Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored [Rhys]

[rhys alexander greyback]

Throw water on electricity

Just to see
if the sparkle'll make us feel

May 26, 2028
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys thought of other obvious ways phones would have gotten them in trouble during school—but he kept those thoughts to himself. The possibilities were endless, really. The Headmistress would have been forced to turn Hogwarts into a no-phone zone. Much like other forms of magic, they were limited. Still, it would have made Rhys’ time away from the Castle a little easier. Letters took time. At least when Rhys was in school, he wasn’t alone. In fact, that short time between his seventeenth birthday and the start of seventh year was the most time Rhys had ever spent with his friends or Juniper outside of the school year.

He nodded in agreement, eyes still marveling at the site before him. Despite the chaos, it brought him a bit of peace. Rhys didn’t know why this was hitting him like this. Maybe it was the knowledge that, finally, the universe decided to spare those who deserved it. Sitting on the floor, he remembered how he felt at age eleven, sneaking in here for the first time. The sound of something falling nearby brought Rhys out of his thoughts, startling him suddenly. Such noise was normal for the house elves but not for their guests. Over the past five years, Rhys didn’t startle nearly as easily as before. But every now and then, he felt like that accident might as well have been yesterday.

Tisney hurried toward them with a familiar large tin. ’Tisney has Sir’s favorite for Sir and Sir’s friend.’ Rhys had long ago given up on having them call him by his given name. Grinning, Rhys crouched again. ”Thank you, Tisney.” Pausing before standing, Rhys paused before speaking again. ”It really is good to see you all.” Again, Rhys didn’t know why this mattered so much, but he’d take the win. Now he stood, ignoring all the aches from a decade of his work. ”Ready?” Rhys asked Juniper. They exited into the eerie hallway and back up the spiral stairs.

But he didn’t want to dwell on the past, knowing how quickly his thoughts would consume him if he let them. Rhys opened the tin, placing the lid underneath, grabbed a cookie, and then offered the tin to Juniper. ”It’s a good thing you don’t have a curfew anymore.” Rhys commented, remembering Juni’s first foray into breaking the rules. He could see her unease with the whole thing, but she’d gone along with it anyway. At least today, he didn’t see the same apprehension.

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'Sir's friend.' Despite everything, Juniper was still just that in the eyes of the house elves. It was cute, in a way. To them, time hard probably hardly passed. Ten years come and gone. A lot had happened in the interim, and shaped everything up until this point. The sudden realization that she had done quite a bit but also not everything she'd wanted in the last decade gave her a slight head rush. There were still plenty of goals she wanted to achieve over the next several years, though doing what she'd been with teaching and still working her regular job was kind of nice. She felt like she could do this for a few years at the very least.

Juniper gave the house elves a wave goodbye before nodding to Rhys that she was ready to leave. It was good to see them all again, and she was already thinking of making it a regular stop throughout the week. Even though she had always tried to turn down the extra food they'd forced on her, it was the price one had to pay with visiting the kitchens.

Back up the staircase they went and out of the basement. The odd feeling she'd had over it when entering was gone now that she knew a familiar place, and several faces, had escaped safely. There would be time to see her old common room on another day. For now, it was time to climb to the Astronomy Tower. "Merlin," she breathed while grabbing a cookie as well. "I hope I never have another one again. Or at least until I'm in an old warlock's home..." That first initial rule break had been what opened the flood gates to not being a complete stick in the mud. Looking back on it, she wished she had done it years earlier. It was clear to her that she needed someone like Rhys to push her into it though. "It still feels like I'm breaking the rules though. All those years of following them just to not need them at all now. It's weird."

rhys alexander greyback ● 350

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

Throw water on electricity

Just to see
if the sparkle'll make us feel

May 26, 2028
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys should have visited the kitchen sooner; it would have helped his mood lately or just overall. It was hard to find anything that lifted the damper of whatever weighed on him that day. His time with Amelia certainly gave him the strength to tread water, but other days, Rhys was exhausted. It was another reason he was grateful Juniper remained in his life. She had seen and been there with him at all those levels and even his worst. Hindsight could be cruel, but the only person beating up Rhys for his past transgressions was Rhys.

