V-Day w/ Harry (backdated: 2/14, closed to dresdensluck)

[whitefoxkitten]

Inari had spent the intervening week since Harry had asked her to be his valentine collecting a small basket of Things to give him at brunch. White candles in various sizes, a box of chalk, a box of chocolates. Some blue play-doh. A ball of string. A string of fluorite gemstone beads. A blank, leather-bound journal with a Celtic shield-knot stamped into the cover.

She would probably add to it as time went on, but those were just a few of the things she thought he might have use for. She packed them all together, and went to meet her wizard, dressed up in a peachy sweater-dress and leggings.


*nsfw content in later comments

Comments

[dresdensluck]

"Inari, I don't think anything you could say would be tmi." Maybe silly-sounding, but true, with how he felt right now.

He reached out and took one of her hands and squeezed it, then let go as he turned to eat more. "I like listening to you."

[whitefoxkitten]

She smiled, and nodded her head. "I'm glad," she said, "I like talking with you." And she was really looking forward to spending more time with him.

[dresdensluck]

A few bites later and he nodded. "So what do you do as hobbies? When not putting up with grumpy wizards?"

His grin was warm as he considered her over some water.

[whitefoxkitten]

"Me? Oh, I don't know. A little dancing, a little reading, a little cooking. I like movies, and music, and theater. I do tai chi--and, yes, that is actual martial arts." She grinned. "You never know when you might have to break a tree over somebody's head, or stake a vampire in the heart."

Ever since she'd plugged in with the paranet, Inari had been practicing, in case there was ever a next time.

[dresdensluck]

"You dance? What sort of dance?" His eyebrows went further up. "And cooking? I think I may have to request some samples, madame." He winked at her.

And then he laughed about what she had said. "A tree, or a blasting rod?"

[whitefoxkitten]

"Ballroom, salsa, burlesque..." Inari shrugged her shoulders as she casually went down the list. Whatever struck her fancy, really. "Moving meditation, to make sure I didn't get stuck in my own head during the whole...awkward caterpillar phase."

She smiled, and laughed with him, holding up her hands and drawing them wider apart, like a fish-tale that gets longer in the telling. "A sapling is still a tree, Harry. Size matters not!"

[dresdensluck]

"I would love to see you dance sometime." His cheeks heated at the mention of burlesque, but he grinned wider.

Her words made him smile, and he nodded, listening. "That's what they all say." He chuckled.

[whitefoxkitten]

"It's true," she said, "It's not the size of the blasting rod, but the angle of the thrust." She paused for dramatic effect, leaning forward and smirking as she added, "I ought to know."

[dresdensluck]

He leaned forward as well and canted his head to the side, smirking. One eyebrow raised at her statement and he chuckled. "In that case I leave myself in your hands, in the hopes that you will show me how to use my rod to the best results..."

His smirk only grew. "I trust you can find a receptive place for it to be practiced in..."

[whitefoxkitten]

"Theoretically, I can think of quite a few," Inari said, smiling back at him. "Given the necessary preparation, of course." Obviously, neither one of them was lacking in imagination.

[dresdensluck]

"Well, then, we'll just have top do our best to be prepared, and make things go smoothly for the best thrusting." He chuckled, then nodded to her.

"You are amazing, Inari. You make it easier to talk about... everything, with you, than anyone I've ever known."

[whitefoxkitten]

Inari smiled, sincerity in her gaze. "I guess my upbringing wasn't all bad," she said. Though the bad parts had been pretty terrible, and it still upset her to think about just how bad it had been for her elder siblings, she tried to count her blessings. And she had a lot of them, really.

"I mean, being able to talk openly about certain things probably helped to keep me from eating Bobby alive. Then again, the things we didn't talk about were what put us all in real danger, so it's probably a good thing I was not as precocious as my sisters. I just don't ever want to have secrets like that in my life again."

[dresdensluck]

"There is good in every bad they tell me. I'm just glad you escaped and have a new life now." Harry appreciated surviving a bad situation, even if his was maybe not as bad as hers.

He nodded. "Secrets can be had, and they can poison lives and relationships." He had learned that the hard way, because he never learned things the easy way.

[whitefoxkitten]

Inari nodded. She figured Harry understood as well as anyone--maybe even better than most--what it was like to wrestle with one's inner darkness. At least now, they each had at least one less burden to tip the scales against them.

"If nothing else, I've had some great examples of what not to do."

[dresdensluck]

"And hopefully you will never have to repeat some of the mistakes some of us have made." he nodded. He would not wish the last few years of his life on anyone.

"I am just grateful that i can be here, for a moment, to breathe, and to be with you." He bit one lip and shook his head. "I didn't even know I would want to be with you, until I suddenly was."

[whitefoxkitten]

Reaching for Harry's hand again, Inari smiled. Considering the fact that she was just barely into her adulthood when they'd first met, it wasn't surprising that he hadn't considered that he'd want to be with her someday. She'd been pretty well infatuated with a certain amateur porn-star at the time--which, to be fair, was probably not your typical fairytale romance either--but here they were.

"I guess life is full of all kinds of surprises," she said, "I'm glad to know I'm one of the good ones."

[dresdensluck]

Harry squeezed her hand gently, and lifted it to his lips, bending his head to kiss her hand with a gentle swipe of his lips, glad he had shaved. He grinned wider as he looked at her.

"It is. And you definitely are. The best one I've had in a very long time."

[whitefoxkitten]

"Good," she said, squeezing his hand, and feeling a happy contentment spread through her being. "Are you ready to open gifts now?"

[dresdensluck]

"I am." Harry grinned as he checked to make sure she had her gift and then nodded. "You go first." He felt almost bouncy, and was grinning from ear to ear.

[whitefoxkitten]

Inari opened her gift, exclaiming over the shirts. "I love the feel of silk! And Winnie the Pooh is my favorite!" At least this one wouldn't be too small to cover her backside, right? Not that Harry would mind about that. "I'll have to model for you, later."

[dresdensluck]

Who knew? Harry had estimated as best he could. But even he was a little leery about his size choices. So maybe it would cover things, and maybe it wouldn't...

"I'd like that." he grinned at her then opened his own presents. He exclaimed over all of them, grinning as he looked up at her again.

"These are all beautiful, and will come in handy, too. Thank you, Inari." And he half-stood to lean across the table and kiss her.

[whitefoxkitten]

"You're welcome," she murmured, rising to meet the kiss. Her fingers traveled up the line of his jaw, and threaded through his hair, and her eyes closed as the sensations swept through her. She smiled when she let him go, looking up at him intently.

"And thank you."

[dresdensluck]

http://ten-fwd.dreamwidth.org/98415.html?thread=4660847#cmt4660847