?

@dustin
@kit

[Deleted]

@evelyn & @dustin

Sitting beside ev's bed while she lay there motionless was perhaps one of the scariest things rocco had had to do in his life. The healers had assured them that she would be alright, that she just needed to wake up on her own when her body allowed her to do so. He ran his hand through his hair. Keeping his eyes on her face waiting for any sign that she was stirring and he has his hands clasked around one of hers. Dustin was there too, there was no point in trying to be discreet right now, he'd announced to the world of quidditch thy later they were engaged so there was no point hiding. He saw her turn her head to the side and he leaned forward, reaching his hand up to touch her cheer softly when he saw her eyes open. "ev? he said quietly, seeing the look of confusion on her face when she saw them both there. "He knows ev. Everyone knows." he chewed his lip and let a breath out. "they wouldn't have let me come with you if I hadn't of told them." he explained to her.

[Deleted]

There were very few reasons why Dustin Bainbridge would not try to catch a Snitch when he was playing a game. Watching his best friend in the world be unseated from her broom at the same moment he caught a glint of gold was one of them. Since that moment, when he had made his choice not to follow the Snitch, everything was a whirlwind. He didn’t understand what was going on, and he didn’t like it. The Puddlemere Seeker had claimed that he was engaged to Evelyn, which didn’t make sense, because she hadn’t even mentioned liking anyone to him. She would have told him…wouldn’t she? After a harrowing ordeal with answering the emergency contact questions that were presented to him, Dustin had sat himself resolutely at the foot of Evelyn’s bed, since Rocco was at the head. Dustin felt itchy, and weird, and like he was an invader in this moment, even though he had been the one to notice that Evelyn was falling. He had just been too far away to catch her. He was her best friend and he was her emergency contact and Rocco had just barged in and ripped everything apart. Dustin didn’t say anything, continuing to stare straight forward as he waited for something resembling an explanation.

@evelyn
@kit

[Deleted]

Rocco said her name and Ev's gaze turned to him, the corners of her lips turning up into a small smile. Then he said that everyone knew. Everyone knew what? That she'd been hurt? Of course. He commented how they wouldn't have let him come if he hadn't said something and it hit her. They knew. Knew about the relationship. Her breath hitched and she looked over at Dustin. Was he mad? She couldn't quite tell- reading people never was her forte- but she knew he wasn't happy. In any other circumstance, she was sure he would have at least smiled at her when she woke up, if not made some sort of joke. Everything here was wrong. She glanced at Rocco and gave him an apologetic look. He was not going to like what she was about to ask him to do, but she had to. "Rocco, can you please leave us for a bit?" She asked gently. She was right; he wasn't happy, but after looking into her eyes for a few seconds,he slowly nodded and turned to leave the room. Once he was gone, Ev turned her attention back to Dustin. In this situation, he was the one out of the loop, so he demanded her attention first. "Dustin?" she said his name softly, hoping he'd at least look at her. "Dustin, I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell you," Ev admitted, worried. She didn't know how to tell anyone. She'd never been in a relationship before Rocco and just ... felt so out of her element. Except for the fact that she loved Rocco. There was no question about that, but Dustin was like a brother to her and she felt guilty for keeping this from him, even though the secrecy was her idea. She couldn't blame that on anyone but herself.

@dustin

[Deleted]

Dustin barely registered when Rocco left the room. He really didn’t care about the other man, if he was honest. He was only here because Ev was his best friend, and she was hurt, and he needed to be here, even if he was angrier than he really had words for, and disappointed to. He heard his name being spoken, and Dustin looked at his friend, his eyes focusing after staring into space for however long he had been doing it for. Dustin let out a puff of air in an angry huff when Evelyn said that she didn’t know how to tell him. “Why didn’t you, Ev?” He asked. He didn’t even bother to try to make himself seem calm – he was pissed, and Evelyn knew that. Trying to hide it from her was a waste of energy. “All those times you’ve called me your best friend, do those mean nothing? You are all that I have.” He had his family, but they had to put up with him. Evelyn had chosen him, and he had chosen her, and even though he had kept Vi a secret from her, he had told her eventually. He had told her long before the relationship had gotten to the point where he would have gotten engaged, and Dustin just…didn’t understand. He didn’t understand why he hadn’t been told, if Ev really did love him and trust him as much as she claimed to. “You’re all that I have.” Dustin said, voice cracking a little when he did. “And you hid yourself from me.” And damn. It made him angry as hell, but it also hurt, maybe even more than Vi leaving had.