He chuckled. Imagine all of them and their friends surviving at such an age to live in a place like that. ”I pity whatever family tries to put you in one of those homes.” At first, he thought of Juniper or her family trying to put their Aunt in a home. As if the great former Headmistress would ever acquiesce to such a thing. Rhys wondered if he would even make it that far in life, but he kept that to himself. No doubt werewolves, in general, skewed any lifespan statistics in the wizarding world. ”I think you’re all as stubborn as your Aunt.” Individually, Juniper and her siblings were stubborn but in their own way. Holly, of course, was the most stubborn in the sense she probably enjoyed the attention of being difficult. While Rhys hadn’t spent that much time with Ewan one-to-one, he seemed more like Juniper in some ways.

Shrugging, they reached ground level again. Rhys went for another cookie. He hadn’t even left a crumb of the first one behind. ”I wouldn’t be surprised if we run into some students.” Then again, with this new structure for NEWT-level students, it was likely they might not be on campus this late. Less need to sneak around, but teenagers don’t always make the best decisions. Rhys still felt a bit amused, however. ”Relax, you’re a professor now. Students aren’t going to think twice if they see you out late.” Rhys added, entirely forgetting she was with him and a giant tin of cookies. Had Rhys and Juniper seen this with their own eyes back in sixth or seventh year, he damn well knew what would have gone through his mind.

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Rhys wasn’t wrong: the McGonagall family was stubborn as hell. Every last one of them. Even her sister’s stubbornness at finding a half-decent partner and settling down instead of continuing this farce of hers that she’d been committed to for almost twenty years now. It was honestly embarrassing. There seemed to be no end to it unfortunately. ”Where do you think we all got it from?” she asked earnestly. Her parents refused to retire too, despite work getting harder and harder for them. Now that technology seemed to be off limits with charms, people were trying all sorts of wild experiments. Somebody had to be there to reverse it all when these mad scientists inevitably messed up.

She shivered at the thought of bumping into a group of students right now. Not that she didn’t want to deal with them, but she had heard the way they gossiped. That was something that had never changed with Hogwarts, despite everything that had happened over the last few years. It absolutely did not help with the influx of younger professors that were helming quite a few of the LIFE classes. ”You say that, but they’ll certainly talk about it.” And who she was with. Juniper wasn’t deaf. She had heard the rumor floating around that she was seeing Archie Vector. As if. The mere thought of it made her laugh. From the very beginning, they had only ever gotten along as colleagues. But if it was about her hanging around Rhys near the end of the day anywhere other than the pub or one of their offices, she felt like that could elicit trouble. These sorts of things were never contained, and she didn’t want to be on the wrong end of an angry Fortescue.

”I’m not saying that us doing this is a problem, just that teenagers don’t see any issue with the way they accidentally spread misinformation these days. Especially now that they all have phones at school.” Sort of funny how it all came back around to that again. She continued, ”I don’t want to screw up your relationship unintentionally, is what I’m saying.” There. Now it was out of the way. She already felt better about it.

rhys alexander greyback ● 369

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[rhys alexander greyback]

Throw water on electricity

Just to see
if the sparkle'll make us feel

May 26, 2028
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Challenging a McGonagall in anything was a losing battle. Rhys learned that early on, even before he and Juniper ever entered a serious relationship. Rhys struggled to fit in with his peers the first couple of years at Hogwarts. Let alone with his peers in other houses. And the few times he had interacted with Juniper at eleven or twelve, she had been as blunt as ever. Not that much had changed by sixth year. Underneath it all, Rhys knew she was more than that and a lovely person. ”Even your sister…” Rhys mused aloud. It was a shame that drive wasn’t applied in anything, such as her career.

Rhys resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but Juniper did have a good point. What else did the students have to do aside from studying and homework? If they weren’t discussing the drama of their peers, the staff was the next logical target. Now that Rhys was technically on staff, he was no exception. Archer occasionally poked fun at Rhys and the girls who would swoon in his presence. It was all ridiculous, really. Aside from the fact that he was nearing thirty and some of these students were barely seventeen, Rhys thought nothing of their batting eyelashes or smiles. He was just here to work.

