Closed Keep Walking

[Mania Athanasiou]

To say Mania was any less excited about her second dance with Felix would be a complete lie. The third year had been bouncing off walls over it for days. Echolyn may have been gone but Nia had bugged Callie and her sisters just a bit more to make up for the lost friend. After all she needed to make sure her outfit was okay and she didn't look like she was trying to impress anyone too hard, but also so that she didn't look boring. You know? Threading the fine line in between and all that. She wanted Felix to think she looked pretty, but she didn't want to come off too strong, that was just sad. Probably. Merlin who knew it'd be so stressful going to a dance with a boy you had a proper crush on, had it been like this with Logan? She'd been nervous sure but had she lost sleep over it? Who knew.

This time she'd agreed to meet Felix in the common room and go from there, at least she didn't have to worry about tripping down the stairs from the nerves. Right? Except now she had to worry about eating sh*t in front of him. Well maybe she could walk behind him in the stairs? Surely. Say ladies first and all that, that should work. Walking into the common room Nia was too busy thinking of excuses why she definitely should walk behind Felix come time to go down the stairs, that she didn't really pay attention whether or not the fourth year was already there. Instead she just leaned on a couch with a concentrated face, still going through her options.

 

[Felix Layton]

Felix didn't really consider himself to be someone that went on an actual date. Even with his ex, they just sort of, happened to be together. They'd attend events out of good company, but nothing was ever official. The fourth year however supposed that's what this was, a real date. He'd asked her to the dance as he had the Yule Ball, and while he still had no intention of putting any labels on anything, this felt different to other occasions.

He'd waited in the common room for Nia, sat on one of the armchairs with his ankle hanging over his other thigh, watching as the others left for the dance. There was the odd student that didn't go, usually because they had no one to go with or simply had better things to do, but Felix was watching those that were dressed up so he could make sure Nia didn't accidentally leave without him.

Across the room, he saw her, leaning against the back of a chair. He grinned, shooting out of his seat and heading over to her, running a hand through his slighty-longer-than-usual hair. He'd been growing it out, taking styling tips from his friend, the Head Boy, who'd been showing him the way he could make it look good with some length, rather than as though it was an unkempt mess that wasn't getting any attention. "Hey," Felix immediately dropped beside side, resting one elbow on the couch so he was closer to her height, and wrapping his other arm around her back. His eyes had lit up like a christmas tree and he watched her, and it would have been obvious to anyone watching how Felix felt about her.

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

Mania had just formed another fool proof, not, excuse she could use to go behind Fifi on the stairs when she noticed a presence next to her and then an arm around her back. Nia's face immediately gained another layer of blush, only this time it wasn't applied with a makeup brush only to the cheeks, but the entire canvas that was her face and neck. "Oh hey!" She said, turning to look at him with a smile. "You come here often?" She asked before she could stop herself.

Seriously, out of everything she could have said she went with that? Not a how are you? Not a you look nice? But you come here often? It was a miracle he was going anywhere with her at this point. Looking at him a little more she took in the whole picture, he looked good. Annoyingly so, his hair actually looked really nice and soft, almost effortlessly so. Any girl would kill for that sort of hair, literally probably. "You look nice," Nia finally managed once she was done checking him out. Pushing off the couch she took Felix's hand in both of hers and began pulling him with her, backing away so she could still look at him as she spoke. "You know I was excited for this dance too, though maybe I won't spill all the details this time." The Gryffindor said with a grin. Though even Merlin knew she was seconds away spilling all the details, sigh.

 

[Felix Layton]

Felix's smile grew at her first question, it reminded him of the first time they'd met at the joke shop. His eyes scanned her face, her hair, "So do you," she really did. Then again Felix had thought she was pretty even when she'd had mascara streaks down her cheeks. He followed her as she pulled him by the hand, although after a few steps, Felix took longer strides to catch up with her, stopping Nia in her tracks and leaning down to kiss her. It was freeing, to be not feel like he had to hold himself back anymore, to ignore the thoughts in his head and pretend to keep his distance.

"Nothing wrong with spilling a few beans," he whispered after eventually pulling away, although his face was still barely more than an inch away from hers. Felix had half a mind to ask Nia if she wanted to ditch the dance all together, or at least they had to get down many flights of stairs without getting too distracted.

 

[Mania Athanasiou]

It wasn't like Nia hadn't been complimented before, not even that Felix had never complimented her before, but still as he said that she too looked nice the third year felt suddenly nervous all over again. She'd wanted him to think she looked nice but hearing him say it out loud was a whole different case. It had that army of butterflies dancing freely in her stomach every time, the type of butterflies you got when the boy or girl you thought was super cute noticed you.

It was that same army of butterflies that did their normal dance when he caught up with her easily and kissed her. Again it wasn't as though they hadn't kissed before, but every time it got the same giddy reaction but Mania was more than sure it would always do that. No matter who you kissed, at least she tried to be sure of that. She had to be sure of it otherwise she'd be silly. "Hmph as tempting as that offer is I think I'll just keep these beans to myself." She said grinning up at him, though she didn't even like beans. She used to like them but had ate too much of them at one point that now they just made her nauseous. "Were you... looking forward to the dance too?" Nia asked, her voice more hopeful than she meant for it to be. Letting go of his hand with one hand she turned around so her face couldn't betray any more of the hope that he'd been as excited as she'd been. He didn't have to see every emotion that she wore on her face so freely at all times.