Who: Charlotte Brand & Lennox Campbell What: Their date takes an... interesting turn. When: Friday, 12th January 2000 backdated Where: Lennox's Home to start with. Warnings: A for Adorable, S for Sweet, and I for Implied... ... ...
Even though it had been her plan, knowing she wouldn't have seen him at any party, Chuck had still been surprisingly nervous about visiting Lennox on New Year's without letting him know she was, and had even hesitated a little when it came to knocking on his door. Mostly due to worrying how he'd react and even if he'd let her in. But he had, and her worry dissipated. They'd spent... well, she honestly couldn't recall how long they'd spent talking only that it seemed equal parts forever and not long enough. And sure Lennox didn't always talk a lot but Chuck still really enjoyed talking with him; even more so when he did talk, especially about anything that happened to interest him.
Luckily for her he'd agreed to going out for dinner, even with Lennox as shy and embarrassed as he'd been about it. And was why now, over a week later, she was currently standing outside his place having just knocked on his door. She took another calming breath - because it was really hard trying not to feel as giddy as she did inside, and she certainly didn't want to freak him out with her overly cheerful self. No, she was going to be as chill but happy and encouraging as she could be without being overly exuberant.
It was really kind of weird in a way to be honest. She hadn't been this interested or potentially serious about someone in a long while, and the fact she felt this way after not really knowing him all that long was... weird. A good weird. But definitely still weird. And that was something she maybe ought to tell him? Maybe it'd help put him at ease a little more? At least the part about being nervous - she didn't think any comment about it being weird would really help a great deal. Right, if she could find some way of segueing into that she would.
Lost in her little conversation with herself, Chuck wasn't aware of the door opening until her brain finally registered that yes Lennox was actually standing there in front of her. "Um... hi," she said sheepishly, straightening up a little. "Sorry, I was uh a little lost in thought there."
Lennox blinked a little owlishly in surprise, a little taken aback at her delayed response when he'd opened the door to her. He had, at first, taken it as a sign of reluctance or doubt regarding their planned evening, so her explanation caused him to breathe a little sigh of relief.
His eyes flickered up to the sky as it appeared to be darkening, the concern on his face changing. “Come in,” he began, standing aside to let her pass before Toby could get out. “Looks like rain… don't want you getting wet out there.”
"Thank you," she said, gifting him with a smile. Before she had headed inside she had given the sky a quick glance and couldn't help frowning at it slightly. It really wasn't looking too good, and the last thing she wanted was for the weather to ruin the evening. "And no, it would kind of put quite a literal dampener on the evening."
"And hello, Toby. I hadn't forgotten you," she said, reaching down to give the excited pup a quick scratch behind the ear. Chuck gave him another quick scratch before straightening up and turning her attention to Lennox. "Hopefully the weather doesn't take a turn for the worse, or else I really should've rethought my wardrobe," she commented, looking down at her dress. In hindsight she probably could have dressed a bit more reasonable for the weather, but she wasn't completely unprepared as she'd used a charm or two so that she wouldn't actually catch cold.
Toby, not usually a dog to go gaga for other people than his human, was clearly going wild whenever Chuck was near. How very curious. “If he was a cat, I’d be asking you if you had catnip in your pockets,” he chuckled, shutting the door behind her and flicking his wand so another log jumped onto the fire. Said fire had been going low, and he wasn’t sure if they’d be leaving very quickly or not. His house was known to be cosy for a reason.
Entering the living room before half turning towards the kitchen, he nodded in its general direction. “Would you like some tea?”
She chuckled. "Well, I do actually have an 'invisible' pocket on my dress. Unfortunately for Toby there's no treats in it." Chuck gave Toby an apologetic shrug, even if the young dog likely wouldn't quite understand the gesture.
Chuck idly looked around as she followed behind Lennox. The decor was simple - which made sense since it was just Lennox and Toby living here. Still it all looked pretty cosy. And she liked the difference of the interior to the brightly coloured exterior of the house. "Tea would be lovely, thank you," she replied. "I was just admiring your home..."