He'd managed to stuff half a cookie in his mouth when he stopped chewing for a moment—his relationship. For a moment, Rhys remained quiet. That hadn’t been at the forefront of his mind for a little bit—now it was, and it didn’t feel good. ”No need to worry about that.” Rhys began, keeping his gaze anywhere but Juniper. ”I already screwed that up.” With that, Rhys finished off the second half of the cookie. Well—he had to tell Juniper and his friends at some point that he was single again, and Rhys had never been the type to announce such things in a straightforward way. ”I think we might finish these before we get to the tower.” Rhys’ brow furrowed as he examined the tin’s remaining contents.

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Why wouldn't Juniper be worried about misconceptions? The last thing she wanted was a nuclear blow-up with her in the middle on accident. That was assuming Vasilia was even like that to begin with. The Fortescue family has always struck her as super chill, pun intended. Florence definitely had been in school, despite Juniper figuring out almost immediately that there was one very specific reason the Gryffindor was constantly hanging around Rhys. But that was the past, and they were all adults now. Trying to avoid petty drama was healthy, even if she didn't know if this could cause it. There was absolutely nothing wrong with two colleagues walking around the castle, reminiscing with one another.

She had just grabbed another cookie when Rhys responded. Juniper paused, hand halfway up to her mouth. That seemed to be a running theme with him, but she immediately dashed the thought because she didn't know the details. What she would do to find out if it was similar to both of her times with him. "Well, I'm umm...sorry to hear that," she said honestly. The Fortescue girl seemed nice enough. The funny thing was that Juniper didn't feel much of anything about it. Years ago, she may have jumped at the chance to inject herself back in. That was what had happened after the accident. Now though...she sort of had other priorities. Rebuilding her friendship with Rhys seemed so much better than trying to take another stab at making a relationship work. It was so much healthier too.

"Guess we should have gotten a second one..." Juniper added, observing the nearly empty tin too. She felt like she'd made it awkward now, bringing all of that up. They still had a bit of a walk ahead of them too, the winding Astronomy Tower steps on top of all of the rest. What now?

rhys alexander greyback ● 311

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

Throw water on electricity

Just to see
if the sparkle'll make us feel

May 26, 2028
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys knew Juniper was genuine. She never wished for anything bad to happen to him or for him not to do well. Still, he wished she had not brought it up, if only to avoid the sudden awkwardness and tension. And he didn’t want to dwell on it either. Merlin knew he had spent every free moment doing that already. ”It's alright—some things just aren’t meant to work out.” The breakup with Vasilia was the sort of thing that hit him in waves. For now, he was fine, but tomorrow could be a different story. In the past, with Juniper, it had been more like getting hit by a rogue wave and then remaining underwater for a while.

Noticing Juni’s tone shift, Rhys looked at her. ”Juni, really—I’m fine.” Maybe fine wasn’t the best word. Nobody used that word as it was meant to be used. ”I’ve had some time to process it all, so…” Rhys didn’t know what to add to that except to shrug. As he overheard one of the trainees tell another the other day, it is what it is. Taking the tin back, Rhys removed the lid from the bottom and replaced it. They should save some for the top of the tower. For now, Rhys hoped he did his best to remove some of that awkwardness.

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Whether or not he was telling the truth about being fine was really up for debate. Juniper didn’t believe so. The number of times she had heard those exact same words throughout their friendship and then subsequent relationship was too many to count. Each and every time it meant that everything certainly was not okay in his life. But maybe she was wrong! She almost hoped so. They were inching closer and closer to their thirties. Not being able to express how one was feeling at their age was concerning. Especially for him, when he had more than himself to worry about now. She knew it wasn’t any of her business anymore, but she could still show her concern in her own way.

Juniper let it go as they continued their ascent towards the Astronomy Tower. She didn’t know if he wanted a lending ear, and if he did, if she was the one for that. At this point, she almost felt qualified to hear how it ended. Give pointers on what he could do to fix things. He’d probably hate it, but who knew him better? She stifled her words with obsessive cookie eating as they climbed. Eventually they made it to the tower steps.

”Merlin, I forgot how deep these stairs were,” she groaned as she had to slow down her pace in order to accurately step from one to the next. Nothing would ever eclipse the hike they had during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, though. Those stairs made these ones look like a joke. And the seats they’d had were supposedly the premium viewing ones. On a more positive note, it was probably a good thing that Rhys had closed the lid on the cookie tin. She would have choked on one if she was trying to eat while ascending the tower stairs.

