You and I

[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah smiled and kissed his mother goodbye. He couldn't believe that he was finally going to Jessica's to stay over during the winter break. The fifteen-year-old picked up his duffel bag and swung it over his shoulder. After promising his dad that he wouldn't get into trouble whilst being in France, promising his mother that he would behave and be a proper guest, and promising Hannah that he wouldn't bore her friend to death with his presence, Asaiah kissed them goodbye one more time and touched his old football, which his father had enchanted into a portkey. He barely landed on his feet in front of Jessica's house, and immediately regretted travelling via portkey rather than using any other way of transportation as it had made him feel like he was about to throw up the moment he had landed on his feet. He threw the duffel bag off his shoulders and bend forwards, leaning his elbows on his knees in order to recover from the nauseous feeling. Asaiah took a deep breath and stood up straight. ''Never again.'' he muttered to himself before picking up his duffel bag and walking up to the front door to knock on it three times.

 

[Jessica Park]

Jessica would probably be more nervous if it wasn't for the fact that she was so excited to finally be able to see Asaiah. The year felt like it had lasted forever, but she was glad that Asaiah was such a good pen pal so it wasn't too bad. But she knew long distance already wasn't ideal for a relationship, or whatever they were, but his punishment had really set them back from being able to see each other even more. So she mostly bounced on her heels as she waited for him to show up, smoothing down her shirt unnecessarily and combing her fingers through her long pink hair. Her family was bustling around their house preoccupied with other things while Jess waited. When she finally heard him knock on the door, she rushed over to open it. She was already smiling before she even saw him but her smile grew even wider as she said, "Hey!" She wrapped her arms around him in a hug tightly and then without thinking, she crashed her lips against his in a kiss. They had been flirting back and forth for long enough so Jess was tired of waiting for this.
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[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah smiled when the door opened and Jessica stood in front of him in the doorway. ''Hey you,'' he replied, though before he could wrap his arms around her to hug her back Jessica planted her lips onto his unexpectedly. Asaiah's eyes spread wide for a moment out of surprise because he had not expected her to kiss him here, in front of her house but closed them shortly after. He had been thinking of kissing Jess on the end of their date seeing as that would certainly be a great and romantic way to end such a lovely evening for sure. But as he kissed her, Asaiah had to admit to himself that waiting would have been a terrible idea after wanting to kiss the girl for some time now. Asaiah chuckled slightly when he pulled away from the kiss. ''That might have just been the best way someone has ever greeted me.'' he told her, wrapping his arms around the girl's waist.

 

[Jessica Park]

Jess knew she was pushing her luck by kissing him at her front door where her family could walk in and see them, but she had just been wanting to do that for too long. "Sorry, I just couldn't wait," she said with a guilty smile, though it didn't seem like he minded either. She laughed at what he said and replied, "Good, I should hope that not many others greet you that way." She smiled up at him for a moment, glad that he was finally here in front of her and gave him one more quick peck on the cheek before she took his hand and pulled him into the house. "Umma, Asaiah's here!" she shouted to her mom as she guided him through her house. It hadn't been easy to convince her parents to let Asaiah stay but Jess had begged until they had given in, a struggle that she wasn't keen to reveal to Asaiah so she wanted to delay their meeting just a little longer.

She didn't have any brothers for Asaiah to room with while he stayed here, so he'd be staying in their guest bedroom. She showed him the room that was too tidy and organized for Jessica's liking. "My mom's sort of a neat freak, but don't worry about making a mess," she said dismissively. "Don't let your mom hear you say that," came a voice from behind them. Jess turned and saw her dad leaning against the doorway, smiling at them. She suddenly felt nervous for the first time since Asaiah arrived even though her dad was pretty easy going. "Appa, this is Asaiah, Asaiah, this is my dad," she introduced the two, trying to act casual as if he were just another friend and not someone she liked. Figures that the first person he had to meet in this whole household had to be her dad and not someone less intimidating like her sisters.

