Asher watched, patiently, as Alexis seemed to mull over the fact that she had abandoned her earlier naming considerations. As he smiled slightly to himself, he suspected, once more, that it might have been odd for him to find such trivial little quirks of hers so endearing. Though, honestly, he didn’t much care. “The pygmy puff gets a three-part name?” he asked, chuckling softly as she set the furry creature back in its box.
“It’s cute.” he conceded, as she turned back to him and linked their fingers together. “I actually quite like it.” he added before she stretched up and kissed him. Admittedly, their relationship was still pretty new, but Asher strongly doubted he’d ever come to bore of the simple act of kissing Alexis. It was especially hard to imagine a point of lesser interest, when she was tantalizingly running her tongue along his lips. By sheer instinct, he parted his lips on hers, wanting more… though not exactly knowing what that even meant.
The motion of Alexis pulling away jerked him back to reality. They were in his room, they’d been snogging, Alexis was suggesting they bring Emily to her room then she was walking towards his bed and - he was thinking far too much. ”Yeah, sure…” he nodded, holding out his hand to her. “Sounds good.”
Alexis gave him a soft smile before grabbing the box and starting to walk out of his dorm.”Of course she does!” She blushed at the fact that they had been snogging in his dorm. Her mind briefly drifted away, wondering what would happen if she didn’t stop- what if more happened. No she couldn’t think like that. They had been dating for a while but they weren’t ready for that.
Walking to her dorm, she blushed even more at the looks they were getting. It made her uncomfortable, she always hated when people looked at her, they way they gave her a judging look. Even if they were in the hufflepuff common room, with people they knew. They’d still do it. When she got to her dorm, Alexis went to her bed, which was at the back and the neatest space. She always prided herself on being neat, making sure her dorm mates were clean too. She placed her box- which contained her gift on her bedside table and looked at Asher “I’ll make her a playpen tomorrow” Alexis let out a small giggle and indicated for him to come over too.
She sat on her bed, patting for him to seat beside her. She wondered what Asher thought of her dorm, whether he was as surprised as she was about the similarities in their dorms. Alexis started swinging her legs back and forth slowly, playing with a strand of her hair and looking at the ground.
Asher stood back and watched as Alexis gasped and made quick work of picking up her gift. It seemed an odd thing to find as endearing as he did, but even simply watching the gentle nature with which Alexis held the pygmy puff made him all the more drawn to her. He suspected he might even have been a bit distant in expression at just how lovely she seemed to him at that moment, but his expression shifted quickly as Alexis glanced over at him, moving to virtually mirror her smile.
”Emily…” he echoed, as neither a question nor a response-requiring statement. He simply wanted to test out the name. With an appraising sort of nod, Asher gravitated to her side, sitting next to her at the edge of his bed and not even thinking of it as being odd in the slightest, until she asked if it was alright. “No, no, it’s fine.” he told assured her, right away. In hindsight, he reckoned that maybe having a girl sitting on his bed - particularly a girl he was practically enamoured with - might possibly have merited more of a reaction from him, but Asher simply wasn’t capable of devoting much attention to anything other than how in awe Alexis seemed of her new pet, or Emily, and of how great it was to see her like that.
“Why Emily?” he asked, with quiet curiosity, recalling how she’d contemplated the names of Greek goddesses when they’d written about pygmy puffs over the holidays. Emily was a lovely name, to be sure, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t the name of a goddess.
Alexis looked up at Asher, she had completely forgotten about the names she had planned to name a pygmy puff if she ever got one. A slight frown formed on her lips as she tried to think of a solution. “Emily Aphrodite Baker” She nodded, satisfied with the solution she came up with. She stood and put her pet back in it’s box closing the lid slowly. She smiled slightly at the box “See you soon, Emily” She whispered and took the box from his hands, placing it on the bed.
Alexis took his hands in hers, interlinking their fingers. She tip toed and pressed lips to his. She couldn’t get enough of how they felt on her lips, so soft. She wanted to be daring, try something they hadn’t before. Alexis slowly ran her tongue along his lower lip, asking him to part his lips, wordlessly. Her hands rested on his chest, that’s where she found them more comfortable. Her fingers curled slightly to grip his shirt, she knew that’s the furthest she’d go.
Alexis pulled away from him and bit her lip slightly. She felt her cheeks heating up from the intimacy they had just shared, in his room. “Can we go put Emily in my room?” She tilted her head to the side and started walking backwards to his bed, reaching out and grabbing the box gently.
Alexis felt butterflies in her stomach as she walked, going to a boys dorm, it made her nervous but she continued to walk. Hearing his mumbled, her brows pushed together, wondering what he meant by meet her gift. Her hands went into his, their hands linking together. Such a…
Alexis watched Asher carefully, seeing him pull out a box her brows furrowed together and she walked to be beside him. She had no idea what would be inside, it was interesting he would buy her a box. When he pulled back the lid, a gasp escaped her lips, she couldn’t believe Asher had brought her a Pygmy Puff, something she had wanted for a while.