---

The sun had almost disappeared behind the foreboding trees of the Dark Forest, all but a faint glimmer of orange remained on the horizon. While it wasn’t necessarily chilly on top of the Astronomy Tower, Juniper was starting to get colder as the warmth of the daylight was rapidly disappearing. They had been up there for quite a while now, and she really did need to get back to her office at some point. Those papers weren’t going to grade themselves. In actuality, she could cast a charm on them to do just that, but she liked the human aspect of it all.

Shivering, she rubbed her hands together, wishing that all of the cookies provided by the house elves hadn’t already been eaten. They somehow maintained their warmth long after being handed over. ”Think you could show me that warm air charm you were talking about earlier?” she asked as she blew on her hands. Even though it was May, the nights were still cool.

rhys alexander greyback ● 475

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

Throw water on electricity

Just to see
if the sparkle'll make us feel

May 26, 2028
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys was grateful Juni had dropped the topic of his recent breakup. However, he knew her well enough to know that such a topic would not completely be forgotten. Instead, it would probably sit neatly on a shelf in her mind until the right moment arrived. Over the years, Rhys realized Juni had stored a lot of stuff that way until the tension grew high enough, and unfortunately, Rhys was typically in a sour mood by that point already. Walking on eggshells around a cranky toddler had let Rhys learn a little empathy when dealing with flaring tempers. Not that it entirely stopped his temper from remaining very short.

The weather was far more comfortable in the tower this time of year, at least for Rhys. His constant body warmth made it so Amelia preferred to sit with him rather than her mother—much to Sage’s chagrin. The setting sun brought down the temperature, however, so Rhys knew it would only grow colder from here. But their little adventure so far had been fun, aside from the brief awkward discovery of his relationship status and the break at the top of the steps. Rhys certainly didn’t feel seventeen anymore. And despite Cursebreaking putting him in the best shape of his life, all these weeks of simply teaching definitely affected that. He made a mental note to increase his exercise time beginning the following week.

”Yes—of course.” Rhys had blinked several times, momentarily forgetting he had offered to teach Juniper that spell. He turned from where he had been leaning on the banister, retrieving his wand simultaneously. ”I learned this one when I was near Russia.” Merlin, cold didn’t feel adequate enough to describe the weather then. ”It's something between a Hot Air Charm and a Warming Charm.” Rhys cleared his throat and began the wand movement, beginning with the familiar quick wave followed by a slight spiral motion. In front of him, Rhys could feel the warmth he created, and it persisted. With a different wand motion, he cleared the heat. ”You need to focus on how warm you want the temperature and the area you affect.” He continued to explain. Like most charms, the magic was as strong as the castor’s will. ”Try it.”

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Of course the Russians would have a variation on the spell. She had realized over the years that these slight changes in charms were adapted by individuals or small groups over time, but sometimes never being expanded past that. It mystified her that people wouldn't want to publish their hard work or tell the rest of the world. Obviously, not every witch or wizard could manage the more complicated ones that inventors liked to spend their life creating. Something as simple as this though? There was no reason not to.

She watched closely to the wand movements. Supposedly it had a control function, which wasn't uncommon for spells of this nature. Pulling her own wand out and stepping a few feet away so as to have her own space clear of Rhys's spell, she mimicked his motions. In the moment, Juniper forgot that she was the one that had to tell it how warm she wanted it, and it came out something like a weak Hot Air charm instead of what he had just cast. "Okay. I think I get it now," she said aloud. It was mostly to reassure herself more than anything else.

Moving once again, Juniper attempted the spell and put more 'oomf' into it. A hot blast of air emanated from the tip of her wand, engulfing her entire body in a fuzzy warmth. She could feel her eyebrows raise at the realization of how much better this was over the spell she had been using. "Unbelievable. And to think, all I would have had to have done was change that little bit at the end and I'd have figured it out on my own." Juniper was in disbelief over how easy it was to cast too.

"I really need to travel more," she said as she moved around the invisible cloud of warmer air she had created. It seemed like it was holding out relatively well, not dissipating instantly like the one she had been using did.