As if on cue, the three of them appeared right behind her dad and slowly pushed their way into the room, giggling and and talking in rapid fire Korean so Asaiah wouldn't understand them. "Oh he is cute!", "I wish appa would let me invite my boyfriend over for the holidays." Jess looked at her dad pleadingly and he laughed as he told them to quiet down. She could felt her cheeks heat up as she quickly pointed out that he was not her boyfriend - since it was technically true, and because they were in front of her dad - and then turned back to Asaiah. "Sorry, these are my sisters," she sighed, pointing to each one as she said their names, Sarah, Grace, and Hannah from oldest to youngest. "They're really nosy and rude so just try to ignore them," she rolled her eyes playfully. "Do you want to get out of here now?" she asked with a nervous laugh. The room felt too small now with all of them here, and she tried shooing them out to give them space, but they still crowded in the hallway at the door, which didn't feel like much of a difference. "Asaiah came all this way to see more than this house you know," she said aloud to her overly curious family.


[Ugh sorry idk what this is I've been stuck for days, feel free to GM anything]​

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[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah had barely time to look around the living area as he was led through the house by Jessica. ''Are you in a hurry?'' he said with a chuckle when they entered the bedroom he would be staying in whilst being here. It was tidy and nothing like the mess that was his own bedroom, which made him instantly like the room. He threw his duffel bag onto the bed and turned around to smile at Jessica. ''The room's just fine.'' he told her and then looked over her shoulder to look at the man, which he assumed was Jessica's father by the facial similarities they shared. ''It's nice meeting you, sir.'' he said when Jess introduced them each other and held out his hand out of politeness. Asaiah still felt a little dizzy from transporting himself via portkey but hoped that it would stop soon because he did not want to feel this way the whole night.

He smiled when more of her family members joined them but frowned the moment they started talking in Korean. Asaiah looked at Jess in the hope that she could explain to him what they were saying later since he didn't speak a word of Korean, though grinned when noticing that her cheeks changed colour. He smiled when she introduced them as well and shook hands with each of them. ''It's nice to meet all of you, really.'' He was glad to have finally met most of her family since she had already met his six months ago. ''You've seen how my family is, it's okay,'' Asaiah said with a reassuring smile on his face. He didn't mind if her sisters were going to be nosy, he would have probably done the same thing if any of his siblings brought home their.. whatever they were. He chuckled when she asked them to leave and sat down on the bed behind him. ''Asaiah came all this way to see you.'' the fifteen-year-old said in a whisper so only she could hear him, grinning once more. He couldn't believe how much he'd missed Jessica now that he was with her again.

 

[Jessica Park]

Jess was glad when her family finally seemed to retreat back to their own rooms, with her dad being the last one to leave, giving Jess a playful 'I'm watching you' gesture with his fingers, to which she rolled her eyes playfully. She had a feeling her mom was making herself scarce for now, which she was grateful for because she could be a little strict. Jess turned back to Asaiah and beamed at what he said. "Well thank you for coming all this way," she replied. The pink haired girl took a seat beside Asaiah and said, "My sisters think you're cute," rolling her eyes and chuckling in embarrassment. "Well, they already saw pictures of you from the ones you sent me, but they were saying how you look even cuter in person," she clarified, laughing but nodding as if in agreement with the other girls. She felt it was only fair to translate some of the stuff they had been saying since it wasn't fair of him to be talked about and not understand what was being said. Talking in Korean with her family only made Sica's accent when she spoke English more pronounced no matter how long she had been speaking the language. She decided not to tell him about the 'boyfriend' comments because she didn't know how he would react to that. But she had already called him cute plenty of times so that was not hard for Jess to admit to him out loud. "So, since you're my guest, what do you want to do first?" she asked. She figured he might be hungry but he also might've eaten before he got here so she left the options up to him.
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[Asaiah Murphy]

He smiled nervously at her father when noticing the gesture he made to his daughter and nodded his head when the man left the bedroom, waiting for the door to be closed before turning back to Jessica again who had joined him on the bed. Asaiah grinned at her. Even though he had seen her through his omnioculars while she was flying around the Pitch, seeing her without having to zoom in first was much, much better. He gave Jess a peck on the cheek and then shrugged when she thanked him for coming all this way for her. ''You came to visit me first so it's only fair for me to do the same.'' he told her. He'd enjoyed the time they had spent together at his house so hoped that his stay here would be just as enjoyable as then. Asaiah laughed softly when she told him what her sisters were saying and shook his head slightly. ''Good to know that I look cuter in person.'' he said chuckling. Because he was still feeling a bit off from travelling with the portkey, Asaiah thought that it'd be better to not eat anything for a while. He shrugged once more and asked, ''Is there anything interesting happening in the neighbourhood?'' hoping that Jessica could show him around the block instead of staying inside the house so his sudden surge of anxiety would go away.