Her hands went into the box and she pulled it out slowly “Emily” She mumbled and cupped the creature in her hands, looking up at Asher with a wide smile. She didnt know where she had gotten the name Emily from but the yellow and black creature seemed to respond to it, so that’s what she would call her from now on.
Alexis made her way to ashers bed, sitting on the edge, she bit her lip, realising she should have asked if she could take a seat. “Am I allowed to sit here?” She whispered, unable to take her eyes off the creature in her hands “Amazing” she whispered.
Killing people really isn’t something anyone should do, ever. Who is Ryan Underwood? Anon, you should mind your language though it’s not very nice to us that word, didn’t your mum ever teach you how to be polite? Maybe you need some soap in your mouth, that’s what my mum said would happen if I ever used words like that. But I would kiss Asher, a lot. As for Logan Smith, doesn’t he have a girlfriend? It wouldn’t be very nice to kiss someone I’m not in a relationship with and I wouldn’t do that to Asher.
“Exceeds expectations is brilliant, Lex…” Asher told her, with the same quiet conviction he was prone to during most serious conversations. That really was a great grade and it was something of a surprise to him to hear her claim otherwise. It shocked him immensely to feel warm tears pooling on his chest as she rested her head there. He’d had absolutely no clue she was so upset by it all. Instinctively, his one arm tightened around her to offer more comfort as she continued playing with his other hand. It bothered him to see - or rather feel- her cry. It hurt more than he’d have expected it to.He breathed a short-lived sigh of relief as she wiped her tears so quickly. Seeing her smile again, however small, and knowing he’d helped to put it back in place made him feel a lot better than he had, moments ago. Asher paused for a moment, rooted to the spot by the stupidly flustered feeling her still sometimes got when she kissed his cheek, before getting up and taking just one of her hands, lacing their fingers together. “Great, time to meet your gift then.” he murmured, his other hand flitting automatically to wipe a stray tear from her cheek, though he said nothing of it as he lead her towards the door to the sixth year boy’s dorm.
Alexis felt butterflies in her stomach as she walked, going to a boys dorm, it made her nervous but she continued to walk. Hearing his mumbled, her brows pushed together, wondering what he meant by meet her gift. Her hands went into his, their hands linking together. Such a small simple movement to her, something that she found confort in, being with Asher was natural to her.
Reaching his dorm, she looked around, her jaw slightly ajar. She was shocked to see the dorms were similar to hers, she thought they would be slightly different, apart from the mess on the floor, it was exactly the same. She spun to look at Asher and grinned slightly “It’s the same” She giggled slightly and kissed his cheek once again,
Asher simply held her as she detailed her lack of ability. He, of course, disagreed wholeheartedly with the notion that Alexis was anything short of brilliant. Some people just showed their intelligence under different lights and struggled a bit more than others with the typical run-of-the-mill tasks in life. From his own experience, he was no stranger to having trouble with both theory and practical application of multiple subjects, but he had pulled through alright and he was thoroughly convinced that Alexis could do even better than he did. She was smart and committed enough, even if she didn’t believe it.
“Don’t compare your success in other classes to your success in Herbology.” he advised simply. “If you hold yourself up to such a high standard in all classes, then you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.” Asher took one of her hands gently, as he spoke, still acutely aware of how new and unexpected it was for her to be sat in his lap. “You’re a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for, and you work very hard. You’re going to do fine with you OWLs, we’ll make sure of it.” he told her with his usual quiet conviction, offering a warm smile to back up his words. If on little else, Asher tended to pride himself on being a bit of an optimist when it came to this sort of thing.
Surprised by her sudden change in position, Asher took a moment to respond. Christmas present? Oh, right! “Because you hadn’t asked about it.” he shrugged, leaving out the bit that he’d taken a bit of a linking to the pygmy puff he’d gotten her. “Now seems as good a time as any to give it to you, though. It’s in my dorm, but probably best you come get it as opposed to me bringing it out…” he told her, wondering if she’d object to entering his dorm. It wasn’t as if he intended anything other than giving her the pygmy puff, after all…
Alexis smiled down at their hands, once again the simple action comforted her. Slowly she started playing with his fingers, trailing one finger lightly across his palm, right down the middle. The words he was saying to her, she couldn’t help but blush. He had some much confidence in her where as she had next to none. “I only get exceeds expectations” She whispered and closed her eyes. Her head rested against his chest. Tears slipping down her cheek.
She didn’t know why she was crying, everything seemed to be going against her, no matter how much she did study, she never seemed to do better than getting acceptable, it wan’t enough to get into most classes for NEWTs. She knew she wanted to do something involving Herbology but she’d also need at least one other subject. Maybe she could become a photographer, but she didn’t know if they’d make enough money to support herself, and her family when she had one.
