Vanessa Cleveland can turn invisible (filiampandora) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-01-12 23:11:00 |
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Entry tags: | presto, vanessa cleveland |
Who: Vanessa Cleveland and Presto
What: Visits and a surprise gift.
When: December
Where: Presto's house (now Vanessa's)
Rating/Warnings: None really
Status: Complete when posted
Vanessa was being a little bit of a coward and she knew it but she didn’t know any other way to deal with what was going on in her head than to avoid it. He’d said it had just been a typo and she had to make herself accept that. And try to forget how much she’d enjoyed those few minutes when she’d thought he was saying they were a couple in his mind. But today wasn’t about any of that. Today was about hanging out with Presto while they both had a lull in the holiday madness. Assuming they could avoid mistletoe. And the carolling curse. She really wasn’t up for singing Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer again. She started to open the door and just walk into his place like she used to but stopped herself, knocking on the door and waiting for him to answer it.
***
“Vanessa!” He charged out and hugged her and kissed her cheek gently. “HI! How are you? I have a surprise for you! How have you been?”
He grinned at her, and hugged her again. “Its good to see you.” He helped her inside and the inside was still furnished, but absent of personal touches.
***
Vanessa hugged him back, resting her head against his shoulder for a minute after he kissed her cheek, just relaxing slightly. “That’s a lot of questions all at once Presto,” she teased gently. “I’m okay. Just promise no mistletoe or carolling nonsense is happening here.” She said, looking around curiously. “Oh that’s right - you’re moving. How’s that going?”
***
He held her warmly, just smiling at having his old friend there. He had come out to meet her at the place and just wanted to surprise her. “Its going well, so far so good. This place is completely empty. I’m staying with Vanessa Ives, my girlfriend, at her place, for now, until we get another place.”
He reached over and got a large key ring with labeled rings. “Which is where the surprise comes in.”
***
“I noticed,” Vanessa said, giving him an amused smile as she sat down on one of the few chairs in the room. It had always been one of her favorite places to sit, this comfortable overstuffed chair. “Does my surprise involve this chair? Because if it does - I can definitely arrange for a moving company to come pick it up this afternoon so you don’t have to worry about moving it to your new place.”
***
Presto smirked. “It does. But you don’t need a moving company, Vanessa.” He caught her hand and dropped the keys in it. “Because the house is yours.” He winked at her. “Merry Christmas.”
He grinned, chuckled as he stepped back, waiting for her reaction.
***
Vanessa stared at him for a moment, jar dropped in disbelief before springing out of the chair and throwing her arms around his neck. “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!” she said, stepping back after a moment and closing her hand around the keys. “This is the most amazing Christmas present I’ve ever gotten!”
***
Presto grinned at her and then hugged her back, laughing at her expression and very glad. “You are very welcome. I don’t need it anymore, and, well, you know I don’t like to brag, but I hardly need the money from selling it, so… it is yours. Sign the papers and file them at the courthouse(the fee is already paid), and it is yours free and clear.” He did not tell her he had already overpaid the property tax for years ahead. One shock at a time.
He hugged her warmly. “Everyone deserves a home and I know you always liked this place.”
***
Penny was probably not going to like this one bit but Vanessa was excited about it. A HOUSE. That was hers. Something she'd only ever dreamed about having of her own. And even when she was little she'd never dreamed it would be like this one.
“When was the last time I told you you were unbelievable sometimes?” she asked pulling back and wiping at her eyes to stop the happy tears that were threatening to escape.
***
Presto smiled softly. “You are my friend. I just want you to be happy, Vanessa. No matter what.” he smiled warmly, then and nodded, hugging her again.
“You’re a good person and you deserve this.” He fully believed it. He believed in her.
***
Vanessa kissed his cheek softly. “You’re my best friend you know that? And you deserve to be happy. And I? Am going to take the best care of this house.” Vanessa said, looking around with a smile. “Last question: How much of the furniture are you taking with you?”
***
Presto blushed and grinned and hugged her, then let go and chuckled. “All of my stuff is already gone. The house is yours, as is.” He smirked at her. “You can get rid of whatever you like, and keep whatever you like.” he had decided to just give it all to her. Easier than moving his stuff.
***
“Like...the guest room furniture is still here?” Vanessa asked, hoping because she really did love that bed. It might take some convincing on her part to get Penny to agree to moving it into the master bedroom but she’d come up with some way. “If I do decide to get rid of anything I’ll give it to a charity that helps families that need furniture for their homes.” She’d be able to get that list easily enough from a professor she was sure.
“And I lied - that wasn’t the last question. ...Any chance that could still be a bottle or two in the wine cellar? For housewarming purposes?”
***
“Like, all of it is.” He chuckled. “I just took personal stuff.” he smiled softly at her, and made a face at her, snickering as she spoke. He loved Vanessa and her silly ways, and her warm ways. She was a good person.
“The entire wine cellar is still here. The place Me and the other V are moving into has an extensive one.”
Which led him to the less happy part of this. “Ah, listen, there is one thing I need to tell you. Vanessa and I have decided to have children, and… we don’t want them to have to deal with this place’s madness.”
A pause, then he plunged in.
“So we are moving to England.”
***
Vanessa took a moment to gather her thoughts, staring at him with wide eyes. “Oh. Wow. That’s...Wow. I’m happy for you. Both of you. And you deserve that - not having to deal with this place’s crap. It’s just…” her voice trailed off. Could she tell him she was going to miss him without being a horrible friend? Fuck it. She’d always been honest with him and she wasn’t going to change that now. “I’m going to miss you.”
***
“Thank you, Vanessa. And I will miss you too.” he hugged her tight. “That will be the hardest part of this. But you better believe I will call all the time, and you will get random emails from me.” He smirked at her and poked her lightly.
“Nothing will ever separate us, no matter how far away we are.”
***
Vanessa hugged him back, resting her head against his shoulder. “You’re right. Emails and phone calls and I might even break out some actual paper to write a letter every now and then.” She told him with a grin.
***
“Gasp! Not the paper!!” he chuckled as he hugged her again and grinned, stroking her hair. “I’m miss you, but it is going to be a good adventure, and maybe someday you can come visit.’” He looked forward to it.
***
“I promise to let you know before I come visit. And not to spoil your kids too much.” Vanessa told him with a small smile. “Now if you'll excuse me...I’m going to go and explore my house real quick.”