Closed Simple First Dates

[Eugene Nestor]

With everything else, Eugene hadn't managed to organize a date with Renata before they'd come back to school. Things had just been busy between his work and her work, that no date had lined up. But he didn't mind, really being at school and doing the first date now wasn't something that bothered him, if anything he was happy to do it now because it would cost less money. He had made sure no one else would be coming in and had pushed a lot of things out of the way. He would've done this outside, but it was winter and it was raining heavily. The teen had laid out a blanket, and gotten some snacks from the kitchens, prepared a few things that he hoped she would like and had gotten some flowers from the gardens. They were a little dead, and not in the best shape, but he thought it was more than enough. ​

 

[Renata Stepanova]

Renata had been looking forward to having a date with Eugene, but time just hadn't seemed to line up. They were both pretty busy, he needed to work and after spending so much on her broom, so did she. And she definitely needed to study, because OWLs were coming up and she had to make sure she wasn't behind at the start of the year. Which, she would've just rather had the date, but she supposed it had to be like this. They would have plenty of time. She didn't mind taking things slowly, letting things happen as they did. She had tried to dress up a little, which really just meant putting in some slightly nicer earrings. Neither of them were exactly well off, but that didn't bother her in the slightest. It was a shame it was raining so hard, but at least the arts room was nice and cozy and hopefully not filled with people. Pushing down her slight nerves, she entered the room with a smile and a small wave, glad to finally get an opportunity for just the two of them to hang out together. "Hi," she almost squeaked, before clearing her throat. She was perhaps more nervous than she thought. "Oh, this looks so nice! How are you?" She wasn't sure whether she should go for a hug, or what she was really meant to do, so she just approached him and hovered a little awkwardly around the blanket.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

A part of Eugene almost feared that she wouldn't turn up, that he had entirely misread everything, that it had maybe been a dream, but it hadn't as she came into the room. He smiled at her, easily, getting to his feet and just holding the flowers for her. ”Here, for you,” he said with a nervous tone. Would this be weird, was that a bad sign. He reached for her hand, and was intending to take it and the pull her to sit on the blanket with him. ”Sorry it's a bit simple, but still nice?” he knew she'd called it nice, but he was still a little sceptical about it actually being nice. ​

 

[Renata Stepanova]

Renata was touched by the gesture, sure the flowers weren't exactly perfect but they were from Eugene, they were a nice gift and it felt special to receive them. "Thank you," she said, earnestly, slipping her free hand into his without even really thinking about it. Thankfully all the quidditch practice and extra exercise meant she was better at balancing when she moved to sit down. She wasn't even spilling coffees at work anymore, which was nice. She shifted around to sit comfortably, still sitting close to Eugene so she could keep holding his hand. "I wish I knew how to conjure up a vase...I will have to find one later," she admitted, though she knew there were enough around that she could find a place for the flowers, she could put them on her bedside table and brighten her part of the dorm a little. "I don't mind simple! I'm just happy spending time with you," she blushed a little as she said it. "It's really thoughtful."

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene smiled as she took the flowers and smiled as she took his hand. It felt nice that this was returned. It was always nice to feel it. He nodded lightly, letting them sit down and gave a little laugh. ”Yeah, I should’ve thought of that,” the teen said with a little laugh. Flowers without a place to put them was quite tricky. But it would be fine, ”This is an arts room, maybe there’s a cup or something we could use in the mean time,” he glanced about the room. Not immediately spotting anything that they could use but admittedly not looking all that closely. Eugene looked back at Renata and smiled fondly. ”Congratulations,” he said, ”On prefect. You definitely deserve it,” he told her. ​

 

[Renata Stepanova]

Renata didn't worry too much about the flowers - they'd manage a little while longer and could be freshened up with a spell. She gave a half hearted look before turning back to Eugene with a smile. "They'll be okay...I'll take good care of them back at the dorms," she said, knowing it would definitely make poring over textbooks before bed much nicer. She was a little thrown off by the congratulations. "Oh, um, thank you! I honestly didn't think, with the transfer and all, that it would be me!" It was nice to hear it especially with the sense at least both Molly and Felix would have preferred that Molly got the badge over her. Neither were rude to her about it, they were far too nice to be. But she had a vague uneasy feeling. At least being with Eugene let her forget about that for a while. "You'll have to share prefect secrets with me," she joked, giving a conspiratorial wink.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene shrugged a little, ”Why not though, you joined the school and made a splash,” he said with a warm tone. Given how things had turned out with them, and how good of a friend she was, he was quite happy she had joined the school. ”If you are a good student, when should it matter when you joined,” he wasn't sure if perhaps she felt a little awkward with the other girls but, he thought she deserved it. ”Prefect secrets?” he said with a little laugh, ”Apart from the fact that patrols are pretty boring…I don't think I have any,” he knew she'd been making joking a little, but he couldn't actually think of anything. "So I brought a selection of stuff from the kitchens," he let go of her hand and grabbed the basket of food, offering some out to her. ​

 

[Renata Stepanova]

((not drowning, waving...))

It was odd for her to think of having made an actual impact upon joining the school. Renata had hoped to just fade into the background, keep her head down. But people here were so nice, and made her feel like she was valuable and worthwhile. None more so than Eugene, who gave her a light and warm feeling in her chest every time he smiled at her. "You're so nice to me," she admitted, shyly. "Well as long as there's nothing bad...I guess boring is better than dangerous." She reluctantly let go as she looked over the spread, her stomach growling embarrassingly. Renata reddened, hoping it wasn't too loud. "Ahah...just what I needed. Thank you," she reached over and took out a sandwich, beaming. It wasn't glamourous, bur it was thoughtful and perfectly comfortable. Her eyes kept shyly darting to meet Eugene's, unable to stop smiling.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene shrugged at her. "You deserve to be around people who are nice to you always," he assured her. Not wanting her to think that him being nice to her was just a fluke thing, or something that she shouldn't experience whenever she met other people. He laughed lightly as her stomach rumbled. "No problem," he said with a smile. he took another sandwich and ate it in comfortable silence with her. Smiling and meeting her gaze every so often. This was nice. He was glad that she didn't mind this, that she knew what to expect from him and be in for the sort of person that he always was.

 

[Renata Stepanova]

Renata blushed at the comment. It really was a long way from how she'd started school, but she couldn't be happier with how it had turned out. If you'd asked her where she thought she'd be in five years when she was a first year at Durmstrang, this wasn't what she would have said, but the fact that it was made her unbelievably happy. "So do you," she ended up replying, even if it sounded a little silly. She chewed slowly, swallowing as she looked over at Eugene and pausing. "I still feel like I'm going to wake up from a dream," she admitted. "Being here, being with you...sometimes I get scared it will all just go away and I will wake up in the cold." She pinched her own cheek for emphasis, wincing. "Maybe it isn't a dream. If we win the Quidditch cup you'll have a harder time convincing me."

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene blushed as he smiled at her reply. He hadn't needed it back, but it was nice to hear sometimes. Even if it sounded a bit silly. He took a bite of the food and listened to what she said. He could agree with that. The hufflepuff gave a little chuckle as she spoke. "You guys will win the cup, it's our turn, I feel it," he said, though Eugene didn't know the first thing about quidditch and how good Hufflepuff was comparatively. "I feel that way too. Maybe when the alternative to Hogwarts is bleak…it's easy to find all the good here as being a dream," he agreed.