Lennox walked her through to the kitchen, shooing Toby out of the way, and began to make tea in the Muggle manner. The ritual was, oddly, somewhat comforting. As he looked into the cupboard, he smiled a little at her comment. He really wasn’t used to the place being complimented. “Oh, it’s nothing much. I’m out and about so much with Quidditch, I just needed it to be comfortable.”
Chuck followed, and watched a little as he went about making the tea. "Being your home it'd make sense to have it such a way that's most comfortable for you," she pointed out. "Anyway I like that's it comfortable and cosy - it suits the place and, I dare say, suits for you." Indeed if there were extraneous decor about the home would probably feel entirely different.
"Even with how simple it is it still looks more lived in than my place," she commented with a chuckle. She'd been in her new home for a few months now but still she hadn't gotten things quite how she wanted them, and seemingly kept changing her mind about where the furniture was. Thank goodness for magic, or it really would be a hassle to keep doing. Still finally having her own place and not needing to rent any longer was certainly a wonderful feeling.
Lennox paused for a moment as the kettle began to boil, musing over Charlotte’s first remark. She had a fair point - an understated, cottage look certainly did suit him better. It was interesting that she’d noticed this already. “I’m glad you noticed,” he replied, turning to busy himself with the kettle and cups as the appliance began to whistle with the steam. “I’m not really the flashy type.”
“Oh… you’ve not been there long, then?” he asked, beginning to pour the water and pottering about for other things. He’d realised that he didn’t know how she took her tea as he got things out of the fridge, and turned to gesture with the milk bottle. “How do you take yours?” he enquired, finding himself caring about the answer.
She couldn't help but smile when Lennox stated he was glad she'd noticed. Unsurprising since she'd been making an effort to try and get to know him as well as possible. "No, indeed. I think, from getting to know you, I'd be rather surprised and probably a bit confused if you were," she said.
Chuck shook her head. "No, I only bought the place and moved in earlier this... sorry, last year," she replied, the last part being accompanied with a slight chuckle. "What about you? How long have you lived here?" The cottage looked comfortable and well-lived in but that didn't necessarily mean he'd had the place for long; however, she suspected the answer was considerably longer than she'd owned her current place. "A little milk and one sugar, please," she answered.
Sorting out their cups with milk each, and rummaging further in the cupboard for the sugar he didn’t take, he replied with a little distraction as he stretched. “Ahhh… let’s see. Wasn’t really making much on a reserve wage, but once I got to starter and I had some money dad left us…” he paused, still a sore subject, “I managed to get the whole place outright. So, twelve years now?” He’d never done much to the place apart from maintain it in a proper manner and occasionally update the furniture.
He emerged from the cupboard, triumphant, and added sugar to Charlotte’s tea before tidying up, picking up both cups. “Whereabouts is your place, anyway? I don’t think I asked before.”
Chuck nodded in understanding. Not that she'd been in quite the same position but it wasn't until she'd had the money saved up, as well as figuring out she wanted to make a home here, that she'd finally purchased a place and stopped renting. She had noticed the pause but decided not to comment upon it, and had nearly decided to not ask him about his dad - except she'd only ever heard the bare bones of what happened (well, that is that his and Angus' father had passed) and at the time certainly hadn't felt up to pressing Angus for any sort of details. Except she only got as far as saying "Oh... right..." before realising she couldn't think of anything that would be less awkward, or upsetting, for either of them. "Well, that goes a ways in explaining why the place feels as cosy as it does then," she commented, and felt that was perhaps the safer subject for now. "Mine's still in need of decorating. I've got furniture in the main areas at least, but I haven't really put much of my own personality to it yet. And there's the basement area... entirely devoid of anything still!"
