touch [sienna]

[EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK]

Rhys had long since left Sienna and Rob to celebrate and mourn in their own time, returning to fulfil his duty as father to a small child. It was a rare feat that Rhys was the first to be responsible, the first to return home after a night of drinking. Rob and Sienna had teased him mercilessly, though their slurred jibes did not hit perhaps as hard as they had wished. It was just Sienna and Rob then, like it had been so many times before. His little sister's best friend, and his potions partner. They were well matched, and Rob had dampened the pang of loss with copious amounts of alcohol.

Their salutes had grown more and more ridiculous - "To the king!" Rob crowed, though there was no king on the British throne. He snickered, sinking his drink in one gulp, his head buzzing with euphoria that accompanied Sienna wherever she was. Rob leaned back in his chair, appraising the girl who had grown into a woman before his eyes. They'd known each other so long, it was strange to think that it had been over a decade now. He had loved her for a time, much longer than he had initially admitted. Especially considering her relationship with his own friend, Gus. Rob thought only of the bright smile on Sienna's face, the way her hair stuck to her sweat dampened forehead, the twinkle of mischief in her eyes. Rob was immediately reminded how beautiful she really was.

"You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here," said the bartender, who had been attempting to usher them out for the past ten minutes. "I don't care if you've got an Order of Merlin, there's loads of places around here you can continue drinking at until stupid in the morning," he added, and Rob snapped his mouth shut. Had he already tried the Order of Merlin card? He couldn't exactly remember. He glanced towards Sienna, rising unsteadily to his feet. He held a hand out to her, an offering of stability and promise. "Let's go," said Rob with an easy, lopsided grin.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Late August 2026

Sienna was conflicted. At least, she had been about ten drinks ago when her head had been considerably clearer. It was a good night, the kind of good night Si hadn't been able to enjoy for months while they worked on Aware Wolf. The thing nobody told you about inventing potions – it was hard work. Long nights, sleepless nights, mind-numbing days of slamming your head against your desk and trying to figure out what went wrong. Praying that the next formula they'd do something right, and all the while telling yourself that it was worth it. Aware Wolf wasn’t just a side project, something to do in their free time while they waited for a Cure For Boils batch to ripen. No, it had been her entire life for years, a gamble that might never pay off but that they just had to try. Not just for them, but for all the werewolves that needed something like this. An answer to a question most people never bothered to ask.

But here they were – shiny medals, mostly unharmed test subjects (and Si couldn't take credit for whatever damage Rhys had), and an actual future. And, Si thought to herself blearily as she slammed the empty shot glass back on the table, single. They were both single at the same time, and that happened less than a bloody blue moon. She never let herself think about that, but...That was why she was conflicted. It was a good night, but Rob looked terrible. So why did she feel so damn happy, heart as light as air and more giggly than drunk Si had any right to be? It seemed wrong to be happy about something that couldn't really be good news. “A sa santé!” Si snorted into her next glass as she went along with Rob’s increasingly meaningless toasts, leaning on the table for support while she laughed into her drink. It made sense to her in the sense that it didn't make sense at all.

He looked better now. At least he wasn’t glumly slumped on his couch like she’d found him, staring into nothing like he was seeing ghosts. In fact it was impossible to say that he looked bad at all, because Si hadn’t managed to peel her eyes off him for most of the night and it’d probably gotten to the point that Rhys (the lovably blind Rhys) had noticed too. Rob had always been off-limits, Heleen’s cool older brother, and that was part of his unfortunate tempting charm. Along with the simple fact that it was impossible not to like him, and they were together all the time, and she'd been denying what he meant to her for years. The source of comfort he was to her. Si bit her lip at the piercing look he gave her now, the sharp intense look that awoke all the butterflies in her stomach and reminded her of their history. He offered her a hand and she didn’t hesitate a moment to take it, although a new burst of giggles erupted out of her as she tipped forward, lost her balance and wrapped an arm around him for support (it seemed important to her to stay upright). Sienna didn't notice the bartender or his serious side-eye -- her vision was all Rob. She leaned in, used her hand to indicate to Rob to lean closer, and then whispered like it was a secret, “We’re so drunk.” 

EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK

[EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK]

Through sleepless nights and countless hours of restlessness, questioning and trying again, Sienna had always stood by Rob's side. She was stoic in a way that hardly anyone had ever been for him. A constant in his life, challenging him and encouraging him at the same time. She teased him relentlessly, but took it in stride when he returned the favour. It was a small wonder therefore that Rob had quickly stopped seeing her as his sister's friend and began to see her as her own entity. An eternally capable, strong, and beautiful young woman. How could Rob not want to collect her in his arms and kiss her senseless?

They had only given into those primal desires on rare occasions, usually when the other had a broken heart. Sienna was a salve, her laughter contagious, as Rob came to the slow realisation that his mate was gone. It was foggy, but Sienna's presence beside him, her breath in his ear as she giggled, it all softened the earth shattering blow. Rob snickered. "I think this is the drunkest I've ever been," he replied in a conspiratorial whisper, turning his head so that their faces were inches apart. Rob's gaze flicked down to her lips, resting for a heartbeat too long, before he twisted on the spot, bringing Sienna with him into the night.

The pair appeared on the landing outside the beaten door to Rob's flat. He laughed to himself as he unlocked the door, gesturing Sienna in first. "It may be the drunkest, but I think we have a fair way to go," said Rob, his voice unusually bright despite all that had befallen him in the past few days. Swings and roundabouts, so they said. Rob shuffled into the kitchen, noisily placing two glasses on the counter and selected a bottle of gin from his collection. He found tonic in the fridge, and poured them both a generous portion. He handed one to Sienna. "The night is far from over, my fair, Order of Merlin winning maiden," said Rob with a smirk, taking her hand and drawing her to him. He towered over her - had she always been this delicate?

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Drunk Si was very giggly – that was the word on the street from her traitor friends that liked to film her instead of actually helping whenever they went out. She was too mortified to actually watch those clips and see if it was true…but at least now, everything seemed ridiculously funny to her. Sienna gave a very unladylike snort as Rob turned his head to answer her, giggling into his shoulder as she looked up up up at him (they really did make ‘em like trees in Holland, didn’t they). “This is a good look for you, you should take up drinking,” Si whispered back, cringing internally as she finally processed the words she’d spoken without thinking at all. Because her mind felt frozen as she finally noticed how close they were and how was she supposed to say anything clever when he looked at her like that?

All the memories she usually banished to the darkest, deepest corner of her mind seemed to float to the surface now. Remembering the sweet things Rob would whisper into her ear, the effortless way he could pick her up and carry her to bed, his sleepy kisses in the morning before either of them had truly woken up again. They were forbidden memories, an indulgence for when one was nursing a broken heart and the other was always there to comfort and wipe away the pain. He’d always been her vice – because Sienna was studious and played by-the-book and didn’t ask for anything she couldn’t have unless it was him. He was her friend’s older brother, her potions mentor – a partner, a friend, a mate, everything important to all the people in her life. She shouldn’t know what his lips tasted like.

But here they were. Two friends, two slightly-more-than-friends drinking together in his kitchen. And Sienna found her gaze slipping down as she tilted her head to admire him from behind until he suddenly turned around and her eyes snapped back up. Bad, bad Si she scolded herself as she smiled and took the glass from him. But could she really help herself, with Rob only a short distance away and the warmth of his hand in hers? Si drew herself closer and didn’t wait for the next toast to take a sip of liquid courage. “I’m all yours for the night, my potions prodigy,” and she knew what she was saying was true. Sienna was just…his. Whatever would keep that wicked smirk on his face, whatever would keep the storm away for a little longer…she’d never found anyone who understood her better than Rob. Being around him was easy, finding the next thing to say was easy. And so why would she ever want to stay away?

EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK

[EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK]

Rob chuckled and shook his head. "Is that an order?" he asked, smirking down at her. Did her eyes always look so jewel bright or was it a combination of good lighting and inebriation making her look at him like that? Rob swallowed thickly before retreating to the kitchen to fix them a pair of drinks. Sienna was closer to him than he had expected and his heart leaped unexpectedly at her presence. He handed her the drink, then took her other hand and drew her closer still. Merlin, he wanted to kiss her. Something at the back of his mind told him that was a bad idea, but Rob had never been particularly good at listening to that.

