anything for you, dear [MIKAEL]

Lanta’s ears immediately perked up when she heard someone else’s voice from the outside of the supply closet. It sounded like a guy from the lower-tone, but she couldn’t be entirely sure who it was...probably a Prefect checking in with Filch for the night or something like that. Groaning, she reached up and pulled some wolfsbane off of the middle shelf; she gave it a sniff and - finding that it smelled like a thousand rotten eggs - shoved it into the trash can that Flich had provided her with.

The door to the closet opened and Atlanta immediately recognized the figure on the other side. Mikael. Dammit! Had she done this all for nothing?! He had gone and gotten himself detention anyway...after everything she did for him. The brunette couldn’t help but feel a little pissed about the whole thing. Here she was, trying to make it up to him for being such a complete ass hole and he still decided to come to detention. She made eye-contact with him and raised both of her eyebrows, “I’m going to kill you.” She mouthed and shook her head at him.

Filch was still busy giving commands to Mikael and Lanta tried her best to ignore him...although, she was secretly happy that he was joining her in detention. Without him this would have been an unbearable few hours alone. She was half-listening to their conversation, biting down on her lip so that she wouldn’t full-out smile and blow the fact that she couldn’t stay mad at him for coming to her rescue, “Mr. Filch, please don’t leave me here with him.” She managed to mock-groan as she cast another look at the door. Filch gave them both one of his creepy and toothy smiles and then walked in the direction of the upper floors, to solve the apparent dilemma that had been created.

“Miss me?”

Lanta took one of the towels that was on the shelf and threw it in his direction, “Seriously, Erixon? You couldn’t just let me take the heat for once?” She was still chewing on the inside of her lip, trying her best not to break out into a full-on smile, “Mark my words this is the last time I try and do something nice for you.” The laughter was going to bubble over in a matter of moments if she didn’t turn away so she instantly looked back at the shelving unit, not making any movement to clean anything else out. After she had regained some of her composure, she looked at him with a side-glance, “You look like you got into a bar fight...what happened to your cheek?” She couldn’t help but care about him - it seemed to be rooted in her feelings. Crossing the room, she took the towel that she had thrown at him back and pressed it to the wound, cocking her head slightly to the side as she did.

Atlanta practically rolled her eyes as he spun the towel around on his hand; Mikael had always been a show-off, even when he had been a part of the Quidditch team. She figured that he was still trying to prove that he had it, even if they wouldn’t be meeting as combatants on the Pitch. And of course he just smiled at her like an innocent little arse as she complained that she had done all of this for nothing, “Seriously, you’re not even listening to me.” She bit down on her lip to try and hide the smile that threatened to bubble over as he asked if she really wanted his help. Looking around at the mess in Slughorn’s closet, she knew that she was going to need all the help that she could get.

Watching him examine the uncleanliness that he had walked into, she raised her eyebrows, “Yeah, that’s right.” Lanta put her hands on her hips, “This is real detention, buckaroo.”

Lanta watched him wince when he went to touch his own cut. She didn’t want to cross any boundaries that they hadn’t gotten to yet....after all, they still owed each other a lot of explaining about what had been going on for the past couple of months, but she wasn’t about to let him tend to the wound himself. She was pretty sure Mikael couldn’t even properly put on a band-aid. At least he had her. Within close proximity to him now she blew some of her hair away from her face, “Don’t be such a di.ck.” She breathed as she dabbed again trying to clean the wound to the best of her ability, “The only thing vile enough to cause sickness in this room is you.” Lanta watched as his lips curled into a smirk and she had to mentally remind herself that she was supposed to be mad at him for landing in detention after she had sacrificed herself for him that night.

“Ezio get angry at you and throw his pretty little champagne glass at your during your date, hmm?” Lanta dabbed again, trying not to laugh at her own ridiculous accusations. ‘Hold your ground, hold your ground,’ She reminded herself...He wasn’t supposed to be here!

Lanta pretended to be very involved with dusting off a vile when he spoke and then lifted her head at the end of his sentence, “Oh I’m sorry I wasn’t listening,” She smirked ever so slightly, just enough so that it showed on her lips, “I was busy doing what we’re supposed to be doing, hmm?” He commented on the number of detentions that she had gotten over the years and found herself suppressing laughter again. Of course he would attack her - she took the fall for him and now he was laughing at her detention quota? “Probably cleaning out the Ravenclaw common room. I’ve heard they’re slobs.” Atlanta knew that one was going to get her in trouble so she put up her hands in a defensive position almost immediately after the words left her lips.

Atlanta dabbed at the wound, trying her best to keep her eyes on what she was doing, but she couldn’t help but be distracted by the way that he looked at her. Sometimes he had this glassy stare that practically melted her inside...like the way he was right now, eyeing her like she was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen. She wondered what it was that he was thinking - what thoughts were swirling around in his head - was he thinking about the kiss? About the break? About what her parents might have done? Lanta managed to keep her curiosity to herself for the time being. Immediately she let go of her lip and sighed, “Alright, Erixon. You got me. I’m glad you’re here. Happy now?” There. If it was an admission that he was after, it was an admission that he got. She even jokingly forced a smile, even though as soon as she did, it turned instantly real and she laughed.