"And I've not mentioned it before now either," she gently pointed out, smiling. Which was perhaps a little odd, especially if one considered the fact that this was now her second visit to Lennox's home and she hadn't, before now, made mention of where she lived. "It's in Montrose actually... well, the wizarding part of it that is. I could've probably handled living somewhere that was predominantly or entirely muggle, but this way I don't have to worry about needing to hide any magic."
Once he had the cups in hand, Chuck followed Lennox to the living room and took a seat on the lounge. "Thank you," she murmured, gifting him a smile, when he handed her her cup. Chuck had been about to put the cup to her lips to take a sip when she noticed that, in between sitting down and being about to drink, Toby had decided to take residence in the spot next to her on the lounge. She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing aloud. "I like you Toby, but I rather think your owner would like to sit down, hmm?" she told the young pup, her gaze flicking up to Lennox.
“This place is Muggle, technically,” Lennox said as he entered the living room. “It’s not a wizarding architect anyway. The bloke I bought it from used to be the groundskeeper over at the castle,” he added, nodding his head in the direction of the famous seat of the Muggle branch of Clan MacLean. “It’s handy, really. Doesn’t make it a nightmare getting electricity and stuff like that hooked up.” And it was evident from the place that this was important to any Campbell, from the TV in one corner to the radio in the other.
He sighed resignedly, seeing the interfering pup in his favourite spot on the couch. “Off you go, you cheeky little sod,” he scolded, putting down his tea before picking Toby up and bodily removing him from the sofa.
"The castle?" she asked curiously. Chuck couldn't recall if she'd known of it before, but then there were so many castles around that it could hardly be wrong to be a little confused as to which when mentioned so vaguely. "I am a little jealous about the electricity though," she said, with a mock-pout. "I've at least managed to get the radio working at my place, which is just as well since I like music too much to go completely without. Sadly I must do without the wonder of TV until I get around to actually getting someone to come over and make it cooperate."
Chuck giggled a little watching the scene, before quietening and taking a sip of her tea. "You know being around Toby is almost making me wish I had a pet of my own again," she told him. "Well, it'd actually be my first one since technically--"
The rest was left unsaid the moment Chuck jumped in her seat at the sudden sounding of thunder, and accidentally spilling her tea as she did so. Chuck immediately put the cup down lest she end up spilling all of it completely, or worse dropping the cup - never mind that a quick reparo would've fixed the latter. A squeak-like sound escaped past her lips when the thunder sounded again, and she couldn't help tensing at the sound of it. For as long as she could remember she'd always had a slight fear of thunderstorms, and it seemed like Lennox was currently discovering that for himself.
“Glengorm,” he replied before sipping his tea, naming the largest of the three castles on the island, and the one closest to the little house in Calgary. “It’s a Muggle family who own it - a branch of one of the larger clans. They have a lot of staff live round here because it’s a big tourist sort of place.”
It was fortunate that he’d set down his own cup, about to ask Chuck about her wish for a pet when the sound of the approaching storm made her spill the drink. Instead of dealing with the spill first, though - something he would have done for most guests - his first reaction was to turn to her, a look of concern on his face. “Are you alright?” he asked, clearly worried about her.
"Oh. Well, that certainly makes sense to have most of the staff living nearby as I imagine it makes for a much easier commute," she commented. Chuck had surmised though that with the name not sounding all that familiar that it hadn't been a castle she'd seen before.
"I'm f-fine," she stammered, wincing as another crack of thunder sounded. "I um... I just really don't like thunderstorms..." Not that that wasn't already painfully clear given her reactions thus far. Though Chuck was grateful for Lennox's concern. "Do you think it'll get much worse?" she asked worriedly.
Lennox blinked slowly, taking in her seemingly quite real distress before shuffling closer on the couch, nudging a curious Toby out of the way with his foot before pulling her into a hug, albeit somewhat shyly. “Hey, hey, you’re alright in here, lass,” he repeated reassuringly, stroking her dark hair with his free hand. “Storms pass over the island eventually, we just get them quite strongly because of where we are, compared to the mainland.” His voice was low and soothing, though his blue eyes did keep flicking over towards the window, where the rain was beginning to come down even harder.