@evelyn

[Deleted]

He had every right to be mad at her. Ev knew that, but it didn't make this any easier. She bit her lip as she tried to keep her emotions in check, which was never really a struggle before this moment and she was surprised by it. She always had excellent control over those up until now. "I-" Ev gave a small cough, trying to clear her throat so she could speak louder, but it didn't work. "I didn't know how, Dustin," she whispered. "I've never been in a relationship before and everything happened so fast and I couldn't find the right way to tell you or the right time. I don't do emotions, Dus, you know that better than anyone. I can't recognize them in myself or put a word to them and when I finally did he was proposing and I was scared." She closed her eyes, surprised when she felt wet lashes touch her cheek. She was crying? She looked back to him. "I was scared that it wasn't real, that I made the whole thing up and," Ev paused and turned her head away. She was ashamed of this part, but was also determined to tell Dustin everything. "and I was scared that no one would approve, that the people I cared most about would think it was a mistake. That you would think I was making a mistake." The tears were streaming down her face now and Ev hated that. Hated that she had no control over them, that she couldn't make them stop. She still couldn't raise her voice from a whisper as she looked back at him and continued firmly, despite the tears. "You are my best friend, Dus. For the longest time you were my only friend and I can't imagine my life without you. I was scared, and I've never felt that way before. I didn't know what to do and I didn't have anyone to ask except you and I didn't know how to do that, so I kept it all inside. I'm so, so sorry that I kept this from you. Please forgive me." Ev was nervous and suddenly terrified that she would lose Dustin. Yes, Rocco was waiting outside for her and she loved him more than words could say, but Dustin was family and she didn't know how she'd respond if she lost him either. "I'm sorry," she repeated once more.

@dustin

[Deleted]

Dustin was still fuming, and while he knew Evelyn was trying to make him calmer, everything that she was saying was just firing him up more. Not only was he her best friend, but he was her protector, too, and how the hell could he protect her from something that he hadn’t known about!? She had been really lucky that Rocco’s intentions were pure, or at least seemed that way. What if he had just been stringing her along this whole time or something? Dustin wouldn’t have been able to help, because he wouldn’t have known about it. “Better late than never, Evelyn.” He said, voice still shaking with anger. If she had told him herself after she had gotten engaged, Dustin still would have been upset, and probably a little bit pissed, but it wouldn’t have been anything on this scale, because he had just spent the last however many hours working himself into a tizzy about the fact that he had only learned about his best friend being engaged because she had fallen off her broom and her fiancé had announced their engagement to the entire world. “I wouldn’t have thought you were making a mistake!” Dustin snapped. “The only mistake you made was not telling me, and choosing someone who thought it was okay to go against your wishes and tell the entire world something you weren’t ready for!” If Evelyn hadn’t been ready to tell him about her relationship, then how the hell did Rocco think that she was ready to tell the entire world? There was so much wrong with this situation, and none of it was actually about Evelyn being together with Rocco. Every problem that was happening right now was because Evelyn had decided that the relationship needed to be a secret, and Dustin couldn’t believe that she hadn’t thought about this possibility when she had first started dating Rocco. Dustin tried to tell himself that his anger wasn’t making any of this easier, but he just couldn’t stop himself, even though he knew that every word he said had the potential to take his best friend away from him. “I can’t forgive you, Ev.” Dustin growled. He wasn’t going to say that everything was alright when he still felt like he was seeing red. Maybe he’d be able to forgive her someday, but today sure as hell wasn’t going to be that day. As much as he wanted to hear her apologize, now that she was actually doing it, it was just making Dustin angrier, because Evelyn should have told him, and now she was just saying what she thought he wanted to hear.

