A Fond Kiss

[Ava Logan]

The sweet scent of perfume filled the air of Ava Logan's bedroom as she spritzed it and breezed through the falling scent so it would make her smell more like cocoa and less like the stressed out university student that she really was. On top of exams Ava had to do something with her best friend that she wasn't exactly keen on. Tristan was to meet his brother today and he had invited her, it was touching but also frightening. Meeting the people that she had believed to be his family all those years ago was easy for her slate was clean and nothing to judge but now there was so much that could go wrong when being introduced to Izaak Finch... There were so many 'what if's', like 'What if I say something offensive to him without meaning it?' Or 'what if he was a huge jerk and I can't say anything to Tristan because they get on so well?' It was enough to make her want to tell Tristan that she was too sick to go but he needed her support and this meeting was not about her; it was about the two brothers who had been separated for their whole lives. It was vain of her to think that this man would care about her when he was meeting his brother for the first time and she knew that... but why was she still so scared? She had never wanted to impress someone so much in her life - not even her professors because her marks could do the talking for her. This was a different circumstance, she had to make sure that Tristan felt comfortable and be there for him if he wanted to talk or even if he didn't.

Ava looked at the clock and exhaled nervously, it was about that time that she would have to go so she put on her flats and made her way to her door with her keys and locked it behind her. She was to meet Tristan at his home which wasn't too far away but being timely was important today so she had purposefully set out five minutes earlier than she normally would. The walk to his home was the same as ever, she passed the same apartment buildings, saw the same sky line and heard relatively the same sounds but her thoughts of Tristan were somewhat different. She was imagining her friend as a surfer, as he had told her that his brother was, instead of a medical student and happily engaged as she had also been told that Tristan's brother was. It was unsettling to think of someone else spending so much time with him because she had been his girl, the one he went to and he was her guy. The thought of him having a home in the suburbs with some woman was more stress than she needed because she knew it meant that they would have to grow apart instead of being those silly kids that were always having fun together. Truth be told, she never wanted either of them to be an 'adult' because life would happen and with the careers they were both working towards they would never have a spare moment to be together and it would simply be too much to handle. Now it certainly was so she pushed it out of her mind as she reached his door and rang up for him to get on with whatever was to happen today.
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[Tristan Finch]

Sleeping in was a much beloved pastime of Tristan Finch, often a troublesome one too as it often found him in hot water with his professors. But that was just what the young man did. He partied hard past the witching hour, be it with a group of friends or a frisky female companion, and passed out after all the fun was had until midday had arrived. However, today was much the contrary. Izaak had been on his mind since the day before yesterday, and the long overdue reunion between the two brothers was something he had been highly anticipating. Facebook had facilitated the filling in of the whimsical blank spaces, where each of them were currently stationed at this point in their lives. Tristan had soaked up in awe every last detail that his long lost big brother had dished out to him – his world title win in Oahu, his engagement to a girl named Aly, his their brand new niece that was on the way. The larger questions still remained, like the heavy pink elephant standing in the middle of the room, the ‘why was I put up for adoption?’. But not wanting to spoil the mood of the reunion, Tristan figured he’d leave it be. Anyhow, the excitement that had overwhelmed him had been far too consuming to think of anything else other than actually meeting his brother. It had even eaten away at his sleep. So having not been able to find the slumber he had been so frustrated in searching for, Tristan had been pawing around his terrace before the sun had even spilt its light in through the blinds in his bedroom. Long before the sun had arrived actually, four-oh-eight in the morning as he recalled, and the lack of sleep was beginning to take its toll.