At first she was a little stunned, not surprised since she had already figured on Lennox being a kind sort of person, but she hadn't expected the hug. Soon enough though she relaxed - it was hard not to start feeling so again when he was being as comforting as he was. Chuck didn't like the notion that the storms were that bit worse out here, but she was certainly willing to believe Lennox when he said they were alright in here.
"Thank you," she said smiling shyly, after eventually having pulled back a little though they were still sitting rather close to each other. "Perhaps not exactly the best start to a date... oh..."
“What?” Lennox replied straight away, immediately sitting up straight so he could get a good view of her. Whatever she was thinking, he wanted to be able to help.
"It's nothing... I was just thinking with the weather the way it is, even with magic at our disposal, we probably shouldn't head out to dinner?" she said, sounding disappointed. Not terribly surprising when she'd been looking forward to their date as much as she had been. "Although if you don't mind at all maybe... well, we could maybe have it here instead?"
Chuck’s comment was punctuated with another heavy roll of thunder with the increased falling of rain, the heavy patter hammering on the windows and causing Toby to dash from the room, tail between his legs. Lennox sighed. She was right, the conditions were unsafe even for apparating.
“There’s always another time?” he replied blandly, his mind rummaging through the picture of the cupboards he had in his head, thinking that he could at least feed her if she was here. “I’ve got plenty of food in, if you’re hungry…”
Chuck tried, rather unsuccessfully, not to frown at his reply as she didn't particularly want to wait until some other time for a dinner date. "Well, I'm a little hungry," she responded, smiling a little. "If you don't mind staying in instead? I know it wasn't exactly the plan..."
Lennox was up and at the window as she spoke, peering through the curtains and not seeing her expression. His frown could be seen in the reflection in the window, clearly concerned. “I don’t think this is passing any time soon,” he mused, watching as the puddles were already forming in the garden. “It’d be a good idea to stay here for now, I think?” He turned to look at her over his shoulder, still worried about her fear of the storm.
He approached the sofa, putting his hand on her shoulder before going into the kitchen. “I’ll go and make us something…”
Chuck sighed and nodded. It was a little disappointing missing out on the dinner that had been planned but so far the night certainly wasn't a waste yet. "Okay then," she said, smiling at the gesture.
After watching him leave she tried to ignore the storm as best she could. She even tried to pay attention to Toby who was just as frightened by the storm as she was. Still nothing was distracting enough to take her mind off the weather outside. Tapping her fingers against her leg she tried to think of something, and when she did she couldn't help but bite her lip worriedly as she wondered if Lennox would mind at all.
Chuck finally reasoned with herself that although he might be surprised that he hopefully wouldn't mind too much. And so she set about creating a blanket fort; an activity she usually resorted to as building one distracted her enough and then she had a place that felt completely safe to her. Although at first the fort mostly consisted of sofa cushions and one throw that she'd found. Then she might've wandered a little trying to find a couple of blankets to really set things off. Finally happy with the end result she ensconced herself within the cosy little fort (having put a few of the sofa cushions down as a floor) and waited for Lennox to return.
It took about ten minutes to prepare, but with the aid of magic, Lennox had organised a decent (if light, unsure about what Chuck might eat) meal. On the tray he levitated in the room were two bowls of French Onion soup (which he’d made himself but were now coming out of the freezer), thick chunks of homemade bread baked by his mother that morning, creamy local butter and a refreshed pot of tea. On another tray was a bowl of fruit and a small pot of cream he’d found - a bit summery, but easy to nibble on given that his date had nerves.
He was definitely surprised as he saw the fort, but as he gathered himself, he thought that he wasn’t really one with a place to judge anyone else’s coping mechanisms. “Um, hello?” he asked, setting the trays down onto the coffee table.