#crap

 

[Jessica Park]

Jessica beamed when Asaiah gave her a peck on the cheek and talked about how it was only fair to visit her here. She didn't mind traveling to visit him in New Zealand during his weekend breaks because she was used to traveling often and getting to see Hannah was a bonus as well. But she was happy for him to be here now even though she was secretly worried about making sure he had a good time. She laughed along with him and nodded her head in agreement about him being cuter in person. "I'm just glad we can see each other in person again," she said with a shrug. They had written to each other a lot but there was nothing like being able to hold Asaiah's hand, which she did just now. She stood up and gently tugged him up off the bed as she answered, "Of course there is, let's go!" Her family lived in the heart of the city so she felt that everything was available to them through public transport which was good because she wasn't a good enough driver yet and her parents would never let her take the car. "Let's take a walk," she told him with a smile. "How was the travel?" she asked softly as they exited the room and made their way through her house to leave. She had a sneaking suspicion that the trip hadn't agreed with him so she hoped some fresh air and the walk would make him feel better. As they left her house she took his hand in hers once again and linked their fingers together as they walked. "After our walk, we can take the subway to the Eiffel tower later," she informed him; really they could take the subway to anywhere he'd want to go and they could walk around the tourist locations as well. "Oh! And I also found this museum that is all about vampires and other 'mythical' creatures that we can go to! The muggles think it's all fake or just urban legend stuff, but the wizards here know it's all real. Do you want to go later?" she asked, rambling as she got excited. Asaiah had told her he wanted to be a curse breaker so she figured he would like something like this and couldn't wait to tell him about it.
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[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah smiled at Jessica and nodded his head in agreement. It had been nice still getting to see her through the pictures she sent with every letter but nothing was as good as seeing her in person. He pushed himself off the bed with Jessica's help and smiled, happy that they could go outside for a bit. ''Awful,'' Asaiah told her truthfully. He had never experienced such an unpleasant way of travelling before so, no matter how cool it sounded to travel by portkey, it was never ever going to happen again. ''Travelling with portkey is just awful, and I am not going to use it ever again. Next time I come over I will come by using Muggle transport or something.'' he said. Hopefully the next time they would meet up she'd come to New Zealand again because if he was going to use Muggle transport to make his way over to France he had to mentally prepare himself for journey first. He smiled as she took his hand whilst leaving the house and listened intently to her. Asaiah frowned when she mentioned taking the subway to the Eiffel Tower and asked, ''What is a 'Subway'?'' looking at Jessica with curiosity in his eyes. He didn't know much about how muggles transported themselves from one place to another other than going by car so was keen to learn more about that. Asaiah nodded excitedly when she asked if he wanted to visit a museum later. ''Of course I would want to go later!'' he exclaimed happily. Jessica hadn't told him much about what they were going to do once he was here so to find out that she wanted to take him to a museum about magical creatures was nice. He absolutely loved the subject at school but had dropped it once he found out what he wanted to become, which he regretted doing because he had read that creatures were often used as guardians for treasures way back in the day. Whilst the two of them were walking through the streets of the city, Asaiah couldn't help to look around curiously. He had never been in Paris before and had only heard stuff about it from his sister so was glad that he was finally here to see the city for himself.

 

[Jessica Park]

Jessica frowned apologetically when Asaiah said he felt awful from traveling by Portkey but she could understand the feeling. She chuckled but shook her head when he suggested traveling by way of muggle transportation next time and said, "Muggle transportation is too slow!" If Asaiah were to visit next time by a plane it would take much longer than a simple Portkey and since she hardly got to see him she wanted to maximize their time as much as they could. She wished he could use Floo powder to get to her place but since her parents were Muggles they couldn't have their fireplace connected to the Floo Network, so Asaiah had to use a Portkey. "There's always Apparating," she suggested jokingly since they were both too young to do it alone. It was funny that they were talking about means of travel but Asaiah didn't know what a subway was. Sica giggled and said, "A subway is like a train, except it runs underground. It helps us get to places faster without the added traffic," she gestured to the cars on the streets. "We can pretty much take a subway to anywhere in the city!" she said happily, swinging their hands together as they walked, hoping Asaiah would feel better soon.