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[rhys alexander greyback]

Throw water on electricity

Just to see
if the sparkle'll make us feel

May 26, 2028
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Rhys watched Juniper concentrate and attempt the spell. Her brow furrowed in concentration, much as it used to when they would study. He felt a strong wave of nostalgia hit him. Despite all that happened, the good and the bad, he never forgot those times. If Rhys could have looked a decade into the future, what would he have thought of his situation? Fatherhood, still perpetually single to a point, and realizing tonight was one of the rare nights he wasn’t half a bottle deep by this hour. Patiently, Rhys crossed his arms and watched her first attempt. Something clearly clicked as she went for another attempt.

”Good.” He nodded in approval. ”You picked it up faster than my trainees would have” Rhys remarked sarcastically. Truthfully, they had done quite well in his charms training courses, all things considered. And most of the time, the students arrived and left with the same dark look in their eyes and glare toward their instructor—Rhys. But he didn’t care if they hated him by the end, as long as they could defend themselves and their team. Unfortunately, Rhys learned the best way to bring out that willpower in some trainees was to push them to it. For Rhys—anger was the key, and for others, it was the same or at least the challenge of proving him wrong.

Slowly, he approached Juniper, gently grabbing her hand. In contrast to his own rough and calloused, hers were soft. ”I could recommend a few places…” He offered. There was that nostalgia again, like when Juniper first asked Rhys out despite already being attached to the hip. ”Great thing about this charm…it doesn’t affect me unless you want it to.” So, there was no chance of one person existing comfortably while the person next to them suffered from near heat stroke. He held her hand to prove that point, remembering how he was never cold when she was.

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Of course she picked up the spell faster than his trainees. Juniper knew what cursebreakers were like. They were a raucous, ambitious bunch and always more interested in their glory of treasure hunting than they were about learning simple spells. There really wasn’t anything wrong with that, to a degree, but she was starting to like the tenured cursebreakers more these days than she did back when she was younger. The ones she knew that were still around had definitely been humbled quite a bit. Even Rhys was slightly different. Or maybe that was just because she was no longer emotionally attached to him. Being able to look at him from the outside again definitely changed her perspective drastically.

Relishing in the warmth of the spell, Juniper wasn’t expecting Rhys to suddenly grab her hand. She almost instinctively pulled it away, afraid of her earlier comments about being seen by students coming to fruition. About not wanting Rhys to accidentally tank his relationship. The one that he said was done and over with now. She was sort of confused by the whole interaction until he said that the charm only worked on the caster. ”So it’s more like a veil of warm air around me?” she asked, still not pulling her hand away. She had gotten distracted about her statement about needing to travel, that whole train of thought now gone.

What did this mean? Was he just showing her the practicality of the spell? Or was it more to do with the fact that they had just retraced their steps back to when they’d been in school? She hated not knowing what this was, because it confused her on so many different levels. As much as she tried to convince herself that her slow drip appearances back into Rhys’s life were completely unintentional and that she had tried to get him the job because he would be good at it, she also knew that if things ever changed, he would be in a position where she would be fine with his current career. All of this had been held at bay by the fact that he was in a committed relationship, and she’d been going on dates herself. Except that was all over now. And she hated that from the walk up to the tower on, she had started to think about it all again. Juniper knew how this would go down too. She would get her hopes up, they’d go too fast, and then it would burn out harder than it did the last two times. Assuming it would even happen in the first place.

”How do you do that?” Juniper asked, swallowing as she remembered to speak again. Merlin, she hated this.

rhys alexander greyback ● 455

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[rhys alexander greyback]

Throw water on electricity

Just to see
if the sparkle'll make us feel

May 26, 2028
juniper minerva mcgonagall

He seemed to have caught Juniper in a daze, probably the warmth of the spell allowing her to relax—not that she was ever tense around him. Rhys would have spotted that quickly. They had seen one another angry, happy, sad, and everything in between, so even years later, there wasn’t much they could hide. And she let Rhys hold on to her hand. ”Mm-hmm.” He half nodded in response to her question. Working around the world gave Rhys the opportunity to learn about magic that was not commonly taught at Hogwarts. And cultural influences played a heavy part in that as well.

Part of Rhys knew very well what he was doing. There had been no practical reason to grab Juniper’s hand, but he could hardly help himself. The contact brought him to the present, where he was not lingering in the recent past and wondering what he might have done differently with Vasilia or what he had done at all. And his existence had been marred by a persistent numbness lately. The other part of him signaled warnings. Well louder warnings because Rhys always easily allowed himself to re-enter Juniper’s orbit so easily. It hadn’t been his intention to do anything when he woke up this morning.