Chuck had heard the footsteps first, and noticed Toby exiting the fort before she'd even heard Lennox. She crawled forward and peeked from behind the sofa (that was doubling as a wall of the fort), and smiled sheepishly up at Lennox. "Hi. Uh, I hope you um don't mind?" she asked nervously as she gestured to the fort. "I can take it down if you do though..."
Lennox blinked owlishly again, still taken by surprise that she had done this in his living room. Set in his ways as he was, it took him a while to process that someone had come into his house and changed things around. Oh well. “I’m not one to talk when it comes to other people’s coping mechanisms,” he began simply, looking from the fort to the tray and back again. “Um… do you want to eat down there, or..?”
"No, maybe not, but still I think most visitors here don't tend to commandeer your living room for fort purposes," she pointed out. Chuck had reasoned that in the event that Lennox did mind that at least with magic, or even simply doing it without magic, it was easy enough to put things back to the way they were. "But if you're sure you don't mind?"
Chuck looked back into the fort and then to the tray - which she finally noticed had soup on it. "Maybe we could have the soup out here and then the fruit in the fort?" she suggested. She wasn't sure there was quite enough room in the fort to transfigure a small enough table; however, she did think it was certainly roomy enough that it shouldn't prove a messy disaster by having any kind of dessert in there.
“I think that might work best,” he replied, a little dry humour creeping into his voice, picking up some spoons, knives for the butter and making sure the coffee table was in a comfortable position to eat. He really didn’t mind the business of the fort - it was certainly a bit novel for someone to cause easily redeemable chaos in his house.
He waited for Chuck to join him on the couch, a more relaxed part of their evening than planned, but one that would still allow them to enjoy their meal and chat.
She gave a light chuckle as she exited the fort. Chuck went and joined Lennox on the couch, giving him a smile. "Well, this looks good," she says as she sits down beside him. It did look really good, and while it might not be the meal that they'd planned she thought this was somehow much better than sitting in some restaurant or pub for dinner. "All your own doing is it?"
“The soup was me,” he began, sliding a bowl over to her. “The bread’s mum’s. She thinks we won’t eat if we don’t do the basics,” he finished, a wry eye roll thrown in.
For the next few minutes, they sat and ate in a companionable manner, chatting about a variety of things. It was a while since Lennox had felt comfortable with someone new.
Chuck gave a light laugh. "I think it's something of a mother's prerogative to worry, I know mine did when she found out my exciting new job meant I'd be moving out this way," she said. Dipping her spoon into the soup, she brought it to her lips blowing gently before quietly sipping it. "Well, my compliments to the chef - it's good!"
As personable as she was Chuck still found it surprisingly nice how easy it was to talk to Lennox even though they hadn't known each other that long. A short while later they'd both finished off their soup, and Chuck turned to Lennox. "Thank you for dinner. It really was good," she said, smiling.
“My pleasure,” he replied automatically, but Lennox was still blushing a bit through nerves. He began to clear up the crockery and cutlery, sending it back into the kitchen with a flick of his wand. “I just apologise I couldn’t come up with much more… I don’t really do big meals for myself when it’s not full on training time.”
The fort, still up, sat there as if waiting for them. A roll of thunder could be heard outside.
Chuck shook her head, and gently reached her his hand giving it a reassuring squeeze. "You don't need to apologise, really. It was delicious, and with the bread it was pretty filling," she told him. "Anyway it just means there's all the more room for dessert! Even if it's as simple as just fruit and cream."
Chuck winced slightly at the roll of thunder, unintentionally squeezing Lennox's hand as she did. "Sorry... um, so shall we?" she asks, trying not to let the storm bother so much as she gestured to the fort behind them.
“I could probably do with shopping for some proper food this week,” Lennox replied sheepishly in response to her comment about dessert, though he was distracted quickly by her move to take his hand. This felt… nice. Normal.
“As you wish,” he quipped, following Chuck into the fort, summoning the bowls to follow them.