Unable to come up with a clever toast. Rob busied himself by taking a sip of the lethal concoction in his hand. He grimaced, then placed his glass firmly on the counter. He'd get back to that. But his attention returned fully to Sienna, his focus like a laser on her soft features. His throat was dry and he couldn't get his mouth to work. Did he want to say something? Rob wasn't sure what he wanted - apart from her. Why had he denied this part of himself for so long? It was easy to forget that she had been with Gus for years, and before that she had been the best friend of his sister. If both of those things were true, how was it fair that the spark between them could incinerate an entire room?

Of one thing, Rob was certain. Sienna was written into his life as surely as the moon would rise every night. He didn't know what sort of capacity that was, and a fleeting image of Lyra - Lyra, who had chosen her craft over her mate - flashed through his mind. He banished it soundly, drinking in Sienna. Sienna, who was here. Sienna, who would always be here. There was no more hesitation in Rob as he closed the distance between them and kissed her as if for the first time all over again.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

There was a strange sort of swooping sensation in Sienna’s stomach at the idea of giving Rob orders, and she giggled nervously at the thought of indulging it, even in her mind. There was a fatalistic sort of pleasure in allowing the fantasy to play out in her mind, because usually – whenever she veered down that path, Si told herself not to think about it as much as possible and it naturally became the only thing her mind could fixate on. It would be the middle of the day, the middle of the lunch rush, and Sienna would stare intently at her cauldron and stir it casually like she wasn’t playing out a whole movie in her head about the man sat less than twenty feet away. She hated how much she loved that.

As it was, her ability to watch what she said was dangerously absent tonight. “I think you’d be the one giving the orders,” she whispered lowly, eyes locked with Rob’s and drowning in the possibilities of everything this less-than-innocent exchange was hinting at. Si told herself that she wanted to be a good friend, the same way she would call Camila to squeal over the pop star’s latest tour schedule or her stern calls to Rhys to ensure he’d got home safely and knew where his baby was. But who was she kidding? Rob had always been different from everyone else in her life. She’d shared everything about her life with him – even stories about her Muggle father, even her fears and dreams and embarrassing pre-teen phases. He always brought a smile to her face, could infuriate her with a completely invalid theory for new potion-brewing techniques, and challenged her to be her best self. Always.

Yeah, things were different with Rob. He wasn’t just another person in her life, and saying goodbye to him was so much harder than every other relationship that had come and gone. There was just a point with the other boys where the spark had faded, where there wasn’t necessarily anything wrong but it didn’t feel right anymore. But she’d always nursed a crush on Rob and that spark flared into an inferno at the way he closed the distance between them now. Si sighed and melted into the kiss, eagerly seeking his lips like she might never have the opportunity again. History seemed to suggest that too. But she broke away a moment later, a thought heavy in her mind even as she wanted to banish it and lose herself to this moment. “I can't be your rebound again,” she whispered, her eyebrows creased together even as she refused to take another step back and away, "It...keeps getting harder to pretend after."

EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK

[EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK]

This dance with Sienna should have been getting tiresome, but Rob found himself running back for more at each turn. He was drawn to her like a moth to a flame, knowing she was akin to the forbidden fruit but the warning bells in his mind seemed so feeble when she was before him. His sister's best friend, his own friend's ex girlfriend. They'd orbited around each other for so long, only for the most monumental moments to shatter his reality. Rob kissed Sienna, like he'd never done before. Like she was his life force and he would drown without her. She melted into him and his arms wrapped more tightly around her, cocooning her and keeping her safe from outside evils. But what Rob didn't realise was that darkness had already crept in.

Rob's brown crumpled at Sienna's words. "You've never been a rebound," said Rob, honestly. In his mind, it was true. Sienna had never been the person he sought out when he was nursing a wounded heart. The timing between them always never worked out. "You've always been the first person on my mind, even when I couldn't tell you. Even now, this feels so right," said Rob, his gaze pleading. He'd never been very good with words, and he didn't know how to convey to Sienna just how precious she was to him "You're everything to me," he eventually revealed, brushing a dark strand of hair from her face. "Though sometimes it feels like even the forces of the universe are trying to keep us apart."