She was glad when he said he'd want to go to the museum later and smiled. "I heard that the museum has a photo of this really grotesque werewolf. Legend says it was only a creepy holographic type of charm wizards placed in front of a tomb to keep the muggles from going in, but the werewolf was so scary that even wizards thought it was real," Jessica explained. "The charm was good enough to fool wizards too, so none of the curse breakers wanted to get too near it to try and break the charm because they were afraid of getting bitten," she said with wide eyes. She supposed whatever was hidden in the tomb must have been really valuable to keep everyone away by means of something so scary since no one wanted to be exposed to the threat of incurable lycanthropy. "But that was like a million years ago so wizards have gotten smarter since then of course. So now muggles think it's just an urban legend, like Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster," Sica said with a small chuckle. She felt so painfully muggle right now, talking about fake mythical creatures and walking in a non-magical city towards the muggle subway station, but she knew Asaiah didn't care about stuff like blood status. "Wait, Big Foot isn't real, right?" she asked, looking at Asaiah for confirmation. Maybe it was real but it wasn't really something they taught in classes so a someone from a wizarding family would know.
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[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah had to agree that Muggle transportation was rather slow, but if it meant that he could avoid coming here by portkey than he'd take slow, Muggle transportation any time. ''You would rather have me being sick than losing precious time, huh?'' he commented, laughing softly because he knew Jessica meant well. He hadn't thought about Apparition up until now but that was mostly because he wasn't able to do that yet and doubted that one of his parents would use Side-Along Apparition to get him to France so shrugged the idea of using Apparition off. He listened intently as she explained to him what a subway was and nodded his head in understanding. ''Really anywhere in the city?'' Asaiah asked, astounded that Muggles had come up with all kinds of ways of transportation without the use of magic. ''So we can take the subway on our way back and it'll drop us off in front of your house?'' He had really no idea how it worked so hoped that Jessica would be patient enough to answer the endless questions that were roaming in his head whilst they were on the subject of transportation. If not, he would probably write them down later so he could have his best friend answer them for him instead since he figured that she might know about that stuff as well.

He furrowed his brow when she mentioned that a werewolf had been used to guard a tomb and laughed when she said that even wizards believed that it was an actual werewolf. ''People weren't very clever back then, were they? I mean, had it really been a werewolf it could have only guarded the tomb once a month - wizards obviously should have known better.'' However, if the legends were true, he'd be very impressed by the caster of the charm for doing such a good job on creating the creature. Asaiah chuckled when Jessica asked about Big Foot. ''Ever heard of the Great Sasquatch Rebellion of 1892 or the book written about said rebellion; Big Foot's Last Stand?'' he asked her, though instantly knew that she must have been unaware of both since she had asked him if the magical creature was real or not. ''Yes, Big Foot is real. An alternative name for the creature is 'sasquatch'.'' Asaiah said. ''I'll send you a copy of the book once I'm back home again so you can read about the rebellion yourself!'' he told her excitedly.

 

[Jessica Park]

Jessica shook her head immediately when Asaiah said she preferred he be sick for the sake of time. "Not when you put it like that," she said, pouting slightly but she laughed anyway. She leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek as reassurance and said, "I do hope you feel better though." Perhaps she'd ask her mom for some motion sickness medicine; she couldn't give it to him now but it might come in handy when Asaiah traveled back to New Zealand at the end of his visit. Jess laughed when he asked if the subway could drop them off right in front of her house and shook her head, amused by how endearing he was. "I wish! But it doesn't work that way," she said with a chuckle and a shake of her head. "There are designated spots in which a subway stops to pick up and drop off passengers. So we would just take one that drops us off closest to my house and then walk the rest of the way there," she explained. "It seems complicated, but it's not! If I can figure it out, anyone can," she said with a grin.