"Maybe? Though I really don't mind simple," she said. After all she didn't cook elaborate meals herself since she was the only person living at home, and there was little point to it. However, she usually did do decently sized meals so she could always get leftovers if she wanted. "Though you certainly get my approval, and a metaphorical gold star for not including any strawberries. Even if you couldn't have possibly known that I don't like them."
Chuck couldn't help but blush at the quip, even if Lennox couldn't have possibly meant it in the way her mind immediately thought of, and as she sat down in the corner she'd previously occupied could only hope that with the slight darkness of the fort that he couldn't tell how red her cheeks had gone.
If Lennox had seen the blush, he would not have understood. Would have been confused, or blushed himself, truth be told. Navigating this aspect of relationships was still something rather new to him.
The companionable quiet in which they ate their fruit, rain continuing to hammer down at the windows, was interrupted by more thunder and a loud crack of lightning that no-one would have expected in this January weather. So strong it lit up the sky outside, Lennox put down his bowl and instinctively looked over at Chuck.
Truthfully Chuck didn't mind the rain, and could actually quite happily sit there watching it outside the window if it wasn't for the accompanying thunder and lightning. Chuck tried not to let on how much it bothered her but it was rather hard to accomplish when one was either wincing or whimpering slightly whenever lightning or thunder sounded. She tried giving Lennox a reassuring smile, but even she didn't feel like it was particularly believable. "I didn't think the weather would get quite so bad," she said distractedly.
“Hey, hey, it’s alright,” Lennox began softly, tentatively opening up his arms to her. “Come over here?”
It was a little cramped in the fort she’d made, but he had the feeling it still hadn’t soothed her the way she’d planned.
Putting aside her bowl, she didn't want to accidentally knock it over, Chuck carefully shifted as she made her way over to Lennox. Unfortunately, she had herself to blame for not making the fort any bigger as she hadn't want to impose too much more than she already had. Settling into his embrace she started to feel a little more relaxed already. "Thank you," she murmured, glancing up at him as best she could.
Wrapping his arms gently around her - not too tight, knowing from experience that doing so to an anxious person would only make them panic more through the restriction - Lennox gently kissed the top of her head once more. He rubbed her back, too, gentle, circular patterns with his strong Seeker’s hands. Hopefully, he thought, she would find it soothing.
She did find it soothing insomuch that she couldn't help but rest her head against his shoulder while he continued to rub her back. Briefly she closed her eyes, a small smile appearing on her face. "You're awfully sweet you know that?" she said quietly.
Chuck looked up at Lennox then, looking as if she were studying him, and maybe it was the moment or maybe the as-yet-developing feelings... whatever the reason, looking at him right then she couldn't help but lean up and press a kiss to his lips - completely unworried about any possibility that such an action might cause him to panic a little.
Lennox could do naught but blush, ever so slightly this time, looking at her through his eyelashes. His heart felt like it was about to burst through his chest, and when she began to move, he wasn't entirely sure that he wasn't having a heart attack. It was dreadful, right up until the moment her lips touched his and the feeling completely melted away.
It wasn't their first kiss by any means. There had been the one under the mistletoe after their walk before Christmas. The previous one had been when she's visited on New Year's Day, nearly two weeks before. Still, something felt different this time, and he was beginning to like it.
Chuck was a little surprised at the way her feelings had developed. At first she'd simply been curious and attracted by him in a somewhat superficial manner but lately... she wasn't sure what to label it as yet except that she knew she certainly liked him more and more as she got to know him better. And she thought it was rather sweet the way he blushed.
The sensible part of her mind, the part that was usually mindful of Lennox, thought she should possibly make sure this was alright first. Fortunately, the sensible side of her mind was promptly ignored the moment Chuck was kissing Lennox again. This time though with more feeling than the sweet and gentle kiss from a moment ago.
Lennox’s eyes were closed, his arms still around her and his lips moving against hers. The moment could have lasted for five seconds or five minutes - he wasn't entirely sure. Either way, he was so lost in the moment that he barely noticed as the two of them fell to the floor...