Hearing his question about going into his room, she quickly wiped her eyes and looked up at him, a small smile playing on her lips. She ahd never actually been in a boys room before, it would be something different for her but she wanted her present, and they weren’t doing anything so she figured it would be okay. She kissed his cheek quickly and stood up slowly, holding her hands out for him to take “I would love to” She whispered as her smile increased.
Asher watched as she gave it a second go, his brow furrowing very slightly as he noted the incredibly minimal inexactitude with which Alexis attempted the charm. She was so close that he’d have felt bad correcting her and yet he wound up feeling quite unhappy all the same due to her disheartened response to her ‘failure’, if it could really be called that.He met her eyes as she addressed him, nodding to encourage her to go on. In the time since they’d gotten together, as brief as it had been so far, he’d developed a heightened awareness of certain seemingly nervous ticks or habits of hers. Now, for example, as she bit her lip, he was quite certain some sort of spill of insecurities was on its way.
“You’re not going to…” Asher began, before pausing as she took his idle quill from his hand and moved quite abruptly to sit on his lap. That was a first. Not at all an unpleasant first, but a first all the same. It was stupid, he knew, but he felt nervous with her being so close. Nervous and flustered, but not uncomfortable, by some odd conflict of sensations.
“I’m not even going to entertain the idea of you failing, Lex.” he decided after a moment to collect his thoughts. What he didn’t say, however, was that he hadn’t a clue what would happen if somebody failed all of their OWLs - as far as he knew, it had never happened. He wasn’t sure exactly when or how it had happened, but his arms had somehow loosely encircled her by some force of their own. “You’ll do fine, I’m sure of it.”
Alexis closed her eyes, leaning against him. She didn’t understand how he wouldn’t let her fail but she trusted him and that’s what mattered “Okay Asher” She whispered and shifted slightly to be more comofrtable. Feeling his arms around her waist, she smiled. It was comforting to her. The little things he did made her feel on cloud nine. “I’ve thought about it many times Asher, I can’t get the therory or practical of an subject apart from herbology!” Alexis closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder.
Suddenly, after over a week she remembered Asher still hadn’t given her the last part of her Christmas present. She opened her eyes and tilted her head back to look at him “Asher” There was a curious look in her eyes “Why haven’t I gotten the rest of my Chritmas present?” Her head tilted to the side and she bit her lip once again. It was a habit she had, one that she should probably break.
Though it had only been a week from the point he’d met up with (and begun dating) Alexis and the point when she’d finally returned to Hogwarts, it had seemed almost unbearably long. They’d gone right back to writing letters and they fell quite immediately back into the easily talkative flow they’d found in their earlier letters, but it just wasn’t enough. He’d really missed being able to see her and he strongly suspected that meeting up for that brief time - and what had transpired during that time - had only made him miss her more once she’d left again.
She was back now, of course, and Asher was quite honestly relieved to be back in her company. He could talk with her again and see her reactions, face to face. It wasn’t as if they were actually doing that much talking - just enough. He was also deeply appreciative of the fact that he could now hold her hand when he pleased or put his arm around her… or kiss her, although that was a bit rarer of an occurrence (and made him wonder how it was possible to enjoy a simple action so much).
Even now, just sat with Alexis as she riddled through her charms work and he tried to do the same for his Tranfiguration work, his eyes kept distractedly wandering in her direction and honestly puzzling over how he’d managed to become so quickly enthralled with her. “Try tilting your hand upward slightly - your angle’s a bit off.” he suggested, quietly, as she attempted the hand motion for some charm, recalling his offer to help her a bit, though wondering exactly how helpful he could really be.
The day Alexis had spent with Asher, her parents saw a change in her straight away. She was more happy, more outgoing and her modd in general was just better. She had to tell her parents after a few days because they were starting to get worried. They hugged and kissed her, making her feel more than uncomfortable. The daily owl from Asher, even just seeing that little owl was an amazing feeling. The world just looked better to her.
Arriving at Hogwarts, the first person she went to see was Asher, kissing him and hugging him, little thing that she had missed. It had been a few days since they had been back, Alexis had forgotten about Asher saying he had another gift for her, he might have too. Sitting doing homework, in silence, was another thing she loved. Hearing Asher’s voice she jumped slightly and nodded “Okay!” She smiled, tilting her hand a little too far and frowned when the carm didn’t work. Placing her wand down she turned to face him.
“Hey Asher?” Alexis tilted her head to the side and ran teeth along her lower lip, a sign she was nervous. “What if I fail all my owls? Do I get kicked out of Hogwarts?” Alexis shifted slightly to be closer to him. She was worried, this year meant so much to her, she knew she couldn’t fail but she still messed up on a lot of things. Alexis took his quill out of his hand, placing it down, she moved to sit on his lap. It wasn’t something she had done before, she just needed to feel him, know that he was real.