Jess nodded her head when he pointed out the obvious holes in the old story. "I guess long before wizards studied werewolves enough to know that," she shrugged. That was one of the only stories she remembered her friend telling her about from the museum but she wondered what other sort of old stories that muggles had in their museums that stemmed from wizard's tampering. She raised her eyebrows in surprise when he explained to her about the reality of Big Foot and a rebellion in some year that didn't even seem real but chuckled, impressed by his knowledge. She couldn't recall if they had learned about it in class or not because she never paid much attention and let the information leave her brain once the school year was over. She knew she should've paid better attention in class, though maybe Beauxbatons and Hogwarts New Zealand simply had different curriculums so Big Foot wasn't or hadn't yet been covered at her school. "I told you, I hate History of Magic," she sighed dramatically and shook her head, a small embarrassed smile on her face. "I got an A in my OWL though, so that's good enough," she gave a small shrug. She smiled brighter when he said he'd send her the book he was talking about it and nodded her head. "Awesome, I'll definitely read it! I'll try to pay more attention in class to keep up with you, you really know your stuff," she said with a grin.
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[Asaiah Murphy]

Asaiah laughed at Jessica's comment and smiled happily at her after she kissed him on his cheek. A part of him had been nervous staying with her and her family over the holidays but she made him forget about his worries so easily that by the time they were walking through the streets of Paris, he had completely forgotten about it. ''I do,'' Asaiah said truthfully, as being outdoors had definitely helped him feel a little bit better. ''Though it also helps that I'm with my favourite person at the moment.'' the boy added, grinning at her. A little disappointed to hear that the subway wouldn't drop them off right in front of her house, Asaiah nodded while she explained to him how it worked. He simply couldn't believe the ways Muggles had found to get themselves from one place to another without knowing that there were things such as the Floo network or broomsticks. ''Is it a long walk from the drop off point to your house?'' Asaiah then asked. As they walked down another street, he turned away from Jessica to look around again - there were so many things different happening all at once that Asaiah didn't know what he needed to pay attention to the most.

Even though it didn't make much sense, the fifteen-year-old was still pretty excited to visit the museum later to hear what other 'mythical' creatures Muggles believed to be urban legends as well. So far Jessica was doing much better than him when she came to visit his house, and it made him think about what they could visit when she would come to New Zealand again. There were a couple of places he figured he could take her to such as the glowworm caves, he could spend hours in there without getting bored, or maybe to Hunua Falls, or Piha beach since that was relatively close to their house. Asaiah shook his head and covered his ears with his hands when she reminded him of the fact that she hated his favourite subject. ''How dare you!'' the boy said jokingly as he put his arms down again. ''Good job on getting an A though, I'm proud of you!'' For someone who hated the subject so much, it was a pretty good grade so he figured that had to be celebrated. ''Next time we come across an ice cream parlour, I'll buy us an ice cream.'' Luckily for him his mother had given him some of the Muggle money she earned in her flower shop so he could spend it while being in France.

 

[Jessica Park]

Jessica beamed when Asaiah referred to her as one of her favorite people. "Well in that case, you'll be feeling better in no time!" she said cheekily, glad that he was able to visit her here. Keeping up with him over long distance had seemed hard enough but his punishment had further prevented them from being able to see each other so she wanted to make sure their time together now wasn't wasted, especially not with something awful like travel sickness. Jess considered the walk from the subway to her house and shook her head. "It's not too far, maybe a ten minute walk?" she guessed; she had never considered the timing of it all.

Sica laughed when Asaiah got offended over declaring her hatred of his favorite subject but shrugged unapologetically. "It's such a bore, but whenever you tell me about things like a Big Foot rebellion it doesn't sound so boring after all," she chuckled. Maybe it was just her teacher that made the subject such a drag. Sica smiled when he said he was proud of her for getting an A on her History of Magic O.W.L. but shrugged a little. "An A is okay, nothing too great," she said deprecatingly. She remembered he'd said he had an O in History of Magic and that was something to be proud of, but she tried not to dwell on it. "But I did much better in my other classes, I got an O in Charms and Muggle Studies," she said proudly, even if she felt like being Muggleborn was somewhat of a cheat for Muggle Studies. "So an ice cream would definitely be great," she grinned. As they continued to walk Jess could see the Eiffel tower in the distance and she pointed towards it. "Behold, one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world," Jess said dramatically with a giggle.
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