Was it possible that sleep deprivation was the cause of this peculiar stomach discomfort? Tristan was currently in the kitchen, poking about in the fridge for something decent to drink because he wasn’t trusting his stomach to hold down food at the moment. Though as he clutched at it with one hand and fished a beer off the shelf with the other, Tristan noted that this was not at all like any of the stomach discomfort one might usually experience. The pain wasn’t sharp, it wasn’t dull. In fact if Tristan had to describe it, he wouldn’t slip the word painful in there at all. It was more on the side of tingly. Yeah, tingles. A whole sickening, unnerving bunch of them. Perhaps if the usually cool and collected young man grew anxious on a relatively regular basis like every other human being on the planet, then he’d be able to place his finger on the twist in his stomach. But Tristan hadn’t been nervous since... since... Well, before he could remember, put it that way. And so was still running the symptoms through his head as he heard a knock at the door. “Coming!” He called out, knowing it was Ava, and threw open the fridge door to retrieve a second beer for his best friend. Frazzled, Tristan began to make his way towards the front door. He should be able to diagnose himself, shouldn’t he? It was what he was hoping to make a career out of anyway. But he could not for the life of him figure it out. Perhaps Ava would know. “Hey girl!” He grinned, forgetting his predicament once he had thrown open the door to see his best friend standing there. But all of a sudden remembered it once more as he passed her over a beer, what if it was contagious? A cloud of confusion crossed his expression and the nineteen year old sulked a step backwards, rubbing his stomach as he did so. “Listen, Ava. I don’t feel so fit. My stomach’s berserk, yo. It’s gone all like crazy tingly or something.” His azure eyes latched onto his friend much like an anxious puppy, unaware of how far off the mark he was. “What if it’s contagious? Should I call up Iz and tell him not to come?” Because the last thing Tristan Finch wanted was to burden his brother with this mysterious illness.

 

[Ava Logan]

Ava smiled as she saw Tristan and wondered just what he would be feeling now but as she got into his apartment and opened a beer he told her. She gave him a look of pity before she put a hand on his arm and said, "Oh Tristan." A smile flashed his way as she walked in further into his home that she almost considered her's as well. Her best friend was a great person, there was really no contending this but sometimes he could be so naive. Ava had always found this to be so endearing even if she never told him because knowing her friend, he could get worked up about something as silly as how adorable he could be. She pushed her blonde locks out of her face before she stood on the tips of her toes and kissed Tristan's cheek soothingly, trying to calm him down before she said, "That's just anxiety, hun. You aren't sick." For a medical student, Avalyn would have thought that he could have known that. Then again, a person never can self-diagnose properly, even a medical student or graduate. It probably had something to do with the fact that they clearly weren't impartial when it had to deal with their own well being - not that Ava wasn't when it had to do with Tristan Finch. In fact, if he ever asked her to lie under oath she would do it because of how much she cared for him and as she put a hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes she was sure that he would too. The look in her best friend's eyes were enough to tell her this, so she took a sip of her drink and grinned before walking away from him and taking a seat at his kitchen table.

While Avalyn would have no problem letting this be put off, she knew that Izaak and Tristan had to meet so she took a slug of her beer before putting it down on the table and danced her finger tips over the moisture on the brown bottle and waited for him to sit by her so she could assure him that it all would be fine. Whatever happened, he did have to meet Izaak and one day his sister and maybe the rest of his family if they were still around, not that she knew. Her blue eyes flicked from side to side before she craned her neck and looked at Tristan, telling him silently that there was no way he was escaping this because she would not let him and he just needed to sit down, have some of his beer and they could talk it out before Izaak got here.


lame. i'm so sorry for the super late post. there is no excuse for this. i'm so sorry, hun.​

 

[Tristan Finch]

Tristan didn’t know what he was hoping for, maybe a comforting hug or a glass of water or perhaps a hand against his forehead to check if his fever was running high. But he hadn’t expected to see a smile, of all things, flitting across Ava’s face. This was like... A life or death scenario! If she could spare him any less sympathy he might as well have a wooden spoon for a best friend. His blue eyes bulge as he stared at her incredulously and his thick eyebrows sunk disapprovingly deep on his forehead. But then, just like she knew how to, Ava patched everything up with a gentle kiss upon his cheek and Tristan felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter in a whole new direction. What the... ? He pondered because that was certainly new, Ava had done a whole lot more than kiss his cheek before and somehow he hadn’t felt quite as dizzy as he did right now. "That's just anxiety, hun. You aren't sick." Casting aside his newfound problem for the briefest of moments, Tristan’s mouth fell wide open in realisation. “Ohhhh.” He chuckled before becoming perplexed anew by his latest situation. A part of him wanted to ask Ava about that two but the other part, the significantly larger part, was warning him that that was most definitely not a good idea.

