Closed All My Attention

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio was feeling very lucky about his last yuleball. He'd always had a good time at these, and though this was to be his last ever, he knew that he had a lot to be happy about. For one, he would be attending with his beautiful girlfriend, which really was always the biggest joy of it, and two he wouldn't have to do any work. Though he was one of the ones of the accio team with no exams this semester, he was handing over all of the work to the others, knowing that he needed to be able to let them do it without doing it all himself. He had an intern, well, Eugene doing all of his work. And that eventually down the line would lead to Eugene giving all his work to his intern.

Ajax was fully dedicated to Nicole and this final dance. He'd expressly gotten a new suit, amking sure it fit nicely and neatly for this celebration, he'd tried - and failed - to tame his hair, but an attempt had been made. He arrived at the great hall a little before he'd said to Nicole but much later than he was usually at the celebration. He would happily wait for her, and knew this would be a good final yuleball. He intended to make it so. ​

 

[Nicole Fisk]

Nicole new vaguely that she should be sad that this would be her last Yule Ball ever but despite the lingering awareness and pressure for it to be perfect, she couldn't help the bounce in her step as she made her way up the last few steps from the Dungeons, smiling when she spotted Ajax waiting for her. She'd spent the time leading up to the ball getting ready with Heta Omega and the feeling of being surrounded by friends already had helped eased Nicole's normal fretting before school events. Hopefully she could keep it that way she thought fiercely, closing the distance between Ajax, skirt of her dress hiked up some so she could walk easily.

"Hey Handsome," she said fondly as she reached him, reaching out to smooth down his shirt and adjust his bowtie, mostly as an excuse to touch him than really any real attempt to straighten him up. She appreciated that he'd clearly put in the effort and, more importantly, that there was no camera in sight. "All mine, tonight right," she said, using her grip on his tie to pull him a bit closer so she could press a kiss to his lips, still reveling in the butterflies she got everytime she remembered he was her actual real boyfriend and she got to do that whenever she wanted.

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio wasn't waiting very long for his girlfriend, and he couldn't help but marvel at her. "Hey beautiful, you look amazing....like stunning," Ajax told her honestly as she adjusted his bow tie. He didn't reach out to touch her, given that he could see how much work she had put into him. "All yours, though I'm going to get him to take a picture of us, because you look too beautiful to not capture it forever," Ajaccio told and leaned easily into the kiss as she pulled him close for it. He let himself just be in the kiss for a moment before pulling away. "Let me show you off," Ajaccio said to her, and moved to hold out his arm to her, so he could walk them to the dance floor. ​

 

[Nicole Fisk]

"Stop it," Nicole whined, swatting at Ajax as he kept complimenting her, but completely pleased to hear it. Sure, she might have imagined this night earlier in the year as something different, the mental image of them arriving together as head boy and girl had been enticing, but Nicole couldn't help but think maybe the reality was better. "Ohh, yes please, it's almost always you behind the camera it'll be a nice change," she said warmly, taking Ajax's offered arm happily, briefly checking his face to make sure she hadn't left any lipstick on it. As fun as it would be to let everyone know they'd obviously been kissing before the ball, Nicole didn't think it'd look proper for them as prefects in the yearbook.

She leant her head against Ajax's shoulder as they entered the hall, taking in the decorations and dancing couples around them for a moment longer than she might have usually. "Merlin, I'm thinking back to that one year you took Emma to the dance and I couldn't figure out why I was so mad," she said, laughing self-consciously. "I'm glad we finally figured it out," she added softly.

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio agreed it would be nice to be in front of the camera for once, since at school he very often wasn't. He let Nicole check his face before walking into the room. He felt warmed by her head on his shoulder and was doing his best to move smoothly, to not jostle her. He laughed slightly. "Emma and I had a great time," he joked, "I'm pretty sure I spent the evening looking at you though...," he told her. He had for a while known he liked Nicole, but hadn't quite figured out the how or why of it. Just that he'd felt something for her, that manifested in odd ways. He knew now, that it had just been that he'd really liked her. "I'm glad too," he said in agreement before smiling fondly and adding, "I'm always very glad we met, and specifically that day we met at the park, I was climbing the swings and you told me it was dangerous," ​

 

[Nicole Fisk]

Nicole reminded herself that she was over being jealous about a single date several years when Ajax commented about Emma, though she was mollified further when Ajax mentioned how he'd only had eyes for her. "You're a sap," she said fondly, ego soothed, and decided not to mention how that evening had lead to her disastrous time with Eric. It wasn't what she wanted to think about tonight anyway.

Instead, she took in the sight of Ajax, his ridiculous hair framed by the fairy lights and enchanted snow overhead and smiled fondly as he brought up their first meeting. It felt so long ago and yet Nicole couldn't believe how the time had passed. "I swear I nearly had a heart attack that day. I was convinced you were going to hurt yourself and I was going to have to deal with it," she said with a laugh, smacking Ajax's shoulder gently. "It was dangerous, for the record," she added with a sniff. "But I guess I might not have talked to you if you hadn't done it..."

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio had always worried if going with Emma would've harmed his friendship, at the time, by going with Emma. He had enjoyed the time with Emma at the dance, but he knew he would've rather gone to the ball with Nicole, like he was now. He gave a little laugh as she remembered their first meeting too. He had been doing something a bit reckless. "Yes it was," he told her with a little laugh, "Though 11 year old me, laughed in the face of danger...," he was perhaps more careful now that he'd been when he was younger. "I'm glad my recklessness brought you into my life then," he laughed lightly. "But I think I would've definitely wanted to speak to you eventually." he told her. ​