@evelyn

[Deleted]

The anger seemed to be rolling off of Dustin in waves and Ev tried to prepare herself for whatever he said, but she couldn't. "I was going to tell you!" She exclaimed, now becoming defensive and her tone showed it. "I didn't want you to find out like this, the same way as everyone else. I was going to tell you, then my parents, and then I didn't care who found out." She paused for a second, and her voice got calmer, a sign of resignation as she confessed. "I was going to do it after the game. Maybe not right after, but it was going to be today or tomorrow. That was my plan," she hadn't even told Rocco that. She knew he said that they weren't ready yet, but keeping this secret from Dustin had been killing her from the inside. Still, with the way Dustin was responding at the moment, she had the feeling he wouldn't care what her plans had been. "It was eating at me, keeping this from you. I didn't know how to tell you or what I was going to say, but I was going to do it." She repeated. Then she heard his words about Ev choosing someone who told the whole world when she wasn't ready for it. She cringed slightly and her mood grew darker. Rocco did tell everyone without her even knowing (she didn't even care that she'd been unconscious, that was irrelevant) and that was what caused this entire problem. If he would have kept their secret for one day longer things would have been fine, which fact made Ev even angrier. "I had no idea he was going to do that," she muttered under her breath. It wouldn't change anything. Not with how angry Dustin was at her. He said he couldn't forgive her and Ev reeled as though she'd been slapped. Her mouth fell open and her eyes filled with pain and surprise. He ... wouldn't forgive her? Their friendship was over? Ev couldn't think, for the first time in her life. She couldn't think of anything to say or do and even if she had been able to, she was frozen in place. After seconds that seemed like eternity, she forced herself to nod, looking away from Dustin and cringing as a small whimper from internal pain escaped her throat. She'd finally done it, chased away her closest friend, the first person to see past the hard, logical exterior to find her. When their friendship first began, she was constantly expecting him to leave, to decide she wasn't worth all the effort to get to know, but he never did. It surprised her, his dogged persistence in getting to know her, in helping her open up a little more every day until it got to the point where she finally realized that he wasn't going anywhere, that he was there to stay. Until now. His phrase echoed in her head repeatedly and after a while Ev looked up at him, not trying to hold her feelings in anymore. She nodded again, "I- I understand," she breathed in a whisper constrained by her emotions.

@dustin

[Deleted]

Dustin couldn’t help but roll his eyes when Evelyn said that she was going to tell him the very next day. She just so happened to want to tell him that she was engaged the day after she was outed? That seemed like a lie if Dustin had ever heard one, and it only made his anger flare brighter. Evelyn had already lied to him about so much, and now she was adding something else to the list. He didn’t want to be doing this, especially since Ev was hurting, but Dustin was hurting too, and he couldn’t stay. Someone else could sit with Evelyn while he cooled off and tried to find it in his heart to forgive her. She could insist all that she wanted that she was going to tell him, but Dustin had been there, and he knew that if she hadn’t told him by then, no matter how much she insisted otherwise, she wasn’t going to tell him. Dustin had been there, but he had actually made the smart choice and told his best friend about everything – or at least as much as he could tell her without potentially putting Vi in danger by siccing an angry Beater on her. Ev said that she understood that he couldn’t forgive her, and Dustin wondered if she really understood what he was saying at all. She had just spent the last five minutes talking about how she didn’t understand emotions and all of that junk, but as soon as it suited her purposes, she couldn’t understand him just fine?! That wasn’t how things worked. Dustin stood up, the legs of his chair scraping against the floor. He needed to go, now, before he said even more things that he was going to regret when he was less angry. “Bye, Ev.” Dustin said. With that, he walked out of the hospital room, wondering if in doing so he was walking out of Evelyn’s life forever.

@evelyn