Tristan was about ready to settle for the conclusion that this was all in his head, surely he couldn’t actually have feelings for his best friend. That was ludicrous. But then she melded a delicate hand of hers to his cheek and stared straight into his eyes. The young man felt his heart leap in to his throat, pounding relentlessly until its sound consumed everything and anything else but the watered blue of her eyes. Though just as quickly as the overwhelming feeling had come, it had gone once Ava let her hand fall away from his face. How was she doing this? Undermining his confidence so casually she didn’t even know she was doing it. He gulped and lifted his beer to his lips to smuggle his bewilderment beneath its bitter taste as he took a seat beside her at the table. Now caught between his anxiety for Izaak’s visit and his bubbling feelings for Ava, Tristan chewed down on his lip, not knowing what to make of himself now. “M’okay... What if he doesn’t like me Ava? What if he comes all the way up here from freaking down under and we just... I dunno, don’t click. What if-” But Tristan’s incessant ramblings were cut off by a knock at the door. His heart stopped, his blue eyes widened in anxious fear and excitement, he reached out for his friend’s hand and gripped it so tightly it may have just turned blue. “That’s him.”

Leaving his beer on the table as he pulled Ava up with him, Tristan made his way to the door with his hand still gripped tightly around hers. He didn’t care if this was something he should have done on his own, he needed Ava with him, whether he had feelings for her or not. His free hand reached shakily for the handle and pulled it open to find the brother he already felt so attached to there in the flesh. “Izaak?” And Izaak it was, every bit of the big brother he had imagined. The Tristan let his friend’s hand go as a long overdue brotherly embrace was shared between the two men. “I can’t believe it’s really you! This is crazy, bro.” He laughed with that big cheesy grin of his and clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Oh and Iz, this is Ava.” He turned and gestured to his best friend proudly, knowing that she was every bit as special to him as his brother now was. “Girl, this is my brother, my brother!” Having been an only child for so long, Tristan’s excitement was out of control but he guessed this was acceptable, especially since he could feel it catching. “Come inside man. Wanna beer?”

 

[Izaak Finch]

Marcus Emmerson Finch was someone that was not to be underestimated, ever, under any circumstances and as the man’s son, Izaak had learnt this the hard way. But after disowning both himself and his sister Leah, threatening to kill him and his late fiancée, entering into a relationship with a woman half his age but equal his evil and god knows what else, nobody could blame the twenty-four year old for thinking that the worst of Marcus’ wrath was over. And then along came another bombshell. Izaak had been livid when he’d found out and with his father having undoubtedly worn his temper thin (without even having been present), he had snapped at his poor mother as a result. It wasn’t her fault and he had been quick to make amends when he had found out exactly why the little brother he’d never even known his mother had been pregnant with had been put up for adoption. Though that didn’t stop it from making him sick to the very pit of his stomach though. His little brother was a squib and apparently in the Finch family, there was zero tolerance for anything other than pure blooded and practicing witches and wizards. He felt almost accountable and guilty for the lifetime lost between Tristan and the rest of the family, not that it was by any means his fault. And although today was an exciting time, to finally be meeting his brother, nothing would ever be able to make up for the years they had been separated.

Izaak grabbed his keys and his phone off the countertop and stuffed them into his pockets with a shaky sigh, feeling the nerves beginning to take hold. “Babe, I’m heading out now.” He called out to Alianne, who soon came into the living room to farewell him. The man held his fiancée close against him, attempting to find some sort of inner peace as he kissed her reluctantly goodbye yet it seemed finally seeing his brother would be the only thing to settle him. Now California was no strange place to Izaak, in fact as he made apparated into a side street adjacent to the address Tristan had sent him, he noted that the scenery almost looked familiar. And perhaps it was considering one of the beaches he surfed at wasn’t too far from here. Funny how things panned out like that, the two had probably passed each other on the street and had been none the wiser. After having walked for a minute or two, Izaak had come to a drawing close in front of the terrace. He double checked the address just to ascertain he wouldn’t be knocking on some strangers door and realised as he then glanced down at the watch strapped to his wrist that he was a little earlier. But there was no going back. With one deep inhale, Izaak jogged up the steps and rapped his knuckles across the door.