The laughter was short-lived, however, and Lanta saw the obvious change in his facial expression as she wondered if she had crossed one of those trip wires in their relationship. Especially now she wasn’t sure what was and was not off limits. He blamed it on ‘guy stuff’ but Lant knew better, “Well Ezio is an asshole.” She muttered, letting the towel fall to the ground. Her eyes stared at the wound carefully, but she was pretty sure that it would be fine now that she had cleaned it up. Just the same, she brushed her fingertips across his cheek, softly touching the scar that already adorned his face. This would just be another addition to Mikael’s battle wounds. She wanted to ask more - wanted to know more...hell, she wanted to know everything that she had missed.

---

ooc;; I LOVE THEM

They were staring at each other for perhaps longer than anyone else would have considered normal, but Atlanta found that she couldn’t care less. Mikael’s eyes were a safe-zone, she felt as if she could say anything when they were locked in this eye-contact.

Their fingertips found each other’s, they found their safety and Lanta felt tiny butterflies bubbling in her stomach. It was such a strange and foreign feeling to her - but one she always seemed to get when she was around Erixon. He had such a strange effect on her. He said he hated losing control and she nodded her head. Of course, she knew what that felt like. She had lost control a thousand times - driven herself nearly into the ground before she had changed...but that wasn’t the Atlanta that Mikael knew. To him, she was soft and gentle, funny and witty, she was kind and accepting...nothing like the way that she had once been. There were no traces of the brutal, judgmental bitch that she had once been. There was no residual hatred of half-bloods and muggle-borns that she had so fiercely held onto. No remnants left of the girl who would rather drink herself into a stupor than play Quidditch... Sometimes she wondered if he would have any feelings toward her if he knew all the things that she had done over the years.

He pulled her into a hug and for a moment, Atlanta felt as if she was going to cry. Maybe they were tears of happiness or of confusion, she didn’t know. She buried her face in his shoulder, listening as he told her that he wasn’t afraid when they were together. Lanta had never been in love before - she had no idea what it felt like - but if she had to take a stab in the dark, she would say that this was it. The ability to be with someone in a terrifying situation and be perfectly unafraid of what was to come. The uncertain and not so distant future and fears that everybody had seemed small when they were together. She wound her hands around him, hoping that they wouldn’t disappear.

Pulling back, she tried to hide the fact that her eyes seemed red-rimmed and puffy. She wasn’t going to cry - she couldn’t cry. People who realized they’re in love with their best friend didn’t cry about it, did they? She shook her head, trying to clear her maddening thoughts , “We’re never going to get this done, you know that?” She said, laughing slightly, but refusing to unhook her hands from behind his neck. She didn’t care. Flich could come back and scold them as much as he wanted, but she wasn’t going to let go. He had opened up to her and that meant more to her than the world.

Atlanta wasn’t all too surprised that he didn’t respond about the likelihood of them getting their detention punishment done - he probably had the same thoughts swirling through his head. Suddenly, his hands were on her face, soft and gentle. Not like the Mikael that she had imagined attacking Ezio and almost killing him. This was her Mikael, and he was so vastly different. His lips placed kisses in a line down her face, awakening all her nerve endings with a familiar tingle. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she smiled visibly at the feeling. It came as a surprise, then, when his lips found hers - two mouths moving in perfect tandem as she pressed her body against his. Her thoughts were a million miles a second - trying to memorize every touch, every feeling that she had. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before. Surely the girl had been kissed before but she had never been kissed. Lanta never wanted it to end.

“Atlanta...I know things are a mess but...I love you...I...love...you.”

His lips were only a few inches from hers as his confession came to life. The words didn’t scare her - Lanta had already convinced herself that there was nothing about Mikael that could possibly scare her, it was something else entirely. She felt her heart jump to her throat in that moment - of course it had been what she was thinking a few moments before, but had almost been too afraid to say. There was something so dangerous about love - it was all consuming and powerful, it made people do crazy things...but when in her life hadn’t she done crazy things? A small smile crossed her lips as the words ran in and out of her head over and over again. Love. He loved her. Standing on her tip toes, the Hufflepuff pressed her lips to his again lightly.

“Oh Mikael-” She breathed, pulling away and then kissing him again, trying to hold back the laughter that now bubbled over onto her lips. Honestly, she couldn’t remember the last time that she had been this happy. Catching the Snitch and winning the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup had absolutely nothing on this feeling, “Things are such a mess,” She laughed as she pulled herself closer to him again, going in for the less-obvious hug and kiss on the cheek this time. It was only then that she realized that she hadn’t answered him. Pulling back, she immediately kissed his lips and hovered there for a few more seconds, “Shit! Sorry, I love you, too, Ravendork.”