After a moment, she spoke again but with a question Rhys had not expected. His eyes moved up to meet hers. ”Do what?” Rhys asked, voice low. However, he was genuinely unsure of what she was talking about. That part of Rhys that protested again spoke up in the back of his mind. He and Juniper were getting along so well as friends. And a long-term relationship with someone else felt like moving on was possible, yet…here they were. Again. Heartbreak never suited Rhys, but neither had this last relationship, apparently. Rhys had not been able to give all of himself to her and just as many stones were left unturned as there were walls that remained up. And something like that was never meant to last.

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The internal panic that had started to set in was palpable. Juniper didn't know what to do. There were competing voices in her head. One that said two times was enough. That ruining their friendship again by trying to take another stab at it would probably be the end of it. She didn't want the spiral that would undoubtedly come from it either. Rhys had more important things to worry about, like this new job and his daughter. Juniper didn't want to come flying in and mess up all of that again. Not to mention how this would look to people on the outside. His last relationship ends and then he's immediately back with his ex? That sort of thing got people talking, and while she really didn't care about any of that, it was better to not have it. Especially now that they were both teaching at Hogwarts.

Then, of course, was the other voice. The one telling her to give in and go with it. Because deep down that thought had always been there, waiting to be released again. The moral debate on if her recent dates counted as 'dating' also sprung up on this side, because she really had enjoyed them. Looking away from Rhys as he stared down at her was harder to do than she thought. She wanted to know how to extend the spell, but also knew what he was getting at. "Rhys, I..." She what? Couldn't do this because of a handful of dates she went on? A complete unknown that happened to make her feel good about herself again or a return to something she already knew. There were pros and cons to both. Trying to start new took a lot of work. So far it seemed like it was paying off...

She started to gently pull her hand free, stopping when just her fingertips were left. "I can't right now. I've been..." She took a deep breath to make sure that this was what she actually wanted to say. "...I started seeing someone recently. So yeah..."

rhys alexander greyback ● 345

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[rhys alexander greyback]

Throw water on electricity

Just to see
if the sparkle'll make us feel

May 26, 2028
juniper minerva mcgonagall

Maybe it was a defense mechanism in light of Vasilia dumping him. Rhys looked at Juniper, just like all those other times they spent time together in the Astronomy tower. She had been there through the worst times in Rhys’ life, and even when he revealed everything behind those walls—she hadn’t run. Rhys knew he’d pushed her away before. Maybe he’d done the same to Vasilia. But his now most recent ex-girlfriend had made her intentions plainly clear. This wasn’t working and wasn’t going to. Rhys found himself protesting, but Vasilia could be as stubborn and immovable as he was.

Rhys found life simpler without such commitments after leaving Juniper, hence his lifestyle and then the massive surprise that was Vasilia Fortescue. With all that happened now, maybe he should have remained as he was. He was still hurting, even if he didn’t acknowledge it. Juniper always made him feel safe and grounded, so he felt very much in the moment. And it was far too easy for them to fall into old habits and routines. Rhys didn’t know if he should, considering the complications of his life. Or maybe he just wanted to be with her in whatever capacity. Juniper hesitated in her response, leaving Rhys curious.

Feeling her hand move, he glanced down. It felt familiar, like their first breakup, but she didn’t entirely pull away from him. And then the unexpected, but Rhys wasn’t surprised. Juniper was lovely. Others would definitely see it as he did. ”Well that ‘someone’ is lucky.” He hadn’t committed to anything in his mind. Surely, it was just a fleeting tension between old friends and lovers. And he genuinely wanted her to be happy without him complicating things. Gently grabbing her hand, Rhys decided they needed to move to clear whatever was in the air. ”The—erm—stars should be out by now.” Once the sun set, it dove past the horizon quickly. And approaching the railing, Rhys looked up at the twinkling dots in the sky. Letting the silence settle, Rhys let go of her hand and leaned against the guard rail with his forearms. ”You know—I never thanked you.” He began, keeping his eyes forward. ”For pretending to care about Astronomy.” Rhys explained, smirking slightly. All those times years ago when she let him rattle on about this and that. Those were important moments.

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