The seconds seemed to drag on for hours as Izaak waited ever so eagerly for that door to swing back on its hinges and when it finally did for a heartbeat or two he was rendered both speechless and immobile simultaneously. There was Tristan, the brother he had always wanted but never realised he’d had in the first place. And although he’d seen the pictures there really was nothing quite like the real thing. There was no denying those azure blue eyes either, he was a Finch for sure. “Tristan.” Just like that the moment of silence between them had passed by in a blitz and they’d wrapped each other up in an embrace, clapping each other on the shoulder for good measure. “I know, eh? It’s so good to finally be here. And you’re looking good, baby bro.” He chuckled, unable to suppress the huge grin that stretched across his expression but not particularly wanting to either. Izaak was beginning to feel as if this was right, this felt very right in fact. Even as they turned to the girl he could already name without the introduction, as Tristan had spoken of her so many times before, the man felt like he’d already been friends with the pair for years. He was about to formally introduce himself to Ava, but Tristan kept on bubbling away, causing Izaak to chuckle good-naturedly at his whole hearted eagerness. “I’d love one.” He grinned as he kicked his thongs off just inside the door and pulled it closed. “It’s really good to meet you Ava. He didn’t shut up about you, y’know.” He laughed as Tristan darted off into the kitchen to fetch him a beer, leaning forward to kiss the blonde’s cheek politely. He suspected she might be even more than a friend judging by the way Tristan had gone on.

 

[Ava Logan]

Ava stifled a chuckle as Tristan seemed to understand that everything he felt, or what she thought he felt, was all drawn down to the simplest of emotions: fear. Clearly his fight or flight had kicked in and only needed her to indulge in it but she knew what was best for her best friend and meeting Izaak was just that. She wondered why Izaak was kept and why her wonderful best friend was not, anyone would be lucky to be with him but she knew that if he had stayed in Australia with the rest of the Finch family, she would not be here with him. Her life wouldn't have been changed positively so much. But it still was worth a thought, of course it would simply be rude for her to ask anything. She would be there making conversation light when she sensed it to be too hard for either of them, to make comments on how alike they were and basically do anything that Tristan wished of her today. It was one of the only times she would cater to any whim of a complete stranger because her blue-eyed friend asked her to. Of course, he didn't ask for that but she knew that it entailed this as they needed to catch up more than she needed to make a new friend.

The blonde listened to Tristan's fears and opened her mouth to calm him before he continued with even more until the door bell rang. Ava held her friend's hand, trying not to cringe from the pain from the tight squeeze he gave her but she ignored it when she put her beer down and stood up with him. She could feel the clamminess of his hands and looked over to him just as he reached his hand for the door, squeezing his hand one last time before they both saw Izaak Finch. Instantly she saw the resemblance, the strong jawline, the nose, the cute dimple that Tristan had in his chin and most clearly the eyes. Ava adored her friend's eyes, she could stare into them forever, they were so beautiful and overwhelming, but as she scanned Izaak's she saw a difference. She couldn't be sure what it was as they were practically identical. However, Tristan had something much more appealing. The thought of it nearly made her cheeks flush, instead she chuckled at how over-talkative and skittish Tristan was. Even as she was introduced, Ava hardly got a chance to give Izaak a handshake or a 'hello' so when he rushed off for a beer, she looked back at him and smiled softly before looking back at Izaak Finch.

Avalyn blinked her blue eyes when Izaak told her that Tristan had not stopped talking about her and blushed brightly before she replied, "It's great to meet you." She leaned in to kiss his cheek in return before pulling back with a smile. "Come on in, make yourself at home," she said, although it wasn't really her house but no one could guess seeing as she spent about as much time here as she did in her apartment with her roommates. "How was your flight? I hope it was uneventful," she asked politely as she walked beside Izaak through his brother's home. It was lucky that Izaak was willing to pay all that money to come to California instead of the other way around, it would have cost Tristan a fortune and as a student there was no way he could get plane tickets willy-nilly.​