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

This wasn’t the sort of conversation to have when she was this drunk. There were a lot of unprocessed emotions tightening into a knot in her chest and Si swallowed hard at the thought that her dumb mouth had chosen now to bring it up. She’d gone this long without letting herself put a name to their complicated situation, hadn’t she? But even with the thick fog in her mind, it seemed so obvious that this scene had already played out before (and so did she really want to let it play out again?). Yes, part of her thought – it was probably clear which part – but she couldn’t banish the thought now that she’d thought it. That she’d been here for him after every break-up (just like he’d been there for her) and yet their situation had never been anything more than a nameless indulgence once in a while when they were feeling weak.

And she didn’t think the heavy gold medals they’d been toasting to all night would change anything this time either – as much as she might want otherwise. Sienna desperately wanted to believe Rob, which was why she couldn’t force herself away out of the warm circle of his arms. Her breath caught even as it hit hard the observation that they’d never seemed to work out as a pair in the past. “We have horrid timing,” Si said in a low voice, her hands lingering on his chest and eyes locked on his as his hand brushed her face. “Everything I want to say to you, to do…I just can’t most of the time. Only after a heartbreak, it seems.” Her breath caught at the beginning of that confession, the forbidden one, the thought that usually stayed buried in her chest. “This doesn’t feel wrong to me,” she whispered, “But it never feels permanent either. And it kills me to let you go and pretend it's fine.”

EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK

[EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK]

A dark chuckle left Rob's lips as he pressed his forehead to Sienna's, his hand cradling the column of her neck. "Horrific," he agreed. "One of us is always entangled," he murmured. He moved back an inch to look her directly in the eyes. Those bright blue eyes that had always captured him, had often pinned him into place without even a word. The way she could flip from lighthearted to serious at a moments notice, how caring and loving she'd always been. But more than anything, Sienna had always been present. Even if it was at the fringes of Rob's mind, Sienna had lingered in his life since their very first meeting over a decade ago.

"It's never felt wrong to me. Not even when you were with Gus. Not even when..." Rob trailed off, not wanting to say her name. He couldn't even think of his mate right now, the pain that rattled through him dulled by Sienna's proximity. "I've never wanted to say no to you. I've just kept waiting..." he murmured, his free arm wrapping around her middle. "I'm so tired of fighting it, Sienna." Rob didn't want to resist anymore, and pressed his lips to hers. He had only one thing left to say, something to whisper against her lips. "Don't let me go. Don't pretend."

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

It was hard to pinpoint why it seemed like the right time to bring it up now – because the reality was that they’d been playing this dance for what seemed like years. He’d always been the potions prodigy, the boy who could dazzle their entire school even while he toed the line with the professors. And Si had always been in complete awe. The dynamic had shifted, had changed completely after her break-up with Gus (the first one, anyway) and ever since…it seemed like every relationship of hers was doomed to fail. Because she could never get him out of her mind, and this last year…well, it was painful to pretend that she was okay. It was becoming harder and harder to stay in London, and the voice in her head urging her to run away was getting stronger.

She memorized every word that fell from Rob’s lips as he said it, and her hands twisted into his shirt to keep him locked in place. “Don’t fight it,” she whispered, her voice breathy and strained as she finally said everything she’d thought but never dared to put into words before. She was completely breathless, eyes fluttering at the wildfire that flowed through her at catching his intense gaze. “I don’t want to think about…about rules or what’s right or what we should do. I want this. I want you.” Sienna always beat around the bush, didn’t she? Always worried about boundaries and being understanding but distant. It felt so freeing to say exactly what she wanted in as few words as possible and to know that it was the complete truth. Rob leaned in to kiss her again and Si melted, wrapping her arms around his neck as she lost track of where they were and everything happening around them. It was him and her, and it was always meant to be that way.

EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK
[Fade to black…?]

[EPKE ROBERTUS OPPEDYK]

How could Rob have denied Sienna anything? From the way that she was looking at him, to the way she gently touched his arm, to the electric feeling that skittered across his skin when she was close. Rob wanted nothing but Sienna, not to forget, but to heal. And when Sienna instructed him not to think, just to feel and do, Rob conceded with extreme enthusiasm. They melted together, and remembered why exactly they always found each other again.

[end thread]