Gaius 'no more Mister Nice Gaius' Travers (excelsior) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-06-23 01:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1980-06] june, evangeline macnair, gaius travers |
Sunday, 20 June 1980 [backdated].
WHO: Evangeline Macnair and Gaius Travers.
WHAT: Mutual squeeing.
WHEN: Sunday, 21 June 1980 [backdated].
WHERE: Walden's house.
RATING: G.
STATUS: Complete.
Though Gaius had wanted to tell Eva about the conversation he'd had with her brother on her birthday the previous Sunday, he thought it best that maybe he wait until she'd had a few days to recover from the hostage situation from which she'd only just been returned home. Besides, with James Potter being turned in, he'd had a very busy few days at the Rehabilitation Centre. Regardless, he was grateful for having had a few days to settle his thoughts. Even so, he wasn't fully prepared. He'd had Seraphina bake an apple pie for the occasion and he'd even gone and picked a few more flowers from his neighbor's yard in hopes that having something to present along with the news would make it easier. And maybe that was the case, but he was still almost as nervous as when he'd stood outside the door to Walden's study a few days earlier. The house elf had let him in and gone off to fetch Eva and in the brief interim, Gaius found himself still desperately grasping for words in spite of the fact that he had actually tried to prepare them this time. The last thing he needed was a poor delivery and getting things off to an embarrassing start. He tried to remind himself that he'd known Eva for years, that he was comfortable around her (comfortable enough to cry, apparently), and that this should not be nearly as difficult as he was making it for himself. He just needed to breathe and calm down a bit, so he began to pace in the entryway, running the words over and over in his head. The house elf's news of Gaius's presence in the entryway was a pleasant surprise to Eva and she immediately set aside her book, reminding herself to remain calm. It was difficult to even think of Gaius since her time in captivity without her stomach fluttering and her cheeks flushing the slightest bit and this moment was no exception. She had always admired him, but it seemed as though her admirations had taken a decidedly different direction since he'd rescued her from Diagon Alley and, most importantly, remembered her birthday when she'd truly needed someone to remember it the most. Eva's romantic sensibilities weren't terribly difficult to impress and, though his rescue had been a bit awkward for her, he had done a very excellent job of it. She smoothed her fingers nervously over the skirt of her dress as she rushed to meet him, hoping the spine of her book hadn't wrinkled her clothes too much and slowing her steps to a much more ladylike speed before she rounded the corner. It struck her as strange to find him pacing, but ignored that and gave a small cough instead to alert him to her presence. Her eyes flickered to the contents of Gaius's hands before she finally greeted him, smiling brightly at him. "Hello, Gaius! How are you today?" The sound of Eva's voice caught Gaius off guard and he gave a bit of a start before turning around to face her, simultaneously trying to hide his nerves with an easy smile -- or at least, as easy a smile as he could manage. Without responding to her greeting, he held out the items in his arms to her. "I brought these for you. You can consider them a late birthday present, if you would like," he said, betraying his discomfort by speaking very quickly, if he hadn't already. Presents were enough of a distraction for Eva and she remained, for the most part, blissfully unaware of Gaius's obvious discomfort. Instead, she simply reached for the items, clutching the flowers to her chest and inhaling deeply over the pie. She was pleased to find that he had delivered in providing her with her favorite and not only had he brought her a pie, but he'd still remembered her birthday. It was easy for her to ignore any abruptness to his mannerisms and she beamed up at him. "Thank you ever so much, Gaius! These are both just lovely! Shall we sit?" She motioned awkwardly to the sitting room with the hand clutching her flowers. "Yes, please" he said, the words caught in an exhale of relief. He waited until they were in the sitting room and comfortably seated before he spoke again. She didn't seem to be bothered by his awkward behavior so far, but maybe she was simply doing very well at pretending she hadn't noticed for his sake. It was one of the things he liked best about her -- she did not acknowledge it when he was not himself, which was somewhat bolstering when he was feeling strangely. In fact, even now, it gave him a bit of added confidence, which at least allowed him to get his next words out without doing anything additionally embarrassing. "I have something very important I would like to discuss with you, Eva." That sounded ominous to Eva, but she busied herself with carefully arranging her presents on the coffee table before she returned her attention to Gaius. Her imagination had a tendency towards running away with her, especially so after her traumatic experience, and she struggled to keep her features cheerful and even. After all, her imagination had been wrong on occasion. "Do you?" She studied him closely, finally allowing herself to see his discomfort, which only bolstered her imagination's claims of something serious. "I hope it is good news," she added cautiously. She hoped nothing was the matter with Lavinia. "I consider it good news, and I certainly hope that you will think it is good news as well," he said, his gaze flickering over to where she'd placed the pie and flowers on the coffee table. He paused for a minute, trying to take one last chance to collect himself, but he could already feel the words making their way out of his mouth in a flurry of barely concealed excitement. "I spoke with your brother recently -- on your birthday, actually, which is when I had planned to mention this, but I decided there was far too much taking place at the time to bring it up and you had just been returned home and I suspected you wanted to spend time with your family, all things considered and -- uh, anyway. Where was I? Well, it has been decided, if the idea is agreeable to you, that we may begin courting." It took Eva a long moment before the meaning behind Gaius's words fully registered in her mind. She snapped her jaw shut to prevent her mouth from falling open and sat in stunned silence as she let the news settle over her. If she hadn't admired him before then it certainly would have bloomed in that moment for the simple fact that he was interested in courting her at all. Her lips were pressed firmly together, but the corners of her mouth twisted upward and she merely nodded, not quite trusting herself with words just yet. He wanted to court her and her fear of never marrying became fuzzier in the face of that knowledge. Even her vindictive imagination couldn't muster the energy to fill her head with her shortcomings. The news was far too good. "The idea is very agreeable to me," she said after a lengthy pause, her voice trembling with excitement even as she attempted to sound calm and composed. "I would like that ever so much!" She felt the urge to fidget, but kept her hands folded neatly across her knees and her body surprisingly still, saving the brunt of her excitement for her brother. Another sigh of relief and Gaius allowed a more genuine smile to occupy his mouth. "Really?" he said, though he hardly had to ask -- her reaction had been indication enough that she meant it. "I am very pleased to hear it." Though, pleased was an understatement, at this point. His anxiousness melted away into Eva's contagious excitement and he leaned back into the sofa cushions, finally allowing himself to relax. This was really -- finally -- happening. |